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Under Biden or Trump, taxing carried interest is stupid and destructive policy
No matter who’s in charge of the presidency or Congress, flawed proposals to close the so-called carried interest loophole just keep coming back. News outlets…
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…
Search Posts
Blog
Berlau Crypto Letter and Comments in Wall Street Journal and Washington Examiner
This week, I have had the honor of being quoted in a great article on cryptocurrency trends and regulation in the Washington Examiner and having…
News Release
Good News on Economic Growth: CEI Analysis
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis released data today showing the economy grew 2.1 percent in 2022. CEI Senior Economist Ryan Young…
Blog
The Deregulatory Pony for Small Biz Buried in the Omnibus Pile
There’s not much good to say about an “omnibus” bill crammed in at the end-of-year lame duck session of Congress that contains a grab bag…
Blog
FTX Hearings Should Probe Fraud Charges and the SEC’s Misplaced Priorities
In the wake of the arrest of and charges of fraud against Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of the FTX…
Blog
Why Choke Point Should Bar Gruenberg from Being FDIC Chair
Tomorrow morning, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on President Biden’s nomination of Marty Gruenberg to once again serve as Chair of the…
News Release
Biden CFPB Asks Supreme Court to Review Ruling on Its Unconstitutionality
The Biden administration has moved to appeal an October court ruling against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a ruling that invalidated controversial restrictions on…
American Liberty
What the FTX Collapse Tells Us About Regulators and ESG
First, regulators often can’t stop investors from fraud. Second, companies that work closely with regulators often do so for their own benefit. Third, and perhaps…
Blog
Gensler Fiddled with ESG and Power Grabs while FTX Burned
When asked on CNBC about the implosion of crypto exchange FTX, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler turned the focus away from the…
Blog
Reining in Biden CFPB’s “Junk” Policies with Fifth Circuit Ruling
When the federal Fifth Circuit Court Appeals ruled last week, in Community Financial Services v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that the funding structure of…
Daily Caller
LASSMAN: Financial Giants Are Suddenly Realizing The Left’s ESG Movement Has Serious Downsides
Advocates for aggressive environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards have tried to achieve social and political objectives through anti-democratic and unrepresentative means. Whether it is…
Blog
Excerpts from Austin Keynote: How CBDCs Could Be the New Operation Choke Point
This week, I attended the exciting INFiN MoneyTrends conference in Austin, where I gave the Regulatory Keynote address on Monday. The conference is a…
Citation
Podcast: Another Fed Interest Rate Hike: What It Means To You
Senior Fellow Ryan Young joined American Viewpoints to discuss how the Federal Researve’s decision to raise the interest rate again affects many Americans’ budgets.
Blog
SEC Gives Crowdfunders Inflation Relief, Must Do More
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adjusted for inflation some limits for companies (issuers) raising capital through Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF). The adjustment raises the…
Blog
FTC Goes Back to Bad ‘70s Policies in Motor Vehicle Dealer Rule
Last night at CEI’s annual Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner, CEI celebrated the 1970s—both the fashions and the deregulation toward the end of the…
Blog
The European Union’s Crypto Protectionism Threatens Financial Freedom
Stablecoins, digital assets pegged to a financial asset like the U.S. dollar, are becoming increasingly popular around the globe. Some people use them as…
Blog
Paternalistic FTC Rule Would Stifle Consumer Choice in Auto Market
As if American drivers didn’t face enough headwinds with high gas prices, supply chain constraints, and state rules that may force them out of…
Blog
SEC Small Business Committee Throws Down the Gauntlet on State Trading Preemption
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee (SBCFAC) has thrown down the gauntlet. As the SEC’s website explains, the…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Opposing Credit Card Competition Act
Dear Member of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations, oppose the inaccurately named Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 (S. 4674). The bill is…
Blog
Prominent Short Sellers Target ESG-themed Firms
For a long while, my CEI colleagues and I have touted the vital role that short sellers play in a free market economy. CEI Founder…
Blog
SEC Attempts to Regulate Indefinable “ESG” Topics
Today is the filing deadline for public comments on a new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule titled “Investment Company Names.” This proposal…
Crowdfund Insider
The Crypto Revolution Has Just Started
Hot summer temperatures have done nothing for the current “crypto winter,” which has seen a $2 trillion market drop from highs last year.
