CEI has fought excessive regulation in the financial sector from laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank. We have scored major bipartisan victories for deregulation. These include the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, signed by President Obama in 2012, that lifted or relaxed some of the biggest burdens preventing small and midsize firms from raising capital and going public; and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, signed by President Trump in 2018, that lifted some of Dodd-Frank’s crushing burden on community banks and credit unions. We continue to fight to remove regulatory barriers that limit choices and increase costs for entrepreneurs, investors, and consumers.
Banking and Finance Issue Areas
Featured Posts
News Release
Supreme Court Disappoints on Funding/Powers Question in Ruling in CFPB Case
The Supreme Court today issued a disappointing ruling in CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association of America, a lawsuit challenging the unchecked funding of…
News Release
No surprises with April’s inflation report: CEI analysis
Inflation rose 0.3 percent in April compared to 0.4 percent in March. While this wasn’t a surprise for economists, the news indicates a tough…
Blog
Navigating the maze of federal regulations in 2024: What to know
In a bureaucratic whirlwind, the 2024 Federal Register is attaining new heights, topping 41,000 pages today. An unsettling new norm for the past few weeks…
Search Posts
Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal
Proposed SEC Rules On Crowdfunding Threaten Access To Capital By Locking Out Ordinary Investors
In submitted comments, John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute argued that the proposed rules could result in “costly, paternalistic requirements on crowdfunding that have…
Forbes
Why Bitcoin Must Die. Long Live Bitcoin 2.0.
One day, there will be a global digital currency in widespread commercial use whose value will not be controlled by central banks. Governments can forestall…
Comment
Comments to the SEC by John Berlau on Crowdfunding
In comments submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau warns that new SEC rules impacting crowdfunding could…
News Release
Proposed SEC Rules on Crowdfunding Threaten Access to Capital By Locking Out Ordinary Investors
Washington, DC, Feb. 6, 2014 – This week marked the deadline for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to accept public comments on proposed…
News Release
Dodd-Frank “Diversity” Hiring Quotas Unconstitutional
Washington, DC, Feb. 6, 2014 – The Dodd-Frank Act regulates the financial sector, but what many people do not know is how far its…
Comment
CEI comments on Dodd-Frank proposed diversity statement Docket No OP-1465
Blog
CEI Podcast for January 23, 2014: CEI Appeals Affordable Care Act Lawsuit Verdict
General Counsel Sam Kazman explains the case's importance not just for health care, but for the rule of law.
Forbes
The Antigua Forum: Exporting A Different Kind of Latin American Revolution
Call it the “Free Market Davos.” The Antigua Forum, sponsored by Universidad Francisco Marroquín, in Guatemala, finished its third annual conference last week. For three…
National Review
Obamaloans
We know the pattern by now. A crisis arises. As my Competitive Enterprise Institute colleague Chris Horner puts it, this administration says, “There’s no time…
Washington Times
Stop the money presses!
Leading up to Janet Yellen’s Jan. 6 confirmation vote, the Federal Reserve recently announced that it will taper back its bond-buying program, known as quantitative…
Daily Caller
The Volcker Rule is Obamacare for main street banks and their customers
You might think after the disastrous debut of HealthCare.gov and thousands of insurance cancellations, those who call themselves progressives might just have a little humility…
Forbes
Fed Readies Reverse Repo Hoping To Soak Up QE Cash
Everyone, it seems, loves asset inflation. What could be more satisfying than watching the value of your home, your stocks, and your 401(k) soar, especially…
News Release
Volcker Rule Could Cause Financial Storm, Warn CEI Scholars
Washington, DC, Dec. 11, 2013 – Amid the snow that seemed to paralyze DC yesterday, bureaucrats issued a final regulation on Dodd-Frank’s Volcker Rule that…
McClatchy DC
Regulatory bullying? You bet your life
If companies failed in insurance pursuits, many people would suffer, but the financial system would not be affected in a major way. It is additionally…
Forbes
The American/US Airways Case Highlights The Absurdity Of Antitrust Regulation
“If the airlines have a history of anti-competitive behavior, they are the least able practitioners of the art in the history of mankind.” This was…
News Release
Government “Study” on Internet Tax Hides Harmful Small Business Effects
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 – Under presidents of both parties, the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy has produced top-notch independent studies on the harm the…
The American Spectator
The Unintended Consequences Of Credit Card Regulation
When you try to regulate things, you’re really regulating people. If there’s one crucial lesson to keep in mind about regulation, this is it. And…
Forbes
Janet Yellen To Too-Big-To-Fail Banks: Party On!
