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Free the Economy podcast: Understanding the national debt with Thomas Savidge
In this week’s episode we cover whether Americans feel better off than they were four years ago, why we have more billion-dollar…
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Can moderators ask debate questions that don’t presume a progressive policy agenda?
Numerous policy issues are shaping this year’s first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as well as the entire campaign atmosphere. These include…
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Freddie Mac second mortgage funding could foment financial crisis
The 2008 mortgage meltdown and financial crisis never fails to be invoked whenever there is any pushback to excessive financial regulation. Progressives regularly bring up…
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Union Scandal in California, Alternative Energy Promises and Short-Selling on Wall Street
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) finalizes a controversial merger of its California locals into one state-wide “superlocal”. President-Elect Obama promises to double the nation’s…
CNS News
Economists Say Bush ‘Chucked’ Free Market Principles Long Before Financial Crisis
CNS News discusses President George W. Bush's move away from free market principles. However, Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute told CNSNews.com that…
Cafe Hayek
Tranquilizing the Stimulators
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Stimulus Roadblock
They’ve waited for this day. Billions of dollars potentially at their disposal. But environmental groups may not be able to use it because of something…
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Short-seller praised by Mass. Democrat at Madoff hearing
In the House Financial Services Committee hearing Monday on Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion alleged Ponzi scheme, some good points were raised by Congress members…
Blog
Next on the Bail-Out List: The Porn Industry?
It seems everyone in America is suffering. So obviously everyone is entitled to a bail-out. At least, that is the theory being advanced by America's…
Blog
Stimulating Rent Seeking
President-elect Obama’s proposed economic stimulus package (on which Doug Bandow commented recently) isn’t even in Congress yet, and the the rent-seeking has already started.
Blog
Stimulus Exit Strategy
Along with a deflating perfect storm bubble, the US economy is facing a crisis in confidence. These trillion numbers–1,1,3, and 10.6; Obama’s stimulus…
Newsletter
Coleman v. Franken, Drug War TV and $8 Trillion Worth of Stimulus
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) announces a legal challenge to an election ruling favoring his rival Al Franken. ABC premieres the primetime drama “Homeland Security USA,”…
Blog
Expanding Government, Corrupting Business
Tossing money at most anyone who shows up in Washington touting a sob story in the company of a lobbyist is doing more than impoverishing taxpayers. The…
Newsletter
Steel Stimulus, Barry Goldwater and 600,000 New Government Jobs
The U.S. steel industry faces tough times as demand collapses. Supporters of limited government celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Barry Goldwater. President-Elect…
Blog
No Money in Washington, D.C.? No Matter!
Washington, D.C. is another world. Today the company newsletter, otherwise known as the Washington Post, had an article entitled “U.S. Debt Expected to Soar…
Blog
Carney on the “Year of the Bailout”
Following Iain Murray’s farewell to 2008’s bailout-o-rama, Former CEI Brookes Fellow Tim Carney, in his Washington Examiner column, bids farewell to “The Year…
Blog
Thank You, 2008, and Good Riddance!
For supporters of freedom and markets, the Year of Our Lord 2008 has been close to a disaster. As D:Ream used to sing, things can…
Newsletter
E-waste, Auto Bailout and Climate Science
Activists oppose exportation of used electronic and computer components, or “e-waste”. Detroit auto companies start spending their $17.4 billion in bailout funds. Journalist Lawrence Solomon…
Newsletter
Bernard Madoff’s Personal Fortune, Clean Coal Technology and Wasteful Federal Spending
Alleged investment fraudster Bernard Madoff is ordered to disclose all of his financial assets to government investigators. Environmental groups launch a series of TV ads…
Blog
Peter Schiff: A Financial Prophet
Watch this great video and see the scorning and scoffing of a man predicting a financial meltdown due to the housing situation. And read…
Blog
An End to the Good Times?
Egads. Even the New York Times isn’t sure that the good times of endless government spending can go on forever. Peter Goodman writes in…
Blog
Bailouts Aggravate Financial Crisis
In the New York Times, economist Tyler Cowen of George Mason University argues that the $700 billion financial-system bailout is impeding an economic recovery. Because…
Blog
Are the Golf Carts Made with Union Labor?
Throughout the Detroit automakers’ bailout saga, the United Auto Workers’ leadership has claimed that the union has made enough major concessions to date, and…
Blog
Madoff: Hiding in Plain Sight, Thanks to SEC
Contrary to popular belief, Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme was subject to to a variety of financial regulations, something he actually used as a selling…
Blog
So Who is Getting All of the Taxpayers’ Cash?
Amazing. Not only are trillions of dollars being passed around to bail out any business with at least a couple congressmen on its side. But…
Blog
Seeking Accountability–After Handing out $350 Billion!
