National Review
When Science Is Not Science
Just 22 percent of all adults and 41 percent of those 65 and older — the most vulnerable group — have received the updated 2023–24 Covid-19 vaccine.
The Center Square
Op-Ed: Labor Department stuck in 1930s with rule against independent contractors
The Department of Labor is stuck in the 1930s. That’s the most likely explanation for its new rule that could lead to thousands of freelancers…
The Washington Examiner
A dishwasher decision that is great news for consumers
A recent court ruling set new limits on the power of federal bureaucrats to impose unwanted mandates on consumer appliances. In a Jan.
Independent Women's Forum
Reliability is a Concern for Much of the U.S this Winter
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) latest annual Winter Reliability Assessment sheds light on the vulnerabilities of the electrical grid across North America in the…
City Journal
A “Coordinated Campaign”
The Covid-19 pandemic revealed a split between those who believe that the government has broad authority to control every aspect of the economy and society…
Forbes
Artificial Intelligence Trends To Watch In 2024
Making predictions is always hard, especially in an industry moving as quickly as artificial intelligence. But as we stand on the cusp of a new…
National Review
How Does One-Third the CO2 Emissions Cause Three Times the Climate Damage?
This month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published revised estimates of the social cost of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — the three…
Fox News
Biden anti-consumer crusade targets 4 more types of appliances
2023 was an unusually bad year for appliance regulations, and future years won’t be much better unless Congress finds a way to stop…
The Hill
Don’t hand a blank check to a troubled FDIC
When shocking reports surfaced recently of discrimination, harassment and a toxic workplace culture at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, members of both parties…
New York Post
Eco-Warriors are now battling Christmas
In one of the season’s most predictable developments, climate activists have declared war on Christmas trees, vandalizing holiday displays in cities across Germany. Like any…
Forbes
Biden’s Counterproductive Crusade Against Junk Fees
In his latest effort to protect consumers, President Biden is promising to save Americans billions each year by eliminating so-called “junk fees.” Biden’s…
National Review
Adam Smith, a Roman Emperor, and Slavery
Adam Smith tells a story of the new Emperor Augustus and his reaction to the behavior of one of his allies, an equestrian (or “knight”) magnate…
The Dispatch
Why ‘Dollarize’?
The newly inaugurated president of Argentina, Javier Milei, is variously described as a radical libertarian, a right-wing populist, and an ultraconservative. Rather than try to…
National Review
Mass Transit: Preferred over Cars, Except When It Isn’t
For decades, environmentalists and urban planners have been on a mission to get Americans out of their cars and on to buses, light rail, commuter trains,…
National Review
Challenging the Excessive Powers of an Administrative Law Court
At least one form of government abuse might end soon. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this term for Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, which …
National Review
Another FDA Power Grab
The comment period for the Food and Drug Administration’s latest power grab has just concluded. Roughly 20,000 comments were submitted addressing the FDA’s proposed rule which…
Fox News
Why creating an international body for AI is a bad idea
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently re-upped his calls for a global body, akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to advise member…
Forbes
OpenAI Is Now Unambiguously Profit-Driven, And That’s A Good Thing
The recent drama at OpenAI, where CEO Sam Altman was briefly dismissed by the board of directors only to be rapidly reinstated, has sparked discussion about…
Forbes
Biden Releases Fall 2023 Unified Agenda Of Federal Regulations
Since the early 1980s, federal departments and agencies have highlighted rulemaking priorities (not a complete inventory) in the (mostly) twice-yearly …
The Hill
Why are some Republicans pushing new taxes and higher prices?
Here’s a concoction whose toxicity conservatives instinctively recognize: new taxes, higher prices, punishing energy use, and giving foreign countries leverage over how the U.S. regulates.
Washington Times
Better late than never: New York Times finally admits school shutdowns hurt children
The New York Times has made a “startling” discovery. Its editorial board has recognized that “school closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms…
City Journal
Not-So-Affordable Care
In a 2022 book, Seemed Like a Good Idea, health economist Mark Pauly and his University of Pennsylvania coauthors describe how health-care policymakers “often rely on…
The American Spectator
The Forces Behind ESG’s Blacklisting Effect
Underneath the political back-and-forth over environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, we are seeing a sinister shift in targets. What began as a campaign among…
Forbes
Effective Altruism Contributed To The Fiasco At OpenAI
In a surprising turn of events, OpenAI’s board abruptly fired co-founder and CEO Sam Altman on Friday. Following a backlash on social media, the board…
Duluth News Tribune
Point/Counterpoint: Technology once again is altering how, where we work
Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to sundown, stopping…
Discourse Magazine
What America’s Recent Bank Failures Tell Us About ESG Phasing
Financial institutions that radically phase out fossil fuel and other politically scorned investments pose a serious risk to their own business, to investors and ultimately…
Forbes
Schedule F And The Myth Of Apolitical Regulator Expertise
The Trump administration’s Schedule F executive order aimed at making it easier to hire and fire career civil servants in policy roles, but…
The Hill
New Biden ‘Joint Employer’ regulation is a boon for unions
What if you could get in legal trouble simply because you knew somebody else who got in trouble? You didn’t do anything wrong with them.
