The Hill
New President, New (Anti-)Red Tape Agenda
Federal regulators issue thousands of regulations every year. Decrees range from the Environmental Protection Agency’s gargantuan Clean Power Plan and “Waters of the United States”…
Forbes
Obama White House Releases Final Cost Of Regulation Report
The day before Christmas Eve, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the 2016 Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits…
Forbes
Coal In The Stocking – Obama Regulatory Rulebook Breaks Record By 13,000 Pages
When I was a kid, Dad always told my sister and me that if Santa Claus caught us awake on Christmas Eve, he’d put pepper…
Brietbart
A Better ‘Pledge’: Congress Shall Make No Law
When I think of a “Pledge” I’m reminded of my fraternity days and being hazed and lightly humiliated. House Republicans are offering their “Pledge to…
Brietbart
The Paul Ryan Vice Presidential Choice And The Other National Debt
No matter Mitt Romney’s running-mate candiate selection, cable news saturation of America for a couple days would have been and will be inevitable. Especially when…
Forbes
Donald Trump Promises To Eliminate Two Regulations For Every One Enacted
President elect Donald Trump, in a new video covering the transition and policy for the first 100 days, promises to get rid of regulation on…
Forbes
Obama White House Releases Its Final Regulatory Agenda
The White House has published the Fall 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. It’s appearing the weekend before Thanksgiving — yet…
Forbes
Obama’s Midnight Regulations To Get Increased Scrutiny From Congress And Trump
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and other Republican leadership members just sent a letter to Obama administration regulatory agency heads telling them to…
Forbes
Donald Trump And The 115th Congress Could Get Rid Of These 140 Obama Regulations
Many observers are weighing in on the rules and regulations that a new Trump administration might be inclined to eliminate. The Hill, for example, compiled…
Forbes
How President-Elect Donald Trump Can Fast-Track Deregulation And Wealth Creation
On this, the day after the election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president (yes, he has already updated his Twitter profile), President…
Forbes
Surging Federal Register Of Regulations Cracks Top 10 Fattest Ever–With 2 Months Still To Go
The federal debt isn’t the only thing doubling every few years. Both presidential candidates have declared they will cut mounting regulatory red tape, particularly for…
Forbes
Republicans and Democrats Unite Against $86 Billion AT&T-Time Warner Merger Deal
In a response to earlier media mergers such as Comcast-NBCUniversal, and in an effort to adapt to a world in which consumers increasingly turn away…
Forbes
White House Showcases National Plans For Mars Journey, High Technology
President Barack Obama is hosting the White House Frontiers Conference at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. The idea is to “explore the future of innovation,”…
InsideSources
A New President Needs a New Red Tape Agenda
Federal regulators issue thousands of rules and regulations every year. Decrees range from the Environmental Protection Agency’s gargantuan Clean Power Plan and “Waters of the…
Forbes
Why Future Federal Communications Commission Oversight Hearings Should Explore Sunsetting the Agency
There’s another Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight hearing underway in the Senate Commerce Committee, with most of the time being spent on doings with…
Forbes
The Federal Communications Commission Should Take A Selfie
There are either dozens of federal agencies or hundreds, depending, seemingly, upon the day of the week or whom one asks. The Federal Communications…
Forbes
How The Next President Can Use Executive Power To Jumpstart Economic Growth On Day One (Part 2)
The Federal Register contained over 7,700 rules and regulations among an all-time-record 73,000 pages the year President Reagan was elected. One response was his Executive…
Forbes
How The Next President Can Use Executive Power To Jumpstart Economic Growth On Day One (Part 1)
After what will have been eight years of debate over executive overreach and Barack Obama’s “pen and phone,” and it will be time for…
Forbes
Nobody For President
Forbes
Here’s What Happened The Last Time We Tried Donald Trump’s Moratorium On Regulations
In Donald Trump’s Detroit economic speech and in his “An America First Economic Plan: Winning The Global Competition,” he said: "Upon taking…
Forbes
Unfunded Mandates On The States Rising Again
Fifteen Republican Attorneys General just wrote to House and Senate leadership, concerned about agencies “failing to fully consider the effect of their regulations on…
Forbes
Antitrust Regulation And The 2016 Party Platform Debates
Having never been a fan of antitrust protectionism, I found it interesting that (according to Bloomberg) while Democrats are highlighting antitrust in their…
Forbes
Here’s How Financial And Other Regulators Are Issuing Rules Without Writing Them
At the end of June I testified in a U.S. Senate Homeland Security Regulatory oversight subcommittee hearing on Examining the Use of Agency Regulatory…
Cato Unbound
The Administrative State Lacks Its Own Justification: Expertise
Legitimacy notwithstanding, we tend to discuss the administrative state as if it is a functioning expert entity, taking expertise in its divisions for granted. But…
