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America’s unfair second court system
Stone Washington and I have a paper out today on reforming administrative law courts, or ALCs. We also summarize our findings over at National…
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Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next year?
As expected, the Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate the same this week, which influences other interest rates, including car and mortgage payments. The…
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Khan’s FTC could harm America’s competitiveness abroad
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) threatens to put US global competitiveness at risk by pursuing stringent antitrust goals that target the largest American tech companies,…
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Senators asking the right question on nuclear license renewals
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) ranking member of the SenateEnvironment and Public Works Committee and Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) ranking member of the Committee’s Subcommittee on…
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Biden’s yearly Federal Register second-highest page count ever, could still score number one
The Federal Register is the daily depository of rules and regulations. Today, the count stood at 86,256 pages, with three weeks to go for Joe…
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Inflation holds steady, Fed interest rates likely to stay put
The Consumer Price Index went up 0.1 percent in the month of November. Its 12-month increase is 3.1 percent, same as last month’s report.
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Federal government waves goodbye to ‘economically significant’ regulations
Last week, the Fall 2023 edition of the White House’s Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions appeared. It features the…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Address labels and exporting missiles
The FDA approved the world’s first gene-editing therapy, which could cure sickle cell disease. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent. Meanwhile, agencies issued…
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Tom Vilsack tries to change the subject, but a slush fund is still a slush fund
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack published an op-ed in direct response to an op-ed written by CEI’s Patricia Patnode in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
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Free the Economy podcast: Centers of Progress with Chelsea Follett
In this week’s episode we cover the housing abundance agenda, antitrust concerns about corporate climate alliances, the future of global nuclear…
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Important question: How many people will new AI regulations kill?
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released a draft memorandum outlining new requirements for federal agencies using artificial intelligence (AI).
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House should brake bureaucrats limiting vehicle choice with CARS Act
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is trying to limit the ability of Americans to buy gas-powered cars. That is, the cars that people actually want…
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COP28: The conference on penance
Dubai is currently hosting the 28th Conference on Penance (COP). Well, that’s what the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on…
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Central banks are watching. Let’s watch them back.
One of the biggest dangers of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), I and others have warned, is that it would give a government that…
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Is UAW still an automaker union? How Gaza became a top issue
The name “United Auto Workers” would appear to pretty clearly indicate who that union represents, but it is increasingly becoming inaccurate. Today, only about…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Au pairs and processed pears
The 2023 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. Henry Kissinger died at age 100. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
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Inflation makes regulations even more expensive
The just-released 2023 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments report estimates that the total cost of complying with all federal regulations is $1.94…
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The latest on nuclear power bans: Illinois poised to take an important step
The Illinois nuclear construction ban will soon be a thing of the past.Earlier this year, both state chambers, through a supermajority vote, passed a…
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Biden admin: Taxpayers don’t need to know about ‘official time’
The Biden administration is actively rolling back transparency requirements for unions, most recently by no longer posting information on the controversial practice of…
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Equity shmequity: How US government’s ‘discounting’ policy hurts the global poor
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently finalized its Circular A-4 guidance on regulatory analysis, constituting the first update to the guidance in…
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Free the Economy podcast: The future of energy and environmental policy with Travis Fisher
In this week’s episode we cover the political path toward abundance, the need for permitting reform beyond the National Environmental Policy Act,…
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The catastrophic consequences of COVID for California constitutional government
COVID-19 hit California hard. The effects of COVID on California’s population were terrible, and the government policies that California imposed on its citizens may have…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2023 is out now
The 2023 edition of CEI’s flagship annual study, Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments, is out now. For those not familiar, 10KC gives a big-picture…
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Wall Street Journal reports consumer frustrations with over-regulated appliances
2023 is turning into the year of bad appliance regulations. Since January, CEI has submitted comments critical of proposed Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Slender salamanders and joint employers
Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary cease-fire. OpenAI’s board of directors fired CEO Sam Altman, then re-hired him and fired themselves. President Joe Biden…
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Free the Economy podcast: Making college pay with Preston Cooper
In this week’s episode we cover Javier Milei’s election as president of Argentina, how much money it takes to be happy,…
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Cold truth about government pushing electric: Natural gas is much cheaper
The Department of Energy (DOE) has repeatedly documented that using natural gas in homes is far cheaper than using electricity.This hasn’t stopped the Biden…
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Slice the regulatory turkey this Thanksgiving
The turkeys Liberty and Bell just received a Thanksgiving pardon from Joe Biden. The official presentation of a turkey for a presidential pardon and rescue…
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CEI’s The Surge: Carbon tariffs, CAFE standards, and more!
