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CEI Podcast for October 13, 2011: Occupy Wall Street
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Today’s Links: October 13, 2011
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There is Nothing Left to Cut
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Unions: The new barbarians
The Washington Times In a recent address to a union rally in Ohio, Vice President Joseph R. Biden underscored the threat to organized labor posed by…
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Today’s Links: October 12, 2011
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Don Boudreaux on Trade
This video is a quick primer on trade from someone who literally wrote the book about it.
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No Money, No Sense: On the Infrastructure Bank
This morning, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing on the President Obama’s infrastructure bank proposal. In September, the…
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Congress Should Reject Tying a Repatriation Tax Holiday to a National Infrastructure Bank
It was reported on Tuesday that Senate Democrats intent on creating a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) have quietly thrown Republicans a bone on the…
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Continuing Irrational Risk Aversion by NASA
About a month ago, I discussed the potential consequences of NASA's extreme aversion to loss of crew. Over at NASA Space…
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Today’s Links: October 12, 2011
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: October 7, 2011
National: A Supreme Court decision is being heralded as potentially liberating the advertising market for tobacco and alcohol as it expands first amendment protections…
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Today’s Links: October 7, 2011
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At Long Last, Congress Will Vote on Three Trade Pacts that Unions have Held Up
At long last both the House and the Senate are scheduled to vote on the three free trade agreements (FTAs) that have languished for…
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CEI Weekly: Congress Should Start Quantifying Federal Regulation
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CEI Podcast for October 6, 2011: How to Deregulate the Economy
Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews is author of the new CEI study, “The Other National Debt Crisis: How and Why Congress Must Quantify Regulation."…
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Today’s Links: October 6, 2011
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The EDA Elimination Act: To Terminate the Economic Development Administration
Yesterday Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo introduced the “EDA Elimination Act,” a bill that would remove funding for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development…
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Today’s Links: October 5, 2011
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Occupy Wall Street Protesters Make Demands
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Barone is Right: Appeasing Protectionists Is a Bad Idea
President Obama is finally sending three pending trade agreements — with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama — to Congress for a vote. The three trade…
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Jerrold Nadler’s Fiscal Fantasies: Herbert Hoover Increased Spending, He Did Not “Slash the Budget” During the Great Depression
Attacking the idea of a Balanced Budget Amendment, "Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution," issued…
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Poll: 14 Percent Approval Rating for Congress
Lawmakers need to do something about their do-something bias and try a deregulatory stimulus. Besides stimulating the economy, it would likely stimulate approval ratings, too.
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Chinese Currency Bill Will Do Little to Improve Economy
Reuters and the Los Angeles Times report that a United States bill aimed at China’s currency policy is making its rounds around Congress.
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Today’s Links: October 4, 2011
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Capital Gains Taxes are Too High, and are a Tax on Savings that Punishes Thrifty People for Inflation
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The Physics Nobel and Human Achievement
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Brazil v. Dell
The class attorneys in Brazil v. Dell are asking for $6 million for themselves, but it is a claims-made settlement that will almost certainly pay a…
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The Future of Air Travel?
First-generational suborbital crafts would reach 2,200 miles per hour, with an eventual goal of hitting 13,750 miles per hour. A trip from London to Sydney…
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The Economic (Un)Development Administration
Last Friday Iain Murray and I published an op-ed in The Washington Times, which described how government spending fails to create economic growth. We show how the…
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Free Trade Agreements are Not that Free
Business Insider reported that the Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama were sent to Congress today for their vote and approval…
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Today’s Links: October 3, 2011
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Shuttlyndra and Bipartisan Crony Capitalism
Over at Pajamas Media today, I tell a tale of crony capitalism that makes Solyndra look like a model of government…
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What if NFL Players Were Paid Like Teachers?
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Parts of PATRIOT Act Declared Unconstitutional
Two provisions down, many more to go. Until then, President Bush's third term continues.
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Today’s Links: September 30, 2011
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The Legal Battle Over Honolulu’s Train to Nowhere
Rail transit advocates in Honolulu, Hawaii, have seen better days. Significant opposition is threatening the future of the proposed 20-mile, $5.5 billion elevated rail transit…
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Local Union Will Appeal to Obama’s NLRB
Openmarket.org Minnesota based American Crystal Sugar employee lockout exposes the untenable nature of union contract negotiations. Yesterday, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers…
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Local Union Will Appeal to Obama’s NLRB
Minnesota based American Crystal Sugar employee lockout exposes the untenable nature of union contract negotiations. Yesterday, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union’s…
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CEI Introduces Warren Brookes Fellow of 2011-12: Matt Patterson
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Regulation Roundup
Massage parlors are illegal in well-named Horneytown, North Carolina, plus more.