Forbes
Bureaucracy’s Paradox: When Fewer Regulations Mean Less Freedom
"To limit abuse by the rulers, ancient Rome wrote down the law and permitted citizens to read it. Under Dodd-Frank, regulatory authority is…
Cato Unbound
No Law Passed, Not Even A Regulation Promulgated—But Servitude Nonetheless
In my last post I suggested that I may point out a few prominent examples of agencies regulating with “guidance” alone rather than the notice-and-comment…
Cato Unbound
On the Administrative State’s Illegitimacy
"Who is better than overreaching bureaucrats to decide when the bureaucrats are overreaching?” That was one respondent’s characterization of the mindset that provoked the recently…
Forbes
Obama Releases Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
In the just-released spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations (Agenda), a roundup published twice yearly by the White House Office of Management and…
The Hill
Presidential candidates should talk about regulation
From “lyin’” to “low-energy,” the current election’s lowering of the rhetorical bar to levels that challenge even the most nimble limbo dancer is more than…
Cato Unbound
The Administrative State’s Irredeemable Devotion to Central Power
Forbes
Celebrating International Mother Earth Day With A Normal Western Civilization Gas Can
It’s the weekend after International Mother Earth Day 2016, and the United States signed the Paris Climate Agreement. To President Barack Obama, the…
Forbes
Why President Barack Obama’s Executive Order On Competition Is Anti-Competitive
When you see a headline like “Obama to Sign Executive Order to Ignite Corporate Competition” you have to scratch your head at the premise,…
Forbes
Protecting Our Semi-Privacy After The Department Of Justice Apple iPhone Hack
The Department of Justice-sponsored unlocking of the Apple iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino murderers without Apple’s help reaffirmed that an overly encryption-based…
Forbes
Won’t Cut Federal Spending? Then Cap The Cost Of Regulation
Last week a group of libertarian and conservative groups issued a coalition letter calling on Congress to cap regulatory costs. While some of us…
Forbes
Antitrust Regulation Is Getting A Bit Smarter
Forbes
GOP Releases Contested 2017 Balanced Budget Proposal — With A Regulatory Budget Alongside
House Republican leadership released their 2017 “Balanced Budget for a Stronger America” fiscal year budget proposal. It seeks to balance the budget in 10…
Forbes
Nobody Knows The Cost Of Antitrust Regulation, And That’s Bad
Antitrust regulation is hardly insignificant, and its costs need to be recognized in today’s world. We’ve seen interference into ATT‘s attempted merger with T-Mobile, delays…
Forbes
The Growing Outrage Of Off-The-Books Federal Regulation
President Barack Obama has practically trademarked going around Congress, proclaiming “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone. And that’s all I…
Forbes
Memo To Presidential Candidates: Here’s How Oversight Of Federal Red Tape Is A Total Disaster
"[A]s more goals are pursued through rules and regulations mandating private outlays rather than through direct government expenditures, the Federal budget is an…
Forbes
Obama’s Budget Proposal Tops $4 Trillion, But Don’t Look To Republicans For Anything Better
Obama’s $4.147 trillion 2017 fiscal budget proposal won’t even merit a hearing in Congress, but it highlights similarities more than differences with Republicans. Among other…
Real Clear Policy
Washington’s ‘Dark Matter’ Regulations
In a recent Gallup poll, Americans named the government as the top problem facing our nation for the second year in a row —…
Forbes
Shaky Stock Market A Signal Obama Should Reconsider Veto Threat On Red Tape Relief
In his final State of the Union Address, with a sinking stock market as backdrop, President Barack Obama said, “I think there are outdated regulations…
Forbes
Obama’s Legacy: An Abundance Of Executive Actions
President Barack Obama’s final-year aspirations as outlined in an earlier-than-usual State of the Union Address will likely showcase executive action on gun control (watch for…
Forbes
CES 2016, Where Technology And Government Collide
At the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here in Las Vegas, I got around to taking a few snapshots. There is the Consumer Technology Association’s…
Forbes
Big Sexy Holiday Fun With The Fall 2015 Unified Agenda Of Federal Regulations
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s Fall 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions is out, appearing the weekend before Thanksgiving…
Forbes
Still-MIA White House Report To Congress On Costs And Benefits Of Federal Regulation Is Latest Ever
Forbes
The Problem With The White House Threat To Veto The REINS Act
The House this week, and later the Senate, will take up legislation to require that Congress approve all big federal agency regulations, those with $100…
Forbes
Congress Better Fix ‘Regulatory Dark Matter’
In pursuit of job creation and economic growth, Congress is debating several red tape reforms with elevated but still insufficient focus. In the wake of its…
Forbes
Sorry Folks, Independence Day Is Canceled
“Well, Doctor [Franklin], what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” “A Republic, if you can keep it.” This…
Forbes
U.S. Airlines Face Antitrust Collusion Investigation–What’s The Big Deal?
