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
RealClear Markets
Book Review: Norbert Michel & Jennifer Schulp’s ‘Financing Opportunity’
America is the wealthiest nation on earth, with financial markets that are the envy of the world. Those markets have contributed to America’s rise for…
Blog
House should follow Senate in slashing BBB’s remittance tax–or eliminate it entirely
President Trump has made it clear that he wants a budget reconciliation package on his desk by July 4. In its final version of the…
Daily Calller
Social Security Now Headed For Insolvency Even Sooner Than Expected
Daily Caller cited CEI’s experts on Social Security spending Congress can’t keep dodging entitlement reform. Social Security’s $28 trillion in unfunded liabilities is about the…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Fat Cats Feed on Durbin’s Fee Change
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin never tires of making a show of going after "fat cats," but a recent measure of his could better…
News Release
Supreme Court to Rule on Major Sarbanes-Oxley Case
Washington, D.C., June 3, 2010—The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hand down a major ruling which could put much-needed constitutional limits on an agency…
Op-Eds
Obama’s Next Bailout Beneficiaries: Corrupt Union Pension Funds
The Obama administration and its congressional allies are now pushing for billions more in bailouts for mismanaged union pension funds, and teachers unions.
Op-Eds
Fee Free Way to Protect Consumers
The U.S. Senate, in the name of protecting American consumers, passed last month a massive financial regulation bill that creates the Bureau of Consumer…
Op-Eds
Senate Financial Bill Wrong for Main Street
The “Restoring American Financial Stability Act,” that passed Congress last week with 39 senators voting nay, will hurt Main Street investors and entrepreneurs, and worsen…
Newsletter
Union Bus Drivers, Fannie Mae Reform and Transportation Partnerships
In New York, bus drivers can take months of paid leave to recuperate from being spit on by passengers. The Obama…
Citation
Obama’s Secular Socialist Legacy
Newsletter
Global Warming Research, Financial Regulation and Transportation Projects
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is investigating the state-funded global warming research of a former University of Virginia professor to see if he defrauded taxpayers;…
Citation
Vitter Amendment
Newsletter
Campaign Finance, Politics at the Justice Department and John Stuart Mill
Democrats push campaign finance reform legislation. A Justice Department lawyer resigns in response to increased politicization of the department. Today is John Stuart Mill’s birthday.
Op-Eds
Dodd Bank Bill: Brown Folds but Vitter’s Not-Everything’s-a-Bank Amendment Passes
Yesterday, Scott Brown caved, and the Senate passed its “financial reform.” That story is at the top of every news web site.
Citation
The Other Blumenthal Scandal
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, a Pay Cut for Congress and Kagan Missing in Action
The Senate rejects a move to cut off debate and further amendment on the financial regulation bill sponsored by Chris Dodd…
News Release
Failed Bank Bill Filled with Unintended Consequences for Main Street
Washington, D.C., May 19, 2010 – After the Senate today defeated a major banking regulation bill, CEI issued the following statement by John Berlau,…
Op-Eds
Dodd’s Bank Bill: New Nationalization Powers for Fed, FDIC, and Treasury Secretary
There are many bad things contained in Chris Dodd’s "Restoring American Financial Stability Act," the financial regulatory "reform" bill that after filibustering for…
Op-Eds
Dodd’s Bank Bill: New Nationalization Powers for Fed, FDIC, and Treasury Secretary
There are many bad things contained in Chris Dodd’s “Restoring American Financial Stability Act,” the financial regulatory “reform” bill…
Newsletter
Immigration Reform, SCOTUS and “Market Fundamentalism”
The New York Times reports that younger people are more likely to favor liberalized immigration policy than the baby boomer generation. The Supreme Court’s decision…
Newsletter
Drug Ads, Debit Card Fees and Labor Finances
The Food and Drug Administration moves to crack down on the advertising of prescription medicines for “off-label” uses. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) pushes for limits…
Op-Eds
Dems Block Reform of Corrupt Mortgage Giants
In a party-line, 56-to-43 vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked any reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the corrupt, government-backed mortgage giants…
Op-Eds
Durbin’s Walgreens Amendment Shifts Costs to Consumers
Give Dick Durbin some credit for his chutzpah. It’s not every lawmaker who, in proposing an amendment to a financial reform bill ostensibly aimed…
Blog
ObamaCare Deeply Unpopular: Democratic Congressman Who Voted for Health Care Bill Loses Primary Election
ObamaCare is so unpopular in West Virginia that veteran Democratic Congressman Alan Mollohan lost reelection in yesterday’s Democratic primary to a state senator who…
News Release
Kerry-(Graham)-Lieberman Bill a Huge Payoff to Big Business
Washington, D.C., May 11, 2010—As Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) prepare to introduce their long-delayed energy-rationing legislation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute calls…
Newsletter
Cap and Trade, FCC’s “Future of Media” Project and Another Fannie Mae Bailout
Sen. Lindsey Graham withdraws his support for climate legislation co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. The Federal Communications Commission is launching a “Future…
