CEI has fought excessive regulation in the financial sector from laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank. We have scored major bipartisan victories for deregulation. These include the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, signed by President Obama in 2012, that lifted or relaxed some of the biggest burdens preventing small and midsize firms from raising capital and going public; and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, signed by President Trump in 2018, that lifted some of Dodd-Frank’s crushing burden on community banks and credit unions. We continue to fight to remove regulatory barriers that limit choices and increase costs for entrepreneurs, investors, and consumers.
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Fed flirts with stimulus
As expected, the Federal Reserve signaled its commitment to fighting inflation by holding interest rates steady at this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting. It…
Blog
Weak GDP is first stress test for inflation fighters
I have been saying for a while that inflation expectations will remain high until policymakers prove they can restrain their stimulus spending during an economic…
News Release
CEI praises measure to overturn CFPB’s destructive price controls on credit card late fees
On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee is expected to approve a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) to overturn…
Search Posts
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: 2023 year-end special
The tentative final numbers for new regulations for 2023 are in: The final four-day week of 2023 was relatively slow: 60 final regulations, 34 proposed…
Blog
Federal Register 2023 gives Congress 90,402 reasons to restrain the regulators
As we bid farewell to 2023 and ring in 2024, the Federal Register reveals a noteworthy chapter in regulatory history under the Joe Biden administration.
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Avoiding a Central Bank Digital Currency with Nicholas Anthony
In this week’s episode we cover the legislative record of House of Representatives in 2023, the proliferation of conferences about ESG investing,…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Oxides of nitrogen and approaching of whales
Congress has adjourned until January, so the Republic is safe until then. The Fourteenth Amendment suddenly became a factor in the presidential race. Meanwhile,…
The Hill
Don’t hand a blank check to a troubled FDIC
When shocking reports surfaced recently of discrimination, harassment and a toxic workplace culture at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, members of both parties…
The Dispatch
Why ‘Dollarize’?
The newly inaugurated president of Argentina, Javier Milei, is variously described as a radical libertarian, a right-wing populist, and an ultraconservative. Rather than try to…
Blog
Obscuring the SEC’s climate disclosure rule may invite a host of legal problems
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) pending climate disclosure rule has been delayed yet again. The climate disclosure rule will require publicly traded companies to quantify…
Blog
Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next year?
As expected, the Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate the same this week, which influences other interest rates, including car and mortgage payments. The…
Blog
Inflation holds steady, Fed interest rates likely to stay put
The Consumer Price Index went up 0.1 percent in the month of November. Its 12-month increase is 3.1 percent, same as last month’s report.
Blog
Federal government waves goodbye to ‘economically significant’ regulations
Last week, the Fall 2023 edition of the White House’s Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions appeared. It features the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Address labels and exporting missiles
The FDA approved the world’s first gene-editing therapy, which could cure sickle cell disease. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent. Meanwhile, agencies issued…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Au pairs and processed pears
The 2023 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. Henry Kissinger died at age 100. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
Blog
Inflation makes regulations even more expensive
The just-released 2023 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments report estimates that the total cost of complying with all federal regulations is $1.94…
Blog
Ten Thousand Commandments 2023 is out now
The 2023 edition of CEI’s flagship annual study, Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments, is out now. For those not familiar, 10KC gives a big-picture…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Slender salamanders and joint employers
Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary cease-fire. OpenAI’s board of directors fired CEO Sam Altman, then re-hired him and fired themselves. President Joe Biden…
Blog
Slice the regulatory turkey this Thanksgiving
The turkeys Liberty and Bell just received a Thanksgiving pardon from Joe Biden. The official presentation of a turkey for a presidential pardon and rescue…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: California raisins and debit card fees
There was a pro-Israel and anti-Hamas rally on the National Mall of more than 200,000 people. A fight nearly broke out at a Senate hearing.
Discourse Magazine
What America’s Recent Bank Failures Tell Us About ESG Phasing
Financial institutions that radically phase out fossil fuel and other politically scorned investments pose a serious risk to their own business, to investors and ultimately…
News Release
Good News on Inflation during October, but It’s Still Too High: CEI Analysis
The consumer price index did not increase from September to October, according to newly released government numbers. But because core CPI is still higher…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Junk fees and dehumidifiers
It was a four-day week due to Veterans Day. Another government shutdown deadline is less than a week away. The FTC issued a proposed rule…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Personal finance and YouTube with Spencer Johnson
In this week’s episode we cover how states can reform higher education, ways that managers can make their employees happier at work,…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Gas cans and shorts reporting
President Biden issued an Executive Order on AI regulation. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. Jobs growth slowed, but still grew.
Blog
Is the Fed done with interest rate hikes?
