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
Blog
A tariff-funded UBI? Trump just gave progressives their blueprint
Donald Trump’s pitch for a $2,000 “tariff dividend” check to be issued sometime next year (during election season) is being marketed as a windfall…
News Release
Visa and Mastercard settlement with US merchants will cause confusion for consumers and harm community banks
Visa and Mastercard have reached a settlement in their 20-year-long legal battle with US merchants. The settlement gives merchants the ability to reject reward-based credit…
News Release
CFPB budget woes underscore fundamental problems with bureau’s set up
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may run out of money soon, according to news reports. The bureau has been controversial from the start due…
Search Posts
Citation
SEC ‘Proxy Access’ Rule Could Empower Unions, Political Activists
Op-Eds
Obama’s War on Free Checking
“Free checking as we know it is ending,” says the lead paragraph of a widely read and tweeted story from The Associated Press. Noting…
Study
Reforming Michigan’s Auto Insurance Industry
Michigan auto insurance premiums are among the highest in the nation. Rather than attempting to regulate insurance company and individual behavior, Michigan legislators would much…
Insider Online
Reforming Michigan’s Auto Insurance Industry: Some Concrete and Practical Proposals
Insider Online
The Free Checking Restoration Act of 2010
MacLeans
Burning Down the House
MacLeans discusses Iain Murray's article for the Washington Examiner on private insurance companies. That could be why the fire incident, far from discouraging…
MacLeans
The GM IPO
Blog
Obamacare Results in 47 Percent Premium Hike
Obamacare has just led to a 47 percent increase in some health insurance premium rates in Connecticut: The state’s largest insurer has been approved to…
Blog
Judge Rejects Obama Administration’s Motion to Dismiss Challenge to Obamacare
A judge in Florida has rejected the Obama administration’s motion to dismiss challenges to Obamacare brought by 20 state attorneys general and the…
MacLeans
New Obama healthcare plan relies on imaginary savings, costs $2 trillion, explodes budget deficits
MacLeans
Ms. Warren Should Take Aim at Confusing Federal Laws (Letters to the Editor)
Todd Zywicki is right to criticize President Obama for appointing a consumer-lending czar without submitting the appointment to the Senate for an up-or-down vote…
Reason
Let it Burn or Not? Fulton Fire Department Follow-up: Updated with Mangu-Ward Video!
Reason discusses Iain Murray's Washington Examiner article on insurance companies. For some counter-perspective, here is Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute writing…
Blog
If You Like Your Health Plan, You May Lose It Anyway
Another major employer, 3M, has decided to “eventually stop offering its health insurance plan to retirees, citing the federal health overhaul as a factor.”…
Blog
Obamacare May Force McDonald’s to Drop Health Coverage for Employees
Michelle Malkin points out that “McDonald’s has notified the feds that it may be forced to drop health insurance for some 30,000 workers due…
Reason
Fish Enough for All
Ron Arnold alleged yesterday that Jane Lubchenco and the bureaucrats at NOAA are killing the New England fishing industry. Averse as I am to…
Reason
SEC “Proxy Access” Rule Could Empower Unions, Political Activists and Undermine Investors
Reason
Washington Ideas Forum
Study
Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB: Narrow Separation-of-Powers Ruling Illustrates That the Supreme Court Is Not ‘‘Pro-Business’’
Full Document Available in PDF Chief Justice John Roberts has often been depicted as an advocate of narrow rulings and a judicial philosophy…
Blog
22,000 Lose Their Health Insurance Due to Obamacare
Approximately 22,000 senior citizens just lost their health plan with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, which dropped its Medicare Advantage Program due to “cuts in…
Reason
Pledge Takes On Overregulation
Though much of the commentary on the GOP’s “Pledge to America” has forcused on the areas of taxes and spending, the provision that may contain…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Congress Should Liberate to Stimulate
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features John Berlau's debate with Heather Boushey from the Center for…
Reason
No Regulation Without Representation
Having excoriated the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress — on this site and elsewhere — for falling short of principles on TARP…
Blog
Insurers Drop Children’s Health Insurance Due to Obamacare
Insurers have stopped writing children-only health insurance policies due to mandates in Obamacare that ignored basic principles of economics. So if…
Blog
Insurance Regulators Approve Increases Based on Obamacare
In Connecticut, insurance rate regulators have approved hikes in insurance premiums of up to 20 percent, agreeing with insurers that…
Reason
Galoots!
