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This week in ridiculous regulations: Nuclear fuel and eagles’ nests
It was a four-day week due to Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The terrorist group Hamas’s leader was killed by the Israeli military. The economics…
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House advances anti-ESG legislation on investments, pensions
The US House of Representatives recently passed a major ESG reform package that is on its way to the Senate. In a vote of…
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Free the Economy podcast: Freedom to farm with Bill Wirtz
In this week’s episode we cover a new ranking of state governors, reforms to emergency powers, new research on working from…
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AJR’s economics Nobel is a partial victory for institutions
This year’s economics Nobel Prize winners are Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson. They are frequent collaborators, often collectively called AJR. Much of their…
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Next time, let’s try emergency powers that shrink government
As the nation deals with the aftermath of successive natural disasters, the need for a renewed debate on federal emergency powers is increasingly clear. While…
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Searching for a remedy that makes sense
The Department of Justice recently sent its proposed remedies to the federal judge who found Google guilty of illegally monopolizing web search. Specifically,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Removing barriers to abundance with Chris Koopman
In this week’s episode we cover our record-high budget deficit, green trade wars, and what US adults are watching on TikTok.
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CEI’s The Surge: Nuclear Supreme Court case, the ADVANCE Act, and more
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication and special…
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Nuclear sites ripe for development
A new study commissioned by the Department of Energy shows the potential for siting new nuclear reactors at existing and recently retired nuclear power plant sites across…
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Germany is smug about its energy errors
A tweet last week from the German Foreign Office doubled down on the country’s failing approach to energy. Germany decided to shut down its 17 nuclear…
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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 #NeverNeeded…
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UK closes last coal plant
For the first time in 142 years, Britain has no coal power plants. But what are they doing instead? Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, Britain’s lone…
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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. The…
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Longshoremen stood down when they realized wrecking the economy wasn’t popular
Thursday’s announcement that the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) was ending its strike at east coast and Gulf of Mexico ports after…
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White House has several options in dockworkers strike, none of them good
President Biden likes to call himself “Blue Collar Joe” and declare his support for union workers, but his administration has been…
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Free the Economy podcast: Reforming red tape in the states with James Broughel
In this week’s episode we cover striking dock workers at US ports, free-market innovation in healthcare, and the changing pattern of federal…
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Adam Smith on health policy
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute published my OnPoint essay, “The Innovation Imperative: What Adam Smith Can Tell Us About Health.” This was adapted from…
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The real issue in the port strike: Automation
Most news reports on the east coast dockworker’s strike are focused on the issue of wages, which obscures the real reason for the strike:…
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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 week.
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Free the Economy podcast: How to sue the SEC with Nick Morgan
In this week’s episode we cover entrepreneurship in Africa, a lawsuit over “affordable luxury” handbags, and European deforestation rules. Our interview…
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Iowa’s ‘Lean-in’ approach to successful permitting reform
The State of Iowa has made significant strides in improving its environmental permitting processes, thanks to innovative reforms spearheaded by the state’s Department of Natural…
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Pen and phone power: How presidential documents are changing the rules
Presidential executive orders and directives have long played a pivotal role in shaping federal policies and regulations. As President Obama famously remarked in 2014, “I’ve…
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Teamsters non-endorsement: Outlier or sign of things to come?
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’s internal poll on who to endorse in the 2024 presidential election was so lopsidedly in favor of Republican nominee Donald…
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Congress decides, not agencies: The significance of the REINvented REINS Act
It’s been repeated a million times that in our constitutional republic, lawmaking power belongs to Congress. But over the years, this authority has increasingly shifted…
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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 regulations…
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Switzerland should reverse its nuclear power plant ban
Despite nuclear energy’s myriad benefits, many countries—and several US states—maintain bans on the construction of new nuclear power plants. This phenomenon is especially puzzling in…
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Magatte Wade to accept Julian L. Simon Memorial Award and share her story at the CEI dinner
According to demographers, about one-quarter of the world’s population is expected to be African at the middle of this century. Many are currently quite poor. …
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House expected to consider legislation to block EPA’s ‘EV mandate’
This week the House is expected to consider a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) April 2024 rule…
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Free the Economy podcast: Economic mobility in the 50 states with Gonzalo Schwarz
In this week’s episode we cover poll results on corporate social responsibility, the plight of California landlords, hard times for cable…
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Teamsters’ non-endorsement exposes internal divisions
The announcement that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will not endorse a presidential candidate this cycle is a sign of the internal struggles within…
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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 rate…
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DOJ’s flawed case against AI’s incredible rent machine
In Tom Smith and The Incredible Bread Machine, the famous political poem about an inventor at first hailed for his machine that slashes the…
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CEI’s The Surge: HUD hiking housing costs, wind and solar subsidies, and more
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication…
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Political review of agency adjudication and recommendations for reform
Abstract Formal agency adjudication reserves the final decision-making authority to the political leadership of the agency. Many organizations and watchdogs have taken issue with how…
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Why Europe’s ‘Farm to Fork’ policies collapsed
The new European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, will soon be tasked with “simplifying” agricultural regulations within the Union. “The Commission is…
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Some thoughts on Constitution Day
As I drove into work today, it occurred to me: we so often take for granted the extraordinary power that the automobile gives us. Once…
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Hey Fed! Don’t worsen devastating Durbin debit card price controls
Consumers using their debit and credit cards just can’t catch a break these days from politicians, bureaucrats, and big retailers pushing Big Government ripoffs. In…
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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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Removing taxes on overtime would have only marginal impact
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the taxes on overtime would likely have little effect on the workers and the economy. It…
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Free the Economy podcast: Why we can’t have nice things with Eric Boehm
In this week’s episode we cover weaponized financial regulation, poverty policy beyond handouts, and Italy’s call to slow down the electric…
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Proposed USDA rule disregards recent Supreme Court rulings
The first two of the four priorities the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) lists on the homepage of its website are tackling social justice,…
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Just 5 percent of private sector workers voted for their unions
Imagine if you lived in a country where a vote held decades previous determined which party held control of the government and people had little…
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A cry for Yelp or crocodile tears?
Online review platform Yelp filed a private antitrust suit against Google last month, accusing the tech company of monopolizing the “local search services market”…
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Regulatory relief, not subsidies, can make housing more affordable
Housing affordability has become a major issue – and for good reason given skyrocketing home prices and high mortgage rates coming at a time when…
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Scaling deregulation: Can Trump achieve a 10-for-1 rule elimination?
In a speech at the Economic Club of New York, Donald Trump pledged if re-elected to eliminate—not two rules for every one added as he…
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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 it…
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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 not…
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Will Big Nuclear make a comeback?
Following Georgia Power Plant Vogtle Unit 4’s completion and coming online earlier this year, there aren’t any outstanding large nuclear reactors under construction in the United…
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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 block…
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Junk science behind federal appliance regs about to get junkier
The Biden-Harris administration has embarked on a wave of anti-consumer home appliance regulations over the last several years. Each was justified in part by overblown…