Competitive Enterprise Institute

Hey Fed! Don’t worsen devastating Durbin debit card price controls. Consumers using their debit and credit cards just can’t catch a break these days from politicians, bureaucrats, and big retailers pushing Big Government ripoffs.

Hey Fed! Don’t worsen devastating Durbin debit card price controls - Competitive Enterprise Institute Consumers using their debit and credit cards just can’t catch a break these days from politicians, bureaucrats, and big retailers pushing Big Government ripoffs. In Congress, the big box stores are lobbying for the so-called Credit Card Competition Act, also known as Durbin-Marshall for its Senate...

What are the limits of the federal government’s powers? That critical question has been debated since the nation’s Founding, and a recent federal court decision on at-home distilling now serves as the latest chapter in that debate.

Federal Court Recognizes Limits to Federal Power Over At-Home Distilling - Competitive Enterprise Institute What are the limits of the federal government’s powers? That critical question has been debated since the nation’s Founding, and a recent federal court decision now serves as the latest chapter in that debate. Earlier this year, in Hobby Distillers Association v. Alcohol and To***co Tax and Tra...

Ryan Young takes a look at Kamala Harris’s price control proposals for groceries and housing. This is a perfect example of the right problem, wrong solution dynamic. Price controls have failed everywhere they have been tried because they aim at symptoms of inflation and not its root cause.

Price controls: right problem, wrong solution - Competitive Enterprise Institute In an op-ed being syndicated by Inside Sources, I take a look at Kamala Harris’s price control proposals for groceries and housing: Her housing policy proposals have a similar problem: This is not to pick on Democrats. Republicans are no better. They have no plans to reduce deficit spending. Donal...

Big government regulations on... cats. Yes, you read that right.

This week in ridiculous regulations: Closed captioning and toothless blindcats - Competitive Enterprise Institute The new 2024 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. The Paris Olympics began. Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro stole another election. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from longfin smelt to imported cats.  On to the data: Highlights from last week’s new final regulations: And f...

Exposed by whistleblowers..

How Partisan Bureaucrats Weaponized Financial Regulation - Competitive Enterprise Institute The main goal of financial regulation in the United States is supposed to be the protection of consumers, investors, and their businesses from deception and fraud. Government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation should protect our int...

One of the reasons why removing taxes on overtime would have only marginal impact is because removing the income tax doesn’t benefit (or penalize) employers, since it is workers who pay the tax. Employers therefore have no new incentive to offer their workers more time.

Removing taxes on overtime would have only marginal impact - Competitive Enterprise Institute Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the taxes on overtime would likely have little effect on the workers and the economy. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea – there are some workers out there who would likely get a boost – but, overall, it is not likely to ma...

Our Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner is tomorrow! Here are some highlights from dinners past. Will you be joining us tomorrow at the National Cathedral? Details here https://simonlegacy.cei.org/

Government efficiency commission: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Ryan Young goes over the pros & cons of multiple topics such as regulatory reform, universal tariff & commission spending. Read more here:

Government efficiency commission: the good, the bad, and the ugly - Competitive Enterprise Institute Donald Trump is proposing a new government efficiency commission and he wants Elon Musk to lead it. Like most campaign proposals, it does not yet have many specifics, and it may only be so much hot air. The ideas Trump and Musk have floated so far are a mixed bag: Sovereign wealth fund. This is […...

We should be asking the question - "Can Trump achieve a 10-for-1 rule elimination?" Streamlining deregulation under the Administrative Procedure Act is slow, and Trump’s team will need to be prepared for pushback.

Scaling deregulation: Can Trump achieve a 10-for-1 rule elimination? - Competitive Enterprise Institute In a speech at the Economic Club of New York, Donald Trump pledged if re-elected to eliminate—not two rules for every one added as he had during his first term—but ten for one. As I explore in Forbes (“Trump’s Ten Rules Out For Every One Rule In: How Would That Work?”), this cannot work th...

The main goal of financial regulation in the United States is supposed to be the protection of consumers, investors, and their businesses from deception and fraud. Yet, in far too many cases, the financial regulatory agencies that are supposed to be our useful servants have become arrogant masters.

How Partisan Bureaucrats Weaponized Financial Regulation - Competitive Enterprise Institute The main goal of financial regulation in the United States is supposed to be the protection of consumers, investors, and their businesses from deception and fraud. Government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation should protect our int...

