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EPA’s Woeful Deadline Performance Raises Questions About Agency Competence, Climate Change Regulations, “Sue and Settle”
Full Document Available in PDF The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) record of compliance with statutory deadlines established for three core Clean Air…
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Assault on State Sovereignty
Since 2009, the EPA has expanded its own prerogatives at the expense of the states’ rightful authority. Congress wanted states to quarterback environmental policymaking, but…
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The True Story of European Austerity
European governments that have cut spending and taxes have higher rates of economic growth than their neighbors. Then why do we hear lamentations from the…
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Avoiding the Regulatory Cliff
Full Document Available in PDF A Bipartisan Agenda to Restore Limited Government and Revive America's Economy Whether you are new to…
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Reducing Passenger Train Procurement Costs
Full Document Available in PDF Interest in passenger rail around the United States has increased in recent years. With their ability to…
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Don’t Forget the Beer
Pennsylvania’s beer distribution system, designed to provide competitive advantages to in-state brewers, is nearly identical to Michigan’s wine distribution system that was the subject of…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2013
The scope of federal government spending and deficits is sobering. Yet the government's reach extends well beyond taxation and spending. Federal regulations cost hundreds of…
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Separating European Austerity Fact and Fiction
Full Document available in PDF Rarely a week goes by without mention in the media of European governments’ failure to restore economic…
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E-Verify Mandate Is Costly for Businesses and Workers
As Congress revisits immigration reform, one aspect deserves close attention: electronic employment verification. Both the White House’s leaked draft legislation and the Senate’s proposed bill…
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Facts on the Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 743, formerly S. 336)
As the Marketplace Fairness Act winds its way through Congress, lawmakers should, at the very least, take into consideration concerns raised by opponents. That is…
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Human Achievement Hour 2013
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Slow Train Coming?
After a century of severe regulation nearly brought the United States railroad industry to ruin, policy makers in the 1970s began a process that ultimately…
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Regulatory Report Card: FCC
Full Document Available in PDF It may come as a surprise that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the third most expensive…
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State of the Union Live Blog 2013
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Official Time: Taxpayers paying for union work is officially a scam
Summary: Few Americans are aware that, through their tax dollars, they finance labor unions through a practice known as “official time” or “release time.” The…
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The Wages of Sin Taxes
In The Wages of Sin Taxes, Chris Snowdon reveals that sin taxes not only do little to limit the use of “bad” products, they do…
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Passing the Torch at CEI
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10 Cool Global Warming Policies
Full Document Available in PDF Global warming is a reality. But whether it is a serious problem — and whether emis-sions of…
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2012 Cost Analysis of the New Energy Economy
Full Document Available in PDF From January 2007 to January 2011, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D) pushed through the General Assembly a…
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A Timeline of the EPA’s “Richard Windsor” Email Scandal
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Regulatory Report Card: Environmental Protection Agency
The quality of regulation depends heavily on its transparency. Taking to heart Justice Louis Brandeis’ stated belief that sunshine is the best disinfectant, the purpose…
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Avoid a Beer Monopoly By Setting the Market Free
The number of craft breweries continues to rise as states free up the market, making it easier for brewers to produce and sell their products.
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Rachel Was Wrong
As the world reexamines Rachel Carson’s anti-pesticide legacy, this paper focuses on the importance of chemicals designed for crop production. Unfortunately, the benefits of these…
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I, Pencil: The Movie
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The Regional Haze Settlement Agreement Is a Terrible Deal for New Mexico
Full Document Available in PDF After months of negotiation, the New Mexico Environment Department in early October proposed a settlement to end…
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Did You Vote Today? How Long Did It Take You?
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Myron Ebell on PBS Frontline: “Climate of Doubt”
A growing number of Americans doubt the urgency or existence of man-made global warming. On Tuesday, October 23, PBS Frontline took a look at the…
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Of Mice, Mushrooms, And Formaldehyde
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The Liberal War on Transparency: Confessions of a Freedom of Information “Criminal”
Now that transparency threatens liberals’ use of government, it is a problem to rein in; we’ve started asking questions and obtaining embarrassing answers, meaning—to them—the…
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Is There a Future for Generic Biotech Crops?
Farmers are eagerly awaiting the expiration of the patents on popular biotech traits over the coming few years. Unfortunately, a quirk in the way biotech…
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The Case for Abolishing the Economic Development Administration
EDA investments do little more than shift resources from one area of the country or the economy to another. EDA’s funding should be immediately revoked,…
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The Marketplace Fairness Act Would Create a State Sales Tax Cartel and Hurt Consumers
The Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 1832) seeks to capture more tax revenue for states on Internet purchases. Traditional retailers, states, and localities have urged Congress…
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Assessing the Empirical Basis of the “Biodiversity Crisis”
Full Document Available in PDF EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For several years now, the World Wildlife Fund and other wildlife interest groups have been…
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EPA’s New Regulatory Front
Full Document Available in PDF The stated mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment.
