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Today’s Links: September 28, 2012
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Big Labor’s Midwest Offensive
Openmarket.org Yesterday in the St. Paul, Minnesota, Pioneer Press, my colleague Russ Pohl and I detail the current militant tactics used by Midwest public-sector unions…
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Scapegoating Free Speech
In the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Libya that killed our ambassador and three other Americans, the Obama administration was quick to scapegoat a…
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Old Hat
Is the Chevy Volt really new technology? General Motors justifies its profit losses on the automobile by claiming it’s a long-term investment in a brand…
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Google Fiber Project: A Product Of The Free Market Or Government Interference?
Google will soon launch Google Fiber service to select residents in Kansas City. Fred Campbell, Director of CEI’s Communications Liberty and Innovation Project, lauded…
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Study Finds Diisononyl Phthalate Safe For Toys
While news sources, greens, and U.S. lawmakers hype the risks about children’s exposure to the chemicals found in a host of plastic…
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Saving The Game: Botched Calls And Legitimacy In The NFL
As a Seattle Seahawks fan living in Washington, D.C., I was excited for my team’s nationally televised Monday night game against the Green Bay Packers.
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Today’s Links: September 27, 2012
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Today’s Links: September 26, 2012
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In Rejecting EPIC’s Petition On TSA’s Strip-Search Machines, Court Effectively Orders Rulemaking Timetable
This afternoon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for writ of mandamus, which called on the court…
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Driverless Cars Legalized In California
Just after 1pm PDT, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1298, which explicitly legalizes the use and testing of driverless cars in the…
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Work ‘til You Drop: Is This The Next European “Welfare?”
As Europe’s population ages, its widespread entitlement commitments will generate huge burdens on governments’ budgets. The economic consequences are easy to foresee: just think of…
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Today’s Links: September 25, 2012
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Today’s Links: September 24, 2012
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State Pension Bailout Threat
The state pension underfunding crisis has grown so severe that it has prompted most U.S. states to cut benefits, according to calculations by The…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
82 new regulations, from Indian casinos to bailouts for fruit tree owners.
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State Capitalism Or Corporatism? Italy’s Carmaker Conundrum
Italy’s iconic car manufacturer, Fiat, announced Saturday its plans to keep its production base in Italy after months of threatening to leave for more…
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Chicago strike shows unions corrupt teachers, harm students
The Washington Examiner Americans like teachers. We like to think of public school teachers as kindly, idealistic men and women nurturing rows of attentive,…
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Junk Science Is Worse For Your Health Than Egg Yolks
We all know that eggs contain a lot of fat and cholesterol. While that does not make them “bad,” most of us realize that if…
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Regulation Roundup
Seatbelts for dogs, surveillance cameras for surveillance cameras, plus more.
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Teacher Unions Celebrate Another Victory For The “Greater” Good
While teacher unions are succeeding in bankrupting Chicago, the teacher unions of Wisconsin are trying to bankrupt the entire state in the name of getting…
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PATTERSON AND BROWN: Unions stack the deck against job creation
By Matt Patterson and Chrissy Brown, The Washington Times If you build it, jobs will come. That’s what Marylanders are being promised in the…
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The European Central Bank’s Losing Game Of Chicken
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi is losing a game of chicken with the Euro Area’s distressed peripheral countries. Earlier this month, Draghi announced…
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CEI Podcast For September 20, 2012: The Economic Development Administration
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Wall Street Journal: Obama Administration Undermined Welfare Reform’s Work Requirements
"The Administration has made welfare's work requirements far weaker," explains The Wall Street Journal in a detailed editorial today: an HHS regulatory "information…
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Beware Of Unaudited Benefit Analyses
Regulatory agencies have an eternal incentive to expand their missions and grow their budgets. One consequence of this is that their cost-benefit analyses cannot be…
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Can We Please Have A Grownup Discussion About Distracted Driving?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a new study on distracted driving [PDF]. According to the agency, 9 percent of total…
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Economic Freedom Of The World
Non-economists tend to be much more skeptical about economic freedom than economists are. This in itself is a powerful case for free markets. But empirical…
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Today’s Links: September 19, 2012
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Today’s Links: September 18, 2012
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As Union Popularity Fades, A Fight For Power Threatens Michigan
The major focus on issues involving public sector unions right now is the current teachers’ strike in Chicago. Now that the strike is in…
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Striking: Right Or Privilege?
As the Chicago teachers’ strike is entering its second week, Mayor Emanuel has pledged to seek an injunction with the court to force instructors back…
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The Sad, Early History Of Railroad Regulation: From Subsidies To Nationalization
CEI has long made it its mission to highlight to downsides and dangers of economic regulation. One classic example is the experience with America's railroads…
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Wisconsin Judge to Voters: “Drop Dead”
Openmarket.org Who needs elections when you have judges? In Wisconsin, the voters have decided to reform their state’s collective bargaining laws. They did so…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
76 new regulations, from DEA property seizures to place-of-origin requirements for wine.
