The Competitive Enterprise Institute believes the proper role for government is to provide consumers with accurate, unbiased guidance that informs consumer choice. But, whether it is the substances we prefer, how we entertain ourselves, what dietary habits we maintain, or how we pursue personal health, consumers ought to have the right to make decisions for themselves.
Consumer Freedom Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
California’s $20 fast food worker minimum wage a regressive tax
California’s new $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants has turned into a regressive tax on the state’s low-income residents. People who wanted…
Blog
FDA makes lab test power play
The Food and Drug Administration has just released its long anticipated final rule that explicitly asserts its claim of authority to regulate laboratory-developed-tests (LDTs)—tests that are designed, manufactured,…
Blog
Department of Energy is coming after our light bulbs – again
We have already said goodbye to the incandescent light bulb, thanks to federal regulations. Will its replacement be next? Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency regulations…
Search Posts
Blog
TSA Saves Country from Diabetic, Pregnant Terrorist
They allowed her to take through her needles and syringes. But they confiscated her insulin, claiming it was an explosives risk.
Products
Fred Smith and Michael Jacobson discuss proposed legislation to fight obesity on CNBC Capital Report
BODY: GLORIA BORGER, co-host: And welcome back to CAPITAL REPORT. The FDA is looking for ways to combat the exploding rate of obesity in…
Blog
Nutella Wars
In a few weeks, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California will hear arguments in a consumer lawsuit against Ferrero, the maker…
Blog
August 20 Is Lemonade Freedom Day
Robert Fernandes, a father of two, has had enough. That's why he has declared August 20, 2011 to be Lemonade Freedom Day.
Blog
Police Shut Down Another Rogue Lemonade Stand
Abigail Krutsinger, 4, never applied for a permit and a health inspection.
Blog
Egregious Abuses by Expert Witnesses and Family Courts
The Seattle Times recently featured a special report about a psychological "expert witness" who destroyed countless lives in the court cases in which…
Comment
Comments on the ATF Proposed Rule Regarding Health Claims in Labeling Alcohol Beverages
ATF’s notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to prohibit what it deems misleading statements about the health benefits of alcohol consumption from appearing on alcoholic beverage…
News Release
Award-Winning Space Policy Expert Rand Simberg Joins CEI as Adjunct Scholar
Washington, DC, August 2, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce space policy expert Rand Simberg has joined CEI as an…
Study
Hidden Truth: The Perils and Protection of Off-Label Drug and Medical Device Promotion
Full Document Available in PDF What can you do if you learn you have a life-threatening…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 191: Sippy Cups
New York’s state legislature just passed a bill requiring warning labels to be put on all sippy cups sold in the state.
Blog
The Limits of Government-Funded Psychology: 9/11 Counseling Backfires
After school shootings, psychologists fan out and provide “grief counseling” to student bodies, but it’s far from clear that this does any good. Critics say…
News Max
Now Gov’t Trying to Ban Sale of Your Supplements
Citation
CEI Blasts CARE Act
Blog
Stop Messing with My Daughter’s Happy Meal!
There are apples and other fruit sitting around my house, and my four-year-old daughter can eat an apple anytime. By contrast, she seldom gets to…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 189: Naming Your Baby
New Zealand’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages has a list of names that are verboten for newborn babies.
National Center for Policy Analysis
Special Interest at Heart of CARE Act
National Center for Policy Analysis
The Coming War on Vitamins
A consumer walking down the aisle of a local drugstore can choose from a wide variety of supplements, vitamins and nutrients for his or her…
Blog
High Food Prices: Another Reason To Get Rid Of Farm Handouts
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article highlights another reason why farm subsidies need to be put to rest. Land…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 187: Pedicabs
The DC City Council wants to require pedicab passengers to wear seatbelts.
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…
Study
A CARE-less Rush to Regulate Alcohol
Wine, beer, and spirit wholesalers have a long history of employing state laws to secure a guaranteed slice of the market. Recent court cases have…
Blog
Killed by Regulations: New Century Brewing, RIP
Add another name to the list of the dead as a result of actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I certainly feel a…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 186: Missing Children
Covington, Kentucky police ordered a grieving grandmother to take down fliers of her missing granddaughter from city property.