Op-Eds
Creating An IPCC For AI Would Be A Historic Mistake
The recent artificial intelligence safety summit convened by U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has revived a bad idea—creating an “…
National Review
Biden Order on Artificial Intelligence Puts Too Much Faith in Regulators
President Biden’s executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence (AI) directs more than a dozen federal agencies to, among other things, “establish guidelines…
DC Journal
Point: 40-Hour Workweek Is Under Scrutiny
Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to sundown, stopping…
Forbes
Congress Must Halt The Ascendance Of Regulation By Subsidy
Excessive regulation is one of those perennial Washington issues, which makes sense given that Washington pops out new rules like chocolate bunnies. A …
New York Post
New Yorkers can’t stop complaining about their blocked views
New York City has many fine museums — it isn’t one. Yet. But New York is the home of the nation’s second-dumbest urban political ecosystem…
The Center Square
Op-Ed: Illinois needs to undo its nuclear ban
Illinois has banned construction of new nuclear power plants for the past 36 years, since 1987. That’s a real predicament for a state that already…
DC Journal
Senate Credit Card Bills Will Cost Working Class Consumers
Senators from both sides of the aisle claim they are taking on big banks to help the working class by regulating credit cards. Sen. Josh…
Forbes
Biden’s New AI Executive Order Is Regulation Run Amok
Signed yesterday, President Biden’s new executive order on artificial intelligence safety is already making waves across the technology industry. While the intention of…
Forbes
Biden Gambles On Industrial Policy Tech Hubs
The Biden administration last week announced the designation of 31 regional “tech hubs” across the United States, as part of a new program…
Washington Times
Supreme Court ruled public sector workers cannot be forced to pay dues; unions take them anyway
In the five years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME that public sector workers cannot be forced to pay union dues, many…
Forbes
Net Neutrality Resurfaces To Join The Bidenomics Regulatory Costberg
“It was always about government control.” —Commissioner Brendan Carr, Federal Communications Commission Open Meeting, October 2023 Just in time for Halloween, “net neutrality”…
National Review
The FTC Is Now Trying to Stop Mergers Before They Start
Lina Khan’s antitrust crusade is not confined to the courts. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair has turned her attention to a nearly 50-year-old law about…
Washington Times
Industry reports see ‘Spookflation’ as Halloween demand meets rising prices
The Gazette
Grassley’s USDA spending reforms would protect farmers and taxpayers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is spending billions of dollars each year for programs that Congress never specifically authorized. Fortunately, Sens. Chuck Grassley, (R-IA.)…
DC Journal
Counterpoint: Davis-Bacon Requires Pork Spending, Costs Taxpayers Billions
Forcing federally funded public works projects to pay the so-called prevailing wage is a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The intention behind…
Econlib
Seeking an Explanation for the Stagnation
This is the second of two posts I am writing in reaction to Adam Martin, who wrote two responses to my essay about ways in which …
Real Clear Energy
Climate Coup Alert: CEQ Proposes to Transform NEPA
In recent comments to the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), 24 state attorneys general led by Iowa AG Breanna Bird warn that CEQ’s July…
Forbes
A New Shot At Enlisting The Office Of Management And Budget In Regulatory Streamlining
Congressional leadership on regulatory streamlining is more urgent than ever in the wake of a post-Covid legislative flurry and attendant regulatory pressures soon to be…
Real Clear Markets
Barbie, Hot Wheels, and the Market for Lemons
The Barbie movie is more than a bit of good fun. It also teaches an economics lesson about lemons—the old slang term for defective goods, not the…
City Journal
Equity vs. Evidence
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—a volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes recommendations for clinical preventive services such as…
Washington Examiner
Biden blocking oil and gas leases will hurt families
High gas prices are slamming families. The Biden administration has taken two recent actions in Alaska that are the…
Forbes
Federal Paperwork Hours Consume The Equivalent Of 14,883 Human Lifetimes Annually
The White House Office of Management and Budget has this year issued catch-up editions of Information Collection Budget of the United States Government, a task in…
National Review
Restricting Pharmacy Benefit Managers Could Decrease Competition and Increase Drug Costs
Congress is considering multiple bills that aim to restrict the ability of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate discounts and rebates and to require the PBMs…
Econlib
Reevaluating the Influence of James Buchanan on Libertarian Thought
James M. Buchanan was an economist known for his affiliation with the “Virginia School of Political Economy,” otherwise known as Public Choice theory. Trained at…
Washington Examiner
UAW strike: What the media won’t tell you about the strike
One of the things that liberal groups, unions included, have been good at is creating a narrative and selling that to the …
Forbes
Regulatory Reforms Belong In The FY2024 Budget Deal
Certain regulatory reforms with deep bipartisan endorsement should be incorporated into contentious fiscal budget agreements, particularly when spending cuts are difficult (which is always). We’re…
New York Post
Americans may be richer, but they’re not happier
US household wealth has hit an all-time record of $154.3 trillion. So what? “Americans have never been wealthier,” CNN’s Matt Egan reports, and then raises…
Frederick News Post
A new proposal for constitutional restoration
Now that Congress has gotten past debt-ceiling drama, next up is wrangling the nation’s budget for the coming year. A budget is about policy and…
Wall Street Journal
Court to FDA: Stop Playing Doctor
The Food and Drug Administration regulates pharmaceuticals, but it has no business playing doctor and giving you medical advice. That’s the message of a Sept.
