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American Institute for Economic Research
Biden Redoubles Effort to Crush Crypto With EIA’s Mining Survey
The Biden administration has launched yet another attack against the cryptocurrency industry–an environmental impact “survey” to bolster a politically motivated attack on the crypto mining…
Reason
Inflation Is So Back
CEI’s Ryan Young is cited on Reason about rising inflation: “If the Federal Reserve was thinking of cutting interest rates at its next meeting…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Trademark fees and threatened sloths
A cargo ship struck and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman died at age 90.
Search Posts
News Release
CEI Fellow Testifies On Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank “Unhappy” Anniversaries
Washington, D.C., July 27, 2012 – As two purported financial “reform” laws mark their anniversaries this July, CEI’s John Berlau testified two times this week…
Comment
Testimony on The 10th Anniversary of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act
John Berlau testifies July 26, 2012 before a House Financial Services subcommittee on the topic of the 10th anniversary of Sarbanes-Oxley.
Comment
Testimony on Examining Consumer Credit Access Concerns, New Products and Federal Regulations
CEI’s John Berlau testified before the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. Berlau explains why reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers will increase competition for…
News Release
Dodd-Frank Price Controls Put Barriers to Jobs, Economic Growth
Washington, D.C., July 6, 2012 – Today’s weaker-than expected jobs numbers highlight the role overregulation plays in hampering job growth. As the Dodd-Frank law, which…
Study
Government Barriers to Georgia’s Growth
Full Document Available in PDF Few states have been hit as hard by the financial…
Legal Brief
State National Bank of Big Spring et al. v. Geithner et al.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the 60 Plus Association join the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of…
News Release
Dodd-Frank Unconstitutional Power-Grab, Says New Lawsuit
Full Document Available in PDF WASHINGTON, D.C., June 21, 2012 – The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, today filed a lawsuit asking…
Daily Caller
The IRS’s Trojan Horse
It may be another 10 months before Tax Day rears its ugly head again, but that doesn’t mean that the American people should take their…
Letters
Coalition Letter on Consumer Debit Card Protection Act
Full Document Available in PDF To the Members of the United States Congress: You may have seen some recent reports, including in…
Daily Caller
Federal Regulations Should Draw as Much Scrutiny as Facebook IPO
Facebook’s fall following its much-hyped initial public offering has politicians scrambling for “solutions.” But were it not for politicians’ meddling, Facebook’s and other recent IPOs…
Daily Caller
Facebook Shows Need For Smaller IPOs
When I wrote my blog here last Friday on the day of Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO), I praised the firm’s innovations but injected a…
Daily Caller
Overregulation Shackles Next Facebook
Today, Facebook finally goes public with a market capitalization of $104 billion. Its initial public offering (IPO) is the capstone of its amazing ascent that…
News Release
Groups Call on Senate to Lift Regulations Stifling Credit Unions, Entrepreneurs
Washington, D.C., April 24, 2012 – Leaders of 14 conservative, libertarian, and free-market groups are calling on the U.S. Senate to lift regulations keeping the…
Letters
Coalition Letter on the Small Business Lending Enhancement Act
Full Document Available in PDF As conservative, libertarian, and free-market organizations concerned about government regulatory overreach, we’re writing to you to urge…
News Release
Occupy Protest of Wells Fargo is An Attack on Shareholders, Middle Class Investors
Washington, D.C., April 24, 2012— John Berlau, Senior Fellow for finance and access to capital at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, issued the following statement on…
News Release
JOBS Act Will Create Jobs, Wealth, and Investor Freedom
Washington, D.C., March 21, 2012 – On Thursday, the Senate is expected to pass the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. John Berlau, Senior…
News Release
Critics Fail “Maxine Waters Test of Political Moderation”
Washington, D.C., March 20, 2012 – As the Senate takes up the JOBS Act this week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s John Berlau urges Senators…
Daily Caller
New IRS Rule Benefits Only Foreign Dictators
Since when is it the U.S. government’s job to report on the financial activities of foreign nationals to their home governments? It is now. The…
News Release
