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Regulation of the Day 181: Offensive Bumper Stickers
Tennessee drivers can be fined $50 if someone else finds their bumper sticker offensive.
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Sour Attitudes on Raw Milk
In a letter to the Washington Post over this past weekend, a “food safety consultant” in northern Virginia named Thomas L.
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Third Time’s the Charm: Ray LaHood Announces TIGER 3
Late last week, the Department of Transportation announced it was launching a third round of TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery -- I feel…
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Schumpeter on Ideology
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Morning Media Summary
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Liberal Judges: Equality Violates Equal Protection Clause; Taxpayers to Pay More Due to Ruling
Last week, a divided Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which amended Michigan's constitution in 2006 to ban racial…
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Failed Stimulus Spending Erodes America’s International Competitiveness, Wipes Out Wealth
In the Daily Caller, Chris Edwards has an interesting article about why government spending doesn’t “stimulate” the economy over the short-run or the long-run. Rather than…
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Chicago Mayor Emanuel Gives Unions a Choice: Concessions or Layoffs
Leaders of government employee unions must be feeling lonely these days. Across the country, Democratic state and local elected officials — traditional union allies —…
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Mass. AG Martha Coakley Institutes Permanent Ban On “Internet Café” Gambling
Back in April of this year Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley issued emergency regulations prohibiting Internet gambling at “cyber cafés” and “phone card businesses,”…
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Keeping the “Free” in Free Trade
Yesterday, Senate Republicans successfully blocked a Finance Committee meeting to consider free trade agreements (FTA) with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. The reason? President Obama…
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Amazon.com Fights Board of Equalization
Amazon.com is standing strong against California’s attempts to extort money from the online bookseller. Just a few days ago, Governor Jerry Brown (…
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Restricting Your Right to Superlatives: Anna Eshoo and the FCC
A California Democrat is seeking to expand the bureaucracy of the FCC in order to protect Americans from dropped calls. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.)…
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CEI Weekly: FDA Revokes Approval for Breast Cancer Drug
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Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick Just Doesn’t Understand Tax Cuts or Grover Norquist
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The Neuroscience Behind Partisanship
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Morning Media Summary
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Costs and Benefits of Regulation
One of the major developments in regulation over the last 30 years has been the rise of cost-benefit analysis. At first, agencies squirmed and resisted.
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An Economic Paradox: SelectUSA, Government’s Expansion, and Private-Sector Growth
President Obama signed an executive order on June 15 to create SelectUSA, a new bureaucracy that acts as a one-stop-shop for government subsidies, in the…
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In Wisconsin, Smaller Class Sizes through Fiscal Restraint
Of the various hyperbolic leftist talking points against the recently enacted Wisconsin collective bargaining law, the “war on teachers” was easily the most shrill, dumb,…
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Planning to Disaster: The Zoning Apparat vs. Paula Deen’s Chickens
Those who know me are aware that one of the two weird -- so I've been told -- policy issues I'm obsessed with is urban…
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Alabama’s Dangerous Crackdown on Undocumented Workers
You might’ve read about the unintended consequences of Georgia’s crackdown on undocumented workers. Well, the same thing is about to happen in Alabama.
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Going to Jail for Linking? What Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s S. 978 Could Mean for You
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved S. 978, a bill that would expand the scope of felony criminal copyright infringement under…
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Morning Media Summary
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Tyranny in Farmville
Two days ago, the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog filed an anti-trust complaint with the FTC seeking an investigation of Facebook’s allegedly anti-competitive practices. These…
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Farm Workers Win in California
Late last night Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the California farm workers “card check” bill SB 104 for. The bill would have abolished workers right to…
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Dodd-Frank Interchange Fee Price Controls Less Draconian, But Still Destructive
Today, at around 3:30 pm, the Federal Reserve will vote on a final rule that will make price controls from the Durbin Amendment of Dodd-Frank…
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CEI Podcast for June 29, 2011: Stealing You Blind
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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Obamacare’s Individual Mandate in Divided 2-to-1 Vote
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the individual mandate contained in the 2010 healthcare law by a 2-to-1 vote, claiming that…
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Senate Judiciary Committee Pushes False Claim that Supreme Court is “Pro-Business”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is bashing the Supreme Court today as pro-business in a hearing that began at 10:30 a.m. Two of the…
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Union Sign Shows Big Labor Distaste for Competition
UAW local 599 President Bill Jordan misses the forest for the trees, as is typical for union officials. A photo from the Carpe Diem…
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Setting the Record Straight: Trade Creates Wealth
In his article “…
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Morning Media Summary
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Food Stamp Nation
"Millionaires are now legally entitled to collect food stamps as long as they have little or no monthly income. Thirty-five states have abolished asset tests…
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Trade Pacts to Have “Mock” Mark-ups in Senate — Drafts Include Trade Adjustment Assistance
As summer heats up, so does Congress as it looks at legislation that should be considered before the August recess. The three pending Free Trade…
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Stealing You Blind: The Fate of Greece
Rioters have taken to the streets in the Greek capital of Athens. While not as unusual an occurrence as it is in Athens, Georgia,…
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DOL Looks to Increase Fiduciary Standards without Following Procedure Standards
Openmarket.org The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a new rule to broaden the definition of fiduciary. Fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act…
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Regulation Roundup
King County's $86 fine for swimming without a life vest, plus more.