Blog
Flirting with Austerity: Congress Considers Ending Agriculture Direct Payment Subsidies
Finally. After several years of persistence, it looks like the movement to reform the agriculture direct payments system is finally gaining some momentum. It…
Blog
Scientific American Busts Organic Food Myths
Over at the Scientific American magazine blogs, science writer Christie Wilcox takes on some of the mythology surrounding organic foods, including the…
Blog
Free Speech versus Compelled Praise for Diversity
Can the government force those it licenses to parrot its praise for "diversity"? The Colorado Department of Human Services Child Care Division thinks so, issuing…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 185: How to Wear Pants
Collinsville, Illinois officials know that when you look good, you feel good. That’s why they are now regulating the height at which people shall wear…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: July 19, 2011
California: In an attempt to lower the rates of minors drinking alcohol, a bill is being pushed that would prevent grocery store patrons from…
Blog
Another Shot at Pennsylvania Liquor Privatization
Ah, Pennsylvania: home sweet home. The state known for its soft pretzels, Hershey’s chocolate and Sylvester Stallone statues. Unfortunately, it has also…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 184: Picking up Dog Poop
A Vienna, Austria man was recently jailed for not picking up after his Great Danes.
Blog
British Social Workers Tear Apart Happy Families, Seize Children from Loving Parents
In Britain, social workers and child-protective services are tearing apart happy families, and seizing children from loving parents "for no good reason," notes Christopher…
Big Government
Unnecessary Government Intervention
Blog
Liquor Wholesaler Domination in Washington, D.C.
Terroirist blogger David White has posted a good commentary on the Specialty Wine Retailers Association report on alcohol wholesaler spending: “Toward…
Blog
NYC Bureaucrat Tries to Harsh Urban Apiarist’s Buzz for Not “Watering” Beehive
Although New York City reversed its position on urban beekeeping in Spring 2010 and legalized the practice, there are apparently still some government employees with…
Wall Street Journal
Let There Be Light Bulbs
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 14, 2011: The Incandescent Light Bulb Ban
Have a listen here. Earlier this week, General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt gave a speech at a conference on free enterprise. Energy Policy…
Wall Street Journal
Chris Horner on “Green” Programs and the War on Styrofoam
Chris Horner addresses the failure of "green" programs, both in terms of cost and purpose. He discusses the many millions wasted by the government…
Wall Street Journal
Lights Out
Wall Street Journal
FTC Ban on Junk Food Ads Would do More Harm than Good
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) supposedly voluntary guidelines for marketing food products to children, if adopted, would undermine free speech, seriously hinder small businesses, consumer…
Blog
Michelle Obama’s 1700 Calorie Hypocrisy
I am no fan of ad hominem attacks, especially when it’s the President and his administration that deserve true criticism for their policies. So, when…
Wall Street Journal
Scientists Developing Fungus-Resistant Wheat
Blog
Energy Secretary Wants to Force You to Save Money
Energy Secretary Steven Chu admitted the paternalistic motivation for the effective ban on incandescent light-bulbs on Friday. Such honesty from a bureaucrat is somewhat…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 183: Throwing Wet Sponges
Apparently British regulators don’t think their subjects are sponge-worthy.
Wall Street Journal
Why Republicans Are Fighting to Save the 30-Cent Light Bulb
Comment
CEI Comments to FTC Regarding the Proposed Nutritional Principles and Guidelines for Food Marketing to Children
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is non-profit organization…
Blog
Strangely Specific Regulations
The next someone tells you the economy is dangerously unregulated, refer them to this list:…
Wall Street Journal
Rethinking Regulations for Biotech Crops
Blog
Virginia’s Child Support Guidelines Likely to Become Grossly Excessive for Most Households
Virginia seems likely to increase its child-support obligations on non-custodial parents, based on flawed methods of calculating child-rearing costs that overstate child-rearing costs. As I…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 182: PowerPoint Presentations
A political party in Switzerland is seeking to ban Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in meetings.
