The Open Market Blog

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/23/2007

My article on organized labor’s response to the rise of private equity is now online at TCSDaily.  Private equity presents a unique challenge for…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/19/2007

Today's Financial Times has an -- unintentionally -- hilarious op ed by James Wilsdon of the think tank Demos, on how Muslim societies…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/19/2007

Hugo Chavez’s insistences notwithstanding, not everyone in Venezuela is enamored of Che Guevara, as Australia’s Herald Sun reports: A GROUP of Venezuelans shattered…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/19/2007

Neil Clark, who usually writes for the Guardian, on his blog, mocks what he calls another commenter’s “over the top” Che Guevara analogy. And…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/12/2007

For all we know, SLORC may well have been nominated by some sycophant of theirs, but it’ll take us 50 years to find out,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/12/2007

At Reason, Jesse Walker has an amusing guide on “How to Win a Nobel Peace Prize.” He points out three options. The first, “Be…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/11/2007

Edwin Meese, who served as attorney general under President Reagan, defends again the late President’s rejection of the Law of the Sea Treaty in…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/08/2007

Yesterday, Costa Rica’s voters approved ratification of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). This is good news for most Costa Rican consumers and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/08/2007

In The Wall Street Journal, Edwin Meese and William P. Clark, who served under President Reagan, respectively, as Attorney General and National Security Adviser,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/05/2007

As I noted yesterday, Sens. DeMint and Vitter provided the questions that most needed asking at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s second hearing on…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

For earlier posts on the hearing, see here, here, here, and here. The most incisive, focused, and pointed questions came from…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

For earlier posts on the hearing, see here, here, and here. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

For the earlier posts on the hearing, see here and here. Acting chairman Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) took issue with Frank Gaffney’s cricitism…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

The hearing on the Law of the Sea Treaty before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning, at which CEI Presidnet Fred Smith…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 10/04/2007

The hearing room is full, though not packed enough for anyone to be standing. Fred is testifying now. See here for his testimony.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/26/2007

“Rock ‘n’ roll is about rebellion” may be one of the world’s most tired cliches, but in the case of the Czech art-rock outfit Plastic…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

Organized Labor made its intention clear to reverse the National Labor Relations Board's "Kentucy River" decision, which clarified the definition of "supervisor" in the context…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

The BBC reports that despite some government prodding — though subtle by Chinese standards — Beijing drivers largely ignored “National No Car Day,” China’s…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

Yellow Day Brigade is a punk band that takes a decidedly unfashionable pro-freedom political stance, or as they call it, “Music consistent with the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

In the current issue of The Economist, the anonymous Charlemagne column outlines the fundamental differences between the regulatory philosophies that guide the United States…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/24/2007

This Thursday, September 27, Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi will talk about his new book, Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/20/2007

This year’s “World Carfree Day,” the sanctimonious ritual of environmentalist Lenten self-denial, is on a Saturday.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/19/2007

At the movies this week, during the previews before the excellent The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, I watched the trailer for…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/17/2007

In an interview in the weekend Wall Street Journal, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has some choice words for the environmental fanatics trying to hobble…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/12/2007

In the current issue of Commentary, City Journal contributing editor Kay Hymowitz criticizes libertarianism as fatally flawed by some internal "cultural contradictions" (this essay…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/11/2007

Anita Roddick, the hyper-politically correct founder of the Body Shop chain of cosmetics stores, has died. She is being widely lauded as a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/11/2007

Spiked Online’s Brendan O’Neill has a thoughtful, and interesting, take on Osama bin Laden’s latest video, in which he denounces the current U.S. administration for,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/09/2007

The Economist indicts the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as “unwieldy,” laden with perverse incentives, unnecessary, and designed to grow out of control. When the Endangered…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 09/04/2007

In its current issue, The Economist reports on the failure of municipal WiFi. [T]he networks that have been completed have attracted few users…America’s biggest…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/31/2007

The Washington Examiner editorializes further today in anticipation of Labor Day, this time on the efforts by Democrats in Congress to cut the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/30/2007

Communist China’s attempts to suppress Tibetan Buddhism are well known in the West, where it’s created a backlash in the form of the “Free Tibet”…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/30/2007

Government is the only area in which unionization is growing in America. Today’s DC Examiner features an editorial that explains one reason why: It’s…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/28/2007

In England, new centennarian Winnie Langley celebrates her 100th birthday by smoking her 170,000th cigarrette. Winnie Langley started smoking only days after the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/27/2007

The BBC’s sponsorship of a global warming “consciousness raising” event is meeting some well-deserved resistance from inside the broadcaster, reports the Guardian. The event,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/27/2007

The Wall Street Journal‘s John Fund highlights a form of local- and state-government level protectionism that often passes under the radar: professional licensing requirements.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/26/2007

Venezuelan state Boss Hugo offers a response to rumors that his pal Fidel is on his way to meet Satan, which should prove…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/25/2007

The Miami Herals pays its respects upon the passing of an American cultural institution, the South Florida-based Weekly World News. Without the WWN, a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/25/2007

