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
Cato Institute
The Fate of ‘Never Needed’ Regulations
Parking lots and parking garages have served for decades as venues for clandestine meetings in the movies and often in reality. In the early 1970s,…
News Release
House poised to end Biden-era CFPB overdraft rule: CEI statement
The House is expected today to vote on a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution overturning a Biden era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule to cap…
Issues & Insights
Reviving Community Banking By Lifting Barriers To New Banks
Americans have far fewer banks to choose from than they once did. The American banking industry has consolidated, with the number of U.S. banks falling…
Search Posts
News Release
Dodd-Frank Unconstitutional Power-Grab, Says New Lawsuit
Full Document Available in PDF WASHINGTON, D.C., June 21, 2012 – The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, today filed a lawsuit asking…
Op-Eds
Dimon on Display
Normally, government should not concern itself with a business’ operations, but when taxpayer money and the public welfare are at risk, it has a responsibility…
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…
