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
SEC seeks end to quarterly reporting mandate: CEI analysis
The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed to end mandatory quarterly reporting for public companies and switch to semiannual reporting. “The SEC has made…
Blog
CEI leads coalition supporting OCC preemption of Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act
CEI today sent a letter to Jonathan Gould, the Comptroller of the Currency, cosigned by 22 other free market groups, supporting his office’s efforts…
Blog
The limits of balance sheet runoff at the Fed
At his confirmation hearing last week, Kevin Warsh called for a smaller Federal Reserve balance sheet. This statement revives debate over how the Fed…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
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,”…
Study
Stealing You Blind
Remember when we used to call government employees “public servants”? They’re servants no more—now they’re bureaucratic masters of the universe, claiming inflated salaries and early…
Citation
Dodd-Frank Side Effect: Devastation of Congo.
Townhall
The War on Lemonade
America is a country founded on entrepreneurship and free enterprise. That’s why one of its most enduring childhood traditions is the lemonade stand. It teaches…
Blog
Obamacare Costs Additional $50 Billion a Year More Than Predicted, Based on Yet Another False Assumption in Calculating its Costs
“Federal payments required by President Barack Obama’s health care law are being understated by as much as $50 billion per year because official budget forecasts…
Townhall
The S&P Downgrade Last Friday Night vs. Katy Perry
[F]airly interpreted, “Say’s law of markets” survives as the most fundamental “economic law” in all economic theory. It enunciates the principle that “demands in general”…
Townhall
Down on the Downgrade?
The downgrade itself was fair. However, S&P’s timing and “partisan gridlock” rationale were questionable, as is its implicit advocacy of higher taxes. Nothing really…
Study
Michigan’s Insurance Industry: New Directions
Full Document Available in PDF With the coming of the administration of Republican Governor John Engler in 1991, Michigan’s…
Townhall
The Growth Agenda and Its Enemies
Even President Obama now seems to realize that rescuing America from its financial crisis requires getting Americans back to work. What he doesn’t seem to…
Townhall
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…
Townhall
Women in the Boardroom
SIR – From an American legal perspective, laws that mandate quotas for women on corporate boards in some European countries seem utterly bizarre (“The…
Wall Street Journal
Notable & Quotable
National Review
When Obama Hands You Lemons…
Washington Examiner
Morning Examiner: Democrats Shut Down FAA Over Morgantown Air Pork
Washington Examiner
Unlawful to Favor Women-Owned Businesses
“Men need not apply” (Commentary, Wednesday) was right to criticize the federal government’s award of contracts based on sex in the Women-Owned Small Business…
Letters
Letter to Assistant AG on Microsoft Settlement
The staff of the Antitrust Division has designated a limited set of comments on the proposed settlement as “major.” It plans to engage in special…
Washington Examiner
Bad Foundation
Most attempts at financial reform have been burdensome, created unintended consequences and have been harmful to economic growth. But compared to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street…
Citation
CEI Blasts CARE Act
National Center for Policy Analysis
Special Interest at Heart of CARE Act
Blog
More Confusion on Breast Cancer Screening
When the federal government's Preventive Services Task Force recommended in November 2009 that most women under age 50 should stop having regular…
National Center for Policy Analysis
Easter Egg in Dodd-Frank
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 Center for Policy Analysis
Dodd-Frank’s Fannie Trap
One year ago today, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Despite the “Wall Street” moniker, the tentacles of Dodd-Frank’s…
National Center for Policy Analysis
One Year Later: Frank-Dodd “Reform” Leaves Fannie and Freddie Intact
Daily Caller
Competitors: Stop That Merger!
AT&T and T-Mobile would like to merge. The $39 billion deal would make them the largest mobile phone service provider in the country. Not everyone…
Economic Times of India
Will Rivals Do to Google What Facebook Did to MySpace?
Economic Times of India
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.
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Government to Google: All Search Results Must Appear First
According to legend, when Winston Churchill and his lifelong foe Clement Attlee ran into each other at a row of urinals in the House of…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Protestors Disapprove of Immelt’s Keynote Speech on Creating Jobs
Bellingham (WA) Herald
The Cost Of Government Regulation
“You, there: stop complaining and start hiring!” That is essentially the Obama administration’s message to businesses. This is an administration that seems to believe that…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Is the Stimulus Creating Jobs, or Killing Them?