The king is dead; long live the king. As America’s great money printer prepares to hand over the reins to a presumptive successor determined to…
NC Register
Obamacare Threatens to Hit Many Families’ Pocketbooks
Letters
Coalition Letter on Extension for Pay Ratio
Full Document Available in PDF The undersigned organizations, institutions, and nonprofits interested in fostering entrepreneurship represent hundreds of thousands of businesses, small…
Providence Journal
Labyrinthine law threatens our life insurance now
Dodd-Frank, the law more properly known as the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was intended to stabilize the financial system and end…
Letters
Open Letter to House and Senate Republican Leadership: Preserve the Sequester
CEI has joined a coalition urging Congress to maintain the spending restraint established by the Budget Control Act of 2011(BCA). The BCA established limits on…
News Release
Questions for Yellen
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 – It’s not every day we get a new chair of the Fed. It is a time to check the fundamental bearings…
Study
Questions for Federal Reserve Nominee Janet Yellen
Full Document Available in PDF Janet Yellen is President Obama’s choice to succeed Ben Bernanke as the Federal Reserve Chair. Yellen is…
Providence Journal
How to Fix Too Big to Fail
As the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out in its constitutional challenge to Dodd-Frank, Title I of the law gives the FSOC the ability to…
Forbes
The International Monetary Fund Lays The Groundwork For Global Wealth Confiscation
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly dropped a bomb in its October Fiscal Monitor Report. Titled “Taxing Times,” the report paints a dire picture for…
Human Events
How the Shutdown Can Inform the Debt Ceiling Debate
Co-authored by George Landrith. It’s all-shutdown-all-the-time in Washington these days. But all that talk has obscured the far bigger challenge facing the nation next week,…
Daily Caller
‘Why now?’ Fitch’s downgrade threat raises questions
“My question is ‘Why now?’” John Berlau, an economist at the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I just have…
News Release
Ten Questions for Janet Yellen
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 – Janet Yellen is President Obama’s choice to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chair. She has extensive experience with the Federal…
News Release
Yellen Pick Shows Left Unconcerned With Value of The Dollar, CEI Analysts Say
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 – Janet Yellen, now vice-chair of the Federal Reserve, has been selected by President Obama to lead the Fed. She is said…
Washington Examiner
Obama White House closing private businesses to add pain to government shutdown
Obama administration officials are using the government shutdown as an excuse to shut down privately-run tourist attractions, even though doing so costs the government far…
News Release
Twitter – and Investors – Gain from JOBS Act Regulatory Relief
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 – In its much-anticipated initial public offering filing released Thursday night, Twitter unveiled a company with some room for growth – much…
Washington Examiner
Government Shutdown, Italian Style
Misery loves company, goes the old saying. And in the face of government shutdown, America is not entirely alone. Head to Italy and the average…
Blog
Obamacare Quadruples Rates for Some, Subsidizes Some Wealthy Who Retired Early
Due to Obamacare, North Carolina "will see individual-market" health insurance rates "triple for women, and quadruple for men." In Tennessee, Obamacare will…
Washington Examiner
Lessons from Italy: What happens when businesses are forced to move abroad
Co-written by Emilio Rocca THE 42 employees of Firem, an Italian heating systems maker, returned from their August holidays to find the plant where they…
CNS News
Obamacare Provides $7,200 ‘Divorce Incentive,’ $11,000 for Older Couples
In the Obamacare health insurance exchanges, being married can cost you a lot. Get divorced (or avoid getting married, if you live together), and you…
News Release
Consumer Bureau Gets an F in Transparency
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 26, 2013 — As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) defends its right to monitor ordinary citizens’ credit card transactions, it is…
Daily Caller
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused of violating transparency law
“Just about every time they’re convening, it has to be open to the public . . . and when it’s not open to the public…
Human Events
Stand with Rand on Credit Union Freedom
This week, the nation’s credit unions, member-owned financial services groups, are taking their case to Capitol Hill. On many issues they face, conservatives and libertarians…
Blog
MoveOn admits: “[I]f younger, healthier people don’t participate, then costs will skyrocket and Obamacare will fail.”
