The World Series of Poker is underway. The tournament is perfectly legal. And anyone over 18 can play poker in a casino. But it has been illegal to play the game online since April 15, now known to poker fans as Black Friday. Policy Analyst Michelle Minton goes over the controversy and explains why prohibition doesn’t work.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for June 9, 2011: The Other Black Friday
Posted in CEI Podcast, Nanny State, regulation
Tagged gambling, illegal gambling, michelle minton, online poker, poker, prohibition, wsop
Human Achievement Hour founder Michelle Minton talks about the annual celebration of human creativity and innovation that happens at the same time every year as Earth Hour. Ecology and economy are quite compatible. One definition of progress, after all, is doing more with less. When people are left free to achieve and innovate, that is exactly what happens, to the environment’s benefit — and mankind’s.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for March 28, 2011: Human Achievement Hour
Posted in CEI Podcast, Technology, The New Religion
Tagged accomplishment, achievement, Earth Hour, ecology, economy, environment, environmentalism, Human Achievement Hour, innovation, michelle minton, optimism, progress
Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young looks at the IRS’ proposal to save you time by doing your taxes for you. Because you would be liable for any of the IRS’ mistakes, you would still have to check over your return. This negates much of the time savings. It could also cost employers as much as $5 billion in increased reporting requirements. Then there is the conflict of interest between your collector also being your tax preparer.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast — December 28, 2010: IRS as Tax Preparer?
Posted in CEI Podcast, Economics, Taxation
Tagged irs, michelle minton, paye, regulation, return-free income tax, Ryan Young, tax, tax policy, taxes
Michelle Minton, CEI’s Director of Insurance Studies, takes a whirlwind tour of alcohol regulations across the country. From Pennsylvania to Texas to Colorado, there are regulations at every turn. They do everything from raise revenue to tell people what products they can buy at what times, to shelter politically favored companies from pesky competition. In this way, alcohol is like most other sectors of the economy.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast – December 15, 2010: Alcohol Regulations Across the Country
Posted in CEI Podcast, Nanny State, regulation
Tagged alcohol, alcohol regulation, blue laws, cei podcast, michelle minton, prohibition, regulation
The TSA has crossed a line. Its new security procedures require employees to either touch passengers’ genitals or take pictures of them. The public backlash is loud and growing. My colleagues Michelle Minton, Brian McGraw, and Ivan Osorio have all covered the issue. Here are what other people around the country are saying:
-Tim Carney reports that the CEO of Rapiscan, a scanner manufacturer, is an Obama donor and accompanied the President on his recent trip to India.
-A group of activists has declared November 24 to be National Opt-Out Day. November 24 is the day before Thanksgiving, and will be one of the year’s busiest travel days. Since pat-downs take more time than full-body scans, the goal is to clog security until TSA removes full-body scanners from airports. I will be participating.
-The proprietor of Our Little Chatterboxes, a blog about child development issues, recounts her encounter with the TSA’s new pat-down procedures. She writes, “[The TSA employee] felt along my waistline, moved behind me, then proceeded to feel both of my buttocks. She reached from behind in the middle of my buttocks towards my vagina area… She then moved in front of my and touched the top and underneath portions of both of my breasts… She then felt my inner thighs and my vagina area, touching both of my labia.”
-The blogger at Insert Title Here tells his story, with video. He was threatened with a $10,000 civil suit.
–The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman wrote an excellent column, noting that “The U.S. Marshals Service recently admitted saving some 35,000 images from a [full-body scanning] machine at a federal courthouse in Florida. TSA says that will never happen. Human experience says, oh, yes, it will.”
–Art Carden calls for abolishing the TSA. “The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains credibility,” he writes.
-The Drudge Report posts a picture of a TSA agent fondling a nun’s private parts.
Posted in Security Theater
Tagged abolish the tsa, airport security, art carden, brian mcgraw, chicago tribune, drudge report, insert title here, ivan osrio, michelle minton, national opt-out day, our little chaterrboxes, Security Theater, sexual assault, steve chapman, tim parney, timothy p. carney, tsa
CEI Director of Insurance Studies Michelle Minton analyzes proposals to privatize Virginia’s liquor stores. Virginia is one of 18 states where the government holds a legal monopoly on the sale of spirits.
Posted in CEI Podcast, Nanny State
Tagged abc, cei, cei podcast, liquor store privatization, michelle minton, podcast, prohibition, relic of prohibition, virginia, virginia abc
Inertia Wins! 
