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Cantor’s Loss a Warning Shot to Supporters of Ex-Im Bank and Johnson-Crapo
Defying conventional wisdom as he often does, Pulitzer prize-winning pundit George F. Will disputed the notion that in the wake of the shocking primary loss…
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Laughing All the Way to the Export-Import Bank
The Kronies are back with a video about the Export-Import Bank, one of the federal government’s largest corporate welfare programs. While the video is less than…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Seventy-nine new regulations, from olive assessments to phone calls from prison.
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Liberal Defense of Unions Fails
David Macaray might just be the perfect example of a leftist who doesn’t understand economics.
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60 House Republicans Vote in Favor of Union Subsidy
In light of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Internal Revenue Service scandals, many Republican congressmen have come out against the practice known as union…
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CEI Podcast for June 12, 2014: CEI Sues the NSA
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WorkplaceChoice Video Interview Series Premiere: Cyndi Cunningham and Forced Unionization of Care Providers
Hey folks, as part of a Workplacechoice.org's video project we're putting together a series of interviews with experts in the labor policy field and those…
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Survey of Federal Employees: Union Official Time Wastes Taxpayer Funds
As often stated on this blog, union official time is a wasteful, massive subsidy to federal-employee unions. And somewhat surprisingly, according to FedSmith.com survey many…
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Judge Rejects United Farm Workers Contract that Prohibited Decertification Elections
A major problem with current labor law is inherited unions. Research done by the Center for Union Facts has found that less than 10 percent…
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Progressive Department of Labor Joins Fight against Home Care Workers
As I have said before, President Obama’s Department of Labor is a prime example of activist bureaucracy. The department’s latest escapade has been to support…
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Receipt Shows What Is Wrong with the Minimum Wage
In a previous post, I noted that Seattle's proposed minimum wage was already having a negative impact on job creation and that Chicago should be…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
New regulations published last week cover everything from what to call UV lamps used for tanning to the federal government’s National Sheep Industry Improvement Center.
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Regulatory Improvement Commission
That idea is now captured in a bi-partisan bill in Congress. Wayne Crews and I wrote about it this week in The Washington Times:…
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Ridesharing Wars: Uber, Regulators, and the “California Compromise”
Yesterday, as many in the D.C. metro area are aware, Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles sent cease-and-desist letters to Uber (PDF) and Lyft…
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Right-to-Work Laws Necessary for Worker Freedom
Thirty-three fire fighters are being laid off in Reno, Nevada, after the city lost a federal grant. One of Reno’s councilmen, Dwight Dortch, charges that…
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Eubank v. Pella Corporation (7th Cir. 2014)
Judge Posner writes a very interesting Seventh Circuit opinion reversing a settlement approval on multiple grounds. A lot of friends forwarded the decision to…
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Good News and Bad News about Honeybees
News stories related to honeybee health the past few weeks are all over the map. Some headlines claim that new research proves that honeybees are…
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Friday June 6th: Have a Doughnut for Freedom
Do you know what today is? If you said D-Day, you’d be right. But this year, June 6 also marks another, less well known occasion.
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UAW Hikes Union Dues 25 percent
On Monday June 2, the UAW's four-day constitutional convention commenced. And coming out of the convention is a really unpopular decision to increase union dues…
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When Hedge Funds Meet Pension Funds
Are hedge funds dangerous? Depends on who you ask — and where you look. For most investors, they’re no riskier than other assets — just…
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Updated: Ohio Union Release Time
Union release time is a subsidy to public-employee unions at the state and local level, but the cost and activities are rarely available for public…
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Most Transparent Administration History Won’t Release Cost of Union Subsidy
U.S. citizens should easily be able to find out how their tax dollars are spent by the federal government. Yet under the Obama administration, the…
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Union Deauthorization and Recertification Gains Employees Freedom in the Workplace
In today’s highly fluid workforce, employees require the freedom to associate or disassociate with labor unions in a timely manner. But for disgruntled union employees,…
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Maya Angelou, Herb Jeffries, and the Freedom to Prosper
Competitive Enterprise Institute President Lawson Bader has said, "What CEI does, on a daily basis and at its core, is to celebrate and defend…
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CEI Podcast for June 3, 2014: EPA Proposes Major Carbon Emission Regulation
Senior Fellow William Yeatman breaks down a proposed EPA regulation intended to significantly reduce carbon emissions in the U.S.