MoveOn.org yesterday sent me an appeal asking for $5 to help fund a $250,000 social media campaign supporting ObamaCare targeted to reach young adults. Here’s…
Credit Union Times
Flawed Durbin Ruling Boosts Fed’s Odds:
Since U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued his shocking decision on July 31 that called for even more draconian price controls under…
Real Clear Markets
Federal Judge Rules Food Stamp Recipients Can Unionize
In a surprise ruling, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circus Court of Appeals issued a unanimous opinion supporting the right of Supplemental Nutrition…
Investor's Business Daily
US Air, AMR Vow To Fight DOJ Lawsuit To Block Merger
"This administration's Department of Justice has a different posture than past DOJs, which had a more conservative approach to antitrust measures," said Marc Scribner, transportation…
Forbes
Caveat Emptor Banking: Peer-To-Peer Lending Challenges Too-Big-To-Fail Status Quo
Imagine a financial institution that the government cannot deem too big to fail, requires no deposit insurance, can never be subject to a run, needs…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Government moves to block airline merger, warns of higher fares, fees
But the open-market-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute called the Department of Justice action “deeply misguided.” “On the heels of the successful Delta-Northwest and United-Continental mergers,…
Forbes
Caveat Emptor Banking: Peer-To-Peer Lending Challenges Too-Big-To-Fail Status Quo
Imagine a financial institution that the government cannot deem too big to fail, requires no deposit insurance, can never be subject to a run, needs…
Legal Brief
District Court grant of motion to dismiss
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by CEI, 11 state attorneys general, and the State National Bank of Big Spring challenging the…
News Release
Adverse District Court Opinion on Dodd-Frank Deeply Flawed, Case Now on Appeal
Washington, D.C., August 2, 2013 – A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by CEI, 11 state attorneys general, and the State National…
News Release
Dodd-Frank Ruling Goes Wrong Way
Washington, D.C., July 31, 2013 – Today, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon struck down debit card price controls in the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul as not…
Politico
Summers nomination fear: Market jitters – Has the economy already peaked? – Democrats blur line on tax policy
WSJ’s op-ed by Competitive Enterprise Institute’s John Berlau and Kyle Tassinari: “Here's some good financial news for millions of Americans: The provision in Dodd-Frank that imposed a…
Free Beacon
Harry Reid May Invoke Nuclear Option to Achieve Confirmation of Mel Watt
“Mel Watt’s career has been all about granting government goodies to big banks as well as his favored liberal constituencies,” said John Berlau, senior fellow…
CBN
Detroit Officials Defend Bankruptcy Decision
Is the bankruptcy filing a good thing for Detroit? Bill Frezza, a Boston based venture capitalist and fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, talks about…
Wall Street Journal
In Praise of Banking at Big-Box Stores
Cowritten by Research Associate Kyle Tassinari Here's some good financial news for millions of Americans: The provision in Dodd-Frank that imposed a three-year moratorium on…
Huffington Post
Want to Revive Glass-Steagall? Try This Wall of Separation Instead
A debate is raging on the left, the right, and even in libertarian circles on the best way to escape from the Too-Big-To-Fail quagmire. These…
New Britain Herald
BUSINESS SCENE: Dodd-Frank bill not living up to expectaions
Others aren’t so sure. John Berlau, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said if the president wants to focus on the “north star” of…
News Release
CEI Challenges Cordray to Live Up to His Recess Appointment Claims
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 17, 2013 — Richard Cordray has been approved as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), 19 months after he was…
Newsmax
Free Speech Trumps SEC Advertising Ban
Wednesday was finally the day that the Securities and Exchange Commission — one year and three months after it was instructed to do so by…
