Last week, Christine Wilson, a commissioner at the FTC, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal announcing her resignation from the FTC. The reason: Lina Khan’s continual disregard for the rule of law, abuse of power, and the enablement of it by senior officials. We’ve written a lot about the dangerous direction of the...
Earlier this week, the Public Affairs Research Council reported new Southern Regional Education Board data showing college enrollment is decreasing nationwide and in Louisiana. Experts believe Louisiana will experience further declines over the next several years. The stated reasons are a drop in U.S. birthrates and continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, some continue...
Registration for Solutions Summit 2023 is now open! The Pelican Institute for Public Policy will host its annual Solutions Summit on March 9th, bringing policy experts and elected officials from across the country and state together to discuss the most critical policy issues facing Louisiana. Our previous Summits were huge successes and featured speakers such...
This week the governor will unveil his recommended budget to the legislature and the public. The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget (JLCB) will meet during its regular monthly meeting to discuss it and address other regular business items. This creates an opportune time to discuss how Louisiana’s operating budget is developed. The process of...
Next week, the Supreme Court is set to hear cases involving the content moderation practices of social media platforms, including Gonzales v. Google. At the heart of the cases is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. If you don’t know, Section 230 has governed online expression since it was enacted in 1996. In general,...
Last year, the Federal Communications Commission released its nationwide broadband availability map. If you don’t know, a broadband connection is anything faster than a 25 Mbps download speed and a 3 Mbps upload speed. Translation: that’s the speed you need to watch a 4K movie or conduct a Zoom meeting. The map’s release is part...
Governors and lawmakers across the country are expanding school choice in big ways. Last year, Arizona and West Virginia became the first states to provide all families with access to funds to send their child to a school that best fits their needs, unlike other smaller state programs that are only open to certain groups of...
Fairness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. This popular sentiment is certainly true in a free market where buyers and sellers determine prices instead of a third party picking winners and losers. Unfortunately, taxes in Louisiana and other states get caught up in this subjective determination when the questions that really matter...
Originally published in The Center Square. The Pelican State has tremendous opportunity and potential. It’s got a diverse culture, renowned festivals, terrific people, and, of course, delicious food. Yet the burdensome and complicated tax code continues to hold it back from becoming what should be an economic powerhouse. The big first step to propel the...
Epic Games is in trouble. The creator of the popular video game Fortnite has reached an agreement with the FTC to pay $520 million in relief over allegations that the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Allegedly, the company used underhanded tactics to cause players to make unintentional purchases. Epic will pay...
The New York Times and Reuters recently reported a finding by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that the Louisiana Department of Corrections is detaining inmates well past their legal release date. In a statement, the DOJ says it “has concluded there is reasonable cause to believe that the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and...
Our new jobs report highlights Louisiana’s economic situation based on the most recent data. The report is based on several key factors that indicate how the economy, labor market, and public policy influence the lives of everyday Louisianans. While some of these data indicate a relatively strong labor market–such as the historically low unemployment rate–there...
Register for Solutions Summit 2023 here! Curious about Solutions Summit? Check out some of the action from previous years… Last year’s Solutions Summit was an extraordinary opportunity for engaged citizens across Louisiana to come together to find solutions for the most significant issues facing our state. From occupational licensing reform to promoting school choice to...
Yesterday, the DOJ–infused with the spirit of “hipster antitrust”–filed a lawsuit against Google, seeking to break up what they perceive to be Google’s “monopoly” in digital advertising. The suit claims that Google has “monopoly power in the ad-tech industry, hurting web publishers and advertisers that try to use competing products.” The suit has the same flavor...