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Why Europe’s ‘Farm to Fork’ policies collapsed
The new European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, will soon be tasked with “simplifying” agricultural regulations within the Union. “The Commission is…
The Federalist Society
Federal Court Recognizes Limits to Federal Power Over At-Home Distilling
What are the limits of the federal government’s powers? That critical question has been debated since the nation’s Founding, and a recent federal court decision…
Blog
Junk science behind federal appliance regs about to get junkier
The Biden-Harris administration has embarked on a wave of anti-consumer home appliance regulations over the last several years. Each was justified in part by overblown…
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Blog
Why Europe’s ‘Farm to Fork’ policies collapsed
The new European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, will soon be tasked with “simplifying” agricultural regulations within the Union. “The Commission is…
The Federalist Society
Federal Court Recognizes Limits to Federal Power Over At-Home Distilling
What are the limits of the federal government’s powers? That critical question has been debated since the nation’s Founding, and a recent federal court decision…
Blog
Junk science behind federal appliance regs about to get junkier
The Biden-Harris administration has embarked on a wave of anti-consumer home appliance regulations over the last several years. Each was justified in part by overblown…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: marijuana scheduling and do-not-call fees
Rather than allow more housing to be built to combat rising rents, the Justice Department sued RealPage, a rent-listing service. CEI’s James Broughel released…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: energy labeling and FCC rules for homework
There are now more than 2,000 new final regulations on the year. The Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago. A labor market statistic caused…
Blog
2024 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments is out now
The federal government has a spending budget that the public can see. Every year Congress allocates a certain amount of money to each agency, and…
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…
Blog
FDA makes lab test power play
The Food and Drug Administration has just released its long anticipated final rule that explicitly asserts its claim of authority to regulate laboratory-developed-tests (LDTs)—tests that are designed, manufactured,…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Space debris and dried prunes
The privately-built Odysseus spacecraft became the first American moon lander since 1972. President Biden announced new Russian sanctions in response to opposition leader Aleksey Navalny’s…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Energy labels and human food guidance
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady. Employment grew by 353,000 workers in January. The Energy Department partially backed off its proposed…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Baby formula waivers and phonorecords
The 2023 Federal Register became the second-largest ever, dating back to 1936. A new CEI study makes the case for reforming administrative law…
Blog
22 months after we asked, the Food and Drug Administration answered!
Finally! Nearly two years after we asked, the government has finally told us what it was doing! Here’s what happened: We asked the Food and…
Blog
The road to pork product serfdom
There are interesting developments afoot in the world of agriculture and livestock, as recently recounted in the pages of the New York Times. According…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: dairy donations and kiosk interpretations
The 2023 Federal Register topped 60,000 pages. Price controls are on the way for 10 common prescription drugs. Hurricane Idalia hit Florida. Culture warriors shouted…
Blog
How the Inflation Reduction Act takes aim at gas stoves
The American people have reacted very negatively to potential federal regulations targeting natural gas stoves in favor of electric versions. But beyond regulations, there…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: historical captain permits and apricot marketing
The Supreme Court agreed to hear CEI’s Moore v. U.S. tax case in its upcoming term. It also handed down rulings in controversial cases…
Blog
Allergy sufferers to Congress: Please stop trying to help!
The Law of Unintended Consequences gained another data point recently. A bipartisan bill requiring products with sesame to be specially labeled has resulted in…
National Review
Protectionism without Sugarcoating
National Review cites CEI’s Iain Murray about protectionism: Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute describes the U.S. sugar quotas as the “platonic form of…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: baby formula labels and room air conditioners
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. The Supreme Court upheld property rights in a 9-0 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, in which CEI joined…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: lowfat yogurt and halibut sharing
Debt ceiling negotiations remain stalled, and will likely remain that way until the deadline draws nearer. The Supreme Court left Section 230 intact. A…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Freedom is intoxicating with Jacob Grier
In this week’s episode we talk about public opinion regarding capitalism, eliminating COVID relief slush funds, rolling back parking mandates, partisan…
Blog
Screw up the dishwashers, save the planet?