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Airline Pilots Union’s Questionable Ad Campaign against Low-Cost Foreign Airline
In a previous post, I document labor unions and their history of advocating for discriminatory policies like the Davis-Bacon Act and Project Labor Agreements.
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The Doctor Will Release You Now: How Official Time Contributed to the VA Scandal
Socialized medicine and union corruption are a potent combination and, in the case of the VA, a deadly one. The VA scandal has brought the…
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The NLRB and the Department of Labor: Exemplars of Activist Bureaucracy
When one thinks of American bureaucracy, notions of political neutrality, professionalism, and disinterested arbitration come to mind. Well, maybe not… but at least those are…
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33 House Republicans Join ALPA to Restrict Competition and Soak Consumers
I previously wrote about the campaign from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) against Norwegian Air International's (NAI) attempt to offer low-cost flights from the U.S.
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Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Already Hurting Businesses
What did they think would happen? Seattle is likely to lift its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The move, supported by leftists and labor…
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Federal Government Mismanagement and Union Official Time
Mismanagement within the federal government may not be at an all-time high, but it is close. The latest blunder is the Department of Veterans Affairs…
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The Funnel of Gov — OMB’s 2014 Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations
Over the weekend the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the 2014 Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and…
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House Intel Committee Chair Ignores Report Calling NSA Surveillance Illegal
At a recent event titled “A Statesman Forum on Cybersecurity Policy and Diplomacy” at George Washington University, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)…
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Unions Gain Obamacare Exemptions after Complaining about Lack of Privileges
The Obama administration is exempting many labor unions from provisions of the new health care law after all.
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
62 new regulations, from electric motors to handling kiwifruit.
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How State Governments Can Stay in the Black
A study by the University of California, Berkeley’s Sarah F. Anzia and Stanford University’s Terry M. Moe finds that public sector unions greatly increase costs…
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Are My Ten Thousand Command “Mints” to Be Regulated?
The Food and Drug Administration FDA wants to regulate serving size of breath mints. That's right. This rule was issued March 2014:…
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CEI Labor and Employment Scorecard: Insourcing Amendment to Intelligence Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in its consideration of the Intelligence Authorization Act…
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CEI Labor and Employment Scorecard: Insourcing Amendment to Intelligence Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in its consideration of the Intelligence Authorization Act…
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Reihan Salam’s Argument for Alcohol “Prohibition Lite” Doesn’t Hold Water
In Slate recently, Reihan Salam argued that as America eases up on the criminalization of marijuana use it ought to consider ramping up the war…
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Obama’s New Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations Shows Big Rules Are Growing
In the just-released Spring 2014 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations, published twice a year by the Office of Management and Budget,…
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21 Chicago Aldermen Introduce $15 Minimum Wage Bill
Proponents of a government-imposed wage hike in Chicago are gaining steam. On May 28, 21 of the city's 50 council members signed on as co-sponsors…
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CEI Podcast for May 29, 2014: Rachel Was Wrong
Seeing as Carson's book set malaria prevention back decades, CEI Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini thinks there are other figures more deserving of such tributes.
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Chattanooga Mayor Berke Delivers City Employees to SEIU
In today's Chattanooga Times Free Press, Matt Patterson, executive director at the Center for Worker Freedom, draws attention to the behind the scenes deal between…
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NLRB Rules That Employees Have the Right to Be Disrespectful to Fellow Employees
The NLRB has ruled, once again, that a company’s employee handbook cannot require its employees to be courteous to fellow employees.
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How Policy Makers Should Approach Google’s Driverless Shuttles
Yesterday, Chris Urmson, director of Google’s Self-Driving Car Project, wrote a post for the company blog describing Google’s newest prototype: fully automated vehicles that…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: U.S. Regulation Compared to the World’s Largest Economies
This is Part 7 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual…
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Phoenix Ends Pension Spiking
Most state constitutions contain a little-used provision known as the "gift clause," which prohibit certain public expenditures to private entities. Unfortunately, only the Goldwater Institute,…
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Do Home Care Workers Really Rely on Unions?
Ai-Jen Poo has made the case that home care workers benefit from union representation:…
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Dodd-Frank’s Durbin Amendment Drives Up Costs on Memorial Day and Every Day
Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Big Retail lobby created a dubious driving distraction. The Merchants Payments Coalition, whose members include retail giants like Walmart and…
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Senate Leaders Kill Patent Reform, Once again Thwarting Democracy to Protect Special Interests
Hundreds of moderate and conservative bills have passed the House of Representatives, often overwhelmingly, only to die in the Senate without even being voted…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
66 new regulations, from Panama to refrigerants.
