The new crop of nominees for President Obama’s Global Development Council need look no further than The Heritage Foundation’s just-published 2013 Index of Economic Freedom for inspiration. When the President announced the creation of the council last year, its stated purpose was to provide guidance on new developments and ideas …
Sure, you’re smart enough to use the Internet. That’s how you found this post. But are you smart enough to be trusted with the power to select your own Internet search engine? Some—mostly competitors of Google—aren’t so sure. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has decided (after an almost two-year-long investigation) …
It seems that no aspect of American life can escape government regulation. In the past year, regulators drafted rules that addressed everything from caloric intake to dishwasher efficiency. Most of these rules increase the cost of living, others hinder job creation, and many erode freedom. Not all regulations are unwarranted, …
Ongoing negotiations over pay and benefits between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and U.S. port operators highlights the economic risks when unions monopolize labor markets. They also remind us that imports do, in fact, create jobs. Since March the longshoremen have been in heated discussions with 14 ports along the …
Too often, government policies designed to ameliorate a general problem merely benefit a special interest. A case in point, highlighted by Binyamin Applebaum on the Economix blog, is the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). HARP is part of the complex federal effort to stabilize the home mortgage market and stem …
Conservatives won an enormous victory in Michigan last week. The state just passed a right-to-work law that makes union dues voluntary. Starting next year, union contracts cannot require employers to fire employees who do not pay union dues. The state that gave birth to the United Auto Workers union has …
The founder and president of a private security officers’ union in Washington D.C. was convicted last week of 18 different federal offenses. He faces a maximum of 183 years in prison and $2.1 million in fines. A jury ruled on September 5 that Caleb Gray-Burriss, founder and president of the National Association …
