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CEI Podcast for June 13, 2013: Deirdre McCloskey Wins CEI’s Julian Simon Award
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Answering Michael Lind’s Question: Why Is No Country Libertarian?
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Obama Should Learn from Germany about Cape Wind
I have an op-ed online in USA Today today entitled “America should learn from Europe on wind power.” In it, I outline how Europe…
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Free Labor Markets: Why Immigrant Riots Aren’t in America’s Future
Sweden’s recent immigrant riots demonstrate America’s large advantage over Europe in assimilating immigrants.
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Cancer Rates Low Among Pesticide Workers
If chemical exposures are a significant cause of cancer, as some environmentalists say, you’d expect that individuals who apply pesticides for a living…
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Legal Ignorance of the Day: Federal Officials Seek to Restrict Religious Speech and “Hate Speech”
To be appointed to a Justice Department position in the Obama administration, you may need to satisfy various ideological litmus tests. But apparently…
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Farm Bill: One Big Catfish (Part 2)
Every five years, like pigs to the trough, the special agricultural interests line up on Capitol Hill, making sure to get their tasty little provisions…
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Farm Bill: One Big Catfish
In addition to the new, costly “agricultural risk coverage,” “adverse market payment,” and "supplemental coverage option" programs in the Senate’s Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act (…
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France’s Taxing Culture
France has long feared foreign competition as a threat to its domestic producers. The nation has some of the most punitive taxes and labor regulations…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
72 new regulations, from federal pecan insurance to avoiding collisions at sea.
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CEI Podcast for June 7, 2013: National Donut Day
June 7 is National Donut Day. General Counsel Sam Kazman is urging Americans to eat not one but two donuts—one for themselves, and one for…
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The Calm of the Genetically Modified Storm?
While the passionate and irrational debate about the health and environmental safety of biotech, or so-called genetically modified (GM), crops rages on, evidence of the…
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CEI Sues Social Security Administration for Ignoring FOIA Request
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed suit in D.C. Circuit Court against the Social Security Administration (SSA) for ignoring a CEI FOIA request that sought…
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Let’s “Officially” End Union Subsidies
This week Senator Rob Portman and Sen. Tom Coburn sent a letter to the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs with a message that…
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CEI Podcast for June 6, 2013: Making Passenger Rail Affordable
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner discusses a new CEI study arguing that regulations make passenger train cars unnecessarily expensive.
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IRS: Double Standard Benchmark
Americans expect that federal agents will enforce the law with integrity, and they expect the ever-prying eyes of an independent media to help ensure that…
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Time for an official end to federal employee union subsidies
Did you know you're paying for union officials to do union business with your tax dollars, a practice known as "official time"?…
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France Needs a “Power-Up” When It Comes to Labor Reform
In its annual country report released on Monday, the IMF turned up the heat on France for labor reform. The Washington-based lender called for…
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Epic Union Walkout a Total Failure
Ten years is a long time. For example, ten years ago Facebook did not exist. “Friends” was still in its 9th season. iTunes was only…
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Two Decades of Regulatory Growth
Over at The American Spectator, Wayne Crews and I marvel at how much the regulatory state has grown over the last twenty years. We also…
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U.S.-EU Trade Talks — The Precautionary Principle Rears its Ugly Head
Even before substantive negotiations have begun, a major problem has surfaced in talks on a U.S.-EU trade agreement. Last month, the European Parliament passed…
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Pennsylvania’s Liquor Privatization Plan Forgot about the Beer
Beer wholesalers are testifying yesterday morning in the Pennsylvania Senate, expressing their opposition to the proposed plans to privatize the state-run liquor store system.
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Graph: More Visas, Less Illegal Immigration
The graph below comes from University of Pennsylvania economist Douglas Massey. It depicts the three ways Mexican migrants have come to the United States–guest…
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Union Invasion: UAW Targets Tennessee
One hundred and fifty years ago an invading Union army was halted at Chattanooga by the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg. The…
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Wisconsin Town Criminalizes Parents for Kids’ Bullying and Offensive Speech
Law Professor Eugene Volokh has an interesting post on a Wisconsin town's "bullying" ordinance, which criminalizes speech by minors as "bullying" or "harassment" if…
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Senate Bill: Better for Legal Immigration
Free market immigration advocates recognize that freeing up America’s legal immigration system creates economic benefits for Americans while simultaneously expanding their rights of…
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George Will on Ten Thousand Commandments
George Will's latest column highlights the main findings of Ten Thousand Commandments.
