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Biden Executive Order Harms Transparency
The Biden administration recently issued an Executive Order making major changes to the regulatory system, although almost nobody noticed thanks to culture war drama…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Headline CPI inflation went down slightly, but a deeper look shows that things got slightly worse. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from low-fat…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
An Executive Order from the Biden administration made some of the biggest system-level regulatory changes in years. It raises the threshold for “economically significant”…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Finland, which borders Russia, is joining NATO. Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate, signaling it intends to hold firm on fighting inflation. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from…
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Fed Credibility Depends on it Continuing to Raise Rates
Today’s federal funds rate hike is good news because it signals commitment. That will help the public to expect the Fed to continue to…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Silicon Valley Bank’s failure was the confluence of bad management and bad regulations. It could also complicate the Fed’s inflation-fighting efforts. Meanwhile, agencies…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden released a $6.8 trillion proposed budget. The labor force grew by 311,000 people in February. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
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Regulatory Reform in the 118th Congress: The ALERT Act
Transparency is a vital part of good government. It is also lacking in the regulatory process. H.R. 262, The All Economic Regulations are Transparent…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
CEI published a new paper on right-to-repair legislation and held a hill briefing about regulatory reform and other topics. Meanwhile, agencies issued new…
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Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The Article I Regulatory Budget Act
The federal government is supposed to put out an annual budget to track its spending. Why doesn’t it do the same thing for regulation? The…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. CEI released a new paper on the FTC’s upcoming merger guideline…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2023 Federal Register topped 10,000 pages on February 16. Inflation remained high, but is still below its peak. FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson…
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The Judiciary Is Skeptical of FTC Power Grabs in Meta/Within Case
The FTC tried to stop a merger between Facebook’s parent company Meta and the virtual reality app developer Within Unlimited. A court recently ruled against…
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New CEI Paper on New Merger Guidelines
Any day now, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will release new merger guidelines. FTC Chair Lina Khan has not yet released a draft of the…
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Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The Less Is More Resolution
Often, spending is regulation in disguise. The 185,000-page Code of Federal Regulations is not the only way Washington regulates the economy. The federal government…
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Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The GOOD Act
Regulatory dark matter is a serious problem. Agencies are supposed to run new regulations through a formal process which includes publishing a draft version of…
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Mixed Inflation News for January
Today’s inflation news is mixed. We’re still almost certainly past the worst of the COVID inflation, but January’s numbers took a turn for the…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
An earthquake killed at least 20,000 people in Turkey. President Biden delivered the State of the Union speech. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from…
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Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The REINS Act
Every new session of Congress is a new chance to enact substantive regulatory reform. This post inaugurates an occasional series highlighting reform bills that have…
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State of the Union and Inflation
Presidents, like quarterbacks, get too much blame when things go badly, and too much when things go well. Look for President Biden to take advantage…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had a setback in one of its cases against Meta. The Fed raised interest rates. Meanwhile, agencies…
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FTC Should Not Trade Consumer Welfare for an Antitrust Crystal Ball
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Department of Justice filed another antitrust lawsuit against Google. GDP numbers for the final quarter of 2022 looked healthy. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations…
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Adam Smith, Greek Tragedy, and Public Policy
In high school civics classes, Adam Smith is a cartoon character. Like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, he is portrayed as selfish, cold, and calculating.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The U.S. government hit its debt ceiling, setting up some congressional drama. Microsoft and Google joined the parade of antitrust targets announcing layoffs despite…
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The Debt Ceiling and the Trillion-Dollar Coin
Another debt ceiling battle is brewing, and pundits are debating what to do about it. Over at National Review’ Capital Matters, I take a look…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Inflation fell to a 6.5 percent annual pace. Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro staged their own version of January 6. An…
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Federal Reserve Declines to Become Climate Regulator
Most agencies can either do one thing well or many things poorly. For example, the Federal Reserve would be perfectly capable of keeping inflation low…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The new Congress began with a lot of drama over selecting a speaker. The Federal Trade Commission announced its intention to ban non-compete clauses.