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
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…
Blog
Why can’t we just print more money?
Last week, I attended an event at a think tank where the conversation centered on the federal budget and national debt. At one…
Blog
Buy Now, Pay Later doesn’t mean pay more, owe more, and panic more
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) has become a familiar way to pay for everything from discretionary purchases to everyday expenses. BNPL lets consumers divide…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Forget Jamie Dimon — Congress needs to look in the mirror
“Jamie Dimon gets kid-glove treatment from Senators,” the front-page headline in Politico screamed after the JPMorgan Chase CEO testified and was questioned by the Senate…
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…
Newsmax
H.R. 1909 Lifts Barriers to Small Loans
Last Friday’s dismal jobs number renewed the call for Congress to find common ground and “do something.” Unfortunately, the “something” that the punditocracy usually calls…
News Release
Center-Right Groups Oppose Price Controls on Retailers and Banks
Washington, D.C., June 11, 2012 – Two years after many retail associations lobbied successfully for price controls on the banks that process their debit…
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…
Newsmax
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…
Newsmax
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…
Newsmax
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…
Newsmax
Forget France, the Greek Elections Are the Beginning of the End for Europe
While much of the world’s attention was concentrated on France’s presidential election last Sunday, the real action was in Greece. French President-elect François Hollande may…
Newsmax
Refinery Not a Well
From Chris Woodward’s article on OneNewsNow: John Berlau, senior fellow for finance and access to capital for the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) Center…
Newsmax
Lending Cap Is Unfair to Small Business
The recent viral video sensation “If I Wanted America to Fail” confirms that the regulatory state is a major focal point for the center-right…
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…
Newsmax
The European Central Bank vs. Reality
The four-year charade of central bank bailouts is starting to come undone. Reacting to rising European bond yields in a Saturday meeting with world leaders,…
Newsmax
Super Mario Talks a Good Game But Italy’s Entrepreneurs Have Lost Out
ITALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti recently proclaimed “historic” labour reform and even declared the “financial aspect” of the crisis to be over. But don’t pop…
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…
Newsmax
Supply-Side Critics Offer Only Trickle-Down Inflation
Economics is not called the dismal science for nothing. Many professional economists go to great lengths to obscure simple truths inconvenient to their political masters.
Newsmax
Turning Away From the Dollar
European debt problems have kept financial markets on edge during much of the last two years, but it is the debt problem in the United…
Newsmax
AM Briefing
From The Washington Post‘s ThinkTanked: Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Matt Patterson: PETA vs. people … and animals. (Washington Examiner)…
Newsmax
AM Briefing
From The Washington Post‘s ThinkTanked: Competitive Enterprise Institute’s John Berlau: A breather from regulations. (National Review)…
Newsmax
A Breather From Regulations
‘It’s so meager,” proclaimed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on March 9, the day after the House passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS)…
Newsmax
Entrepreneurs Win Half a Loaf With the JOBS Act
From Tim Carney’s column in The Washington Examiner: Crowdfunding is a way of financing a business venture without a financial intermediary or a…
Newsmax
How Senate Dems and Scott Brown Failed ‘Maxine Waters’ Test
Attention Senators! Test results are in. Time to announce who passed and failed “the Maxine Waters test of political moderation.” As I reported last week,…
Daily Caller
No to Broccoli Mandate, Yes to Health Insurance Mandate?
The results of a Reason-Rupe poll that was released on Monday are more interesting than the pollsters may have intended. Two of the questions they…
Daily Caller
The Hidden Flaw in the Bipartisan JOBS Act
From Michelle Hirsch’s article in The Fiscal Times: The bill has members of the business community cheering, calling it a first step in…
Forbes
Ma Bell’s Long Legacy of Unsustainable Pensions Is Alive and Well
“Communism,” comedian Lenny Bruce once quipped, “is like one big phone company.” This dated joke refers to the monolithic phone company known as “Ma Bell,”…
Forbes
Goldman Sachs and the Free Market
John Berlau on Goldman Sachs and the Free Market…
Forbes
Crowdfunding Legislation Both Panned and Praised
From Investor’s Business Daily and Yahoo! Finance: Business observers say there is growing and widespread enthusiasm in the U.S. to provide greater support…
Forbes
HHS Deems Rate Hikes Excessive in Nine States
From Michael P. Tremoglie’s article on Legal Newsline: But the issue of the government telling insurers how much premiums should be is a…
Forbes
The Export-Import Bank Should Be an Ex-Bank
Among the nation’s failing financial institutions the Export-Import Bank has received little notice. Now, however, the House and Senate are considering whether to reauthorize the…
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…
Forbes
Two Budget Proposals Demonstrate the Depth of the Political Divide in the U.S.
This morning, House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan (R.-WI) unveiled his budget proposal, which took aim at the culture of debt financing that most analysts…
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…
Forbes
The JOBS Act and the Maxine Waters Test
Call it the Maxine Waters test of political moderation. Late last week, this test was failed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Majority…
Forbes
The Real Reasons You Should Shun Goldman Sachs
By now, Greg Smith’s resignation letter heard around the worldwide Web has moved through its arc of infamy-passing from titillating revelation to corporate damage control…
Forbes
Can California’s Economic Self-Immolation Be Exported?