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Double Trouble Not Double the Fun with Medicare and Medicaid
There are 9.7 million people that use both Medicare and Medicaid for their health care expenses, according to a June 27 article in The Wall…
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DOL Looks to Increase Fiduciary Standards without Following Procedure Standards
The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a new rule to broaden the definition of fiduciary. Fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act…
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Morning Media Summary
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Supreme Court: California’s Ban on Violent Video Game Sales to Minors Violates Free Speech
California's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors has been struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation…
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Morning Media Summary
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CEI Weekly: CEI Launches “Resourceful Earth” Project
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June 20 was a busy day
The growth of the Center for Class Action Fairness LLC can be shown just by the breadth of its activities on Monday, June 20: There…
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Morning Media Summary
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Taxpayers vs. the Post Office Bureaucracy
When it comes down to outdated business model of the Post Office vs. taxpayers and postal workers, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sides with taxpayers and…
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CEI Podcast for June 23, 2011: Bunker Fuel
Bunker fuel is a heavy fuel used by large ships around the world. Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner looks at new environmental…
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Rail Carriers, Shippers Battle Over Regulation Before the Surface Transportation Board
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I've been involved in an ongoing proceeding before the Surface Transportation Board, the independent Department of Transportation agency…
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Update on the Arrest of Reason.tv’s Jim Epstein at Yesterday’s D.C. Taxicab Commission Hearing
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Georgia’s Immigration Folly
Who’d of thought it: cracking down on immigrant workers hurts the economy? Georgia’s learning the hard way as farms lose laborers and crops go…
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A Definition of Unsustainable: The Long-Term Budget Outlook
The Congressional Budget Office has released its latest edition of the Long-Term Budget Outlook, and it makes for grim reading. Federal debt is currently…
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What Unions Could Learn from AARP
Last week the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) announced a major policy shift regarding Social Security. Formerly seen as the largest opponent to…
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Stealing You Blind: Plans for Future Theft
One of the themes of Stealing You Blind is how public sector unions have worked with politicians to organize an industrial-scale transfer of wealth…
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Morning Media Summary
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We Need Regulators, Not Interveners
Most of what people call regulation doesn't have anything to with regular commerce. These kinds of rules are more accurately called interventions.
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Reason.tv Reporter Arrested at D.C. Taxicab Commission Hearing
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Meet Your New Mom: Kathleen Sebelius and Cigarette Warnings
Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius recently made a revealing statement on how she perceives the role of government and her place within…
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LulzSec and Bitcoin Confusion
Two things most people have never heard of before have been in the news recently: Bitcoin and LulzSec. Over the weekend the largest Bitcoin exchange,…
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A Peek Inside the Bureaucrat’s Mind
By now, this story about the city of Portland, Oregon, deciding to drain nearly 8 million gallons of water from one…
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Where Do TSA-Confiscated Items Go?
The TSA has a habit of confiscating security-unrelated items. Over at The American Spectator, I recall just such an experience that I had at O'Hare.
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Improve Americans’ Physical and Fiscal Health: Cut Out the FDA
President Obama made a big show about cutting “red tape” government regulations that kill jobs and hurt the economy. In addition, members of the…
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More Proof That Unions Don’t Improve Schools
Schools in right-to-work states (where unions are weak) are getting better and better over time compared to schools in heavily-unionized states. As Walter Russell Mead…
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Bed Bugs Now With Super Bug: Still Just a “Nuisance,” EPA?
As my colleague Angela Logomasini noted in a post in January, the EPA has rebuffed the desperate pleas of lawmakers and residents to un-ban…
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Morning Media Summary
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“Uncertainty” Not the Whole Story of our Economic Doldrums
As those engaged in the policy battlefield, our focus is often on taking apart arguments used to advanced proposed solutions we disagree with. But sometimes…
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New Bill Would Tax Online Gambling
Yet another online gambling bill to add to the pile, Rep. Jim McDermott introduced the igaming taxation and regulation bill that he unsuccessfully…
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Another Union Handout from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Today the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposed a new regulation that would speed up the union election process from 45-60 days to about 10-21…
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FDA Overkill on Cigarette Packaging
Get ready to see nine sensationalistic images depicting the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs beginning September 2012. Rotted lungs and teeth, chest holes,…
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CEI Submits FOIA Requests to DOT Over California High-Speed Rail
This morning, the Department of Transportation should receive the two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests I submitted on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
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Morning Media Summary
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What Really Makes “Postcards from Hell”
Foreign Policy just ran another “Postcards from Hell” feature detailing the worst of the worst from their “Failed States Index.” It’s worth a look.