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: California raisins and debit card fees
There was a pro-Israel and anti-Hamas rally on the National Mall of more than 200,000 people. A fight nearly broke out at a Senate hearing.
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Free the Economy podcast: Getting out of control with Neil Chilson
In this week’s episode we cover the American Nuclear Society’s Winter 2023 conference, the opportunities and pitfalls of online side-hustles, and the…
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Vehicle kill switches and other horrible things Washington is doing to us from a distance
The remote kill switch for automobiles authorized by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021 is a prime…
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Exposing the federal bureaucracy’s blurry courts
Many federal agencies prevent regular Americans from understanding what they are up to by obscuring the work being conducted by their little-known administrative law courts…
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Ringside seats at today’s Senate cage match
A lot of preparation goes into testifying before a Senate committee. To borrow from the late Donald Rumsfeld, there are the “known” things that…
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Labor Department would ignore law to change overtime rules
I submitted a comment on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) regarding…
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Biden admin appliance regulations are bad for small businesses and homeowners
Department of Energy (DOE) bureaucrats are making 2023 a bad year for homeowners with an avalanche of proposed and final appliance regulations impacting stoves, washing…
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White House report reveals tens of billions in new annual regulatory costs
A consolidated Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations hit the shelves at the end of October, catching…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Junk fees and dehumidifiers
It was a four-day week due to Veterans Day. Another government shutdown deadline is less than a week away. The FTC issued a proposed rule…
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Free the Economy podcast: Personal finance and YouTube with Spencer Johnson
In this week’s episode we cover how states can reform higher education, ways that managers can make their employees happier at work,…
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NLRB responds to CEI on government ‘encouraging’ unionization
The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a rulemaking that included a direct rebuttal to an argument made by the Competitive Enterprise Institute regarding…
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10 important amendments for the House Transportation spending bill
The US House of Representatives is currently debating H.R. 4820, its Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development spending bill. There are many good amendments being…
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Experts weigh in: Sen. Cassidy’s carbon tariff bill would mean more taxes
A carbon tax is both bad policy and dumb politics. Yet Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) has just introduced legislation, the Foreign Pollution Fee…
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Justice Department ignores consumers, boosts Bing in Google antitrust trial
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) case accusing Google of having and unlawfully maintaining a monopoly in search is in full swing in US District…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Gas cans and shorts reporting
President Biden issued an Executive Order on AI regulation. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. Jobs growth slowed, but still grew.
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Is the Fed done with interest rate hikes?