Will "big nuclear" make a comeback? The timing is good given the projected increases in electricity demand in the coming years from Artificial Intelligence, data centers, and the push for the electrification of households and vehicles. Read more here:

Will Big Nuclear make a comeback? - Competitive Enterprise Institute Following Georgia Power Plant Vogtle Unit 4’s completion and coming online earlier this year, there aren’t any outstanding large nuclear reactors under construction in the United States. But that could change soon.  A new startup, The Nuclear Company, plans to build new nuclear reactors in t...

Will the Labor Department keep up with the ever-changing job market? CEI analysis: August’s jobs numbers show an addition of 142,000 jobs to the economy, edging the unemployment rate down to 4.2 percent compared to July’s 4.3 percent.

Unemployment rate edged down in August, all eyes on Fed’s next move: CEI analysis - Competitive Enterprise Institute August’s jobs numbers show an addition of 142,000 jobs to the economy, edging the unemployment rate down to 4.2 percent compared to July’s 4.3 percent. The focus now is on how this report will affect the Fed’s interest rate decision later this month and if the Labor Department can keep up with...

Subsidies make for unreliable power sources, namely wind and solar, often make it more profitable to build facilities that have few benefits for the grid rather than the dispatchable capacity that is direly needed. Paige Lambermont writes about the problem with power subsidies. Read more here:

The problem with power subsidies - Competitive Enterprise Institute A new paper from the Energy Alliance highlights one of the biggest causes of rising unreliability on the electricity grid: subsidies. The report’s author, Bill Peacock, spells out the myriad problems that federal electricity subsidies have created. Subsidies for unreliable power sources, namely wi...

Innovation has never stopped, Julian L. Simon advocated for political and economic freedom while reminding us today that discoveries are infinite in every aspect of life.
We look forward to celebrating economist Julian L. Simon next week at our annual awards dinner, hope to see you there!

Listen in on this week’s episode of podcast! We cover topics from social media censorship, to the property market crash in China. Our guest this week is Geoffrey Manne with Richard Morrison

Free the Economy podcast: The future of streaming with Geoff Manne - Competitive Enterprise Institute In this week’s episode we cover social media censorship, automation at US ports, and the property market crash in China. Our interview this week is with Geoffrey Manne, president of the International Center for Law and Economics. We talk about movies, TV shows, writers, competition, and the future...

Harris’ price controls won’t tame inflation. This is a perfect example of the right problem, wrong solution dynamic. Price controls have failed everywhere they have been tried because they aim at symptoms of inflation and not its root cause.

Counterpoint: Harris’ Price Controls Won’t Tame Inflation - Competitive Enterprise Institute Right problem, wrong solution. It’s one of the most familiar stories in politics. Thanks to inflation, every American is paying higher prices for groceries and housing than before the pandemic. But politicians’ proposed solutions would make those problems even worse. The right solution is to att...

NIST AI guidelines misplace responsibility for managing risks. Why? Policymakers are scrambling to keep pace with technological advancements in artificial intelligence. The guidelines seem to overlook the distributed nature of risk management in AI ecosystems.

Different risks are best addressed by different actors at various stages of the AI lifecycle.
Read more here:

NIST AI Guidelines Misplace Responsibility For Managing Risks - Competitive Enterprise Institute Policymakers are scrambling to keep pace with technological advancements in artificial intelligence. The recent release of draft guidelines from the U.S. AI Safety Institute, a newly-created office within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), are the latest example of government...

Calling something as “safe as the Bank of England” was the highest praise of surety and soundness. Should any financial institutions get out of line, it was said that a simple rise of the Governor of the Bank’s eyebrow would get them back in line. It was a symbol of British tradition and stability. Did the Bank of England set Britain on the road to ruin? Read more to find out.

Did the Bank of England Set Britain on the Road to Ruin? - Competitive Enterprise Institute “The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street” is the affectionate nickname of the Bank of England, as respected an institution as Britain ever had. Calling something as “safe as the Bank of England” was the highest praise of surety and soundness. Should any financial institutions get out of line, it...

Regulators are high on this week's ridiculous regulations that range from ma*****na scheduling to do-not-call fees.

This week in ridiculous regulations: ma*****na scheduling and do-not-call fees - Competitive Enterprise Institute Rather than allow more housing to be built to combat rising rents, the Justice Department sued RealPage, a rent-listing service. CEI’s James Broughel released a paper on improving permitting policies in New York State. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from an under-21 cigarette ban to Texas...

