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Federal Spending on Student Financial Aid Drives Up College Tuition, Shrinks Economy
At Bloomberg News, Virginia Postrel writes about how federal subsidies intended to make college more affordable have instead encouraged rapidly rising tuitions, in a column…
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NLRB Drops Case against Boeing – Finally
Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it has decided to drop its case against Boeing, over the airplane manufacturer’s opening of…
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Don’t “Drill for Roads”
Over at National Review Online, I have an op-ed up explaining why fiscal conservatives should oppose House Republicans’ plan to direct oil and gas…
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U.S. Government: Arming Gangsters, Groping Grannies
What’s worse than the federal government deliberately arming gangsters? Answer: The federal government deliberately arming gangsters with the express intent of undermining the 2nd…
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PATTERSON: Labor unions and communism
The Washington Times Trade unions are a school of communism. –Vladimir Lenin L labor leader Andy Stern has seen the future. There’s no freedom there,…
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CEI Podcast for December 8, 2011: House Passes the REINS Act
Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews talks about the impact REINS could have on increasing transparency and accountability. He also offers up a few more…
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Over-The-Counter Plan B? What Would Jed Bartlet Do?
Back in March 2009, President Obama issued a memorandum on scientific integrity to the heads of executive branch agencies and departments.
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Free-Market Fundamentalism? Where?
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Bernanke’s Dollar Swap Euro “Stimulus”
Here’s a letter I sent to The Wall Street Journal: In “Central Banks Take Coordinated Action” (Nov. 30), Mr. Sparshott and Mr. Hilsenrath rightly…
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Today’s Links: December 7, 2011
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Good News/Bad News on Compensating Bone Marrow Donors
By now, there's been plenty of news highlighting last week's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the National Organ…
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Fred Weekly: Research & Development
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92-Year-Old Former German Chancellor Gets Heat for Smoking on TV
Anti-smoking advocates were in full throttle in Germany after former Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt kept puffing on his cigarette during a television…
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“The Most Liberal Administration in History,” Not
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has called the Obama administration “far and away the most liberal administration that we've ever had in the White House.”…
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Reforming Medical Malpractice Law: Interesting Discussion about Damage Limits in Malpractice Cases
Point of Law has an interesting debate over whether medical-malpractice noneconomic damage caps hurt consumers, between Ted Frank and Shirley Svorny. As…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: December 7, 2011
Arizona: Liberalization of beer laws in Arizona has kick-started the state’s craft brewing market. The state allows small producers to skip the wholesaling tier…
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Today’s Links: December 6, 2011
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Legalizing Kidney Sales Would Save Thousands of Lives, Save Taxpayers a Bundle
Kidney sales should be legal, explains kidney donor Alexander Berger in The New York Times. Berger is a research analyst for GiveWell, a nonprofit that…
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Brooks: More Regulations Don’t Have Huge Effect on Economy
David Brooks’ article today in The New York Times belittles the cost of regulation to American businesses and the U.S. economy and praises the…
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Siri and Modernity’s Iron Laws
The two iron laws of modernity are 1) things are getting better, and 2) people think they're getting worse. One more piece of evidence that…
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Today’s Links: December 5, 2011
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Fred Weekly: Residual Claimant Problem
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What Free Market?
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CEI Weekly: Lessons from the Supercommittee’s Failure
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Missing the Bigger Story
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Labor Leaders for Communism!
Legendary labor leader Andy Stern has seen the future. There's no freedom there, but he's OK with that. Stern, a former president of the Service…
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On 10th Anniversary of Enron Collapse, Time for Sarbanes-Oxley to Go
Ten years ago today, Enron Corp. filed for bankruptcy. Today, with all of its dealings with banks, it would probably have been deemed "too big…
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Yes, the Ticketmaster class action settlement is appalling
Yes, we know about the Ticketmaster class action settlement, which over a dozen class members have emailed us about. There’s no question that this coupon…
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CEI Podcast for December 1, 2011: The More Numerous the Laws…
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Ben Bernanke: Most Powerful Man in America?
