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Cato Institute
The Fate of ‘Never Needed’ Regulations
Parking lots and parking garages have served for decades as venues for clandestine meetings in the movies and often in reality. In the early 1970s,…
Issues & Insights
Reviving Community Banking By Lifting Barriers To New Banks
Americans have far fewer banks to choose from than they once did. The American banking industry has consolidated, with the number of U.S. banks falling…
Blog
Yes, women had access to credit before 1974
March is Women’s History Month, a time to acknowledge and celebrate many “firsts” for women in public life. One of those “firsts” is the ability…
Search Posts
Newsletter
Stem Cells, Regulating Lawn Mowers and Standing up to the SEC
The National Academy of Sciences argues for continued use of embryonic stem cells. The Environmental Protection Agency requires that new gas-powered lawn mowers come with…
Newsletter
Economic Projections, Comcast Sues the FCC and Cholesterol Drugs
A new report from the Federal Reserve projects continued slow growth and a weak business climate. Comcast sues the Federal Communications Commission over…
Citation
The Costs of Federal Regulation
Products
CEI Planet: September – October 2008
View the new Montly Planet by downloading the PDF of the issue. Below you’ll find previews of the articles in this issue:…
Newsletter
Fannie Mae, HIV Rates and Greenhouse Gases
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae announces a shakeup of its senior management. A new study finds New York City’s HIV infection rate to be three times…
Newsletter
West Nile, Union Corruption and Federal Courts
The West Nile Virus has infected individuals in 28 states so far this year. The Los Angeles Times publishes a 3-part series on corruption allegations…
Citation
Sarbanes-Oxley and the Constitution
Newsletter
Oil Speculators, Immunity for Phone Companies and Global Warming Reports
Members of Congress blame oil “speculators” for driving up the cost of oil with their investments. Legal wrangling continues over Congress’ grant of immunity to…
News Release
Appeals Court Rules on Federal Accounting Board
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today rejected a constitutional challenge to the Sarbanes-Oxley Public Company…
Op-Eds
Oil Speculators ‘R’ Us
Those dastardly speculators! As well as oil company CEOs, traders in commodity futures have become convenient whipping boys for politicians of both…
Newsletter
Renewable Energy, Anti-Whaling Protesters, and Fed Chairman Bernanke
The state of Colorado expands requirements for the use of renewable power. Japanese authorities plan to arrest anti-whaling protesters from the group Sea Shepherd. Federal…
Newsletter
Day Laborers in LA, Nuclear Power and Corporate Finance
Los Angeles lawmakers require home improvement stores to construct shelters for day laborers who wait for work in their parking lots. Electricity provider Constellation Energy…
Op-Eds
Sarbanes-Oxley Challenge Is Rooted in Law’s Flaw
Re: Jane Bryant Quinn’s column, “Accounting Cleanup Board Is Facing a Gutting’’ (July 16): In her attack on our constitutional challenge to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act…
Newsletter
Losses at Fannie Mae, Satellite TV Merger and Toxic Chemicals
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae reports a loss of $2.3 billion. Cable TV provider Dish Network proposes a merger with DirecTV. Former New York Times environmental…
Newsletter
Global Warming Allergies, Change at the SEC and Accounting for the Cost of Government
Global warming gets blamed for an increase in allergies. Paul Atkins steps down as Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Taxpayer advocates observe…
News Release
SEC Commissioner Earns Praise for Service to Investors, Entrepreneurs
On Aug. 1, Paul S. Atkins ended his six-year term as Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Competitive Enterprise Institute President Fred…
Newsletter
Bottled Water, Government Bonds and Wind Power
California’s attorney general threatens to sue Nestlé over a bottled water plant’s alleged environmental impacts. House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) champions legislation…
Citation
Telling McDonald’s it can open franchises only in the white part of town
Newsletter
Whole Foods Merger, Ethanol’s Impact and Health Savings Accounts
A federal court calls into question the recent merger of Whole Foods and Wild Oats natural food stores. South Asian leaders meet to discuss food…
Newsletter
FCC Takes on Comcast, GM Crops and the Housing Bailout
The Federal Communications Commission puts Comcast in the hot seat over its network management practices. Security becomes the number one cost for scientists developing genetically…
Newsletter
Ethanol’s Sins, Menthol Cigarettes and Property Rights
