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News Release
Consumer sentiment rebounds in first reading for June: CEI analysis
University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report showed a rebound in its first reading for June, likely due to slower-growing inflation and a calmer-than-expected month…
The Daily Economy
The Resurgence of Do It Yourself Economics
To listen to some people, you’d think that America had been run by economists — and specifically free-market economists — for the last fifty years…
News Release
Inflation increased 0.1 percent in May, less severe than previous months: CEI analysis
Today, the Consumer Price Index report for May showed inflation increased across all sectors by 0.1 percent, compared to 0.2 percent in April. CEI…
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Blog
Biden admin plans to rig cost-benefit analysis, boosting federal regulations
When the Biden administration took office, one of its first actions was to order a series of updates to the federal rulemaking process, all under…
Blog
House hearing warns of Biden’s admin’s ‘death by a thousand regulations’
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee held a hearing last week titled “Death by a Thousand Regulations: The Biden Administration’s Campaign to Bury America…
Blog
Businesses flocking to states with lower taxes, better regulations
Experts on U.S. economic policy spend a lot of time looking at competition between states and how good tax and regulatory policy can help…
Blog
America takes Entrepreneurship Index top spot, former Soviet bloc countries close behind
Retail software maker Shopify recently released its “Entrepreneurship Index,” a global ecosystem of entrepreneurial activity. Shopify ranks the top ten countries with economies that…
Blog
Market failure? Let’s talk about government failure
Government interventions in the market are often said to be justified by market failures, which prevent the free market from maximizing social welfare. What is…
Blog
Adam Smith’s ‘tolerable administration’ vs. America’s increasingly intolerable one
2023 is the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth. This post is part of a series highlighting aspects of Smith’s thought that continue to influence…
Blog
Senate Commerce hearing shows why some junk fees aren’t garbage
In his State of the Union address this February, President Biden reiterated his intent to crack down on so-called junk fees. Biden discussed…
News Release
Inflation Slows, Fed Actions Pay Off: CE Analysis
Consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in May (up 4 percent this past year), according new inflation data released today by the Labor Department. Inflation…
Blog
Biden Labor pick Julie Su claims she cannot recall her Prop 22 vote
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su claimed multiple times Wednesday that she could not recall how she voted on California’s Proposition 22, the ballot initiate…
Blog
Biden administration keeps making it harder to track government ‘guidance’ documents
Federal government “guidance documents” consist of agency memoranda, bulletins, circulars, administrative interpretations, letters, manuals, and so much more. These are not supposed to be regulatory…
National Review
Global Britain Is Closed for Business
One of the supposed benefits of Brexit was that Britain would once again become “Global Britain,” able to adjust its regulatory approaches to one more…
Comment
Comments to the Office of Management and Budget on the proposed draft update to Circular A-4: Regulatory Analysis
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit public interest organization committed to advancing the principles of free markets and limited government. CEI has a…
Daily Caller
Biden Wants To Give Power Over Defense Contracts To Climate Activist ‘Cabal’ Bent On Curtailing Economic Growth
The Daily Caller quotes CEI’s Myron Ebell on giving certain climate activist groups veto power over major Pentagon contracts: Myron…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: electric motors and small business loans
Congress and President Biden reached a debt ceiling deal. Texas attorney general and antitrust hawk Ken Paxton was impeached. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
Blog
‘Passive-aggressive’ regulators are a growing headache for American business
“The Future of Independent Agencies: Fallout from Problems at the Federal Trade Commission,” was an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to alert…
Blog
Congress should stop the White House from rewriting ‘Circular A-4’
Barring an extension, next week (June 6) is the deadline for comments on the White House Office of Management and Budget’s …
Blog
Debt deal’s PAYGO law won’t pay out. Here’s how to fix it.