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No, Gov. Perry, a Ban on Internet Gambling Won’t Protect the Internet or Individual Freedom
In an attempt to save face, Texas Governor Rick Perry is trying to justify his support for a federal online gambling ban by claiming that it’s the…
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CEI Labor Scorecard: National Defense Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government, will score a vote…
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IRS Employees Conducting Union Activity Costs Taxpayers $23.5 Million in FY 2013
Union "official time" is a massive taxpayer subsidy to government unions, which releases federal employees from their regular public duty, without suffering loss of pay,…
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Punishment First, Trial Later, or Never: The Education Department’s Investigation of Tufts University
Imagine if you could be expelled from your dorm, or a class, just because someone accused you of something -- even if the accusation was…
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Export-Import Bank Subsidizes the Western World
On its “About Us” page, the Export-Import Bank gives us its purported mission: “Ex-Im Bank does not compete with private sector lenders but provides…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: The Federal Government “Eats” 31 Percent Of The U.S. Economy
This is Part 6 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual…
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Congress Must End Department of Transportation’s Abuse of “Unfair and Deceptive Practices” Authority
The Department of Transportation is opening a rulemaking proceeding to, among other things, require airlines and ticket agents to include ancillary fees (for, e.g.,…
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CEI Labor Scorecard: National Defense Authorization Act
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government, will score a vote…
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CEI Podcast for May 20, 2014: Phones on a Plane
CEI Fellow Marc Scribner supports the FCC's attempt to lift a ban on in-flight cell phone use.
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A Recipe for a Hostile Work Environment, Courtesy of the NLRB
The NLRB has forced the Fund for the Public Interest to reinstate one of its terminated union employees after the employee went to a local…
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NLRB Okays Union Campaign Deception
A responsibility of the National Labor Relations Board is to protect employees' right to a free and fair choice of labor representatives. Given that, it…
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Consumers Will Win in Combined AT&T-DirecTV
AT&T agreed Sunday to purchase DirecTV for $67 billion in cash, stock, and acquired debt. If federal regulators approve the deal, the combined firm…
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Attorney General’s School Discipline Push Will Backfire on Students and Reinforce Segregation and Zero Tolerance
In a speech Saturday, Attorney General Holder made a very ironic claim: blaming racial disparities in school discipline on "zero-tolerance" policies, even though such policies…
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The Premises of Net Neutrality
In the electric power industry, if you run an extension cord across the street to serve another, you go to jail. The local utility has…
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Attorney General Holder’s Deceptive Attack on Chief Justice Roberts
In a speech this weekend, Attorney General Eric Holder said that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
77 new regulations, from cotton grading to walk-in coolers.
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Failed Obamacare Exchanges and No-Work Contracts Drive up Obamacare Costs
Politico tallies the rising costs for "four failed Obamacare exchanges," reporting: Nearly half a billion dollars in federal money has been spent developing four …
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No, the FCC Did Not Allow “Fast Lanes” on the Internet, Yet
This week, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) held an Open Meeting to propose new rules regarding regulation of Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Verizon and…
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Missouri Union Protests by Placing Giant, Inflatable Rat by Funeral Home
I wish I was making that up, but Laborers Union Local 110 actually placed a huge, inflatable rat in front of the Kutis Funeral Home…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Regulations Cost More than Federal Income Taxes
This is Part 5 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual…
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Insurance Premiums Rising More Due to Obamacare
There are "rate hikes for all" coming due to Obamacare, predicts The Daily Caller, citing state insurance filings: Virginians will see upped health insurance premiums…
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Unionization Obstructs Workplace Diversity
Executive editor at The Nation, Richard Kim, claims diversity at the liberal publication is being stifled due to its unionized workforce. Kim, in a recent…
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Johnson-Crapo Is Fannie and Freddie on Steroids
Today, after delays and much opposition from many quarters on different grounds, the Johnson-Crapo housing finance overhaul is set to be voted on by the…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Regulations Catching Up to Government Spending?
This is Part 4 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual…
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CEI Podcast for May 14, 2014: Federal Ban on Online Gambling?
CEI Fellow Michelle Minton discusses why a federal ban on online gambling would be counterproductive.