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European Skepticism of Minimum Wage Falls on Deaf Ears in America
Spain’s central bank—operating within the European country with the highest rate of unemployment—just recommended to the government in Madrid a suspension of the minimum…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
61 new regulations, from Cotton taxes to endangered Hawaiian plants.
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CEI Joins Push for Corporate Tax Reform
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Union Buyer Remorse on Obamacare?
Be careful what you wish for. That's the lesson Big Labor is learning now that Obamacare is unfolding in all its mighty messiness. Labor leaders,…
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Who is Bob King?
The United Auto Workers union is desperately trying to organize Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant. The union’s President, Bob King, has made it his personal mission to…
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Senate Bill Won’t Stop Illegal Immigration Without More Work Visas
When the Senate “Gang of 8” released their immigration reform principles earlier this year, they made an important admission: that drastic restrictions on low-skilled…
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CEI Podcast for May 30, 2013: The Politics of Caffeine
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced plans to investigate, and possibly regulate, caffeine consumption. Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton prefers separation of…
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Retailers Should Keep Consumers — Not Greens — In Mind
As part of its Culture of Alarmism project, the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) has recently launched a coalition letter -- which includes CEI --…
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Regulatory Opacity
In today’s Investor’s Business Daily, Wayne Crews and I make the case that one of the biggest obstacles to regulatory reform is a lack of…
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TTB to Allow, Not Require, Nutritional Labeling on Alcoholic Products
It’s a rare occasion that we get to praise government agencies. While the federal agency governing alcoholic beverages certainly took it’s time to make a…
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Education Department Attack on Free Speech and Due Process Criticized in Washington Post, Chronicle, and Other Papers
Earlier, I wrote about a recent letter from the Education and Justice Departments demanding that the University of Montana define as a reportable "sexual…
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Canada Not Happy with New Country of Origin Labeling Rules
Protectionism through non-tariff trade barriers is alive and well in the trade arena, even with the U.S.’s largest trading partner, Canada. New U.S. Department…
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How to Have Enough Water for Everybody
Last week I testified in the Water and Power Subcommittee in the House of Representatives (hearing linked…
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More than Taxing and Spending
The cost of government is far more than it taxes and spends. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s editorial board agrees, as they opined yesterday:…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
68 new regulations, from Potato Administrative Committees to Segelflugzeugbau sailplanes.
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IRS Political Harassers Could Theoretically Be Fired, as Required by 1998 Law
Earlier, I wrote about how, thanks to civil-service regulations, it is hard to fire government employees for misconduct, despite often-ignored Constitutional provisions, such…
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Oh, the Irony: Unions vs. The Liberal Agenda
In a new study released by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Senior Fellow Daniel DiSalvo found that the increasing cost of binding union contracts…
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Victory in HP Inkjet
A 2-1 decision of the Ninth Circuit agreed with us that the district court incorrectly applied the coupon-valuation provision of the Class Action Fairness Act…
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Entrepreneurship Visas in Senate Immigration Bill Are Critical
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Gang of 8 immigration bill. One provision of this bill will be welcome news to potential…
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Regulation of the Day Update: Olive Oil Victory
I recently posted that new EU regulations would require restaurants to use factory packaged and sealed bottles of olive oil. This would put small…
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NLRB Nominees March Through the U.S. Senate
On May 22, 2013 the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved President Barack Obama’s five nominees for the National Labor Relations Board…
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Anti-Business and Anti-Freedom: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
In the American Spectator, CEI Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray and Geoffrey McLatchey explain why the Senate should be skeptical of the United Nations Convention…
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Does Austerity Really “Kill”?
