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Is Congress capable of addressing our debt crisis?
One of the few things Democrats and Republicans both agree on is that the trajectory of the nation’s debt is unsustainable. It makes little difference which party is in control, the debt burden keeps increasing. The Congressional Budget Office estimates annual U.S. budget deficits could average around $2 trillion a year during the next decade, […]
Woke danger alert! Woke danger alert!
It is bad enough that we are advised of the danger of being woke and wokeness in our communities and cities. Now we are told the “wokes” might be out in the countryside as well. It may no longer be safe to take a walk in the woods. We have it from recognized authorities – […]
Montana Republicans seem all too quick to suffer fools gladly
What in God’s name has happened to the Republican Party? Large groups of it now, in the words of the Apostle Paul “suffer fools gladly” on a regular basis. Clearly, most Republicans are not fools. But many have left the party, offended by the “Make America Great Again” emphasis on hate, lies, racism and anti-democratic policies. […]
How democracy and Montana may be dying
Are Montana Republicans fascists? Goodness no! But the story is more complicated. Conservative columnist Gary Abernathy wrote recently that Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, and other Republicans willing to chastise Trump and their party in general should leave the party. It is not their party anymore, or Ronald Reagan’s, or Dwight Eisenhower’s, […]
How much ignorance can we survive?
We are all ignorant, just not about everything. We know a lot about some things, hopefully including our vocations. We have a working knowledge of other things. And we know nothing or a limited amount about many things. Ignorance, after all, is simply defined as “a lack of knowledge” and it is a part of […]
We are all Ukrainians now
In January 1997, after negotiations beginning in 1995, my wife and I moved to Kyiv, Ukraine. As the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s senior budget policy advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance, I was one of two Western advisors (the other was the IMF representative to Ukraine) in the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers building. […]
A cancer on ‘The Last Best Place?’
For Montanans “The Last Best Place” conjures up many things, including wide open spaces, bountiful resources, honest people, good neighbors, thoughtfulness, hard workers, and government run by people you know. It is one big town with long distances between the neighborhoods. You know folks all over. The kids may drive 250 miles to play a […]
Get ready: Here’s a 2022 election quiz
Keep in mind: We have one political party that is threatening to cause a national economic crisis and another that is having difficulty getting its act together to govern. In Montana, we are implementing laws and policies that are adding to COVID-19 illness and death, and overloading our medical facilities. Given this situation, it is […]