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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.
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Infrastructure Si, Infrastructure Bank No
In his Forbes column, James Glassman provides a counterpoint to the Obama proposal to create a national infrastructure bank. Rather than direct funds through…
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CEI Podcast for September 15, 2011: Solyndra
Myron Ebell, Director of CEI's Center for Energy and Environment, takes a look at the brewing Solyndra scandal.
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WTO Issues Panel’s Findings on U.S.-Mexico Tuna-Dolphin Dispute
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute panel has found that the U.S. requirements for a “dolphin-safe” label on tuna products are more trade-restrictive than…
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Today’s Links: September 15, 2011
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Congressional Vote to Halt NLRB Job-Killing Regulations
Openmarket.org President Obama and the Senate Democrats’ agenda will be put to the test. GOP senators have called for the vote on the Protecting Jobs…
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Congressional Vote to Halt NLRB Job-Killing Regulations
President Obama and the Senate Democrats' agenda will be put to the test. GOP senators have called for the vote on the Protecting Jobs…
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Obama Justice Department’s Double Standard on Hate Crimes
The Obama administration has a double standard on hate crimes. When the victim is black or Hispanic, they prosecute the alleged offender. When the…
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Today’s Links: September 14, 2011
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“Strategic Misrepresentation”
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Obama Wants More Spending on Failed Federal “Job Training” Programs that Teach Welfare Recipients and Young People Bad Habits
In The Wall Street Journal, James Bovard, a former CEI Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow, takes aim at some of the billions in waste contained…
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Today’s Links: September 13, 2011
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The Lazy Non-Poor People Below the “Poverty” Line Who Get Welfare, and the Hard-Working Poor Above it Who Get Taxed
There are plenty of people below the poverty line who aren't really poor, and some people above the poverty line who are indeed quite…
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California Wins as Amazon Deals
Friday, I wrote for The Daily Caller about the negative impact a tax deal between Amazon.com and the state of California would have the debate…
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H.R. 1909 Brings Competitive Regulation to Small Loan Market
The Summer of 2011 will likely be remembered as a season that overregulation came to a boiling point -- at all levels of the U.S. government.
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AMA Calls for Trade Agreements to Exclude Alcohol and Tobacco
The American Medical Association is calling for alcohol and tobacco to be excluded in all new U.S. trade agreements. New Zealand’s NZWeek, at the…
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Today’s Links: September 12, 2011
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Belt Tightening At FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Last week the House Appropriations Committee released its draft bill for funding of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. Of particular note is the appropriation…
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NLRB Decisions Diminishing Workers’ Rights
By Trey Kovacs/Openmarket.org Under the What We Do heading on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) website, the board states: “The National Labor Relations Board is an…
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NLRB Decisions Diminishing Workers’ Rights
Under the What We Do heading on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) website, the board states: “The National Labor Relations Board is an independent…
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State Losing Control of Pennsylvania Liquor
Privatizing Pennsylvania's liquor stores has been a subject of debate for decades. Proposals in the past have been met with fear about the effects privatization…
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Obama’s Job Creation Proposal Will Be Ineffective, Experts Say
Despite its massive price tag of $450 billion, President Obama's recently-proposed American Jobs Act seems like a useless dud to experts who've analyzed it, and the…
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AP: Obama’s “Jobs” Plan Will Increase Deficit, Is Not “Paid For”
Associated Press fact checkers took issue with President Obama's claims about his new $450 billion federal "jobs" plan: President Barack Obama’s promise Thursday that everything…
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Regulatory Roundup
Here’s another batch of regulatory bloopers: In Little Rock, Arkansas, it is illegal to honk your horn at a restaurant after 9:00 pm. It has…
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CEI Weekly: A Ten-Point Plan to Create Jobs
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Davis-Bacon, the Pork of the American Jobs Act Boondoggle
Openmarket.org President Obama made the astute observation in his speech that, “the millions of Americans who are watching at home right now, they don’t care…
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Davis-Bacon, the Pork of the American Jobs Act Boondoggle
President Obama observed in his speech that “the millions of Americans who are watching at home right now, they don’t care about politics.” Obama harkened…
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Time To End Apollo Redux
Over at Cosmic Log, the blog of MSNBC science correspondent Alan Boyle, there is an interview with me based on a…
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CEI Podcast for September 8, 2011: The Infrastructure Bank
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Union vs. Union Fight
A band I was in years ago had a song titled, “Sheet Rockers vs. Aluminum Siders,” about a fight our singer saw at work on…
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Obama’s Costly, Unaffordable, Harmful New Stimulus: The “American Jobs Act”
President Obama wants Congress to pass a $447 billion proposal called the "American Jobs Act," a costly set of recycled stimulus plans that contains no new ideas…
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Today’s Links: September 8, 2011
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My Fantasy Obama Jobs Speech
The following is my fantasy speech on jobs from Barack Obama. He looks at CEI's websites, realizes his big-government approach has been all wrong, but…
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The “Overhead Smash” Of ITAR
Over at Beltway Confidential today, Tim Carney asks if one of the unintended (or perhaps not-so-unintended) consequences of Dodd-Frank will be to…
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The Inconsistencies of Food Nannyism: Are Potatoes Worse Than Soda?
