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Free the Economy podcast: Understanding AI with Matthew Mittelsteadt
In this week’s episode we cover Elon Musk’s controversial pay package, protecting children online, and the Biden administration’s slamming the breaks…
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The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: A slush fund for the EPA and favored nonprofits
President Joe Biden signed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law on August 16, 2022. The bill, enacted on a purely partisan basis,…
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Congress takes on anti-consumer furnace regulation
CEI suggested five bad appliance regulations Congress should reject with the Congressional Review Act last November. Now, Congress has taken up the first target…
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‘Right to repair’ advocates likely to fail at the FTC
CEI submitted comments on a 53-page petition for rulemaking last week that asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to promulgate rules “to protect consumer’s…
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New CEI paper: Toward a US-Swiss Free Trade Agreement
Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have gotten so large and unwieldy that they are almost impossible to pass. The result is lost economic opportunities for America…
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Biden admin’s particulate matter rule: premature, rejects sound science, will hurt American families
Only six months ago, the Biden administration rightfully declined to revise the ozone standards in part because it wanted to be able to consider…
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Proof of the PROVE IT Act’s carbon tax agenda
A recent post explains how S. 1863, the PROVE IT Act, could empower narrow partisan majorities to enact carbon tariffs and taxes in…
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Trump proposes 60 percent China tariff
Donald Trump recently pledged to enact a 60 percent tariff against China if he becomes president again. His latest comments indicate, “Maybe it’s going…
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Attention regulators: Be on the lookout for the ALERT Act
It has been almost a quarter-century since the federal government performed an assessment of the aggregate costs of regulation of regulatory intervention. Late last year,…
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Charlotte-area police departments are rolling in forfeiture funds
I’ve always loved William Blake’s poem “Auguries of Innocence,” which begins by asking the reader “To see a World in a Grain of Sand.”…
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Federal courts to the rescue on bad appliance regulations?
The US Supreme Court recently heard a case that could impact how much deference judges give to regulatory agencies. To be certain, any relief…
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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…
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The good and bad of Nippon Steel deal
There is good and bad in everything. This includes Nippon Steel’s planned buyup of US Steel, which politicians from both parties are criticizing. The good…
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CEI’s The Surge: Carbon tariffs, Natural Asset Companies, and weird emissions math
If you are interested in analysis and perspective on current energy and environmental issues, then we encourage you to subscribe to this new publication…
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Businesses ask courts if the NLRB is constitutional
The National Labor Relations Board has made a point in recent years of re-examining the laws and regulations that the federal agency enforces, offering up…
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Free the Economy podcast: Moving the rocks off the lawn with Andrew Langer
In this week’s episode we cover elite opinion versus the average American, the popularity of vocational training, why Millennials are suddenly investing…
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The full Scope of problems with the SEC’s climate disclosure rule
I have a paper out today, examining the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed rule on mandatory climate disclosures. The SEC’s rule seeks…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Burning trash and methane emissions
GDP grew at a healthy 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023. Regulators blocked an airline merger, and a carbon tariff moved…
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During government shutdowns, Lina Khan shuts down you
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) updated its contingency plan for how it will operate if Congress fails to fund the government last week. Likely the…
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CFPB Data Breach Shows Danger of its Attempted Power Grab Over Fintech
My friend Patrick Brenner, president of regional free-market think tank the Southwest Public Policy Institute, recently had a great op-ed at FoxNews.com on data…
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Free the Economy Episode: Sensory Pleasures and Public Health with Michelle Minton
In this week’s episode we cover an environmentalist culture war, foreign investment in U.S. manufacturing, corporate diversity efforts, and the call…
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Vote on Capito amendment unmasks PROVE IT as carbon tax enabler
Last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee approved the PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) by a vote of 14 to 5.