Don’t let his short stature and friendly grandpa beard fool you. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has the power to control the money in your…
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Cobell v. Salazar Indian trust appeal of Kimberly Craven, No. 11-5205 (DC Circuit)
Kimberly Craven objection Craven Opposition to Final Approval (stricken by court) Fairness Hearing Transcript (pp. 70-82) No. 11-5205 Amended Statement of…
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Today’s Links: December 1, 2011
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Today’s Links: November 30, 2011
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NLRB Tempers Quickie Elections, Not Overreach
Openmarket.org Yesterday, National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Pearce issued a statementdescribing the proposed rule changes to the union election process. The changes were expedited…
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Barney Frank’s Committee Rebukes Dodd-Frank Derivatives Rules
There are other factors at play, but has anyone noticed how much the stock market has surged since Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announced he…
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NLRB Tempers Quickie Elections, Not Overreach
Yesterday, National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Pearce issued a statement describing the proposed rule changes to the union election process. The changes were…
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Deregulation Watch: Horsemeat
Last year, about 138,000 horses were taken to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico, defeating the very purpose of the ban. Recognizing its failure, the ban…
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Obama Administration Ignores Illegal Racial Discrimination In Voting Against Whites, Koreans, and Filipinos in Guam
Under the Supreme Court’s decision in Rice v. Cayetano (2000), racial exclusion from voting is unconstitutional, even when the victim is white, and the…
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Today’s Links: November 29, 2011
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Journalistic Humor
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Farm Bill: Bailouts, Special Interests, and Pheasants
The infamous “secret farm bill,” negotiated by the leadership of the agriculture committees with little transparency and discussion, will not pass as part of…
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Canada Cuts Tariffs, Endorses Free Trade — Imports Good, Exports Good
In a free-trade lesson the U.S. should study, Canada announced that it was eliminating tariffs on imports that Canadian manufacturers use to help spur…
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Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Continues to Advance Dangerous Big Labor Agenda
Openmarket.org Yesterday, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis wrote an indignant blog post titled, “Long Overdue: Winning Back Pay and Benefits for Workers,” in which…
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Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Continues to Advance Dangerous Big Labor Agenda
Yesterday, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis wrote an indignant blog post titled, “Long Overdue: Winning Back Pay and Benefits for Workers,” in which she…
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Let Me Be Clear
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Hidden Regulations Stifle Job Creation; EEOC Kills Jobs By Promoting Lawsuits
When reporters write stories about the cost of regulations, they only focus on regulations found in formal codes of regulations. But most regulations aren't formal…
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Barney Frank’s Cognitive Dissonance on Liberties and Risk-Taking
Congress will certainly be different and, for the country, better with the absence of Rep. Barney Frank, who announced today he will not seek reelection.
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Today’s Links: November 28, 2011
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What the Super Committee Could Have Learned From Italy
Entitlement reform. Those words alone make politicians’ ears bleed. Or in the case of Italy, it makes their fists literally fly at one another. I…
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Regulation of the Day 201: Playground Chatter
Quebec officials are starting to listen in on what children are talking about on school playgrounds during recess to make sure they are speaking French.
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Update on FMCSA’s Proposed Hours-of-Service Rule
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the agency tasked with writing and enforcing safety regulations for large trucks and buses, is due today to…
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Are We Living in Post-Republic America?
Americans have the notion that liberty equals elections, and therefore feel themselves still living in a free country so long as elections proceed as scheduled. But the growth of government bureaucracy…
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Wherein CCAF is “justly lauded”
More coverage of the AOL victory in a Washington Examiner op-ed. And Reuters Legal does a lengthy story. AOL’s attorney’s comment is…
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Is the Four Loko/FTC Settlement on the Rocks?
If you're a regular reader of OpenMarket.org, then you know we at CEI have written quite a bit on the issue of Four Loko.
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Isaac Newton’s Funeral
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No, Rousseau, Man Is a Social Animal
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The Poor Benefit Most
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Class-Action Abuses Challenged in the Courts; CEI Files Amicus Brief Challenging Abuses
Thanks to the Center for Class Action Fairness, courts are finally enforcing safeguards against the diversion and misuse of class-action lawsuit settlements, which all…
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How to Lose an Argument
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One Measure of Progress
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Regulation of the Day 200: Flying Food
Millions of Americans are taking to the skies to spend time with their families over Thanksgiving. Many of them will be carrying leftovers on their…
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Don’t Fear the Feast: Pass the Canned Cranberry Sauce, Green Beans, and Gravy!
It seems like the leftist activists don't want anyone to enjoy life. They'd rather we be fraught with worry. During the weeks and days leading…
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Government Meddling Won’t Create Jobs
The Hill recently ran my letter to the editor responding to Sen. Tom Harkin’s column, “Republican attacks on workers’ rights won’t create jobs.” I make…
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CEI Podcast for November 23, 2011: The Most Expensive Regulation of All Time?