Does austerity kill? In a recent New York Times op-ed, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu claim that fiscal austerity leads to a worsening of health…
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Firing Government Employees Is Too Hard; the Constitution Intended for It to Be Easier
It's hard to get rid of a career bureaucrat, even at the managerial level. "After you've been here for a year, it's easier to kill…
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CEI Podcast for May 22, 2013: Twenty Years of Ten Thousand Commandments
The twentieth anniversary edition of Ten Thousand Commandments was released this week. Author Wayne Crews discusses the study, and how regulation has evolved over the…
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Five Reasons Immigration Creates Economic Benefits
First, if each new immigrant lowers living standards, new people also lower living standards. But without new people, America’s economy would lack the workers it…
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No Duh: IRS Union Loves Obama
In other news, mice like cheese. "NTEU supported the re-election of President Obama as being in the best interests...of the dedicated men and women of…
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Arizona: Busting Official Time
Use by state and local governments of tax dollars to reward special interests is a longstanding plague on the health of our government finances. But…
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Possible Unintended Consequences in New Obamacare Regulation
The PCIP program gives health care providers an incentive to refuse treatment to people who desperately need it.
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Legal Fallacy Underlies Defense of IRS Harassment by Progressives
Progressives such as those at the Daily Kos are arguing that it would have been just fine to for the IRS to investigate all groups…
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IRS Protest: A Firsthand Report
On May 21, 2013 Tea Party Patriots coordinated protest rallies at over 100 IRS offices throughout the nation. I arrived at the national office in…
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Chicago Teachers Union: We Decide When Your Kids Learn
Yesterday the Chicago Teachers Union wrapped up a three-day protest over the yet to be determined but possible closure of more than 50 public schools.
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Ten Thousand Commandments Released Today
Over at the Daily Caller, Wayne and I briefly summarize of few of the report’s findings.
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IRS-Gate: Time to End Government Unions
What did the President know, and when did he know it? That is the question many are asking in the wake of the unfolding scandal…
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Udall-Paul Legislation Spreads Freedom for Credit Unions and Entrepreneurs
By definition, if a bill is sponsored by Sens. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., or any similarly odd ideological couples in the House, it…
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What Happened to U.S. Wages During Mass Immigration?
America’s immigration debate often focuses on how immigrants affect the welfare state, even though many immigration restrictionists would oppose immigration even if we did…
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Regulation of the Day 231: Serving Olive Oil
Starting January 1, 2014, any olive oil served at EU restaurants “must be in pre-packaged, factory bottles with a tamper-proof dispensing nozzle and labelling in…
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Minnesota DFLers Attempt to Payback Big Labor
Even though a survey conducted by the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association showed 86 percent of family childcare providers in Minnesota oppose pending legislation…
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10KC in WSJ
The Wall Street Journal editorial board weighed in this morning on the issue of regulation, citing a few numbers from the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
This week in the world of regulation: Last week, 71 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. This is up from 64 new final…
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IRS Abuse of Americans Is Nothing New
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Regulation Roundup
Height limits for flying witches on broomsticks, mandatory street musician auditions, and more.
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Could a Unionized Federal Employee Reject a Visa Application for Political Reasons?
Now that IRS officials have been caught red-handed targeting conservative organizations, it is reasonable to ask whether officials at other federal agencies also need more…
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Treasurers’ Union: A Treasure Trove for Democrats
The Internal Revenue Services claims to be “one of the world's most efficient tax administrators.” But it may also be one of the most biased.