Oops. Congress finally has bestirred itself after the administration used $350 billion in ways different from what it originally promised, and then required nothing of…
Cafe Hayek
Help Detroit by suspending antitrust
Blog
No holiday cheer here
If you’re looking for holiday cheer, you might not want to read Holman Jenkins’ article in the Wall Street Journal today, even though…
Blog
Trillion is the new billion
When you get calls from your friends specifically to talk about their zany ideas on how to reduce the national debt you know that the…
Blog
Stimulus Plans: Economic Failures, But Sometimes Political Successes
So-called “stimulus packages” don’t revive the economy, but that hasn’t stopped President-elect Obama from pushing a budget-busting $850 billion stimulus package. Japan…
Blog
More Criticism for Unconstitutional Auto Bailout
Andrew Sullivan, George Will, Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, the Heritage Foundation, and many others have joined CEI in calling the auto bailout Unconstitutional.
Blog
Bush Auto Bailout Illegal, Bailout Supporter Admits
Clinton Administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who supports bailing out the Detroit automakers (whose unionized workers are paid $70 an hour), nevertheless points out…
Blog
The Real Auto Bailout: A Six Point Plan for Regulatory Relief
Here’s what the auto companies really need – a reduction in the regulatory burden placed on them by Congress. These burdens have placed Detroit at…
Blog
GM-Chrysler Merger Likely Blocked by Antitrust
General Motors & Chrysler could be strengthened by a merger, an option that wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. But, the idea has been pushed aside,…
Blog
“Calling all economists . . .”
Supposedly President-elect Obama’s transition team has been calling up economists and asking for their views on a possible $1 trillion stimulus spending plan. …
Blog
A loophole wide enough to drive a GMC truck though
The Bush administration’s outline of its automaker bailout package lists some seemingly sensible changes in labor practices that GM and Chrysler need to…
Blog
An Insult to the American People
Thumbing its nose at the American people, who have opposed a bailout for automakers by a two-to-one margin in public opinion polls, the Bush…
Blog
Bush Bailout Beggars Belief
If there’s one provision in the GM/Chrysler bailout that I just don’t get, it’s the suggestion that the automakers must be financially viable by…
Blog
Mortgage Madness
Here is a letter I fired to the Wall Street Journal: December 17, 2008 Editor, The Wall Street Journal 200 Liberty Street New…
Cafe Hayek
Anyone Want to Sue Over the Illegal UAW Bailout?
News Release
White House Auto Bailout a Recipe for Failure
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Blog
How Do Regulations Stack Up as a Small Firm Grows?
Tomorrow, electric utilities and green groups team up at the National Press Club to ask for billions of new spending on what they term energy…
Blog
Solis: Could have been worse…but not much
According to the Associated Press, President-elect Barack Obama is about to name Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor. If Rep. Solis’s voting…
Blog
Fed Chairman Uses Incompetent Ratings Firms for Bailout
“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is basing hundreds of billions in emergency lending on credit ratings from companies that gave AAA grades to toxic…
Blog
The Value of a Dollar
Yesterday the dollar reach a 13-year low against the Euro as the Federal Reserve continues to pump new money into the system. All of this…
Newsletter
Fed Chairman in Trouble, Kids’ TV Goes Green and Google Goes Edge-Caching
Critics of the financial bailout allege that the federal government has exceeded its Constitutional powers. The Nickelodeon TV network for kids begins an environmental awareness…
Op-Eds
Geithner is spelled P-a-u-l-s-o-n
President-Elect Barack Obama has received surprising praise from some conservatives for his economic team. After running a successful populist campaign against Wall Street…
Blog
Bailouts Unconstitutional Failures
Jacob Sullum’s recent column argues that Bush’s auto bailout plan is an unconstitutional violation of separation of powers. We earlier argued that it was…
Blog
Paulson’s Bailout Was a Scam
National Review editor Rich Lowry, who mistakenly supported the financial system bailout because he trusted the Bush Administration, now realizes that he was deceived by…
Blog
Fed Cuts Rates, Punishing Thrift, and Impoverishing Savers
The Federal Reserve has just cut the federal funds rate for loans to banks to an unprecedentedly low rate — ranging from 0.0% to…
Blog
Auto Bailout Would Kill Jobs, Impoverish Taxpayers
A bailout would be worse for the auto industry than automakers filing for bankruptcy, explains banking and bankruptcy expert Todd Zywicki, a law professor,…
Newsletter
Bailout Indecision, Greenhouse Gas Negotiations and Privatizing Electricity
President Bush and Treasury officials continue to evaluate possible bailout proposals for General Motors and Chrysler. Twenty-seven European countries sign a new agreement to reduce…
Blog
“Net Neutrality,” RIP? Well, One Can Hope
Net neutrality has long been a threat to Internet users. Despite the rhetoric and appeals to “openness,” it was always an anti-consumer enterprise, irretrievably and…
Blog
Why Not a Wal-Mart Bank?