A comprehensive approach to energy permitting reform, which makes the process easier and fairer for all industries while also ensuring strong consumer protections, would best serve the American people and U.S. energy needs.

Unpacking The Pros And Cons Of The Energy Permitting Reform Act Of 2024 As the 118th Congress winds down, Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) have introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.

Labor Day was established in the late 1800s to celebrate workers and their achievements. Since then, with the technical innovations and increased wealth of all society, we all have much to celebrate in this post-modern world. But the modern labor world has its own particular problems, says CEI expert Sean Higgins. Swipe to learn more

The US Supreme Court recently rendered one of the most historic decisions in administrative law in the consolidated cases of Loper Bright v. Raimondo & Relentless v. Department of Commerce. The outcome was a welcome one, as federal agencies can no longer rely on their shaky interpretation of statutory authority.

ESG policy trembles in our post-Chevron world - Competitive Enterprise Institute The US Supreme Court recently rendered one of the most historic decisions in administrative law in the consolidated cases of Loper Bright v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce. The outcome was a welcome one, as federal agencies can no longer rely on their shaky interpretation of statu...

The 2024 labor world has its own particular problems in today's economy. One such problem is that the once-hot jobs market has cooled. The Labor Department has been struggling to track the changes and has had to adjust its data more than once.

Labor issues - Competitive Enterprise Institute Labor Day was established in the late 1800s to celebrate workers and their achievements. Back then, manual labor was the dominant type of work for average Americans, and 12-hour workdays and use of child labor were not uncommon. Since that Industrial Revolution era, with the technical innovations an...

What better place to celebrate CEI’s 40th anniversary than the Washington National Cathedral? See where we will gather for the Julian L. Simon Award Dinner September 19th.

Don't forget to RSVP by 8/30! https://simonlegacy.cei.org/

Personal privacy is important. Today, the central danger to privacy is government, because only government possesses the coercive powers and the systemic capacity to violate constitutional rights. A collapse in privacy will have terrible social consequences.

The social significance of the Consolidated Audit Trail - Competitive Enterprise Institute Personal privacy is important. The ability of citizens to communicate and do business with one another – and to do so with some degree of exclusivity or confidentiality – is becoming increasingly rare. Such privacy and anonymity concerns face erosion because of the expanding reach of the adminis...

No one can deny inflation is dragging our wallets down. Since the pandemic began, inflation has devalued the dollar by more than a fifth. Food and housing are more expensive than ever read more to find out why.

Price signals and virtue signals - Competitive Enterprise Institute It’s a divisive election year, but all of us still have some things in common. Since the pandemic began, inflation has devalued the dollar by more than a fifth. Food and housing are more expensive than ever. And people know that it doesn’t have to be that way. Food price relief can come from scr...

Will regulators ever stop horsing around? On this weeks ridiculous regulations the craziness ranges from horse race integrity to threatening air cargo.

This week in ridiculous regulations: Horse race integrity and threatening air cargo - Competitive Enterprise Institute Now that it’s August, agencies began publishing their Spring 2024 Unified Agenda entries for their planned regulations. Economists had a frustrating week, with Kamala Harris proposed price controls for groceries, and Donald Trump countering with a proposed 20 percent universal tariff. Agencies iss...

Want to read more about CEI’s recent victory and principled history?

"That court decision is based on constitutional principles that CEI associates have been consistently championing for 25 years."

CEI’s recent victory and principled history - Competitive Enterprise Institute My colleague Devin Watkins wrote about an important court decision last month, and we like to think that an amicus brief CEI provided to that court had something to do with it. But there’s one additional matter I’d like to emphasize: that court decision is based on constitutional principles that...

Did you know the generator market has seen remarkable growth, with more consumers opting for backup power solutions than ever before? Patricia Patnode explores the rise of backup power solutions in the US.

Uncertain grids, growing market: The rise of backup power solutions in the US - Competitive Enterprise Institute In recent years, the generator market has seen remarkable growth, with more consumers opting for backup power solutions than ever before. The US generator sales market size was valued at $6.10 billion in 2023. The market is projected to be worth $6.43 billion in 2024, and reach $10.26 billion by 203...

These hours could have been used to improve people's lives and the economy instead of regulating them.

Learn more -> cei.org/10kc