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
Colorado to Ban Light & Low-Calorie Beer in Bars?
Next year bars and dine-in restaurants in Colorado might be forced by law to stop selling light, low-calorie, and low-alcohol beers. Any beer…
Blog
It’s World AIDS Day; Is it the “Forgotten Epidemic”?
World AIDS Day has rolled around again, amid charges by C. Everett Koop that “HIV is no longer on the public’s radar screen, and…
Before It's News
NJ Online Bill Could Ruffle WTO Feathers
Blog
CEI Podcast — November 30, 2010: Food Safety, Washington-Style
CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko looks at the major provisions of the food safety bill that the Senate is voting on today.
Blog
Naked Body Scanners — Coming to a Neighborhood Near You!
Well, you can forget the airports-only naked body scanners — they’re now coming to a neighborhood near you. Forbes reports that…
Calvin Nayre
NJ Online bill could ruffle WTO feathers
Blog
An Intrusive, Ineffective, Unionized TSA?
Much has been written about the backlash against the TSA’s intrusive new screening methods. Law professor Jeff Rosen has argued that they violate…
Blog
Online Gambling in New Jersey Could Cause WTO Disputes
New Jersey is on the verge of becoming the first state in the U.S. to explicitly legalize online gambling in an attempt to keep…
Blog
TSA Backlash Directed at Failed Screening Methods, Not Airport Security
Contrary to what mouth-frothing Obama apparatchiki claim, critics of the current TSA screening practices are not hyper-partisan corporate shills. Nor are we irrationally…
Fredrick News Post
Graphic cigarette packaging
Blog
Federal Government Subsidizes Obesity and Wealthy Urbanites
In the Washington Examiner, David Freddoso explains how the federal Department of Health and Human Services spent $766,000 of your tax dollars to help…
Blog
TSA Sexual Harassment: Disappointing, but Not Surprising
Woman: TSA Agents Singled Me Out For My Breasts…
Blog
TSA Exempts Politicians from Body Scans and Pat-Downs
Don't like dealing with the TSA's body scanners or pat-downs? Consider getting into politics.
Fredrick News Post
Trimming the Fat
Blog
TSA Roundup
The Thanksgiving travel rush is officially underway.
Blog
Two GOP Senators Say Get Rid of Ethanol Subsidies; Gore Says His Support for Ethanol Subsidies a Mistake
In the Washington Post’s “Plum Line” column today Greg Sargent focuses on two GOP senators’ campaign to get rid of the ethanol subsidies that…
Blog
CEI Podcast — November 23, 2010: The Crusade Against Alcohol Energy Drinks
Baylen Linnekin, author of the recent CEI On Point "Extreme Refreshment Crackdown: The FDA’s Misguided Campaign Against Alcohol Energy Drinks" looks at the recent push…
Blog
Alcohol Industry Infighting Leads to Wacky and Costly Regulation
If the ban on alcohol-containing energy drinks tells us anything, it’s that American alcohol policy continues its tradition of being very wacky. If you…
Blog
Obesity Letters Assume Parents Can’t See Their Children
A school district in Arizona is implementing a controversial program that has the world talking: they will be weighing students and sending notes home…
Bastiat Institute
No Sense in Maryland’s “Dime-a-Drink” Tax Increase
Blog
FDA Killing Big Beer’s Competitors
If you saw the movie Beer Wars, which was released last year, you might remember one hard-working entrepreneur featured in the film named Rhonda…
Blog
TSA Regulations Likely Increase Travel Deaths
As air travel becomes increasingly expensive or more inconvenient, travelers on the margin will choose driving rather than flying. For example, the TSA began requiring…
Blog
Four Loko: Just How Potent is the Caffeinated Alcoholic Drink?
Over the past few days, I’ve gotten plenty of angry e-mail from people critical of my defense of caffeinated alcoholic beverages…
Bastiat Institute
Does FDA’s Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverage Ban go too Far?
Bastiat Institute
‘Natural’ Foods Activist Gets It Wrong
Blog
Regulation of the Day 159: Playing Chess
"A squad of cops in bulletproof vests" arrested seven men for playing chess in a New York City park.
