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.
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EPA Eases Limits on ‘Super Pollutants,’ Claiming It Will Lower Food Prices
The Trump administration is loosening restrictions on “super pollutant” chemicals that are highly potent greenhouse gases, claiming that allowing their increased use will drive down…
Blog
Quartz tariffs are looming and your kitchen could pay the price
Earlier this week, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that increased quartz imports are injuring the domestic quartz industry. The petitioners, the Quartz…
Blog
Illiberalism: The bipartisan tradition
After experiencing the horrors of World War I and fearing a second World War could be imminent, Ludwig von Mises wrote Liberalism: The Classical…
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Blog
The Bizarre, Slanted Coverage of Arizona’s SB 1062
Yesterday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have made clear that the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) applied not…
Baltimore Sun
No One Cards At Starbucks
In Maryland, as in other states, consumers need to show ID when buying alcohol or tobacco products. Energy drinks could be added to that list…
Blog
GW’s Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding Barriers to Today’s Revolutionary Entrepreneurs
Happy Washington’s birthday, everyone! Although the holiday was on Monday, George Washington’s actual date of birth is tomorrow, February 22, in the year 1732. And…
Blog
West Virginia Chemical Spill and Formaldehyde Hype
In this final post on my series related to the January 9 chemical spill in West Virgina, I address wrongheaded claims that the spill…
Blog
Uncertainty and the West Virginia Chemical Spill
In the aftermath of the January 9 chemical spill in West Virginia, environmental activists claim: "More than two weeks after the spill, the answer…
Blog
TSCA Reform Won’t Reduce Chemical Spill Risks
The January 9 chemical spill in West Virginia, which temporarily contaminated the Charleston drinking water supply, has rekindled a debate related to federal chemical regulation.
Blog
West Virginia Chemical Spill: We Have Enough Information to Manage the Risk
In a prior post, I addressed the background related to the recent chemical spill that contaminated drinking water in West Virginia, and I highlighted…
Blog
Reining in the Executive Branch Bureaucracy, Part 7: Recognize and Reduce Indirect Costs of Regulation
Since the Federalist Papers, America has debated “Energy in the Executive.” But President Obama’s 2014 agenda framed by his…
Wall Street Journal
Non-GMO Cheerios Add No Value
Alisa Gravitz, responding (letters, Feb. 4) to our " General Mills GIS +0.46% Has a Soggy Idea for Cheerios" (op-ed, Jan. 21), is wrong on…
Blog
More Regulation Is Not the Answer to West Virginia Chemical Spill
The recent chemical spill in West Virginia has green groups clamoring for more regulation, including expansion of Environmental Protection Agency power under the…
Blog
New York Alcohol Bill Benefits Big Business at Consumers’ Expense
New York’s consumers and small alcohol retailers could soon be paying more for their tipples, for the benefit of big wholesalers. A bill now making…
Blog
Farm Bill Passes Senate, Goes to President
With the U.S. Senate’s passage February 4 of a farm bill by a vote of 68-32, a nearly $1 trillion (over 10 years) farm…
Blog
USDOT Calls for Connected Vehicle Mandate; Security and Privacy Concerns Remain
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today it would chart a regulatory path that would require all new automobiles to be equipped with…
Blog
Should States Legalize Sports Gambling? Yes!
With Super Bowl XLVIII in the history books, all that remains now is for the losers to lick their wounds and for the victors to…
Blog
Long-Suspected TSA Abuse and Incompetence Confirmed by Former TSA Employee
Politico Magazine has a disturbing article by former transportation security officer Jason Edward Harrington. At least it would be disturbing if it wasn’t largely just a confirmation…
Blog
New Farm Bill Will Deliver the Pork to Farmers
Last night House and Senate conferees agreed on a nearly $1 trillion farm bill that would eliminate long-standing direct payments to farmers but beef…
Biotech Now
Cheerios Labeling “Has Emboldened, Not Appeased, Anti-technology Activists”
There continues to be buzz in the media over General Mills’s January 2 announcement to source its original Cheerios’ tiny amount of sugar and corn…
Blog
Reining in the Executive Branch Bureaucracy, Part 2: Regulatory Benefits? Maybe Not
Since the Federalist Papers, America has debated “Energy in the Executive.” But President Obama’s 2014 agenda framed by his State of…
Blog
Reining in the Executive Branch Bureaucracy, Part 1: Measure Regulatory Costs
Since the Federalist Papers, America has debated "Energy in the Executive." But President Obama's 2014 agenda framed by his State of…
Wall Street Journal
General Mills Has A Soggy Idea For Cheerios
This month General Mills announced that it would begin labeling its flagship product, the breakfast cereal Cheerios, as containing no ingredients from GMOs (genetically modified…
Blog
Obama Announces NSA Reforms Could Undermine U.S. Leadership in the Global Information Economy
President Obama outlined plans to “reform” the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs in a Friday morning speech at the Justice Department. To his…
Blog
Cataloging Washington’s Hidden Costs, Part 5: When Regulation Tramples Health and Safety
Act surprised...Show concern...Deny...Deny...Deny. —Anonymous What if anybody in power ever actually paid attention to the body count of federal regulation? We just finished another year…
Blog
Volcker Rule Overshoots Wall Street to Hit Utah
You might think after the disastrous debut of HealthCare.gov and thousands of insurance cancellations, those who call themselves progressives might just have a little humility…
Blog
CEI Podcast for December 18, 2013: The FDA Goes after 23andMe