News Release
CEI’s Berlau: “It’s About Time” SEC Permits Free Speech for Hedge Funds, VCs, and Entrepreneurs
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 10, 2013 — It took a year and three months after the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was signed into law,…
Newsmax
In Europe Cutting Taxes and Spending Leads to the Best Results
Matthew Melchiorre, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Warren Brookes Journalism Fellow, has written a report on so-called austerity in Europe showing that many…
Daily Caller
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau compared to NSA
“The CFPB is demanding mounds and mounds of data during the examination process of financial institutions, basically making the implicit threat that they either give…
Forbes
Coming Soon: A Dramatic Downshift In Company Size, Plus Hours Worked
The regulatory state never sleeps, relentlessly working day and night to tilt the economic playing field in favor of the politically connected. The regulations it…
Forbes
Coming Soon: A Dramatic Downshift In Company Size, Plus Hours Worked
A recent study on the impact on business growth of regulatory thresholds built into Italian labor laws is quite instructive of how this works. In…
National Review
Dodd-Frank’s Early Returns
‘Admit it . . . you haven’t read it all either.” Thus said a New York Times op-ed (by Bono, of all people) about…
Investor's Business Daily
Online ‘Fairness’ Tax Could Hit Your 401(k)
Financial transaction tax proposals have prompted much debate over the past year, both in the U.S. and internationally. In February, the European Union proposed allowing…
Forbes
The IRS Fiasco Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg
You certainly hear some amazing things in congressional testimony. Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS unit that determines whether organizations receive tax-exempt status, claimed…
Blog
Anti-Business and Anti-Freedom: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
In the American Spectator, CEI Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray and Geoffrey McLatchey explain why the Senate should be skeptical of the United Nations Convention…
Forbes
More mischief
Now comes word that the Environmental Protection Agency has been abusing the Freedom of Information Act. Agencies can charge FOIA request makers for the…
Forbes
Self Help Africa: Why Only Profits Can Cure Poverty
The importance of profiting from one’s efforts ought to be an easy concept to embrace. It is why humans no longer live in caves. If…
News Release
Udall-Paul Legislation Spreads Freedom for Credit Unions and Entrepreneurs
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 21, 2013 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based free market think tank, commends legislation introduced by Sens. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and…
New York Times
This Week in Small Business: Small Data
Adam Liptak says this has been the most business-friendly Supreme Court since World War II. The Senate approves an online sales tax bill,…
Forbes
How The Federal Reserve Became History’s Biggest Bad Bank
Every time a plane crashes, a team of engineers and aviation experts jump into action, methodically reconstructing the event to determine the cause—whether mechanical failure,…
The American Spectator
Financial Experts: Dodd-Frank Exacerbates Instability
These were the standout insights from a panel discussion hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) on April 11. The gathering focused on the Financial…
The American Spectator
Let’s Lose LOST
When Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech at the Ross Sea Conservation Reception on March 19, he suggested that we should have called…
News Release
Main Street Wins As Dodd-Frank Rules Eased
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 20, 2013 — Today, members of the House Agriculture Committee advanced seven bipartisan bills that would ease derivative rules of the…
Forbes
How To Protect Your Retirement Assets From The Coming Crash
As a chronic prognosticator of doom, I’m often asked, “Do you heed your own warnings?” I sure didn’t the last time the stock market crashed.
