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
![21 cents worth of stupid in the Department of Energy’s latest stove proposal](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1332985903-578x324-c-default.jpg)
Blog
21 cents worth of stupid in the Department of Energy’s latest stove proposal
The good news is that the Biden Department of Energy’s (DOE) latest proposed efficiency regulation for residential stoves is considerably less damaging to consumers…
![This week in ridiculous regulations: food hazards and powerline permits](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Power-lines-578x324-c-default.jpg)
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: food hazards and powerline permits
Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in his hush money case. Apparently nothing else of note happened all week, since that was the only…
![California’s $20 fast food worker minimum wage a regressive tax](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-688056784-scaled-578x324-c-default.jpg)
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…
Search Posts
Blog
Organic Food Waste … of Your Money
There is a great piece in Today’s Financial Times authored by Michael S. Kapinker, which is related to an issue raised in my…
Blog
Government Bullies Retirees, Banks, Rips Off Taxpayers
The Obama Administration is now seeking to give the United Auto Workers Union a big chunk of General Motors, at the expense of taxpayers…
Blog
Save the Economy, Save the Environment
Whole Foods profit has fallen 32 percent, reflecting changes in consumer demand during economic hard times. It appears that organic food becomes a luxury…
Blog
Stupid and Evil Soda Tax
Nanny statists are, apparently, equal opportunity hacks. Activists on the left and their legislative team players are not only going after the bottled water…
Blog
Adviser Admits Obama’s Tax Increases May Kill Economic Recovery
Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, warns that “the barrage of tax increases proposed in President Barack Obama’s budget could . . . kill any chance of…
Blog
Law Professors Urge Supreme Court to Review Challenge to Powerful Agency, in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will weigh whether to decide what a federal judge called the “the most important separation-of-powers case regarding the President’s appointment…
Blog
Annual biofuel subsidies will hit $60 billion in 2022 — Earth Track
Doug Koplow of Earth Track, assisted by researchers with Friends of the Earth, has produced a new study, A Boon to Bad Biofuels, on the…
Newsletter
Chrysler’s Bankruptcy, Small Businesses Fight Back and New York’s War on Bottled Water
Financial analysts size up what Chrysler’s entrance into Chapter 11 bankruptcy means for customers and employees. Small business owners band together to oppose new union…
Citation
Online Gambling a Risky Proposal
Blog
Purpose of Hate-Crimes Bill Is To Promote Double Jeopardy and Shred Civil Liberties
On April 29, the House voted 249-to-175 to pass the federal hate crimes bill, which the bill’s supporters explicitly want to use to prosecute…
Blog
Citizen Showing Gadsden flag ‘Stopped and Detained’ by Louisiana Police
Louisiana police stopped and detained a U.S. citizen for displaying the Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" flag on his car. This lead G. Gordon Liddy…
Blog
Obama Breaks Yet Another Promise
Obama promised to end the military’s ban on gays, but his Administration has not done so. In fact, it recently kicked out a West Point…
Blog
The Road to Serfdom
On Hayek’s brithday, the following brief speech from internet megastar Daniel Hannan MEP should remind us that there are all too many paths leading to…
Newsletter
The War on Cockroaches, Consumer Credit Shrinks and the Future of Internet Gambling
New York State officials move to limit sale of anti-insect “bug bombs” to consumers. Economists chart a record drop in consumer credit. Rep. Barney Frank…
Blog
Cockroaches Win
If New York regulators get their way, the only other option will be for people to hire an exterminator. So basically, if your income is…
Newsletter
Eco-sailors, Free Speech Restrictions and Global Warming Legislation
A group of “eco-sailors” is rescued from dangerous weather conditions by the crew of an oil tanker. A new bill would punish hostile speech online…
News Release
Barney Frank Internet Gambling Bill Aims at Legalization
Barney Frank Internet Gambling Bill Aims at Legalization “A Step in the Right Direction,” Analyst Says Washington, DC, May 6, 2009 – A bill to…
Blog
Destabilizing Afghanistan: the Quagmire Expands
The anti-American Taliban extremists are resurgent not only in Afghanistan, where they once sheltered Osama Bin Laden, but also in neighboring Pakistan (which has nuclear…
Blog
Congress to Tackle College Football
Having solved all of America's other problems, Congress is turning its attention to how college football's national championship is decided.