The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee held the federal funds rate steady this week at its most recent meeting, as expected. It will range…
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12 important amendments for the House Interior, environment spending bill
The House is currently debating H.R. 4821, its Interior and environment spending bill. There are many good amendments being considered on the floor. Here…
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5 bad appliance regulations Congress should reject with the Congressional Review Act
This is the third article in CEI’s Special Briefing Series: Defending the Personal Energy Choices of Americans. It isn’t just gas stoves. The Biden administration has…
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Free the Economy podcast: The trouble with big-government conservatives with André Béliveau
In this week’s episode we talk about which state has the least-bad business taxes, how many Americans really love America, the continuing…
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UAW strike epilogue: Big Three will continue to shrink
The United Auto Workers has won, according to the headlines. What the union has won will force three companies, Ford, GM, and Stellantis, owner…
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SEC commissioner bashes private markets, shows why public capital flight is happening
Caroline Crenshaw, a designated Democratic commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently was sharply critical of private markets. “Investor protection and systemic risk…
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H.L. Mencken channels Adam Smith
Over at Liberty Fund’s AdamSmithWorks website, I have an article drawing a parallel between Adam Smith’s moral philosophy and H.L. Mencken’s satire:…
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Three Supreme Court justices have gone public about the fundamental unfairness of civil forfeiture
Yesterday, I was able to get out of the office to watch the oral argument in Culley v. Marshall before the Supreme Court of…
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CEI’s The Surge: Climate change slush fund, the true cost of EVs, and more
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication…
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Biden administration cites fanciful numbers to support ‘right to repair’
The Biden White House hosted an event on right to repair last Tuesday to provide information “about federal and state efforts to strengthen the…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Joint employers and almond taxes
GDP grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter of 2023. Mike Johnson became Speaker of the House. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from Kraft…
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FCC wants European-style broadband regulation, would throttle American consumers
Aristotle said that nature abhors a vacuum so that every space in nature must be filled. Apparently, the FCC has taken inspiration from ancient Greek…
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What we’re not seeing here: Why policy debates need Bastiat
I was honored to give a presentation this week to the George Mason University Economics Society. The title of my presentation was “Unseen Consequences: Frederic…
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Issue at a glance: Blocking the Biden climate change slush fund
Overview of the issue: The Biden administration is using what has become a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) slush fund to spend billions of…
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NLRB expands ‘joint employer’ rule to include kitchen sink
The National Labor Relations Board has issued its new rule for “joint employer status.” As expected, it extends the rule for when one company…
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Ford-UAW deal: Declare victory and go home
The current United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three automakers has been more of a public relations spectacle than an actual strike. At no…
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Free the Economy podcast: Polling capitalism with Karlyn Bowman
In this week’s episode we talk about the surprisingly low demand for free transit, the demographics of higher education in the U.S.,…
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Pope’s letter on climate change misses mark
The Vatican is concluding the last week of the 2023 Synod of Synodality, a three-year series of discussions involving Catholic bishops and selected laypeople.
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Air travel will continue to increase—unless grounded by climate change policies
The Duke of Wellington was said to have opposed the growth of railroads in 19th-century Britain because they would “only encourage the common people to…
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UN Montreal Protocol meeting begins in Nairobi
The United Nations’ 35th meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) begins this week in…
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Stopping mergers before they start
If two companies above a certain size want to merge, antitrust regulators have to approve the deal first. The FTC recently published draft guidelines for…
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Biden admin wants to sweep independent agency regulation costs under the rug. Congress should say no.
When Congress gets around to streamlining federal regulations and forcing disclosure of their costs, exposés of the paperwork inflicted on the economy by independent…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Blood donations to mortality tables
Poland voted its nationalist-populist government out of power. The US House of Representatives remained without a speaker, but with a lot of drama. Agencies issued…
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US to import more oil from Venezuela, still denying domestic energy projects
The Biden administration suspended certain sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas operations Wednesday. The Treasury Department stated that this action was taken “in…
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Gensler SEC’s PDA rule would keep investors in the dark
Hailing one of his new mandates on entrepreneurs and investors, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler proclaimed, “In today’s fast-moving financial markets, it’s important that market…
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It’s time to bring reason to emotional AI debates
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises immense benefits, ranging from revolutionizing healthcare diagnostics and treatment to radically improving transportation safety. However, as this rapidly advancing technology spreads,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Creating the future with Jim Pethokoukis
In this week’s episode we talk about income and tax migration, refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the problem with federal crop…
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Cease and desist, CEI urges National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
I submitted comments on behalf of CEI to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Monday on its proposed model year (MY) 2027-2032…
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A Jury Trial Must Precede Fines and Occupational Banishment
Imagine that the government has accused you of wrongdoing that you didn’t commit. You would expect a jury of your peers to recognize your innocence.
