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National Review
America’s Misplaced Income Priorities
The national inequality debate is asking the wrong questions. Pundits are cheering a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report showing a…
News Release
Report analyzes and offers reforms to the current US-proxy advisory system
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a new report that analyzes and critiques the current US proxy-advisory system and offers strong reforms that…
News Release
Federal Reserve raises interest rates, eyes on future economic policy: CEI analysis
Today, the Federal Reserve has decided to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, the first increase in over three years. The decision…
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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…
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.
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…
Blog
Terra Troubles Should Not Spur Stablecoin Regulation
The crypto market is suffering a severe correction. One asset feeling the pinch is LUNA, which, along with its related nonprofit the Luna Foundation…
News Release
Inflation Still 4x Higher than Target Rate, New Government Numbers Show
The inflation rate isn’t much changed from last month’s high figure, 8.3 percent compared to 8.5 percent, new government data shows. CEI Senior Fellow…
Forbes
Congress Is Causing Rising Regulatory Burdens. That Needs Fixing
Mid-terms are approaching, and that means market-oriented policy groups, classical liberals, libertarians and others will resume the tradition of dusting off, polishing and updating …
Blog
Countries Move Forward with CBDCs Despite Public Mistrust
New research from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reveals that countries are plowing ahead with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) despite little…
Blog
CEI Joins Groups in Telling SEC to Stay Away from Private Markets
It’s bad enough that Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have made it so costly for smaller companies to go and stay…
Blog
Environmental and Social Factors in Investing too Vague for Legal Definitions
Recently, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler released a video explaining his concerns about investment products that market themselves using terms…
Blog
Crypto and Crowdfunding Could Spur U.S. Economy
Crypto and equity crowdfunding (Reg CF) are two relatively new concepts that are combining to create new economic models that could overtake current economic…
Blog
SEC’s War on Crypto Savers Continues
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler claims he is “animated every day” to protect working families through securities laws. It’s a…
Blog
Lisa Cook’s First Amendment Problem Should Concern Senators
As early as Tuesday, the U.S. Senate could vote on the nomination of Lisa Cook to be a governor of the Federal Reserve, along…
Blog
My Response to the CFPB’s “Junky” Regulatory Inquiry on Fees
In response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) “request for information” on what its Director Rohit Chopra has labeled as “junk fees” on…
Blog
Protecting Pensions from Politicized Mismanagement
Recently the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization of state legislators from across the country, unveiled model legislation aimed at protecting the…
Blog
Members of Congress Push Back on SEC Climate Proposal
Skeptical members of Congress have begun weighing in on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent climate disclosure proposal, and their objections are…
Blog
Rep. Van Duyne Confronts Excesses of Climate Policy at SEC
Last week Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and a dozen co-sponsors introduced the Stopping Excessive Climate Reporting Act (H.R.7355) to prevent the Securities and…
Comment
Comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on its Request for Information on “Junk Fees”
Dear Director Chopra: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the Consumer Financial…
Blog
Celebrate Decade of JOBS Act as Deregulatory Success
10 years ago, a GOP-controlled House, a Democrat-controlled Senate, and a Democratic president came together to lighten the regulatory burden on America’s upstart job…
News Release
Biden Budget ‘Billionaire Tax’ Constitutionally Troubling
The newly released details of the White House budget for fiscal year 2023 marks a failure in spending restraint and regulatory accountability, say CEI…
Blog
White House Confiscatory Tax Proposal Underlines Why CEI Is Challenging Provision of 2017 Tax Reform
Today President Biden previewed his proposed fiscal year 2023 budget. I am in complete agreement with the first five words: “Budgets are statements of…
Blog
Why Cannabis Banking Liberalization Would Indeed Increase U.S. Competitiveness
As war continues in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, interest by policy makers and the media has spiked in competitiveness bills passed…
Blog
Climate Police Occupy Wall Street
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, March 21, released its proposed rule to require every “registrant” (i.e., publicly-traded company) to provide…
News Release
CEI Statement: Biden Executive Order to Target Crypto for Regulation
The White House is set to release an executive order today regulating cryptocurrency. CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau expressed concerns about the order and…
Blog
Stablecoins Come of Age in Ukraine-Russia Conflict
Across the globe, people living under oppressive regimes are already familiar with stablecoins—digital assets pegged to a stable monetary value, usually the U.S. dollar.