JOBS Act Would Create More than 10 Million Jobs
Washington, DC, March 8, 2012 – At last, there is a “jobs act” that lives up to its name, notes John Berlau, senior fellow…
Daily Caller
Consumers Shouldn’t Bank on Savings From Debit Card Price Controls
Coauthored by Kelly McCutchen, President and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation The news that Bank of America is again testing new…
Legal Brief
Bulldog Investors v. Massachusetts
Full Document Available in PDF Under the regulation at issue here, journalists, academics, students and others who are not wealthy or financially…
News Release
Free Speech for the 99% on Trial in Bulldog Investors v. Massachusetts
Washington, DC, March 5, 2012 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute today filed an amicus brief in support of hedge fund Bulldog Investors and free speech…
News Release
Payday Loans Myths Punctured in New Report
Washington, D.C., February 6, 2012—So-called “payday loans” and other forms of non-bank , short-term credit are roundly vilified by many politicians and activists, including the…
Study
The 400 Percent Loan, the $36,000 Hotel Room, and the Unicorn
Is a $16 surcharge on a $100 product unfair, unjust, and “predatory”? Hardly anyone flinches, for instance, at a $16 “resort fee” on a $100…
Daily Caller
Letter to the Editor: Dodd-Frank Shields Fannie and Freddie
G. William Beale noted in his Commentary column, “Big regulations stifle small banks,” that small banks are being crushed by pointless red tape due to…
Daily Caller
Where’s the Money to Save the Euro Coming From? Not Us!
Markets rallied last week on news of central bank intervention to ease indebted European governments’ liquidity problems, but the central problem remains. Europe is in…
Daily Caller
Why Finra Needs To Charm The Supreme Court
Daily Caller
Spending More Has Never Worked!
Daily Caller
Enron Bankruptcy 10 Years Later: Before Bailouts Were Big
Daily Caller
GOP Hopefuls, Administration on Same Page
Daily Caller
What the Super Committee Could Have Learned From Italy
One of Thomas Jefferson’s rules for living was, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” As an American and as a “cittadino”…
Daily Caller
Obamateurism of the Day
Daily Caller
What’s Trickling Down Are Lies
Daily Caller
Bank Debit-Card Fees Under U.S. Justice Department Review
Daily Caller
The Price We Pay For Investment Apartheid
The federal government protects two different classes of investors very differently against losses they might incur as a result of making poor investment choices. Both…
Letters
Coalition Letter Opposing $730,000 Conforming Loan Limits: Fannie-Freddie Subsidies for McMansions
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has signed a coalition letter with other individuals and public policy organizations opposing the expansion of government-backed mortgages for wealthy home-buyers.
Daily Caller
Will Western Civilization Rediscover The Moral Foundations Of Sound Money?
What is money, and from where does it draw its value? This is a question Greece is facing as its people stare into the abyss.
Washington Post
A Stake in Financial Markets
Capital standards are critical to the stability of any financial system. However, whether such standards are better achieved by markets rather than political entities…
Washington Post
Making It Legal to Tweet For Investors
‘Tweet for Jobs.” So says a section of Barack Obama’s campaign website encouraging the public to use social networks to lobby Congress for passage of…
Washington Post
‘Unforeseen Consequences’ of Changing Banks
Washington Post
Small Banks, Credit Unions Capitalize on Big Bank Fumbling
Washington Post
Get a Job!
Repeal Financial Regs Repeal portions of the Bush-era Sarbanes-Oxley Act to make it easier for smaller companies to raise capital by going public,…
Daily Caller
Regulation Is This Halloween’s Goblin
American entrepreneurs and small business owners have good reason to be scared this Halloween. According to a new Gallup poll, small business owners consider…
RealClear Markets
Yes, Regulation Does Keep Unemployment High
When regulations make hiring employees more expensive, companies won't hire as many of them. It's a simple truth. But it is an inconvenient one…
RealClear Markets
Letter to the Editor: Hoover Didn’t Show Any Fiscal Restraint
Re: “Amendment would cripple government, devastate Americans,” Oct. 23 commentary: Where did Andy Schmookler get the strange idea that former President Herbert Hoover practiced…
Letters
Coalition Letter on Sarbanes-Oxley
Full Document Available in PDF Now that the Senate has defeated the so-called American Jobs Bill, which…
RealClear Markets
2012 Candidates Target Costly Enron-Era Law Aimed at Thwarting Accounting Fraud
The Volokh Conspiracy
CEI “Durbin Dollars”
The Volokh Conspiracy
What About Fannie Mae Millionaires?
