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.
Banking and Finance Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
How SAFER Banking Act poses new dangers to marijuana and other legal industries
Marijuana has been in the news lately, and the news seems to be overwhelmingly favorable to the industry in terms of reducing uncertainty as to…
Blog
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…
Search Posts
News Release
Inflation Hits High Mark with Consumer Price Climb in October 2021, but Policymakers Can Take Steps to Help: CEI Statement
Bad news for consumers – prices rose 0.9 percent in October and to a 30-year high, according to data released today by the Labor…
Op-Eds
Big government spies on your bank account
REPOST: Drew Ferguson’s piece at the Washington Examiner, as part of their Restoring America Project The Biden…
News Release
CEI Experts Weigh In on Reconciliation Framework Agreed to by White House and Congressional Democrats
WASHINGTON – The White House and congressional democrats announced agreement on a “framework” for a reconciliation bill that will spend nearly $2 trillion and includes…
Blog
Lenny Bruce, Capitalism vs. Communism, and Biden’s Banking Nominee
At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, then-controversial comedian Lenny Bruce offered a surprising boost to the defense of capitalism over communism.
Blog
“Stop Wall Street Looting Act” Would Empower Wall Street, Harm Main Street
Washington policies are often misnamed. Recent legislative proposals labeled “infrastructure” concerned not roads or bridges, but social spending. But sometimes, a bill in Congress…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Opposing the Wall Street Looting Act
Dear Senators Warren & Kennedy, We are writing to express our concern about the upcoming hearing in the Senate Banking Economic Policy Subcommittee titled “Protecting…
KEPR TV
IRS monitoring $600 accounts likely to snare small businesses, under-the-table workers
KEPR TV cites Senior Attorney Robert Carter on the proposal for the IRS to monitor accounts over $600: The administration has assured the public…
Blog
Reconciliation Bill Provision Threatens IRA Holders’ Investing Opportunities
A couple of weeks back, I commented, in a Competitive Enterprise Institute blog post, on a provision of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Senate re Tax Preparer Licensing
Dear Senator: We write to urge you to oppose all proposals, including H. R. 4184 and similar legislation that may be introduced in the Senate,…
The Wall Street Journal
The Fed’s Dismal Digital-Dollar Idea
Alexander William Salter is spot on when he warns of the “Dangers of a Digital Dollar” (op-ed, Oct. 6) to financial…
Forbes
How Budget Reconciliation’s IRA Regs Undermine Bipartisan JOBS Act
In 2012, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, a bipartisan bill that reduced regulatory barriers preventing ordinary Americans…
Blog
IRS Needlessly Chases Minnows to Catch Whales
As part of its Fiscal Year 2022 Revenue Proposals, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has asked Congress to authorize a sweeping new financial reporting…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing IRS Financial Reporting Requirement
The undersigned organizations write in opposition to the proposed new reporting regime to have the IRS collect the account inflows and outflows for bank, loan,…
Blog
CEI Files Legislative Proposals to Rescue Crypto
On Monday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute responded to Sen. Patrick Toomey’s (R-PA) request for proposals to clarify laws around cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
News Release
Senate Should Weigh Disturbing Writings of Biden’s CFPB Nominee and Reform Unaccountable Agency
Today the Senate is expected to vote on President Biden’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra. CEI Senior Fellow John…
Inside Sources
People Have Few Protections Against Law Enforcement Civil Asset Forfeiture Practices
Imagine a world where police officers regularly confiscate property from civilians, based only on officers’ accusations of criminal conduct. Imagine that these allegations are never…
Comment
CEI Feedback on Clarifying Laws Around Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technologies
Competitive Enterprise Institute 1310 L Street NW, 7th Floor Washington, DC 20005 U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 534 Dirksen Senate Office…
News Release
China Cryptocurrency Ban A Lesson For US: CEI statement
China’s plans to ban private cryptocurrency is terrible but also offers a lesson and opportunity for US policymakers, says Competitive Enterprise Institute financial policy expert…
Blog
Proposed New Restrictions Threaten Opportunity for Middle Class Investors
While President Biden and Congressional Democrats have called for reining in big firms through antitrust and other punitive policies, a tax provision contrived by Congress…
News Release
Latest Producer Price Index Indicates Inflation Too High
The government’s latest numbers on average changes in prices, as measured by the Producer Price Index (PPI), are up at an annualized rate of 8.3…
Crowdfund Insider
Perspective: Crypto Should Divorce From the Progressive Movement
Progressives should love cryptocurrency, the latest innovation that brings power to the people. Turns out, they don’t. Perhaps surprisingly, it is precisely because crypto circumvents the…
Blog
Web 3.0 Requires New Regulatory Thinking
“[A] digital economy isn’t simply an industrial economy on the internet.” The Blockchain Innovation Hub at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia…
Letters
Congress Must Protect U.S. Employers by Passing the Save Local Business Act (H.R. 3185/S. 1636)
Dear Member of Congress, On behalf of the undersigned organizations and the millions of members, supporters and activists across America whom we collectively represent, we…
Blog
No, Crypto Is Not a Criminal Haven
“In 2020, the criminal share of all cryptocurrency activity [was] just 0.34%, or $10.0 billion in transaction volume.” This finding by crypto intelligence firm…
Blog
New Inflation Numbers: Still High, Still Fixable
July’s inflation numbers are out. The annualized Consumer Price Index came in at 5.4 percent, compared to a 2 percent target. The month-to-month increase…
Blog