Airlines, apparently including United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines…
Forbes
White House’s Final 2014 Report To Congress On Regulatory Costs And Benefits Appears
The White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) final 2014 Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs…
Forbes
Memo To Presidential Campaigns — Federal Regulation Matters More Than Spending
President Barack Obama’s federal budget proposal for FY 2016 sought $3.999 trillion in discretionary, entitlement, and interest spending; the Republican alternative a little…
Forbes
A Comprehensive Regulatory Reform Agenda, Barack Obama Veto Pen Notwithstanding
Congress passes a few dozen laws each year, but regulators meanwhile issue several thousand rules and regulations. On top of that, “regulatory dark matter“…
Forbes
Now More Than Ever, Make ABC ‘s George Stephanopoulos Moderate Presidential Debates
I’ve never been a fan of the “objective media” platitude, preferring competing biases to pretended objectivity. The crucial corollary to that, though, is that…
Forbes
European Commission Still Searching For Google Monopoly
Forbes
FTC Sues To Block Sysco – US Foods Merger
Forbes
Obama’s 2016 Federal Budget And Middle Class Economics
To everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate…
Forbes
Obama’s State Of The Union Address In Five Words
Even before presidents become lame ducks, their State of the Union Address proposals often don’t materialize. President Barack Obama is one of five lame…
Forbes
On Federal Red Tape Reform, President Obama Prepares To Veto Himself
Forbes
CES And A Case For Separation Of Technology And State
As the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) winds down, there’s a lot of stuff you probably hope doesn’t stay in Vegas. Creative contributions to the…
Forbes
Obama’s Veto Warning To The GOP Disregards His Record-Setting Regulation
In a widely cited year-end interview with National Public Radio, President Obama warned Republicans that: Now I suspect there are going…
Forbes
How Dodd-Frank Financial Regulation Is Messing Up That Thing Where You Surf Zero-APR Credit Cards This Christmas
Dodd-Frank financial regulation is the gift that keeps on taking. If you’re juggling Christmas bills, or soon will be—or maybe trying to take advantage of…
Forbes
Big Sexy Holiday Fun With The 2014 Unified Agenda Of Federal Regulations
The fall Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions always seems to appear just before the Holidays. You know, when nobody’s really looking. The…
Forbes
U.S. Senate Keystone Pipeline Defeat Shows The Hazards Of Over-regulation
The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights. …
Forbes
Hillary Clinton: Businesses Don’t Create Jobs (Just Speaking Fees)
This article was originally published at Forbes on October 26, 2014 Hillary Clinton’s October 24 speech supporting Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts Democratic…
RealClear Markets
Obama’s Pen and Phone Can Achieve Great Things
"[I]f Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will," President Obama warned in 2013. "I will direct my cabinet to come up with…
Forbes
How Entrepreneurs Can Speak Out About The Cost Of Regulation
When federal bureaucrats in Washington released the Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations for fiscal year 2013, their hope was…
Forbes
Hairball: The Cost Of Federal Regulation To The U.S. Economy
Before the National Association of Manufacturers even had a chance to release their important new report today on the aggregate annual cost of federal regulations,…
Forbes
Here’s How Obama’s Pen and Phone Can Shrink The Federal Government Instead
This week is the deadline for filing public comments on the 2014 edition of a somewhat obscure annual publication called the Draft Report to Congress…
Forbes
Fountains Of Solutions: Western Water And California Drought
Ah, California drought and clashes over water rights: Nothing new, but the Washington Post now proclaims “nervousness over the state’s epic drought has given way…
Forbes
Executive Branch Power In The Crosshairs As GOP Readies Vote On Lawsuit Against Obama
Obama favors Executive Orders. Approval ratings seem to suggest the public favors Anti-Executive Orders. Increasingly, “the silken bands of mild government” that…
Forbes
Techno-Libertarianism: Building The Case For Separation Of Technology And State
Can we keep government’s hands off the technology frontier? I like to think it makes sense that libertarianism—or classical liberal ideas–would resonate in places like…
Forbes
After The Fireworks – “For What Did We Throw Off The Yoke Of Britain And Call Ourselves Independent?”
