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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…
Blog
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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Blog
VIDEO: Bitter Taste of Big Sugar’s Corporate Welfare
John Stossel and the team at Reason TV have a new video out on the expensive and wasteful federal sugar program, which benefits a tiny…
Blog
Help the Poor by Making Their Lives Less Expensive
The Cato Institute’s Ryan Bourne has a great new study (and accompanying video) out about social welfare, government spending, and regulatory reform.
Blog
Five Western States Will Vote on Energy Questions on November Ballots
Five western states have initiatives or referendums on energy issues. They include increasing renewable energy mandates, instituting a carbon tax, restricting oil and gas production,…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Urge Congress to Eliminate, Not Expand, Electric Vehicle Tax Credits
In a joint letter released this week, thirty free market groups urged House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) to oppose “any effort to expand…
The Daily Caller
Free Market Group: Stop Giving Handouts To Rich Tesla Drivers
The Daily Caller cited CEI’s Tesla coalition letter to Congress. “We, the undersigned organizations, write to strongly object to any effort to expand…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: What’s Changed?
Ten years ago, the United States plunged into a financial crisis that would bring the world economy to the brink of collapse. The housing bubble…
Blog
Zoning Laws Are Holding Back America’s Cities
The options we have for housing are determined, in part, by the houses and apartment buildings that developers choose to build. But what they are…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: Restrictions on Housing Supply Makes Matters Worse
The broader financial crisis of 2007-2008 was the result of the U.S residential housing market collapse. That housing collapse itself was a consequence of an…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: Fannie and Freddie Fueled the Subprime Mortgage Bubble
If anything symbolizes the American dream, it is homeownership—an asset that is viewed as part of a route from poverty and exclusion to independence and…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: A Legacy of Racist Government Housing Policy
A decade ago this Saturday, the world shook as Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States, filed for bankruptcy. Representing one of…
Blog
‘Infant Industry’ Argument Does Not Justify Trade Barriers
Most startups fail. The conventional wisdom is that about 90 percent of businesses fail within five years of their founding. For companies making new types…
Blog
Trump Proposes $12 Billion in Aid to Farmers Hurt by His Tariffs
As we’ve been saying ever since this issue heated up, tariffs hurt the economy. There’s no way around it. Seeing this harm, President Trump…
Blog
Trump Reorg Plan One Step Forward, Two Steps Back on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
My colleagues Trey Kovacs and Iain Murray and, in Forbes, Wayne Crews, give mixed reviews to President Trump’s long-awaited executive branch reorganization…
Blog
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Must Define New Rulemaking Powers
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, there was an unprecedented allocation of power to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP—previously known as…
Blog
Solar ‘Incentives’ Are Busting Out All Over
Ever wonder why installations of household solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and utility-scale solar power have surged since 2014? The declining cost of solar technology is…
Politico
House SNAP Overhaul Could Take a Decade to Implement
Politico cited the Competitive Enterprise Institute on its role in urging upon changing the House farm bill to tackle runaway rates of federally promoted farm…
Blog
3 Proposals to Temper the Federal Payday Loan Rule
When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule regulating payday loans in October last year, I wrote that this could be the end…
Blog
Implement AEI-Heritage-R Street GSE Plan AND Honor Shareholder Contracts
It is welcome news that our friends from the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the R Street Institute put forth a plan this week…
The Hill
Why are we still regulating Main Street like Wall Street?
It’s no secret that banks across America aren’t doing well under the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress’s response to the 2008 financial crisis. Since Dodd-Frank’s enactment in…
Bloomberg
Business Groups Attack ‘America First’ Merger Review Bill
Blog
The State of Financial Regulation
President Trump will deliver his inaugural State of the Union address next week, where he will outline the administration’s agenda for the coming year. Here…
Blog
Ex-Im Nominee Scott Garrett Rejected, Swamp Claims Another Victim
Appointing Scott Garret to lead the Export-Import Bank should have been an area of broad agreement between the parties.
Blog
Property Rights of Fannie and Freddie Shareholders—Including Small Investors—Must Be Respected
Private investors should never be guaranteed any type of government bailout. At the same time, they should not have their property and contract rights violated.
Blog
Pressure Grows to Reform Bank SIFI Designations
What makes a bank risky? While a simple question, the answer is anything but. As the 2008 crisis proved, managing risks in the financial system…
Blog
Nine Years on from the Financial Crisis and We’re No Safer
The real cause of the 2007-08 financial crisis was overwhelmingly the product of government intervention.
