Some of my friends and neighbors resent the prospect of living near the world’s most expensive spec house, a coming attraction in the Yellowstone Club. This is certainly not mere envy of the “haves” by the “have-nots,” for some friends are well-educated and well-off. Rather, they correctly anticipate the imposition of costs on innocent communities. […]
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Pilgrim Congregational Church has an exceptional music program, especially during Christmas. I write this as the brass, organ, drums and the choir practice. While Ramona rehearses, I study Pilgrim’s bulletin board and see over a dozen appeals for support. Intermountain Children’s Home, Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, and Central Asian Institute suggest the range of […]
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I have just returned from a meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society (MPS) in Guatemala. Prof. Friedrich Hayek, winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize in economics, established MPS in 1947, in the alpine setting of Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland. Milton Friedman was a cofounder. The totalitarianism surrounding World War II motivated the creation of MPS. It […]
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The Bozeman Business and Professional Women recently invited me to speak at a luncheon on ballot initiative I-151. This seeks an increase in Montana’s minimum wage to $6.15 from $5.15 per hour. I-151 includes an annual cost of living adjustment and exemptions for small businesses with gross sales of $110,000 or less. I was delighted […]
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Why are economists the last sane optimists and what can they teach church leaders about environmental stewardship? These questions grow in importance as religious organizations dedicate themselves to issues such as climate change and energy use. Last summer gas hit over $3.00 per gallon, cities anticipated electrical blackouts, and the country faced serious prospects of […]
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Tom France, of the National Wildlife Federation, organized a conference, “The Climate Challenge: Strategies for Montana’s Future.” FREE cosponsored last weekend’s Helena meeting. This effort was described as “a collaborative conference implementing a progressive, proactive approach, [to] address the growing global climate challenge.” It featured experts from agriculture, industry, economics, and conservation. Its goal was […]
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Why do well-intended people so often propose counterproductive policy solutions, the outcomes of which thwart their stated goals? What’s wrong? Let’s employ an ecological perspective to help understand this paradox. Human systems, like ecological ones, are inherently complex. When intervening it’s nearly impossible to do only one thing. The distinguished ecologist Garrett Hardin offered the […]
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It’s trendy to hate Wal-Mart. Critics note: Wal-Mart is a monopoly and hence, is intrinsically bad. Further, Wal-Mart destroys small businesses, ruining towns’ culture. It sells poor-quality, homogenous products in unattractive superstores. And finally, Wal-Mart is an unfair employer, paying low wages and failing to provide benefits. Each disparagement contains a grain of truth; Wal-Mart […]
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In his 1967 book The New Industrial State, the late Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith opined a view that’s been accepted by “progressives” ever since: corporations exert great power over consumers. Like zombies, we are seduced into buying things we don’t (or shouldn’t) want. Galbraith asserted that markets can’t even be trusted to produce proper […]
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In an earlier life I taught school in a Midwestern Rust Belt town. The economy was depressed as auto makers struggled to adjust to new realities. Through the school’s community service program, my students and I were introduced to less fortunate folks as we helped a local church prepare free hot lunches. I found the […]
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