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
Can Trump proposed rule pull the plug on bad appliance regulations?
Many Americans dislike federal home appliance regulations, perhaps nobody more so than the current White House occupant, who routinely rails against them at his…
Blog
Hopping the fence: The failures of social media bans
There is growing global momentum toward mandatory age verification and stricter internet safety regulations. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 56…
Blog
Six takeaways from the recent Obamacare announcements
Every year, health insurers participating in the Exchanges (Obamacare) must announce their planned premium increases for the following year well in advance, so federal…
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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…
Op-Eds
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…
Study
BEER and Small BREW Can Be Good for You
America’s beer industry directly supports over 1 million jobs and nearly $100 billion in economic activity. However, the entire beer industry still faces the burden…
News Release
Is More Beer Production Only a Tax Cut Away?
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 – Originally instituted as a way to pay back America’s debts from the Civil War, excise taxes on beer continue to dampen…
Blog
Jane Brody’s Uninformed Attack on Cars and Suburbia
While at a conference where participants discussed the wannabe social engineers cum urbanists' war on automobility and housing affordability, Jane Brody's broadside against Americans'…
Blog
An Alarmist Vocabulary: Chemical Is “Linked To,” “Study Suggests,” “Consistent With”
Headlines continue to appear to claiming that a recent study has shown that the chemical bisphenol A increases the risk of miscarriage, which I addressed…
Human Events
Alcohol Crimes Decline After Liquor Sales Privatization
In the lead up to Washington State voters approving privatization of liquor sales in the state, opponents claimed—as they always do—that the increased availability and…
Washington Post
Letter to the Editor: Consumers have help in identifying non-bioengineered foods
In his Oct. 19 letter on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Tom Natan stated that “the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow foods…
Blog
Alcohol Crimes Decline in Washington After Liquor Sales Privatization
In the lead up to Washington State voters approving privatization of liquor sales in the state, opponents claimed—as they always do—that the increased availability and…
Blog
Is Katy Perry Causing Childhood Obesity?
No, of course not! However, a coalition of health advocates seems to be making that assertion when they sent her a letter this week…
Blog
The NSA: Upgrading from Privacy Destruction to Job Destruction
At a recent Cato Institute event on NSA spying activities, the ACLU’s Chris Soghoian stated that NSA activities were not only a threat to…
Blog
Sugar Policy Drives Out Candy Companies
“Cheaper sugar sends candy makers abroad” says a headline in today’s Wall Street Journal (gated). The article noted that increasingly U.S. candy makers are…
Washington Post
Cuts can be made, but politicians have to want to make them
The program costs $9 billion annually and really should be eliminated since crop insurance is commercially available. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, even a…
Blog
Loosened Laws in New Jersey Result in Brewery Boom
Only a year after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law that would allow breweries in the garden state to sell beer…
Blog
Costly Anti-Bullying Programs Backfire
Countless tax dollars have been spent on anti-bullying programs, and 49 states have anti-bullying laws. After New Jersey passed a broad anti-bullying law, hundreds of schools…
Blog
Enviro Scare Tactics Undermine Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is “breast cancer awareness month” thanks to a collaborative campaign arranged by public and private groups united in the mission to fight breast…
Blog
Don’t Believe the Hype: Your Food Is as Safe as Ever
Supporters of big government are taking advantage of a Salmonella outbreak linked to raw chicken to condemn Republican lawmakers and…
Blog
Are California Droughts Natural or Man Made?