In an effort to curb excessive government spending, a provision known as statutory administrative PAYGO (Pay-As-You-Go) has been introduced in the debt ceiling deal struck…
Blog
Let’s get this huge ‘hidden tax’ of regulation out into the open
Smack dab in the middle of contentious debt limit negotiations, the House Budget Committee held another in its series of hearings on American economic growth,…
Blog
A remembrance: C. Boyden Gray, 1943-2023
We mourn the passing of C. Boyden Gray. He was a man of his family, the law, and his country. Boyden served in the highest…
Blog
Bill targets ag department slush fund worth billions
The House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee favorably reported its spending bill along party lines Thursday. The bill’s next stop is the full House Appropriations…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Letting people prosper with Vance Ginn
In this week’s episode we talk about Warren Buffet’s electric vehicle pessimism, sky-high school funding in New York City, a report…
Blog
Robert Lucas, economist of possibilities, 1937-2023
Robert Lucas, 85, passed away this week. He was a prominent macroeconomist who won the 1995 economics Nobel. Others have remembered Lucas’s contributions to rationality…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: toy guns and trophy fisheries
The 2023 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages on May 8. New inflation numbers looked better on the surface, but actually got worse. A new…
Blog
New credit card late fee rule hurts folks who pay their bills on time
There has rightly been an outcry after the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which sets policy for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) Fannie Mae and Freddie…
Blog
Senate committee yells ‘all aboard!’ for controversial Railway Safety Act
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee approved the Railway Safety Act this morning, with all Democrats and Republican Sens. J.D. Vance (OH) and Eric Schmitt…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: cloudy guidance documents and potato ledprona
The number of new final regulations this year topped 1,000 last week. It was the rare 3,000-page for the Federal Register, which will likely surpass…
Wall Street Journal
Don’t Let Unspent Covid Funds Become Slush Funds
The House has passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which would raise the debt limit for a year in exchange for deficit-relief measures. One of…
Blog
New Jersey fishermen challenge Chevron deference
Big news out of the Supreme Court this week as justices have agreed to hear a lawsuit challenging the so-called Chevron doctrine, a policy requiring…
National Review
Make Federal Red Tape Part of the Debt-Ceiling Fight
Last week, the House passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for more than $4 trillion in deficit cuts over a decade.
Blog
The week in ridiculous regulations: Oklahoma emissions and Big Creek crayfish
GDP grew by 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023. Cable news hosts Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon were both fired. Meanwhile, agencies…
Blog
Has Gary Gensler turned the SEC into a regulatory ‘Hotel California’?
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler hadn’t testified before the U.S. House of Representatives for 18 months. Republican members made up for lost…
News Release
US Economy Grew 1.1 Percent First Quarter 2023 – Could Be Worse: CEI Analysis
The U.S. economy grew 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Statistics. It may seem underwhelming, but…
Blog
Regulatory reform in the 118th Congress: Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) of 1980 was an important transparency measure for vetting new regulations. But it falls short in some important areas,…
Blog
Romney slams Labor nominee Su’s ‘so severely lacking’ record
Julie Su, the White House’s pick to replace outgoing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, had her first of two Senate hearings Thursday. Sen. Mitt Romney…
Blog
Congress shouldn’t party like it’s 2019 on national debt
Now comes the GOP’s turn to do its own version of a “lockdown.” Republicans should heed the advice of a member of the other party, Rahm…
The Washington Times
Don’t Cede Fairness to Liberals
Most people care about fairness. Humans are, after all, moral creatures. And yet it’s mostly the political left that speaks of “fairness.” That’s unfortunate, because…
