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
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…
News Release
GDP report for third quarter indicates strengthened economy: CEI analysis
The GDP report for the third quarter of 2024 shows 2.8 percent growth, indicating a rapidly growing and healthy economy. While there is still…
Search Posts
Blog
“If you like public housing, you will love public health care”
Best line this week — should be a slogan for health care debate: “If you like public housing, you will love public health care.” Read…
Blog
Obama’s Call for Light Bulb Regulation Not a New or Bright Idea
Eager to sustain his regulatory whirlwind, President Obama is now calling for efficiency standards for household and business lighting. As if the climate-themed…
Newsletter
Waxman-Markey in the Senate, Tobacco Regulation and Big Labor’s Payday
The Waxman-Markey climate bill passes the House of Representatives. President Obama signs a new law expanding federal regulation of tobacco products. The Waxman-Markey climate bill…
Blog
Companies to China: Don’t profit-block us bro
An article in this morning’s wall street journal commends a coalition of business associations and councils that sent a letter to China’s Premier…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Rice Inspection Certificates
Our rice is in crisis. Inspection certificates currently contain some data in the grade line section that better belongs in the results section. Fortunately, the…
Blog
Hearings Open on Coercive and Counterproductively Costly Health Care Bill
Congressional Democrats are pushing hard to complete their health care bill before next week’s recess, but their hopes for a quick passage and the…
Blog
FDA Tobacco Regulation May Harm Public Health By Blocking Healthy Alternatives
FDA regulation may actually undermine public health by making it harder to market to smokers other tobacco products, like snus, that are not as lethal…
Op-Eds
Obama Signs “Deceptive” FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill
Yesterday, Obama signed into law a deceptive FDA “tobacco regulation” bill that will undermine public health in the long run by protecting cigarette manufacturers…
Blog
E-Cigarette Smokers Could Be Left Out in the Cold
The “smokes” may be different, but the Food and Drug Administration’s ever-vigilant watch to keep us safe from ourselves in its quest to quantify…
Blog
Senators Act on Clean Water Restoration Act
Yesterday, in a mere one hour and seventeen minutes, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee sailed through S. 787—the Clean Water Restoration Act…
Blog
Clean Water Hoax
Sen. Barbara Boxer and company are going to bring the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) up for full committee mark-up and vote in their Thursday…
Blog
Obama Seeks to Mandate More Risky, Low-Income Loans by Banks, in New Financial Rules
The President has just announced proposals for a major overhaul of the financial system. The proposals would force banks to make even…
Blog
HHS Secretary: Health Insurance Industry Needs Competition… With Government
In an AP interview on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called for competition in the health insurance market. No, not between…
Blog
Tourism Bill to Be Combined With Anti-Civil-Liberties Hate Crimes Bill
If you were a tourist, would you like to come to a country where you could be tried twice for the same crime — even…
Blog
Obama’s Speech to AMA on Healthcare Misses the Point
In a speech before the American Medical Association on Monday, June 15, President Obama pitched his plan for heathcare reform. The main thrust of the…
Newsletter
GM’s Bankruptcy, Barney Frank on CNBC and Internet Poker Persecution
The bankruptcy of General Motors is expected to proceed quickly in the wake of Chrysler’s reorganization. House Finance Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) storms off…
Op-Eds
Obama Administration = Waste, Corruption, Corporate Welfare
Rapidly-rising Medicare spending already threatens “to crush the federal budget,” and much Medicare spending is wasteful, yet the Obama Administration claims it…
Examiner
The Federal Government is Wrong About Online Gambling
Examiner
The Federal Government Is Wrong About Online Gambling
Blog
Senate Passes FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill; Obama Will Sign It
The Senate has just passed the FDA tobacco regulation bill by a 79-to-17 vote. The bill now goes to President Obama, who has…
Examiner
Senate Passes Bill to Give FDA Tobacco Regulation
The Senate has just passed the FDA tobacco regulation bill by a 79-to-17 vote. The bill now goes to President Obama, who has said…
Examiner
Suit Over Raunchy Radio Programs To Be Reheard in Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide
Can you sue your employer because your co-workers listen to raunchy radio programs? A federal appeals court is reconsidering its 2008 ruling…
Blog
FDA Poised to Regulate Tobacco, Which May Backfire
Congress is about to enact a bill to subject tobacco to FDA regulation. Mark Berlind notes one anomalous feature of the bill: it…
Blog
Eleventh Circuit Grants Rehearing in Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Which Gutted Statutory Limits on Sexual Harassment Claims
Can you sue your employer because your co-workers listen to raunchy radio programs? A federal appeals court is reconsidering its 2008 ruling…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Saving the Children
On June 26, the National Commission on Children and Disasters is having a meeting. They will be talking about another meeting from the day before.
News Release
Feds Crack Down on Internet Poker
Just when it seemed that those in power had begun to think about Internet poker in a positive light, the Department of Justice throws us…
Blog
Schumer and Cantwell’s deceptive advertising on shareholder “rights.”
If deceptive labeling of bills in Congess were punishable by regulatory agencies, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) would be paying a hefty…
Blog
Bankruptcy judge should put breaks on “Government Motors”
President Obama and his auto task force should respect the role of the bankruptcy court and recognize that its role is not to rubber stamp…
Blog
Stimulus Package Shrinks Economy, Destroys Private Sector Jobs
Most of the $800 billion stimulus package has yet to be spent, but it’s already harming the economy, both by triggering trade wars that have…
Blog
Against Freedom, Against Art, Against Reality
The crusade against film depictions of tobacco smoking is once again gaining momentum. The American Medical Association Alliance, in coalition with several other well-funded special…
Blog
Anti-GMO Zealots vs. Starving Zimbabweans
In Zimbabwe, the most food aid-dependent country in the world, officials and self-styled “consumer activists” have begun raiding shops suspected of selling genetically-modified food,…
Examiner
Someone Has to Pay the Piper
As the cliché goes, the piper must be paid. And when the government decides that some folks are paying the piper too much,…
Blog
Divorce Courts Harass Our Troops and Small Businesses
Memorial Day is an opportunity to thank our troops, and open our eyes to the disgraceful way they are treated by divorce courts. The bias…
Blog
Profiles in Hypocrisy: Gov. Arnold Pushes Violent Game Ban
California legislators, along with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, are still trying to ban the sale of violent video games to minors. Now, they’re taking their…
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…
Examiner
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…
