A new Maryland law makes it illegal for manufacturers to set a minimum retail price for their products in sales contracts. The law is meant to increase competition. Unfortunately, it will have the opposite effect.

As Wayne Crews and I explain in the The American Spectator, it could prevent retailers from competing with each other on non-price grounds, such as customer service, product demonstrations, and advertising.

Some products, such as televisions or cars, have high information costs. Customers want to know a lot…

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Sugar got front-page notice from the Wall Street Journal today. The article focused on a letter sent to the Secretary of Agriculture to increase the amount of sugar that can be imported without tariffs.  Prominent food firms as well as several nonprofit groups, including CEI, signed the letter.

Currently, U.S. sugar users are facing steep prices and a shortage of sugar.  Under  the U.S. sugar program - a system of price supports and import restrictions — there are quotas on the import of…

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Following the economy, especially lately, can be confusing. Reporters are not helping matters.

A CNN.com article, for example, blames yesterday’s stock market plunge on a selloff.

But there was no selloff; every seller requires a buyer.

Just as more people were selling, so were more people buying. Describing yesterday’s market as a selloff only tells half the story.

The same article says that today’s 600-point gain happened when “investors scooped up a variety of shares.” But those buyers cannot buy unless somebody sells…

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Chevron has plastered a series of posters all over the Washington, D.C. metro system as part of an advertising campaign titled, “will-you-join-us?” Join Chevron how? By becoming an employee and helping Chevron produce the petroleum products consumers need? Nope. By buying Chevron stock and becoming a shareholder? No again. By joining the fight against anti-consumer policies like oil drilling bans and carbon cap-and-trade schemes? Not a chance.

Each poster features an earnest-looking adult who vows to consume less energy—or at…

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Rad Berky of NewsChannel 36 in Charlotte, North Carolina reports that fears of Hurricane Ike disrupting the supply of gasoline has caused massive runs on gas stations. This phenomenon was brought to my attention by CEI’s Vice President for Policy, Wayne Crews, who is currently with family in North Carolina and witnessing the shortages first hand. Berky reports that:

Even with the higher prices, [CITGO station owner Bipin] Ganhdi ran out of gas by mid-afternoon Friday. He is hoping his next shipment…

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On the front page of the Washington Post, writer Steven Pearlstein contradicts himself by writing that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are being “rescued from the harsh discipline of markets and the consequences of their own misjudgments,” undercutting arguments for “privatization, deregulation, and a faith in free markets.”

But the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is hardly an indictment of the free market: Fannie and Freddie are “Government-Sponsored Enterprises,” not products of the free market or the…

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This year’s corn crop is being planted much later than normal because of cool, wet weather in the Corn Belt and other production areas, according to a Reuter’s story today.   The slow planting has caused a jump in corn futures:

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade surged as much as 4 percent on Tuesday, with an all-time high of $6.60-3/4 a bushel set by the July 2009 contract.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly agriculture summary, the pace of…

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