‘They are . . . not interested in asking millionaires and billionaires to pay a half a penny on the dollar for the sake of…
The Volokh Conspiracy
Long Live the Limited Liability Corporation
What does it mean when angry mobs take to the streets not to protest against the specific corporations and politicians that teamed up to loot…
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Bright Light of the Week: CEI’s ‘Durbin Dollar’
News Release
$5 “Durbin Dollars” Protest Price Controls That Killed Free Checking, Debit Cards
Washington, DC, October 14, 2011 – In response to the spate of new “Durbin Fees” hitting the debit cards and checking accounts of so many…
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Hoover Never Practised Austerity
Re: Harper denies focusing on austerity, Sept. 28. Wherever did some Canadian economists get the strange idea that U.S. President Herbert Hoover “helped plunge…
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Why Your Bank Is Charging More Fees
There are many observations that can be made about President Obama’s remark Monday to ABC News that businesses “don’t have some inherent right just…
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Hoover Spent Big
Wherever did some Canadian economists get the strange idea that U.S. president Herbert Hoover “helped plunge his country into the Great Depression through austerity measures”…
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Dodd Frank and the End of Free Checking
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Austerity Hardly To Blame
Re: “Harper rejects warnings austerity will spark recession,” The Journal, Sept. 28. Former U.S. president Herbert Hoover did not practice austerity, so it is…
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Farewell Free Checking?
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Capital Gains Tax Far Too High
Warren Buffett was wrong to suggest that capital gains taxes are too low (“Calling Buffett’s bluff,” Comment & Analysis, Monday). They are actually much too…
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Today’s Red Tape Would Have Killed Home Depot’s IPO
Your editorial “The Anti-Solyndras” (Sept. 22) is right on target in detailing the devastating impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on job and…
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Debit Durbin
Read the headlines — and your bank statement — and weep, but don’t say TAS didn’t warn you. As I detailed here in February…
News Release
Free Checking’s Demise: Blame Big Retailers and Big Government
Washington, D.C., September 28, 2011—“Free checking is going the way of the free checked bag,” declared USA Today this week. And for more than…
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White House Wants Bailout Tax
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D.C. Summit Focuses on Consumer Credit
Comment
CEI Submits Comments on Conflict Minerals Rules of Dodd-Frank
The Competitive Enterprise has submitted comments regarding the implementation of Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which attempts to…
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Public Symposium on Capitol Hill Focuses on Acute Credit Needs
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Public Symposium On Capitol Hill Focuses On Acute Credit Needs
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Obama the Greek
Greece is in economic meltdown. Its economy has become so biased towards the public sector that it is now literally unsustainable. It cannot afford to…
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Putting the Jobs Cart Before the Growth Horse
Among the colossal fallacies that keep our economy mired in unemployment, few loom as large as the notion that “creating” jobs leads to growth and…
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Is Obama Ready to Drop Sarbanes?
In U.S. President Barack Obama’s 33-minute speech to Congress on job creation, one sentence was worth nearly all the rest of his 4,000 words. In…
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Will Obama and Congress Slay the Sarbox Job-Killing Monster?
In President Obama’s 33-minute-long speech to Congress on job creation, one sentence was worth nearly all the rest of his 4,000 words. In the…
News Release
CEI Praises Obama’s Review of Sarbanes-Oxley Overregulation
Washington, D.C., September 14, 2011—Hours before President Obama’s address to Congress last week, scholars from the Competitive Enterprise Institute presented a “Ten-Point Plan…
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Did Feminist Groups Derail the Stimulus Bill?
