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Regulatory Reform in 2017: How Much Do Existing Regulations Cost?
The Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act (RREA), sponsored by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), would help fix basic transparency problems with federal regulations.
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Second Round of Advice for EPA: People Are Policy
The incoming Administration should fill lower ranking political appointees at the EPA with officials across a broad spectrum of state environmental programs and legal officers.
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Utah Keeping Amazon Sales Tax Deal Secret
The Utah State Tax Commission refuses to make public the details of the deal reached with Amazon due to what’s been reported as a “confidentiality…
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Learn Liberty’s Lessons from Star Wars
Learn what Star Wars can teach us about limited government and moral responsibility.
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Regulatory Reform in 2017: REINS and the Regulatory Accountability Act
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House Moves on Regulatory Reform, More Votes Coming
Yesterday afternoon the House of Representatives passed the Midnight Rule Relief Act, which would allow Congress to repeal multiple executive branch rules with a single…
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New Congress Needs to Modernize Tech Policy
With respect to tech and telecom, lawmakers should avoid imposing new mandates and prohibitions in response to new technologies that might seem threatening, absent exceptional…
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Clayton Must Work for Both Small and Large Investors at SEC
Jay Clayton, and anyone who goes on to serve on the Commission, must advance the interests of both Main Street investors and entrepreneurs trying to…
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EPA Region 6 Throws Bombs to the Bitter End
Among the Environmental Protection Agency's 10 offices, by far the most aggressive during the Obama administration has been Region 6, which operates out of Dallas…
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Environmental Defense Fund Attack Ad Full of Lies about EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt
The Environmental Defense Fund’s mendacious attack ad on Scott Pruitt demonstrates much that is wrong with the green movement.
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Is It ‘Mission Accomplished’ for the EPA?
Does it make any sense to spend ever greater sums of money for ever fewer environmental benefits? That’s the very fair question that’s been asked…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations: 2016 Wrap-Up
The 2016 Federal Register’s record-setting page count ends at 97,110 pages—more than 15,000 pages above the previous record, set in 2010. The difference is more…
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What Paul Ehrlich’s “Eco-Catastrophe!” Tells Us about Climate Change Alarmism
In “Eco-Catastrophe,” the bad guys are “obtuse agriculturists and economists” whose false bill of goods (the green revolution) plunges the globe into anarchy. In real…
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RealClear Radio Hour: The War on Science and the Economy
Check out RealClear Radio Hour’s last episode with free market stalwarts John Tierney and Peter Wallison.
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Trump Administration Will Have Legal Authority to Halt Clean Power Plan
It would not be illegal for President Trump to order the Environmental Protection Agency not to enforce the Clean Power Plan.
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Best of the Blog 2016
Certain topics were especially popular with readers in 2016.
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NRDC Is Wrong: Trump Can Issue Day 1 Executive Order Declaring Clean Power Plan Illegal
The Clean Power Plan in its current form is illegal, and there is no problem with the President issuing an executive order to this effect…
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New Opportunities for a Free Market Veteran
After 23 years Greg Conko, who most recently served as CEI’s Executive Director, has decamped for the other side of the Potomac.
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Libertarianism.org Video Contest Winners
2016 Libertarianism.org Video Contest Winners…
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The 2017 Unconstitutionality Index: 18 Federal Rules for Every Law Congress Passes
Federal agencies in 2016 issued 18 rules and regulations for every law Congress passed.
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Two Recommendations for EPA: 1) Revise, Don’t Repeal; 2) Do Your Job
There is a climate policy that’s even worse than EPA regulations written by Natural Resources Defense Council lobbyists: state torts for injunctive or monetary relief…
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A New Year’s Toast to Whiskey
New Year’s Eve is a world-wide celebration. Across the globe, people will welcome the coming year with their own unique traditions, and the people of…
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Preparing for the Challenges and Opportunities of 2017
At this time of year, it is easy to focus on endings. The end of the general election campaign in November, however, also marked a…
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Obama’s National Monument Designation: Second-Term Environmental Policymaking at Its Worst
It is outrageous that President Obama, on the way out the door, would try to irrevocably federalize 1.3 million acres in the state, in spite…
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Worker Freedom Coming in the New Year
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115th Congress Should Halt Government Assault on Freight Rail
Forced reciprocal switching has been a goal for coal, petrochemical, and agriculture shippers for decades, but regulators have generally made it extremely difficult.