Watchdog
Dodd-Frank regulatory flaws stir passion at CPAC
But that’s a point of concern to John Berlau, a financial analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, because this could be taken to mean that…
Blog
Dallas Fed’s Fisher And CPAC’s Fishy Too-Big-To-Fail Event
If the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) organizers wanted a speaker or panel on the causes of the financial crisis and what to do about…
New York Times
Letter to the Editor: JOBS Act Successes
Steven Rattner asserts that “the JOBS Act has little to do with employment” (“A Sneaky Way to Deregulate,” Op-Ed, March 4), but the data…
Wall Street Journal
He’s Still a Player
Many musicians have gotten their start in garages and, in the tech era, so have many entrepreneurs. But Herb Alpert has the rare distinction of…
Free Beacon
The Rural Housing Bubble
John Berlau, senior fellow for finance and access to capital at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, agreed. “The government subsidize[s] risky home loans that the private…
Legal Brief
Dodd-Frank State Plaintiffs Opposition to Motion to Dismiss
Eleven states and two private plaintiffs are challenging the constitutionality of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This is the states’ response…
Legal Brief
Dodd-Frank Private Plaintiffs Opposition to Motion to Dismiss
Eleven states and two private plaintiffs are challenging the constitutionality of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This is the private plaintiffs’…
The American Spectator
At Minimum, a Big Loser
President Obama brought the minimum wage debate back into the news in a big way in his State of the Union address, when he proposed…
PJ Media
Here’s to Austerity: Last Day Until Sequestration
Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute wrote on February 25 that these cuts are good. The Cato Institute describes why most of these cuts…
Forbes
Sequester This! President Obama’s Colossal Media Blunder
President Obama has gone all-in trying to get Republicans to blink and serve up another round of tax increases in lieu of the looming spending…
National Review
A Genuine Conservative Opinion Editor at the Times
No, not the New York Times. That could happen today only under the most bizarre of circumstances. It’s the Times of London, the Thunderer herself,…
National Review
Countdown to Sequester
The hysteria of President Obama, liberals in Congress, and the media over very small cuts in federal spending from…
Free Beacon
Fannie Motors
“It’s becoming Fannie Motors,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute finance scholar John Berlau, referring to the government-backed housing lender Fannie Mae. “They’re still using our tax…
Free Beacon
A Different Standard
Hans Bader, senior attorney and counsel for special projects at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which filed a brief in the St. Paul case, said…
Free Beacon
Eight States Join Challenge of Law That Regulates Financial Industry
The move comes more than four months after three other AGs joined the suit, which was originally filed in June by the State National Bank…
Free Beacon
Georgia joins lawsuit challenging Dodd-Frank
In addition to the community bank, original plaintiffs include the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the 60 Plus Association. Attorneys General from Michigan, Oklahoma, and South…
Legal Brief
Dodd-Frank Second Amended Complaint
News Release
Eight More States Join Constitutional Challenge to Dodd-Frank Act
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 13, 2013 – In an attempt to protect their pension funds, taxpayers and financial stability, the states of Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Montana,…
Free Beacon
Left-Wing Groups Shape Dodd Frank
“That these anti-capitalist agendas are influencing the CFPB is especially troubling, because the CFPB lacks any form of accountability to American voters through Congress,” John…
Letters
Letter to Congress on Nomination of Richard Cordray to the CFPB
CEI and the 60 Plus Association sent a letter urging Congress to take time to consider the re-nomination of Richard Cordray to the CFPB, in…
Free Beacon
Behind the Consumer Confidence Crash
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the 60 Plus Association are writing Congress “asking the Senate withhold the confirmation of [CFPB director nominee Richard] Cordray until…
Free Beacon
Groups ask Senate to withhold Cordray’s confirmation as CFPB director
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, along with a seniors advocacy group, has sent a letter to Congress asking the Senate to withhold Richard Cordray’s confirmation as…
Free Beacon
Value Destroyers Like Bernanke Fancy Themselves Magician Economists
Economics is not magic. Yet today, many prominent economists insist on pulling off an economic rabbit hat trick when they propose getting something for nothing.
Free Beacon
Plaintiffs from CFPB Suit Urge Cordray Confirmation Delay
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the 60 Plus Association are urging the Senate to delay confirmation of Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection…
News Release
Spending Cuts Caused Economy to Contract? How About Regulatory Cliff
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2013 — Today, the government reported the stunning news the U.S. economy actually contracted by .1 percent in the fourth quarter…