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…
Mercury News
Why Google probe should worry consumers
Is Google too big? Some government officials in Washington, D.C., certainly seem to think so. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission launched a formal…
Ecomerce Times
1plusV Lobs Another Antitrust Grenade at Google
PC Magazine
Google Confirms FTC Investigation; Will States Launch Inquiries, Too?
Daily Caller
Regulators Should Regulate Economy, Not Intervene In It
Just as surely as summer is followed by autumn, it seems that these days every proposed corporate merger is followed by antitrust complaints —…
Daily Caller
Obama Urges Use of Foreign Capital Boost
Daily Caller
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…
Daily Caller
Bachmann and the ‘20,000 Millionaires’ Myth
“Michele Bachmann would knock 20,000 millionaires off tax rolls.” So reads the glaring headline on a blog post by Howard Gleckman of the…
Daily Caller
Overdrawn at the Ideas ATM
President Obama recently blamed today’s high unemployment on… automation. Yes, you heard at right. He singled out automatic teller machines (ATMs), which he…
Knowledge Problem
Distortionary Effects of Three-Tier Liquor Regulation, Wisconsin Edition
Knowledge Problem
The Exceptional Children Of Skilled Immigrants
Much of the debate over increasing legal immigration and work visas, such as the H-1B visa for highly skilled workers, has centered on the…
Comment
CEI Submits Comments on the AT&T — T-Mobile Merger Before the Federal Communications Commission
Full Docmument Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute submits this reply comment regarding the…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Set free our risktakers
The Pittsburg Post-Gazette references Wayne Crews's article on the cost of federal regulations. Businesses must spend more than $1.75 trillion each year to…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Bailout a bust?
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
What the Boeing Company Teaches about Right to Work
Boeing celebrated the completion of its final assembly plant for the Dreamliner 787 aircraft in North Charleston, South Carolina, today. Boeing’s $1-billion investment…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
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…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
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…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
To Stimulate Economy, End Predatory Abuse Of Antitrust
Among numerous steps needed to stimulate a double-dipping economy, one is to make antitrust not pay anymore. AT&T’s $39 billion merger with T-Mobile (a…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Nobody for Commerce Secretary
In choosing John Bryson as his nominee to be the next U.S. secretary of commerce, President Obama has chosen a perfect representative of our new…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
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…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Watchdog questions GM bailout repayment
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
The Plan to Spin the Car Bailout as a Positive for Obama
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…
Legal Brief
CEI’s FOIA to Treasury on Auto Bailout
Full Response Available in PDF Documents released by the U.S. Treasury Department indicate that General Motors and the Obama Administration coordinated PR…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Obama Admin. Knew GM Lied About Paying Back Taxpayers
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Barack Obama, Democrats Call the Auto Bailouts A Success, But Did They Work?
News Release
Delayed Release of Auto Bailout Documents by Treasury Dept. Reveals Cozy PR Relationship
Washington, DC, June 2, 2011 – Documents released last week by the U.S. Treasury Department indicate that General Motors and the Obama administration coordinated their…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
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…
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Washington Declares War on Debit Cards
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
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…
Legal Brief
Brief Amici Curiae of Minnesota Legislators and North Carolina Legislative Leaders in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants
Full Document Available in PDF Court below correctly found that the ACA…
Investor's Business Daily
The Washington Post’s Junky Rant Against Princess Catherine’s Entrepreneurial Family
On the eve of the royal wedding, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed I wrote celebrating the entrepreneurship of Kate Middleton’s parents and…
News Release
House Subcommittee Addresses High Costs of Regulations
Washington, D.C. May 3, 2011 – Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law will hold a hearing on “Cost-Justifying…
Investor's Business Daily
Princess Entreprenuer
Ecomerce Times
Microsoft Antitrust Oversight Ends With a Whimper
Ecomerce Times
The Entrepreneurs’ Princess
From across the pond, I have watched with interest the debate and speculation on the significance of Prince William’s wedding to longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton.