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Independence Day Edition
Hopefully, this Independence Day weekend you liberated some nice libations from their containers. As Founding Father Ben Franklin said, “there can’t be good living where…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 181: Offensive Bumper Stickers
Tennessee drivers can be fined $50 if someone else finds their bumper sticker offensive.
Blog
Sour Attitudes on Raw Milk
In a letter to the Washington Post over this past weekend, a “food safety consultant” in northern Virginia named Thomas L.
Blog
Mass. AG Martha Coakley Institutes Permanent Ban On “Internet Café” Gambling
Back in April of this year Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley issued emergency regulations prohibiting Internet gambling at “cyber cafés” and “phone card businesses,”…
Blog
Restricting Your Right to Superlatives: Anna Eshoo and the FCC
A California Democrat is seeking to expand the bureaucracy of the FCC in order to protect Americans from dropped calls. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.)…
Blog
Planning to Disaster: The Zoning Apparat vs. Paula Deen’s Chickens
Those who know me are aware that one of the two weird -- so I've been told -- policy issues I'm obsessed with is urban…
Wall Street Journal
The USDA’s Anti-Science Activism
Full Document Available in PDF U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack must…
Wall Street Journal
Time to Kill the Michigan Alcohol Monopoly
In the June 2011 issue of the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association (MBWWA) newsletter, President Michael Lashbrook reaffirmed his organization’s endorsement of…
Blog
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Obamacare’s Individual Mandate in Divided 2-to-1 Vote
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the individual mandate contained in the 2010 healthcare law by a 2-to-1 vote, claiming that…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
King County's $86 fine for swimming without a life vest, plus more.
Comment
CEI Submits Comments on the Proposed Inspection System for Catfish
Full Document Available as a PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Supreme Court: California’s Ban on Violent Video Game Sales to Minors Violates Free Speech
California's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors has been struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation…
Wall Street Journal
Catching Air Without NASA: How Will We Regulate Commercial Space Flight?
What if having a vibrant space program requires bypassing NASA? There exist great pressures for change despite NASA’s signature successes. The private experimental launches…
Blog
Meet Your New Mom: Kathleen Sebelius and Cigarette Warnings
Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius recently made a revealing statement on how she perceives the role of government and her place within…
Blog
A Peek Inside the Bureaucrat’s Mind
By now, this story about the city of Portland, Oregon, deciding to drain nearly 8 million gallons of water from one…
Blog
Where Do TSA-Confiscated Items Go?
The TSA has a habit of confiscating security-unrelated items. Over at The American Spectator, I recall just such an experience that I had at O'Hare.
Blog
Improve Americans’ Physical and Fiscal Health: Cut Out the FDA
President Obama made a big show about cutting “red tape” government regulations that kill jobs and hurt the economy. In addition, members of the…
Blog
Bed Bugs Now With Super Bug: Still Just a “Nuisance,” EPA?
As my colleague Angela Logomasini noted in a post in January, the EPA has rebuffed the desperate pleas of lawmakers and residents to un-ban…
Wall Street Journal
Upton: House Will Vote to Bring Back the Bulb
Blog
New Bill Would Tax Online Gambling
Yet another online gambling bill to add to the pile, Rep. Jim McDermott introduced the igaming taxation and regulation bill that he unsuccessfully…
Blog
FDA Overkill on Cigarette Packaging
Get ready to see nine sensationalistic images depicting the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs beginning September 2012. Rotted lungs and teeth, chest holes,…
Blog
No Such Thing as an Average Cancer Patient
CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko has an excellent piece in today's Wall Street Journal. Greg doesn't think it's right that the FDA is denying terminally…
Blog
In Journalism, Scaremongering Pays — Or, Is Ethical Journalism an Oxymoron?