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Freeing Europe From the Euro
The basic principles of the common market could save the European Union, if they were applied to monetary policy. Europe’s currency future lies in competition.
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Government Barriers to Georgia’s Growth
Full Document Available in PDF Few states have been hit as hard by the financial…
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The Kids Are Alright
Full Document Available in PDF…
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Fixing Surface Transportation in Massachusetts
If all highway funding responsibility were to be devolved to the states, additional revenue must be found. Innovative financing, modern electronic tolling, and new roadway…
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All Pain and No Gain
The MACT Rule supposedly reduces risk to unborn children by lowering methylmercury concentrations in non-commercial fish. But the EPA provides no empirical evidence that any…
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MCOOL and the Politics of Country-of-Origin Labeling
The Mandatory Country-of-Origin Label (MCOOL) for beef and pork products was brought into force by the United States in 2008. It imposes uneven tracking, segregating,…
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Give a Man a Fish
Attempts to prevent overfishing by promulgating regulations (which are often at odds with subsidies) have proved both ineffective and impossible to enforce. Ending subsidies and…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2012
The scope of federal government spending and deficits is sobering. Yet the government’s reach extends well beyond the taxes Washington collects and its deficit spending…
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Fixing America’s Crumbling Underground Water Infrastructure
Opening municipal procurement processes to fair competition can help ensure Americans access to clean, reliable, and affordable water in their homes, schools, and businesses for…
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Homesteading the Final Frontier
A proposed law requiring the United States to recognize land claims off planet under specified conditions offers the possibility of legal, tradable land titles, allowing…
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The Real Meaning of “TSCA Modernization”
Modernizing the Toxic Substances Control Act, the federal law that regulates chemicals, could lead to bans on many valuable products, thereby undermining innovation and diverting…
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The Conservative Case for Immigration Tariffs
The current immigration system is a complex bureaucracy that sets quotas, fees, and arbitrary restrictions that prevent most immigrants from attempting legal immigration. Replacing that…
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The 400 Percent Loan, the $36,000 Hotel Room, and the Unicorn
Is a $16 surcharge on a $100 product unfair, unjust, and “predatory”? Hardly anyone flinches, for instance, at a $16 “resort fee” on a $100…
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The Report on Carcinogens
There is nothing wrong in principle with publishing periodic reports identifying substances that pose carcinogenic risks to humans. But it would be a mistake to…
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EPA Regulation of Fuel Economy: Congressional Intent or Climate Coup?
Full Document Available in PDF In May 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rule setting standards for motor vehicle…
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Green Chemistry’s March of the Ostriches
Popular myths about man-made chemicals cause lawmakers to bury their heads in the sand and support restrictive regulations that do not realistically address risks to…
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Plastic Bag Bans Are Bad for the Environment
The past several years have seen a groundswell of regulations on plastics, particularly plastic bags and polystyrene food containers. Supporters of these bans claim that…
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EPA’s Shocking New Mexico Power Grab
The EPA engineered an ad hoc regulatory regime under the Clean Air Act in order to run roughshod over New Mexico’s rightful authority and impose…
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A FAIR Criticism
A recent report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform argues for increased immigration restrictions as a way to address the federal budget deficit. However,…
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The True Story of Cosmetics
Many environmental groups want to rid the world of synthetic chemicals. Now they are at war with your makeup.
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ECPA Reform Petition
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Stifling Medical Device Innovation
The United States has long been the home to cutting-edge innovations in the medical device industry. However, increasingly burdensome regulatory policy is driving pioneering research…
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The Other National Debt Crisis
Runaway federal regulation represents the biggest threat to our economy today. To address the problem, lawmakers first need to define it and quantify its costs.
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Free Trade Without Apology
Congress needs to stop trying to appease organized labor and approve free trade deals on the treaties’ own merits.
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New Jersey’s Long Road Ahead
For years, union officials in New Jersey have gotten politicians from both parties to give in to their incessant demands for lavish taxpayer-funded benefits. Today,…
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The EPA Runs Amuck
Full Document Available in PDF On June 26, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives…
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Stealing You Blind
Remember when we used to call government employees “public servants”? They’re servants no more—now they’re bureaucratic masters of the universe, claiming inflated salaries and early…
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In America’s National Interest—Canadian Oil
Full Document Available in PDF Canada now provides more oil to the U.S.
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Jump, Jive an’ Reform Regulation
Full Document Available in PDF Cost-benefit analysis has long been a centerpiece of regulatory reform proposals, with…
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Trashing the Poor: The Interstate Garbage Dispte
Full Document Available in PDF This year, Virginia Governor James Gilmore decided that he would “save” his state from…
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Michigan’s Insurance Industry: New Directions
Full Document Available in PDF With the coming of the administration of Republican Governor John Engler in 1991, Michigan’s…
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Reef Madness: The Next Big Green Litigation Campaign?