The Food and Drug Administration recently banned 23andMe, a genetic testing service, from marketing its product to consumers. CEI Executive Director and Senior Fellow Gregory…
USA Today
GOP fighting cellphone freedom
Should the federal government outlaw rudeness? Some senior Republican lawmakers seem to think so. Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission has barred cellphone use on…
Blog
BPA Junk Science Headaches
Could your affection for bottled water be responsible for your bout with migraines? Apparently so, if you believe the latest headlines about the chemical…
Blog
The Volcker Winter Storm — Bad Rule, Worse Implementation
On a snowy day in Washington, several federal agencies packed some mean regulatory snowballs that will most likely overshoot their supposed destination of Wall Street…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Refresh Pa. beer laws
For beer lovers in Pennsylvania, good news may be on the horizon. Laws on the books since the end of Prohibition that make it more…
The Hill
Sheldon Adelson’s futile war on online gambling
Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is not known for modesty. So it was fitting the recent announcement of his plans to push for a federal…
Blog
Busybodies in Congress Prepared to Re-Prohibit Voice Communications During Flight
After two decades with a ban on the books, the Federal Communications Commission is set to consider allowing transmitting mobile devices on aircraft. On…
Blog
Sugar — Congress’ Favorite Sweetener
The sugar lobby’s sweet contributions and their day-in-day-out lobbying means broad bipartisan support for continuing the U.S. sugar program in the 2013 farm bill, as…
Human Events
Don’t let the Nanny State ruin holiday feasts
In the musical “Oliver!” the opening scene features the protagonist and his band of merry miscreants crying, “Food, glorious food!” The orphans then proceed…
News Release
Pennsylvania May Lead the Nation in Liberating Beer (From Prohibition Era “Franchise Laws”)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 – Pennsylvania could lead the nation in reforming anti-competitive, Prohibition-era restrictions on beer distribution, and the benefits would flow to brewers large…
Study
Prohibition Hangover Cure for Keystone State Brewers
Full Document Available in PDF Pennsylvania could lead the nation in reforming anti-competitive,…
Human Events
Beer industry is important — and overtaxed
The Competitive Enterprise Institute points out that the beer industry in America supports more than 1 million jobs and $1 billion in economic activity. Here in…
ABC News
Jessica Alba Leads Mommy War on Synthetic Chemicals
Angela Logomasini of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based Libertarian think-tank, conducts research and analysis on environmental regulatory issues and said she didn't believe…
Blog
COOL Protectionism Still a Hot Issue
A protectionist meat labeling rule requires complicated labeling of beef, pork and poultry to indicate where the animals were born, raised, and slaughtered. Called country-of-origin…
Blog
CEI Podcast for November 27, 2013: Toxic Turkey Day?
Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini debunks scare stories about chemicals in your family's Thanksgiving dinner, from BPA in canned foods to naturally occurring pesticides in potatoes.
Blog
Disregard Toxic Advice on Turkey Day
Toxic chemicals lurk in the "typical" Thanksgiving meal, warns a green activist website. Eat organic, avoid canned food, and you might be okay,…
Blog
Cataloging Washington’s Hidden Costs, Part 3: The Costs of Regulatory Benefits
In the first installment of "Cataloging Washington's Hidden Costs," the topic was loss of liberty; in…
ABC News
JFK space race myth
It’s been half a century since a young president was cut down by a deranged communist assassin, and a little longer than that since humans…
Blog
Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda to Show the “Evils” of Private Alcohol Sales
As if there wasn’t enough money in politics, now government agencies are using taxpayer dollars—our dollars—in an attempt to influence state policy. The National Institutes…
Blog
Government “Study” on Internet Tax Hides Harmful Small Business Effects
Under presidents of both parties, the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy has produced quality independent studies on the harmful tax and regulatory burden on…
Blog
FDA Trans-Fat Ban Sets Stage to Target Sugar, Salt, and More
On November 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to change its classification of trans-fatty acids and remove the designation "Generally Recognized…
Blog
CEI Podcast for November 7, 2013: A Prohibitive Excise Tax
A new CEI study finds that the most expensive ingredient in beer isn’t grain, hops, or equipment: it’s taxes. Study co-author and Fellow in Consumer…
KTIC Radio
Defeat Of Food Labeling Measure Was a ‘Mini Tax Revolt’ Analyst Says
"The mandate would have imposed a 'tax' on a perfectly safe technology that some activists object to on purely philosophical grounds," said Gregory Conko, CEI's…
Blog
Memo to Road Socialists: There Is Nothing Unlibertarian about Road Pricing
Virginia just elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe as governor, as had been predicted by every poll conducted during the past few months -- although at a…
Blog
Senate Poised to Pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Yesterday, the Senate voted 61-to-30 to invoke cloture on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban workplace bias based on sexual orientation or…
Blog
Cataloging Washington’s Hidden Costs: Part 1: The Loss of Liberty
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so. —Quote frequently attributed to Galileo that he probably never said. Washington is teeing up…
Blog
CEI Study Supports Tax Cuts for Beer
If you’ve read Lauren French’s Politico article on the two beer tax reduction bills currently under consideration in Congress, you might think that the Competitive…
