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Senate Immigration Bill Authorizes E-Verify as Surveillance Tracking
The Senate immigration bill (S. 744) is immense, so most Americans (and, more importantly, journalists) can be forgiven for missing the part that authorizes…
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Not Going Gently: Rogue NLRB Lands One More Blow
For the first time in a decade, the National Labor Relations Board is composed of five legitimately appointed members. However, one of the last decisions…
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Europe’s Continued Stagnation Is Not Surprising, Given Lack of Reform
The Guardian reports that Italy’s record-long economic slump has continued for another quarter. This isn’t much of a surprise given Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s…
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Senate NLRB Deal Backfires on GOP…Again
Just over a week ago, Democrats suckered Republicans into a deal to avert what Senator Harry Reid referred to as the “nuclear option” that would…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
82 new regulations, dairy import licenses to information sharing.
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The Misleading Push for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Last year, the Senate did not ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with supporters falling just short of the two-thirds…
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‘Universal’ Health Care Universally Loathed
Once upon a time labor unions and all their Labor Bosses loved Obamacare. But not anymore. Unions are slowly opening their eyes and accepting the…
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$26.7 million victory for CCAF in Citigroup Securities case
Details at Point of Law.
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Raul Labrador’s Sane Immigration Policy Reflects His “Libertarian Streak”
Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) has led the effort in the House to fix immigration laws in the most conservative and free market way possible.
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CEI Podcast for August 1, 2013: Is Washington the Next Detroit?
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Court Wrong to Make Dodd-Frank Durbin Price Controls More Draconian
Today, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the Federal Reserve's implementation of the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, which sets price controls on…
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Detroit Bankruptcy Focuses Attention on Public Pensions
For people watching it from afar, the bankruptcy of Detroit — the biggest municipal bankruptcy in American history — may have brought a sense of…
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Regulation of the Day Update: Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat
The USDA is temporarily suspending its magician's rabbit-license regulations "in order that we may undertake a review of their requirements."…
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CEI Podcast for July 31, 2013: REINS Act Hits the House Floor
Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews talks about the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which is expected to pass the…
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Meet the New Boss(es): NLRB Nominees Clear Senate
Well, it's official: We finally have a fully staffed National Labor Relations Board. On July 30 the Senate, as part of a deal worked out…
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REINS Act to Hit House Floor Tomorrow
The bill would add some oversight to a regulatory process that has far too little of it.
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House National ID E-Verify Bill: 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes (And 5 Worker Protections it Excludes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
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House National ID E-Verify Bill: 5 Worker Protections it Excludes (And 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
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Tracking the Cultural Exception, Part Four: A Double-Edged Sword
Americans generally think of subsidies to audiovisual industries like film and television as a foreign phenomenon. Yet that is hardly the case. In fact, one…
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Not Lovin’ It: Angry Fast Food Workers Strike
"Hold the burgers, hold the fries, make our wages supersize!" This is one of the many chants shouted by the thousands of fast food workers…
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Big Labor and NLRB Tactics Evolve
With total union membership at its lowest rate since 1916, Big Labor is desperate to organize non-union workers. Labor unions latest approach comes in the…
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New USTR Discusses Trade Agenda, How U.S. and EU Can Address Divergent Regulatory Regimes
At a forum this morning hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the new U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman, discussed the next steps…
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Bloomberg’s Soda Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Today, an appeals court ruled that New York City’s Board of Health overstepped its authority when, at the behest of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it attempted…
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The Modified State of the GMO Debate
The debate over whether or not to label products of genetically modified (GM) crops has seen a small revival after the Natural Products Association, a…
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Tracking the Cultural Exception, Part Three: For Your Grandad’s Audiovisual Industry
Protectionist audiovisual policies are not only inefficient, they’re outdated. Protectionist policies don’t translate into profits because they are built for an audio-visual industry that…
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The Rip-Off that Is Occupational Licensing
Occupational licensing rules allow trade schools in some states to force students to attend them, enabling the schools to charge students lots of tuition for…
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Regulating E-Cigarettes Creates the Wrong Incentives
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is gearing up to regulate electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by early October. These regulations, rather than protecting the public…
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Is the AFL-CIO Biting off More than it Can Chew?
