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Breaking Up is Hard to Do for Michigan Brewers
If you thought leaving a spouse was tough, just be thankful that you're not a brewery in need of a divorce from your dead-beat distributor.
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CEI Weekly: Annual Dinner Is a Night to Remember
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Yet Another Way That Obamacare Is Unconstitutional: The Arguments in Florida v. HHS
In the Washington Examiner, I discuss the brief I recently filed on behalf of Minnesota and North Carolina legislators challenging Obamacare, which…
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Cato: Downsizing the Department of Labor
Cato’s latest endeavor, downsizing the Federal Government: Labor Department, emphasizes the ineffectiveness and restrictions put in place by the Department of Labor. DOL has…
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Stealing You Blind: Drugging Monkeys on Your Dime
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Obama Administration Votes Against England, Supporting Argentine-Backed Resolution on the Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are English-speaking and have been part of the United Kingdom for generations. Although Argentina unsuccessfully tried to conquer them in 1982, they…
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Morning Media Summary
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CEI Podcast for June 9, 2011: The Other Black Friday
Online poker has been illegal since April 15, now called Black Friday by poker fans. Policy Analyst Michelle Minton goes over the controversy and explains…
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The Greatest Video Never Shown
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GOP Durbin Dozen Blocks Dodd-Frank Rollback
Anywhere but the Senate, getting 54 votes out of 100 is a victory. And yesterday, a bipartisan group 0f 54 Senators responded to concerns…
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Morning Media Summary
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Regulation of the Day 180: Braiding Hair
Businesses often use regulations as a cudgel to bludgeon their competitors. Occupational licensing is one of the most-abused types of regulation.
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Delaying Dodd-Frank’s Durbin Price Controls Would Save Retailers From Themselves
Today is the day, as a bipartisan amendment comes to the Senate floor delaying draconian price controls on debit card transaction fees from Dodd-Frank's Durbin Amendment, that the Senate has an…
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Morning Media Summary
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The Last Nail in the Coffin for the Fairness Doctrine?
In response to calls by lawmakers for the Fairness Doctrine and related measures to be permanently removed from the Federal Register, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski…
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Why Cross-Examination Rights Matter in Campus Sexual Harassment Cases under Title IX
As part of its broader attack on safeguards against false accusations, the federal Education Department is urging colleges to strip students and faculty of…
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Failures of Auto Bailouts Hidden by Deceptive Accounting and Bogus Jobs Figures
Mounting evidence shows that the auto bailouts weren't worth it. They have been far more costly, and less successful, than claimed, as even liberal…
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Morning Media Summary
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BitCoins: Four Objections
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Liberal Economist Peter Diamond Withdraws from Contention for Federal Reserve
MIT’s Peter Diamond has withdrawn his nomination to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. I earlier explained how Diamond’s nomination by…
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Wisconsin Proposal Hurts Craft Beer, Protects Big Brewers
In the battle between international brewing giants SABMiller and ABInBev, Wisconsin craft brewers could bear the heaviest burden. On May 31, the state legislature’s Joint…
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Regulation of the Day 179: Giving Food to Homeless People
Last Wednesday, three people were arrested in Orlando for giving food to homeless people.
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E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Organic Farming … Again
Although it’s not 100 percent certain at this time, German health officials are becoming increasingly certain that the recent E. coli…
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Even Liberal Washington Post Casts Doubt on Auto Bailouts
"Only 16 percent of executives in the auto industry" support the Chrysler bailout, according to the Washington Post’s editorial today. I think the bailout…
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BitCoins: All Buzz, No Substance
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Regulation of the Day 178: Helping Tornado Victims
Mike Haege, a tree-trimmer in Hastings, Minnesota, was threatened with jail and fined $275 for helping clear damaged trees from tornado victims' yards.
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California Social Networking Bill In Its Death Throes
In Sacramento, California, a bill that would regulate social networking is reportedly on its death bed after failing by five votes last week. The online…
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Obama’s Chrysler Fiat — Missing Jobs Under the Hood
“So far the auto industry’s added 113,000 jobs over the past two years.” So proclaimed President Obama in a speech at the Chrysler/Fiat plant in…
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President Obama’s Speech Perpetuates Bailout Payback Myth
In his speech just completed at a Toledo, Ohio Chrysler plant, President Obama continued the government PR work on behalf of bailed out auto…
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Regulation Roundup
Tennessee makes it illegal to use someone else's Netflix password, plus more.
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NFL, Players in Court Today
Today is a crucial day in the ongoing labor dispute between the NFL and the supposedly disbanded players’ union, the NFLPA as they return to…
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Planning to Disaster: San Diego and California’s Sustainable Communities Strategies
The San Diego metro area has been institutionalizing its boring reputation by undertaking in recent years what is arguably the most aggressive regional planning effort…
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CEI FOIA Request Reveals Relationship Between Treasury Department and GM
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How Free Is America?