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Obama Recess Appointments Violate Constitution; Another Appeals Court Rules Against the NLRB
Another federal appeals court has ruled that President Obama's so-called "recess appointments" to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional because the Senate was not…
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CEI Podcast for May 16, 2013: A Controversial EPA Nominee
According to Myron Ebell, the deeper cause of this political fight is a startling lack of transparency at the EPA that McCarthy is unlikely to…
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Surprising Junk Science on Fox News
News stories trumping junk science are common, but I expect better from Fox News, which claims to be "fair and balanced" and hosts great shows…
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Chaos at the NLRB
Yes, a second court has now ruled that President Obama's "recess" appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional. The 2-1 decision from the…
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Rep. Whitfield Discusses CEI’s Battle With EPA on House Floor
In the below video, U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (KY-01) talks about the Environmental Protection Agency’s discriminatory practice of granting fee waivers to political allies and…
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Regulation of the Day 230: The Temperature of Beer
The state of Indiana regulates the temperature at which convenience stores may sell beer. Specifically, they must sell it at room temperature. Cold beer is…
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Coalition Urges Policymakers to Reform the “Terrible Twelve” of Farm Policy
Action is heating up on the next farm bill, as the Senate Agriculture Committee today completed its markup of their bill which will go…
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‘Gift Clause’ Can Eliminate Union Pork
What happens when state laws grant government unions the power of collective bargaining? Taxpayer funds become misused and end up aiding government union bosses at…
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Sorry, Daily Beast: E-Verify Will Be National ID
Daily Beast blogger Justin Green, who blogs on columnist David Frum’s Daily Beast blog, has responded to Wired’s recent article “Biometric Database of All…
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Milton Friedman, Immigration, and Birth Control
Milton Friedman, perhaps the most important free market economist and libertarian activist of the 20th century, is also the favorite of immigration restrictionists for comments he…
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IRS Investigated Groups for Teaching about the Constitution
The IRS didn’t just investigate groups based on their perceived political views, but also targeted groups for “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights”…
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“Shocking” Truth about Government and Soap
Is your hand wash slowly killing you as government regulators sit idly by? Sounds silly, but that’s what environmentalists seem to think about an antibacterial…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
64 new regulations, from drawbridge schedules to official seals.
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Correcting Misconceptions about Autonomous Vehicles: Reason Magazine Edition
In the June issue of Reason, one of my favorite publications, Greg Beato has an article discussing the public policy implications of autonomous vehicles, such…
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Excuses, Excuses
The IRS today acknowledged that it had wrongfully targeted Tea Party groups for heightened scrutiny. In trying to explain the agency’s mistake, IRS spokeswoman…
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Federal Title IX Enforcers Effectively Define Dating and Sex Education as “Sexual Harassment”
No one would believe you if you made this up, but it's now actually happened: The Justice Department and the Education Department's Office for Civil…
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Coalition Urges Reform of Sugar Program
The Hill picked up our coalition’s release on reforming the U.S. sugar program. The letter, sent to all Senate and House offices, was…
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IRS Apologizes for Targeting Conservative Groups
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Heritage Immigration Report Implies 70% of Americans “Increase Poverty”
The Heritage Foundation’s new report on the fiscal costs of legalization for unauthorized immigrants concluded that it will cost taxpayers $6.3 trillion. Yesterday, I…
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Government’s Chinatown Bus Shutdowns Based on “Statistical Malpractice”
Reason’s Jim Epstein has an article up that does a nice job debunking a National Transportation Safety Board study, prompted by a 2011…
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Seven Ways Heritage Concluded Immigration Reform Will Cost $6.3 Trillion
The Heritage Foundation’s report this week that suggests legalization for unauthorized immigrants will result in a $6.3 billion fiscal deficit is an important conversation…
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The Economist on “the muddle-headed world of American public pension accounting”
As state governments across the nation struggle to address a public pension underfunding crisis they can no longer deny, The Economist is the latest…
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CEI Podcast for May 8, 2013: The Debate over Undocumented Immigration
CEI Immigration Policy Analyst David Bier is critical of a new Heritage Foundation study that estimates that giving legal status to America's undocumented immigrants would…
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Europe’s “Green Energy” Initiatives Don’t Want Your Help
As European renewable energy initiatives seek to radically reform their means of energy production, it would make sense that it be done in the most…
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Youth Unemployment Is at Highest Sustained Level Since World War II
Real youth unemployment is at 16.1 percent, the highest sustained rate since World War II. As the non-partisan youth advocacy group Generation Opportunity notes,…
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Ohio Deserves Right-To-Work
Right-to-work has been sweeping the country like a glorious fever (symptoms include swelling opportunity and dangerous spikes in liberty), even seizing brows in deep-blue union strongholds like…
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‘Life of Julius’ shows how unions kill jobs, hurt workers
Many people realize that unions can hurt the workers they claim to represent. For example, the United Auto Workers union drove labor costs up for…
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Government Gives Students Lifelong Lesson— In Debt
Jodi Romine is just your typical 26 year-old. Like most students, Jodi took out a student loan so that she could afford university in hopes…
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John Locke’s Response to Heritage: Don’t Blame Immigrants for Fiscal Problems
Washington's largest conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, has released a study that suggests legalization for illegal immigrants will cost taxpayers trillions of dollars over the next…