Organized labor has long been a major force within the broader progressive coalition at the Democratic Party’s left wing. Unions regularly work with environmental and…
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Our first cert petition, challenging Facebook Beacon cy pres settlement
We weren’t involved in the 2-1 Lane v. Facebook cy pres decision disadvantaging consumers, and jumped at the…
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Empire of Rust: How the UAW Killed Detroit
On Detroit’s east side, the abandoned Packard automaking facility looms tomb-like over 40 acres of once-prime real estate, its hollow buildings ringed with mounds of…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
80 new regulations, from turtle-killing to felon financiers.
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The HuffPo’s Sloppy Austerity Analysis
Mark Gongloff, a writer for the Huffington Post, claims to show “The Complete Failure of Austerity, In 1 Chart.” Wow! Either he has found…
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Ronald Coase on Blackboard Economics
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CEI Podcast For July 25, 2013: The UAW And Chattanooga
The United Auto Workers union is campaigning to organize a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Senior Fellow Matt Patterson talks about his recent trip to…
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Come On Into The Immigration Pool, Republicans … The Water Appears To Be Safe
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More Economic Suffering Due to Obamacare
The Washington Post reports on the ever-growing number of people losing wages and facing pay cuts due to the 2010 healthcare law: For Kevin…
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End Of Compulsory Dues Has Led To Plummeting Union Membership In Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker “can deny that he wanted to weaken public sector unions, but whatever his motivation, that’s what has happened.” Thus concluded an eye-opening…
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California Close to Granting Big Labor Protections from Disclosure
California is going where only two other progressive bastions—Maryland and Illinois—have gone before in terms of providing unions with special privileges. If Assembly Bill 729…
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Public Forum Re-cap: Chattanooga, UAW & Free Markets
WPC’s Matt Patterson was invited to speak at a public event about the possible costs and consequences Tennessee might face should the United Auto Workers…
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D.C. Council Bows to UFCW, Votes No on Walmart, Yes to High Prices
Washington, D.C., has some of the highest living costs in the country. Its metro area contains six of the nation’s ten wealthiest counties, making it…
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On Dodd-Frank’s 3rd Anniversary, “North Star” is Further Out of Reach
Over the weekend, President Obama hailed the third anniversary of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank “financial reform.” In his weekly radio address, the president…
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The Government’s Wasteful Obsession with Subsidized Homeownership
The government has spent vast sums of money promoting homeownership through subsidies, tax exemptions, and bailouts. For example, in prosperous Alexandria, Virginia, certain people who…
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Motor City Runs Out of Gas
And here it is, the news we’ve all been expecting: The Motor City has finally sputtered to a halt. On Thursday July 18, 2013, the…
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Time To Make Federal Employees Accountable
Government labor unions have long been able to conduct union business while on the job and on the taxpayer dime, under a little-known policy called…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
68 new regulations, from Topeka shiners to room air conditioners.
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The Million-Dollar Bus Stop Breaks
A new cooling fan should arrive in the next two weeks. Until then, the super stop will be a bus stop like any other, unless…
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Are Markets Rational When It Comes to Economic Fundamentals?
We hear frequently that financial markets thrive on irrational fears. That they are wrong to be wary of unreformed economies and that central banks are…
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CEI Podcast for July 18, 2013: The NSA Gets Sued
In the wake of the NSA’s spying scandal, several groups are filing a lawsuit challenging the NSA’s actions as unconstitutional. Associate Director of Technology Studies…
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Regulation of the Day 232: Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat
Marty Hahne has put on children's magic shows for almost 30 years. USDA regulations require both a license and a written disaster plan for his…
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Bad Science: CDC Forced to Reverse its Recommendations on Salt
Mother may know best, but Uncle Sam certainly doesn’t. In 1977, the federal government put a warning label on saccharine, claiming it caused cancer. It…
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The FTC’s Uneasy Relationship With Innovation
The Sherman and Clayton Acts form the backbone of U.S. antitrust policy. But another piece of legislation gives the government the power to regulate business…
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DC Super-Minimum Wage: Bad Idea, Bad Policy
Washington D.C. City Council’s bill that would require large retailers (namely Wal-Mart) to pay a super-minimum wage is not only bad public policy, but also…
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Obama’s BRAIN Initiative: Brilliant Policy or Brute Waste?