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Right on Cue
In this morning's CEI Podcast, my colleague John Berlau predicted that the new price cap on debit card swipe fees would lead to the end…
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Today’s Links: September 29, 2011
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University of Wisconsin Administrators Violate the First Amendment to Silence Dissent and Criticism
Wisconsin college administrators attacked the First Amendment this week, both by censoring a professor's poster and criticism of fascism, and by inciting a flash mob…
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Poverty Skyrockets in the World’s Poorest Country Due to Racial Violence After Revolution in Neighboring Libya
Niger is the poorest country in Africa and the world: Many of its people go hungry every day, many children die before their fifth…
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Herbert Hoover, Father of the New Deal
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CEI Podcast for September 29, 2011: The End of Free Debit Cards
Every time you use your debit card, the merchant has to pay a fee to the company that issued your card, usually about 1 percent…
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Judge Censors Speech About Affirmative Action and Fraud in Racial Set-Asides
Political "commentator Andrew Bolt 'was found guilty Wednesday of breaking Australian discrimination law by implying that fair-skinned Aborigines chose to identify as indigenous for…
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Automatic Economic Stabilizers or Stable Economic Rules?
Former Obama OMB Director Peter Orszag (who joined Citigroup earlier this year as vice chairman for global banking) over at The New Republic thinks we’ve…
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Blame Not Banks — But Big Box and Big Government — For Free Checking’s Demise
Read it and weep, but don't say OpenMarket didn't warn you. Thanks to Dodd-Frank's Durbin Amendment, price controls on interchange fees --…
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Today’s Links: September 28, 2011
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Justice Department Promotes Bad English in the Schools
Arizona can't require teachers to speak proper English anymore. The federal government claims that monitoring whether teachers mispronounce words racially discriminates against Latinos, despite two…
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Google’s Rick Santorum Problem
Rick Santorum has a Google problem, and everybody knows about it -- mostly because Rick Santorum won't stop talking about it. Last week,…
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Trade Agreements are Not Job-Killers, Despite Sen. Reid’s Remarks
The Senate and House votes on the free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea seem inevitable, now that the main Democratic roadblock to…
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Today’s Links: September 27, 2011
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FDA Approves Device To Help Doctors Detect Skin Cancer
There's an unusual bit of good news out of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In March 2010 and again last November, the…
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Quantifying Capital Bikeshare’s Supposed “Success”
Last week, D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare program celebrated its millionth trip and one-year anniversary. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood celebrated the milestone with a…
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Congress is Killing the Postal Service
Openmarket.org The United States Postal Service has lost over $8 billion in the past two years and going for a third year in the red.
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Congress is Killing the Postal Service
The United States Postal Service has lost over $8 billion in the past two years and going for a third year in the red. Labor…
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Today’s Links: September 26, 2011
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Pull Out of Basel III: The Moral Hazard of Government Ratings
Recently and for different reasons, two high-profile players from different parts of the financial sector -- JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon and respected banking analyst…
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Obama Administration Attacks Religious Freedom and Separation of Church and State
The Obama administration is attacking religious freedom in court, even as Obama depicts his policies as ordained by God. At a Congressional Black Caucus…
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Obamacare Will Increase Health Insurance Premiums by 55 to 85 Percent in Ohio, Study Says
The Charleston Daily Mail’s Don Surber points to a recent study “that shows that 790,000 Ohioans will lose their private health insurance and premiums…
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The Constitution May Not Be Perfect — But it is Much Better than What We Have Now!
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Blame Congress and Pork, Not NASA
Over at National Review today, I have a lengthy but necessary rebuttal of a misbegotten post at…
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Regulation Roundup
In Seattle, Washington, the maximum length allowed for concealed weapons is 6 feet, plus more.
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Flushing Oral Oncology Drugs Down the Toilet?
An interesting article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (via yesterday's Jerusalem Post) argues that the U.S. Food and…
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Dodd-Frank Financial Law Uses Regulations to Outsource American Jobs
American jobs will soon be outsourced due to the Dodd-Frank financial "reform" law passed in 2010 with strong support from the Obama administration. That law…
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Today’s Links: September 23, 2011
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$16 Muffins a Hoax?