Forbes
How Durbin & Co. Credit And Debit Card Controls Could Pave The Way For CBDCs
Central Bank Digital Currency – the digital form of a national currency that tracks transactions within a government digital ledger – is an idea that…
Forbes
DC Politicians Roll Out The Red Carpet For Big Tech At AI Meeting
America’s tech luminaries gathered in Washington, D.C. this week, ostensibly to “educate” senators on the nuances of artificial intelligence. The convening, referred to as an…
Forbes
Early Warning Signs Emerge For U.K.’s New Innovation Office
A recent Financial Times profile of the U.K.’s newest scientific innovation office has garnered attention, and rightly so. Modeled after the U.S.’s Defense…
Forbes
Once-Promising Guidance Document Disclosures Are Stagnating Under Biden: Inventory and Observations
Laws passed by Congress are archived by subject matter in the U.S. Code. The rules and regulations that incubate in the daily Federal…
DC Journal
Point: This Labor Day, Don’t Let Pols Take Credit for Economy
Workers have much to celebrate this Labor Day. Unemployment is near its lowest level since the 1960s, and real wages are growing again. Post-pandemic inflation…
The Regulatory Review
Modernizing the “Value of a Statistical Life”
The Biden Administration’s “modernizing regulatory review” initiative offers a rare chance to correct historical mistakes in the federal regulatory framework. Central to this effort…
Fox News
This Labor Day, let’s get real about how things have gotten better for workers in the USA
The nature of employment has changed in the last decade more than many people might realize. More of us work from home. More of us…
The Hill
My job, my choice: The National Labor Relations Act does not require unionization
It’s been just shy of a century since the National Labor Relations Act was signed into law, guaranteeing workers nationwide the right to bargain collectively.
Forbes
White House Environmental Regulation Undermines Permitting Progress
In late July, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) dropped a regulatory bomb that threatens to blow up infrastructure permitting reform. The proposal,…
New York Post
Djokovic can compete in the US Open again — after Biden finally ended his unscientific travel ban
The US Open tennis tournament has begun in Queens, and one of the world’s best players will finally be allowed to compete again. Novak…
The Washington Examiner
10% tariff, 100% bad idea
Former President Donald Trump recently pledged to enact a universal 10% tariff on all imports if he regains the presidency. His…
Forbes
Congress Should Confront Significant Rules And Regulations Obscured By “Bidenomics”
This past week, the number of rules and regulations in the 2023 Federal Register crossed the 2,000 mark. At 59,438 pages today, the tally will top 60,000…
Fox News
We need to avoid a ‘ready, fire, aim!’ approach to AI regulation
The panic to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) came almost immediately after last fall’s release of ChatGPT popularized the technology with the public. Some industry insiders…
New York Post
Don’t believe doomsayers — new COVID outbreak is mild, and masks don’t help
COVID-19 cases are expected to rise this fall as new variants become more prevalent. And, as unfortunately expected, it’s already triggered demands by…
National Review
How to Help Discouraged Working-Age Men
More blue-collar American men aged 25–54 than ever are no longer employed and seeking work. That sad trend started in the late 1960s, coinciding…
Forbes
Beware: The Biden Administration Refers To “Economically Significant” Regulations In The Past Tense
The past few days have brought renewed attention to Biden’s Executive Order 14,094 on “Modernizing…
Law and Liberty
The Moral Foundations of Freedom Conservatism
The Freedom Conservatism Statement of Principles, which several of us launched in July, is a simple restatement of the principles that have…
American Banker
Reach out to employees before unionizing becomes an issue
With labor making a bid to unionize the financial services sector, management should proceed with the utmost delicacy. The National Labor Relations Act is almost…
Fox News
New report reveals how CDC can be ready for the next pandemic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new director, Dr. Mandy Cohen. Her predecessor, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, acknowledged CDC was…
Fox News
Biden turns the lights out on yet another one of your home’s essentials
Don’t expect to see incandescent light bulbs for sale anymore. They are now an illegal product thanks to a Biden administration regulation, and…
Wall Street Journal
Biden Knocks Opportunity Cost
The federal government is about to upend how regulations are imposed on businesses and citizens. The White House Office of Management and Budget is quietly…
National Review
The FTC’s Flawed Antimerger Ideology
The Biden administration has unveiled a draft version of new merger guidelines, courtesy of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of…