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EPA Celebrates Mass Murderer Che Guevara For Hispanic Heritage Month
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Wisconsin Judge To Voters: “Drop Dead”
Who needs elections when you have judges? In Wisconsin, the voters have decided to reform their state's collective bargaining laws. They did so by, 1)…
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Rules Are For The Little People, Not Cabinet Secretaries
Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health & Human Services, violated the Hatch Act by engaging in partisan politics at a "taxpayer-funded public event." But…
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Today’s Links: September 17, 2012
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The Teachers’ Union Strikes Back
American Thinker A short time ago, in a city not so very far away, an insidious organization hijacked an entire school system, putting the…
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Chicago Teachers Strike: A Lesson Of “Excessive Zeal And No Brains”
On September 10, 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) walked out of the city’s public schools after negotiations fell through with Chicago Mayor Rahm…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Back To School Edition
Alabama: Up until last year brewpubs were illegal in Alabama due to a law that prevented beer being sold on the same site where…
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Chicago Teachers Union: Overpaid Babysitters?
Openmarket.org The grand themes of the current Chicago teacher’s strike opera are broadly similar to other union-agitated public work stoppages. The union makes demands (more money, etc.) the city/company balks…
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Farms Need Workers, Not Subsidies
Reports of record farm profits has CNBC’s Senior Online Editor John Carney calling America’s agricultural labor shortage “phony,” and by implication, just an excuse…
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Disturbing Calls For Censorship In America By Professors, Journalists, U.S. Diplomats, And Egyptian Government
In response to a film that mocked Mohammed, journalists on MSNBC, a professor, and the Egyptian government called for punishment of the film's producers.
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Chicago Teachers Union: Overpaid Babysitters?
The grand themes of the current Chicago teacher's strike opera are broadly similar to other union-agitated public work stoppages. The union makes demands (more money, etc.) the city/company balks ("We can't…
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CEI Podcast For September 13, 2012: CEI Sues The EPA
The EPA has been stonewalling a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Competitive Enterprise Institute since 2010. CEI has sued the EPA in…
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Today’s Links: September 13, 2012
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Unions Seek To Make Michigan A Mediterranean State
On September 5, the Michigan Supreme Court gave a green light to the so-called “Protect our Jobs Amendment” (POJA) for the November 6 ballot. The proposed…
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Today’s Links: September 12, 2012
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Copyright Bots Are Here To Stay
A string of mistaken, high-profile takedowns has caused some talk about the services video hosting sites like Ustream and YouTube use to police…
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Today’s Links: September 11, 2012
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In re Johnson & Johnson Shareholder Derivative Litigation
Alison Frankel recently asked whether it’s the end of “money-for-nothing” class actions; Ronald Barusch asks a similar question. The Center for Class Action…
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Lawmaker Bullies Employer Because Its Employee Supported Gay Marriage
Maryland State Delegate Emmett Burns (D-Baltimore), who has a long record of hostility to business (a 90 percent bad MBRG rating), gave more evidence of that…
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Federal Government: Fire Good Employees, Hire Bad Ones
The Obama administration is pressuring employers outside the financial sector to hire felons, even as its regulations force employers in the financial sector to fire "thousands…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
51 new rules and 1,641 Federal Register pages, from storing explosives to keeping fisheries accountable.
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Collective Bargaining: Mythical Right Turned Constitutional In Michigan?
Everyone knows that our Founding Fathers’ primary motive during the revolution was to preserve collective bargaining for the carriage industries. That as Washington crossed the…
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Want 1990s Job Growth? Go Back To Clinton-Era Deregulation
As much as the term “Forward” was used at the Democratic National Convention this week, the speeches of Bill Clinton and, to an extent, President…
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Fact Checking Lilly Ledbetter’s False Speech At The Democratic National Convention
Former pay-discrimination plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter, in speaking at the Democratic National Convention on September 4, repeated the false claim that she learned about the…
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Regulation Of The Day 228: Peyton Manning’s Jersey
School officials forbid 8-year old Colorado boy from wearing his Peyton Manning jersey to school because of possible gang ties.
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Today’s Links: September 7, 2012
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CEI Podcast For September 27, 2012: The Future Of Generic Biotech Crops
Senior Fellow Greg Conko discusses his new paper, "Is There a Future for Generic Biotech Crops? Regulatory Reform Is Needed for a Viable Post-Patent Industry."…
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CEI Podcast For September 6, 2012: Modernizing Air Traffic Control
America's air traffic control system can be charitably described as an antique. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner describes some of the problems the…
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Today’s Links: September 6, 2012
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Modernizing Air Traffic Control In The United States
In The Washington Examiner, a story citing me provides an overview of where the United States is in modernizing its air traffic control system.
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The Conventions Continue
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Today’s Links: September 5, 2012
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Massive Fraud Against Clients In Class Action Lawsuit Brought By Obama As Lawyer?
