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
News Release
Campaign Targets Unfair Political Assault on Bottled Water
A new petition drive demands that politicians not continue plans to ban the product for safety workers and consumers. The campaign comes in the wake of…
Blog
Chicken soup for the soul — and high blood pressure
A food and health tip for these trying times: we all know that chicken soup is good for the soul . . . and for…
Blog
New Regulation in MD a Halloween “trick”?
Unfortunately, this is not a Halloween joke— the Maryland Parole and Probation Division is completely serious. Sex offenders in Maryland are being told that…
Blog
Unstoppable SuperState Stimulus, Part 2
Today’s Wall Street Journal highlighted a new $300 political stimulus campaign. Keynesian demand-management has re-conquered economics as surely as Fall 2008 has cemented…
Blog
Green Spin and Bottled Water
Americans are well aware of the power of political “spin” during election years. But political spin is nothing compared to “green spin,” perpetrated by environmental…
Blog
It wasn’t bailout that caused Monday’s market surge — 3 other factors
Since the $700 billion bailout was first proposed, whatever the stock markets did, much of the press took that as a sign that the market…
Blog
Let Uncle Sam’s People Go!
One of most outrageous features of the federal social welfare state is that Uncle Sam doesn’t want you to be independent. For instance, if you would…
Blog
The Swiss are Nuts … About Plants’ Rights, Anyway
I've visited Switzerland several times. I've always believe the Swiss to be rational, level-headed people. Far more sober than so many Europeans. They've managed to…
Blog
The international mark-to-market contagion — sending global markets in a downward
Bailouts. Global interest rate cuts. More bailouts. Global government liquidity injections into banks. Direct government buying of commercial paper. And even more types of bailouts.
Blog
The World is About to End … Again!
Climate alarmists are in good company. After all, for centuries at least, and probably since the beginning of humanity, some people have worried about the imminent…
Blog
Obama denigrates Delaware in debate
Poor little Delaware. In every presidential election since 1992, she has been in the “blue” column voting for the Democratic candidate. She has long had…
Blog
More Bailouts on the Way
At last night’s debate, Senator McCain floated a horrible idea: to have the government buy up bad mortgages and then write off part of…
Blog
NEW VIDEO: Global Warming and Eco-Imperialism
Coming from the UK, CEI Senior Fellow Iain Murray knows a little something about the history of political empires. Today, however, we find ourselves…
Blog
Deregulation Wasn’t to Blame for Financial Crisis
Even the reliably-liberal BBC says that deregulation wasn’t the cause of the financial crisis. Other liberal journalists like Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby have…
Blog
Market down on bailout — Don’t compound damage with overregulation of ‘Main Street’
Today -- five days after a courageous independent vote against Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's $700 billion bailout for Wall Street -- the U.S. House of…
Blog
Bailout Bill Grows More Bloated, Ignoring Alternatives
There are alternative approaches to the bailout that would cost taxpayers less. But instead, Congress is expanding the bailout bill to stuff it with more…
Blog
Bailout Bill Gets More Expensive and Dangerous
The politically dangerous $700 billion financial system bailout bill is getting even more expensive as supporters load it up with pork to get wavering…
Blog
Bailout Bill Is A Threat to Democracy
At least in its original form, the $700 billion bailout bill was unconstitutional because it gave the Treasury Secretary boundless discretion to buy, or…
Newsletter
Bank Insurance, Banning Wine Coolers and Rationing Meat for the Planet
Members of Congress consider raising the federal bank insurance limit for individual deposits to $250,000. Utah bans flavored alcoholic malt beverages from grocery and convenience…
Blog
Deregulation Didn’t Cause the Financial Crisis, But It Might Help Solve It
Banking expert Peter Wallison explains why deregulation didn’t cause the financial crisis, while Steven Malanga explains how government regulators foolishly pressured banks to drop prudent lending…
Blog
Investing in Communal Failure: The Current Economic Crisis as a Result of Regulation
Unfettered greed is the suspect many point at to explain the current economic crisis. To some extent, they are right, but it isn't irrational…
Blog
BREAKING NEWS: Bailout Vote Fails in House
The House of Representatives just voted down the $700 billion corporate finance bailout, despite earlier urging from President Bush to push the measure…
Blog
Bailout Bill Just Got Worse, But Congress May Approve It Without Reading It, Based on Misleading Claims
The bailout bill has been larded up with additional welfare that will increase its cost, but the House will likely approve it today without…
Blog
Bailout Bill Drafted by Senator Dodd Is a Scam on Taxpayers to Bankroll Left-Wing Extremists
The $700 billion bailout of the financial system just got worse, thanks to a rewrite by Senate banking committee chairman Chris Dodd. If the government…
Blog
Welfare Added to Bailout to Appease Liberals
The cost of the $700 billion bailout bill, criticized as unconstitutional by legal scholars, is rising, as Congressional leaders demand new handouts for deadbeats (and…
Blog
Kudos to Republican Study Committee for bailout alternative