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Obama’s pending cybersecurity overhaul should heed the “Cybersecurity Commandment”…
Not many details have appeared, but the Atlantic reports on a speech given by the administration’s Melissa Hathaway in McLean, VA: In her speech,…
Blog
Civil Rights Commission Members Urge “NO” Vote on Federal Hate Crimes Bill
Four members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission urged Congress not to pass the federal hate crimes bill (LLEHCPA) . . . pointing out that…
Blog
Strange Priorities: Government Fights “Indecency,” But Not Shoplifting
The prosecutor in Contra Costa County, California won’t prosecute shoplifters anymore, citing budget cuts. It’s open season on retailers in that large suburban…
Blog
Well @#$%&, Supreme Court Upholds Ban on “Expleetive Deleetives.”
In FCC v. Fox today, the Supreme Court upheld regulation of “fleeting expletives” on broadcast television. What should be “fleeting” is the nearly century old…
Blog
Enron-like Fraud by Government in Bailouts
The federal government is perpetrating Enron-style fraud against investors in its bailouts of Merrill Lynch and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Secretary and Chairman of…
Blog
General Growth Properties (GGP) — Bankruptcy the way it ought to be
On the surface, given the economic turmoil we’ve had, there was nothing that remarkable about the bankruptcy of shopping mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP).
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Obama credit card meeting — should meet with economists instead
Instead of meeting with the executives of credit card issuers and sactimoniously lecturing them about not raising rates, as he is doing…
Blog
Mortgage Executive Kills Himself, After Obama Makes Mortgage Giant Freddie Mac Lose Money to Bail Out Irresponsible Borrowers
The chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac committed suicide today in his basement. The Obama Administration forced Freddie Mac to run up…
Blog
People Make Earth Day Better
This year, we at the Competitive Enterprise Institute are suggesting that those who will be celebrating Earth Day remember the challenges presented by living in…
Blog
Kids Know a Bucket of S**t When They See One
I’ve always been a fan of Lewis Black’s take on things, even when it’s obvious we disagree politically, but this take on the way TV…
Blog
Obama to Sign $6 Billion National Service Boondoggle; Mandatory Service Mulled
President Obama will sign into law a $6 billion “national service” boondoggle. In the March 31 Washington Examiner, I described how the “Americorps…
Blog
Between the Headlines:”Sustainability” Means Sustainably Poor
“Mars Sets Goal for Sustainable Cocoa Sources” Another Washington Post story suggests that “sustainability” –whatever it may mean — still can…
Blog
Tech is Key in Ideas Battle
Earlier today, Competitive Enterprise Institute President Fred Smith delivered an informative but lively, entertaining speech about the role of NGOs. The speech was delivered at…
Blog
The Liberal War on Science
Christina Hoff Sommers writes about a looming liberal war on science. Based on a campaign promise Obama made to feminist groups in October…
Citation
Food Safety Law and Small Producers, Cont’d
Family Security Matters
Holdren as White House Science Advisor
Blog
Jack Dreyfus, FDA Reform Pioneer
My colleague John Berlau wrote a nice obituary of mutual fund pioneer Jack Dreyfus that was published in Investor’s Business Daily earlier this week.
Newsletter
Banning Bottled Water, Remembering Jack Dreyfus and Greenhouse Gas Legislation
Activists campaign for college campuses to ban sales of bottled water. Legendary investor Jack Dreyfus passes away at age 95. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and…
Blog
America – full of Socialists?
