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
The Washington Times
Retail industry projects surge in post-Christmas regifting and returns
The Washington Times quoted CEI’s expert on regifting in the retail industry The problem is that regifting ‘can suggest a certain laziness on the part…
Blog
Consumers benefit from access to Buy Now, Pay Later options
In a rapidly evolving retail landscape, with more and more commerce moving online, there has been a rise of financial technology (or fintech) tools. These…
Blog
Congressional lessons learned: Prioritize private risk capital investment
There is always a temptation for Congress to act during a lame duck session to show it is hard at work doing good for the…
Search Posts
Blog
General Motors Accused of Fraud Over Misleading Claim That It Paid Back Taxpayers; CEI Files FTC Complaint
The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a complaint today against General Motors with the Federal Trade Commission, over…
Blog
The NEW reason for fomenting pig flu panic – “Use up those vaccines!”
According to Reuters, the U.S. has 71 million unused H1N1 swine flu vaccine doses. And damned if it isn’t determined to use up every…
Blog
Bogus Financial “Reform” Bill Regulates Internet, Does Nothing About Corrupt Government-Sponsored Mortgage Giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The so-called financial “reform” bill backed by President Obama gives federal bureaucrats new powers over the Internet, while doing nothing about the corrupt government-backed…
Newsletter
Global Warming Endangerment, Free Expression, and the War on Salt
The Senate will soon battle over Lisa Murkowski’s resolution challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding” on global warming. The Supreme Court overturns a ban…
Blog
Goldman Sachs Endorses Trojan-Horse Financial “Reform” Bill; Bill Has Payoffs for Special Interests
The CEO of Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street firm accused of fraud by the SEC, has endorsed…
Blog
FDA Salt Statement Leaves a “Mistaken Impression”
Some 80 years ago this month, Mahatma Gandhi led tens of thousands on a 240-mile march in protest against a British salt tax, inciting millions…
Blog
ObamaCare Vastly Expands IRS Red Tape and Power, Raises Medical and Insurance Costs, Taxes, and Deficits, and Harms Very Sick People
“Billions of more documents” will be have to be filled out by small businesses for the IRS so that a “spendthrift Congress can shake…
Blog
As financial vote fails in Senate, Florida shows how to really protect consumers from deception
Yesterday, the Senate failed to achive the 60 votes necessary to move forward on the Restoring American Financial Stablity Act. All Republicans present and Sen.
Blog
ObamaCare Will Raise Insurance Premiums and Health Care Costs, Perhaps Bankrupt Hospitals, Federal Officials Admit
“Economic experts from President Obama’s own Health and Human Services Department have released a devastating report noting that Obamacare ‘will increase national health care…
Blog
Michael Specter and The danger of market denial
Michael Specter, a journalist who’s also an excellent speaker, appeared at the last TED conference. Specter is technologically optimistic but has accepted many…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, Online Gambling and Chewing Tobacco
The Senate is set to vote on Senate Banking Committer Chairman Chris Dodd's bill to extend financial regulation. A new study estimates that the ban…
Blog
Online Gambling Could Have Brought $150 billion and 32,000 jobs to the US
In the past five years since the de facto ban on Internet gambling (congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006) the US…
Blog
Center-Right Coalition Letter Opposes Toxic Provisions in Dodd Bill
Below is a letter sent today to the Senate that was signed by several prominent groups in the Center-Right Coalition expressing “grave concerns about the…
Blog
Obama Uses Phony Rhetoric About Financial ‘Reform’ to Push Bill That Enriches Special Interests and Perpetuates Bailouts
President Obama has collected millions from Wall Street special interests, his administration is chock full of Wall…
Blog
Internet Gambling Catches Second Wind
Pokerati.com reports that Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is working on a new bill (one of many in the past year) to legalize…
Blog
Waxman baseball tobacco ban not worth chewing on
Major League Baseball should ban players from using smokeless tobacco in dugouts and on the field because of its health risks and influence on kids,…
Blog
General Motors Repays Tiny Portion of Taxpayers’ $50 Billion Bailout; Obama Backers Bash Critics of Bailout
President Obama’s tax-cheat treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, is trumpeting the fact that General Motors has paid back…
Blog
“Basic needs” need to be regulated, say Dems
Reason’s Ron Bailey, in an “I told you so” article today, points out that Senate Democrats are poised to support a bill that would…
Blog
Earth Day Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification
What’s the most sustainable way to grow the food we eat? The answer environmentalists give is always "local and organic." But, increasingly, the answer from…
Blog
The End of Anti-Discrimination Discrimination?
