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News Release
Statement of Support for the Unfunded Mandates Accountability and Transparency Act
The Unfunded Mandates Accountability and Transparency Act (UMATA) represents a timely and necessary modernization of federal oversight. Nearly three decades ago, the original and overwhelmingly…
Blog
Executive order embraces limited government approach to housing affordability
A March 13 Trump executive order, “Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction,” offers a number of good ideas for addressing high housing costs.
Op-Eds
Sunset for Regulations, Sunrise for Opportunity
Affordability is the big concern in households across the country, yet politicians are overlooking one big solution: regulatory reform. Federal regulations drive up the price of…
Search Posts
Newsletter
The Cost of Government, Cell Phone Fees and the Housing Bailout
American for Tax Reform prepares to observe “Cost of Government Day.” Verizon settles a lawsuit over its “early termination” fees for mobile phone customers. The…
Op-Eds
The Wind Cries ‘Bailout!’
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens launched a media blitz this week to announce his plan for us "to escape the grip of foreign oil." Now…
News Release
Cost of Federal Regulation Grew to $1.16 Trillion
What goes up and doesn’t come down? The federal budget and the cost of federal regulations. A new report finds that the cost of federal…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments
CEI's Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State…
Newsletter
Oil Prices, Housing Markets and Power Plants
The president of OPEC predicts even higher oil prices in the near future. Washington, D.C. suburb Fairfax County, Virginia plans to spend $10 million to…
Newsletter
Free Trade, Satellite Radio and Lead Paint in Court
A free trade agreement with Colombia continues to be stalled in Congress. Democratic senators continue to hold up approval of the merger of XM and…
Newsletter
Credit Card Fines, Offshore Drilling and Mortgage Securities
Visa and MasterCard agree to pay American Express $4 billion for allegedly violating antitrust laws. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slams proposals…
Newsletter
Fingerprints, Obscenity and Foreign Investment
The Liberty Coalition releases an open letter opposing a new federal fingerprint registry. Free speech advocates challenge local obscenity standards in Florida as hypocritical. Investments…
Newsletter
Credit Cards, Tax Increases and George Carlin
The Federal Trade Commission sues a credit card issuer that lowered credit limits after profiling its customers’ purchases. Political observers predict significant tax increases in…
Letters
Opposition to the Fingerprint Registry in Senate Housing legislation
Dear Senators Reid and McConnell: We are diverse organizations, but we hold in common a deep commitment to privacy rights, civil liberties and the…
Newsletter
Fingerprints, Telecom Lawsuits and Al Gore’s Carbon Footprint
The Senate considers a bill creating a new federal fingerprint registry. The House of Representatives votes to shield telecom companies from lawsuits arising from the…
Newsletter
Drilling for Oil, Regulating Wall Street and Speaking Out On Unions
One million Americans sign a petition urging Congress to allow offshore drilling for oil and gas. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for the Federal Reserve…
Study
Optional Federal Charter for Insurers
An optional federal charter for insurers would help consumers by creating competition between regulators.
Newsletter
Google, Ethanol and a Housing Trust Fund
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) grills Google on consumer privacy concerns. Gas prices dip slightly from their record high. The Senate considers a housing “rescue” bill.