Real Clear Markets
The Global Rejection of CBDC
The Biden Administration and the Federal Reserve are taking steps toward the potential roll-out of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In attempting to do…
Forbes
Joe Biden’s Split Personality on Energy Project Permitting
On Friday, the Biden Administration proposed a new rule to amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. Unfortunately, the new rule risks…
Fox News
Biden’s new crackdown on another appliance will be worse than gas stoves
We have seen a big consumer backlash in 2023 over Biden administration bureaucrats targeting gas stoves, but that could pale in comparison to…
Discourse Magazine
Red and Blue States Take Sides in Federal ESG Fight
The environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement has become one of the most divisive issues among state legislators in 2023. ESG refers to a set…
Wall Street Journal
Population Growth Is Not a Threat to Prosperity
Marian Tupy and David Deutsch’s op-ed “We Will Never Run Out of Resources” (July 21) recalls the work of Julian Simon. The…
The Washington Examiner
Carbon tariffs will hurt trade, national interests, and consumers
Carbon tariffs are a bad idea that won’t go away, and now the European Union has launched the first one, the …
Forbes
Careful: Misbegotten Government-Business “Blueprints” Can Lobotomize Artificial Intelligence
Atop numerous directives and another of Washington’s periodic “Bill of Rights” proclamations misconstruing who is protected from what by such documents,…
National Review
Keep the FTC’s Hands off Artificial Intelligence
The general panic over artificial intelligence and the Federal Trade Commission’s aim to insert itself into every corner of the U.S. economy recently dovetailed in …
Forbes
AI Economics Must Avoid The Ethical Mistakes Of Climate Economics
Artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered significant public attention in recent months, especially since the groundbreaking launch of the large language model, ChatGPT. Some of that…
Forbes
Biden’s Competition Council Targets Free Enterprise, Expands Government
Joe Biden’s Competition Council, created by his executive order dubbed “Promoting Competition In the American Economy,” celebrated its second anniversary and convened its …
Daily Caller
SEAN HIGGINS: Hollywood Unions Are Getting A Bitter Dose Of Reality
The current strike by Hollywood writers and actors is a reactionary, rear-guard effort against changes in technology. The members of the WGA (Writers Guild of…
Human Progress
Three Cheers for Refrigeration—and Four, Once Everyone Has It
It is difficult to overstate the benefits of refrigeration. Even more than its technological sibling air conditioning, refrigeration has dramatically improved public health and the…
Fox News
Washington State’s Nation-Leading Gasoline Prices Should Serve as a Warning
Vacationers hitting the highways currently face a nationwide average price of $3.52 per gallon of gasoline, according AAA. However, the price varies widely among states. California usually…
Forbes
Why The ‘Social Cost Of Carbon’ Can Not Be Used In Cost-Benefit Analysis
The social cost of carbon (SCC) quantifies the economic damage associated with emitting a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Regulatory impact analyses from…
New York Post
Memo to critics: Only folks who don’t qualify will lose their Medicaid
Medicaid advocates are demanding the federal government to stop states from removing people from the program after 25 states and the District of Columbia dropped…
Daily Caller
Don’t Stop At College — End Race-Based Admissions In Public Schools
There’s an important battle brewing in our public schools between equity and treating students equally under the law. Equitable treatment of one class of students…
The Economic Standard
Adam Smith on how trade makes us better people
Economists love efficiency. That is why most of them love free trade. Countries with relatively free trade also tend to be …
D.C. Journal
FTC Lawsuit Against Amazon’s Prime Is Poor Use of Limited Resources
The Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon for allegedly tricking customers into signing up for the company’s Prime membership and making it difficult to cancel…
Real Clear Markets
What Comes After An ESG Craze That’s Not Ready to Die?
Could this year be the end of the beginning for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing? Buzz in the business press suggests …
Forbes
Will NAIC Insurance Regulators In U.S. Import Harmful European Rules?
My colleague Ari Patinkin, research associate at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, contributed to this post. Although the inflation rate may be slowing, the American economy…
Forbes
How Regulating AI Could Empower Bad Actors
A bipartisan group of legislators in the House of Representatives has introduced a bill to establish a national commission on Artificial Intelligence regulation.