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
Blog
How Do These People Avoid Cognitive Dissonance?
Supporters of the health care bill spend a lot of time attacking health insurance companies. The health care bill would legally require people to give…
Blog
Obama Runs Up Largest Budget Deficit in American History; Monthly Deficit Alone Exceeds Entire Annual Deficit for 2007 Under Bush
“The Obama Administration has run up the largest budget deficit in American history in February of 2010, a whopping total of $220.9 Billion in just…
Newsletter
Pensions, Immigration, and Airport Kisses
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is trying to prop up failed banks by encouraging public pension funds to invest in them. Sens. Schumer (D-NY)…
Op-Eds
Obama Runs Up Largest Budget Deficit in U.S. History
“The Obama Administration has run up the largest budget deficit in American history in February of 2010, a whopping total of $220.9…
Op-Eds
Obama Wants to Tax Good Banks, Protect Bad Ones
The Obama administration wants to increase taxes on productive banks that are self-supporting, while exempting the mortgage giants and other companies that got massive…
Op-Eds
Looking Out for the Big Guys
Big is bad, many on the Left believe, but only in business, not in government. Many on the Left rail against mass discounters…
Detroit News
Avoid Land Grabs while Downsizing Detroit
If history is any guide, Mayor Dave Bing’s recent announcement that he intends to pursue aggressive central planning to shrink Detroit is bad news. For…
Blog
The Hidden Costs of Health Care Reform: “Obamacare Is A Budgetary Disaster”
The health care bills backed by President Obama will cost $2.3 trillion, not the $900 billion Obama claims, and will be a “…
Detroit News
Credit Card Bill of Rights
Detroit News
Obama Policies Will Increase National Debt by $9.7 Trillion
“President Obama’s policies would add more than $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, congressional budget analysts said Friday.
Blog
Obama’s Policies Will Increase National Debt by $9.7 trillion, Says Congressional Budget Office
“President Obama’s policies would add more than $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, congressional budget analysts said Friday. . .The 10-year…
California Eminent Domain Report
An Interesting Argument Concerning Whether Eminent Domain for Economic Development Makes Economic Sense
Newsletter
The Fed, Homeschooling, and Sport Gambling
After many congressional attempts to limit the power of the Federal Reserve, some senators are now moving to give more power to the Fed. A…
Newsletter
Bank Loans, NASA, and Fish Tanks
Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Sheila Bair chastises large banks for tightening their qualification standards for loans. The emails released by NASA’s Goddard…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: January – February 2010
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the January-February 2010 issue: …
Blog
Torches, Pitchforks, and Congress
“It occurred to me that this panel would only take place, of the industrialized nations, in the United States of America. That in every other…
Newsletter
Credit Cards, Organized Labor, and the Stimulus Anniversary
New credit card regulations go into effect this week. The Washington Post has a front-page story on the difficulty of…
Blog
Credit CARD Act penalizes thrift and entrepreneurship; interchange fee controls would compound harm to consumers
Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect. While the law, passed last May, is being hailed as…
News Release
Credit CARD Act Penalizes Thrift And Entrepreneurship
Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect. While the law, passed last May, is being hailed as…
California Eminent Domain Report
Credit Card Act Hits Cardholders, Entrepreneurs
Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect and is being hailed as a boon for consumers.
News Release
Statement by John Berlau on Credit CARD Act
Statement by John Berlau on Credit CARD Act Today, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 goes into effect…
Blog
No Fault Failure
On Monday, the RAND Corporation released a comprehensive overview of the no-fault insurance system and documented how the one-time darling of insurance systems has fallen…
California Eminent Domain Report
Founding Father
Blog
“Health Care Freedom” Bills Pass Virginia Senate
The Virginia State Senate passed “health care freedom” bills giving citizens the right not to be forced to buy health insurance. This sets…
California Eminent Domain Report
Obama can Aid Small Businesses by Providing Regulatory Reform
In news accounts about fights over new regulation, the story is almost always the same. The media portray the drama as that of well-intentioned…
Newsletter
The Lessons of the Meltdown, Attacking the Tea Parties and Texting Safety
Former Wall Street Journal editor George Melloan takes on the recent economic meltdown in a new book. A new online campaign aims to fight the…
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Lessening the Rate of Auto Insurance In Detroit May Scare Away Insurers
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Michigan’s Auto Insurance Rates Aren’t Highway Robbery
In most games, fair play is understood as playing by the rules and reaping rewards or penalties within the game’s parameters. Yet for many…
Newsletter
Obama’s Spending Freeze, the UN’s Lack of Peer Review and FDA’s Chemical Worries
President Obama proposes a freeze on discretionary spending. A UN scientist confirms that dramatic claims of Himalayan glaciers melting due to global warming were not…
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Did Ben Fold?