The new issue of The Economist features a letter with a quote worth citing: SIR — I attended a performance by the British songwriters…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/24/2007

Today in his Washington Examiner column, our friend and former Brookes Fellow Tim Carney highlights yet another way in which rent-seeking businesses are lining…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/23/2007

A disturbing development in the UK brings to mind CEI’s own dystopian video, from this year’s annual dinner. (Thanks to Megan McLaughlin for the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/20/2007

In a recent paper, University of Calgary economist Robert J. Oxoby addresses the eternal question: Who was the better singer to have fronted AC/DC,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/17/2007

Late yesterday, a federal judge rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s objection to the proposed merger between premium grocery chains Whole Foods and Wild Oats.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/10/2007

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Presidential Vote Up for Grabs…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/09/2007

When Fran returned my copy of Bob Novak’s memoirs, I just happened to open the book to yet another mention of our good friend…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/06/2007

At Reason, Shikha Dalmia provides a good overview of the health care legacy costs weighing down Detroit’s auto industry, and the United Auto Workers…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/06/2007

Today’s big story out of the Daily Kos convention in Chicago (as big as that could be) is a proposal for bloggers to unionize. …

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 08/01/2007

I don’t want to continue a debate over Ingmar Bergman here, but there is an odd connection between the late film director Michelangelo…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/31/2007

Over the last several days, my colleagues at CEI have pointed out some of the worst aspects of the Farm Bill -- and it's…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/30/2007

Every other Friday, I open the Washington Examiner expecting to read Tim Carney, our good friend and former CEI Brookes Fellow,  exposing yet another tawdry…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/24/2007

Today's Washington Post reports on a phenomenon that, while not new, strikes some as counterintuitive -- pickets for hire used by activist groups and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/23/2007

Venezuela’s strongman, Hugo Chavez, is now threatening to expel from the country any foreign nationals who criticize him. His words would be hilariously self-parodying…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/19/2007

To add to my earlier comment on last night’s AFF roundtable on immigration, Cato’s Dan Griswold made a good point there: U.S. immigration policy…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/19/2007

I am both bemused and dismayed whenever I hear allegedly free-market conservatives try to repeal the law of supply and demand when it comes to…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/18/2007

House Democrats are seeking to cut funding for a government agency. A sign of their newfound fiscal frugality? Well, no. Their seeking to cut funding…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/11/2007

Everyone likes getting compliments every once in a while, and we at CEI are no different in that regard, so we consider CNNMoney.com’ s…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/09/2007

Leaders of bloody revolutions very often come from the middle and upper classes, not from the downtrodden they claim to represent, many historians will note.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/02/2007

Kurt Loder, in his review of Michael Moore’s Sicko (cited earlier), mentions the short documentary Dead Meat by filmmakers Stuart Browning and…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/28/2007

With national security worries about Iran everywhere these days, the gas riots there yesterday make the Ahmedinejad regime seem not only less fearsome, but…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/26/2007

Earlier today at the Heritage Foundation, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao highlighted some of the Labor Department’s accomplishments during her tenure. I found of…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/26/2007

As expected, cloture for the misleadingly, grotesquely, misleadingly named (hey, I’ve gotta get these descriptions of this bill’s disgustinlgy Orwellian moniker out of my…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/26/2007

The union-backed mandatory card-check organizing bill, misleadingly dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041), is likely to come up for a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/25/2007

Terry’s post on the late, great Hans Sennholz gives a good example of the influence he had on students at Grove City College. It…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/22/2007

The Senate will soon vote on the card-check organizing mandate perversely known as the “Employee Free Choice Act.” This law would allow unions to circumvent…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/12/2007

Picking up on Richard's note on the new Victims of Communism Memorial here in D.C. -- My face is red from enduring the June…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/11/2007

A new report on workplace regulation compliance by the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations cites CEI’s Ten Thousand Commandments. Of the…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/11/2007

My two most recent publications from Capital Research Center are now online. First up is the June issue of Labor Watch (co-authored with CRC’s James…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/07/2007

No, the above title isn’t a scenario from a dystopian science fiction work, but somethig that is now happening in cities all across America. What…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/31/2007

Vincent “Buddy”‘ Cianci, the legendary, popular, and corrupt former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, was released from prison today, after serving time for a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/27/2007

From India comes a story that shows the interesting ways in which prosperity helps break down some pernicious forms of social oppression. Earlier today, a…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/26/2007

The Washington Post‘s “Names and Faces section cites Christopher Buckley’s speech at CEI’s 2007 Dinner (scroll down to the last item): · Christopher…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/25/2007

In today’s Washington Times, Robert Stacy McCain recounts Christopher Buckley’s appearance at last night’s CEI Dinner. “You are my kind of crowd,” Mr.

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 05/23/2007

...that he'll probably not hire any for a starring role in his upcoming Hugo Chavez-financed film about Haitian independence hero Toussaint L'ouverture. As…