Well, everybody’s back from the beach or the lake, we’re done with our hot dogs and picnics and fireworks. We’re all back in our workplaces…
Forbes
Despotism-Lite? The Obama Administration’s Rule By Memo
Congress passed a few dozen bills last year that President Barack Obama signed into law. Outside the normal legislative process, though, federal agency regulations number…
Washington Times
A Model for Rolling Back Outdated Regulations
Very few people would argue for maintaining horse-and-buggy rules in the era of driverless cars, such as Google’s recently introduced prototype. Most rules still manage…
Forbes
Questions For Advocates Of Net Neutrality Regulation
Flawed premises notwithstanding, the Federal Communications Commission’s self interested campaign to inflict net neutrality rules on the private communications infrastructure continues with a new rulemaking…
Forbes
The Rise Of The Nanny State Is Why America Needs A Regulatory Budget
The Hill
Regulation Without Representation
Forbes
The Consumer Electronics Show’s Lessons On The Separation Of State And Technology
While most of the country endured the polar vortex this week, the annual tech vortex known as the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show took over Las…
Washington Times
The real cost of federal regulations
When the news broke that the National Security Agency has been monitoring Americans’ communications, the Obama administration was reluctant to discuss if it…
The American Spectator
The Regulatory Improvement Commission
There are regulations for everything from restaurant menus to walk-in freezers’ energy efficiency. Almost no one denies that the nation’s economy is saddled with some…
Forbes
Obama Addresses Economy And ‘The Financial Crisis Five Years Later’
Today and this week, President Obama will address The Financial Crisis: Five Years Later in an effort shift attention back to domestic economic…
Forbes
Congress Confronts ‘Laws Gone Wild’
How extensive is federal regulation? The “hidden tax” now tops $1.8 trillion annually, an immense drain on innovation, entrepreneurship and productivity and living standards. Federal…
Forbes
On Independence Day — How Free Are You, Really?
As reported in Reason by Ronald Bailey, a recent study finds that “Federal Regulations Have Made You 75 percent Poorer.” The claim is that GDP…
Forbes
On Independence Day — How Free Are You, Really?
As reported in Reason by Ronald Bailey, a recent study finds that “Federal Regulations Have Made You 75 percent Poorer.” The claim is that GDP…
The American Spectator
Twenty Years of Non-Stop Regulation
Twenty years ago saw the release of the first edition of Ten Thousand Commandments, an annual report that tracks the cost and scope of the…
Investor's Business Daily
America’s Soaring Regulations Cost $1.8 Trillion A Year
Politicians from both parties routinely tout the need to roll back unnecessary regulations. But how much overregulation is there exactly? Most politicians have no idea,…
Daily Caller
The Towering Federal Register
This week marks the publication of the 20th anniversary edition of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the federal regulatory state, Ten Thousand Commandments.
Forbes
Barack Obama’s BRAIN Initiative Vs. Bioengineered Gills And One-Wheeled SegWays
In a widely reported announcement, President Barack Obama outlined a major research initiative to map the human brain, building on…
The American Spectator
The Anti-Democracy Index
The United States Constitution gives “all legislative powers herein granted” to Congress. Neither the judicial nor the executive branch has the power to make laws,…
Forbes
Federal Regulation: The Costs of Benefits
The premise that national top-down regulation of the economy brings substantial net benefits dominates public policy. But forget the philosophical debate over laissez-faire vs. the…
Forbes
Happy New Year? Fiscal Cliff, Meet The Costberg
How the largest government on earth plans to expand our liberties in the new year of 2013 by forcing “the rich” to pay somebody’s idea…
Washington Times
Federal rules cost $10,000 per employee
What do the Progressive Policy Institute, former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, former presidential candidate Herman Cain and the Competitive Enterprise Institute have…
Forbes
Lesson From The Google Case: There Is No Such Thing As Antitrust Policy
“Don’t get Scroogled‘” Seen that one yet? It’s a Microsoft Bing TV ad criticizing Google‘s search results for causing a kitchen fire. It’s cute, emblematic…
Forbes
Regulation Vs. Jobs: Assessing The Employment Impact Of Rules and Regulations
One might think there’s some official acceptance that the thousands of regulations issued annually in Washington have a dampening impact on job creation. But no;…
Forbes
President Obama’s Hidden Tax
Regulations are often called a hidden tax; but in President Obama’s case, it’s literally true. Despite the written commitment to transparency and…
Daily Caller
Missing: Regulatory transparency
Every spring and fall, as certain as the turning of the seasons, the General Services Administration’s Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC) issues a new edition…
Fox Business
Winning the Presidential Debate with Regulation
Presidential debates are where the candidates try to show the average likely voter they know what he or she wants better than the other guy.
Washington Times
Regulations and Rules Equal Broken Government
When President Obama and Mitt Romney are jousting about taxes during their Wednesday night debate, one or both candidates might correctly point out that the…
Investor's Business Daily
Federal Agencies Should Stop Using Cost-Benefit Analyses
Every year, the Internal Revenue Service releases data on how much tax revenue it takes in. It never argues that the nation's tax burden is…