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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…
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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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Op-Eds
GM vs. GGP: Bankruptcy the Way It Ought to Be
On the surface, given the economic turmoil we’ve had, there was nothing that remarkable about the bankruptcy of shopping mall owner General…
Newsletter
Freddie Mac, Solar Energy and an Insurance Debate
The suicide of Freddie Mac’s Chief Financial Officer raises further questions about the company and the federal bailout program. Texas is poised to increase the…
Op-Eds
Where Were Liberal Dems During Bush Bailouts
Recent tea party protests targeted wasteful government spending, such as President Barack Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package, which the Congressional Budget Office says will…
Blog
Enron-like Fraud by Government in Bailouts
The federal government is perpetrating Enron-style fraud against investors in its bailouts of Merrill Lynch and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Secretary and Chairman of…
Blog
Obama: 100 Days of Lies and Broken Promises
Obama has asked the big three networks to give him a free hour of air time on his hundredth day in office. They have…
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Torture Prosecutions for Thee, But Not for Me
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants Bush Administration officials prosecuted for facilitating torture. Fair enough. But if they get prosecuted, she should get prosecuted,…
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General Growth Properties (GGP) — Bankruptcy the way it ought to be
On the surface, given the economic turmoil we’ve had, there was nothing that remarkable about the bankruptcy of shopping mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP).
Blog
Obama credit card meeting — should meet with economists instead
Instead of meeting with the executives of credit card issuers and sactimoniously lecturing them about not raising rates, as he is doing…
Citation
AIG head’s $3M in Goldman stock raises apparent conflict of interest
“It’s not much of a stretch to say that under Liddy’s tenure, the company’s and taxpayers’ money has been looted to pay off AIG’s business…
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Mortgage Executive Kills Himself, After Obama Makes Mortgage Giant Freddie Mac Lose Money to Bail Out Irresponsible Borrowers
The chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac committed suicide today in his basement. The Obama Administration forced Freddie Mac to run up…
Blog
Obama to Sign $6 Billion National Service Boondoggle; Mandatory Service Mulled
President Obama will sign into law a $6 billion “national service” boondoggle. In the March 31 Washington Examiner, I described how the “Americorps…
Newsletter
Bailout Power Grab, Abuse of Power in New York and Rising Sea Level Panic
White House economic advisers plan to convert government holdings in bailed out banks to common stock, increasing direct government control. New York State insurance chief…
Blog
Hans Bader on Government Ownership of U.S. Banks
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exTXY__Il6g 285 234]…
Blog
Nationalizing the Banks? Stock Conversion May Backfire
The Obama Administration wants to convert the preferred shares the government got from banks in the bank bailout into common shares. In theory, it…
Blog
Tea Party Protesters Are Right
Tea party protests questioned the constitutionality of some of the massive bailouts over the past year, which amount to trillions of dollars. That drew…
Newsletter
CO2, Microsoft’s Antitrust Overseers and Anti-Tax Activists
The Environmental Protection Agency prepares to release a document that could require the federal government to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide. The Justice Department extends…
Blog
Stop Thief! NYT steals Examiner’s AIG scoop with no attribution
One week after Washington Examiner ace investigative reporter Timothy P. Carney broke the blockbuster story reporting that American International Group’s post-bailout CEO Edward Liddy…
Op-Eds
The Tea Party Protesters are Right
Tea party protests questioned the constitutionality of some of the massive bailouts over the past year, which amount to trillions of dollars. That drew…
Blog
Slandering the Tea Parties
The “tea party” protests against out-of-control government spending have been very clear in identifying what wasteful spending they object to. One example is…
Blog
Horse Racing As A Public Good?
Maryland politicians really have their hands full as the legislative session draws to a close. Instead of focusing on their state’s looming long-term budget…
Blog
DC Tea Party Draws Big Crowd in Pouring Rain
Hundreds of people turned out in the pouring rain for Washington, DC’s Tea Party – one of many tax protest events taking place around the…
Op-Eds
1,000,000 Tea Bags Find a Home
After park officials turned away Tea Party protesters' 1 million tea bags, the press conference was moved to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We were happy…
Newsletter
Justice Ginsburg’s Inconsistency, the Continuing Pirate Threat and Tax Day Tea Parties
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg defends the use of foreign legal codes in deciding U.S. Supreme Court verdicts. Somali pirates renew their attacks, seizing four new…
Newsletter
Somali Pirates, GM Executives and FDA Regulators
The U.S. military considers attacking Somali pirate bases. Treasury officials instruct General Motors to plan for bankruptcy. The Food and Drug Administration reconsiders its ban…
Blog
Federal Budget Deficit Skyrockets; $163,000 More in Taxes
“The budget deficit increased by $192.3 billion in March, and is near $1 trillion just halfway through the budget year.” It’s going to…
Blog
AIG CEO Liddy owns millions in stock in bailout beneficiary Goldman — Tim Carney blockbuster in DC Examiner
Everyone should read the blockbuster exclusive in today's Washington Examiner in which Timothy P. Carney confirms that AIG CEO Edward Liddystill owns more than $3…
Op-Eds
Geithner promises repeat of Bush’s regulatory mistakes
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s testimony before Congress last weekrightly angered a lot of conservatives, small-government leftists, libertariansand other friends of the free market. And Geithner’s…
Blog
America – full of Socialists?