Almost half of Americans either prefer socialism to capitalism or are downright confused, according to a Rasmussen poll released today. Twenty percent of Americans…
Blog
Trojan Horse “Food Safety” Law
A misguided bill, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, may shut down farmer’s markets and “drive out of business local farmers and artisanal,…
Blog
CBO catches up with CEI on ethanol
Well. The Congressional Budget Office has finally caught up with what CEI has been saying for years — misguided ethanol policies cause higher food prices…
Blog
Smith on Smith (and Gjerstad)
In a letter in today’s Wall Street Journal, CEI’s Fred Smith references Steven Gjerstad and Vernon Smith’s earlier op-ed to point out that…
Family Security Matters
Disputing the Need For State Insurance Regulation
Blog
Baptist-Bootlegger Alliance on Tobacco
In today’s Washington Examiner, Tim Carney has an excellent column on how the bill to place tobacco under FDA regulation would reduce competition in…
Family Security Matters
H.R. 875, Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009
Blog
Rise of the Luddites
When it comes to things such as environmental policy, the Progressives have been rather successful at promoting their world view. They realized that it would…
Blog
Salt of the earth
Many people believe that salt is bad for your health, but John Tierney’s column today in the New York Times points out the body…
Family Security Matters
Now banned on campus: bottled water
There is Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes;…
Blog
Markets Rally on Hopes of Regulatory Relief
The stock market has gone up by 280 points so far today, fueled by FASB’s vote to relax rigid mark-to-market accounting rules,…
Newsletter
Absurd Product Bans, Global Warming Legislation and Unsafe Organic Farming
Industry observers look to California to take the lead in ending the ban on online gambling. Reps. Henry Waxman and Ed Markey introduce sweeping new…
Blog
Virginia Postrel on Her Own Brush with Cost-Effective Drug Research
One letter writer argues that Herceptin was a poor example because "Multiple cost-effectiveness analyses have shown that, despite its high cost, Herceptin is both effective…
Study
The Five Dumbest Product Bans, 2009
Eli Lehrer's Annual Review of Regulatory Absurdity…
Blog
Organic Pesticides Fail EU Safety Review
Ask people who buy organic food what they like about it, and chances are, most will say "they're grown without pesticides." That's not actually true.
Blog
With or Without You
The Obama administration's ouster of GM CEO Rick Wagoner won't solve the auto giant's problems. It does, however, show the power that government now wields…
Blog
Torture Caused Bogus Orange Alerts
Many of those bogus orange alerts that inconvenienced and alarmed travelers since 9/11 had an unsavory source: torture. The Bush Administration, with the tacit…
Family Security Matters
‘Battlestar’ Rules: In the Wasteland of TV Drama, An Intergalactic Tour de Force.
Untitled Document When it premiered to high ratings in 1978, the producers of Battlestar Galactica promised their show would bring feature-film standards to…
Blog
Feds Make Freddie Mac Even Worse, Ripping Off Taxpayers
After federal regulators took over failing mortgage giant Freddie Mac, they didn’t stop its risky lending practices. Instead, they ramped up its risk-taking, making it…
Blog
Losing talent in these perilous times
We’re beginning to see the talent exodus from TARP-funded financial institutions. Yesterday in an op-ed Jake DeSantis of AIG-Financial Products wrote his “resignation letter”…
Blog
Post-Modern Food Fetish
There’s very little that’s romantic about keeping a big backyard garden, and less still about the actual practice of producing meaningful amounts of food. But,…
Blog
Obama for global financial governance?
With the G-20 meeting looming in the midst of a worldwide recession, President Barack Obama sent an essay published today in about 30 newspapers…
Blog
Fishing for Rationality in the Beauty Salon
Thinking of getting one of those cool new “fish pedicures”? Well, you’d better act fast. 14 states have already banned the process. But a member…
Blog
AIG Lies; Bonuses for Fannie & Freddie; Fed Explodes Money Supply, Risks Stagflation
It’s not just AIG, being bailed out for $170 billion, that’s using taxpayer money to give fat bonuses to its employees. The same thing is…
Newsletter
Liar Loans, Rising Sea Levels and Gambling Online
Democrats in Congress quarrel over new bankruptcy rules for homeowners. Newspaper headlines claim that sea levels are rising twice as fast as before. Finance Committee…
Blog
An Explosion of Litigation
Already burdened by $8 trillion in new federal spending commitments and the likelihood of higher taxes to pay for bailouts,…
Blog
Economists Give Obama Failing Grade; New Bailouts Demanded As Obama Breaks Promises
Obama gets a failing grade from economists. “U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to…
Newsletter
Stocks Rise, Fossil Felonies and Reforming Online Gambling
Stock values make their biggest one-day gains since last November. Congress considers a land management bill that could punish paleontologists and rock collectors with arrest…
Blog
Stimulus Subsidizes Corruption, Waste, Racism
The $800 billion stimulus package signed by Obama not only will make the economy shrink over the long-run, it will pay $88.6 million…
Newsletter
Cybersecurity Turf War, Strongarm Union Tactics and a Beer Battle in Colorado
President Obama’s chief of cybersecurity quits, citing overbearing control by the Department of Defense’s National Security Agency. Prominent Democrats come out against changes…
Blog
CO Liquor Stores & Craft Brewers Against Consumers?
After running into the owners of a Colorado Brewery this weekend, I stumbled on a battle going on in the state between, as the…
Punditry by the Pint
Beer Wars
Overlawyered
What have they done with the old Rose and Crown?