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A Plan Better than Obama’s to Create Jobs
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Obama Administration Planning to Freeze Foreclosures
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Obama’s Costly, Unaffordable, Harmful New Stimulus: The “American Jobs Act”
National Review
What the President Should Say Tonight
National Review
Obama’s Jobs Agenda: An Infrastructure Bank that Robs You
I stopped by our bank Friday to get something notorized, and, damn, they were all out of free Jolly Ranchers. For a moment, I’d forgotten…
National Review
Justice’s New War Against Lenders
National Review
Letter Writer Wrong About Hoover’s Tactics
A recent letter writer erred in claiming that Herbert Hoover cut taxes and government spending in the Great Depression (“O’Reilly Missed Lesson on Great Depression,”…
National Review
Hoover’s Budget Wasn’t Balanced
David Elbert made the dubious claim that President Herbert Hoover “was a firm believer in balanced budgets” (“Obama’s Situation Looking a Bit Like Hoover’s,”…
National Review
S&P’s Regulatory Politics
Within 24 hours, the Obama administration went from attacking Standard & Poor’s first-ever downgrade of U.S. debt to almost embracing it. On the Friday night…
News Release
Court Strikes Down Dodd-Frank Proxy Rule
The Competitive Enterprise Institute hails today’s decision of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals striking down the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proxy…
National Review
One Year Later: Frank-Dodd “Reform” Leaves Fannie and Freddie Intact
National Review
Let’s Not Repeat Mortgage Mistakes
You write that the Obama administration decided last year to let “the market sort things out” regarding America’s housing woes in lieu of government intervention.
Washington Times
Employers Doubt Obama’s Vow of Less Red Tape
The Washington Times references Wayne Crews's study on the size of the federal regulatory burden. Mr. Kovacs noted that the Government Accountability Office…
Washington Times
Obama Urges Use of Foreign Capital Boost
Washington Times
Liberate ATMs and Credit Unions to Jumpstart Jobs
“ATMs don’t destroy jobs,” tweeted Davd Burge of the Iowahawk blog in response to Obama’s now-infamous “Today Show” explanation of unemployment. “Politicians who…
Washington Times
GOP’s ‘Durbin Dozen’ Keeps Dodd-Frank Price Controls
Anywhere but the Senate, getting 54 votes out of 100 is a victory. And Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 54 Senators responded to concerns from…
Washington Times
Let’s Face the Truth: The Stimulus and Bailouts Failed
You’d think last Friday’s terrible jobs numbers would cause honest elected officials to admit that their economic policies have failed. They would tell the American…
Washington Times
Obama’s Funny Auto-Jobs Math
‘The auto industry has added 113,000 jobs over the past two years.” So proclaimed President Obama in his speech Friday at the Chrysler-Fiat…
News Release
Depressing Unemployment Numbers Today Exacerbated by Crushing Regulations, Obama Labor Union Agenda
Washington, DC, June 3, 2011 – Bad news for the American economy and the Obama administration comes today in the form of paltry job growth…
Washington Times
Real Beneficiaries of the ‘Stimulus’
It was depressing but not surprising to read that tax cheats received $24 billion in stimulus money (“Stimulus recipients found to be tax cheats,” Page…
Washington Times
Stimulus Took More Jobs Than It Created
Investor's Business Daily
Reform Sarbox To Galvanize High-Tech IPOs
Silicon Valley is teeming with budding startups whose user bases and valuations are skyrocketing. As these companies seek breathing room to grow, they will…
Investor's Business Daily
Not So Much Separation of Powers in New Jersey
Investor's Business Daily
Banking On National Economic Suicide
Investor's Business Daily
Obama Administration Pressures Banks to Make Risky Loans
The financial crisis happened partly because of loosened lending standards, which resulted in risky loans to people with bad credit and no money for a…
News Release
IRS Global Data Sharing Threatens Bank Solvency, Privacy and Human Rights
Contact: Lee Doren, 202-331-2259 Nicole Ciandella, 202-331-2773 Washington, D.C., May 18, 2011 – A proposed rule from the Internal Revenue Service…
Investor's Business Daily
The Midnight Ride of Standard & Poor’s
Three cheers for Standard & Poor’s (S&P). On Monday, the rating agency issued a critical warning that America’s debt burden is growing too great. By…