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George Washington’s marvelous list of liberties and grievances
On the federal holiday on Monday and on his real birthday on Thursday, February 22, we celebrate the 292nd birthday of our nation’s first president,…
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Off-the-rails FTC wrong answer for keeping kids safe online
This week the Washington Post reported that the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is poised to pass the Senate, but faces hurdles in…
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Time to simplify trade agreements
Over at National Review’s Capital Matters site, Kent Lassman and I make the case that trade agreements should stick to trade. We also argue…
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Red tape? More like chains, thanks to deficit spending and subsidies
Federal subsidies and grants are infamous for having strings attached. That’s nothing new, but those strings are increasingly chains. Businesses are being seduced into corporate…
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Free the Economy podcast: Federalism wins with Patrick Gleason
In this week’s episode we cover President Biden’s attack on shrinkflation, barriers to workplace flexibility, and a motherlode of domestic lithium.
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Major asset managers drop climate activism
It’s all over the business news headlines this morning: Major money managers are exiting an international alliance focused on influencing climate change policy and reducing…
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CEI’s The Surge: Biden admin particulate matter rule, GOP carbon tax support, 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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Biden liquefied natural gas export ‘pause’ hurts Americans and our allies
The Biden administration recently announced plans to pause approvals for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to countries in which the United States doesn’t…
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The GOP is souring on free trade
It is no secret that the median voter is either unaware or doesn’t care how most policies actually work, from immigration to health care policy.
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Adam Smith, national ruin, and human progress
During the American Revolution, British Member of Parliament John Sinclair wrote a letter to Adam Smith. He was worried about how badly the war was…
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This week in ridiculous regulations: Horseracing and postal products
The Supreme Court heard a case about whether Donald Trump should be disqualified from holding public office under the Fourteenth Amendment. A lawyer’s memo called…
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Energy and Environment Regulatory Tracker: EV mandates, EPA confuses science and policy, and more!
Keeping track of the most important energy and environmental federal rules can be difficult. The following lists some important proposed rules with open comment periods: …
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Regulatory reform in the 118th Congress: The POST IT Act
When navigating federal regulations, small businesses frequently encounter challenges in understanding and adhering to them. This lack of clarity poses significant hurdles for both new…
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FTC commissioner wants to regulate worker misclassification, decries ‘unfair competition’
Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya has announced that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will get into the business of enforcing labor law. That was the…
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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…