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What permitting reform should and shouldn’t include
Congress is working on bipartisan permitting reform. This is a good sign, but any such efforts need to ensure they deliver genuine permitting reform that…
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Trade can aid wildlife recovery, latest global confab should admit
Yesterday was the first day of the 20th meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP20) to The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of…
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DOGE cancellation theatrics change nothing in the regulatory power game
“Trump administration officials have not openly said that DOGE no longer exists.” That admission came 10 paragraphs into a widely reported “exclusive” Reuters story claiming…
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Interior secretary announces new pro-energy plan for offshore oil and gas
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently issued a Secretary order to replace the Biden administration’s 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program…
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New York, California make a play for federal labor law enforcement
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency, currently lacks a quorum to act. Ordinarily, that type of federal…
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The week in regulations: Airport fees and pesticide fragrances
September’s jobs report came out after a shutdown-related delay. The FTC lost its antitrust case against Meta. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from postage pricing…
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The Endangerment Finding’s disqualifying systemic biases, part 2
The previous post in this series documented the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding’s reliance on overheated models and inflated emission scenarios to estimate…
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CEI warns House committee of dangers of deposit insurance hike
Starting with our late founder and president Fred Smith, CEI has long warned of the risks posed by government-provided deposit insurance to the nation’s banks.
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Bank regulators repeal intrusive ESG guidance
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Fed Board) withdrew their controversial interagency guidance on climate financial risks on…
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Free the Economy podcast: Sesquicentennial celebration
In this week’s episode we celebrate the show’s sesquicentennial anniversary – that is, our 150th episode. We look back at the dozens of smart,…
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The Endangerment Finding’s disqualifying systemic biases, part 1
On August 1, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to repeal its December 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. In the Endangerment Finding,…
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Camelot and misuse of the public interest
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr has used the Communications Act’s public interest obligation to pressure broadcast licensees. This includes threatening ABC over…
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A tariff-funded UBI? Trump just gave progressives their blueprint
Donald Trump’s pitch for a $2,000 “tariff dividend” check to be issued sometime next year (during election season) is being marketed as a windfall…
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Shutdown lesson: Depend less on DC
The record-length shutdown showed how dependent many Americans are on Washington. This is one of the biggest flaws in the ongoing nationalization of politics. In…
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The week in regulations, the final shutdown edition: Manifest mailing and broken trash incinerators
The federal shutdown is over. Since the Federal Register has a few days’ lag time for publishing agency documents, it will likely take until this…
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Swiss trade deal could be a good start towards mutual recognition
Switzerland’s government announced today that it reached an agreement on a trade framework with the United States. America’s Liberation Day tariff rate on Swiss…
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An executive order to make freedom mandatory
The White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) new “Streamlining the Review of Regulatory Actions” memorandum signals a potentially transformative shift in Washington’s…
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Free the Economy podcast: Charting tariff madness with Joey Politano
In this week’s episode we talk about changes in consumer credit, disappearing fast-food jobs in California, and six things the climate movement…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Medicare payments and arms trafficking.
The Supreme Court held oral hearings for the V.O.S. Spirits tariff case. Former Vice President Dick Cheney passed away. Democrats had a very good election…
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Obamacare’s subsidy cliff: How many enrollees are actually affected?
Democrats in Congress have put Obamacare front and center in their opposition to the Republicans’ temporary budget. One provision of the American Rescue Plan…
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A bad court decision on furnace regulations strengthens the case for a legislative fix
On November 4, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed down a decision that is bad news for millions of…
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The deregulation machine hits bureaucratic resistance
A new White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo, “Streamlining the Review of Deregulatory Actions,” poses an ambitious test: can agencies use…
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Free the Economy podcast: Truth, lies, and economics with Jeremy Horpedahl
In this week’s episode we talk about Social Security’s cost of living, conserving rare earth minerals, and why California keeps losing…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Student loans and foreigners’ biometric data
President Trump announced a trade deal with China. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates. The continued federal shutdown meant another slow week in the Federal…
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Stop artificially increasing demand for rare earths
Trade wars with China over rare earth minerals have sparked a number of policy responses, ranging from good ideas like streamlining the permitting process…
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CFPB breaks its stranglehold over adjudications
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just announced that it will revise its adjudication rules to ensure greater fairness. Specifically, the CFPB is rescinding…
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Free the Economy podcast: Our nuclear tomorrow with Craig Piercy
In this week’s episode we talk about administrative law judges, AI innovation saving lives, environmental regulation creating more wildfires, and more…
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Darklore Depository 2025: An unofficial inventory of guidance documents and other regulatory dark matter
Halloween can remind policy wonks that some of the ghastliest regulatory chills come not from ordinary notice-and-comment regulation buried in the daily Federal Register, but…
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Rare earths and China: Choose deregulation, not price controls
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to implement price controls on unspecified goods if China continues to restrict rare earth mineral exports. Over at the…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Visa fees and regional haze
President Trump demanded that the Justice Department pay him $230 million. He also cut off all trade negotiations with Canada because of a tv commercial…