Newsletter
The Fairness Doctrine, Windfall Profits and Recycling Mandates
Lawmakers clash over FCC broadcast regulation known as the “Fairness Doctrine.” Prominent politicians debate a windfall profits tax for oil companies. European lawmakers pass stringent…
Op-Eds
Distrust Fund
It’s almost a D.C. truism that anytime Congress creates a "trust fund" for a certain policy issue, the money flowing into the…
Op-Eds
The Value of Hedge Funds
Re “The Great Seduction” (column, June 10): While David Brooks makes some good points about debt and thrift, he paints with…
Products
CEI Planet: April – May 2008
View the new Montly Planet by downloading the PDF of the issue. Below you’ll find previews of the articles in this issue: The New…
Newsletter
Termination Fees, Windfall Profits and a Federal Wilderness Land-Grab
The Federal Communications Commission holds a hearing to investigate “termination fees” for customers who cancel their cell phone, cable or Internet contracts early. Senate Republicans…
Op-Eds
Fudge or Free Markets
Fudge or Free Markets The energy -policy choices that we face. By Iain Murray The collapse last week of…
Citation
“Affordable Housing” Push Fed Subprime Bubble
Newsletter
Gas Prices, the Federal Reserve and Insurance Regulation
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) claims that the global warming legislation she recently endorsed would not result in an increase in gas prices. Federal Reserve Bank…
Newsletter
Gas Prices, Cafeteria Politics and Carbon Rationing
Average gas prices rise past $4 a gallon. Senators vote to turn their money-losing dining facilities over to management by…
Newsletter
Energy Legislation, Interest Rates and Futurism
The Senate prepares for a vote to end debate on major global warming legislation. The value of the dollar climbs slightly after the Federal Reserve…
Study
Toward a National Market for Insurance
A small step to liberalizing property and casualty insurance…
Newsletter
Vaclav Klaus, Transportation and ExxonMobil
Czech President Vaclav Klaus’ new book on environmental policy questions the alleged “consensus” on global warming. Congress of Racial Equality Chairman Roy Innis likens current…
Study
Blue Planet in Green Shackles
New book by His Excellency Václav Klaus President of the Czech Republic back in stock at Amazom.com after initial stock sold out…
Op-Eds
Poseur Shareholders
The green blitzkrieg hit the ExxonMobil annual shareholder meeting this week. The green blitzkrieg hit the ExxonMobil annual shareholder meeting this week. The meeting featured…
Op-Eds
Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill!!!
Earlier this week, a measure creating a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to national security passed a U.S. Senate committee almost without notice.
Newsletter
Beef, Housing and Money for the Blind
The Dept. of Agriculture proposes a ban on so-called “downer” cattle. The Senate Banking Committee approves a new housing bill. A federal court rules that…
Newsletter
Polar Bears, Subsidies for Millionaires and Credit Card Fees
The Department of the Interior finds that polar bears are “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The House of Representatives approves major new farm legislation.
Newsletter
Financial Markets, Internet Ads and Immigration
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sees turmoil in financial markets easing. New York legislators consider a bill to restrict online advertising. The Manhattan Institute releases…
News Release
An Energy Bill That Puts Consumers Last
As prices for oil and gas rise to record levels, members of Congress have responded with an energy bill that, while ostensibly intended to…
Citation
the Proposed Housing Bailout
Newsletter
Satellite Radio, Gas Prices and the Credit Crunch
Sirius and XM Satellite await final government approval of their merger. Average gas prices rise to a new record high, prompting accusations of price gouging.
News Release
House Investigates Calls for “Net Neutrality”
Today the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Internet will hold a hearing on the Internet Freedom Preservation Act…
Newsletter
A Cooler Climate, Microsoft Drops Yahoo and Farm Subsidies
A new study in the journal Nature predicts a cooler climate than previously thought. Microsoft drops its bid to acquire Yahoo. Reporters identify more than…
Citation
Suing Over What Your Co-Workers Listen To
Newsletter
Climate Skeptics, Immigration and Interest Rates
CEI launches a new video series featuring experts who are skeptical of alarmist global warming predictions. Supporters of immigrant rights rally in several cities across…
Newsletter
The FCC Goes Local, Economic Woes and Gun Rights
Senators express concern over proposed FCC localism regulations. The U.S. economy avoids recession status with modest growth in the first quarter of 2008. A federal…
Newsletter
Baby Bottles, Union Conflicts and Credit Card Fees
Wal-Mart announces that it will stop selling baby bottles made with the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA. Members of the California Nurses Association and the…
Op-Eds
Suing Over Pay Discrimination
“Pass the Fair Pay Act” (editorial, April 23) seemed unaware of the existence of the Equal Pay Act, which already gives employees ample time to…
Newsletter
Custody Disputes, Food Shortages and Taxi Cab Fares
Over 400 children seized from a polygamous sect in Texas are dispersed to group homes and shelters across the state. Zimbabwe, confronted with high food…
Op-Eds
Cementing Ecuador’s Poverty by Decree
During my pro-mining mission to Ecuador weeks ago, I visited the Tres Chorreras exploration project and witnessed how a single company can…
News Release
“Future of the Internet” at Stake in Senate
Tomorrow the Senate Commerce Committee assesses “The Future of the Internet.” Among the most controversial issues is proposed federal regulation of broadband network…
Op-Eds
Police Those Credit Cards
The burdensome, patronizing, new credit card regulations proposed in the wildly misnamed “Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights” will hurt just about every…
News Release
CEI Takes on Unconstitutional Agency in Court
Today, as Americans scurried to get their tax forms into the IRS, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about another agency that…
Newsletter
Financial Regulations, Greenhouse Gases and Microsoft’s Bid for Yahoo
The Treasury Department’s “blueprint” for overhauling financial regulation faces strong opposition. State governments across the country pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. News Corp. considers…
Study
A Flawed Blueprint
America needs fundamental financial regulation reform. The Treasury Blueprint fails to provide it.
