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This week in ridiculous regulations: Oxides of nitrogen and approaching of whales
Congress has adjourned until January, so the Republic is safe until then. The Fourteenth Amendment suddenly became a factor in the presidential race. Meanwhile,…
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The existential threat AI poses to the Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild recently concluded a lengthy strike against Hollywood studios with a contract that included new protections for its members from artificial…
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Even the University of California system has dropped carbon offsets
MIT Technology Review just published an article on one of my perennial favorite topics, carbon offsets. According to senior editor James Temple, the University…
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Dear California, just let the trains run
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) in April approved regulations to ban the operation of diesel locomotives in California and the rule goes…
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Free the Economy podcast: (De-)regulating tech and AI with Adam Thierer
In this week’s episode we cover social mobility in the 50 states, Elizabeth Warren’s revolving door with Wall Street, the latest…
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A steel sumo that might wrestle China to the mat
There are ironies a-plenty in the news that Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. plans to buy U.S. Steel. The fact that a foreign company would own…
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New Liquefied Natural Gas ruling makes Jones Act even more unreasonable
A new Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) decision will make compliance with the Jones Act even more onerous for natural gas producers. The…
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FDA power grab would hurt labs, patients, rule of law
The Food and Drug Administration has proposed to amend one of its rules for the purpose of unlawfully expanding its jurisdiction over diagnostic tests.
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Silver lining? New federal merger guidelines: 11 bad ideas instead of 13!
Today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly issued their final version of the 2023 Merger Guidelines.
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Should government-favored non-profits have their own shadow courts?
Imagine being sued by a private nonprofit that is sanctioned by a federal agency to enforce securities laws. The nonprofit appoints its own judges and…
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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…
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CEI’s The Surge: COP28, House passes car legislation, and carbon taxes
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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Defense bill amendment could help undo China’s unfair advantage in environmental treaties
Congress is currently considering the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (NDAA), including a long list of amendments added to the bill.
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FTC replies to CEI in auto dealer rule, still full of hot, nitrogen-poor air
This week, the Federal Trade Commission issued its long-awaited, nearly-400 page nannyist final rule on auto and other motor vehicle dealers sales. The rule…
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Obscuring the SEC’s climate disclosure rule may invite a host of legal problems
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) pending climate disclosure rule has been delayed yet again. The climate disclosure rule will require publicly traded companies to quantify…
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Common sense has left the building: The push to redefine joint employer rule
The National Labor Relations Board did something earlier this year that union leaders and their allies on Capitol Hill have long demanded: It expanded…
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Free the Economy podcast: Making Congress work with Kevin Kosar
In this week’s episode we cover people who fetishize old homes, the big AI risk no one’s talking about, how environmentalist activists…
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America’s unfair second court system
Stone Washington and I have a paper out today on reforming administrative law courts, or ALCs. We also summarize our findings over at National…
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Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next year?
As expected, the Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate the same this week, which influences other interest rates, including car and mortgage payments. The…
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Khan’s FTC could harm America’s competitiveness abroad
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) threatens to put US global competitiveness at risk by pursuing stringent antitrust goals that target the largest American tech companies,…
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Senators asking the right question on nuclear license renewals
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) ranking member of the SenateEnvironment and Public Works Committee and Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) ranking member of the Committee’s Subcommittee on…
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Biden’s yearly Federal Register second-highest page count ever, could still score number one
The Federal Register is the daily depository of rules and regulations. Today, the count stood at 86,256 pages, with three weeks to go for Joe…
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Inflation holds steady, Fed interest rates likely to stay put
The Consumer Price Index went up 0.1 percent in the month of November. Its 12-month increase is 3.1 percent, same as last month’s report.
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Federal government waves goodbye to ‘economically significant’ regulations
Last week, the Fall 2023 edition of the White House’s Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions appeared. It features the…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Address labels and exporting missiles
The FDA approved the world’s first gene-editing therapy, which could cure sickle cell disease. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent. Meanwhile, agencies issued…
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Tom Vilsack tries to change the subject, but a slush fund is still a slush fund
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack published an op-ed in direct response to an op-ed written by CEI’s Patricia Patnode in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
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Free the Economy podcast: Centers of Progress with Chelsea Follett
In this week’s episode we cover the housing abundance agenda, antitrust concerns about corporate climate alliances, the future of global nuclear…
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Important question: How many people will new AI regulations kill?