Seems like every business these days is becoming what’s called a “bank holding company” — seeking the shelter of the federal government’s deposit insurance and…
Newsletter
Auto Bailout, Global Warming Controversy and Free Trade
Senators vote down a bailout proposal for U.S. auto companies. Czech President Vaclav Klaus criticizes a new European agreement on global warming as “a silly…
Blog
Bush’s Auto Bailout: Illegal or Unconstitutional
The Bush Administration is planning to bailout the Big Three. It's using part of the $700 bill financial sector bailout package by seizing on TARP's…
News Release
Auto Bailout Still Looms over Taxpayers
As the White House today offered assurance to Detroit auto makers that U.S. taxpayers would be made to bail them out of their financial woes, a government watchdog…
Blog
Antitrust Liberalization May Avert Need for Bailouts; Outdated Laws Deter Efficient Mergers
In early 2007, the economy was humming along and General Motors was considered to be in the process of a turnaround. To help stabilize itself,…
Blog
Deregulatory Bailout
There are hundreds of regulations that Congress and agencies have imposed on the auto industry, driving up their costs unnecessarily. As an illustration, these are…
Blog
Jay Leno Riffs on the Bailout
A new viral email, claiming to be jokes written by Mr. Leno, adds a bit of humor to the financial crisis. As business and government…
Blog
The UAW’s Three-Year Emergency Response
Last night, the Detroit Big Three bailout package crashed and burned for the best of reasons. To their credit, Senate Republicans refused to abide…
Blog
Weren’t We Supposed to be Making Money?
Let’s see … weren’t the government “investments” in failing firms supposed to pay off for the taxpayers? Alas, it’s not looking good so far. …
Blog
Federally Sanctioned Propaganda Machine
Apple's 1984 "Big Brother" ad An article over at Ad Age brings up an angle on the whole…
Blog
The Acceptable Face of Capitalism?
Our simplest and best answer to the whole bailout issue, it seems to me, is that creative destruction has to be allowed to take place.
Blog
Auto Bailout Smoke and Mirrors
Mickey Kaus, a moderate Democrat, explains how the proposed auto bailout contains little leverage for the proposed “auto czar” to really cut the excessive…
Newsletter
A Union Sit-In, Global Warming Politics and Mortgage Modification
Laid off union members stage a sit-in at the recently-closed Republic Windows & Doors plant in Chicago. Physicist Richard A. Muller endorses “exaggeration and distortion”…
Blog
Socialism: It’s Already Here!
The candidates in the recent presidential election argued about whether one of them was advocating socialism. Actually, it looks like we’re already there. An ever-growing…
Blog
Auto Bailout – Destroying Detroit by ‘saving’ it
In a famous quotation from his 1986 address to the annual White House Conference on Small Business, President Ronald Reagan quipped that “government’s view…
Blog
German Finance Humor
When the Germans are laughing at you, things are in a pretty serious mess. That’s the case with the British version of the bailout, which…
Blog
Bailout for Bloated Union Contracts
The auto bailout being fashioned by liberal lawmakers with Bush's apparent acquiescence contains no meaningful limits on the bloated union contracts that have helped make…
Blog
Sheila Bair’s Coddling of Mortgage Deadbeats Fails, Costing Taxpayers
Sheila Bair, the head of the FDIC, has been busy rewarding irresponsibility and punishing thrift by giving special breaks to deadbeat mortgage borrowers from…
Blog
Dick Morris: Stimulus Plans Usually Fail, At Taxpayer Expense
Stimulus packages usually fail, while costing the taxpayers a lot in the long run by running up the national debt. Dick Morris, a former…
Cafe Hayek
The causes of the subprime fiasco?