Pajamas Media Americans are accustomed to thinking of themselves as the freest people on Earth. Except that according to the Heritage Foundation’s 2011 Index of…
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Official Time: Union Activity on the Taxpayers’ Dime
Government Executive summarizes the Office of Personnel Management’s report on the use of official time, whereby unionized federal employees carry out union business…
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A Culture of Deceit
Last month Governor John Lynch issued a statement explaining his veto of HB 474 to make New Hampshire a right-to-work state. His explanation included:…
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An Alaskan Mining Project: One Example of How Environmental Regulations are Strangling the U.S. Economy
Rick Manning of Americans for Limited Government notes here that one of the reasons the American economy is stuck in neutral is that investors…
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Morning Media Summary
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Top 3 Myths about Immigration
According to Ben Powell, the three most common immigration myths are that immigrants are a drag on the economy, they steal our jobs, and that…
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Report: Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) Bridge Will Lose $4.5 Billion Over 20 Years
Via Peter Samuel of TOLLROADSnews, a new report from Conway MacKenzie estimates the proposed Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge would lose in…
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Briefing in Cobell v. Salazar Indian trust class action
Details at Point of Law.
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Morning Media Summary
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CEI Podcast for May 31, 2011: FDA Rescinds Approval of Breast Cancer Drug
Conko believes this battle boils down to one question: who decides which treatments patients can use? Will it be the FDA, or doctors and patients?…
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Liberalize High-Skilled Immigration
Over at the Daily Caller, Alex Nowrasteh and I tell the story of Jeffrey Lin. He is a Ph.D student at CalTech who holds three…
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California High-Speed Rail All Strung Out on Stimulus on the Outskirts of Town
Emily Washington of Market Urbanism highlights this Los Angeles Times article on the latest — depending on your outlook: hilarious or pathetic —…
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Fiscal Conservatives Must Turn Policy Debate to General
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New York City Health Officials: No Fun for Adults
Last year we watched as the FDA used its regulatory might to institute a de-facto ban on alcoholic energy drinks like Four Loko, Joose,…
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Morning Media Summary
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Yet More Proof that the Supreme Court is Not Pro-Business
The Supreme Court has ruled against the Chamber of Commerce's challenge to an Arizona law punishing businesses that hire illegal aliens by taking away…
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Regulation Roundup
Some of the zanier happenings in the world of regulation:…
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Morning Media Summary
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Shedding Light on Light Bulbs — Don’t Count on the NYT
In its “Home and Garden” section yesterday, The New York Times did it again: in what should have been a straight-forward puff piece about…
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Barney Frank Used Influence with Fannie Mae, the Failed Mortgage Giant Bailed Out by Taxpayers
Former House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) tenaciously opposed efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage…
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CEI Podcast for May 26, 2011: President Obama Proposes Deregulation
Cass Sunstein, President Obama's regulatory czar, announced today that the administration intends to repeal regulations from 30 different agencies. CEI Vice President for Strategy Iain…
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Sen. Hatch Questions Illogic of Holding Three Trade Agreements Hostage to TAA
Consideration of the three pending trade pacts -- with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea -- presents a conundrum. The administration is saying that these Free…
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Obama’s Regulatory Reform: The Costs of Benefits
My colleagues commented above on the Cass Sunstein lecture at the American Enterprise Institute called "Regulatory Look-Back: A First Look," about agency's supposed eagerness to…
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Activist Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law — For Now
Government employee unions and their allies have tried just about everything to stop the efforts by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republicans in the legislature…
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Avastin and Breast Cancer: The Median is Not the Message
The New York Times ran an op-ed yesterday by oncologist Frederick Tucker urging the Food and Drug Administration to stand by…
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Lots of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in the Stimulus, Which Will Cost $43 Billion More Than Expected
The Congressional Budget Office says the stimulus package will cost $43 billion more than estimated. The stimulus package is full of waste, fraud, and…
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Somin on the Judicial Reaction to Kelo
George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin posted online the other day his paper on the judicial reaction to the Supreme Court’s infamous…
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Deregulatory Baby Steps
In a welcome move, the White House announced this morning that a review of regulations by government departments had found 30 (count 'em) regulations…
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Sunstein and Obama, Deregulators?
Winston Churchill observed that "Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities." We may finally be…
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Morning Media Summary
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Regulation of the Day 177: Single-Wide Trailers
In Cordova, Alabama single-wide trailer homes are illegal. After years of lax enforcement, regulators are cracking down after tornadoes left many residents homeless.