Newsletter
Global Health Threats, Foreclosure Relief and Food Riots
Members of Congress hear testimony on whether global warming will become a threat to human health. Senators agree on a foreclosure relief plan for mortgage…
News Release
New Financial Regulations Will Expand Bureaucracy
In a new study released this week, Competitive Enterprise Institute scholars size up the Treasury Department’s recent proposal to restructure the way…
Newsletter
The Exaflood, Mortgage Bailouts and Bear Stearns
Rising demand for bandwidth-intensive Internet applications threatens to swamp existing network capacity. The Senate considers a bill to “rescue” the U.S. housing market. Senators investigate…
News Release
Senators Investigate the Credit ‘Crisis’
Today, Federal officials and the CEOs of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on recent turmoil in U.S.
Newsletter
The Fed, Biotech Crops and Mortgage Bailouts
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson officially announces a plan to reform oversight of financial markets. Research into genetically modified crops gets a boost in India. President…
Newsletter
Paulson’s Plan, International Competition and New Leadership at FTC
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to reform oversight of financial markets sparks intense debate. U.S. capital markets lose ground to international competitors. President Bush appoints…
News Release
CEI Opposes Broad New Powers for Federal Reserve
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today unveiled a plan for restructuring the federal role in regulating financial institutions. The blueprint contains good recommendations on…
Op-Eds
Bear Fire Sale Leaves Owners Without A Say
Bear Stearns shareholders, the true owners, are being denied a voice in the fate of the firm.
Op-Eds
Freedom and its Digital Discontents
Read John Berlau's closing statement in the Economist.com debate "Proposition: By intervening to regulate business and financial risks, governments have made things worse."…
News Release
Congress’s Online Gambling Ban: Burden Without Benefit, Says Study
Current laws about Internet gambling have had damaging unintended consequences far beyond their intended target.
Study
Time to Fold the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act
A bad law that could threaten America’s banking system…
Citation
5 Absurd Product Bans
News Release
Pressure Group Censors Anti-Gore Ad on YouTube
Electric Co-op Group Ignores ‘Fair Use’, Claims Copyright Infringement Over Seven Seconds of Footage (Click Here to View Ad)…
Newsletter
Sarbanes-Oxley, Cancer Drugs and Discrimination Law
The National Law Journal warns that penalties in the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting rules for public companies can extend to individuals and private entities. Drug maker Cephalon…
Newsletter
Recession, Trade and Home Ownership
White House advisors cite the slowing economy as part of their call for tighter regulation of mortgage lenders. U.S. exports…
Citation
Economic Stimulus
Study
The Community Reinvestment Act’s Harmful Legacy
How the CRA has hurt those it was intended to help, residence of low income neighborhoods with little access to credit.
Op-Eds
Less is More
Wayne Crews tells us that while we need control of the fiscal state–but just as badly we need to rein in the regulatory state.
Newsletter
Interest Rates, Video Games and an Economist Debate
Investors expect the Federal Reserve to enact a rare full percentage point cut in interest rates. A federal appeals court rules that Minnesota cannot fine…
Citation
the Possibility of a Recession
Study
Some Answers about Credit Unions
A recent, widely circulated advertisement from the American Bankers Association asks some questions of the credit union industry. They’re good questions and, in…
Op-Eds
Freedom and its Digital Discontents
John Berlau, director of CEI's Center for Entrepreneurship, debates Sarbanes-Oxley in the Economist…
Op-Eds
The Television Writers Strike: Was It Worth It?
