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CFPB budget woes underscore fundamental problems with bureau’s set up
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may run out of money soon, according to news reports. The bureau has been controversial from the start due…
Blog
Katie Porter’s exchange with CFPB’s Kraninger revisited amid new revelations
A recently surfaced clip of former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) has sparked a firestorm online. In a newly revealed 2021 video revealed published by…
Blog
The week in regulations: Poultry improvement and painful scars
The federal government shut down on Wednesday. Thursday’s Federal Register had 60 final regulations; normal is about 10. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew in hundreds…
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Citation
Halfway Between Sanity and Bedlam
Citation
What’s Good for GM Is Now Terrible for America
Op-Eds
What’s Good for GM Is Now Terrible for America
In his 1953 confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in the incoming Eisenhower administration, former General Motors CEO Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson was asked how…
Citation
Wall Street to GM: Let’s Put Those Bad Days Behind Us
News Release
Small Businesses Not Growing? That’s Because Regulations Are
The U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will hold a hearing Thursday, November 18, on “Assessing the Regulatory and Administrative Burdens on…
Op-Eds
Fannie & Freddie Don’t Deserve Any More Tax Dollars (Letters to the Editor)
The Examiner was right to oppose more taxpayer bailouts for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are expected to receive between $73 billion and $215…
Citation
Morning Scan – Free Checking
Op-Eds
The Free Checking Restoration Act
Having largely abandoned attempts to defend ObamaCare in the run-up to next week’s election, President Obama and his allies are now warning that opponents will…
Citation
Free Checking – How ‘Bout Them Democrats
Citation
SEC ‘Proxy Access’ Rule Could Empower Unions, Political Activists
Op-Eds
Obama’s War on Free Checking
“Free checking as we know it is ending,” says the lead paragraph of a widely read and tweeted story from The Associated Press. Noting…
Citation
The Free Checking Restoration Act of 2010
Citation
The GM IPO
Op-Eds
Ms. Warren Should Take Aim at Confusing Federal Laws (Letters to the Editor)
Todd Zywicki is right to criticize President Obama for appointing a consumer-lending czar without submitting the appointment to the Senate for an up-or-down vote…
Citation
SEC “Proxy Access” Rule Could Empower Unions, Political Activists and Undermine Investors
Op-Eds
Washington Ideas Forum
Study
Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB: Narrow Separation-of-Powers Ruling Illustrates That the Supreme Court Is Not ‘‘Pro-Business’’
Full Document Available in PDF Chief Justice John Roberts has often been depicted as an advocate of narrow rulings and a judicial philosophy…
Op-Eds
No Regulation Without Representation
Having excoriated the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress — on this site and elsewhere — for falling short of principles on TARP…
Citation
Galoots!
Citation
Wayne Crews on the Regulatory State
Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute discusses the regulatory state. He advocates removing regulations that cost the taxpayers too much money.
Citation
Sen. Baucus Pushes Small Business Jobs Act
Citation
CEI: Small Business Jobs & Credit Act – another ‘Big Government boondoggle’
Citation
MBL featured in Spectator, Gazette over weekend
Op-Eds
Credit Card Regulation: Big Government vs. Small Business
Op-Eds
Tightening Credit Hurts Small Businesses
The Sept. 1 editorial “On better terms” conceded that overall interest rates have risen on credit cards after the passage of the Credit…
Op-Eds
CBO Says Stimulus Will Increase Deficit (Letter to the Editor)
In his Commentary column, “The Recovery Act Worked,” Michael Cassidy wrongly denies that the $800 billion stimulus package “will make the federal deficit worse.” It…
Citation
John Berlau discusses the General Motors IPO
Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau discusses the General Motors IPO. Will investors have any recourse to sue?…
Newsletter
Kagan Confirmed, Ford Motor’s Finances and Critiquing Obama’s Economic Policy
The U.S. Senate confirms Elena Kagan to be the next member of the Supreme Court. President Obama announced a $250 million government loan to Ford…
Op-Eds
Obama Cripples Ford’s Funding, Then Subsidizes It
At the 1986 White House Conference on Small Business, President Ronald Reagan offered these famous remarks about politicians’ views on business in the 1970s. Reagan…
Jacob Grier
Markets are for Consumers
Jacob Grier
Recent Developments in Fair Value Accounting
Jacob Grier
Kagan and the Agency-Exhaustion Doctrine: A Response to Media Matters
Well, who’da thunk it? George W. Bush’s Justice Department is now considered a citadel of wisdom by the legal eagles at Media Matters for America.
Jacob Grier
In Defending Kagan, Media Matters Embraces Bush Justice Department
Well, who woulda thunk it?! George W. Bush’s Justice Department is now considered a citadel of wisdom by the legal eagles at the liberal Media…
Newsletter
Online Gambling, Offshore Drilling and the Complexity of Obamacare
The House Financial Services Committee passes the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. Today the House of Representatives will vote on an energy…
Jacob Grier
Elena Kagan’s War on Small Business
Solicitor General Kagan urged against letting a small firm challenge a regulatory agency in court. Would a Justice Kagan do the same? Now that Congress…
Newsletter
Big Labor’s Agenda, the Death of Cap and Trade and the Politics of ‘Mad Men’
Big Labor has been pushing hard to make Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren the new consumer protection czar. Besides the possibility of a lame-duck session, the…
Newsletter
Online Privacy, Food Safety and Unemployment Benefits
The Senate Commerce Committee prepares for a hearing on consumer online privacy. Environmental groups sue to compel the Food and Drug Administration to ban the…
Jacob Grier
Financial Overhaul Just Another Case of Government Overreach
Jacob Grier
Deal for Credit Firm Draws Fire for GM
Newsletter
Cap and Trade, Financial Regulation and Toyotas and the Truth
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) mentions plans to pass a cap-and-trade bill in a post-election “lame duck” session if necessary. President Obama signs the Dodd-Frank financial…
Jacob Grier
GM Agrees to Buy Lender AmeriCredit for $3.5 Billion
Newsletter
Elena Kagan’s Nomination, Obama Signs Financial Regulation Bill and Defending the Right to Work
The Senate Judiciary Committee approves the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today President Obama will sign recently-passed financial regulation bill into…
Jacob Grier
Obama’s Latest Monstrosity
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that President Obama will sign today should not be called “financial reform.” Instead the bill, which…
Jacob Grier
Have We Really Been Stimulated
The Lansing State Journal reported last week that the federal stimulus has been working. The White House projects the spending act created or saved between…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, the Gulf Oil Spill, and Privacy on Facebook
Congress passes the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill. The New York Times chronicles the economic fallout from the BP oil spill. Pundits argue that Facebook is…
Jacob Grier
Financial Reform Bill: Bureaucratic Absolutism
Jacob Grier
Obama’s New Financial Regulation Bill Strangles America’s Economy with Red Tape
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that passed the Senate 60-39 on Thursday and will be signed by President Obama next week should not…
Jacob Grier
Who Won Big in the Financial Bill – More Muscle for Big Merchants
It’s usually not that easy for big retail chains to win battles on Capitol Hill — particularly if they are trying to secure a benefit…
Jacob Grier
Dodd-Frank is not “Financial Reform,” it’s More Big Government Lunacy
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill should not be called “financial reform.” Instead, it should be called what for what it is: pages and pages of…
News Release
Statement by John Berlau on Passage of Dodd-Frank Financial Regulation Bill
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill should not be called “financial reform.” Instead, it should be called what for what it is: pages…