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Sovereign wealth funds: Should governments invest in private businesses?
President Trump recently signed an executive order to study creating a sovereign wealth fund for the US government. If the proposal comes to pass,…
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Department of Education bails out of student loan bailout
For the second time in the past month, the Biden administration withdrew a proposed rule that CEI had opposed. The Department of Education has…
Blog
Proposed student loan bailout rule makes no sense
As the Federal Register approached its previous record of 95,894 pages in a year (set in 2016), the Biden administration devoted a few more…
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Myths about Labor Myths
Sunday’s Washington Post features a supposed myth-debunking piece about organized labor that is so misleading that it’s hard to know where to begin driving…
Newsletter
Desk-Doodling, Broadband, and the Stimulus Anniversary
A twelve-year-old girl in Forest Hills, New York is arrested for doodling on her school desk. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announces he wants faster broadband…
Blog
CEI at CPAC this week!
CEI is co-sponsoring the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, which is expecting to draw a crowd of some 9,000 -10,000 people…
Blog
Increase small biz lending not gov spending
President Obama seems to genuinely want to help people and improve the economy. However, he also seems to genuinely believe that the best and most…
Newsletter
The Lessons of the Meltdown, Attacking the Tea Parties and Texting Safety
Former Wall Street Journal editor George Melloan takes on the recent economic meltdown in a new book. A new online campaign aims to fight the…
Blog
Better than Nothing or another Feint?
Seeking to recast himself as a fiscal conservative, Obama is projected to propose a freeze on discretionary spending – NPR, NEA, “green” jobs, “disaster” relief,…
Letters
Audit the Fed First
Dear Members of the U.S. Senate: In the last two years, the Federal Reserve Board has lent several trillion dollars to banks…
Op-Eds
Obama’s Bank-Busting Regulation Full of Bugs
President Obama’s proposal on Thursday to bring back 1930s-era separation of commercial and investment banking would do little to prevent the problem of financial…
Newsletter
Myths of the Recession, Challenging the EPA and a Victory for Free Speech
Wall Street Journal editor George Melloan challenges popular misconceptions about the recent mortgage crisis and recession in a new book. Four members of Congress challenge…
Blog
“Big, bad banks” — a “faux-populist” response
Uh-oh. It was speculation yesterday, but reality today – President Obama and the Democrats have the banking industry in their sights with their trigger…
Blog
Obama’s Glass-Steagall 2.0 could crash financial system
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 102: The Size of Banks
The White House is expected to propose today a maximum allowable size for banks.
Op-Eds
Obama Plan to Split Banks Could Crash Economy
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back 1930s-like separation of commercial and investment banks, dubbed Glass-Steagall II or Glass-Steagall 2.0, would do…
News Release
Report Card for the Obama Administration
One year ago today, Barack Obama took the oath of office as President of the United States. Since then, he and his appointees have had…
Op-Eds
The Bank Tax and the Bay State
As the race for the late Ted Kennedy’s seat goes into the home stretch, financial-services policy has suddenly emerged as a top issue in…
Op-Eds
Obama’s Penalty Tax Could Hit Banks that Refused TARP Funds
President Obama’s so-called Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee is a tax in search of a target. Today, the president declared, “We want our…
Blog
Obama Bank “Responsibility Fee” Is Destructive, Hypocritical and Likely Unconstitutional
The so-called Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee is a tax in search of a target. Today, the President declared, “We want our money back.” Yet his…
Newsletter
CIA Climate Data, Fannie and Freddie Absent and Health Insurance and Antitrust
The Central Intelligence Agency shares classified satellite data with climate researchers. Executives from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are conspicuously absent from the first hearing…
Blog
Financial Crisis Hearing is Partisan Sham that Skips Over Fannie and Freddie’s Role
John Berlau, director of CEI’s Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, offers the following thoughts on what’s missing from the first hearing of the Financial Crisis…
Op-Eds
Financial Crisis Hearing Is Partisan Sham
Today marks the first-ever meeting of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which is charged with investigating the causes of the mortgage meltdown.
Blog
New Federal Program Kills Jobs, While Costing Taxpayers Half a Billion Dollars
A federal biofuels program enacted in the name of fighting global warming and reducing dependence on foreign oil is instead killing jobs while perhaps…
Blog
More Enron-like Behavior by Administration Officials Comes to Light
Earlier, the Washington Post reported on how the Obama administration pressured Freddie Mac not to disclose to investors and the SEC the $30…
Op-Eds
More Enron-Like Behavior by Obama Administration
Earlier, The Washington Post reported on how the Obama administration pressured Freddie Mac not to disclose to investors and the SEC the $30 billion…
Blog
Government Uses Takeover of Mortgage Giants to Deliberately Increase Their Massive Losses at Taxpayer Expense
The Wall Street Journal notes that the Obama administration has used the federal government’s bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and…
Blog
Obama’s Recent $75 Billion Mortgage Bailout Fails: Harmful to Economy, Housing, and Construction, Say Economists and Real Estate Experts
Economists and real estate experts are saying that a $75 billion mortgage bailout program designed by the Obama administration has backfired and harmed the housing market,…
Op-Eds
Stimulus Package Forces States to Raise Taxes
The federal government’s $800 billion stimulus package, which failed to cut unemployment, is now forcing states and local governments to raise taxes.