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The Auto Bailouts: Still A Huge Loss for Taxpayers, and a Failure in Stemming Unemployment
Columnist Shikha Dalmia explains how the auto bailouts are a huge money loser for taxpayers and the economy as a whole, despite recent earnings…
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NLRB Targets Boeing, Ignores Congress
It is now well known that the Obama administration is trying to use the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as a battering ram to…
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New York Times on “Paternalistic” Government
The Dining section of today’s New York Times has a short piece reporting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has lowered…
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Mark Haines RIP
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Education Department’s Gainful Employment Rule Was Based on Falsehoods
Earlier, CEI issued a study on an Education Department rule that is likely to backfire on students: the so-called "gainful employment rule" that is…
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Dismantling Sarbanes-Oxley
My colleague Ryan Radia and I recently wrote in an editorial for Investor's Business Daily that the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act should be dismantled for the…
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Mind-boggling Increase in Tuition Since 1960 Even as Students Learn Less and Less
There has been a truly mind-boggling increase in college tuition since 1960. For example, law school tuition has risen nearly 1,000 percent after adjusting…
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Alcohol Producers in Texas Must Unite For their Right to Produce
As discussed in my latest "Alcohol Regulation Roundup" post, a representative for brewing giant, Anheuser-Busch (AB-InBev) testified at a Lone Star State Senate…
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Morning Media Summary
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AIG Bailout’s True Costs to Taxpayers, Innovation, and Competition
The Treasury Department today is patting itself on the back for finally selling some of the government's shares in American International Group, with Treasury…
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3,700 Tax Cheats Got Stimulus Contracts
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New Jersey Supreme Court Orders Even More Spending on Mismanaged School Districts in Abbott v. Burke
Thanks to New Jersey’s Supreme Court, that state’s hopelessly-mismanaged (and sometimes corrupt) urban school districts will be getting even more money. In a 3-to-2…
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California Card Check: Just Sign Here
The card check bill soon to be sitting on California Governor Jerry Brown’s desk is another attempt by labor unions to take away worker rights.
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Obama Calls on Federal Agencies to Move to Alternative Fuel Vehicles by 2015
Today, President Obama issued a memorandum that directed executive agencies to develop purchasing and deployment plans for replacing the entire federal vehicle fleet with…
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Journalists Say the Darndest Things!
Today's Washington Post has an article about a new study confirming that the lifetime earning power of a college degree in…
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Black Friday All Over Again: Feds Seize More Online Poker Domains
This week thousands of poker fans and players will gather at the Rio Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas for the much anticipated 42nd Annual…
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Morning Media Summary
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If You Can’t Defend It, Don’t Spend It
Openmarket.org Legislators in Louisiana are proposing an ingenious bill entitled, “Public Employee Bargaining Transparency Act” (PEBTA). If enacted, Louisiana would become only the seventh state…
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200 More Obamacare Waivers Granted
204 more waivers of Obamacare’s onerous mandates have been issued over the past month, bringing the total to at least 1,372. As…
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The Politics of Public Pension Underfunding
To date, the debate over public pensions has focused largely on accounting methods — how best to estimate the level of current funding needed to…
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Donald Trump: Casino Welfare Queen and Takings-Abuser of Widows
With Donald Trump ending his quixotic-yet-simultaneously-cynical candidacy for president, this might not have the punch it could have had on his campaign, but I still…
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If You Can’t Defend It, Don’t Spend It
Legislators in Louisiana are proposing an ingenious bill entitled, “Public Employee Bargaining Transparency Act” (PEBTA). If enacted, Louisiana would become only the seventh state to…
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Regulation of the Day 176: Cooking a Burger
In North Carolina, it is illegal to cook a burger to an internal temperature under 155 degrees.
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The Loony Left Era
The Economist has this to say about the NLRB’s pursuit of Boeing: The NLRB is an autonomous body, but its board members are appointed…
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: May 23, 2011
Alabama: Small vineyards in Alabama support a bill that would allow them to self-distribute up to 24,000 barrels a year, allowing them to compete…
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Morning Media Summary
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Stimulus Wiped Out a Million Private Sector Jobs
The economy may be slowly recovering, but that’s in spite of — not because of — the recent orgy of federal spending. Two economics professors,…
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Government Role in Causing Financial Crisis Much Bigger than Thought
Analysts who once downplayed the government's role in causing the financial crisis now have changed their tune, concluding that government regulations that promoted risky loans…
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CEI Weekly: Endangered Species Act Being Exploited to Block Economic Activity
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Trumka’s Empty Threat to Democrats
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is warning Democratic politicians today: Push our agenda, or we won’t support you in the 2012 election. It’s hard to imagine…
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Regulation of the Day 175: Firing Dwarves
It would be nice to help out and give a job to someone who needs it, but for many employers, it’s just not worth the…
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Feds Say “Prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse!”
Who says bureaucrats don’t have a sense of humor? The Wall Street Journal‘s Health Blog points to a…
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Online Poker Showdown: States Step Over Feds to Legalize iGaming
In the wake of a federal clamp-down on Internet poker, states are forging ahead with their efforts to explicitly legalize, regulate, and tax online…
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Morning Media Summary
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Forced Unionization: Bad for Business?
Only four short months ago President Obama said: If we make America the best place to do business, businesses should make their mark in…
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Republicans Filibuster Left-Wing Lawyer’s Nomination to Key Appeals Court; Block Confirmation of Goodwin Liu
"Goodwin Liu's nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appears to be done for" thanks to a Republican filibuster, says David Freddoso of…