Op-Eds
GM Deliberately Tried to Deceive Americans (Letter to the Editor)
The Examiner was right to criticize General Motors for falsely claiming in a recent TV ad campaign to have “repaid”—“in full”—what it received from…
Newsletter
GM’s Misleading Bailout Claims, Swine Flu and Financial “Reform” Legislation
General Motors boasts that it has repaid its government loans in full, despite having used other bailout funds to repay the initial loans. The government…
Newsletter
Greenhouse Gas Regulation, High-Speed Rail and Waiting on Crist in Florida
The 2006 Supreme Court verdict in Massachusetts v. EPA is cited as one of retiring Justice John Paul Stevens’ most influential. President Obama pushes for…
Op-Eds
“Financial Deform: So-Called U.S. bank Reform Does Little But Hurt Taxpayers”
The CEO of Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street firm the SEC has accused of fraud, has endorsed the so-called financial “reform” bill…
Citation
Punish GM’s False Advertising
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: March – April 2010
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the March-April…
Citation
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – be careful what you wish for
Op-Eds
General Motors Still Losing Billions (Letter to the Editor)
The Washington Times was right to criticize the Obama administration for its misleading hype about General Motors repaying $6.7 billion of the $50…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, Mandatory Voting, and Class Action Lawsuits
The Senate votes on Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's financial regulation bill. The town of Ridgeway, Colorado votes on whether to make voting mandatory for…
Op-Eds
ObamaCare vastly expands IRS red tape
“Billions of more documents” will be have to be filled out by small businesses for the IRS so that a “spendthrift Congress can shake…
News Release
‘Grave Concerns’ Persist on Stalled Senate Financial Reg Bill
Washington, D.C., April 28, 2010—For the third time in three days, Senate Republicans joined by Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have defeated an effort to ram…
Blog
ObamaCare Vastly Expands IRS Red Tape and Power, Raises Medical and Insurance Costs, Taxes, and Deficits, and Harms Very Sick People
“Billions of more documents” will be have to be filled out by small businesses for the IRS so that a “spendthrift Congress can shake…
Newsletter
Illegal Immigration, SEC Porn and Financial Reform
Arizona’s new immigration bill has brought immigration reform to the forefront of national debate. The blogosphere is abuzz with the news that employees of the…
Op-Eds
Enough with SEC Porn; What about Obama’s Financial Lies?
There are plenty of problems with the financial “reform” bill, but the media aren’t interested in that. They’re much more interested in revelations that…
Op-Eds
Economists: Stimulus Didn’t Contribute to Economic Rebound
“The recovery is picking up steam as employers boost payrolls, but economists think the government’s stimulus package and jobs bill had little to…
Blog
ObamaCare Will Raise Insurance Premiums and Health Care Costs, Perhaps Bankrupt Hospitals, Federal Officials Admit
“Economic experts from President Obama’s own Health and Human Services Department have released a devastating report noting that Obamacare ‘will increase national health care…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, Online Gambling and Chewing Tobacco
The Senate is set to vote on Senate Banking Committer Chairman Chris Dodd's bill to extend financial regulation. A new study estimates that the ban…
Blog
Porn More Interesting to Media Than Flaws of Financial ‘Reform’ Bill; Obama Is “Lying His Face Off”
There are plenty of problems with the financial “reform” bill, but the media aren’t interested in that. They’re much more interested in revelations that senior…
Op-Eds
Dodd Financial Bill Attacks Main Street
As Congress prepares to vote on debating Sen. Chris Dodd’s “Restoring American Financial Stability Act,” a broad spectrum of conservative and free-market groups expressed…
Blog
Center-Right Coalition Letter Opposes Toxic Provisions in Dodd Bill
Below is a letter sent today to the Senate that was signed by several prominent groups in the Center-Right Coalition expressing “grave concerns about the…
Blog
“Basic needs” need to be regulated, say Dems
Reason’s Ron Bailey, in an “I told you so” article today, points out that Senate Democrats are poised to support a bill that would…
Newsletter
Wall Street Reform, GM Tomatoes and Chemical Regulation
Obama is gives a speech today in New York on the need to reform Wall Street. The Wall Street Journal reports on the debate over…
Op-Eds
Examiner Right to Oppose Unending Bank Bailouts (Letter to the Editor)
The Examiner was right to oppose the Trojan horse financial “reform” bill that would enrich Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street firm that makes big…
Op-Eds
Wall Street Bill Targets Nevada Incorporations
Over the past year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made pointed efforts to show Nevadans his advocacy on their behalf. In defending new…
Newsletter
Salt Police, Pensions and Union Contracts
The FDA is launching a new initiative to limit the amount of salt in processed food. The White House task force on the middle class…
Citation
Mark-to-Market Accounting Rules
Blog
Insurers need a fallback plan
It seems that insurance companies can do no right. This is especially true when it comes to setting rates. Customers demand high quality insurance coverage,…
