Animals and Christmas go together. Sheep around the manger, turkey or Hutterite goose for dinner. My message builds upon holiday trips to my grandfather Baden’s farm and the comments of a friend, Bob Cindrich, a federal judge in Pittsburgh. They would agree on many important things including treatment of animals. My family’s heritage in America […]

Ecosystems are subject to invasion, e.g. by spotted knapweed. Likewise in political systems. When governments create programs to redistribute wealth, opportunists, like noxious weeds, crowd out intended recipients. Unfortunately, any effort to aid a particular group invites those with connections and power to exploit the program. Louisiana is notorious for its corruption. I lived in […]

The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend my family and I awoke to four inches of sewage in our basement. While we have many close fiends, we didn’t call them for help. No doubt some would have interrupted their plans and come over. But we didn’t want to impose this big, unpleasant job on their Thanksgiving plans. […]

Green Bag Press, 2002, preface by John Baden and Ramona Marotz-Baden. Contact FREE to purchase.

I admire George McGovern’s good cheer — but not his understanding of political economy. Clearly, government has an important role in preventing harm, e.g., protecting human rights and the environment. It’s far more difficult to identify government investments that improve well-being. It’s not a null set but it is a relatively small set. Investments in […]