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released a draft memorandum outlining new requirements for federal agencies using artificial intelligence (AI).
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House should brake bureaucrats limiting vehicle choice with CARS Act
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is trying to limit the ability of Americans to buy gas-powered cars. That is, the cars that people actually want…
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COP28: The conference on penance
Dubai is currently hosting the 28th Conference on Penance (COP). Well, that’s what the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on…
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Central banks are watching. Let’s watch them back.
One of the biggest dangers of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), I and others have warned, is that it would give a government that…
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Is UAW still an automaker union? How Gaza became a top issue
The name “United Auto Workers” would appear to pretty clearly indicate who that union represents, but it is increasingly becoming inaccurate. Today, only about…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Au pairs and processed pears
The 2023 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. Henry Kissinger died at age 100. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging…
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Inflation makes regulations even more expensive
The just-released 2023 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments report estimates that the total cost of complying with all federal regulations is $1.94…
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The latest on nuclear power bans: Illinois poised to take an important step
The Illinois nuclear construction ban will soon be a thing of the past.Earlier this year, both state chambers, through a supermajority vote, passed a…
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Biden admin: Taxpayers don’t need to know about ‘official time’
The Biden administration is actively rolling back transparency requirements for unions, most recently by no longer posting information on the controversial practice of…
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Equity shmequity: How US government’s ‘discounting’ policy hurts the global poor
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently finalized its Circular A-4 guidance on regulatory analysis, constituting the first update to the guidance in…
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Free the Economy podcast: The future of energy and environmental policy with Travis Fisher
In this week’s episode we cover the political path toward abundance, the need for permitting reform beyond the National Environmental Policy Act,…
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The catastrophic consequences of COVID for California constitutional government
COVID-19 hit California hard. The effects of COVID on California’s population were terrible, and the government policies that California imposed on its citizens may have…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2023 is out now
The 2023 edition of CEI’s flagship annual study, Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments, is out now. For those not familiar, 10KC gives a big-picture…
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Wall Street Journal reports consumer frustrations with over-regulated appliances
2023 is turning into the year of bad appliance regulations. Since January, CEI has submitted comments critical of proposed Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Slender salamanders and joint employers
Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary cease-fire. OpenAI’s board of directors fired CEO Sam Altman, then re-hired him and fired themselves. President Joe Biden…
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Free the Economy podcast: Making college pay with Preston Cooper
In this week’s episode we cover Javier Milei’s election as president of Argentina, how much money it takes to be happy,…
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Cold truth about government pushing electric: Natural gas is much cheaper
The Department of Energy (DOE) has repeatedly documented that using natural gas in homes is far cheaper than using electricity.This hasn’t stopped the Biden…
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Slice the regulatory turkey this Thanksgiving
The turkeys Liberty and Bell just received a Thanksgiving pardon from Joe Biden. The official presentation of a turkey for a presidential pardon and rescue…
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CEI’s The Surge: Carbon tariffs, CAFE standards, and more!
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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This week in ridiculous regulations: California raisins and debit card fees
There was a pro-Israel and anti-Hamas rally on the National Mall of more than 200,000 people. A fight nearly broke out at a Senate hearing.
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Free the Economy podcast: Getting out of control with Neil Chilson
In this week’s episode we cover the American Nuclear Society’s Winter 2023 conference, the opportunities and pitfalls of online side-hustles, and the…
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Vehicle kill switches and other horrible things Washington is doing to us from a distance
The remote kill switch for automobiles authorized by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021 is a prime…
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Exposing the federal bureaucracy’s blurry courts
Many federal agencies prevent regular Americans from understanding what they are up to by obscuring the work being conducted by their little-known administrative law courts…