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
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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…
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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…
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Nonagenarians in the news
Nonagenarians — people in their nineties — are making news this month. Last week Norman Borlaug received the Congressional Gold Medal for his lifetime…
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More on subsidies for dead farmers — in the GAO’s words
Here’s a copy of the Government Accountability Office’s report on large farm subsidy payments made to dead farmers, which was released today at a…
Blog
The downside of bipartisanship — 2007 Farm Bill
At an hour-and-a-half press conference this morning, House Agriculture Committee members, perhaps sensitive to revelations that dead farmers have been receiving huge farm subsidies,…
Blog
Hands off VOIP
Today's New York Times carries a story about the sudden failure and shutdown of my former home telephone company, SunRocket. Although it obviously…
Blog
Anti-AIDS Spending Backfires
A U.N. effort to reduce the spread of AIDS to children by encouraging HIV-positive mothers to use formula rather than breast feeding has backfired…
Blog
Offset Your Lunch?
The next time you grab a burger for lunch, you’re part of the global warming problem. That, at least, is the upshot of a…
Blog
FDA Authority: Less Is More
Our good friend (and adjunct fellow) Henry Miller of the Hoover Institute responds in the pages of Regulation to charges that the FDA…
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Just Don’t Drink Water?
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) doesn’t want you to drink bottled water because it’s a waste of resources. Tap water is just as good they…
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Farm bill — Ag Committee gives strong support to energy title
Today at the Agriculture Committee debate on the 2007 Farm Bill (see the live streaming video here), a significant portion of the debate focused…
Blog
A Man for All Seasons, Norman Borlaug
Yesterday Norman Borlaug received the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian award. This humble and unpretentious microbiologist and plant breeder is credited with saving over…
Blog
Worthy Pleasure Seekers of the World Unite
Today the Senate Finance Committee is considering the “Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2007,” which, according to James Thorner of…
Blog
How sweet it is — for sugar producers
As the House Agriculture Committee begins debate on the 2007 Farm Bill today, eight public interest groups sent a letter to committee members…
Blog
Government Wisdom
The House Agriculture Committee’s homepage features a message from the chairman that includes this line: Every American who eats should recognize the importance of…
Blog
Syndicated Vindication
Another CEI milestone – we’ve made it into the popular syndicated newspaper column The Straight Dope (the column has published since 1973 under the…
News Release
XM-Sirius Merger Should Go Forward
Washington, D.C., July 9, 2007—The proposed merger of satellite radio companies XM and Sirius should be cleared by the Federal Communications Commission, according to…
Comment
Comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission in the matter of XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Ra
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Contents…
Blog
I Think I Hear Lee Greenwood in the Background
In the spirit of Independence Day Eve, we should all read Peter Hartlaub’s column in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, and admire its praise of…
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Khosting on Fumes
Our old friend Vinod Khosla is back in the news, this time with something to show for his efforts: the world’s first commercial-scale…
Blog
Tune into the Space Angels Network
Kerry Howley is covering the latest developments in private exploration in space exploration today over at Hit & Run. Also, the July/August ’07 issue…
Blog
The Hidden Costs of CAFE standards
Charles Krauthammer has an interesting column today on the perils and hidden costs of higher CAFE standards, which would order automakers to increase the…
Blog
Grindhouse Grinds Down Crime
It’s received wisdom that violent movies encourage violence and that if only we were like our enlightened European cousins and restricted violence in movie theaters,…
Blog
Every Day is Christmas When You’re an Ethanol Producer
Our good friend Tim Carney has an excellent op-ed today in the Examiner on who’s getting screwed and who’s getting rich off of the energy…
Blog
A Plea for the Victims of Malaria
Today on CEI’s Rachelwaswrong.org blog, Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute (New Delhi, India) makes a plea for greater awareness about malaria’s victims…
Blog
Radio Frequency Your Way to Good Health
AFP reports on a new study by the American Medical Association recommending the implantation of RFID tags to carry medical information in case of…