Blog
Bailout Mentality Persists in International Banking Despite Reform Attempts
Europe, in an effort to ensure that the next banking crisis would not end in a taxpayer bailout, created bail-in rules and started performing stress…
Blog
Ending the Myth of ‘Too Much’ Bank Competition
It’s time to let the idea that too much competition is bad for financial stability finally die.
Federal Times
Report Calls for Drastic Workforce Cuts at Regulatory Agencies
Federal Times covers CEI’s publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. The non-profit Competitive Enterprise Institute is all about shrinking government. In a newly released report…
Washington Examiner
No, Houston’s Regulation Policy Didn’t Make Hurricane Harvey Flooding Worse
When a major American city is under eight feet of water, it’s a distasteful time to play politics. That hasn’t stopped multiple media commentators looking…
Blog
Regulators Mull Changes to ‘Volcker Rule’ on Bank Investments
Given that the Volcker Rule’s future hangs in the balance, it is important to review its short history, perverse effects, and what the best options…
Blog
Congress Should Confirm Export-Import Bank Nominee, End Corporate Welfare
The Export-Import Bank is one of the capital’s greatest boondoggles, handing out loans for large corporations at the taxpayer’s expense.
Blog
Financial Regulators Should End ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ Status
In the name of financial stability, federal regulators should at the very least hit the much-need pause button on the SIFI designation process.
Crowdfund Insider
“Sarbanes-Oxley Is Shutting Out Average Investors from the Early Growth Stages of the Next Cisco & Starbucks”
Crowdfund Insider covers John Berlau’s testimony on Sarbanes-Oxley before the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment (Financial Services). … In…
Blog
Treasury Report Good First Step towards Financial Reform
CEI welcomes many of the recommendations and looks forward to the further three reports in the series.
Hot Air
Change: DoJ No Longer Sharing Lawsuit Payouts with Activist Groups
Hot Air covers the DOJ’s rule change to disallow settlement payments to activists groups. An important — and expensive — incentive for legal…
Blog
Let Private Markets Finance Aircraft Sales
There is no good reason to keep the Export-Import Bank —or its international brethren—around.
Blog
Big Changes to Banking and Finance Regulation on the Horizon
Major reform of banking and finance regulation could be coming soon to Washington, D.C.
Blog
A ’21st Century Glass-Steagall’ Would Be Bad for the Financial System
A UK-style "ring-fencing" plan for banking regulation would be a bad idea.
Blog
White House Should Drop Support for Cronyism of Export-Import Bank
With the Trump administration’s early emphasis on deregulation, there was hope that cronyist agencies such as the Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and Economic…
Blog
Mnuchin Must Bring Transparency to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Recently-confirmed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin must do everything he can to reverse the extreme secrecy practiced by the Obama Treasury Department.
Blog
Financial Regulation Executive Order a Step in the Right Direction
A new White House executive order aims to redesign how financial institutions are regulated by the federal government.
Blog
Harry Potter and the City Council Chambers
The MacIver Institute documents the temptation of local governments to spend taxpayer money on “economic development” projects and tourist events.
News Release
GM’s Deceptive Advertising: Company First Claimed It Repaid Bailout Money, Now Admits It Didn’t
Washington, D.C., September 20, 2010 – Contrary to claims by General Motors earlier this year, the company has now admitted that it did not repay its…
Blog
Congress Needs to Fix America’s Broken Financial System
Whole forests have been cut down to print the books written about the financial crisis of 2007/8 and America’s response to it.
Blog
Treasury Nominee Mnuchin Promising on Volcker Rule and Fannie and Freddie
Steven Mnuchin would bring to the Treasury Department valuable experience managing entrepreneurial ventures and company turnarounds. He has expressed some encouraging sentiments on housing policy…
Blog
Obamacare Policies Are Costly and Unpopular
Obamacare policies are unpopular, and people often dump them months later.
Blog
Obamacare Increases Premiums, Reduces Employment
Health care insurance premiums will increase significantly next year as a result of the Affordable Care Act, and many consumers will be left with access…
Blog
Elon Musk Angry at Having to Compete for Taxpayer Handouts
“Rent seeking” occurs when companies secure government benefits for actions that do not otherwise create wealth.
Blog
Export-Import Bank Drama Continues
The Senate’s main business right now is the annual Defense Appropriations bill. The Export-Import Bank, or Ex-Im for short, might become part of that bill.
Blog
House Plan to Replace Dodd-Frank Provides Long-Needed Alternative
On Wednesday, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced the main features of his comprehensive plan to replace Dodd-Frank, the flawed response to the…