A ongoing battle in court and public opinion rages in California over the environmental status of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (both rivers meet, and…
Blog
Obamacare Quadruples Rates for Some, Subsidizes Some Wealthy Who Retired Early
Due to Obamacare, North Carolina "will see individual-market" health insurance rates "triple for women, and quadruple for men." In Tennessee, Obamacare will…
Blog
Green Policies Translate Into Less Food, Higher Prices
Thanks to misguided bureaucracy and fear mongering from environmental activists, myriad valuable products are disappearing from the marketplace. Walmart, Proctor & Gamble, and…
Blog
Don’t Nudge On Me
In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks describes American culture as “mentally lazy.” Overcoming that, he argues, requires a dose of what he calls…
Blog
Student Barred from Handing Out Constitution on Constitution Day, In Sad Sign of the Times
At Modesto Junior College, a student was prevented from handing out copies of the Constitution on Constitution day. He was also "told he needed to fill…
Blog
House to Consider Separate Food Stamp Bill Later Today
H.R. 3102, the “Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013’’ will be considered on the House floor later today. The 109-page bill, which…
Blog
Executive Branch Review of Federal Regulations — Still Highly Incomplete
In the 2014 fiscal budget proposal, the White House praised regulation of auto safety, energy efficiency and credit cards, and claimed, "…
Blog
A Thorough Education in Mediocrity
Success can pertain to personal satisfaction, an intangible, or outside validation (whether via spoken word, wealth, or popularity). Personal satisfaction may spring from accomplishing a…
Blog
Mississippi Should Tell CFPB to “Stop Spying on Me”
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is coming to Mississippi Wednesday and Thursday with a public forum on "access to information." A vital question for Mississippians to…
Legal Newsline
Plaintiffs win in Calif. lead paint case could threaten business, hit homeowners hard
Angela Logomasini, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who researches environmental regulatory issues, agrees that in the end, a ruling against defendants will…
Blog
Taxpayers Pay High Costs for Crop Insurance Subsidies
Bloomberg on September 9 published an in-depth article on the high costs of federal crop insurance – likely to be increased even more if…
Blog
Green Market Pressure Takes Toll on Consumer Choice
When environmentalists don’t have the political power to regulate away consumer choice, they sometimes can get industry to do the job for them. Most recently,…
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 5, 2013: A New Energy Drink Scare?
Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton puts a scary new study about energy drinks and children into its proper, non-scary context.
Breitbart
Study Discovers Problems With Parenting, Not Energy Drinks
More than half of all calls to Poison Control resulting from energy drinks involve accidental exposure by children under age six, according to a new…
The Hill
D.C. Abuzz About Energy Drinks
America’s politicians and media love a good public panic. And right now they’re having a field day touting the supposed dangers associated with energy drinks.
Blog
Historians Should Learn the Economic Way of Thinking
Simon Schama is one of the world’s great historians. Indeed, I am currently having my children watch his magisterial “History of Britain,” and they are…
Blog
New Mexico Court: Go Into Business, Lose Your First Amendment Rights
In Elane Photography v. Willock, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a wedding photographer violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act by…
Daily Caller
Today it’s ‘nudge squads,’ tomorrow it’s enforcement
It’s not yet true that the White…
Letters
Coalition for Sugar Reform’s “Sweet Facts”
Full Document Available in PDF Leading Free Market Advocates Say “Zero—for—Zero” Makes ZERO Sense • CATO Institute: “… [T]he sugar lobby, and…
Blog
Perspectives on Honeybees and Pesticides
If you believe the headlines, honeybees may soon be endangered, pesticides are to blame, and regulations offer an easy solution. Yet headlines belie the truth…
Daily Caller
Is ‘zero for zero’ a sugar industry ploy?
The U.S. sugar lobby is promoting a supposedly free market idea: to get rid of the U.S. sugar support program if Brazilian producers give up…
Daily Caller
New study proves menu labeling doesn’t work as promised
Does calorie labeling on restaurant menus encourage healthier eating? A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests not, concluding that calorie…
Blog
House National ID E-Verify Bill: 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes (And 5 Worker Protections it Excludes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
Blog
House National ID E-Verify Bill: 5 Worker Protections it Excludes (And 6 Dangerous Provisions it Includes)
The House of Representatives has passed out of committee a bill (H.R. 1772) to mandate E-Verify electronic employment verification for all employers. This bill…