I have often written about abuses in class-action lawsuits, such as lawyers ripping off their clients, or using settlement money for ideological causes…
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Crony Capitalism In Fiction: Catch-22
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
74 new rules and 2,086 Federal Register pages, from migratory birds to cranberries.
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Science And Technology Policy And The Democratic Convention
Now it's the Democrats' turn to gather for their convention in Charlotte and one element of the platform in common with basic Republican philosophy is…
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Today’s Links: September 4, 2012
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Time for workers to take back Labor Day
Fox News On Monday, September 3, millions of Americans will celebrate Labor Day. For most, it will mean nothing more than the unofficial end…
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“Fact Checker” Repeals The Laws Of Supply And Demand: The Bias Of PolitiFact
The left-leaning, self-proclaimed "fact checker" PolitiFact ignored the most basic economic law, the law of supply and demand, in claiming that cap-and-trade legislation, which…
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International Boilermakers: Labor Union Or Business Tycoons?
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers strikes again -- with a slap in the face to its members. The Boilermakers…
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Today’s Links: August 31, 2012
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Regulation Roundup
Doormats banned in Leeds, exploding sausages in Canada, plus more.
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CEI Podcast For August 30, 2012: Delayed FDA Rules Should Be Scrapped
Senior Fellow Greg Conko argues that these rules should be scrapped altogether for two reasons: they will do little to improve food safety, and they…
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Regulation Of The Day 227: Returning From The Moon
When Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned to Earth after the Apollo 11 mission, they actually filled out a customs form.
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Diverse GOP Voices Emphasize Immigrant Contributions
[caption id="attachment_59817" align="alignleft" width="266"] Former-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice[/caption] Even as the Republican National Committee adopted a platform advocating strict immigration enforcement, several influential party…
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Conventions Cost Taxpayers Up To $136 Million
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Worker Choice vs Forced Fraternity
Openmarket.org Public support and perception of labor unions is dwindling significantly. Even Hollywood is throwing them under the bus with the new film, Won’t Back…
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In Free Speech Victory, SEC Lifts Gag Rule On Hedge Funds And Venture Capital
Today's proposed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule lifting the outdated ban on "general solicitation" by hedge funds and venture capitalists is a victory for entrepreneurs,…
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Worker Choice Versus Forced Fraternity
Public support and perception of labor unions is dwindling significantly. Even Hollywood is throwing them under the bus with the new film, Won’t Back Down.
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California Pension Reform Plan A Step In The Right Direction But Not Enough
California Governor Jerry Brown (D) yesterday announced a pension reform agreement, which if approved by the legislature, likely will help narrow the Golden State’s…
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Congress Should Create A Repeal Committee
David Deerson and I look at how such a committee might work in a piece over at RealClearPolicy:…
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Republican Platform Opposes Internet Gambling
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Higher Education Bubble Spawns Demographic Decline Among Educated Americans
The Washington Times takes note of the burgeoning higher education bubble in a recent editorial: The cost of a college education has…
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The “Gift Clause” Would Force Camden Police Union Bosses To Do Police Work
Openmarket.org While Camden New Jersey is being devastated by budget cuts, homicides are accumulating at record pace and unemployment is skyrocketing. Despite the city’s…
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The “Gift Clause” Would Force Camden Police Union Bosses To Do Police Work
While Camden New Jersey is being devastated by budget cuts, homicides are accumulating at record pace and unemployment is skyrocketing. Despite the city’s plight, the…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
76 new rules and1,687 Federal Register pages, from offshore drilling to odometers.
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The Dark Ages Weren’t So Dark, And Neither Is Modernity
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Solyndra In Space?
Here we go again. It's unfortunate that so many conservatives are opposed to competitive markets in spaceflight, to the point that they are willing to…
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Obama Justice Department Recruits Lawyers With “Severe Intellectual Disabilities,” But Excludes Conservatives
Reality is often stranger than fiction. A former Justice Department lawyer, who publishes at PJ Tatler, has obtained documents from the Justice Department detailing…
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Regulation Roundup
A creative way to get around liquor permits, plus more.
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Today’s Links: August 24, 2012
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Clinton Vs. Clinton (And Obama) On Deregulation
With little success on the economic front, President Barack Obama in 2012 is embracing much of his message on the economy from 2008. And from that playbook,…
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If Demography Is Destiny, We’re Screwed (So To Speak)
"Things will get better." Such sentiments frequently fall from the lips of ever-loving economic optimists who -- while noting the current distressed condition of things…
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Colorado Voters Ready To Tell State to Follow Constitution
Openmarket.org, NewWallofSeparation.org In Colorado, Douglas County School Board members are questioning the district’s current collective bargaining system due to arcane provisions and a decaying…
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CEI Podcast for August 23, 2012: Bailouts as Corruption
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson argues that when government is big and powerful enough to dispense favors like bailouts, special interests will flock to Washington to…