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What Does it Mean to Be Against Free Markets?
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Alcohol Myths Persist Beyond Prohibition
In a recent article for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, I make the case that many elements of Prohibition did not fade away…
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Regulation Roundup
It is illegal to slurp your soup in New Jersey restaurants, plus more.
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Pay the Americans Now, or Pay the Russians Later
I’m attending the International Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Also attending is Alan Boyle, science correspondent for MSNBC, who…
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CEI Podcast for October 20, 2011: Congress Passes Free Trade Agreements
CEI Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith, coauthor of the new CEI study "Free Trade without Apology," talks about the recently passed free trade agreements with Colombia,…
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Protectionism is not a Constitutional Principle
Last week, the National Beer Wholesalers Association President Craig Purser, who happens to be a former colleague of mine, had an article in The…
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Today’s Links: October 20, 2011
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Franklin Templeton mutual fund settlement
The attorneys have asked the court to approve a settlement that would give the attorneys $2.142 million and the class $2.27 million. (Good luck finding…
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Liberal Indifference to the Jobless in the Private Sector
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claims that joblessness is not a problem in the private sector, where huge numbers of people have lost their jobs,…
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Shuttlyndra and the Smoking Rocket
Over at Pajamas Media today, I have some interesting news on the Shuttlyndra situation, which would be a huge scandal if…
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Today’s Links: October 19, 2011
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The Imaginary Age of Austerity
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Truck Drivers Don’t Need a Revised Hours-of-Service Rule
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is poised to enact a revised hours-of-service (HOS) rule that would greatly impact commercial motor vehicle operators.
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Today’s Links: October 18, 2011
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The Unemployment Discrimination Myth
The defunct American Jobs Act, which Hans skewered so well a while back, contains a provision to end “discrimination against the unemployed.” Apparently, there…
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SEC Jumps into Cybersecurity Debate
Much of the cybersecurity focus this year has been on Congress’s efforts to mandate data breach notifications and security standards. Now the Securities and…
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Dangerous Green Hype about Cosmetics
Today, CEI releases the first of a series of studies on chemicals and the precautionary principle. Activist groups around the nation have been calling for…
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Cut the Capital Gains Tax and Government Spending to Create Jobs and Promote Technological Advances
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Amity Schlaes notes that cuts in the capital gains tax were one of the key factors that paved the…
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Soviet Planning Fails… Even in America
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Revolting Youth in Revolt
Conservatives who are enjoying a chuckle over the protesters occupying Wall Street (and an increasing number of public spaces across the country) would do well…
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Bourgeois Dignity
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The Compassion of Adam Smith
It's much more fashionable to attack Adam Smith these days than to read him. Yes, he favored economic liberalism, which wasn't exactly in style in…
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Postal Service Disputes “Principals of Fairness”
Openmarket.org Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office released a report concerning the grim financial future of the Postal Service. It may not come as a shock, but…
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Don’t Fear the Trade Deficit — Embrace it
In the evening of October 12, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate both passed the Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, South Korea…
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Postal Service Disputes “Principles of Fairness”
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Where’s the Austerity?
Here's a letter I recently sent to The Economist:…
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Corporations Pay Lots of Taxes, and it’s Only Natural that They Should Have Legal Rights
Despite the recent demonization of corporations, corporations pay lots of taxes, including most of the nation's property taxes, notes Josh Barro. They often pay…
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White House Involved in FDA Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon?
A couple of days ago, Talking Points Memo's Jim Kozubek reported that the Food and Drug Administration had finally decided to…
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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…