USA Today details the troubling side effects of using corn-based ethanol as an auto fuel. Legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration authority over…
Op-Eds
Bailing Out Kelo
Of all the unintended consequences of the housing bill that passed the House on Wednesday, the most ironic and far-reaching may be this:…
Newsletter
Online Gambling, Fannie Mae Bailout and WTO
Congressman Barney Frank sponsors legislation to legalize online gambling. President Bush endorses the taxpayer bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. India raises…
Newsletter
Satellite Radio, Mortgage Bailout and Union Organizing
The Federal Communications Commission continues to stall the merger of XM and Sirius satellite radio companies amid antitrust concerns. The New York Times reports that…
Citation
Sarbanes-Oxley accounting regulations
Op-Eds
Advice to Disregard
I was astounded to see the July 16 op-ed by former Fannie Mae chiefexecutive Franklin D. Raines, "The Help Fannie and Freddie Need."…
Newsletter
Expensive Regulations, Fannie Mae Bailout and Baseball Stadiums
Americans for Tax Reform marks the annual “Cost of Government Day.” Plans to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to rescue mortgage companies Fannie Mae and…
News Release
Burned Investors Call for Government Bailout
With the recent collapse of IndyMac bank in California and billions in losses at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac piling on top of the existing…
Newsletter
Banking Crisis, Globalization and Internet Poker
Federal officials charge that a letter from Sen. Chuck Schumer sparked the run on deposits that triggered the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history this…
Newsletter
Bank Failure, Offshore Oil Drilling and Online Gambling
The multi-billion dollar failure of IndyMac bank in California fuels calls for greater government regulation of financial institutions. President Bush lifts the White House ban…
Study
Can Someone Deal Internet Poker a Good Hand?
Recent attempts to reform the legal environment for online gaming fall short.
Newsletter
Bank Failure, EPA Reports and the Future of Wind Power
Federal officials seize control of IndyMac bank in the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. An Environmental Protection Agency report casts doubt on whether greenhouse…
Citation
More on the Mother of All Bailouts
Newsletter
The Cost of Government, Cell Phone Fees and the Housing Bailout
American for Tax Reform prepares to observe “Cost of Government Day.” Verizon settles a lawsuit over its “early termination” fees for mobile phone customers. The…
News Release
Cost of Federal Regulation Grew to $1.16 Trillion
What goes up and doesn’t come down? The federal budget and the cost of federal regulations. A new report finds that the cost of federal…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments
CEI's Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State…
Newsletter
Oil Prices, Housing Markets and Power Plants
The president of OPEC predicts even higher oil prices in the near future. Washington, D.C. suburb Fairfax County, Virginia plans to spend $10 million to…
Newsletter
Credit Card Fines, Offshore Drilling and Mortgage Securities
Visa and MasterCard agree to pay American Express $4 billion for allegedly violating antitrust laws. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slams proposals…
Newsletter
Fingerprints, Obscenity and Foreign Investment
The Liberty Coalition releases an open letter opposing a new federal fingerprint registry. Free speech advocates challenge local obscenity standards in Florida as hypocritical. Investments…
Newsletter
Credit Cards, Tax Increases and George Carlin
The Federal Trade Commission sues a credit card issuer that lowered credit limits after profiling its customers’ purchases. Political observers predict significant tax increases in…
Letters
Opposition to the Fingerprint Registry in Senate Housing legislation
Dear Senators Reid and McConnell: We are diverse organizations, but we hold in common a deep commitment to privacy rights, civil liberties and the…
Newsletter
Fingerprints, Telecom Lawsuits and Al Gore’s Carbon Footprint
The Senate considers a bill creating a new federal fingerprint registry. The House of Representatives votes to shield telecom companies from lawsuits arising from the…
Newsletter
Drilling for Oil, Regulating Wall Street and Speaking Out On Unions
One million Americans sign a petition urging Congress to allow offshore drilling for oil and gas. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for the Federal Reserve…
Newsletter
Google, Ethanol and a Housing Trust Fund
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) grills Google on consumer privacy concerns. Gas prices dip slightly from their record high. The Senate considers a housing “rescue” bill.
