The beginning of a new year is an excellent time to make a personally important announcement. It’s time for FREE to find a new president, and our board has begun the search. Fortunately, my good friend and colleague Pete Geddes will continue his excellent work as Executive Vice President. I’ll remain at FREE as Founding […]

I’m hopeful about this holiday season. Specifically, I hope we learn that the things economists measure best are not what matter most. Thoughtful people will understand that good friendships and the warmth that comes from helping the unfortunate are more satisfying than transitory fruits of wealth. This Christmas season is quite different from those of […]

Coal is a ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive resource. Montana holds one-third of all U.S. coal deposits, representing about 8 percent of the world’s total. The International Energy Agency reports that between 2000 and 2007, global coal use increased by 4.8 percent. That’s three times the growth of oil consumption and nearly twice the rate of […]

The Department of Energy estimates year-end domestic oil consumption will fall 5.4 percent. This is the steepest decline since 1980. Only a few months ago, seemingly relentless growth in China and India, combined with tight supplies, and a weak U.S. dollar, pushed oil to nearly $150 a barrel. Now concerns over a global recession have […]

Where I grew up in the Midwest, cars were keys. Owning one marked maturity and provided a passport to liberty. All of my friends had cars and I had some pickups, my first a 1931 Model A Ford for which I paid $35 drove 100 miles home. Presaging future problems, the first Volkswagen had just […]