Almost half of Americans either prefer socialism to capitalism or are downright confused, according to a Rasmussen poll released today. Twenty percent of Americans…
Blog
Ideologies Are Like Cults
Herbert Hoover ran up big budget deficits in response to the 1929 stock market crash, in an unsuccessful effort to stave off the Great…
Op-Eds
Government’s Mistakes Have Deepened This Recession
Steven Gjerstad and Vernon Smith suggest one unexplored aspect of our financial crisis: the role of egalitarian policies. To see this, note…
Blog
GASPing at the Geithner-Summers Plan
Like the acronym for the Geithner and Summers Plan — GASP — in the article by Laurence J Kotlikoff and Jeffrey Sachs. And “gasp”…
Newsletter
Modified Mortgages, Unions Losses and Hurricane Insurance
The White House pushes mortgage companies to “modify” more home loans, while the number of defaults continues to rise. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) announces she…
Op-Eds
Hoover’s Deficit Spending
William Hettinger [letters, April 3] rewrote history by falsely claiming that “President Herbert Hoover’s response” to the 1929 stockmarket crash “was to balance the…
Blog
A Bounty on Your 401(K)
The Obama Administration’s mortgage bailout for irresponsible borrowers (including wealthy borrowers with modest mortgage payments) provides a bounty for reckless sub-prime mortgage lenders…
Newsletter
G20 Stimulus, A Plan for Carbon Dioxide and Mark-to-Market Reforms
World leaders pledge to spend an additional $1 trillion to stimulate the global economy. Global warming activists call for policies to lower the concentration of…
Blog
The mark-to-market relief rally
The events leading to the Dow’s climbing over 8000 today can be properly called the Mark-to-Market Relief Rally. More than any expected action of the…
Blog
Markets Rally on Hopes of Regulatory Relief
The stock market has gone up by 280 points so far today, fueled by FASB’s vote to relax rigid mark-to-market accounting rules,…
News Release
Statement on the Progress of the London G20 Summit
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News Release
Statement on the Expected Vote to Relax Mark-to-Market, or “Fair Value,” Accounting Mandates
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Blog
Obama Follows in Hoover’s Footsteps
During the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover damaged the economy, and impoverished the American people, with costly, artificial attempts to stimulate the economy through…
Blog
Bill Giving D.C. a Congressman Is Unconstitutional
A bill that would give residents of Washington, D.C. a Congressman is unconstitutional, lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded. But…
Spectator
Obama’s Inauspicious Start
Blog
“Robbery of the American People”
“Nobel Prize-winning liberal economist Joseph Stiglitz points out that the Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s plan to have the government subsidize investments in ‘toxic assets’ creates…
Blog
AIG Chief Loves Vicious Left-Wing Terrorist?
AIG Financial Products CEO Gerry Pasciucco wears a T-shirt emblazoned with the face of Che Guevara — the Cuban “revolutionary” and henchman of Fidel…
Blog
Billions More for Failed Bailouts
Ironically, by getting rid of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, the Obama Administration has made it even harder for it to demand the painful…
Blog
With or Without You
The Obama administration's ouster of GM CEO Rick Wagoner won't solve the auto giant's problems. It does, however, show the power that government now wields…
Newsletter
Countering Earth Hour, Mismanagement at Freddie Mac and Good News for Coal
Lights go out around the world in observance of “Earth Hour”. Regulators push mortgage giant Freddie Mac to…
News Release
CEI Comment on Obama Firing of GM CEO Wagoner
Washington, D.C., March 30, 2009— John Berlau Director, Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs…
Blog
GM CEO to Resign
The President seems to think that GM is not fit to run itself. Given recent events, he may well be right. But how on earth…
Blog
Feds Make Freddie Mac Even Worse, Ripping Off Taxpayers
After federal regulators took over failing mortgage giant Freddie Mac, they didn’t stop its risky lending practices. Instead, they ramped up its risk-taking, making it…