Newsletter
China in Copenhagen, Cash for Fannie and Freddie and the Pandemic that Wasn’t There
Officials debate the role of China as a “spoiler” in recent UN climate change negotiations. The Treasury Department announces the availability of “an unlimited amount…
Blog
Michigan’s population leak
In a preview to the 2010 census, Michigan learned this week that it was one of only three states to lose members of its…
Blog
Government Expands Fannie and Freddie Bailout and Lavishes Money on their CEOs
Under the Bush administration, federal regulators took over Fannie and Freddie in the name of stopping their risky practices. But the Obama administration has increased…
Blog
The Financial Crisis Made Easy, Radio Edition
Some of OpenMarket.org’s readers may know that I’m in the middle of earning a Master’s of Journalism here in D.C. I’m concentrating in Broadcast and…
Blog
FDIC Prepares for “an even-larger number of bank failures” in 2010
[T]he increase is intended to “ensure that [they] are prepared to handle an even-larger number of bank failures” in 2010.
Newsletter
Wall Street Meets the White House, EPA Rules on Greenhouse Gases and Health Care Divided
President Obama hosts a White House summit with Wall Street banking leaders The Environmental Protection Agency publishes its final rule designating greenhouse gases as a…
Blog
Obama Summit: President’s goals of more loans and more heavy-handed regulation in conflict
Statement of John Berlau, director, Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, Competitive Enterprise Institute: President Obama’s twin goals of more bank loans and more heavy-handed regulation…
Newsletter
Re-importing Drugs, TARP for Small Business and Palin on ClimateGate
The Senate health care debate stalls on the question of whether to permit the re-importation of drugs from countries with price controls. President Obama announces…
Blog
Did Deregulation Cause the Great Recession?
Over at RealClearMarkets, I explain why the answer is a resounding no. Over 30,000 total new rules passed during the Bush years. Hardly any were…
Op-Eds
Did Deregulation Cause the Great Recession?
In a December 3 article in Politico ("J-O-Bs should come before GDP"), Rep. Phil Hare argues that "reckless deregulation" is one of the causes…
Letters
Federal Reserve Transparency Working Group Sends Letter to the Senate
Dear Members of the U.S. Senate: In the last two years, the Federal Reserve Board has lent several trillion dollars to banks…
Heartland
Stimulus Funding for In-Flight Broadband
Heartland
Effort To Curb Financial Giants May Worry Markets Even More
Blog
Healthcare Bill Advances in Senate, Despite Receiving Failing Grade from Health Experts; Democrats Block Filibuster in Party-Line Vote
The healthcare bill is on the verge of passing the Senate, despite the fact that it has received a failing grade from healthcare experts like…
Blog
“Obama Warns on Dangers of US Debt”
This morning I read with interest – and amazement – the above headline. Does our president live in the same world that I inhabit? He’s…
Newsletter
VAT, Health Care and Imaginary Stimulus Jobs
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggests adopting a European-style “value added tax” or VAT. Critics question why the Senate leadership isn’t moving faster on health care…
Newsletter
Bailout Transparency, Climate Politics and Mortgage Foreclosures
Rep. Carolyn Maloney introduces a bill to make public details of the bank bailout. Critics accuse President Obama of failing the world on climate change.
Blog
“How ACORN Destroyed the Housing Market”
Federal affordable-housing mandates were a major factor in the mortgage crisis, fueling the housing bubble and the subsequent collapse of the housing and…
Blog
Fixing TARP: Is Transparency Enough?
Transparency is a good start. But the goal should be to not have government bailing out politically favored companies in the first place.
Blog
Poor Ford – They Thought They Were Operating in the Market
The Washington Times, “Greedy Autoworkers,” editorializes the overwhelming rejection of the UAW’s proposed labor agreement. Unlike GM and Chrysler, Ford elected to reject the…
Blog
Washington and Wall Street: Best Kept Separate
Russ Roberts' recent Congressional testimony is superb: "I’m mad at Wall Street. But I’m a lot madder at the people who gave them the keys…
Blog
Obama Administration’s Pay Caps Reward Failure and Political Connections
The federal government has no problem paying exorbitant sums of money to people who head failed government agencies like Freddie Mac. Its CEO will receive…
Blog
New CEI Release: One Nation, Ungovernable?
Question: What do you get when you combine a $700 billion “stimulus” package, $1.1 trillion in wealth-destroying regulatory compliance costs, a mountainous non-discretionary entitlement obligation,…
Blog
The Solution to the Government-Caused Housing Crisis? More Government!
The mortgage meltdown was caused partly by the government, which created an artificial market for bad mortgages. The Washington Examiner cites a recent study…