Reason
Wayne Crews on the Regulatory State
Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute discusses the regulatory state. He advocates removing regulations that cost the taxpayers too much money.
Reason
Sen. Baucus Pushes Small Business Jobs Act
Reason
CEI: Small Business Jobs & Credit Act – another ‘Big Government boondoggle’
Reason
How Regulations Accumulate as a Small Business Grows
The Senate votes this week on a small business tax-break bill which also contains controversial provisions to boost community-bank loans to small business. That is,…
Blog
Obama to Insurers: Stop Telling the Truth
During the fight for health insurance reform earlier this year, opponents of the bill (aka Obamacare) claimed that the proposal would increase the cost of…
Reason
A Real Small Business Assist
In his 45-minute lecture/speech in Cleveland last week — which mostly consisted of blaming his predecessors for the state of the economy and…
Reason
MBL featured in Spectator, Gazette over weekend
Products
Tightening Credit Hurts Small Businesses
The Sept. 1 editorial “On better terms” conceded that overall interest rates have risen on credit cards after the passage of the Credit CARD…
Reason
Credit Card Regulation: Big Government vs. Small Business
Reason
Tightening Credit Hurts Small Businesses
The Sept. 1 editorial “On better terms” conceded that overall interest rates have risen on credit cards after the passage of the Credit…
Reason
CBO Says Stimulus Will Increase Deficit (Letter to the Editor)
In his Commentary column, “The Recovery Act Worked,” Michael Cassidy wrongly denies that the $800 billion stimulus package “will make the federal deficit worse.” It…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Post-Spill Moratorium Worse than the Spill
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI’s fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday. Also included in…
Forbes
Hurricane Katrina, Houston And The Humanitarian Case Against Zoning
On a Monday morning in late August 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the…
Blog
Government Insurance: Guaranteed to Fail
Few observers were shocked when the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) asked for a nearly $20 billion bailout of its National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Forbes
Flood Plan
Forbes
John Berlau discusses the General Motors IPO
Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau discusses the General Motors IPO. Will investors have any recourse to sue?…
Newsletter
Kagan Confirmed, Ford Motor’s Finances and Critiquing Obama’s Economic Policy
The U.S. Senate confirms Elena Kagan to be the next member of the Supreme Court. President Obama announced a $250 million government loan to Ford…
Forbes
Obama Cripples Ford’s Funding, Then Subsidizes It
At the 1986 White House Conference on Small Business, President Ronald Reagan offered these famous remarks about politicians’ views on business in the 1970s. Reagan…
Forbes
Obama Subsidizes Ford After Blocking Access to Credit
Blog
Missouri Voters Overwhelmingly Reject ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate in Referendum
“Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a federal mandate to purchase health insurance, rebuking President Barack Obama’s administration and giving Republicans their first political…
Jacob Grier
Markets are for Consumers
Blog
Judge Lets Virginia Challenge ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate, Refusing to Dismiss Lawsuit
A federal judge in Virginia has allowed the state’s lawsuit challenging the federal individual health care mandate to proceed: “A judge on Monday…
Jacob Grier
Recent Developments in Fair Value Accounting
Jacob Grier
Kagan and the Agency-Exhaustion Doctrine: A Response to Media Matters
Well, who’da thunk it? George W. Bush’s Justice Department is now considered a citadel of wisdom by the legal eagles at Media Matters for America.