This winter’s strike by television writers interrupted the TV-watching habits of millions of people worldwide. But why did it happen, and did the…
News Release
CEI Launches National Ad Campaign on the Impact of Al Gore’s Global Warming Policies
Developing World Most at Risk from Energy Constraints…
Citation
Dumb Product Bans
Study
First Steps toward Restoring Florida’s Insurance Market
Full Document Available in PDF As Florida’s Legislature proceeds with its…
Op-Eds
Sexual Harassment: A Strange, Vague ‘Tort’
On Wednesday, I discussed how the courts can be downright hostile to employers in sexual harassment cases, playing a game of bait-and-switch regarding whether…
Op-Eds
Sexual Harassment Bait and Switch
In sexual harassment cases, many courts play a game of bait and switch with employers. When they want to hold the employer liable, they…
Newsletter
The Supreme Court, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Bernanke on the Economy
The Supreme Court-- pro business?…
Op-Eds
Prejudice and Double Standards in Sexual Harassment Cases
Earlier, I discussed how judges in the New York area, such as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, enforce discriminatory double standards in sexual…
Study
The Five Dumbest Product Bans
This paper focuses on five clearly absurd product bans that seem to serve no social good.
Op-Eds
Double Standards at Duke—and in the Courts
Recently, Stuart Taylor wrote about sexual double standards at Duke University. Duke paid $3,500 to finance a performance by strippers and prostitutes…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ECONOMY President Bush’s economic stimulus package gets mixed reviews. CEI Expert Available to Comment:…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENVIRONMENT Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pressures the Environmental Protection Agency to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant. CEI Expert Available…
News Release
Economic “Stimulus” Policies Trapped in the Past
Washington, D.C., February 21, 2008 — The economic stimulus package recently passed by Congress and signed by President Bush will do little to improve…
Study
Still Stimulating Like It’s 1999
Full Document Available in PDF Facing an economic…
News Release
Supreme Court Rulings Good for Investors
Washington, D.C., February 20, 2008—The Supreme Court this session has made two important decisions that will greatly benefit investors. Both today’s ruling in LaRue v.
News Release
Stimulus Package Not the Path to Economic Recovery
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., February 14, 2008—This week President Bush signed a $168 billion economic stimulus package. Unfortunately for…
News Release
CEI Files Comments on “Net Neutrality”
Washington, D.C., February 13, 2008—Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed public comments with the Federal Communications Commission, urging the commissioners not to regulate the…
News Release
Microsoft Could Go “Hostile” with Yahoo Offer
Washington, D.C., February 12, 2008—Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it “reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps” to present its buyout offer to Yahoo…
News Release
Bush Budget Ignores Hidden Costs
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., February 4, 2008—The White House has released President Bush’s budget for the federal government,…
Op-Eds
Transforming Korean Peninsula
The Bush administration’s attention is focused on the Middle East, but the Korean Peninsula also requires attention. The impending inauguration of conservative Lee Myung-bak,…
Op-Eds
Keep Virginia market free
Perhaps more than any other state, Virginia has been a cradle for the ideas of economic liberty. From the writings of Founding Fathers such as…
Op-Eds
Comcast in the Crosshairs
Despite Comcast's ascendancy, the cable provider remains vulnerable - yet its greatest threat is not from Baby-Bell competitors but from lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
News Release
State of the Union: Last Chance for Bush
Washington, D.C., January 28, 2008—As President Bush prepares to deliver his last State of the Union address before Congress, both the White House…
National Review
Will the Stimulus Package Stimulate Marital Breakdown?
Op-Eds
Lawmakers, undo some of 2007 reforms
A year has passed since Gov. Charlie Crist and a nearly unanimous Legislature hailed the arrival of a new era for Florida’s property insurance…
Overlawyered
D.C. Circuit Panel: Paper Money Unfair to Blind
Overlawyered cites Hans Bader's Open Market piece. The Washington Post reports, and Hans Bader at CEI’s Open Market discusses the 2-1 panel decision…
Op-Eds
What Race to the Bottom?
Free trade creates new opportunities, jobs, and value for consumers. Now will someone please tell Congress? As it begins its new session, Congress’s agenda…
Overlawyered
Grantor’s Tax Should Be Repealed, Too
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine now wants to repeal the abusive-driver fees contained in Virginia’s 2007 transportation law, even though he signed that law and…
Op-Eds
Follies of the FHA: Another subprime idea
“How could they have been so stupid?” That's the million-dollar question being asked as mortgage defaults have increased on loans that carried much more…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Richard Morrison
Senior Fellow
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Capitalism and Free Enterprise
Ryan Young
Senior Economist and Director of Publications
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform