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Let’s end ‘reputational risk’ debanking once and for all
Although this legislative session is near its end, Congress still has the opportunity to take an important step to ensure that financial regulation is…
News Release
Inflation increases slightly in July, Americans still paying higher prices: CEI analysis
July’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report shows inflation increased 0.1 percent across all sectors, in line with economists’ predictions. With new proposed tariffs…
Blog
Three consequences of Illinois’ interchange fee law
In my new CEI paper, I examine the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act and what policymakers can learn from previous efforts to restrict…
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Blog
Equity Crowdfunding at Last, But Still Incomplete
More than three years after the JOBS Act was signed into law by President Obama, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today will finally vote…
TribLive
Stopping the Government’s Raid on Savings
TribLive interviews John Berlau on the Department of Labor's proposed "fiduciary rule," laying out the dangers of this proposed policy. The rule would…
Blog
CEI at Money20/20
I’m here on the Las Vegas Strip at Money20/20, a trade show and forum in the area of FinTech—a term used to describe a…
Blog
Onions Have No Futures
Lots of people object to markets in certain commodities. Kidneys, archeological relics, adoption rights, and a host of more prosaic items have been deemed by…
Newsmax
Govt Vies for Control Over Your Investment Decisions
John Berlau writes in Newsmax about the recent CEI headed coalition letter to Congress urging them to defund the DOL's "fiduciary rule." A…
The Hill
Overnight Finance: Path clears for Ryan; GOP backing off debt-limit bill
The Hill interviews John Berlau on CEI's recent coalition letter written to Congress urging them to defund the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule.
Blog
33 Groups Call on Congress to Defund Portfolio Attack by Labor Department
Today, a coalition letter signed by leaders of 33 leaders of free-market and conservative public policy organizations urges Congress to defund the Department of…
Daily Caller
The Bipartisan Push Back Against Obama’s Retirement Attack
The Daily Caller details CEI's recent coalition letter written to Congress detailing the restrictions the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule places on Americans and their…
Blog
Back to the Future in Payments Technology
One of the things Back to the Future Part II almost got right about 2015 was how Biff paid for his cab ride—with a thumbprint. A lot…
Daily Caller
Why Warren’s Witch-Hunt Won’t Work
CEI's expert John Berlau writes for The Daily Caller discussing Elizabeth Warren's desire for an increase in financial regulations. Elizabeth Warren “drew blood,”…
NewsMax
Elizabeth Warren Wants to Make Financial Decisions For You
John Berlau discusses Elizabeth Warren's pushes for excessive financial regulations in his piece published in News Max. Elizabeth Warren “drew blood,” writes Washington…
Blog
Warren Bullies Not Just Litan But Consumers
Elizabeth Warren “drew blood,” writes Washington Post reporter Tom Hamburger. “Elizabeth Warren Claims Another Scalp,” reads the headline of an excellent piece by John Fund at National Review…
Blog
Transparency in Card Fees: Where Does the Argument Stop?
There are three ways banks that issue credit and debit cards can gain revenue from them: interest rates (in the case of credit cards) charged…
Blog
Australian Reserve Bank Gets the Economics Wrong on Interchange Fees
A new report commissioned by the International Alliance for Electronic Payments, of which CEI is a member, finds that the Reserve Bank of Australia…
Blog
Savers Oppose “Fiduciary Rule” Sold by Labor Department as “Protecting” Them
“A fundamental shift in Wall Street culture” is what the Department of Labor is aiming for with the “fiduciary rule.” That’s what DOL Deputy Assistant…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Act Strangles Small Banks
The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act was enacted partly to end “too-big-to-fail” banks, but it has done quite the opposite. It has curbed competition with big banks…
Blog
CEI and Allies Submit Evidence to Australian Senate Inquiry on Credit Cards
Today, CEI and other members of the International Alliance for Electronic Payments joined the Australian Taxpayers Alliance in submitting evidence to an Australian Senate inquiry into credit…
Comment
IAEP Submission to Australian Senate on Credit Card Interest Payments
Full Document Available in PDF Credit card interest rates and other features are only partly driven by factors such as the Reserve…
Blog
Financial Regulation and Payments Update: July 31, 2015
Last week saw the fifth anniversary of Dodd-Frank and there was a great deal of commentary from opponents of the act, not least from us…
Blog
Not Dodd-Frank, Not Glass-Steagall, But Real Competition to End TBTF
Progressives cheered Hillary Clinton last week when she said policy makers need to “go beyond Dodd-Frank.” She didn’t rule out repeal of some sections, but most…
Blog
The SEC Sinks Its Claws Deeper into Executive Pay Packages
Once upon a time critics of corporate America complained that executive salaries were too high, and too often disconnected from the performance of the firm.