Overlawyered
What Have They Done With the Old Rose and Crown
Blog
$8 Trillion in Bailouts; Undeserving Rich Benefit
Federal bailouts and related spending proposed by the Obama Administration now total 8 trillion dollars, according to the American Institute for Economic Research.
Blog
Schadenfreude “Two-Fer”
The New York Times reported this week that the Peanut Corporation of America plants in Texas and Georgia that were shipping salmonella contaminated peanut products…
Blog
Yes, “Botch” is the right word.
Alex is right. “This IS one of these questions about what to do in the real world, where first-best solutions just aren’t politically possible†(emphasis…
Blog
Did the Supreme Court “Botch” Wyeth v. Levine?
I was initially going to post this as a comment to Greg Conko’s recent post arguing against the Court’s recent decision in Wyeth…
Blog
Imagine There’s No Agency
Washington spends and regulates, and it’s hard to make it stop doing either. Government agencies and programs attract constituencies that want to keep them around,…
Newsletter
Beer Taxes, the Beige Book and Drug Safety Before the Supreme Court
Oregon becomes one of the states seeking to raise new revenue by increasing taxes on beer. The Federal Reserve releases its…
Blog
Business + Gov. Leeching = Job loss
As I blogged about earlier many states…
Newsletter
FDA’s Death Toll, Online Gambling and Dangerous Treaties
The Food and Drug Administration restricts production of an approved drug to treat a degenerative and often fatal muscle disorder. Online gambling operators await action…
Blog
Will the “food police” be nationalized?
In this bizarre Washington world, it can’t possibly be true, but it is: a top staffer at the lobbying organization often pejoratively referred…
Blog
Alarmism Has Consequences
In a magnificent display of self-delusion, the green movement is holding a demonstration at the Capitol’s power plant today to protest the continued use of…
Newsletter
Toilet Papers Wars, New Powers for the EPA and Bottled Water Hypocrisy
Environmental groups attack the use of soft, comfortable toilet paper. President Obama proposes a 34% increase in the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. Cities…
Casino Affiliate Programs
U.S. Research Body Underlines Legality of Online Gambling
Gambling Moments
Online Gambling In The US: LEGAL
USA Online Casinos
The Legality of US Online Gambling
Blog
SOTU watch: Farm programs
Ten words in the SOTU address last night could presage some modest reform of wasteful agricultural programs: “. . .end direct payments to large…
Rational Review
The Legality of Online Gambling
Blog
Zero-Based Governing and Improving the State of the Union
Removing burdensome regulations on small business hasn’t figured much into the economic recovery program thus far. Too bad. Alternatives to “spendulus” and the “Bailout to…
Rational Review
Poker as a game of skill
Blog
A Gamer Win For Parenting
If you’ve followed my posts here at OpenMarket.org or at my personal site, you’re well aware of the fact that I…
Blog
Nationalizing the cars and bikes of rock collectors — Pending Omnibus land bill’s forfeiture provision has broad reach
At the same time there has been so much talk of government nationalization of troubled big banks, a bill quickly snaking through Congress would allow…
Blog
The Auto Bailout We Need
The automakers have come back for more taxpayer money, which is exactly what we warned would happen when the first bailout was granted…
Blog
UBS agrees to deal with the devil
I revoke my previous apology to the Swiss, and reiterate my previous disapproval. As evidenced by the…
Study
The Truth About Online Gambling
Michelle Minton explores why government shouldn't treat gambling as if we lived in the Old West.
Study
Poker as a Game of Skill
Full document available in pdf It’s two minutes before the cards are…
Newsletter
Bottled Water Wars, Stimulus Disaster and Offshore Oil
Activists urge local governments to enact policies opposing the sale of bottled water. The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops dramatically as President Obama signs a…
Blog
Null Government
Well, the Spendulus/Stimulus will be signed into law within minutes. We’ll soon learn that even this Leviathan-In-A-Box is only the beginning of the Age…
Study
Bottled Water and the Overflowing Nanny State
In her study Angela Logomasini's analyzes how misinformation about bottled water erodes consumer freedom…
Blog
What would it mean to have no “environmental footprint”?
Maybe to have no life. As this article over at the Ayn Rand Institute points out, the more “eco-friendly” you try to live, the…
Blog
“Spendulus” conference report has passed the House
But thought you might be interested in one congressman’s last-minute appeal to sanity. You, dear reader, are a person things are done to.