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European “Right to Be Forgotten” Eats Free-Speech Rights of Google and Its Users’ Rights Too
In America, you can't invoke a "right to be forgotten" to suppress other people's speech on newsworthy (or even not-so-newsworthy) topics, as court rulings like…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Reckoning the Dollar Cost of Federal Regulation
This is Part 3 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual…
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EPW Drops Highway Bill Nothing Burger, Attempts to Bail Out Sinking Ship with Leaking Bucket
Yesterday evening, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee’s “big four” (Democrats Barbara Boxer and Tom Carper, and Republicans David Vitter…
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Massachusetts Seeks Millions More from Taxpayers as Its Obamacare Exchange Fails
Massachusetts' Obamacare exchange has failed, even though Massachusetts adopted an individual health-insurance mandate in 2006, and thus had a built-in advantage over other states in handling Obamacare's requirements.
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Maryland Unions Asks Politicians for Donations
Hollywood is currently reviving Star Wars, a classic 1970s series. Perhaps they should revive another 1970s series, The Godfather, with a fourth film centered on…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Tardy Bureaucrats Gone Wild
This is Part 2 of a series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Despite nearly 60 new regulations and more than 1,300 Federal Register pages, regulations remain on a below-average pace this year. On to the data: Last…
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Red Tapeworm 2014: Guess Which Is the Largest Government on Earth?
This is Part 1 of a new series taking a walk through some sections of Ten Thousand Commandments: An…
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PA Unions Still Exempt from Harassment, Continue Harassing with Impunity
A couple of months ago, the FBI unsealed an indictment against a combination of 10 Philadelphia Ironworkers members and officials, which exposed a loophole in…
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Climate Salvationism: Can Government Make Renewable Energy Turn a Profit?
CEI Senior Fellow Christopher Horner on Fox Business “Cavuto” last night discussed whether making renewable energy profitable is a legitimate government goal. Watch the interview:…
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Gawker Article Says “Unions Should Buy a Fast Food Franchise”
But would workers really be better off if a union owned a fast-food franchise or any other kind of business? Gawker author Hamilton Nolan thinks…
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CEI Podcast for May 8, 2014: The Future of Self-Driving Cars
Marc Scribner talks about his new paper, "Self-Driving Regulation."…
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Air Line Pilots Association Launches Super-Xenophobic Ad against Low-Cost Foreign Airline
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently considering whether or not it will honor its EU-U.S. open skies treaty in the case of Norwegian Air…
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UAW Teams Up with Big Brother
The UAW wants to organize a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, and has asked the State Department to mediate its discussions with the auto maker,…
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OPM Director Archuleta Promotes Public Service Recognition Week, Quiet on Federal Employees Performing Union Business
Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuelta is one of several high-level bureaucrats that are promoting Public Service Recognition Week, and will participate in a…
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California’s Latest Anti-GMO Push
Two years ago, voters in California narrowly defeated Proposition 37 , a ballot initiative that would have required labeling of most --…
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Washington, D.C., Imposes One Percent Obamacare Health Insurance Tax
The costs of Obamacare keep rising. The Council of the District of Columbia has imposed a one percent tax on all health insurance policies…
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California Hospital Association Submits to SEIU Demands, Signs “Labor Peace Agreement”
On May 5, 2014, after months of applying public pressure on the California Hospital Association, the SEIU-UHW won its coveted "labor peace agreement," which would…
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Labor/Employment Scorecard Now Includes Votes on David Weil to Head DoL’s Wage and Hour Division
In our scorecard of the United States Senate’s labor and employment votes, CEI's WorkplaceChoice.org has included voting on the movement of David Weil’s confirmation…
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The NLRB Strikes Again
The NLRB has just forced nine Brooklyn condo workers to continue another year’s payment of union dues after they attempted to de-certify their union (United…
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Federal Financial Aid Policies Punish Marriage
At the economics website E21, Jared Meyer describes the massive marriage penalties found in student financial aid programs, and how federal…
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Voxplaining Pew Charts on Highway Funding and Ignoring Transit’s Decline
Over at Vox.com, former WaPo blogger Brad Plumer wrote a post about highway funding, largely relying on the good folks over at the Pew…
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Warren Buffett: “During the next decade, you will read a lot of news – bad news – about public pension plans.”
Thus warns Warren Buffett in his latest message to investors, part of Berkshire Hathaway's annual report. And when the Oracle of Omaha speaks, most of…