Real Clear Policy
The Greatest Trick ‘the Swamp’ Ever Pulled
Why are anti-establishment Republicans embracing the special interest racket of Washington, D.C.? In 2016, candidate Donald J. Trump ran on a promise to drain ‘the…
News Release
Biden Veto Means ESG Investment Rule Means Politicized Investing for Pensions
President Biden today vetoed a resolution passed by Congress that would have stopped a Labor Department rule on ESG investing. Specifically, the rule, “Prudence and…
Blog
Free the Economy Episode 12: Consumer Welfare and Big Government with Patrick Hedger
This week we talk about the drama with Silicon Valley Bank and the proposal from Wayne Crews for an Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act, how…
Blog
Why Congress Must Think Twice About Adopting Biden’s Brazen Budget Proposal
Last Thursday, President Joe Biden finally unveiled his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year 2024. This marks the third straight year that Biden…
News Release
Biden Budget Amounts to Top-Down Central Planning, Lacks Needed Reforms
President Biden today unveiled his latest budget submitted to Congress. CEI experts take a dim view of the agenda of excess spending and regulation…
Blog
Regulatory Reform Bills in the 118th Congress: The Article I Regulatory Budget Act
The federal government is supposed to put out an annual budget to track its spending. Why doesn’t it do the same thing for regulation? The…
Blog
Fed Economist: Study Shows Danger of Government-Mandated Financial Misinformation
Study from Fed Economist Shows Danger of Government-Mandated Financial Misinformation The “Twitter Files” have made some shocking revelations about government entities…
National Review
FTC Runs into the Judicial Wall
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust crusade has run into an obstacle: the judiciary. Indeed, the agency wants to expand its authority and broaden enforcement standards so…
New York Post
The numbers prove Cuomo’s lockdowns hurt NYers on EVERY metric — while Florida flourished
What a difference a few years make. In 2020, the mainstream media lauded Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his strong but compassionate COVID-19 leadership. He won a…
Blog
Are Americans Investing for Retirement or Politics?
Being able to save enough during our working lives to fund a comfortable retirement is a top concern for most American households, especially since…
The Well News
Justice Dept. Sues Google Again Alleging Monopolistic Ad Tactics
Google was joined in criticizing the Justice Department by Jessica Melugin, the director for technology and innovation at the Washington, D.C.-based…
Washington Journal
VIDEO: CEI’s Kent Lassman Joins CSPAN to Discuss House Republican economic policy goals
CEI President Kent Lassman joined CSPAN’s Washington Journal to discuss House Republicans’ policy proposals to tackle inflation and grow the economy contained in the party’s…
National Review
Can a Trillion-Dollar Coin Repay Our Debt?
The red wave that wasn’t has consequences for policy-making in Washington. One result of the GOP’s new, narrow House majority is that outlandish and marginal policy…
POLITICO
Lobbyists not sweating McCarthy’s drawn-out battle for the gavel
LOBBYISTS NOT SWEATING DRAWN-OUT SPEAKERSHIP RACE: Kevin McCarthy’s push to become House Speaker dragged on for the fourth day this afternoon, though the…
Blog
Free the Economy Episode 2: Defending the American Dream
Thanks to everyone who listened to the inaugural episode of the new Competitive Enterprise Institute podcast Free the Economy in December. We covered stagnating wages,…
News Release
White House Finally Releases “Unified Agenda” on Upcoming Regulations, Signaling a Rise in Big, Costly New Regulations
Today, at last, the White House released the fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, where federal regulators report on what they have planned for…
The Hill
Congress can promote growth by lowering regulatory barriers for consumers and businesses
Three quarters of Americans surveyed by Gallup say they disapprove of the way Congress handles the job of governing. We also know that…
News Release
Senate Passes $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill, No Help to Inflation Reduction
The Senate today voted to pass a $1.7 trillion omnibus package to fund the federal government through September next year. CEI Senior Economist Ryan…
The American Spectator
What Do Americans Really Think of ‘ESG’ Investing?
