Is Wyoming in need of a tax reform? Recent economic news indicates that this may be a question worth considering in a not too distant future. The latest CREG report on state government tax revenue presents an improved forecast of General Fund revenue by four percent over January. While the first reaction appears to be a rush to the spending binges,...

One of the core arguments for government expansion is that there is no other way to reliably help the poor to a better life. This false notion has very deep roots, all the way back to the days when the first elements of the welfare state emerged on European soil. Back then, radical liberals convinced social conservatives that collectivized compassi...

I recently reported that some old, ugly and perverted forms of medicine are on their way back into our health care system. While health care as we know it is entirely devoted to curing people and saving their lives, there is a dark side to medicine that has been used for much more sinister purposes. Under Nazi Germany one of those practices, called...

Suppose Congress mandated that supermarkets like Wal-Mart must give away groceries to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. Anyone who wanted to could walk in, demand milk, bread, baked beans and ice cream and then walk out without paying. It would be up to the supermarket to send us a bill and hope we pay it. Needless to say, such a law wo...

As I explained last week, the American economy is pulling ahead of Europe. One reason is that our welfare state, big and burdensome as it is, is not yet big enough to bring the private sector to a grinding halt. That does not mean we will never pay the price for a growing government. If we continue expanding our welfare state, we will eventually be...

Encampment, WY is home to 450 people and a high school with maybe a dozen graduates each year. It is a genuinely "local" school in every sense of the word. Except funding. If the Encampment school needs maintenance, the money comes from a fund built by one-time fees on new coal leases. The number of leases sold, in turn, depends mostly on demand fo...

The debate over legalization of marijuana is both philosophical and medical. From the philosophical viewpoint it is about individual choice; the medical side is about addiction and marijuana-based medical products. As a direct consequence of the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, there is now a third side to this issue, an economic...

Let's try a little thought experiment. First, think of your extended family, and pick out which ones you would consider poor. Next, imagine you meet Bill Gates and he says he'll give $10,000 to each of your relatives who is poor, and asks you for a list of those people. You may find a few more poor people the second time. This is the position the s...

During a tour of the Laramie County Juvenile Services Center with Tim Thorson and Captain Michael Sorensen I observed some trends that were further supported by data provided by the JSC. Through Mr. Thorson and Captain Sorensen I received a hard copy of the Overview of Laramie County Juvenile Services Center for fiscal year 20131 which provided the...

Wyoming has more state and local government employees per 1,000 private-sector employees than any other state. Since big government leads to low growth, it is fair to assume that with a smaller government our state GDP would be higher and we would all prosper. We would be able to find better-paying jobs, our state would see more business investment...