Looking back at the Federal Reserve Board’s attempts at self-justification after the Great Depression in Free to Choose, Milton and Rose Friedman concluded that…
Letters
Audit the Fed First
Dear Members of the U.S. Senate: In the last two years, the Federal Reserve Board has lent several trillion dollars to banks…
Blog
Insured Buildings in Haiti Still Standing
One could consider it ironic that the buildings in Haiti most likely to receive insurance money are those that experienced the least amount of damage.
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Bank Tax “Strictly Political”, but Popular
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Obama’s Bank-Busting Regulation Full of Bugs
President Obama’s proposal on Thursday to bring back 1930s-era separation of commercial and investment banking would do little to prevent the problem of financial…
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Obama’s Glass-Steagal 2.0 Could Crash Financial System
Blog
The bright side of flood insurance
Some Michigan residents are boiling mad that their mortgage lenders are forcing them to purchase flood insurance. The notifications were sent out to residents…
Newsletter
Myths of the Recession, Challenging the EPA and a Victory for Free Speech
Wall Street Journal editor George Melloan challenges popular misconceptions about the recent mortgage crisis and recession in a new book. Four members of Congress challenge…
Newsletter
The Popularity of Al Gore’s Books, Obama’s First Year and Scott Brown’s Impact
NPR reports that people in the UK have resorted to burning used books in their stoves and fireplaces to keep warm amid record-cold temperatures. The…
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Obama Plan to Split Banks Could Crash Economy
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back 1930s-like separation of commercial and investment banks, dubbed Glass-Steagall II or Glass-Steagall 2.0, would do…
News Release
Obama’s Glass-Steagall 2.0 Could Crash Financial System
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back 1930s-like separation of commercial and investment banks, dubbed Glass-Steagall II or Glass-Steagall 2.0, would do little to prevent…
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Crisis Management
One of the more confusing aspects of the great economic meltdown of 2008-09—even more confusing than collateralized debt obligations—has been the tortured…
News Release
Report Card for the Obama Administration
One year ago today, Barack Obama took the oath of office as President of the United States. Since then, he and his appointees have had…
Newsletter
Net Neutrality, the War on Salt and Beach House Insurance
The Federal Communications Commission receives thousands of comments on its proposed “net neutrality” regulations. New York City public health officials launch a campaign to reduce…
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The Bank Tax and the Bay State
As the race for the late Ted Kennedy’s seat goes into the home stretch, financial-services policy has suddenly emerged as a top issue in…
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SarBox Might be Coming to an End
Prospects for substantial relief from or repeal of one of the most burdensome corporate regulations in recent memory have suddenly grown in Congress and…
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Obama’s Penalty Tax Could Hit Banks that Refused TARP Funds
President Obama’s so-called Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee is a tax in search of a target. Today, the president declared, “We want our…
Blog
Experts Question Enormous Cost and Constitutionality of Healthcare Legislation
The health care legislation backed by the president and congressional leaders will increase Americans’ health care costs by more than $200 billion,…
Newsletter
CIA Climate Data, Fannie and Freddie Absent and Health Insurance and Antitrust
The Central Intelligence Agency shares classified satellite data with climate researchers. Executives from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are conspicuously absent from the first hearing…
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House Panel Approves Ban On Retail Price-Fixing Deals
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Sarbanes-Oxley: Albatross to Growth
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Sarbanes-Oxley: Albatross to Growth
Many economists, policy makers, and members of Congress of both parties are questioning whether what is good for the Big Four accounting firms is…
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Financial Crisis Hearing Is Partisan Sham
Today marks the first-ever meeting of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which is charged with investigating the causes of the mortgage meltdown.