Investing to promote environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes — rather than to just maximize profit — became the hot topic in finance this year…
News Release
CEI Experts View Proposed FY 2023 Omnibus as Wasteful, Ineffective Big Government Progressivism
The Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of an omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2023 early in the morning on Tuesday. CEI experts…
Products
Corporate Governance
Retirement Security Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which governs private pensions, in 1974, in response to widespread concerns at the time…
Study
Free to Prosper
Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 118th Congress highlights specific steps lawmakers can take to prevent overreach by executive branch agencies, reduce the costs…
National Review
ESG Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
While the “Red Wave” never emerged in this November’s midterm elections, the issues that have riled up conservative voters the most in the past two years…
Blog
New Angles on Finance and Faith
I recently had the pleasure of making my way down to Lynchburg, Virginia, to the campus of Liberty University to attend the Networking the…
Reason
FBI Reports Dubious ‘Trend’ of Rideshare Driver Kidnappings
“Fund managers who handle retirement accounts through the EBSA are being told to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and…
National Review
The Threat from Biden’s ‘Whole of Government’ Regulatory Approach
When the U.S. federal administrative state began its march from novelty to leviathan over a century ago, few likely imagined the tangle of rules it would…
Blog
Policy and Politics Are Different Things
What is more important this election: The culture wars or policy issues like inflation? In an op-ed as part of a point-counterpoint series from…
Blog
Seizing the Ecomodernist Moment
I recently had the good fortune to attend Ecomodernism 2022, a conference hosted in northern Virginia by the Breakthrough Institute. The theme was “Deregulating…
POLITICO
POLITICO Playbook: Breaking down the GOP’s midterm momentum
Politico cites CEI’s Kevin D. Williamson on midterm momentum: We have fresh data this morning from the new POLITICO-Morning Consult poll that shows the national political…
The Daily Caller
Financial Giants Are Suddenly Realizing The Left’s ESG Movement Has Serious Downsides
Advocates for aggressive environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards have tried to achieve social and political objectives through anti-democratic and unrepresentative means. Whether it is…
Daily Caller
LASSMAN: Financial Giants Are Suddenly Realizing The Left’s ESG Movement Has Serious Downsides
Advocates for aggressive environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards have tried to achieve social and political objectives through anti-democratic and unrepresentative means. Whether it is…
Fox Business
Elon Musk says Twitter purchase ‘accelerant’ to creating X, ‘the everything app’
Fox Business spoke with Jessica Melugin on Elon Musk purchase of Twitter: Watch the latest video at foxbusiness.com Click here to learn…
Blog
The Founding Fathers and Free Trade
There is an ongoing small cottage industry of historical revisionism aimed at showing that America since its founding was friendly to protectionism and that this…
Blog
No, We Don’t Need Federal Licenses for Big Tech
In the wake of congressional testimony by former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has suggested that he will partner with…
National Review
ESG’s Midlife Crisis
For the last several years, much of the corporate world has, to a greater or lesser degree, adapted to the demands imposed by “environmental, social, and…
Blog
The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Improves, Mixed Picture on Consumer Spending
Two new economic indicators published Friday morning give reason for cautious optimism. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the inflation measure that gets the…
Blog
Student Loan Forgiveness Is Regressive, Will Increase Tuition
When the Inflation Reduction Act passed, I pointed out that its $300 billion in tax increases and spending cuts would not begin to phase…
Blog
SEC Attempts to Regulate Indefinable “ESG” Topics
Today is the filing deadline for public comments on a new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule titled “Investment Company Names.” This proposal…
Comment
CEI Comment on SEC ‘Investment Company Names’ Rule
Introduction The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is pleased to have the opportunity to comment on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) current notice of proposed…
Inside Sources
Counterpoint: Manchin Disappoints With Inflation Reduction Act
Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has acted as a check on his party’s worst excesses. Manchin has stopped billions, possibly trillions, of…
Blog
Net Zero, Joe Manchin, and High Energy Prices
This morning National Review published my article expressing skepticism that the advance of “net-zero” climate policy is inevitable (or even likely). It was written…
Blog
Green Politics Leads to Higher Gas Prices
Americans have been plagued by high gas prices in recent months, with recent polls showing fuel costs at the top of the list of…
Blog
Certification Program Goes Bananas
Private regulation is an excellent alternative to government regulation, if done right. One form it can take is independent certification. For decades, groups like the…
Law & Liberty
A Declaration of Independence from the Administrative State?