Jacob Grier
In Defending Kagan, Media Matters Embraces Bush Justice Department
Well, who woulda thunk it?! George W. Bush’s Justice Department is now considered a citadel of wisdom by the legal eagles at the liberal Media…
Newsletter
Online Gambling, Offshore Drilling and the Complexity of Obamacare
The House Financial Services Committee passes the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. Today the House of Representatives will vote on an energy…
Tulsa World
Credit reports used by insurance companies
Blog
Understanding the Health Care System
Check out this flow chart of what the health care system will look like once Obamacare is implemented.
Study
Who Should Pay for the Gulf Oil Spill?
Liability and Incentive Issues Raised by the Deepwater Horizon Incident…
Tulsa World
Elena Kagan’s War on Small Business
Solicitor General Kagan urged against letting a small firm challenge a regulatory agency in court. Would a Justice Kagan do the same? Now that Congress…
Newsletter
Big Labor’s Agenda, the Death of Cap and Trade and the Politics of ‘Mad Men’
Big Labor has been pushing hard to make Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren the new consumer protection czar. Besides the possibility of a lame-duck session, the…
Newsletter
Online Privacy, Food Safety and Unemployment Benefits
The Senate Commerce Committee prepares for a hearing on consumer online privacy. Environmental groups sue to compel the Food and Drug Administration to ban the…
Tulsa World
Financial Overhaul Just Another Case of Government Overreach
Blog
Hopes for Federal Property Insurance Expansion: Gone with the Wind
Insurance industry members are wiping there collective brow after a bill was pulled from the floor of the House of Representatives before a vote.
Tulsa World
Deal for Credit Firm Draws Fire for GM
Blog
The Nation’s Worst State Attorneys General
The nation’s worst state attorneys general abuse the power of their office for political ends, undermining the rule of law. In…
Blog
Richard Blumenthal Rated Second-Worst Attorney General in America
Connecticut Attorney General Dick Blumenthal has just been rated the second-worst state attorney general in America by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in its recent…
Newsletter
Cap and Trade, Financial Regulation and Toyotas and the Truth
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) mentions plans to pass a cap-and-trade bill in a post-election “lame duck” session if necessary. President Obama signs the Dodd-Frank financial…
Property and Casualty Insurance News
Administration Opposes Adding Wind To NFIP As Vote Looms
Property and Casualty Insurance News
GM Agrees to Buy Lender AmeriCredit for $3.5 Billion
Newsletter
Elena Kagan’s Nomination, Obama Signs Financial Regulation Bill and Defending the Right to Work
The Senate Judiciary Committee approves the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today President Obama will sign recently-passed financial regulation bill into…
Property and Casualty Insurance News
Obama’s Latest Monstrosity
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that President Obama will sign today should not be called “financial reform.” Instead the bill, which…
Legal News Line
Michigan, SC Permits Insurers to Factor Credit Scores
Legal News Line
Have We Really Been Stimulated
The Lansing State Journal reported last week that the federal stimulus has been working. The White House projects the spending act created or saved between…
Blog
Earthquake Hits Washington, D.C. Area; Politicians Seek to Expand Bailouts and Subsidize Earthquake Insurance
A mild earthquake hit the Washington, D.C. area this morning at around 5 a.m. It broke a jar of grapefruit marmalade that fell…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, the Gulf Oil Spill, and Privacy on Facebook
Congress passes the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill. The New York Times chronicles the economic fallout from the BP oil spill. Pundits argue that Facebook is…
Legal News Line
Financial Reform Bill: Bureaucratic Absolutism
Legal News Line
More Muscle for Big Merchants
It’s usually not that easy for big retail chains to win battles on Capitol Hill — particularly if they are trying to secure a benefit…
Legal News Line
Obama’s New Financial Regulation Bill Strangles America’s Economy with Red Tape
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that passed the Senate 60-39 on Thursday and will be signed by President Obama next week should not…