What is it about California that make its elected leaders work so hard to earn their place in the dunce’s corner alongside Greece? With all…
Forbes
Come, Sweet Debt: Civilizational Reset on the Horizon
From the presidential inaugurations of George Washington to George W. Bush, our federal government accrued a debt of more than $5 trillion. Thanks to the…
Forbes
U.S. Chamber Pushes Regulators for Hearing on Nonbanks
From Donna Barok’s article in American Banker: The American Council of Life Insurers, Business Roundtable, and Competitive Enterprise Institute, among others, made the…
Forbes
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…
Forbes
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…
Forbes
Recounting George Washington’s Brilliant Entrepreneurship
February is an important month in the history of American commerce. In this month is the birthday of one of the country’s earliest business innovators…
Forbes
How the Dodd-Frank Act Harms the U.S. Energy Industry
From Pete Sepp’s op-ed in U.S. News & World Report:…
Forbes
The STOCK ACT and the SEC
Needless to say, it is a minority opinion that current insider-trading laws reach government information, or else there wouldn’t have been this much of a…
News Release
Where Are the Jobs? House Seeks Answers in Wednesday Hearing Featuring CEI’s John Berlau
Washington, DC, February 15, 2012 – With unemployment still stubbornly high and the economy still in tenuous shape, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and…
Comment
Testimony on Jobs Before House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade
Full Document Available in PDF Chairwoman Bono Mack, Ranking Member Butterfield, and members of thissubcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present…
Forbes
Orwellian Doublespeak Dominates Economic Policy
While taking in my morning helping of news and commentary, I was struck by a certain similarity in every article touching on economic policy. It…
Forbes
The Price of Fairness
President Obama is big on fairness. “Fair” or some variant thereof was mentioned eight times in his State of the Union speech, more than “health…
Forbes
Study Saul Alinsky to Understand Barack Obama
There is a vast and perplexing dichotomy between President Obama’s rhetoric — peppered as it is with vows of ethical purity and moral rectitude —…
Forbes
Why Can’t Mainstream Media Connect the Economic Dots?
Politicians and journalists sure seem to believe that voters have the attention span and reasoning ability of a two-year old. Convinced that we are unable…
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…
Forbes
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…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Obama, Romney and Taxes
Las Vegas Review Journal
Romney and the Burden of Double Taxation
When Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, as he is expected to do on Tuesday, thousands of green eyeshades will pore over every line. One…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Columnist Wants Consumer Bureau to Be “Big Brother”
“Big Brother.” When commentators use that phrase to describe a government agency, it is most often not meant as a compliment. Rather, it is wielded…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Will Recess Appointment Handcuff Consumer Cop?
Daily Caller
Obama Reorganizes Government, Adds Inefficiencies, Expands Economic Footprint
Daily Caller
Avoiding a Lost Decade
Remember Japan’s “lost decade” of the 1990s? For the United States, 2011 was the “lost year.” Congress and President Obama are engaged…
Daily Caller
Obama’s Cordray Play Won’t Advance CFPB
News Release
Obama’s Recess Appointment of Cordray Eschews Constitutional Process
Washington, D.C., January 4, 2012 — Today, the White House confirmed that President Obama is using a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray the…
Daily Caller
Letter to the Editor: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Financial Crisis
I found Joe Nocera’s attempt to minimize the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the financial crisis unconvincing (“The Big Lie,” column,…
Blog
Obamacare Stifles Job Creation, Causes Layoffs
At Bloomberg News, Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., explains how the 2010 healthcare law is preventing jobs from being created and resulting…
Daily Caller
SEC Charges Against Former Fannie and Freddie Execs
Daily Caller
Create Wealth, Not Jobs
Spending on construction and infrastructure jobs is a perennial favorite of government stimulus boosters. “There’s no reason for Republicans in Congress to stand in…
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
News Release
Barney Frank’s Committee to Rebuke Dodd-Frank’s Derivative Rules
Washington, D.C., November 30, 2011 — This afternoon, the House Committee on Financial Services, formerly chaired by retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), is set to…
Tech News World
Europe Weary of Apple, Samsung Patent War
Tech News World
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”…
Tech News World
Obamacare Sequesters Your Flex Account
Attention Joe and Jane Citizen! Concerned about the fiscal future of your country and your family? Then please step away for five minutes from the…
Tech News World
Obamateurism of the Day
Tech News World
What’s Trickling Down Are Lies
Ecomerce Times
Gates Tells Jury Microsoft’s No Bully
Ecomerce Times
Bank Debit-Card Fees Under U.S. Justice Department Review
Ecomerce Times
Full Privatization of GM Cannot Come Soon Enough
Ecomerce Times
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…
Ecomerce Times
Driving a Bad Bargain on GM Bailout
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.
News Release
Fannie-Freddie Outrages: Bonuses and Subsidies for McMansions
Washington, D.C., November 16, 2011 — As the House Oversight Committee holds a hearing on the granting of nearly $13 million in bonuses for executives…
Ecomerce Times
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
News Release
Bank of America Decision Doesn’t Negate Dodd-Frank’s Consumer Costs
Washington, D.C., November 2, 2011—Think Bank of America and other banks’ decision to drop debit card fees is a victory for consumers? Not so fast,…
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…
Bernews
ABIR Lobbies Deficit “Super Committee”
Property Casualty 360
Coalition Including Insurance Groups Push for End to NFIP Subsidies
Letters
Coalition Letter on Sarbanes-Oxley
Full Document Available in PDF Now that the Senate has defeated the so-called American Jobs Bill, which…
Wall Street Journal
The Fiscal Union Delusion
Any day now, the leaders of the euro zone will present a grand plan to prevent future fiscal or financial crises from threatening the single…
Wall Street Journal
2012 Candidates Target Costly Enron-Era Law Aimed at Thwarting Accounting Fraud
Staff & Scholars
John Berlau
Senior Fellow and Director of Finance Policy
- Banking and Finance
- Deregulation
- Financial Regulation
Iain Murray
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
- Banking and Finance
- Trade and International
Steve Swedberg
Finance and Monetary Policy Analyst
- Banking and Finance
- Deregulation
- Financial Regulation