At gatherings this July 4, there will likely be impassioned conversations about recent Supreme Court decisions. But it’s a ruling a few weeks ago from…
News Release
U.S. Economy Adds 372,000 Jobs in June – Good News for Recession Worries
The U.S. economy added 372,000 jobs in June 2022, according to a new tally released today by the government. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady…
Townhall
Who Is the FDA’s Juul Ban Supposed to Help?
Townhall cites CEI Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on the FDA shutdown of the e-cigarette Juul. Don’t hold your breath waiting for…
Blog
Crisis Abuse in History
Last week, CEI released Wayne Crews’s paper proposing an Abuse of Crisis Prevention Act. (If you prefer the short version, see Wayne’s and my…
Blog
SEC Climate Rule a Bad Deal for Investors
This Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new rule on climate change and corporate disclosure earlier this year, and today marks the end…
Blog
New CEI Paper: Abuse of Crisis Prevention Act
Government always grows during a crisis. And it rarely gives up all of its emergency powers when the crisis passes. This has already happened three…
Blog
Environmental and Social Factors in Investing too Vague for Legal Definitions
Recently, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler released a video explaining his concerns about investment products that market themselves using terms like…
Finger Lakes Times
Commentary: Diversity training is unpopular because it doesn’t work (but companies could change that)
Diversity is one of the hottest topics in corporate management today. And while corporate managers have been implementing diversity initiatives since at least the 1960s,…
Real Clear Policy
SEC’s Gensler Wants to Regulate Green Funds, But Definitions Are Elusive
In a recently released video, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler explains his concerns about investment products that market themselves as…
Blog
GDP Shrinks: The Good and the Bad
The advance estimate for 2022’s first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) is in, and the news is not good. Adjusting for inflation, GDP shrank…
Blog
Protecting Pensions from Politicized Mismanagement
Recently the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization of state legislators from across the country, unveiled model legislation aimed at protecting the retirement…
New York Post
Ex-McDonald’s CEO Ed Rensi: Companies Have ‘No Business’ Being in Politics
The New York Post cites Senior Fellow Richard Morrison on companies and environmental, social, and governance standards: “Time and again, US companies…
Blog
Members of Congress Push Back on SEC Climate Proposal
Skeptical members of Congress have begun weighing in on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent climate disclosure proposal, and their objections are significant.
The Washington Times
Conservative Shareholders Target ‘Woke’ Corporate Board
The Washington Times cites Senior Fellow Richard Morrison on conservative activism: “Conservative activism is finally beginning to counterbalance progressive activism on issues…
Blog
Rep. Van Duyne Confronts Excesses of Climate Policy at SEC
Last week Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and a dozen co-sponsors introduced the Stopping Excessive Climate Reporting Act (H.R.7355) to prevent the Securities and Exchange…
Blog
Bipartisan Policy Center Highlights Concerns with SEC Climate Disclosure Rule
This week the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) hosted an event titled “Corporations and Climate: Potential Impacts of the SEC’s Proposed New Rule” on an…
The Washington Times
Evictions on the Rise but Lawsuits, Nonpaying Tenants Still Vex the Rental Housing Market
The Washington Times cites Director of Finance Policy John Berlau on the effects of landlords being unable to enforce contracts and rules:…
Blog
Deregulation is Key to Building a Broad-Based Economy
Critics of free market economic policy often point to declines in manufacturing employment or, worse, to the “hollowing-out” of the American middle class as evidence…
Blog
White House Confiscatory Tax Proposal Underlines Why CEI Is Challenging Provision of 2017 Tax Reform
Today President Biden previewed his proposed fiscal year 2023 budget. I am in complete agreement with the first five words: “Budgets are statements of values.” …
Blog
Inflation and the Biden Budget
It is good that the Biden administration is beginning to take inflation seriously. Unfortunately, however, there isn’t much that the president and Congress can…
Blog
Climate Overreach at the SEC: What Comes Next
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today voted to recommend new proposed rules by which public companies would be required to disclose additional information about…