What is the single most expensive regulation of all time? Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman has one candidate: the EPA’s proposal to regulate mercury emissions…
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Some updates
Coverage of Monday’s Nachsin v. AOL cy pres victory for CCAF, some of which is even accurate. I was also interviewed by Reuters and…
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Government meddling won’t create jobs
The Hill A recent op-ed in The Hill by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) (“Attacks on workers’ rights won’t create jobs,” Nov. 15) highlights the need…
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Amtrak Bans 12-Year-Old Unaccompanied Child Riders
In Japan, 6-year-old children are not only allowed to ride the train by themselves, but are eligible for a special fare. Not so in America,…
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Longshoremen’s Union Rejects Occupy Oakland’s Call for “Solidarity” West Coast Port Shutdown
After briefly shutting down their [adopted] city's port earlier this month, Occupy Oakland is calling for a December 12 shutdown of all West Coast…
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Hank Greenberg Rises Again — Takes on Treasury, NY Fed in “Takings” Lawsuit
Feisty 86-year-old Hank Greenberg, long-time chief executive of AIG, is suing the Treasury Department and the New York Federal Reserve Bank charging that its…
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Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton Orders Unionization of Child Care Providers
Openmarket.org The NLRB’s pro-union bias and penchant for overstepping legal precedent has spread to Minnesota. Governor Mark Dayton (DFL) issued an executive order calling…
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What Decline and Fall?
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Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton Orders Unionization of Child Care Providers
The NLRB’s pro-union bias and penchant for overstepping legal precedent has spread to Minnesota. Governor Mark Dayton (DFL) issued an executive order calling for…
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United States and China Talk Trade
The annual session of United States – China trade talks was held last week, in the Chinese city of Chengdu. These talks look for…
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Fred Weekly: Give Thanks for Capitalism
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Elites of the World, Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose!
And they are — but we have much to lose. See Iain Murray’s latest piece on the EU crisis. The intellectual temptation — the…
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Ninth Circuit cy pres victory in Nachshin v. AOL
We’ve been at the forefront of noting the problem of abusive cy pres; originally intended as a last resort “second-best” way to benefit the class…
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Today’s Links: November 21, 2011
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Regulation of the Day 199: How to Catch a Tuna
Authorities confiscated an otherwise legally caught bluefin tuna because it was caught with a net. The government intends to sell the fish and keep the…
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And Now, a Word from John Waters . . .
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Stimulus Will Hurt Economy in the Long Run, Congressional Budget Office Confirms
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California Supreme Court Rejects Union Suit to Bar Private Contractors from Golden Gate Project
Last week, the California Supreme Court rejected a suit by a government employee union, the Professional Engineers in California Government, that sought to…
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Law Schools: Incubators of Evil and Waste?
The New York Times had a disturbing article Sunday about how most law schools are utterly failing to teach their students the basics of how to…
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Obamacare Attacks Your Flex Account — Minimize Damage in 2013 by Doubling Up for 2012
Hey Joe and Jane Citizen, concerned about the future of your country and your family. Please step away for five minutes from the nonstop TV coverage…
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Obama Peddles Myths About the Great Depression: No, Hoover Didn’t Cut Taxes or Spending
Herbert Hoover increased marginal tax rates on the wealthy to 63 percent, and more than doubled government spending as a percentage of the economy. But…
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More Scholarships for Murderers to Attend Law School: It’s the “Progressive” Thing to Do
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Middle Class in Big Trouble
A new study titled Growth in the Residential Segregation of Families by Income 1970-2009 by Stanford University researchers throws harsh light on a disturbing…
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Today’s Links: November 18, 2011
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Fred Weekly: Conflicts of Interest
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Turkey Day Edition
As Thanksgiving quickly approaches many hosts and hostesses are scratching their heads about what drinks to pair with their meal items. The Washington Post…
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Regulation of the Day 198: Talking about Water
In a ruling so dumb that only a panel of intellectuals could have written it, the EU has decided that companies may not claim…
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CEI Weekly: New Study Urges Lawmakers to Reject Green Chemistry
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Today’s Links: November 17, 2011
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Sen. Hagan Bill Would Expand Accelerated Drug Approval
According to Bloomberg News, North Carolina Democratic Senator Kay Hagan is set to introduce a bill that would create new “progressive”…
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Maryland’s Governor Spends $553,000 on Pianos at Left-Wing Junk College
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Retailers Won’t Destroy Thanksgiving
Every holiday season features a slew of laughable articles denouncing the destruction of American tradition. Meghan Cox Gurdon’s piece in The Washington Examiner today…
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Fannie and Freddie’s Double Outrage — Millions in Bonuses and Subsidies for Millionaire Mortgages
Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the granting of nearly $13 million in bonuses for executives of Fannie…
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CEI Podcast for November 17, 2011: Conflict Guitars
CEI Founder and President Fred Smith talks about why restricting conflict mineral trade can mean more violence, not less. He also discusses why the Gibson…
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Super Committee Follies
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Today’s Links: November 16, 2011
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High-Speed Fail: Even Left-Leaning Washington Post Criticizes Obama Administration Rail Boondoggles in California and Elsewhere
Even the left-leaning Washington Post, which has not endorsed a Republican for President since 1952, is getting fed up with the Obama administration's desire to…