Affirmative action proponents face a battle this Monday when the Supreme Court hears Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez. The challenger argues that a…
Blog
Congressional Bill Threatens Direct Shipping of Wine
This week, the National Beer Wholesalers Association members descend on Washington for their annual legislative conference and lobbying visits to Congress. High on…
Blog
Food Fight Over a Living Relic of the Past
There’s an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today on a big new…
Blog
Food Safety Vote Threatens Food Safety
This week, the Senate may vote on an amendment to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that could undermine the integrity of the U.S. food…
Blog
Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Depictions of Animal Cruelty
In an 8-to-1 ruling, the Supreme Court has struck down a ban on depictions of animal cruelty as a violation…
Blog
Pennsylvania’s perpetual prohibition
Philadelphians love our beer. Especially our little niche-serving craft-beers. The city of brewerly love has produced some of the countries best-loved brands and…
Newsletter
Salt Police, Pensions and Union Contracts
The FDA is launching a new initiative to limit the amount of salt in processed food. The White House task force on the middle class…
News Release
FDA Salt Initiative Leaves Bitter Aftertaste
Washington, D.C., April 20 – Statement of Daniel Compton, Policy Analyst, on the Food and Drug Administration’s plans to impose legal restrictions on the…
Blog
Hate mail from an M.D. regarding my AOL News piece, “Did WHO Knowingly Hype Swine Flu?”
Dear Mr. Fumento: Well, if you wish to destroy the credibility of the WHO, publishing a few more articles like the most recent one…
Blog
Trojan Horse Financial “Reform” Bill Enriches Goldman Sachs, Rips Off Taxpayers
The Obama administration and Congressional leaders are pushing a trojan-horse financial “reform” bill that would enrich the wealthy and powerful investment bank Goldman Sachs, which…
Newsletter
Stevens’ Legal Legacy, Goldman Sachs and Internet Gambling
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring. The SEC is charging Goldman Sachs with securities fraud. Opponents of internet gambling are circulating a memo…
Blog
Justice Stevens Retires; Left-Wing Law Professor Nominated to Federal Appeals Court
Justice John Paul Stevens, the leader of the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc, is retiring. His most famous ruling is probably the 5-to-4 Kelo decision, which…
Blog
Online gambling opponents play the Abramoff card
Gambling as an activity for fun has been around since the dawn of human civilzation. When man first discovered fire, there were probably cavemen…
Blog
USDA may increase sugar quotas
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture may increase the import quotas for sugar to address a tightening supply…
Blog
Green Thumbs and GMOs
A friend just recommended this op-ed published in the Boston Globe on Sunday. The title and subtitle say it all: "Green Thumbs: Genetically engineered crops…
Op-Eds
Short-Sighted Ban Endangers Food Supply
This week, the Senate may vote on an amendment to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that could undermine the integrity of the U.S.
Blog
Toyota’s “questionable, evasive, and deceptive legal tactics”
“Toyota has routinely engaged in questionable, evasive and deceptive legal tactics when sued, frequently claiming it does not have information it is required to turn…
Newsletter
Pub Restrictions, Tax Freedom Day and Turmoil in Kyrgyzstan
UK regulators are punishing pub owners for promoting happy hour specials and drinking games. April 9th is Tax Freedom Day, statistically the day Americans have…
Blog
Friday Regulation Roundup
It is illegal in Kentucky for anyone under 18 to play pool without photo ID and written parental consent.
Blog
Fannie and Freddie finally called to Crisis Commission
It is good that the commission, after several months, is finally visiting the role of Government-Sponsored Enterprises, but the setup of today’s hearing is still…
Blog
Rent Seekers Keep it Phony
Why does industry sometimes (all too often) support government regulation? You would think they would prize their freedom. But think again. Many businesses are willing…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 132: Fire Sprinklers
Cries for tax simplification grow every year. How does Congress respond? By introducing legislation to "amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify automatic…
Blog
U.S. avoids Brazil’s retaliatory tariffs — for now
With Brazil poised to retaliate against the U.S. for its cotton subsidies that were deemed unfair by the World Trade Organization, the two countries…
Blog
States Expand Gambling as Feds Attack It
Last week the Tax Foundation called attention to state initiatives to expand the lottery system. To cover lost revenues from the recession many states…
Blog
The BPA Myth – continued
I have an article today on both NRO and NPR about the environmental establishment’s continued war on science as it relates to the…
Op-Eds
The BPA Myth
On Thursday, April 1, Time published a list of the “ten most common household toxins,” focused on plastics. It claimed, “Chemicals in plastics and…
Blog
Nanny State Prevails on Maryland Wine Laws
Legislators in Maryland have disappointed the state’s wine lovers yet again by failing to pass a bill that would have allowed residents to receive wine…
Blog
D.C. area poll shows, once again, OTHER Americans are crummy drivers
Why are people killed in Toyotas? Because a huge number of Americans are killed by motor vehicles of all types and Toyota has been the…
Blog
CDC dumping swine flu vaccine – after media dumped the truth
What do you get from a phony flu scare? Among other things, lots of worthless vaccine. “Despite months of dire warnings and millions in taxpayer…
Blog
Car buyers rejecting “Toyota Terror” accusations
“Terror on the Roads: Runaway Toyotas,” was the title of an entry on a prominent Brazilian blog March 31. But today Toyota Motor Sales…
Blog
Menthol cigarettes aren’t cool to the FDA
In what could be one of its most paternalistic moves, the Food and Drug Administration is considering banning menthol in cigarettes – not because…