Newsletter
The Fairness Doctrine, Windfall Profits and Recycling Mandates
Lawmakers clash over FCC broadcast regulation known as the “Fairness Doctrine.” Prominent politicians debate a windfall profits tax for oil companies. European lawmakers pass stringent…
Op-Eds
Distrust Fund
It’s almost a D.C. truism that anytime Congress creates a "trust fund" for a certain policy issue, the money flowing into the…
Op-Eds
The Value of Hedge Funds
Re “The Great Seduction” (column, June 10): While David Brooks makes some good points about debt and thrift, he paints with…
Newsletter
Termination Fees, Windfall Profits and a Federal Wilderness Land-Grab
The Federal Communications Commission holds a hearing to investigate “termination fees” for customers who cancel their cell phone, cable or Internet contracts early. Senate Republicans…
Citation
“Affordable Housing” Push Fed Subprime Bubble
Newsletter
Gas Prices, the Federal Reserve and Insurance Regulation
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) claims that the global warming legislation she recently endorsed would not result in an increase in gas prices. Federal Reserve Bank…
Newsletter
Energy Legislation, Interest Rates and Futurism
The Senate prepares for a vote to end debate on major global warming legislation. The value of the dollar climbs slightly after the Federal Reserve…
Op-Eds
Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill!!!
Earlier this week, a measure creating a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to national security passed a U.S. Senate committee almost without notice.
Newsletter
Beef, Housing and Money for the Blind
The Dept. of Agriculture proposes a ban on so-called “downer” cattle. The Senate Banking Committee approves a new housing bill. A federal court rules that…
Newsletter
Polar Bears, Subsidies for Millionaires and Credit Card Fees
The Department of the Interior finds that polar bears are “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The House of Representatives approves major new farm legislation.
Newsletter
Financial Markets, Internet Ads and Immigration
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sees turmoil in financial markets easing. New York legislators consider a bill to restrict online advertising. The Manhattan Institute releases…
Citation
the Proposed Housing Bailout
Newsletter
Satellite Radio, Gas Prices and the Credit Crunch
Sirius and XM Satellite await final government approval of their merger. Average gas prices rise to a new record high, prompting accusations of price gouging.
Citation
The Left-Wing Mortgage Counseling Racket, Cont’d: La Raza’s Earmark
Newsletter
Climate Skeptics, Immigration and Interest Rates
CEI launches a new video series featuring experts who are skeptical of alarmist global warming predictions. Supporters of immigrant rights rally in several cities across…
Newsletter
The FCC Goes Local, Economic Woes and Gun Rights
Senators express concern over proposed FCC localism regulations. The U.S. economy avoids recession status with modest growth in the first quarter of 2008. A federal…
Newsletter
Baby Bottles, Union Conflicts and Credit Card Fees
Wal-Mart announces that it will stop selling baby bottles made with the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA. Members of the California Nurses Association and the…
Op-Eds
Suing Over Pay Discrimination
“Pass the Fair Pay Act” (editorial, April 23) seemed unaware of the existence of the Equal Pay Act, which already gives employees ample time to…
Newsletter
Custody Disputes, Food Shortages and Taxi Cab Fares
Over 400 children seized from a polygamous sect in Texas are dispersed to group homes and shelters across the state. Zimbabwe, confronted with high food…
Op-Eds
Police Those Credit Cards
The burdensome, patronizing, new credit card regulations proposed in the wildly misnamed “Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights” will hurt just about every…
News Release
CEI Takes on Unconstitutional Agency in Court
Today, as Americans scurried to get their tax forms into the IRS, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about another agency that…
Newsletter
Financial Regulations, Greenhouse Gases and Microsoft’s Bid for Yahoo
The Treasury Department’s “blueprint” for overhauling financial regulation faces strong opposition. State governments across the country pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. News Corp. considers…
Study
A Flawed Blueprint
America needs fundamental financial regulation reform. The Treasury Blueprint fails to provide it.
Newsletter
Global Health Threats, Foreclosure Relief and Food Riots
Members of Congress hear testimony on whether global warming will become a threat to human health. Senators agree on a foreclosure relief plan for mortgage…
News Release
New Financial Regulations Will Expand Bureaucracy
In a new study released this week, Competitive Enterprise Institute scholars size up the Treasury Department’s recent proposal to restructure the way…
Newsletter
The Exaflood, Mortgage Bailouts and Bear Stearns
Rising demand for bandwidth-intensive Internet applications threatens to swamp existing network capacity. The Senate considers a bill to “rescue” the U.S. housing market. Senators investigate…
News Release
Senators Investigate the Credit ‘Crisis’
Today, Federal officials and the CEOs of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on recent turmoil in U.S.