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Crushed: The Weight of Heavy Regulation on Broadband
In the NFL, it’s a penalty for a defensive lineman sacking a quarterback to land on the quarterback with his full body weight. The NFL…
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The Ray Charles Theory of Marginal Utility
Musician Ray Charles’ nickname was “The Genius,” given on account of his ability to blend different genres of music – big band, rhythm and blues,…
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The Natural Asset Hydra
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recently proposed a radical rule to amend its manual for listing public companies to include a new form…
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Use the Congressional Review Act to strike rules not reported to Congress and GAO
Significant attention is likely to turn to Joe Biden’s ambitious regulatory agenda before summertime. That’s because rules the administration finalizes “late”—during the last 60 in-session…
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Study Finds that Outlawing Work Reduces Employment
George Mason’s Mercatus Center has provided further proof that California’s AB5 law, which was intended to boost worker employment by preventing them from being misclassified…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: address labels and consumer reviews
Yet another federal shutdown crisis was averted, this time until March. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee marked up the PROVE It Act,…
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Virginia Senate Democrats block repeal of EV mandate
Democrats on a Virginia state Senate committee voted down Republican attempts to roll back the state’s vehicle emissions law on Tuesday. The law, passed…
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Nuclear phaseouts strike again
While there has been some good news in the US recently on nuclear power issues, including a partial removal of the Illinois nuclear ban, the…
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Flight attendants try to decertify union that most never voted for
One of the underlying flaws with US labor law is that it sees workers and the unions that represent them as synonymous, rather than as…
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The threat to sound economics isn’t over
This week, the New York Stock Exchange withdrew its proposal to create a new designation for public companies called Natural Asset Companies, or NACs.
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Free the Economy podcast: The culture of economic freedom with Sam Gregg
In this week’s episode we cover the old-fashioned roots of ESG investing, the blocked merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, the future…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Independent contractors and emergency haddock action
Happy MLK-government snow shutdown days, everyone. There was more shutdown drama last week. The US launched strikes against the Houthis, one of three factions trying…
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Congressional Review Act vote shows cracks in joint employer rule
A vote in Congress Friday showed off the cracks in the support for the National Labor Relations Board’s new “joint employer” rule. It is…
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When the FTC’s anti-merger goals overshadow the prospect of saving lives
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling on the important case of Illumina-Grail v. Federal Trade Commission. A unanimous 3-0…
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Policy hurdles to natural gas delivery pose winter danger for Americans
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) just released its 2023-24 Winter Reliability Assessment and it has concerning implications for the winter ahead. The report highlighted many…
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The FCC snares broadband in web of regulation
In the children’s book Walter’s Wonderful Web, a determined spider builds webs that are too “wibbly-wobbly” to withstand the wind but perseveres until he constructs…
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Free the Economy podcast: Against crony capitalism with Nick Sorrentino
In this week’s episode we cover emergency federal spending, workplace management trends for 2024, suppressing speech about public health, and defending…
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A promising 40th anniversary year for CEI
This year CEI celebrates 40 years of eliminating excessive regulation and unleashing human potential. To kick off our anniversary year, we unveiled a new logo…
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Appeals court rejects DOE’s attempt to eliminate fast dishwashers
The days of dishwashers with four-hour cleaning cycles may be coming to an end. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals repudiated the Biden administration’s…
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Congress could revoke many costly Biden admin rules with Congressional Review Act. Here’s a list!
Until April of 2023, a federal rule costing $100 million was considered “economically significant.” Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14094 (Modernizing Regulatory Review) raised that…
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Power to the… regulators? That’s what new worker classification rule will do
The US Labor Department’s new worker classification rule is a major step backwards, causing trouble for worker and employer alike as they try to…
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Don’t make crypto the electricity scapegoat
A radical new tax proposed by the Biden administration would make cryptocurrency mining the scapegoat for electricity usage. The so-called Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME)…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Auto dealers and automated tariffs
The first week of the new year’s regulations is in the books. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from junk fees to cable tv competition. On…
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Free the Economy podcast: Protecting your property rights with Betsy Sanz
In this week’s episode we cover slow-moving infrastructure projects, the impact of the conservative boycott of Bud Light, good and…
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Unconstitutionality Index going into 2024: 46 rules for every law
The Biden’s administration’s 3,018 rules and regulations of 2023 is fairly typical of agency output these days. But while rule counts remain relatively stable,…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: 2023 year-end special
The tentative final numbers for new regulations for 2023 are in: The final four-day week of 2023 was relatively slow: 60 final regulations, 34 proposed…
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Federal Register 2023 gives Congress 90,402 reasons to restrain the regulators
As we bid farewell to 2023 and ring in 2024, the Federal Register reveals a noteworthy chapter in regulatory history under the Joe Biden administration.
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Transparent New Year: SEC shows its work after CEI prodding
As we enter the New Year, it is important to reflect on what went well and not so well in 2023. We should do our…