Blog
Nobel Prize Winning Economist Says Obama Policies Delaying Economic Recovery
In the Wall Street Journal, Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker and others explain how President Obama’s policies are delaying and retarding the inevitable economic…
Blog
More Enron-like Behavior by Administration Officials Comes to Light
Earlier, the Washington Post reported on how the Obama administration pressured Freddie Mac not to disclose to investors and the SEC the $30…
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More Enron-Like Behavior by Obama Administration
Earlier, The Washington Post reported on how the Obama administration pressured Freddie Mac not to disclose to investors and the SEC the $30 billion…
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Reforms Bode Ill for Tax-Free Health Accounts
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Change We Can Really Believe In
Over the last century, America has lurched down a path toward statism. And Presidents Bush and Obama accelerated the expansion of government power by…
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Stimulus Package Forces States to Raise Taxes
The federal government’s $800 billion stimulus package, which failed to cut unemployment, is now forcing states and local governments to raise taxes.
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: November – December 2009
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the November-December 2009 issue: …
Blog
Louisiana auto insurance at a crossroads
Louisiana drivers pay the third highest expenditures for auto insurance in the country (with N.J. taking second and D.C. taking the top honor). On…
Blog
Florida Attorney General Questions Constitutionality of Healthcare Bills in Congress
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is questioning whether it is constitutional to force people to buy health insurance, as the health…
Blog
MI Senate not “FAIR” and it’s a good thing
The Michigan Senate recessed last week without passing the proposed insurance reforms that would, among other things, prevent insurers from using factors such as…
Blog
Is ObamaCare’s “Individual Mandate” Unconstitutional?
The health care bills backed by the President require that individuals buy health insurance if it is not provided by their employer. Is that unconstitutional?…
Newsletter
China in Copenhagen, Cash for Fannie and Freddie and the Pandemic that Wasn’t There
Officials debate the role of China as a “spoiler” in recent UN climate change negotiations. The Treasury Department announces the availability of “an unlimited amount…
Blog
Michigan’s population leak
In a preview to the 2010 census, Michigan learned this week that it was one of only three states to lose members of its…
Newsletter
Immigration, Smoking Bans and Sarbanes-Oxley
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduces comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The Colorado Supreme Court upholds a ban on smoking in stage performances. The battle over the…
Blog
Removing Antitrust Exemption Won’t Increase Healthcare Competition
The senators wisely state in their piece that making health insurance more affordable will require more competition in the marketplace. Unfortunately, their proposal to revoke…
Newsletter
Wall Street Meets the White House, EPA Rules on Greenhouse Gases and Health Care Divided
President Obama hosts a White House summit with Wall Street banking leaders The Environmental Protection Agency publishes its final rule designating greenhouse gases as a…
NCPA
Michigan’s Auto Insurers Make Only a Small Profit
Newsletter
Re-importing Drugs, TARP for Small Business and Palin on ClimateGate
The Senate health care debate stalls on the question of whether to permit the re-importation of drugs from countries with price controls. President Obama announces…
NCPA
Rebuttal: Michigan’s Auto Insurers Make Only a Small Profit
About the Nov. 30 article "Industry balks at bills aimed at auto insurance reform": Before we listen to politicians who claim greedy…
Study
Congressional Misdiagnosis
Why Repealing McCarran-Ferguson Will Harm Competition in Health Insurance Markets…
Public Radio
Did Deregulation Cause the Recession?
Public Radio
Did Deregulation Cause the Great Recession?