Legal News Line
Who Won Big in the Financial Bill – More Muscle for Big Merchants
It’s usually not that easy for big retail chains to win battles on Capitol Hill — particularly if they are trying to secure a benefit…
Legal News Line
Dodd-Frank is not “Financial Reform,” it’s More Big Government Lunacy
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill should not be called “financial reform.” Instead, it should be called what for what it is: pages and pages of…
News Release
Statement by John Berlau on Passage of Dodd-Frank Financial Regulation Bill
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill should not be called “financial reform.” Instead, it should be called what for what it is: pages…
Letters
Senate Should Reject Dodd-Frank
Full Document Available in PDF The so-called financial “reform” legislation, agreed to by House and Senate Democrats in Conference, and…
Letters
Double Taxation Working Group
Full Document Available in PDF We are writing to express our appreciation for your efforts to protect Americans from tax increases that…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, Immigration and Climate Legislation
The Senate prepares to vote on a financial regulation bill. A Heritage Foundation report finds that deportation of undocumented immigrants has fallen during the Obama…
News Release
Privatize American Cities? Learning Lessons from Disney’s Experiment with “Private” Government
Washington, D.C., July 14, 2010 – Would governments do a better job of governing if some were privatized? A new case study by the Competitive…
Study
Florida’s Reedy Creek Improvement District
Could private government help fix Florida's property insurance system?…
Newsletter
Banning Pets, Vampire Attacks and Consumer Credit
The City of San Francisco proposes a ban on pet sales. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received some bizarre claims, including a woman’s…
News Release
Michigan Supreme Court Decision on Insurance Rates a Win for Consumers
The Supreme Court of Michigan this week reversed an initiative of Gov. Jennifer Granholm which would have barred insurance companies from considering the credit ratings…
Legal News Line
State Needs New Leadership on Insurance Policies
It’s sometimes hard to picture your insurance company as a caped hero sweeping in to rescue you in times of crisis. Yet, that is what…
Commonwealth Foundation
I&R Makes Way for Liquor Store Privatization in WA
Newsletter
Online Gambling, Leadership in Business vs. Politics and Corporate Accounting
The State of California is working to (partially) “legalize” online gambling. Former congressman Mickey Edwards writes on the qualities of…
Commonwealth Foundation
Court Ruling ‘Another Reason to Vote no on Dodd-Frank’
Commonwealth Foundation
Oversight law survives Supreme Court Battle
Commonwealth Foundation
Supreme Court’s SOX Decision May be Non-Event for IT
Commonwealth Foundation
Is Scott Brown a Game-Changer on the Financial Bill?
A Yogi-ism for Congress: “It ain’t over until both houses of Congress vote for an identical bill and send it to the president’s desk —…
Wall Street Journal
How I (Almost) Killed Sarbox
Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court Sarbanes-Oxley Decision
Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court SOX Ruling Has IT Implications
News Release
Supreme Court Strikes Down Key Sarbanes-Oxley Provisions
Nearly five years ago, CEI and accountant Brad Beckstead began to discuss mounting a constitutional challenge to Sarbanes-Oxley’s Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The…
Wall Street Journal
Is Scott Brown a Game-Changer on the Financial Bill?
A Yogi-ism for Congress: “It ain’t over until both houses of Congress vote for an identical bill and send it to the president’s desk…
CEI On Demand
Sam Kazman on Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB
General Counsel Sam Kazman discusses the far reaching implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
Newsletter
Official Bedtimes, Stimulus Creep and Free Trade Agreements
Japan’s Environment Ministry is encouraging its citizens to go to bed an hour earlier at night, and get up an hour earlier in the morning.
News Release
Supreme Court Decision Spares America From Becoming International Magnet for Lawsuits
Washington, D.C., June 24, 2010 – The U.S. Supreme Court today saved this country from becoming a target-rich environment for international litigation, ruling against…
CEI On Demand