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As the Obama administration heads into its home stretch, agencies passed new rules ranging from gloves to canned vegetables.
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Can Any Branch of Government Oversee the EPA?
Federal regulatory agencies have escaped effective oversight from the Congress and the courts.
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The ‘Fake News’ Problem: Health and Safety Edition
The moniker “fake news” may have entered the mainstream lexicon in 2016, but phony and misleading news stories have always been a problem—and it’s a…
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Obama Couldn’t Win a Third Term, Because He Would Have To Own His Global Warming Policy
I strongly doubt that President Obama would win a third term, as he claimed yesterday.
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EPA’s Clean Power Plan Lies Undermine Congressional Oversight
Congress’s primary means of investigation are hearings and follow up questions, but these mechanisms are rendered meaningless when the agency lies.
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Five New Year’s Resolutions for a New Administration
Now is the perfect time for members of the incoming Trump administration to reflect on where America is and set policy goals for the coming…
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RealClear Radio Hour: Executive Actions and Blockchain Technology
In this episode, Andrew Grossman proposes executive actions Trump can take to undo problematic portions of Obama’s pen and phone legacy and Donatien Adou discusses…
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The Libertarian Holiday Gift Guide
Cheers to the brilliant production team at Reason TV, who have provided some welcome comedy this holiday season with their new video, “The Libertarian Holiday…
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Property Rights Are the Key to Protecting Land
We often hear that only government can protect the environment through outright land ownership or heavy regulatory control of private land.
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The Future of Free Trade under a Trump Administration
My colleague Iain Murray has an excellent analysis today in Brexit Central of how a future international trade deal between the United States and a…
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Congress Must Combat Threats to Affordable Energy
Policy makers should reject policies to tax and regulate away mankind’s access to affordable energy.
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Can Trump (or Congress) Rescind Obama’s Arctic Drilling Ban?
President Obama yesterday designated “the vast majority of U.S. waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas as indefinitely off limits to offshore oil and gas…
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A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
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5 Great Books on Politics and Public Policy from 2016
A lot of interesting books on politics, economics, and public policy were published over the last twelve months. It can be difficult, though, finding the gems…
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Some Advice for Trump Appointees
Your role in the new administration is to propose ways of restoring limited government – by privatization, deregulation, extending property rights, and taking on the…
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Congress Should Target Unaccountable EPA Programs
The newly elected congressional majority should be ready and willing to help implement President elect-Donald Trump’s promise to tackle onerous regulations. But what about so…
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TSA Deserves a Lump of Coal
The TSA’s widely unpopular body scanners lead many would-be air travelers to take to the much more dangerous highways instead, where some number of them…
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Must-Have Gifts for America’s Wish List
It isn’t Christmas Day yet, much to the chagrin of impatient youngsters, but it’s already time for America to put together a wish list for…
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Congress Needs to Fix America’s Broken Financial System
Whole forests have been cut down to print the books written about the financial crisis of 2007/8 and America’s response to it.
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RealClear Radio Hour: City Extortion and Cities’ Heroine
In this episode of RealClear Radio Hour, Brian Hodges discusses West Hollywood’s extortion of local developers and Robert Kanigel shares stories of Great American Cities…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
On Tuesday the 2016 Federal Register topped 90,000 pages for the first time ever, and continues to extend its page-count record every day.
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Federal Register Breaks Record by 10,000 Pages
Today standing at 91,642 pages, the Federal Register is 10,000 pages higher than the prior all-time record.
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Three Regulatory Reforms Congress Can Pass in the First Hundred Days
Here are three they should pursue in the new administration’s first hundred days.
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Can Congress Veto EPA’s Fuel Economy Rush Job?
The Environmental Protection Agency’s recent proposal to keep in place the agency’s model year greenhouse gas emission standards for new motor vehicles is the epitome…