Although today we must report to the IRS, there are solid reasons to be optimistic about our future. Many people find the positive cultural and environmental qualities of our valley, and indeed our region, compellingly attractive. Despite obvious current setbacks, our situation is enviable on multiple dimensions. Most importantly, accomplished, highly successfully people find Bozeman […]
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Each summer FREE organizes and hosts a series of small academic conferences in the Bozeman area. In addition to academics and professional environmentalists, we work with opinion leaders and decision makers throughout America. Our arena is public policy focused on environmental issues viewed broadly. We foster understanding and are non-partisan. FREE has involved Article III […]
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Many of my friends are worried about their future and that of our nation. This is surely understandable. Jobs are insecure, retirement funds are dissipating, and our governments are poised to become significantly more intrusive and constraining. As a result of these obvious problems, many fear that American policies are moving us toward the European […]
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Exit interviews are normally comprised of questions posed to employees who leave an organization. It’s hard and expensive to replace good workers, and the causes of departure may need to be remedied. I believe exit interviews could be useful in another context; they could be given to contributors who terminate or reduce support for an […]
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Over the past year we’ve made several modest improvement on our ranch. Hence, I’ve had the pleasure of observing and sometimes working with men who move and manipulate the concrete furniture of the world. They use machinery and tools to mold solid and liquid material into useful and pleasing products of long life. Their activities […]
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With Bozeman’s boom fading or gone, focus turns to the likely impact of the stimulus upon employment. Naturally, some recall FDR’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935. This was one of many New Deal programs known by their letters and widely appreciated for their results. We still benefit from Forest Service trails and structures constructed […]
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People employ state power when moral persuasion fails. Politically legitimized coercion and constraint can generate hugely beneficial reform. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 is one example; environmental laws provide other examples. In contrast, America’s Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol for consumers’ pleasure, was a huge failure. Industrial alcohol remained legal […]
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We will soon celebrate the selection, election, inauguration, and for some the coronation, of America’s 44th president, Barack Obama. These events mark quite amazing progress in achieving ideals articulated in our Declaration of Independence, in several of Lincoln’s addresses, and by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. America has suffered a political analogue to the doctrine […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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