The Department of Energy (DOE) proposed more stringent energy and water efficiency standards for dishwashers Friday, despite the fact that the regulations currently on…
City Journal
Needs More Salt
One year ago, the Food and Drug Administration issued Guidance for Industry, a document setting out goals to reduce sodium content—generally found…
NJ Star-Ledger
Donald Trump makes a corny argument for the 2024 nomination
The New Jersey Star-Ledger cites CEI Senior Fellow Ben Liberman on ethanol mandates: Virtually every free-market thinker in every free-market…
Issues & Insights
Militarizing The Baby Formula Crisis Is Infantile
A military cargo plane lands filled with vitally needed baby formula to be greeted by a top government official. A relief flight to…
Blog
Baby Formula and Regulatory Failure
A lot of people are blaming free markets for the baby formula shortage. As the economist Jagdish Bhagwati might say, the problem with this is…
Blog
Treasury Department Report Endorses Deregulation to Boost the Booze Business
It isn’t often that a Democratic administration endorses deregulation, but that is exactly what the Treasury Department does in a new report on promoting…
Blog
Regulatory Flexibility: Good for the Booze Business and Consumers
The coronavirus pandemic has taught us a few things, including the economic fragility of many industries. The restaurant industry, with its reliance on in-person dining,…
Blog
New Junk Food Ordinance: Another “Feel Good” California Law that Does No Good
California is a tough place to live. Ranked as the state with the nation’s worst quality of life, Californians have the biggest debt-to-income ratio, suffer…
Blog
Cocktails in Quarantine: How your State Governs Booze Buying during Lockdown
With all the other added stress created by the outbreak of COVID-19, most states have chosen to relax alcohol laws in a pragmatic bid to…
Blog
The Man Who Fed the World, And the Film that Condemned Him for It
The first indication that PBS’s new documentary on agronomist Norman Borlaug will not be overly laudatory is its title. Anti-hunger activist Leon Hesser called his…
Reason
Federal Regulations Are Making the Grocery Store Supply Crunch Worse
Reason cites Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on FDA food regulations: “It’s not terribly unreasonable to have these sort of minimal safety rules remain…
News Release
Report: Federal Dietary Guidelines Put Eating Disorder Sufferers at Risk
Federal dietary guidelines and government-mandated calorie disclosures can adversely impact people who suffer from restrictive eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, a new Competitive Enterprise…
Study
How Federal Policy Puts Eating Disorder Sufferers at Risk
Around 8 million Americans suffer from clinically significant eating disorders that drive them to develop and maintain unhealthy, and sometimes fatal, eating habits. The American…
Blog
Loco Four Loko Hysteria
It’s only a matter of time before Phusion Projects' new hard seltzer hits shelves, which means that it’s only a matter of time before alarmists…
Blog
VIDEO: Why Beer Sucks in Socialist Countries
The trend of younger voters allegedly becoming more favorable to socialism has alarmed and chagrined many observers recently, from members of the New York Post…
Blog
Evils of ‘Craving Engineering’
America is a decidedly liberal (in the sense of being tolerant) nation comprised of people with different—often competing—worldviews. As a culture, we value the ability to…
Blog
Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Except Those with Eating Disorders)
The goal of the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans is to provide simple advice that promotes nutritional health, but for millions of Americans it may do…
Blog
Trying the Apolitical Diet
Most people consider selfishness to be a negative quality. When it comes to choosing the diet that promotes our own individual health and well-being, however,…
Blog
Anti-Plastic Crusade Proves Deadly
News reports this week described the tragic death of a British woman, who died last November while using a metal straw. Apparently, Elena Struthers-Gardner, a…
Blog
This Summer, Celebrate Lemonade Freedom
There is good news for young entrepreneurs coming out of the Lone Star State, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) recently signed a bill allowing…
Blog
National Donut Day: Eat One for Yourself and One for Freedom
The Competitive Enterprise Institute first started its two-donut campaign back in 2010. There were some formidable issues back then, from childhood obesity to international tensions to the…
Blog
VIDEO: Bitter Taste of Big Sugar’s Corporate Welfare
John Stossel and the team at Reason TV have a new video out on the expensive and wasteful federal sugar program, which benefits a tiny…
Blog
Help Wanted: Seeking Commissioner for Food and Drug Administration
In a tidal wave of Washington drama, President Trump’s Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb abruptly and unexpectedly announced in March 2019 that he…
Blog
Maryland’s Nanny State Targets Foam Cups and Containers
Maryland consumers may soon be deprived of one of my favorite products: plastic foam coffee cups. The Maryland House of Delegates has already passed a…
Blog
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Soda Labeling Ban for Wrong Reasons
This week the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held unconstitutional the size requirement in San Francisco’s soda warning labeling regulation. However, there are broader…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Consumer Freedom
The second-to-last chapter in the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s agenda for the 116th Congress focuses on consumer freedom. Specifically, the chapter recommends ways Congress can rein…
Blog
VIDEO: What Beer Can Teach Us about Well-Crafted Laws
Our friends at the Federalist Society have released a fun and informative new short film on the history of beer and alcohol regulation. …
Products
Free to Prosper: Food, Drugs, and Consumer Freedom
View the full chapter on food, drugs, and consumer freedom here Few matters are as important to consumers as the foods they eat, the…
ATT.net
Hold The Eggnog: States That Limit Alcohol Sales On Christmas Day
ATT.net cited CEI on holiday alcohol sales. In nearly half the nation, its actually illegal to sell alcohol on Christmas Day, according to…