Will water move uphill toward money? Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. City of New London, makes it more likely. Here’s how. The Kelo case is the latest challenge to the 5th Amendment’s constraints on governmental seizure of private property. In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that the government can transfer property […]
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Each summer Eagle Mount’s Camp Braveheart program brings 10 to 20 kids from throughout the nation to the Bozeman area. All of them are stricken by cancer and many come from families of modest means. While here, they revel in Montana delights: horseback riding, camping, canoeing, etc. FREE and Curmudgeon friends sponsor a day at […]
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I recently read that the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), a free-market environmental group in Bozeman, will celebrate its 25th anniversary on June 4th. Please join me in offering congratulations. PERC has done a great deal to improve America’s understanding of the institutions that promote and foster environmental quality, as well as those that […]
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My wife, Professor Ramona Marotz-Baden, Ph.D., is retiring after a 35-year teaching career. Twenty-seven were at MSU. She had offers at Ivy and Big Ten schools. Her college at the University of Minnesota named Ramona one of its “Top 100 Graduates of the First 100 Years.” This prompts a question: Why does Montana State attract […]
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While a graduate student, I had the great good fortune to know professor Marion J. Levy, of Princeton University. He heavily influenced my thinking on society and economy. In particular, he sensitized me to the pitfalls of relying upon good intentions and idealistic proclamations. I was working with Professor Levy at the time of the […]
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A year ago I wrote: “Urban and affluent newcomers to our region bring an utterly different value system for the land. To them, commodity extraction is inferior to the amenity value of land — scenery, recreation, open space, fish and wildlife, wilderness. Rather than the ‘boomers’ decried by [Wallace] Stegner, we now attract landscape architects […]
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On March 14, the Wall Street Journal ran a 12-page special on the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The feature story by Stefan Fatsis, “Where Are They Now,” followed the post-tournament career of Mississippi State University’s 1996 Final Four team. (It ranged from prison to college administration.) Fatsis described tensions inherent to melding academic and athletic goals. […]
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High human capital is critical to future success. Forty years ago, Montana’s per capita income ranked in the middle of the states. Now we are near the bottom. Here’s why. Montana’s traditional economic base of agriculture, forest products, and metals has dramatically declined and has no prospects for future growth. This is the result of […]
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Here’s a true, important, universal generalization: Across time and cultures, water normally flows uphill toward money. What are the implications for our area? Let’s first consider Yellowstone Park. The thermal features of Yellowstone are fed by aquifers that reach and recharge far beyond Park boundaries. Yellowstone would still be magnificent, but it would be much […]
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This year I can’t ski with Ramona for I was just liberated from a cast. Now while she skis, I sit in the Saddle Peak Lodge with my unactivated season pass and my PowerBook. I read and write. Occasionally I run across a great proposal. Here’s a winner being developed by Prof. Richard Wolff of […]
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