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#NeverNeeded regulations hindering hurricane recovery
It may be time to revive the #NeverNeeded campaign to assist the Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton recovery efforts. The idea behind…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Refrigeration products and off-road vehicle debris
Iran fired 180 missiles at Israel. Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina. Longshoremen went on strike. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent.
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Bent coins and Irish potato taxes
The leader of the Hezbollah terrorist group died in an Israeli military strike. The 2024 Federal Register is poised to reach 80,000 pages this…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Pedestrians’ heads and avocado maturity
CEI celebrated its 40th anniversary at its annual Julian Simon Memorial Award Dinner. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates. Agencies issued new…
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Turning point on interest rates
The Federal Reserve went for the big cut at its interest rate meeting this week. There was uncertainty on whether the federal funds…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Robocalls and toddler carriers
Culture warriors falsely accused immigrants of eating people’s pets. Donald Trump discussed the issue in his presidential debate with Kamala Harris. The final…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Nuclear casks and radiofrequency toothbrushes
It was a four-day week due to Labor Day. The unemployment rate declined from 4.3 percent to 4.2 percent. The Biden administration signaled…
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Government efficiency commission: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Donald Trump is proposing a new government efficiency commission and he wants Elon Musk to lead it. Like most campaign proposals, it does…
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Steeling politics
Politics ruins everything. Right now, it is ruining America’s steel industry. The Biden administration, with plenty of bipartisan support, has announced it will…
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Price controls: right problem, wrong solution
In an op-ed being syndicated by Inside Sources, I take a look at Kamala Harris’s price control proposals for groceries and housing:…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: marijuana scheduling and do-not-call fees
Rather than allow more housing to be built to combat rising rents, the Justice Department sued RealPage, a rent-listing service. CEI’s James Broughel…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: energy labeling and FCC rules for homework
There are now more than 2,000 new final regulations on the year. The Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago. A labor market statistic…
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Price signals and virtue signals
It’s a divisive election year, but all of us still have some things in common. Since the pandemic began, inflation has devalued the dollar…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Horse race integrity and threatening air cargo
Now that it’s August, agencies began publishing their Spring 2024 Unified Agenda entries for their planned regulations. Economists had a frustrating week, with…
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Ten Thousand Commandments in the news
The 2024 edition of Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. For those not familiar, the report puts together a big-picture view…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Bank hiring and salmonella frameworks
Baseless recession freakouts dominated the news cycle. The just-released 2024 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments got its share of attention as well.
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Americans are open to trade
Politicians win elections by telling voters what they want to hear. Right now, both parties think voters are angry about foreign trade. But when…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Closed captioning and toothless blindcats
The new 2024 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. The Paris Olympics began. Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro stole another election. Agencies…
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Jerome Powell risks the Fed’s gains against inflation
The big story from today’s Federal Reserve decision isn’t that interest rates are staying the same. It’s that the dual mandate is back.
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2024 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments is out now
The federal government has a spending budget that the public can see. Every year Congress allocates a certain amount of money to each agency,…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Water heaters and children’s passports
President Biden dropped out of the race, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris as the likely Democratic nominee. The Federal Register topped 60,000 pages and…
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Book review: The War on Prices by Ryan Bourne
I have reached a stage in my career where younger colleagues sometimes ask me for advice. There are a few evergreen pieces of advice…
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Rent control doesn’t work. Increase housing supply instead.
President Biden will soon announce a proposed 5 percent cap on rent increases. Rent control is one of the most ridiculed economic policies…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Watermelon taxes and crash test dummies
CEI’s home distillery court case had a good week. President Biden had a bad week. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from rotorcraft to…
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You have the right to a jury trial
The Supreme Court’s recent Jarkesy decision affirms that people have the right to a jury trial, even in regulatory agencies’ special in-house courts. My…
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A rule for the Fed
The Washington Examiner is running a series of pieces on policies the next administration should pursue. My contribution details a way to contain…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Coke ovens and stolen firearms
It was a short week in honor of Independence Day. Speculation swirled about President Biden’s political future. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from brominate…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Rear impacts and hot air balloons
The Supreme Court issued its Jarkesy decision and restored the right to a jury trial in regulatory agencies’ in-house courts. President Biden and…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: known mailers and medical gases
The Supreme Court issued an unfavorable but narrow decision in the Moore v. United States case about taxing income that was never received.
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This week in ridiculous regulations: amplifiers and subsidized chickens
CEI’s Joel Zinberg released a new study on guidance document reform. The unemployment rate extended to 30 months its streak of being…