The federal government has rejected a proposal from New York’s Mayor to exclude sugar-sweetened drinks from the food stamp program. But the government…
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TSA Agent: Be Quiet About Alleged Sexual Assault, or Pay $500,000
Give some people a badge, and the power goes to their head. A TSA agent has threatened to sue a female traveler who complained…
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Do We Really Need Government-Funded Anti-Piracy Training?
Just introduced by New Jersey Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R), the Piracy Suppression Act of 2011 aims to improve U.S. policy with respect to ocean pirates…
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Borzi’s Fiduciary Burden on Broker-Dealers
Openmarket.org Who ought to have greater fiduciary duties: a consumer-selected, paid adviser whose advice is optional, or an adviser who you legally must pay and…
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Today’s Links: September 7, 2011
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Borzi’s Fiduciary Burden on Broker-Dealers
Who ought to have greater fiduciary duties: a consumer-selected, paid adviser whose advice is optional, or an adviser who you legally must pay and whose…
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NASA’s Costly Risk Aversion
Over at Pajamas Media this past weekend, I describe the current travails of the International Space Station in the wake of…
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Obama Infrastructure Stimulus: Union Payoff Filled with Rail Boondoggles and Pork
Obama's proposed infrastructure stimulus is a payoff to Big Labor, as economist Ronald Utt explains. It "represents tens of billions of dollars in high,…
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Stimulating Language
I’ve argued for a long time that stimulus bills are poorly named; it implies that they stimulate the economy. “Spending bill” is a non-loaded term…
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Today’s Links: September 6, 2011
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Dear Labor, Don’t Fear the Robot
In California, a war is quietly being fought: workers versus technology. And the war has materialized in the form of a bill that seeks…
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Obama’s Ironic, Belated, and Unaffordable Infrastructure “Stimulus”
In a Labor Day speech to an AFL-CIO rally in Detroit, President Obama said that "roads and bridges nationwide need rebuilding and more than…
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Fannie-Freddie’s Hypocritical Suit Against Banks Making Loans that GSEs Helped Create
"U.S. is set to sue dozen big banks over mortgages," reads the front-page headline in today's New York Times. The "deck" below the headline…
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Massive Justice Department Attack on Banks?
A monumentally-destructive Justice Department attack on banks may soon occur. Earlier, I wrote about how the Obama Justice Department is now forcing banks to…
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Regulation Roundup
Burping in church is illegal in Nevada unless it's accidental, plus more.
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: September 2, 2011
I'm back from the West Coast with another (hoppier) edition of the Alcohol Regulation Roundup, a collection of stories about our nations constantly changing, sometimes…
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More Failed Stimulus Spending: Green Jobs Boondoggles Promoted by Obama Fail, Go Bankrupt, But Obama Wants More
As the stock market sinks today in the face of news that no jobs were created in America last month (even as the number…
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Eminent Domain and Redevelopment: Down in the Dumps
Remember New London, Connecticut, the dying industrial town that threw property rights under the bus thanks to 2005’s notoriously awful Kelo decision? I’m sure your…
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CEI Weekly: CEI Unveils Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index
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More Failed Stimulus Proposals from Obama Administration: Increase Wasteful Education Spending
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A “Condom Mandate” is No Benefit for Adult Film Actors
I heard the news while driving home from work: a California porn star tested positive for HIV, resulting in a voluntary…
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Obama Administration Violated Federal Laws in Operation Fast and Furious, which Led to Killings of Americans and Mexicans
The scandal over Operation Fast and Furious, in which the Obama administration funneled thousands of guns to violent Mexican drug lords in an abortive, mismanaged…
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CEI Podcast for September 1, 2011: The Blocked AT&T-T-Mobile Merger
The Department of Justice sued this week to stop the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger. Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia thinks this is a mistake.
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Obama Administration: Time to Pay Your Neighbor’s Mortgage
The Washington Times yesterday had an editorial, "Paying Your Neighbor's Mortgage," about the costly new bailout advocated by political appointees in the Obama administration,…
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Today’s Links: September 1, 2011
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New Texas Satellite TV Taxes Dodged, But Cable Franchise Fee Abuse Persists
In April of this year, my colleague Ryan Radia and I wrote about a proposal making its way through the Texas State House to increase…
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Green Zealots Target Maryland Students
The Maryland State Board of Education passed a new curriculum requirement on June 21, 2011. Instead of gaining competence in math or science, students…
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Free Trade vs. Protectionism
If international trade barriers create wealth, why stop there? Every state should have its own trade barriers against every other state.