In April, President Obama announced a new BRAIN Initiative. Its stated goal is to “give scientists the tools they need to get a dynamic…
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Gallup: Record Opposition to Closed Borders
A record number of Americans favor allowing more foreigners to enter and live in the United States each year. Nearly a quarter of Americans (23…
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Unions Plead for Changes to Obamacare, Citing Lost Wages and Benefits
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the leaders of three major labor unions are asking Congress to make fundamental changes to Obamacare, saying that without such changes, it will…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
84 new regulations, from apartment building energy usage to when truckers have lunch.
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The Apple E-Book Ruling and Antitrust Absurdity
A recent ruling against Apple over its e-book pricing policies highlights the absurdity of antitrust laws, as I point out in the Daily Caller:…
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DHS Secretary Napolitano Resigns, TSA Body Scanner Scandal Remains Unresolved
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is resigning to become president of the University of California system. Republican politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)…
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Redman v. Radio Shack
Redman v. Radio Shack Corp., No. 11-cv-06741 (N.D. Ill.) is a class action alleging a right to statutory recovery for Radio Shack’s practice of…
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CEI Podcast for July 11, 2013: Farm Bill Controversy
Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith breaks down the controversy surrounding this year's farm bill.
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Scientists Warn of Dangers of “Precautionary Science”
Eighteen scientists recently weighed in on the unscientific and dangerous nature of the so-called “precautionary principle” in the July issue of the journal Food…
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Senate Committee Passes ENDA, Which Would Lead to Meritless Litigation and Erode Free Speech
A Senate Committee has voted 15-to-7 to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, "a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis…
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Farm Bill Bloat Should Be Voted Down
Today, CEI sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging a vote against the farm bill, H.R. 2642. The letter pointed out that…
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VMT Comes to Oregon
Since its inception, the Interstate Highway System has been universally revered for its scale and accessibility. But the primary funding mechanism which supports it, the…
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SEC Finally Permits Free Speech for Hedge Funds, VCs, and Entrepreneurs
Today is finally the day that the Securities and Exchange Commission -- one year and three months after it was instructed to do so by…
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Bioscience Buzzwords: Seductive Notion or a Way Forward?
Innovation- it’s the buzzword of the day. From President Obama’s State of the Union address to Foreign Policy’s latest cover story to initiatives to revive…
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European Court Invalidates “Whole-Life” Sentences: Fuzzy International Norms Erode Sovereignty, Freedoms, and Safety
It's common to see supporters of U.S. ratification of international treaties claim that they will not radically uproot existing U.S. practices or freedoms, because their…
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Is Agriculture Leadership Trying an End-Run?
Today, a coalition of 20 free-market and conservative groups, including CEI, sent a letter to Speaker of the House Boehner urging him to ensure…
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Another Reason to Love the Sequester: Budget Cuts Prevent Agency from Destroying Valuable Computer Equipment
An agency unnecessarily destroyed $170,000 worth of computing hardware, and planned to destroy $3 million more, in response to garden-variety, easy-to-guard-against malware that…
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Austerity Means Cuts, Not More Spending
Despite its frequent use through the media and in political debate, few journalists and politicians actually use the term “austerity” correctly. But Cypriot Finance Minister…
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Regulation Causes Inflation
Over at the American Spectator, I show why an unintentional and unavoidable side effect of regulation is inflation:…
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Going Nowhere: Transit Workers’ Strike Immobilizes City
After scouring travel sites for hours, I finally found a great deal—the flight would land at the Oakland Airport (OAK) in the San Francisco Bay…
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Obama Administration Discards Reporting Requirements in Obamacare
The Obama administration has illegally discarded the reporting requirements mandated by the 2010 healthcare law, which were designed to prevent countless billions of…
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Beauty and the Beast: Agriculture for the Future
It’s a tale as old as time. How will we feed all the people on this planet of ours, especially with the global population set…
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After 78 Years the NLRA Needs a Makeover
Last week marked the seventy-eighth anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt signing the National Labor Relations Act into law. In that time, it has become clear…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
78 new regulations, from energy efficiency standards for imports to the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee.
