The Department of Justice (DOJ) has finally released its long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging the company routinely engaged in “anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend” its monopoly status at the expense of consumer welfare and competition. The anti-trust suit follows the Trump administration’s desire to rein in big tech companies that it argues have […]
Blog
The Economic Standard: Proposition 24 Will Harm Growth and Innovation
Proposition 24 is a ballot initiative that California’s voters will decide on in November, and it seeks to expand the previously passed California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. If passed, Prop. 24 would limit the information that technology companies can collect by imposing onerous new regulations, such as forcing companies to openly disclose what information is […]
Real Clear Policy: Nationalizing 5G Is Not the Way to Win
A bold article published by Axios two years ago that included leaked documents by a senior National Security Council official recommended a government-operated 5G network as a solution to win the 5G race. The idea of a government-built 5G network was met with loud resistance from industry experts. Back then, the idea did not go anywhere, as wireless providers […]
COVID-19: Mitigating Worker and Consumer Risk
As the country slowly regains its economic footing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, consumers, employees, and their employers are working to develop the ‘new normal’ for essential and re-opened businesses. As part of this process, labor groups, such as the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, are pushing to make temporary pay increases […]
The End of the Internet? Net Neutrality Three Years On …
Three years on from the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIFO), it is apparent that the apocalyptic claims have not materialized. RIFO has resulted in a considerable tangible benefit for consumers. Not only has broadband access increased for consumers, particularly for low income and rural consumers, so too has internet speed and capital investments in […]
Morning Consult: Implications of a Government-Run 5G Network
The Pentagon’s recent Request for Information resurfaces a costly and unfeasible idea that the Trump administration has considered in the past: a government-built and operated 5G network. Calls for a nationalized 5G network are motivated both by a national security and an economic component. Besides the obvious and concerning fact that it would require billions of new tax dollars […]
Video: How Ending Price Regulation Benefitted Consumers
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Staggers Act, a law that ended the regulation of railroad prices. The Staggers Act demonstrated four decades ago that deregulation, when done correctly, can provide huge benefits to the nation and to consumers in particular. Specifically, price deregulation led to a 44% long term reduction in rail […]
Inside Sources: The U.S. Needs a Federal Data Protection and Privacy Law — Don’t Look to California
When it became effective on January 1, 2020, CCPA gave consumers sweeping rights over the data companies hold onto, providing consumers the right to know what data businesses have collected as well as giving consumers the right to demand businesses delete data. Despite admirable intentions, CCPA has failed to strike a balance between protecting consumers’ rights and […]
The Hill: Rail Deregulation 40 Years Ago: Staggering Success for Consumers Today
This month commemorates an important economic milestone for the nation — the 40th anniversary of the Staggers Act, which led to a 44 percent decrease in transportation costs and $10 billion in annual savings for consumers. If we have learned anything from this economic history, it is that the nation should never go back the dark days of excessive price […]
New International Tax Plan Will Come at the Expense of Consumers
Efforts in the last couple of years to produce a new international tax plan to deal with the growth and effects of the digital economy may soon become a potential windfall for many international governments. As countries struggle across the globe from the COVID-19 health crises and the economic turmoil, these countries find themselves needing […]