Blog
Unbelievable Gall from the New York Times
As economists and the Wall Street Journal have noted, the Community Reinvestment Act was an important ingredient of the financial crisis, by pressuring…
Blog
Censorship and Bailouts for the Rich
George Will has an interesting column on how the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that many liberal lawmakers want to reimpose in order to shut down…
News Release
Congress Probes Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
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Newsletter
Obama’s Public Works, FCC Diversity Mandates and the Auto Bailout
President-elect Obama promises the largest spending program on public works programs since the 1950s. Obama tech advisor Henry Rivera endorses a proposal to expand minority…
Blog
Claim of consumers’ fear of auto bankruptcy a canard in bailout debate
Eli, in answer to the blog post you phrased as a question, the argument from the individual you heard, echoed by other Big 3…
Blog
Abarackadabra! A 21st Century “New Steal”
JOBS, ROADS, BRIDGES, SCHOOLS, BROADBAND, ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS, ENERGY…blares the Drudge Report. It’s President-elect Obama’s weekend plan—not to produce, but to transfer yet…
Blog
Declining Market Power Means Fewer Limits on Government
With much of American finance and industry either on the government dole or desperately trying to get on it, market constraints on political abuses have…
Blog
More on the Carmakers Recovery Assistance Program
Jeremy Clarkson on the fall of the British Auto Industry:…
Blog
Carmakers Recovery Assistance Program
While lawmakers consider whether or not to bail out an industry they holed beneath the waterline, perhaps they could learn from the history on…
Blog
Feds to Flush Billions More Down the Toilet, Destroying Jobs
The Treasury Department wants the federal government to effectively buy up all mortgage loans in America, by selling treasury bonds to buy up mortgage-backed…
Blog
Federal Spending Without End
Heck, it’s only money, as a friend tells me when he uses his credit card to buy new collectibles which he can’t otherwise afford. That…
Blog
Berlau on Air America today — debating deregulation on Thom Hartmann
Today at noon Eastern time, I will enter the lion's den. I will be live in the New York City studios of liberal network Air…
Blog
The Dozen Auto Companies that Aren’t Going Bankrupt
The “Big Three”–which really should be called the “Broke Three”–have made their pitch for $34 billion in government aid. What’s a few (billion) bucks among friends?…
Blog
Wealth-Creating Alternatives to Pelosi’s Destructive Infrastructure “Stimulus”
Well, who can possibly be surprised by the revelation that “The federal government's economic stimulus package will include investment in broadband Internet infrastructure and…
Blog
This week’s Least Objectionable Bureaucrat
My occasional “Least Objectionable Legislator Award” (no prize) takes a detour today and goes to a bureaucrat instead. So the LOL Award (pun intended, I…
Newsletter
Obama’s Attorney General, More Stimulus Spending and Defending Deregulation
Barack Obama’s choice for attorney general comes under scrutiny for his record on civil liberties. Democrats in Congress plan to seek additional billions in taxpayer…
Blog
Stimulus as if Capitalism Mattered
Those dispensing the "Bailout to Nowhere" proceeds seemingly answer to no one (here's one article behaving as if this were unexpected and surprising). Today…
Newsletter
Stimulus Spending, General Motors and Mortgage Lawsuits
President-Elect Barack Obama outlines his plan for more federal spending to stimulate the economy. Auto executives present restructuring plans to Congress in hopes of avoiding…
Blog
The Obama Administration’s Regulatory Opportunity
Columnist Timothy Carney warns that the massive bail-outs now flowing out of Washington will give the incoming Obama administration an opportunity to impose a regulatory…
Blog
Prepare the Money Bombing Raids!
The stock market continues to tank, but have no fear. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson Is considering new bail-outs! Reports the Wall Street Journal: Treasury…
Newsletter
Online Poker, Auto Workers and Public Works Programs
60 Minutes reports on fraud in the world of online poker. The president of the United Auto Workers union makes a public plea for a…
Op-Eds
Which Way Is Wise?
If there is one phrase to describe the events in the subprime meltdown, it is “collective stupidity.” Looking back on the poor underwriting…
Blog
Banks Sued No Matter What They Do
Banks get sued for discrimination no matter what they do. If they don’t make enough loans in low-income, predominantly minority neighborhoods, they get accused of “redlining,”…
Blog
DeLorean disproves domsayers in debate over auto bankruptcies
In the debate about bailing out the Big 3 automakers, it is said that we just can’t allow a bankruptcy. Despite the fact that Chapter…
Blog
Wasteful “Stimulus” Packages by Government Don’t Work
Only in Washington could politicians and bureaucrats dump more than $2 trillion into bail-out money holes and then claim that the federal government needs to…
Blog
Filling the Federal Money Hole
The Onion explains Washington, D.C. to those Americans who still have a naive civics class view of government. Why is it important to continue filling…
Blog
Credit Spiral
So, say you've had a good relationship with a credit card company and been paying off substantially more than minimum payment over recent months. You've…
Blog
Barack Obama Wants to Cut the Budget
Like, oh, maybe 40 of the presidents before him, Barack Obama says that he wants to cut out wasteful programs. At least George W. Bush,…
Newsletter
Citigroup Bailout, Sexual Harassment and Union Elections
The U.S. government promises an additional $20 billion to bail out banking giant Citigroup. The Supreme Court considers a case that could dramatically expand the…
Blog
America the Ungovernable
With respect to the ongoing series of bailouts, my colleague Iain Murray pointed out that some sensible British commentators note that one of the ways…