CEI Continues Fight for Cryptocurrency Freedom
Because the Senate failed to adopt the bipartisan Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment even after it was watered down, the infrastructure package’s cryptocurrency tax reporting provisions could destroy,…
Blog
CEI’s John Berlau Testifies at House Hearing on Solutions for the Unbanked
On Wednesday, July 21, CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau testified before the House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions on how…
CoinDesk
Gary Gensler’s Insane Crypto Policy
Does cryptocurrency need new regulatory disclosure mandates from Washington, D.C., to be of service to consumers? No, but that is what Securities and Exchange Commission…
Blog
Senate Should Pass the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey Cryptocurrency Amendment
The Senate must adopt the bipartisan Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment to ensure that the infrastructure package’s cryptocurrency tax reporting provisions do not destroy, rather than help build,…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter : Re: Wyden-Lummis-Toomey Amendment to H.R. 3684
Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell, The undersigned organizations—which include nonprofits, trade associations, and individual companies that participate in the United States’ vibrant…
Letters
CEI and Other Organizations Sign Coalition Letter Supporting the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey Amendment
Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell, The undersigned organizations—which include nonprofits, trade associations, and individual companies that participate in the United States’ vibrant…
Forbes
Infrastructure Bill Threatens Cryptocurrency Ecosystem: Why Is Crypto Being Targeted With More Tax Reporting Burdens Than Traditional Finance?
The Senate is poised to vote on an infrastructure bill containing tax-reporting “revenue” provisions that could have devastating effects on the business model of cryptocurrency…
Blog
Has Bitcoin/Crypto Failed as Money?
“[I]t’s not that [cryptocurrencies] didn’t aspire to be a payment mechanism; it’s that they’ve completely failed to become one except for people who desire anonymity…
Blog
Wisdom on the Interest-Rate Price Control Folly from John Stuart Mill to Thomas Sowell
Today, the Senate held a hearing entitled, “Protecting Americans from Debt Traps by Extending the Military’s 36% Interest Rate Cap to Everyone.” But the…
Letters
Coalition Letter of Opposition Interest Rate Cap
Dear Chairman Brown and Ranking Member Toomey, On behalf of our organizations and the millions of American individuals, families, and business owners we represent, we…
National Review
Bitcoin Gets ESG’d
The Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) movement is coming for Bitcoin and a host of other cryptocurrencies. This latest iteration of the corporate-responsibility movement has successfully captured…
CoinDesk
Washington Should Let DeFi Succeed
A new form of consumer finance could upend the entire banking and finance system that’s plagued by expensive fees, limited “bankers hours,” public mistrust, bailouts…
Testimony
Testimony of John Berlau Before the House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions
Chairman Perlmutter, Ranking Member Luetkemeyer, and honorable members of this Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to present testimony on behalf of my organization, the…
National Review
Forecast for the SEC: Storm’s a Comin’
The Biden-era Securities and Exchange Commission, led by Chairman Gary Gensler, has a lot on its plate, including potential action on everything from…
News Release
CEI Experts React to President Biden’s Wide-Ranging Executive Order on Competition
President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy today, which the White House claims is aimed at enhancing…
Blog
SEC Discovery Tactics Belie Lofty Pronouncements in Ripple Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has gotten away with questionable investigation and litigation methods for years. The Commission’s Enforcement Division tactics are so well…
Forbes
How Regulation Creates an Elite Investor Class
Forbes cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on his book, George Washington, Entrepreneur: How Our Founding Father’s Private Business Pursuits Changed America and the World:…
News Release
House Should Be True to America’s Credit Need and Reject Anti-True Lender Resolution
The House is expected to vote soon on a resolution that would un-do a valuable Trump-era deregulatory rule called the “True Lender” rule. CEI led…
News Release
Mark Calabria Had Excellent Stewardship of Fannie, Freddie While at Federal Housing Finance Agency
On news today that President Biden is replacing Trump appointee Mark Calabria as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees government-sponsored enterprises…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter Opposing House Vote on Resolution to Overturn OCC “True Lender” Rule
View Full Document as PDF Dear Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy, As leaders of conservative and free-market groups who stand firm against…
Real Clear Markets
Eager to Protect Small Investors, Gary Gensler Leaves Them Scraps
In a rush to protect retail investors, new Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is promoting ill-considered policies that will undermine everyday investors. That…
Blog
Digital Yuan Threatens Global Freedom
“[Bitcoin] is an escape hatch from tyranny and nothing less than freedom money.” – Alex Gladstein, Human Rights Foundation The world is recognizing…
National Review
The House Must Be True to the Credit Needs of American Families and Entrepreneurs
As America shows its resilience and recovers from a devastating pandemic, many American families and entrepreneurs need credit to rebuild their lives and…
National Review
Central Bank Digital Currency: The Fed’s Coming Power Grab
Recent volatility in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin has emboldened the Biden administration and congressional Democrats to call for government regulation of digital currencies.
Reason
Sports Betting Pays Off
Reason cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on sports betting: “There is nothing criminals like more than a large, unregulated betting market where they can…