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No Such Thing as an Average Cancer Patient
CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko has an excellent piece in today's Wall Street Journal. Greg doesn't think it's right that the FDA is denying terminally…
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Supreme Court Overturns Certification of Class-Action Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart in Multi-Billion Dollar Lawsuit
Yahoo! News reports that "the Supreme Court has ruled for Wal-Mart in its fight to block a massive sex discrimination lawsuit on behalf of…
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The Cloak-and-Dagger Fed
Wiretaps, surveillance, and searches of private property cannot be authorized and executed without a warrant issued by a judge, who (hopefully) maintains the commitment to…
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Morning Media Summary
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The Few, The Proud, The Greek Liberals (It’s Lonely Being a Libertarian in Greece)
As the crisis in the eurozone continues to spiral out of control, I’ve sometimes thought about what must be going through the heads of…
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In Journalism, Scaremongering Pays — Or, Is Ethical Journalism an Oxymoron?
As legal commentator Ted Frank notes, ABC was rewarded for deliberate scaremongering and deceptive reporting that created needless fear and anxiety among Toyota owners…
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Lessons in Entrepreneurship: Lemonade Stand Edition
Lemonade stands are technically illegal in Montgomery County, Maryland.
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CEI Weekly: CEI Scores Latest Congressional Labor Vote
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Government’s Next Scapegoat
The SEC is bringing fraud charges against leading credit-rating companies for not being thorough enough in their research to determine ratings on mortgage-backed securities…
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Life, Liberty, and Internet?
Josh Smith reports in National Journal that Representative Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), has proposed legislation to provide subsidized Internet services to low-income Americans. The…
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Morning Media Summary
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Weeks v. Kellogg – Rice Krispies class action settlement
In 2009, the state of Oregon complained to Kellogg that they said Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies were fortified with antioxidants, and Kellogg changed the…
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Government-Subsidized Murder: Cannibal Ph.D Candidate Studies Homicide at Taxpayer Expense
"While pursuing a PhD in “homicide studies” at the British taxpayers’ expense, a man with a long history of criminal violence became a…
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CEI Podcast for June 15, 2011: Do ATMs Kill Jobs?
In a recent NBC interview, President Obama blamed ATMs for taking away bank tellers' jobs. Communications Coordinator Lee Doren points out that innovation doesn't affect…
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Collective Bargaining Law, Reversing Court Ruling Striking It Down
In a 4-to-3 vote, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the state's new law limiting collective bargaining with government-employee unions. As the Heritage Foundation's…
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FDA Should Not Mandate Comparative Effectiveness Trials
AEI resident fellow Scott Gottlieb has a new paper out explaining why the FDA should not force…
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Sunblock: Still Can’t Protect You from the FDA
The FDA is rolling out new labeling rules for sunscreen. First, sunscreens that don’t offer “enough” UVA protection (which has been shown to prevent…
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Standardized Test Scores Continue to Disappoint
Children would be far better served if government were to take a leading role in K-12 education… oh, wait.
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Shovel-Ready Was Never Shovel-Ready
President Obama has belatedly realized that the “shovel-ready projects” he touted so much in his stimulus bill two years ago were anything but: “Shovel-ready…
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Morning Media Summary
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Remembering Roger MacBride
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Voodoo Economics Behind Government Demand for Mortgage Write-Downs by Big Banks
In 2010, Obama administration allies proposed a trillion-dollar bailout for those lucky mortgage borrowers whose loans were owned by the government-backed mortgage giants Fannie…
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A Modest Proposal to Add Jobs and Reduce Injuries
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Legal Lessons from Weinergate
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Stimulating Bureaucracy: The Stimulus’s Only Success
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Morning Media Summary
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Ending Project Labor Agreements Vote Determines Congress’s Agenda: Jobs or Cronies?
Openmarket.org In a vote today, the House of Representatives will determine whether federal construction projects will be open to competitive bidding. In 2009, President Obama…
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American Sociological Review Finds that Right-to-Work States are Better for Business
The June publication of the American Sociological Review contained research on right-to-work states. The research in “Laws of Attraction: Regulatory Arbitrage in the Face of…
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More Free Speech Violations in New Mexico? Prior Restraint Against Billboard Likely
Last year, a New Mexico court issued a domestic-violence restraining order against David Letterman on behalf of a deluded woman who had never met…