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The DOJ’s Antitrust Seers
The philosopher Yogi Berra once said that “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Let’s apply his lesson to the proposed $39 billion…
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Indiana School Vouchers Please Parents, Infuriate Teachers
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Pampers Dry Max class action settlement objection
This week, we objected to a $0 settlement of the Pampers Dry Max class action that proposes paying $2.7 million to the lawyers. More…
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Obama Justice Department Forces Banks to Make Risky Loans, Planting the Seeds of a Future Financial Crisis
The Wall Street Journal today writes about how the Obama administration is repeating the "mistakes of the past by intimidating banks into lending to…
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Today’s Links: August 31, 2011
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Regulation of the Day 196: Babysitting
This bill will result in a lot of unhappy nights at home for frustrated parents – and a lot less income for sitters who have…
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NLRB’s Pro-Big Labor Ruling Trifecta is Bad News for the Economy
Earlier this year, President Obama proudly touted his executive order calling for federal agencies to review regulations on their books and identify obsolete rules for…
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CEI and Crossroads GPS Announce Launch of Big Labor vs. Taxpayers Index
With state governments across the country struggling to balance budgets and fund basic services over the demands of big government unions, the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
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Despite D.C. Legalization of Online Poker, Players Leave USA
It is perhaps a little ironic that the most vocal opponents of online poker will soon be the only people in the USA who can…
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Many New Job-Killing Regulations from the Obama Administration
Andrew Stiles describes "Ten Job-Destroying Regulations" from the Obama administration that will wipe out hundreds of thousands of jobs. Another job-killing regulation is the…
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Welch vs. Lee: What About Freight?
Libertarian urbanist -- call him a "market urbanist" -- Timothy B. Lee recently had an article at Forbes.com in which he criticized Matt Welch…
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Today’s Links: August 30, 2011
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Infrastructure Pork versus Infrastructure Investment: In Washington, There is No Difference
The labor theory of value still survives -- at least in politics. Both Democrats and Republicans still believe that "government must create jobs," and if…
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Will the Super Committee Legalize Online Poker?
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Broken Window Fallacy: Hurricane Irene Edition
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More Barriers to Job Creation from Obama Administration: Employers Must Hire Alcoholics as Truck Drivers Despite Liability Risk
The president is full of hollow rhetoric about creating jobs, even though his stimulus package destroyed jobs in our export sector and…
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Scholarships to Study Free-Market Ideas
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AT&T-T-Mobile Merger Delayed
A few months ago, the FCC said it would hand down a decision on whether to allow AT&T and T-Mobile to merge within 180 days.
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Keynesian Policy Does Not Create Growth
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No, the Government Didn’t Cut Spending During the Great Depression, and More Government Spending Won’t Fix the Economy
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Regulation Roundup
Some of the stranger rules I've dug recently:…
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CEI Weekly: Obama Launches Weak Deregulation Initiative
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Morning Media Summary
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The Texas Empire Strikes Back
Well, I made a prediction here yesterday: It will be interesting to see how those in Congress who have been demanding…
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Who’s Afraid of Snuggles the Bear?
As the East Coast braces to be pummeled by Hurricane Irene, a new study in the Journal Air Quality and Atmosphere…
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CEI Podcast for August 25, 2011: Mr. Fuddlesticks
Mr. Fuddlesticks is an anonymous YouTube user who posted embarrassing videos about the Renton, Washington police department. They convinced a judge to let them request…
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The Sidewalks of Madison
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NLRB to Businesses: Tell Employees they Can Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule “requiring most private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor…
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Sirius XM settlement approved
Judge Baer approved the $0 Blessing v. Sirius XM settlement and $13 million fee award yesterday. The decision contradicts (and ignores) Bluetooth,…
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Morning Media Summary
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Our Space Policy Chickens Have Come Home To Roost
With the retirement of the Space Shuttle last month, the U.S. and its international partners are now entirely reliant on non-U.S. providers for transportation to…
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Time to Stop Increasing Education Spending?
Even The New York Times is now questioning the massive spending increases on education that have occurred over the last generation in a discussion…
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Eminent Domain, Rick Perry, and the Trans-Texas Corridor
Attorney Alan Ackerman has a post up highlighting and commenting on an article that argues that critics of Texas Governor Rick Perry from the right…
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Morning Media Summary
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Politicization of Justice Department Worsens
If you are a moderate or conservative, don't expect to get a job with the Justice Department during the Obama administration. All 15 of the…