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CEI Podcast for July 3, 2013: The EPA’s Assault on State Sovereignty
William Yeatman discusses his new study, "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Assault on State Sovereignty."…
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New York State Bureaucrats Block Lyme Disease Control
As Americans gather outdoors to celebrate the 4th of July, ticks are also out — and in record numbers — particularly in certain places…
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Terrible Ideas that Don’t Die: National Infrastructure Bank Edition
Last Tuesday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced a bill to create a government-owned corporation that would finance infrastructure projects, otherwise known as a national infrastructure…
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Tracking the Cultural Exception, Part Two: Exempt from Success
Arguments for cultural exemptions in free trade agreements seem simple -- allow for continued protection for domestic movie/entertainment industries to bolster their viability. But do…
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Uncertainty and New Regulatory Burdens Hinder Recovery
Since 2011, the Obama administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has been reviewing significantly fewer rules than in prior years and taking longer…
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Her Majesty’s Initiative: Innovation for All?
On Monday, the Financial Times published an editorial praising the United Kingdom’s government for its “provisional approval” of a new in vitro fertilization (IVF)…
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Supreme Court to Hear Case on Union “Neutrality”
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge to President Obama’s “recess” appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, which he made while the…
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CEI Podcast for July 2, 2013: The True Story of European Austerity
A new study by Warren Brookes Fellow Matthew Melchiorre finds that only 4 European countries out of 27 have actually cut taxes and spending.
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Taxpayers Fund IRS Employees’ Representation When Audited
By now, everyone is familiar with the IRS illegally targeting limited-government organizations that applied for non-profit status.
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New Study Dispels Myths of European Austerity
Cries throughout the media of “savage austerity” notwithstanding, only a handful of European countries have actually implemented austerity in the true sense of the term:…
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Bay Area Commuters at the Mercy of Transit Workers
Another week, another reminder that state and local governments are held hostage by their own employees. After a weekend of negotiations failed to yield an…
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Thanks to Students for Liberty at UTC!
WorkplaceChoice would like to thank Students for Liberty at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga for joining the “Save Chattanooga” campaign.
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French Cheese Ban: An Attack on “Scientific Principles” in Violation of Treaties Protecting International Trade?
Earlier, we wrote about the U.S. government's de facto ban on the commonplace, perfectly healthy, normal-smelling French cheese mimolette (which I once confused with…
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Zoning, Property Rights, and the Myth of Benevolent Planners
Dartmouth economics professor Bill Fischel has posted “Fiscal Zoning and Economists’ Views of the Property Tax,” which will be a chapter in a revised…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
80 new regulations, from school lunches to the legal definition of “ski area.”…
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Another Federal Appeals Court Rules against Obama Administration’s Contraceptive Mandate
Contraceptives are easy to obtain, and forcing employers to include a broad array of contraceptives in employee health insurance makes as little sense as forcing…
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What the Senate Immigration Bill Got Right
The Senate’s passage of its immigration reform bill is a meaningful victory for free markets. Free markets ought to extend beyond borders. As has been…
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The Plot Thickens: Mystery Trip to Germany for Chattanooga City Officials
Earlier this month, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger skipped the Mayor’s Industry Appreciation Breakfast in order to meet with…
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DOMA Decision: Win for the Rights of U.S. Citizens to Freely Associate with Foreigners
“We received a cold, brief letter from the Immigration Service notifying us that our petition had been denied. Why? Because we’re both men.” That was…
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DOL Regulating An Entreprenuer Out of Business
Not much of a surprise, but the Department of Labor is inappropriately enforcing arcane regulations that threaten an entrepreneur. In a recent USA Today op-ed,…
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CEI Podcast for June 26, 2013: TSA Full-Body Scanner Transparency
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner discusses the TSA's lack of transparency and the scanners' ineffectiveness in deterring terrorism.
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Border Security Doesn’t Require “Invading” the Border
When President Bush left office in January 2009, there were about 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. If the Senate immigration bill (S. 744) passes, this…
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No Help Wanted: Unions Shut Out Foreign Students
Union-backed provisions in the Senate immigration bill would punish organizations that coordinate visits for foreign students who spend summers traveling and working in America.
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Tracking the Cultural Exception, Part One: How Does One Exempt a Culture?
On June 14, the European Union’s Council of Foreign Affairs adopted a mandate for negotiation on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). It…