Blog
Why Carried Interest Tax Hike Deserves to Die in IRA and Otherwise
The Inflation Reduction Act (referred to by critics such as Phil Kerpen as the Income Reduction Act) will likely be voted on in the…
Wall Street Journal
The 20-Year Experiment Holding America Back
Many commentators these days, both progressive and conservative, decry a lack of opportunities for the American middle class, the concentration of certain industries under a…
News Release
GDP Woes Worsened by Lawmakers’ ‘Ready, Fire!, Aim” Spending Spree
Gross domestic product fell by 0.2 percent in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Already there was a 0.4 percent decline in…
News Release
CEI Report: Stablecoin Benefits Threatened by Lawmakers, Regulators
Stablecoins can revolutionize payment systems, provide a stable store of value for people living under totalitarian or corrupt regimes, and lower transaction costs (particularly for…
Blog
As Congress Mulls Stablecoin Law, CEI Shows the Way
Reports sprung last weekend that consensus stablecoin legislation from the House Financial Services Committee was near ready. While Congress is unlikely to debate…
Study
A Market Approach to Regulating Stablecoins, the Future’s Money
Executive Summary The cryptocurrency sector experienced its most successful year to date in 2021. Familiar digital assets Bitcoin and Ethereum hit record values, as the…
Blog
UK Leads on Crypto Privacy
The much-hyped “crypto winter” has emboldened cryptocurrency critics. The usual charges of “Ponzi scheme” (Robert Reich) and “The Big Scam” (Paul Krugman) have…
Blog
Financial Regulators’ Climate Fetish
Financial regulators’ attention, both in the United States and globally, seems focused on issues far afield from their core mission at a time when turmoil…
Blog
Inflation Sped Up in June: What’s Going On?
Last month, it had looked like inflation may have peaked. That celebration was likely premature. According to numbers released this morning, the Consumer…
Forbes
Optimism On Administrative State Reform—With A Big Caution
There’s hopeful anticipation on the right of reforming the administrative state. In particular, many observers, pundits and policymakers take heart in …
Forbes
Framing An “Abuse-Of-Crisis Prevention Act” To Confine The Federal Government
I’ve been through a few of these. I was here at 9/11, I was here during the financial crisis in ‘08, I was here during…
Blog
DAOs: One Answer to Woke Corporations
Imagine a group of mothers upset about Disney’s opposition to a state parental rights bill in Florida. Instead of merely venting in a Facebook group,…
Blog
Defeat of Pot Banking Liberalization Will Lead to More Violent Crime and Reduced U.S. Competitiveness
It is beyond disappointing that Congress once again dropped the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act—bipartisan legislation that would prevent the federal government from…
Blog
SEC Climate Rule a Bad Deal for Investors
This Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new rule on climate change and corporate disclosure earlier this year, and today marks the end…
Comment
CEI Comments on Proposed SEC Rule: Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors
Comments submitted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute et al. June 17, 2022 In the matter of the proposed rule “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related…
Letters
Coalition Opposes SEC’s Proposed Rule: Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investor
Vanessa Countryman, Secretary Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street NE Washington, DC 20549-0609 The undersigned individuals and organizations strongly oppose the Securities and Exchange…
Comment
CEI Comments to SEC on Proposed Climate-Related Disclosures Rule
Comment letter submitted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, et al. June 2022 In the matter of the proposed rule “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related…
National Review
The Case for Letting Crises Go to Waste
If there is an iron law in politics, it’s that when crisis hits, government grows. Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff, advised that politicians should…
InsideSources
Critics Get ‘Whiff of Racism’ in Progressive Attempts to Shut Down Tribal Lenders
InsideSources cites CEI Director of Financial Policy and Senior Fellow John Berlau on interest rates: John Berlau, Director of Finance Policy…
Blog
Crypto Volatility Heightens with Panic-Driven Regulation
In reaction to the volatile events of the last few weeks, both the stock and cryptocurrency markets have taken a deep dive. While this downturn…
Comment
CEI Comments to Senate Banking Committee on JOBS Act 4.0
Senator Pat ToomeyRanking Member, Senate Banking Committee455 Dirksen Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C 20510Dear Senator Toomey,On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), it is our…
News Release
Bipartisan Cryptocurrency Bill Takes Good Steps for American Innovation
Today, Senators Lummis and Gillibrand released their much anticipated bill on cryptocurrency regulation. CEI financial policy expert John Berlau praised aspects of the bill…
Blog
The Stablecoin Contagion That Wasn’t
A rare, recent real-life test case allowed observers to contrast government warnings with real-world events. Reining in cryptocurrency markets has become a key priority for…
News Release
SEC Climate Disclosure Mandate Exceeds Agency’s Statutory Authority, Raises Constitutional Concerns
WASHINGTON—The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) plan to mandate companies disclose energy use and planning for climate change-related financial risks lacks authorization from Congress, infringes…
Study
The SEC’s Costly Power Grab
The concept known as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing has gained an increasingly high profile in recent years, with advocates producing a large volume…
Forbes
Inflation And Biden’s Whole-Of-Government Price Hike
The Trump era saw countless news stories quoting unnamed officials speaking disapprovingly of their boss “on the condition of anonymity.” Because of …
Blog
George Washington, George Jarkesy, and the Administrative State’s Lack of Fundamental Justice
The recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Jarkesy v. SEC is a victory for limited constitutional government…
Blog
Fifth Circuit Upholds the Right to A Jury Trial Against the SEC
John Thomas Financial CEO Thomas Belesis was riding high, having been awarded the 2011 Businessman of the Year Award from the New York Republicans. While…
Blog
Credit Union Liberalization Bill Clears Away Never-Needed Red Tape
When I testified last July at a high-profile hearing on financial inclusion, I urged members of the House Financial Services Committee to liberalize regulations…