This is a “feel-good” column, written to share. Please join me in appreciating our home territory. The Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club sponsored an English (100 miles) and metric (100K) ride last Saturday. Both left from the Belgrade town park, around 8:00 AM. No precise time was given, for these were pleasure rides, not races. My […]
Read More
Montana State University is poised to become a nationally recognized school of excellence. Success is highly probable if MSU leaders capitalize on becoming the University of the Yellowstone. Such advancement would reflect the diffusion of quality throughout American higher education. (The U of M enjoys a similar opportunity, but success will be more difficult there.) […]
Read More
Three decades ago, it was rare to get three summer cuttings of hay at our ranch — now this is the norm. Global warming is a plausible explanation. Barbra Streisand, Al Gore, and many scientists have proclaimed consensus: global warming is occurring, we are causing it, and the consequences are significant. But the question remains: […]
Read More
Gallatin Gateway, MT, July 3rd. Late last night Ramona and I returned from academic conferences in Europe. I had lectured on land resources at the University Cezanne in Aix en Provence, France. Folks from eleven nations attended and I identified myself as a Montanan and Ramona as an MSU professor emeritus. I was asked about […]
Read More
When Lewis and Clark explored our region, it was a vast “commons.” Anyone sufficiently skillful and lucky to survive the dangers could exploit its bounty of furs and gold. Without individual incentives to consider the common good, the land was subject to the “Tragedy of the Commons.” Consequently, beaver were trapped out in many areas […]
Read More
One of the best features of our community is the most difficult to measure. While we can cite symphonies, recommend fine restaurants, and calculate the distance to skiing, spring creeks, and Gallatin Field, how can we calculate the value of trust? The implicit ability to trust others facilitates social interaction. Trust reduces the costs of […]
Read More
Entrepreneurs are visionaries who see innovative ways to move resources to higher value. These resources include knowledge, ideals, and good intentions. Entrepreneurs make immense contributions to our wealth, health, and well-being. Noted entrepreneurs, Henry Ford and Bill Gates for example, created businesses that changed the world. The great majority of research on entrepreneurship focuses on […]
Read More
Thich Nhat Hanh notes in Peace Is Every Step that “It is difficult to explain to children in the ‘overdeveloped’ nations that not all children in the world have such beautiful and nourishing food…. [How can we] … assist those who need our help so much?” The material wealth of America’s average citizen astounds those […]
Read More
Charles Murray is a courageous, tough-love analyst of social policy. His new book by AEI Press, In Our Hands, is the most radical I’ve read. Ever. Charles has worked to counter poverty since in the Peace Corps four decades ago. With a Harvard B.A. and MIT Ph.D. in political science, he is one of America’s […]
Read More
Who but misanthropes and exploiters of cheap labor would oppose the goal of increasing Montana’s minimum wage by one dollar to $6.15 per hour? Only a committed ascetic who inherited a home can enjoy a wholesome, healthy, independent life here on $12,000 per year. Clearly, the proposed increase falls far below a “living wage.” Fifteen […]
Read More