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CEI Weekly: CEI Thanks Pro-Worker Congressmen at Awards Ceremony
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Obama Wants a GM Bailout Tax on Bank and Insurance Customers
For all the talk about fairness and equity with the so-called Buffett Rule, there is one sneaky loophole in the Obama revenue proposal that…
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CEI Podcast for September 22, 2011: E-Verify
E-Verify is a program that checks the immigration status of new hires. The House is expected to vote on legislation that would make E-Verify mandatory…
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Not Easy to Disentangle the Legal and Value Aspects of Marriage — But it is Important!
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U.S. Government Responsible for So-Called Gambling Ponzi Scheme
This week U.S. investigators accused Full Tilt, the online gambling website, which was shut down during the black Friday raids of being a “Ponzi scheme.”…
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Senator Hatch: Good Reasons Not to Extend TAA
With Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) scheduled for a vote today, in debate on the measure yesterday, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) gave a spirited speech outlining…
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Government Fines Businessman for Creating Jobs
A CEO recently told Congress about how he was fined for hiring too many people: “I incurred more than $500,000 in legal bills to…
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It Gets Better: Sears Catalog Edition
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Obama: More Class Warfare, More Corporate Welfare, More Unemployment and Political Division
President Obama has implied that his critics don't understand math, which is odd given his inability to balance a budget (he's run up the…
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The Fable of the Shoes
Jonah Goldberg praises Ron Paul's stance on health care, and takes to task the status-quo bias of even many Republicans, recalling…
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Tax-and-Spend is Not a “Jobs” Plan
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Regulation of the Day 197: Planking
Threats to freedoms even as trivial as planking should not be taken lying down.
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Today’s Links: September 21, 2011
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More False Claims from Obama About Taxes and Spending
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Looking at TAA Worker Eligibility Last Year — Some Observations and Questions
Now that reauthorization of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is all but a done deal -- a quid pro quo from Republican leadership to President…
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The Mythical Benefits of Plastic Bag Bans Debunked
Some municipalities have now imposed taxes or restrictions on plastic shopping bags, even though banning or taxing plastic bags has little effect on litter, and…
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The Establishment Turns Against Democracy!
The Financial Times‘ lead editorial today, “Democracy’s Slow Cure for the Euro,” illustrates a growing willingness of “experts” to argue that people are too…
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Sen. McConnell Introduces “Fast Track” Trade Authority; Hits Unions for Obstructing Trade Agreements
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a gutsy statement on the Senate floor today, saying that he was introducing an amendment to give…
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Phony Breast Cancer Group’s Phony Findings on BPA
Activists at the Breast Cancer Fund are scheduled to release a new scaremongering “study” on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) tomorrow,…
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Today’s Links: September 20, 2011
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How to Make Legal Advice and Legal Services More Affordable Without Taxpayer Subsidies
At Truth on the Market, I discuss how to make legal advice and legal services more affordable at this link. I also discuss…
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Federal Register Near Record Pace
This year's Federal Register is on pace to be 80,190 pages long. That's an average of 220 pages of fresh proposed rules, final rules, notices,…
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Obama’s Proposed New Tax Will Multiply Red Tape and Enrich Tax Lawyers and Accountants More than the Treasury
I have argued that "significant tax increases" may be necessary as part of a deficit reduction deal, given the enormity of the deficit and…
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Today’s Links: September 19, 2011
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Warren Buffett, Give Your Secretary a Raise!
So it has been decreed -- by Warren Buffett, by President Barack Obama, and by media members going gaga over to so-called Buffett Rule --…
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Some Commercial Crew Questions For NASA
One of the great controversies of the new space policy announced last year was the intent of NASA to turn over the transportation of cargo…
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Malcolm Wallop, Stand-Up Guy, R.I.P.
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Regulation Roundup
Flirting is illegal in Haddon, New Jersey, plus more.
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House Hearing on Effects of EU Privacy Directive
Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade held a hearing addressing the economic consequences of the European Union’s internet privacy regulations. The…
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Obama’s “American Jobs Act” Is A Wasteful “Blue-State Bailout,” Researchers Say
In the The Wall Street Journal, two researchers call Obama’s proposed “jobs” bill, the $450 billion “American Jobs Act,” a “blue-state bailout in…
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Obama and Sarbanes-Oxley Review — The One Sentence Worth 4,000 Words for Jobs
In President Obama’s 33-minute-long speech to Congress on job creation last week, one sentence was worth nearly all the rest of his 4,000 words.