Products
Controversy builds at U.S. consumer protection bureau
The Human Events quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the Consumer Protection Bureau office renovations:…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Rules Cause Smuggling, Starvation, and Harm to U.S. Businesses
The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act effectively restricted U.S. business’s ability to obtain minerals from the war-torn nation of the Congo and surrounding countries. That caused massive …
Blog
The Right to Choose Your Investment Partner
The following is an abridged and revised version of my keynote address to the FinTech Global Expo at the San Diego Convention Center on May 29,…
Blog
Johnson-Crapo’s Reemergence Ruins Reg Relief Bill
Last year, an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called Johnson-Crapo—named after then Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Ranking Member Mike…
Newsmax
‘Fiduciary Rule’ Takes Aim at Retirement Plans
Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, modestly but significantly liberalizing securities markets for investors…
Blog
Labor Department “Fiduciary Rule” Threatens to Eviscerate JOBS Act Gains for Investors, Entrepreneurs
Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, modestly but significantly liberalizing securities markets for investors and…
Blog
Gruber’s Disciples Gunning for Your IRA and 401(k)
Is Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was caught on camera bragging how he and other Obamacare…
Illinois Policy
Illinois House passes nation’s most competitive crowdfunding rules
Illinois Policy quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the proposed bill on crowdfunding by Illinois House: This innovative form of funding is described by…
News Release
CEI’s John Berlau Responds to Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule
Today, the Labor Department is expected to release its long-awaited "fiduciary rule." Ostensibly aimed at addressing potential conflicts of interest by brokers who offer retirement investment advice, Competitive…
Blog
Operation Choke Point: The CFPB Is Now in Charge
I suggested at TheBlaze some weeks ago that even as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was stepping back from its involvement in Operation Choke Point, the…
Blog
International Panel Outlines Problems with EU Interchange Fee Regulation
On March 17, an international panel of experts gathered in Brussels to discuss the proposed EU interchange fee regulations that are set to be approved…
Blog
Least Transparent Administration Closes Records on Fannie and Freddie
This Sunshine Week, the administration that swept into office promising to be the “most transparent” in history was just judged by a major news service…
Blog
How Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary” Rule Could Cripple IRA Choices
Last week, President Obama called on the Department of Labor to “update the rules and requirements that retirement advisors put the best interests of their…
Blog
Harvard Study Confirms Dodd-Frank’s Harm to Main Street
Literally since the day the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law by President Obama, my Competitive Enterprise Institute colleagues…
Blog
Main Street Fights Dodd-Frank’s Chipping Away at the Constitution
“Wall Street Chips Away at Dodd-Frank,” blared a recent front-page headline in The New York Times about bipartisan measures that have passed the U.S. House of Representatives…
Blog
FDIC Retreats from Operation Choke Point
In a partial victory for all those campaigning against the abuse of power known as Operation Choke Point (see our comprehensive study here), the Federal…
The Patriot Post
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Does Anything But
The Patriot Post quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “A government report pegs the price of the work at…
The Daily Signal
Government Agency Under Scrutiny for $215 Million Building Renovation
The Dialy Signal quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the Consumer Protection Bureau office renovations: Costly building renovations at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection…
Blog
Obama Should Help Borrowers by Shedding Dodd-Frank, Not Pumping FHA
“If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” So said Ronald Reagan in 1986. Reagan was describing the unintended effects of…
Blog
Lame Duck Quacks Needed Dodd-Frank Relief
Waaaah! That’s the sound of former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) crying about stinging, bipartisan rebukes to his legacy of the Dodd-Frank…
Blog
Rep. Leutkemeyer Moves to Choke off Operation Choke Point
The release this week of a new House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff report into Operation Choke Point provides another opportunity to underline just how…
Real Clear Markets
Entrepreneurs Want Capital, But Not Bank Capital
The Real Clear Markets cites CEi`s John Berlau on the investment regulations: The solution is to unleash capital from the bottom-up and where…
Blog
Liberals and Conservatives Challenge Overreach of Dodd-Frank’s FSOC on MetLife
As CEI brings suit before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals tomorrow challenging the constitutionality of unaccountable bureaucracies created by the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” law…
Blog
Crowdfunding Is Entrepreneurship’s History and its Future
In America and around the world, aspiring entrepreneurs are meeting their colleagues and their mentors in official and unofficial sessions of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Created…
Blog
CFPBs Prepaid Debit Card Rules Will Harm Low-Income Consumers
Today’s action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue unprecedented burdens on providers of prepaid debit cards shows why the bureau needs to be held…
Blog
The Long National Nightmare of Dodd-Frank Is Almost Over
One of the prime reasons for the continuing economic uncertainty that bedevils so many ordinary Americans is the presence in law of the Dodd-Frank Act…
Blog
The Economist: Interchange Fee Caps Benefit Large Retailers at Consumer Expense
Surprise! Price controls lead to unintended consequences—including transfers of wealth to parties who lobbied for those controls. That’s the actual – and unsurprising – result…
Blog
See Me at San Francisco Crowdfund Banking and Lending Summit
My colleague Wayne Crews’ Forbes column Monday explained “How Entrepreneurs Can Speak Out About the Cost of Regulation,” but noted sadly that “businesses that never form…
One News Now
Mobile Checking a “Scheme” or Good for Competition?
John Berlau discusses mobile checking with One News Now: "This week, an article in Salon calls it a scheme to prey on America's…