Blog
TSA Officers Are Not Screened for Psychological Problems
“I want to do patdowns on airplane passengers. What would TSA need from me before I have authority to do whatever is required to check…
Blog
Now! In Black and White, the Toyota Hysteria Exemplified!
It’s not “live!” It’s not even “In color!” And there’s no sound. But it’s quite stunning. A surveillance video posted by Fox Chicago News…
Blog
Texas Veterinarians Want a Cut of Horse Dentists’ Profits
Three cheers for horse dentists in Texas and the Institute of Justice (IJ) which took up their defense. After three years, IJ and the horse…
Bastiat Institute
FDA Criticized for Ban on Alcoholic Energy Drinks
Bastiat Institute
Agencies Target ‘Blackout in a Can’
AOL News
Court Should Kill California’s Video Game Law
Free expression in the digital age faces a major test before the U.S. Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the court heard oral arguments debating the…
AOL News
FDA criticized for banning alcoholic energy drinks
AOL News
Agencies target ‘blackout in a can’
Blog
TSA’s John Pistole Offers to Probe Senators: Shouldn’t He Buy Them Dinner First?
TSA chief John Pistole offered to give enhanced pat-downs to senators at a hearing today on TSA's new screening policies.
Blog
Why You Should CARE About the Ban on Four Loko
Late yesterday evening, the maker of Four Loko announced it was removing caffeine from the popular alcohol beverage. This came following media-driven hysteria, state…
Blog
Four Loko Crackdown: FDA Set to Ban Caffeinated-Alcohol Drinks
It looks as though the FDA is now set to ban the small but growing market for so-called alcohol-energy drinks, such as Four Loko and…
New Jersey
Banning Four Loko: Bloggers on the ‘Blackout in a can’ controversy
Blog
TSA Screening: What are the Limits?
Top security officers claim these invasive scans are necessary for our safety. In a news conference at Reagan National Airport, Department of Homeland Security Secretary…
Blog
Pro-Pedestrian Advocates Push Deadly Policies
One thing that never surprises me is how often anti-car zealots fail to consider trade-offs before blindly screaming for their preferred policies. Take, for example,…
Blog
Online Casino Gambling Moves Forward in New Jersey
As I reported last week, though federal attempts to legalize online gambling have seen little progress in the last year, states’ efforts have shown…
News Release
Protest San Francisco’s Happy Meal Ban – While You Still Have a Choice
Washington, DC., November 16, 2010—The Competitive Enterprise Institute invites you to consider taking your family to McDonald’s for Happy Meals on Saturday, November 20th, to…
News Release
FDA’s Caffeine Power Grab
Washington, D.C., November 17, 2010: The Competitive Enterprise Institute today called a pending FDA ban on caffeinated-alcoholic beverages a misguided and arbitrary extension of…
Blog
Pat-Downs or Full-Body Imaging? TSA Airport Security Backlash
The TSA has crossed a line. Its new security procedures require employees to either touch passengers’ genitals or take pictures of them. The public backlash…
Blog
Tobacco Control Hysteria Goes Global
The wars on tobacco and smokers have gone global, as evidenced by international bureaucrats from the World Health Organization meeting in Uruguay this week…
Blog
CEI Podcast — November 15, 2010: Free Speech and Video Games
Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia gives his take on a Supreme Court case concerning California’s ban of violent video game sales to minors.
Blog
Sam Kazman on Cigarette Warning Labels
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaNCeIN0Ka8 285 234]…
Blog
TSA versus America
The TSA doesn’t have very many friends these days. Do they deserve any? In an interview (halfway down on the left sidebar), John…
Blog
Be Thankful for BPA-Lined Canned Goods this Thanksgiving
Well-meaning environmentalist Mindy Pennybacker, author of Do One Green Thing: Saving the Earth Through Simple, Everyday Choices, offers some sagely foolish advice…
Blog
Maryland Considers Privatizing Liquor Sales
The only place residents of Montgomery County, Maryland, can purchase liquor is in county-owned stores, which until recently were only open six days a week.