Blog
Don’t Raise Accredited Investor Thresholds
The gulf between Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler’s rhetoric and the results of his leadership continues to widen. In interviews…
The New York Sun
Regulations Stymie New York in Crypto Competition vs. Miami
New York City and Miami are the clear frontrunners to become the preeminent home of American cryptocurrency, and the cities’ mayors — Eric Adams…
Blog
George Washington, Larry David, Cryptocurrency, and Freedom
One of the most talked-about Super Bowl ads was that of Larry David traveling through history and naysaying innovations that turned out to be…
Blog
Lisa Cook’s First Amendment Problem
Today, the Senate Banking Committee is set to vote on five nominations for the Federal Reserve Board. My CEI colleague Myron Ebell and I…
Blog
New Federal Reserve Study Is Surprisingly Upbeat on Stablecoins
Amid the Biden administration’s onslaught against cryptocurrencies, new research from the Federal Reserve surprisingly paints stablecoins in a positive light. In a new…
Blog
New Mexico Should Reject Interest Rate Limit Base on Federal Mismeasurement
There is an old saying that “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” It…
Blog
CFPB’s Dodd-Frank Race and Gender Data Collection Mandates Will Harm Financial Inclusion
In mid-2020, on the 10th anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul being rammed through Congress and signed by then-President Obama, I catalogued the…
Blog
Six Myths about Bitcoin Energy Use
Newsweek: Bitcoin Mining on Track to Consume All of the World’s Energy by 2020 Bloomberg: What if there were a safe…
The Washington Times
Experts Say More Americans Will Face Debt, Credit Card Delinquency This Year
The Washington Times cites Director of Finance Policy John Berlau on the consequences of lockdowns: John Berlau, director of finance…
Blog
Equity Crowdfunding Success Should Spur Further Deregulation
Equity Crowdfunding (Reg CF), the innovative tool that allows middle class people to invest in early-stage companies, has now topped $1.1 billion in…
News Release
Inflation Hits 40 Year High, but Policymakers Can Fix It
Inflation is up, again, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today. The Federal Reserve has a clear job to do, but Congress and…
Comment
Comments to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Small Business Lending Data Collection By Race and Gender
Dear Mr. Chopra, On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the Consumer Financial…
National Review
The Fight for the FDIC
While the downfall of “Build Back Better” has been getting a lot of attention, it was not the only Washington policy…
Blog
The SEC’s Irrational Fear of Bitcoin
“The Commission has no basis for the position that investing in the derivatives market for an asset is acceptable for investors while investing in…
Blog
Policy Makers Should Allow Stablecoins to Thrive
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will convene a hearing on stablecoins today. Congress should focus on the many benefits this…
Blog
Can Pensions Be Saved from Political Mismanagement?
The Department of Labor is currently working on a new rule that would give pension fund managers greater leeway in considering non-financial criteria…
News Release
Biden Bank Regulator Nominee Withdraws Due to Bipartisan Opposition
President Biden’s pick for Comptroller of the Currency withdrew today after critics, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, exposed her many statements sympathetic to communism.
Law & Liberty
What’s in Your Wallet?
To help foot the bill for the “Build Back Better” budget reconciliation bill—originally slated to cost $3.5 trillion—the Biden administration proposed an unprecedented measure…
Blog
Biden Administration Seeks to Punish Stablecoin Success
Stablecoin market capitalization has risen by 500 percent in past 12 months. The growth aligns with growing interest in transacting outside heavily regulated…
News Release
Senators Should Reject Comptroller of Currency Nominee Saule Omarova
WASHINGTON – In a hearing today, Senators on the Banking Committee will consider the nomination of Saule Omarova to be Comptroller of the…
Letters
CEI Joins Letter Opposing Nomination of Saule Omarova for Comptroller of the Currency
November 5, 2021 The Honorable Sherrod Brown Chairman Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 534 Dirksen…
News Release
President Biden Signs Problematic Crypto Provisions into Law
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure bill into law today, including more than one trillion dollars in government spending. In addition…
News Release
CEI Experts Weigh In on Reconciliation Framework Agreed to by White House and Congressional Democrats
WASHINGTON – The White House and congressional democrats announced agreement on a “framework” for a reconciliation bill that will spend nearly $2 trillion and…
Blog
Lenny Bruce, Capitalism vs. Communism, and Biden’s Banking Nominee
At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, then-controversial comedian Lenny Bruce offered a surprising boost to the defense of capitalism over…
Blog
“Stop Wall Street Looting Act” Would Empower Wall Street, Harm Main Street
Washington policies are often misnamed. Recent legislative proposals labeled “infrastructure” concerned not roads or bridges, but social spending. But sometimes, a bill in…
Blog
Reconciliation Bill Provision Threatens IRA Holders’ Investing Opportunities
A couple of weeks back, I commented, in a Competitive Enterprise Institute blog post, on a provision of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation…