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Opinion

Opinion

Austerity vs. Spending

By John Fuller Ever since John Maynard Keynes published his “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” liberals have been enamored with the concept that governments can deficit-spend to stimulate aggregate demand and thus spend an economy into prosperity. FDR used Keynes’ theory to justify most of the New Deal, spending in the name of […]

By John Fuller | Joe Carbonari
Guest Column

New Ports Important for Montana Agriculture

Montana exports had a record year in 2012. Led by grain, Montana exported over $2.48 billion in high-value grain last year. We’re producing products and commodities that the world wants, and all our communities benefit from the resulting jobs, economic growth and tax revenue.?But to continue to thrive in the highly competitive global marketplace, Montana’s […]

By Bruce Wright
Like I Was Saying

Further Explanation Needed

It’s difficult to understand the actions of the Flathead County commissioners in regard to the Agency on Aging, which also makes it easy to speculate. And that speculation has run rampant following two recent tense commission meetings. At the first, Commissioners Pam Holmquist and Gary Krueger voted to halt a grant process for a new […]

By Kellyn Brown
Closing Range

Contemplating the ‘Aftermax’

With Max Baucus announcing his retirement from the United States Senate, it’ll be nice to see the end of all those lame press releases bragging how Max was “fighting for Montana,” to “boost the economy” with “good-paying jobs” funded by his seniority-based position atop the “powerful Senate Finance Committee.” While Max certainly could score infrastructure […]

By Dave Skinner
Letter

LETTER: Not Another Wilderness Bill

An article in the newsletter “Quarterly” was shown to me that highlights yet another wilderness bill. This one is HR 1187, introduced in 1992 and presently sponsored by New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney. The bill (Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act) calls for an additional 24 million acres of federal land in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and […]

By Bill Payne
Letter

LETTER: Politics Always Trumps Science

Looking around at the audience of the National Geographic Magazine global warming film documentary showing of “Chasing Ice” in Whitefish, one could see the usual crowd of environmentalists and Democrats, but not a Republican or Tea Party member was to be seen as they must have done their typical covering of eyes and ears, along […]

By Bill Baum
Like I Was Saying

Accidents Happen a Lot

It should be a lawmaker’s easiest task, pressing the correct button that indicates which way they want to vote on a procedure or piece of legislation, “yea” or “nay.” But that’s not always the case as evidenced by Great Falls Democrat Rep. Tom Jacobson’s vote that may have sunk Medicaid expansion in Montana and which […]

By Kellyn Brown
Opinion

63rd Montana Legislature

By John Fuller As the 63rd Montana Legislature wound down, the difference between Democrats and Republicans remained stark. Gov. Steve Bullock and Democrats wanted to continue to extort money from hard-working Montanans so they could give it to their allies in the form of free health care and higher pay for government employees (which have […]

By John Fuller | Joe Carbonari
Uncommon Ground

Tin Men Have No Hearts

The 63rd Montana Legislature is over. The assembly of elected servants passed a state budget, gave public servants a small raise, funded public education, shored up public pensions, invested in public infrastructure, and conducted themselves more-or-less with the respect that service warrants. In the closing days, politicians passed a lopsided $150 million income tax cut […]

By Mike Jopek
Guest Column

Why We Rejected Medicaid Expansion

The 63rd Montana Legislature ended last week. One issue that received a large amount of attention this session was Medicaid expansion. There have been some bills that address this topic. HB 590 was tabled in the House Human Services Committee, and two last motions to bring it to the House floor were unsuccessful. HB 623 […]

By Keith Regier
Business Is Personal

The Woman With The Jay Leno Chin

While I doubt it was their intent, the soap makers at Dove created something that perfectly illustrates the power of one of the best sales and marketing tools you can use. It might be the best demonstration of that tool I’ve ever seen. Print readers, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk&rel=0 The experiment The Dove “Real Beauty” experiment has […]

By Mark Riffey
Letter

LETTER: Thank You. Now Let’s Get to Work

Serving you is the greatest privilege of my life. Over the past 40 years, I’ve had one goal: make life better for the people of this state. You don’t become longest serving senator in Montana without a lot of help from a lot of people. I am grateful for the opportunity you have given me. […]

By Sen. Max Baucus
Letter

LETTER: We Deserve Answers for Commissioners’ Handling of Agency on Aging

I apologize to Commissioner Cal Scott. Before he was elected, I wrote letters in opposition of him to the media. At that time I did not believe he would make a good commissioner. However, after attending a commission meeting, my opinion of Scott has changed. My initial judgment of you was wrong. I was at […]

By Mary Meister
Opinion

Starting a Ski Company

Stepper Hall, the son of some friends of ours in Montana, sent me the following email: I’m writing my senior thesis on small business in the ski industry and I’d like you to help me with the question: “How can a small ski business survive in the ski industry that is dominated by a few […]

By Warren Miller