Fox News
FDA’s Graphic Warnings for Cigarettes: Noble Ad Campaign or Nanny State at Work?
Fox News
Sam Kazman on Cigarette Warning Labels
Competitive Enterprise Institute General Counsel Sam Kazman discusses the proposed warning labels on…
Blog
November 24: National Opt Out Day
OptOutDay.com the website and group is urging air-travelers on November 24 (one of the busiest travel days of the year) to refuse to submit…
Blog
WHO Study on BPA: No Measurable Risks
The American Council on Science and Health has a great post on bisphenol A (BPA), noting yet another study that exonerates the chemical,…
Blog
Product Bans Are More Dangerous than Four Loko
How many people follow up a heavy night of drinking with some coffee? How many restaurants serve coffee and desert right after dinners where diners…
Blog
Adam Smith on Lotteries
I didn’t know there were state-run lotteries in 1776, but apparently there were, because Adam Smith explains what a bad deal they are in The…
Texas Insider
An End to Out-of-State Beer?
Washington Times
Cigarette Warnings to be More Graphic?
Washington Times
Supreme Court Asked to Review Multistate Tobacco Deal
NCPA
An End to Out-of-State Beer?
NCPA
Big Government’s Final Frontier
There’s something about space policy that makes conservatives forget their principles. Just one mention of NASA, and conservatives are quite happy to check their small-government…
Blog
Legalized Internet Gambling in New Jersey?
What does it take to get governments to deregulate? You might think the answer is “a miracle” or maybe “drugs in the water,” both of…
Blog
Video Games are More than Just Good for Kids
They will be a primary way that we learn, teach, produce and advance in the future. Jane McGonigal of Institute for the Future has…
Legal Brief
S&M Brands v. Caldwell – Appendix to Cert. Petition
See: Petition for Writ of Certiorari, S&M Brands v. Caldwell…
NCPA
Tobacco settlement — A pinnacle of coroporate-government collusion — faces challenge in Supreme Court
News Release
Lawsuit Against Government-Tobacco Cartel Brought to Supreme Court
Washington, D.C., November 9, 2010 — After five years of litigation, a new challenge to the $200 billion backroom deal between major tobacco companies and…
Blog
New York Bans Smoking in Central Park
…and all other public outdoor spaces. Soon there will be no smoking in any car-banned area of New York City, including Times Square, Central Park,…
Legal Brief
Petition for Writ of Certiorari: S&M Brands, Inc. v. Caldwell
Full Document Avalible in PDF Lawsuit Against Government-Tobacco Cartel Brought to Supreme Court Backroom Tobacco Deal Violates US…
Blog
USDA Puts Fox in Charge of Guarding the Hen House
A proposed new rule from the USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration is one more example of obscure regulatory agencies run amok. What makes…
Blog
A New Face for High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Via The Huffington Post, an update on Big Corn’s quest to continue fueling our tasty beverages: The makers of high fructose corn syrup want…
Blog
The United States of Cheese
When I scanned The New York Times website on Sunday, I—like most readers—was immediately distracted by this headline: “While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes…
Blog
An End to Out-of-State Beer?
Would you be steamed if you couldn’t buy Anchor Steam (of San Francisco, CA), or go into a flying rage without Flying Dog (of Maryland)?…
Blog
Non-Partisan Victory: Dallas Eliminates “Dry” Areas
Cheers to Dallas voters who supported an initiative to eliminate “dry” areas (aka areas where alcohol was completed banned) of the city, which passed with…
Blog
Liquor Privatization Still has Hope in Washington
As my colleague Angela Logomasini wrote in a post earlier today, voters in Washington State vetoed two measures that would have privatized liquor sales in…
Blog
Alcohol Bureaucracy Prevails in Washington State
Washington State voters rejected an initiative that would have re-organized this industry simply to make it more rational, market-based, and fairer. The initiative,…
Blog
Menthol Cigarettes: In or Out?
In 2009, President Obama–a semi-closeted smoker–signed the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.” The law granted the FDA new powers to regulate tobacco advertising.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 156: Happy Meals
With an 8-3 vote, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors banned the greatest menace facing it or any other city: happy meals.
