The Simple Economics of Community Exploitation

Milton Friedman is one of my all time favorite economists, Tom Schelling another.  Both won Nobel prizes and each contributed greatly to my understanding of how the world works.  I knew Milton and Rose longer but Tom and Alice much better.  While we live geographically far apart and the Friedman’s are gone, the Schelling’s remain […]

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How Liberals Live

Introduced here by Dr. John Baden A Tale of Two Cities, Boulder and Bozeman First, an admission: I like Boulder, Colorado–as a place to visit and from which to learn. I’ve been there several times and always enjoyed my visits.  Many say Bozeman is like Boulder was 30 plus years ago.  They mean that as […]

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“Is the Feds Game Worth the Candle?”

Introduced by Dr. John A. Baden, PhD Here is one great truth that has stuck with me since I was an undergraduate.  There is little disagreement among micro economists; their basic model is largely uncontested.  This field studies the behavior of individual households and firms in making decisions on the allocation of limited resources.  It examines markets and […]

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Our Cars’ Weight Problem

Introduction by Dr. John Baden  “Trading Food for Fuel, Blood for Oil” Here is my nomination for book of the year, Thinner This Year.  The authors are Chris Crowley and Jen Sacheck, Ph. D.  The former is a retired attorney and 78-year-old fitness cheerleader, the later a nutritionist at Tufts University’s famous health science center, […]

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Regulating the Militia

Introduction by Dr. John Baden, Chairman, FREE Most contentious issues of public policy are nuanced and highly complex while carrying heavy emotional baggage. These ingredients foster error and acrimony.  Intelligent people of good will, even those sharing similar values, can strongly disagree on policy prescriptions.  This situation produces strong temptations to discredit and denigrate policy opponents.   These characteristics are […]

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 “The Real Cliff”

“The Real Cliff”

Introduced by Dr. John Baden, Chairman, FREE The first FREE Insight of 2013, “The Real Cliff”, is by Christopher DeMuth and was in The Weekly Standard on December 24, 2012.  Chris explains the political logic that generated America’s huge debt and recurrent, soon to be replicated, trillion plus dollar deficits.  He warns us that debt […]

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 “Why Do People Vote”

“Why Do People Vote”

Introduction by John Baden:  Ramona and I often are out of town on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, Election Day. Since we are likely to be gone, we are registered to receive “absentee ballots.” How easy they are; mark, sign, stuff into envelopes, put on a stamp, and we’ve done a small portion of […]

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Allen Johnson, Christians for the Mountains

Allen Johnson is founder and leader of Christians for the Mountains. This group is devoted to fighting mountain top removal mining in West Virginia and adjacent areas. Christians for the Mountains helps the people and environment that suffer from this destructive but politically powerful abuse.  I’ve known and worked with Allen for several years and […]

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