Now that Russia has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, Australia is the only industrialized country besides the United States to reject the U.N.-sponsored climate treaty. However,…
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Markets and the Environment: A Critical Reappraisal
The nature of the environmental problem perhaps is best addressed by reviewing the economic problem. The basic economic problem is scarcity. Demands are unlimited…
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Safety, risk and the precautionary principle: rethinking precautionary approaches to the regulation of transgenic plants
Full Document Available in PDF Ever since completion of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in…
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A Free-Market Environmental Program
The Soviet Union should not adopt the U.S. approach to protecting the environment. The fact that the United States has a superior environment has far…
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Rethinking Federalism
Federal preemption of state law is a huge topic, with battles ongoing over the wisdom of preemption at the Federal Communications Commission and in the…
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Freedom of Information vs Right to Privacy
The free movement of information throughout the economy and in government benefits Arizonans as citizens and consumers. At the same time, the right to privacy…
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Short- and Long-Range Impacts of Increases in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standard
A short-run 1.0 mile per gallon (MPG) increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standard above existing, binding levels would impose welfare losses on…
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ISO14000: Environmental Regulation By Any Other Name
THE GREENING OF INDUSTRY Over the course of the past 25 years, the governments of most developed countries have imposed increasingly stringent environmental regulations…
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Hidden Truth: The Perils and Protection of Off-Label Drug and Medical Device Promotion
Full Document Available in PDF What can you do if you learn you have a life-threatening…
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Rule Forcing Tests for Safer Air Bags Expected Today
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A CARE-less Rush to Regulate Alcohol
Wine, beer, and spirit wholesalers have a long history of employing state laws to secure a guaranteed slice of the market. Recent court cases have…
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Labor Unions and the Democratic Party
Full Document Available in PDF Recently AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka compared…
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Financial Attack
Full Document Available in PDF Led by the radical Service Employees International Union (SEIU), left-wing unions and activist…
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The Battle for Michigan
Full Document Available in PDF Michigan’s economy has been weakening for years as the Big Three…
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Anti-BPA Packaging Laws Jeopardize Public Health
Full Document Available in PDF In public policy, bad ideas have an unfortunate…
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Panel Transcript: Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children
MARK KRIKORIAN: Good morning. My name is Mark Krikorian. I’m executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank here in town that…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2011
President Barack Obama’s new federal budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2012 seeks $3.729 trillion in discretionary, entitlement, and interest spending. In the previous fiscal…
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Class Conflict
Gainful Employment Proposal Penalizes At-Risk Student Populations and Hurts the Economy…
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Clearing the Air on the EPA’s False Regulatory Benefit-Cost Estimates and Its Anti-Carbon Agenda
The EPA’s anti-carbon campaign threatens to greatly undermine future U.S. economic growth and job creation, while doing virtually nothing to restrict global CO2 emissions, and,…
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The Case for Reform of the Railway Labor Act
End Unionization through Regulation and Allow Workers to Decertify Unions…
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EPA Guilty of Environmental Hyperbole in Mountaintop Mining Veto
On January 13, 2011, the EPA vetoed the issuance of a Clean Water Act permit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Mingo…
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Depoliticizing Groundwater
Full Document Available in PDF Groundwater management problems in Jakarta Indonesia, as recently highlighted in the Financial…
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Reform Wetlands Policies
Liberate to Stimulate Index…
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Let Market Forces Regulate Internet Gambling
In June 2010, the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was implemented after years of delays. The law regulates banking and credit processes related…
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Suspend Mark-to-Market Rules and Make Accounting Regulators Accountable
Liberate to Stimulate Index The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was hauled before Congressional hearings and members of both parties expressed concern…
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Protect Federalism
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Protect Free Speech by Rejecting Content Regulation
Liberate to Stimulate Index In recent years, the First Amendment’s protections have been increasingly extended to commercial speech, such as product advertisements…
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Allow Immigrants Full Access to the American Economy
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Phase Out the National Flood Insurance Program
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Counteract Politicization of Federal Science Policy
Liberate to Stimulate Index The federal politicization of science in many areas is harming science itself. Ethics rules and advisory panel guidelines…
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Liberalize Homeowners, Automobile, Life, and Commercial Insurance Regulation
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Resist New Burdens on the Transportation Sector
Liberate to Stimulate Index The transportation industries—airline, railroad, shipping, and trucking—are networks involving both a flow and a grid. The flow element…
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Develop Smart Policies to Help Homeowners Deal with Natural Catastrophes
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Forge a Bipartisan Approach to End Corporate Welfare
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Put Mobility First in Surface Transportation
Liberate to Stimulate Index Surface transportation policy has become less rational and more ideological in recent decades. Environmentalists, urban planners, and their…