Newsletter
Paulson’s Plan, International Competition and New Leadership at FTC
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to reform oversight of financial markets sparks intense debate. U.S. capital markets lose ground to international competitors. President Bush appoints…
Citation
Shady HUD Secretary to Resign
News Release
CEI Opposes Broad New Powers for Federal Reserve
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today unveiled a plan for restructuring the federal role in regulating financial institutions. The blueprint contains good recommendations on…
Op-Eds
Bear Fire Sale Leaves Owners Without A Say
Bear Stearns shareholders, the true owners, are being denied a voice in the fate of the firm.
Op-Eds
Freedom and its Digital Discontents
Read John Berlau's closing statement in the Economist.com debate "Proposition: By intervening to regulate business and financial risks, governments have made things worse."…
News Release
Congress’s Online Gambling Ban: Burden Without Benefit, Says Study
Current laws about Internet gambling have had damaging unintended consequences far beyond their intended target.
Study
Time to Fold the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act
A bad law that could threaten America’s banking system…
Citation
5 Absurd Product Bans
Newsletter
Sarbanes-Oxley, Cancer Drugs and Discrimination Law
The National Law Journal warns that penalties in the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting rules for public companies can extend to individuals and private entities. Drug maker Cephalon…
Newsletter
Recession, Trade and Home Ownership
White House advisors cite the slowing economy as part of their call for tighter regulation of mortgage lenders. U.S. exports…
Study
The Community Reinvestment Act’s Harmful Legacy
How the CRA has hurt those it was intended to help, residence of low income neighborhoods with little access to credit.
Newsletter
Interest Rates, Video Games and an Economist Debate
Investors expect the Federal Reserve to enact a rare full percentage point cut in interest rates. A federal appeals court rules that Minnesota cannot fine…
Citation
the Possibility of a Recession
Citation
On the Verge of Another Fed Rate Cut; Update: Interest Rate Lowered .75 to 2.25 Percent
Study
Some Answers about Credit Unions
A recent, widely circulated advertisement from the American Bankers Association asks some questions of the credit union industry. They’re good questions and, in…
Newsletter
Gun Rights, Spitzer’s Legal Legacy and Economic Stimulus
The Supreme Court prepares to hear a challenge to Washington, D.C.’s city-wide ban on handguns. New York Governor Eliot Spitzer officially resigns from office today…
Op-Eds
Freedom and its Digital Discontents
John Berlau, director of CEI's Center for Entrepreneurship, debates Sarbanes-Oxley in the Economist…
Citation
Dumb Product Bans
Study
The Five Dumbest Product Bans
This paper focuses on five clearly absurd product bans that seem to serve no social good.
The Atlantic
Taxi Cab Confessions
The Atlantic
Stimulation-Palooza: The Inevitable Lard-Up
The Atlantic
Stimulicious Stupidity
The Atlantic
Chuck Schumer Wants a Second Stimulus Package
National Review
Will the Stimulus Package Stimulate Marital Breakdown?
National Review
Grantor’s Tax Should Be Repealed, Too
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine now wants to repeal the abusive-driver fees contained in Virginia’s 2007 transportation law, even though he signed that law and…
News Release
Bush Scheme for Lowering Home Mortgage Payments Could Trigger Credit Crunch
Washington, D.C., December 6, 2007—President Bush today week unveiled a plan to push financial institutions to "voluntarily" agree to freeze interest rates for adjustable-rate…
News Release
New Video: Cheers to Repeal Day!
Washington, D.C., December 4, 2007—The Bureaucrash Activist Network is releasing a new video just in time to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition…
News Release
Mortgage Sub-Prime Crisis Examined in New Report
Washington, D.C., November 8, 2007—As Congress scrambles to "fix" the sub-prime crisis that’s plunged mortgage lenders into bankruptcy and homeowners into trouble, a new…
News Release
Supreme Court Stoneridge Case: Junk Lawsuits Harm Investors
Contact: Christine Hall, 202.331.2258…