In a December 3 article in Politico ("J-O-Bs should come before GDP"), Rep. Phil Hare argues that "reckless deregulation" is one of the causes…
Newsletter
Sarbanes-Oxley in Court, Swine Flu Peaks and Trade Deficits in Perspective
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments challenging the legitimacy of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accounting law. Swine flu infections have peaked and are declining, according to…
Wall Street Journal
The Supreme Case Against Sarbanes-Oxley
Overlawyered
FDA Raw Oyster Ban
Newsletter
Credit Card Fees, Immigration Reform and Heading off an EPA Power Grab
The U.S. looks to Australia’s experience with regulating credit cards fees. Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs softens his longtime anti-immigration stance. Environmental groups petition the…
The Wall Street Journal
Sarbanes-Oxley on Trial
Congress wants to wallop business with even more regulation in the wake of the financial panic, but perhaps the Members should pause on Monday and…
The Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court Set to Review Scope of Peek-a-boo Power
The Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court Set to Review Scope of Peek-a-boo Power
News Release
Supreme Court To Hear Pivotal Sarbanes-Oxley Case Monday, Dec.7
Washington, D.C., December 4, 2009—On Monday, December 7th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a…
Study
Payment Card Networks Under Assault
How Capping Interchange Fees Will Hurt Consumers, Charities, Community Banks, and Credit Unions…
Southern Shift News
30 Million Small Businesses: The Army President Obama has yet to Deploy
Letters
Federal Reserve Transparency Working Group Sends Letter to the Senate
Dear Members of the U.S. Senate: In the last two years, the Federal Reserve Board has lent several trillion dollars to banks…
Blog
“Would ObamaCare Reduce Innovation?”: Health Care Bill Would Cause Preventable Deaths
“Would ObamaCare Kill Medical Innovation?” That’s the question posed by health care expert Michael Cannon. His answer is yes: “President Obama’s…
Newsletter
Senate Health Care, Rising Deficits and Food Safety on Thanksgiving
The Senate advances prepares for a floor debate on health care legislation after Thanksgiving. The rising federal budget deficit and national debt raise concerns about…
Blog
Moderates Criticize Health Care Bill As It Advances in Senate; Experts Gave Bill A “Failing Grade”
On Saturday, the Senate voted 60-to-39, along party lines, to press towards passage of a massive health care bill, by blocking a…
Southern Shift News
Effort To Curb Financial Giants May Worry Markets Even More
Southern Shift News
Effort To Curb Financial Giants May Worry Markets Even More
Blog
Healthcare Bill Advances in Senate, Despite Receiving Failing Grade from Health Experts; Democrats Block Filibuster in Party-Line Vote
The healthcare bill is on the verge of passing the Senate, despite the fact that it has received a failing grade from healthcare experts like…
Newsletter
FDA’s Tobacco Powers, Credit Card Fees and Cult-like Union Behavior
Anti-tobacco activists observe the “Great American Smokeout.” The Government Accountability Office finds that controlling credit card processing fees could hurt consumers. Union officials are accused…
Blog
Reid Health Care Bill Adds New Tax Increases, Costs Twice As Much As Promised
The health care “reform” bill drafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid adds new tax increases, and costs twice as much as its…
News Release
Government Watchdog Finds Credit Card Price Controls Hurt Consumers
Today, the Government Accountability Office released its widely anticipated report on interchange fees—the fees that retailers pay to credit and debit card issuers for processing…
Blog
Harvard Medical School Dean Gives ObamaCare a “Failing Grade”
"In discussions with dozens of health-care leaders and economists, I find near unanimity of opinion that the final legislation that will emerge from Congress will…
Newsletter
Bailout Transparency, Climate Politics and Mortgage Foreclosures
Rep. Carolyn Maloney introduces a bill to make public details of the bank bailout. Critics accuse President Obama of failing the world on climate change.
Blog
Health-Care “Reform” Bills Increase Costs, Endanger Access for Millions, Federal Experts Say
The healthcare “reform” bill backed by Obama “would reduce senior care,” and “could jeopardize access to care for millions,” report healthcare…
Blog
Insurance Industry Stung By Health Care Deal
The CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters has an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal whining that a weak individual purchase mandate is…
Blog
Unemployment Skyrockets: “U.S. now beating European unemployment rates”
Unemployment is now higher in the U.S. than in Europe, reports the Washington Post. “The official U.S. unemployment rate, reported last Friday, now stands…
Blog
House Passes Massive Health Care Bill
Just before midnight on Saturday, the House of Representatives passed a massive, 2000-page health care “reform” bill by a 220 to 215 vote. The bill,…