The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee held the federal funds rate steady this week at its most recent meeting, as expected. It will range…
DC Journal
Senate Credit Card Bills Will Cost Working Class Consumers
Senators from both sides of the aisle claim they are taking on big banks to help the working class by regulating credit cards. Sen. Josh…
Blog
SEC commissioner bashes private markets, shows why public capital flight is happening
Caroline Crenshaw, a designated Democratic commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently was sharply critical of private markets. “Investor protection and systemic risk…
News Release
Biden’s Junky Retirement Rule Would Raise Fees & Take Away Choices for American Savers
President Biden today announced the details of a new rule governing retirement savings, echoing an earlier “fiduciary rule” issued by the Obama administration that was…
News Release
Big Economic Growth for Third Quarter of 2023, Taming Inflation Didn’t Cause Recession: CEI Analysis
CEI Senior Economist Ryan Young pointed to new data on the economy’s impressive growth in the third quarter of 2023 as evidence that the…
Blog
Gensler SEC’s PDA rule would keep investors in the dark
Hailing one of his new mandates on entrepreneurs and investors, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler proclaimed, “In today’s fast-moving financial markets, it’s important that market…
Fox Business
Biden called upon by pro-growth groups to withdraw CFPB’s late fees rule
CEI’s John Berlau is cited by Fox Business outlining the CFPB’s late fees rule: John Berlau, senior fellow and director of finance policy at…
News Release
Inflation still too high as of September: CEI analysis
The federal government today released an update on inflation for the month of September, a rise of 0.4 percent in September compared to a 0.6…
Blog
The SEC’s misguided attempt to regulate AI
My colleague John Berlau and I submitted a comment letter this week to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing its proposed regulations on…
Econlib
Seeking an Explanation for the Stagnation
This is the second of two posts I am writing in reaction to Adam Martin, who wrote two responses to my essay about ways in which …
Comment
Conflicts of Interest Associated with the Use of Predictive Data Analytics by Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers
October 10, 2023 Docket ID: Release Nos. 34-97990, IA-6353, File No. S7-12-23 To the Honorable Gary Gensler, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and…
Washington Examiner
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried trial to start Tuesday in NYC
CEI’s John Berelau is cited by Washington Examiner on the FTX Trial: John Berlau, a senior fellow and director of finance policy at the Competitive…
Blog
Bill banning Fed-controlled crypto a good first step, but Congress must do more for monetary freedom
On Wednesday, the US House Financial Services Committee is expected to vote on House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s ‘‘CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act,” aiming to prevent…
Blog
Congress can say no to Bidenomics in shutdown showdown
The contentious fiscal year 2024 budget battle, which might result in a partial federal government shutdown, is unfurling precisely as the national debt is…
Forbes
How Durbin & Co. Credit And Debit Card Controls Could Pave The Way For CBDCs
Central Bank Digital Currency – the digital form of a national currency that tracks transactions within a government digital ledger – is an idea that…
Blog
August CPI: Rising energy prices hide underlying inflation progress
This month’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a jumble of numbers that look like they contradict each other. But they make sense on closer…
DC Journal
Gensler ‘Choke Point’ Strategy on Crypto Suffers Legal Setbacks
CEI’s John Berlau is cited on DC Journal discussing crypto choke points: “There just seems to be a war on crypto if you look at…
Blog
The SEC’s anti-competitive assault against private fund advisers
The Securities and Exchange Commission is adopting new rules that radically redefine how investment companies are regulated, undercutting the ability of private fund advisers to…
Citation
AUDIO: Ryan Young Joins the Bob Harden Show
Senior Economist Ryan Young joined the Bob Harden Show to discuss the current state of our economy: Ryan-Young-September-1Download…
News Release
Grayscale Decision Curtails “Arbitrary and Capricious” SEC and Enhances Investor Options
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously ruled in Grayscale Investments v. SEC that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s denial…
Crowdfund Insider
Competitive Enterprise Institute Financial Services Expert Comments on Bitcoin ETF Ruling: The SEC Should Heed the Words of the Court
CI received a comment from John Berlau, a Director of Finance Policy and Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) who said the…
CBS Austin
Investors, economists hope to gain hints for what’s next as Federal Reserve meets
CBS Austin cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s speech: “Everyone’s gonna be interested in ‘what’s the Fed going to do…
Blog
‘Economically significant’ regulations: an obituary
I never thought I’d miss “economically significant” rules and regulations. But Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14094 (“Modernizing Regulatory Review”) has redefined “Significant regulatory action.”…
Blog
How regulations crush small businesses and the poor
Today, the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship is holding a field hearing in Iowa on the topic of “One Size Does Not…
Blog
America’s insurance commissioners still pursuing bad investment charges that EU is scrapping
Last month, a significant development took place in Europe that so far has not been widely reported in the US, even though it will likely…
Blog
Inflation Reduction Act turns one, and wow that’s an ugly baby
As President Joe Biden celebrates the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (here’s the White House “Fact Sheet“) we…
News Release
Falling energy prices mask inflation, despite official numbers showing little change from June to July: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index ticked up slightly from June to July, but CEI Senior Economist Ryan Young explains why the true inflation problem was…
Real Clear Markets
The Global Rejection of CBDC
The Biden Administration and the Federal Reserve are taking steps toward the potential roll-out of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In attempting to do…