As legal commentator Ted Frank notes, ABC was rewarded for deliberate scaremongering and deceptive reporting that created needless fear and anxiety among Toyota owners…
Blog
FDA Should Not Mandate Comparative Effectiveness Trials
AEI resident fellow Scott Gottlieb has a new paper out explaining why the FDA should not force…
Knowledge Problem
Distortionary Effects of Three-Tier Liquor Regulation, Wisconsin Edition
Blog
More Free Speech Violations in New Mexico? Prior Restraint Against Billboard Likely
Last year, a New Mexico court issued a domestic-violence restraining order against David Letterman on behalf of a deluded woman who had never met…
Blog
More States, Politicians Jump on the Internet Gambling Bandwagon
The oncoming legalization of online poker charges ahead this week with more lawmakers “seeing the light” or at least the potential revenue dollars that online…
Blog
Police Celebrate Seized Online Gambling Funds
Roughly one week ago, an article appeared in The Odenton Patch covering an Anne Arundel County Police Department press conference where our benevolent…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: June 10, 2011
Reporting from around the nation on the ridiculous, the sad, and the sometimes positive news about the state of alcohol regulations. National: BuyaBeerCompany.com, a…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
A new Senate bill would make lip-synching to other people’s music a jailable offense, plus more.
Blog
Breaking Up is Hard to Do for Michigan Brewers
If you thought leaving a spouse was tough, just be thankful that you're not a brewery in need of a divorce from your dead-beat distributor.
Blog
Yet Another Way That Obamacare Is Unconstitutional: The Arguments in Florida v. HHS
In the Washington Examiner, I discuss the brief I recently filed on behalf of Minnesota and North Carolina legislators challenging Obamacare, which…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 9, 2011: The Other Black Friday
Online poker has been illegal since April 15, now called Black Friday by poker fans. Policy Analyst Michelle Minton goes over the controversy and explains…
Blog
Why Cross-Examination Rights Matter in Campus Sexual Harassment Cases under Title IX
As part of its broader attack on safeguards against false accusations, the federal Education Department is urging colleges to strip students and faculty of…
Blog
E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Organic Farming … Again
Although it’s not 100 percent certain at this time, German health officials are becoming increasingly certain that the recent E. coli…
News Max
Insider Report
Pittsburgh Live
Needed: A washing machine that washes
Blog
California Social Networking Bill In Its Death Throes
In Sacramento, California, a bill that would regulate social networking is reportedly on its death bed after failing by five votes last week. The online…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 31, 2011: FDA Rescinds Approval of Breast Cancer Drug
Conko believes this battle boils down to one question: who decides which treatments patients can use? Will it be the FDA, or doctors and patients?…
Blog
New York City Health Officials: No Fun for Adults
Last year we watched as the FDA used its regulatory might to institute a de-facto ban on alcoholic energy drinks like Four Loko, Joose,…
Blog
Shedding Light on Light Bulbs — Don’t Count on the NYT
In its “Home and Garden” section yesterday, The New York Times did it again: in what should have been a straight-forward puff piece about…
Blog
Avastin and Breast Cancer: The Median is Not the Message
The New York Times ran an op-ed yesterday by oncologist Frederick Tucker urging the Food and Drug Administration to stand by…
PJ Media
The Price of Beauty: Chemicals in My Cosmetics?
I am not a morning person, but every day a host of personal care products — from toothpaste to mascara — help me transform…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 177: Single-Wide Trailers
In Cordova, Alabama single-wide trailer homes are illegal. After years of lax enforcement, regulators are cracking down after tornadoes left many residents homeless.
Blog
New York Times on “Paternalistic” Government
The Dining section of today’s New York Times has a short piece reporting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has lowered…
Blog
Alcohol Producers in Texas Must Unite For their Right to Produce
As discussed in my latest "Alcohol Regulation Roundup" post, a representative for brewing giant, Anheuser-Busch (AB-InBev) testified at a Lone Star State Senate…
Blog
Journalists Say the Darndest Things!
Today's Washington Post has an article about a new study confirming that the lifetime earning power of a college degree in…
Blog
Black Friday All Over Again: Feds Seize More Online Poker Domains
This week thousands of poker fans and players will gather at the Rio Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas for the much anticipated 42nd Annual…
Blog
200 More Obamacare Waivers Granted
204 more waivers of Obamacare’s onerous mandates have been issued over the past month, bringing the total to at least 1,372. As…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 176: Cooking a Burger
In North Carolina, it is illegal to cook a burger to an internal temperature under 155 degrees.
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: May 23, 2011
Alabama: Small vineyards in Alabama support a bill that would allow them to self-distribute up to 24,000 barrels a year, allowing them to compete…