Economists have few more important tasks than to dispel the misconceived notion that protectionism fosters prosperity. It doesn’t. Americans should appreciate the benefits of free trade more than others, for our 50 states trade freely with one another. Imagine how much lower your personal standard of living would be if goods or services from outside […]

Can one create wealth by destroying value? That is precisely what the cash for clunkers program purports to do. At least $3 billion in taxpayer dollars are being used to destroy $2 billion of productive assets, on the premise that this is somehow good for the economy. This is crackpot economics. Taken to its logical […]

Where we come from, it doesn’t snow in June. Our morning commute is not a five-minute bike ride. There is no Belgrade or buffalo tenderloin. Where we come from, it’s cities and sprawl. For two twenty-somethings working in Bozeman for the summer, Montana came like a sigh of relief. Soon we were huffing and puffing. […]

Some of my columns are generated by suggestions from readers. Most recently, I received one from a woman with whom I share a class at The Ridge. She is a cashier at a Bozeman grocery store that nearly all know and love. She suggested a column on obesity, poverty, and proposed health care reform. As […]