Blog
Feminist Porn Director Supports Freedom of Individual Choice
Porn actress, director, and self-described “kinky feminist,” Madison Young, spoke out in an interview with Salon.com about her feelings in the condom debate that…
Blog
Private Liquor in Virginia Off the Menu… For Now
Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell announced last Friday he would not be holding a special session in order to act upon his Virginia liquor store…
Blog
Halloween Roundup
Silly string forbidden in Hollywood on Halloween, man arrested for wearing a mask, plus more.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 155: Miniskirts
Police officers would be tasked with paying close attention to women’s hemlines; no doubt many already do. Women who catch an officer’s eye could be…
Cigar Magazine
Menthol Wars
Full Document Available in PDF So cool. So refreshing. So politically endangered. They’re…
Cigar Magazine
Prospects for U.S. Internet Gambling Post-Midterm Elections
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has been pivotal in efforts to legalize Internet gambling in the United States. In 2007, he introduced the first of several…
Blog
Washington State Ballot: Cracking Open the Wine and Spirits Market
This election day, Washington State voters will have to decide on two different ballot initiatives dealing with alcohol regulation (#1100 and #1105). The first will…
Blog
Ignorant Food Snobbery: Judge Orders McDonald’s to Pay Obese Employee $17,500
From The New York Times: A Brazilian court ruled this week that McDonald’s must pay a former franchise manager $17,500 because he gained 65…
Blog
Butcher’s Bill for Texting While Driving
In my LA Times piece “Texters, You’d Be Better off Driving Drunk,” Oct. 3, I stated “There are no reliable studies regarding deaths associated…
Cigar Magazine
Virginia Lawmakers Aren’t Entitled to Liquor Revenue (Letter to the Editor)
It is long past time for Virginia to shake its state monopoly on liquor sales, and it’s a shame that we’ll have to wait until…
Cigar Magazine
Virginia Lawmakers Aren’t Entitled to Liquor Revenue
It is long past time for Virginia to shake its state monopoly on liquor sales, and it’s a shame that we’ll have to wait until…
Blog
An Alcohol-Caffeine Ban Won’t Work
The genie is out of the bottle. Mixing energy drinks and distilled spirits has become a popular trend in the U.S., particularly, among college age…
Blog
Sen. Grassley’s Selective Crusade Against Conflicts of Interest
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.) has been on a tear lately, badgering the Food and Drug Administration about whether it's doing enough to crack down on…
Blog
Supreme Court Case May Wipe Out Vaccine Industry
Back when Congress knew how to pass good legislation, in this case in the mid-1980s, it took most cases involving vaccine liability out of the…
Blog
My Role Model, Jenna Jameson
As a self-made business mogul, a mother and wife, and a cancer survivor, there are many aspects of Jenna Jameson to admire and emulate.
Blog
Soda Regulations for Everyone!
2010 hasn’t been a good year for soda. As Americans tune in to reality TV shows like The Biggest Loser and Too Fat for Fifteen,…
Blog
Global Food Crisis Forecast; Aggravated by Biofuels and Global Warming Legislation
A global food crisis is “forecast as prices reach record highs.” “Rising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 154: Potatoes in School Lunches
The children are not pleased. One child told the Associated Press, "That would be so not cool. I love tater tots."…
Blog
Insurance Lessons from Alabama
While Alabama certainly has some ambiguous laws and archaic regulations, the federal government ought to take a lesson from Alabama when it comes…
Blog
Porn Stars Get Behind Personal Choice by Opposing Condom Mandates
The most recent case of porn actor testing positive for HIV has renewed calls (or at least media attention to the calls) for a…
Cigar Magazine
Victimizing Victimless “Criminals” for Fun and Power
Blog
PETA vs. CEI: A Surprisingly Amiable Exchange of Ideas
Yesterday, the DCist reported that PETA planned a protest outside of the Capital Grille, a meat-centric restaurant here in the nation’s capital. The…
Blog
Over-indulging Alcohol Regulators
A new study on alcohol consumption raises questions about government attempts to protect adults from “over-drinking.” It is particularly relevant as citizens debate privatization…