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The Surge: Energy and Environmental Updates – Appliance efficiency standards, IRA tax credits, and more
The following is the second edition of CEI’s new biweekly publication “The Surge.” If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Junk fees and pool pumps
Hamas attacked Israel, and another tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Claudia Goldin won the economics Nobel for her work on women in…
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What you should know about the grid: A brief primer
For a long time, the electrical grid has dwelt quietly in the background of American life. It hums away quietly and most people seldom think…
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Don’t drink the water: Why FCC treating broadband like a utility could make service worse
In its initial Fact Sheet, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposes to apply Title II of the Communications Act to affirm “that broadband service…
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Free the Economy podcast: Going into labor with Sean Higgins
In this week’s episode we talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s legal fate, rising economic might in India, terrible federal…
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Congress should prohibit the EPA’s use of IRA subsidies to justify its regulations
Instead of taking a regulatory or “stick” approach to address many issues within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), legislators specifically chose to use subsidies or…
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Federal energy efficiency requirements are outdated and should be repealed
This is the second article in CEI’s Special Briefing Series: Defending the Personal Energy Choices of Americans. Americans have experienced appliance inflation over the past…
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The SEC’s misguided attempt to regulate AI
My colleague John Berlau and I submitted a comment letter this week to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing its proposed regulations on…
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New EPA air conditioner regulation certain to get homeowners heated up
Another Friday news dump, another bad Biden administration appliance regulation slipped in ahead of the weekend. Last Friday it was one targeting air conditioners –…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Gag harvests and helium contracts
Populist Republicans got rid of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. In a classic bit of political strategy, they did not have a replacement in…
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As Predicted, UAW Strike Remains Limited, Spares Automakers From Full Walkout
It only took about three weeks, but mainstream journalists are becoming aware of something the Competitive Enterprise Institute has been pointing out from the start:…
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The year of strikes ain’t over yet
2023 has had the most major labor strikes the country has seen in decades, with likely more to come. Unions leaders are itching to do…
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Free the Economy podcast: Financial regulation and ESG with Hester Peirce
In this week’s episode we talk about commuting via bicycle, regulatory reform legislation from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the new book…
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House Republicans try defunding the home appliance regulators
This year began with a powerful consumer backlash to the suggestion from a Biden administration official that gas stoves may be banned, followed by…
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No, electricity markets are not free markets: A Q&A with Cato’s Travis Fisher
The following is a Q&A with Travis Fisher, director of Energy and Environmental Policy Studies at the Cato Institute Q: Could you…
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The way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded is unconstitutional
Today the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association. The appellee correctly complains that…
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Biden administration finalizes costly and unnecessary furnace regulations
There’s a lot of consumer anger over pending federal regulations targeting stoves, but Biden administration bureaucrats are also going after dishwashers, refrigerators,…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Improper CHIPS funding to pool motors
The FTC filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. Sen. Dianne Feinstein passed away. The federal government almost partially shut down. Agencies issued new regulations…
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Biden’s war on energy continues with unprecedented restrictions on offshore oil and gas lease sales
Today, the Interior Department (DOI) released its five-year plan (2024-2029) for offshore oil and gas lease sales. In a press release, the agency…
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UAW’s Fain says new strike strategy has produced no ‘meaningful progress’
UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday that the union would expand its strike against Ford and GM. Fain said an additional 7,000 members…
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Barbie, lemons, and economics
Wayne Crews and I have a fun piece up at RealClearMarkets that ties together the Barbie movie, the vintage toy market, and Nobel economist…
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Introducing CEI’s The Surge: Gas stove bans, Biden admin blocking oil and gas leases, the Blackout Plan, and more
The following is the debut edition of CEI’s new biweekly publication “The Surge.” If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental…
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Free the Economy podcast: Threats to economic freedom, then and now with Iain Murray
On this week’s podcast we talk about recycled Legos, socially responsible pension funds, pessimistic views about politics, and a special…
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Net neutrality is political predation
It’s fitting that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chose to dig up the net neutrality corpse just before Halloween. Now, our elected representatives need to…
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Here we go again: FCC tries to bring back failed ‘net neutrality’ regulation
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced a proposed rulemaking to apply Title II of the Communications Act and common carrier regulation once again…
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Biden taps Strategic Petroleum Reserve more than any other president
Instead of actually addressing the root causes of high gas prices, President Joe Biden is depleting the …
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Now the Biden administration is targeting your next water heater
As discussed in recent CEI testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Biden administration Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed an avalanche…