Blog
Shining a Spotlight on Anti-DDT Activists
A story in today’s Mail and Guardian, an online African newspaper, highlights First Lady Laura Bush’s trip to Africa, where she is “shining a…
Blog
Tires from China
Today’s news contains word that The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is calling for the recall of 450,000 Chinese tires that apparently come apart…
Blog
A couple of bucks stop here
A new survey from the strange combination of Resources for the Future, New Scientist, and Stanford University has some interesting findings not just on…
Blog
Cell Phones and Driving
Interesting new study from James E. Prieger of Pepperdine University and Bob Hahn at the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, looking at the…
Blog
Reasonable Energy Policy Blown Away in House
The Industrial Wind Action Group just sent along a press release on the emerging monster of a House energy bill and a recent change…
Blog
Social Workers Seize Children to Receive Adoption Bonuses
In England, as in the United States, local governments receive cash incentives from the national government for adopting out children. In England, this has led…
Blog
On Thoroughbreds
Iain, Interesting points. I’m no expert on horse racing but my understanding is that the the races in the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred…
Blog
Mea Culpa (Sorta) on Credit Scoring
No sooner did I post my thoughts about the Supreme Court decision on credit scoring than I got an e-mail from an American Insurance…
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Green State of Denial
John Tierney’s excellent article on Rachel Carson’s legacy published in yesterday’s New York Times is under attack on the comments section of Tierney’s blog. The responses…
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A Two-Pronged Triumph for Science
Iain – Thanks for noting the triumph of unreason in the EU, where they’re banning barometers because of the presence of that ole…
Blog
Improvement of the Breed?
Of course, Greg, it’s worth noting that the organizations you refer to appear to be largely falling down in their efforts to improve their…
Blog
Can You Clone that Thoroughbred?
USA Today has an interesting article this morning about the position of various purebred animal promotion associations (think American Kennel Club) on animal…
Blog
Conservatarian Thoughts on the FCC
Our friend (and former Open Market editor) Peter Suderman makes an excellent free market point at The Corner today about broadcast obscenity and…
Blog
NYT on Carson
Today, columnist John Tierney takes on the legacy of Rachel Carson in the New York Times Science section, offering a critique of Carson’s alarmism and…
Blog
Greens Attack Rather than Debate
Environmental activists from Environmental Defense, the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA), and the Silent Spring Institute refuse to debate me (and probably anyone…
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Rachel wrong on NRO and CBS
Iain’s National Review Online piece on Rachel Carson’s other legacy — alarmism as a political tactic — was also picked up by CBS…
Blog
At the Mercy of Regulators
After a seven-year policy battle, Europe’s new chemical law takes effect today. The law is known as REACH—the acronym for the bureaucratic name Registration, Evaluation…
Blog
Tensions within the FDA — Type I, Type II debate
An internecine struggle apparently exists within the FDA, according to an article in the New York Times. Those tensions between drug approval officials and…
Blog
Partial Nudity Delays Halo 2 for Vista
Halo 2 for Vista was found to have a hidden part of the code containing a character which moons the player. Much like GTA‘s hidden…
Blog
Department of Pre-Regulation
One of the highlights of our big annual dinner last week was our faux public service announcement from a future where nanny-state regulators have…
Blog
Coburn’s House friends also said no to Rachel
Angela, nice post and op-ed. But I’ve got some good news for you. Coburn isn’t all alone in his crusade to stop Congress…
Blog
Like Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, Rachel Carson is still wrong
CEI’s Angela Logomasini gives kudos to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Olka.) for his stand against honoring the 100th birthday of environmentalist icon Rachel Carson. Here’s…
Blog
Today is Rachel Carson’s 100th birthday
And to observe the occasion, CEI's Jeremy Lott and Erin Wildermuth provide a reality check on her legacy in today's Baltimore Sun: In 1948,…
Blog
Millions Dead
Millions dead and that’s still not enough for environmental activists to change their colors. Last September, Dr. Arata Kochi, Director of the World Health Organization’s…
Blog
Coburn Right — Rachel Wrong
Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) stands largely alone in efforts to stop congressional initiatives to honor the environmental movement’s icon the late Rachel Carson, whose…
Blog
“Scent profiling” in Germany
Germany is collecting “scent samples” of agitators in the runup to the G8 summit to be held in Heiligendamm. Their security people are worried…