Those of us (and CEI is among the “us”!) who oppose Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion bailout of Wall Street have been challenged to…
Blog
Cost of Bailout Gets Bigger; SEC Regulation Backfires
The financial bailout bill is not just “dangerous, inflationary, unnecessary, and unconstitutional.” It’s also a lot more costly than the government admits, judging from the hypocritical arguments…
Blog
Bailout Bill Dangerous, Inflationary, Unnecessary, and Unconstitutional
The $700 billion financial bailout bill being pushed by Bush and Congressional leaders is attracting broad opposition. Not only does it rip off taxpayers…
Blog
Bailout Threatens Economy, Shreds Constitution, Rips Off Taxpayers
The stock market sank as the Bush Administration capitulated to liberal demands that its proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial system be expanded to add more…
Blog
Paulson bailout would worsen contagion-spreading accounting rules
My colleague Hans Bader is correct that most of the aims of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion bailout -- stopping the "contagion" of…
Blog
Trillion Dollar Bailout Will Lead to Future Bubbles
Why did the mortgage bubble occur? One reason was probably that financial institutions engaged in irresponsible lending suspected they were too "big to fail," and that the government would bail them out if their…
Blog
The ‘Naked’ Truth — Short sellers are unsung financial heroes
At the peak of the real estate boom, there was one group of individuals who said the bubble was about to pop. They pointed to…
Newsletter
Hurricane Recovery, Union Politics and Disaster Insurance
Residents of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast are being advised to avoid taps and drink only bottled water. Unions increase their spending on campaign advertisements and…
Blog
Clinton Pressure to Promote Affordable Housing Led to Mortgage Meltdown
The current mortgage crisis came about in large part because of Clinton-era government pressure on lenders to make risky loans in order to “make…
Blog
Lehman bankruptcy: In capitalism, failure is not a dirty word
My reaction to Lehman Brothers' declaring of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the refusal of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and others to take extraordinary Bear…
Blog
Defenders of Big Government Spawned Mortgage Crisis
The Heritage Foundation today discusses the bankruptcy of the great Wall Street investment bank, Lehman Brothers, and explains how defenders of big government caused the mortgage crisis. …
Letters
Letter On UIGEA to House Financial Services Committee Members
Attention: House Financial Services Committee LA September 15, 2008 Dear Representative: As the House Financial Services Committee moves towards consideration of…
Blog
Big Macs a Health Food? Man Eats 23,000 Big Macs
Don Gorske, a Wisconsin corrections officer, is in “good shape” after eating 23,000 Big Macs. He has, however, cut down on his consumption of french fries,…
Blog
When Government Fails, Blame the Private Sector
Taxpayers are now in the process of bailing out the "Government-Sponsored Enterprises" -- the mortgage giants Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac -- to the tune…
Newsletter
Fannie Mae Takeover, Stimulus Scams and Censoring TV Ads
The federal government assumes direct control over troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Democrats in Congress seek a second round of federal spending…
Blog
Feds Seize Fannie and Freddie, in Multibillion Dollar Bailout
Over Sunday, the federal government took over the government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were running out of money due to their massive…
Blog
Misplaced Priorities on Stem Cell Research
Sigrid Fry-Revere has a post over at The Hill Blog questioning the merits of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. As her new…
Blog
Children Suffer After Firings by Grandstanding D.C. Mayor
Many children are erroneously seized from their parents by child protective services workers, because of skewed incentives. The CPS workers know that they won’t lose…
Blog
Europe: The PC Paradise
People have a lot to say about advertising, much of it bad. Many ads are stupid, insulting, silly, nonsensical, counterproductive, etc., etc. Some are even…
Citation
Morse v. Frederick: Evaluating a Supreme Hit to Students’ First Amendment Rights
Blog
Anna Tomalis, R.I.P.
Last Friday, I attended the funeral of a remarkable 13-year-old girl named Anna Tomalis. For the past three years, Anna had been battling terminal…
Blog
Billions Must Be Spent on Retrofitting Apartment Buildings, Thanks to ADA
The language of the Americans with Disabilities Act is both vague and extremely complicated, causing huge headaches for employers, landlords, and public accommodations. Today’s New…
Blog
Loose Money Follies
The Federal Reserve has been keeping interest rates low and inflating the currency, to bail out irresponsible people who’ve borrowed more than they can afford, and encourage…
Newsletter
Drug Approval at the FDA, Childhood Obesity and the War on Bottled Water
Industry analysts characterize the Food and Drug Administration’s drug approval process as especially “conservative.” An anti-obesity advertising campaign targeted at children generates controversy. Local government…
Newsletter
Losses at Fannie Mae, Satellite TV Merger and Toxic Chemicals
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae reports a loss of $2.3 billion. Cable TV provider Dish Network proposes a merger with DirecTV. Former New York Times environmental…