Ecomerce Times
The Startup Royal-to-Be
Ecomerce Times
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…
Ecomerce Times
Liberals Attack Paul Ryan Because He Received Benefits When His Father Died Young
Ecomerce Times
Internet, job training no place for government
Ecomerce Times
Impending price controls to hurt consumers, say groups
Ecomerce Times
Dodd-Frank Durbin Amendment Shifts Costs to Consumers
In my last column, I blasted 17 Republican senators who voted last year for Dodd-Frank’s Durbin Amendment, which puts below-cost price controls on what credit…
Ecomerce Times
Fee Change Won’t Help Consumers, Banks (Letter to the Editor)
The editorial “Side-swiped” (March 24) defends U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s amendment that put price controls on what banks and credit unions can charge retailers for…
Ecomerce Times
Republican Back Price Controls
Blog
Bidding Bon Voyage to Nationalized Wind Insurance
According to several Gulf Coast legislators, the idea of adding wind insurance to the National Flood Insurance Program is not going to happen anytime soon.
Daily Caller
Tsunamis are not Stimulus
There is nothing good about a natural disaster. The tsunami that hit Japan today is an unmitigated tragedy. Still, there is a certain optimism…
Letters
Coalition Letter Against Mandatory Implementation of E-Verify
Full Document Available in PDF We, the undersigned free-market advocacy groups and public interest organizations, write to share our concerns…
Daily Caller
Federal Government Pushes Massive Mortgage Bailout; Would Rip off Pension Funds, Bank Shareholders
Back before the election, intellectuals with ties to the Obama Administration proposed a trillion-dollar bailout for some (but not all) underwater mortgage borrowers, as a way…
Daily Caller
Minnesota leads charge against Durbin amendment on debit card fees in Dodd-Frank bill
Daily Caller
Are Obamacare’s health-insurance exchange requirements unconstitutional?
Usually, Congress can’t order state governments to do anything – it can only bribe them to do so, using federal grants. If it tries to…
Daily Caller
Redefining ‘fiduciary’ could mean higher costs for 401(k)s, IRAs, experts say
Comment
CEI Led Regulatory Comment on Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing
VIA E-MAIL TRANSMISSION [email protected] February 22, 2011 Ms. Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 20th Street and Constitution Avenue,…
Daily Caller
George Washington Was a Brilliant Entrepreneur
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…
Daily Caller
Tobacco Tax Hike was a Backroom Deal
Every year, a massive transfer of wealth occurs across the country, between states and from smokers to state governments and wealthy trial lawyers, thanks to…
Daily Caller
Dick Durbin Is Stealing Your Free Checking!
In the battle against Obamacare, the first chinks in the law’s armor were resolutions against the law by state legislatures. These resolutions led to court…
Daily Caller
Regulatory reform an issue of accountability
Daily Caller
Beware of Glass-Steagall
When freshman congressman and former lieutenant colonel Allen West was chosen to give the coveted keynote speech to close the Conservative Political Action Conference,…
Letters
Coalition for Competitive Insurance Rates coalition letter on Obama’s FY 2012 Budget
Full Document Available in PDF We are writing to express our concern about a proposal within…
News Release
Obama Budget Fails On Regulatory Reform
Washington, D.C., February 14, 2011 — President Barack Obama has submitted a $3.73 trillion spending budget blueprint for fiscal 2012, blowing well past President George…
Daily Caller
Obama’s Nanny-State Control of Business Will Crimp Growth
At 11:30 on Monday, in a much-anticipated speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Obama used analogies from the Super Bowl to urge American…
Daily Caller
Freddie, Fannie May Be Finished, But What Comes Next?
Investors' Business Daily
Regulation Without Representation
Regulatory agencies enact more than 3,500 new regulations in an average year. A new federal rule hits the books roughly every two hours, 24…
Blog
The GOP and the Health Insurance Mandate
With the health insurance individual purchase mandate looking more vulnerable than ever, Democrats are trying desperately to get some mileage out…
Investors' Business Daily
