All posts by Michael Kurth »
Growth Of The Federal Bureaucracy
My last Lagniappe column was about our federal system of government. To briefly sum it up, state governments in the U.S. are not under the federal government. Article I of the U.S. constitution lists
Read More »What Is Federalism?
When I was in high school six decades ago, my civics textbook had a graphic depicting American government. It was a pyramid with the federal government at the top, state government in the middle,
Read More »What Happened To The Great Red Wave?
Many political pundits were predicting that the midterm elections would produce a wave of Republican victories — some even predicted a “Red Tsunami” — in which Trump-endorsed candidates would take control of the both
Read More »The Economics Of Borders
We are living in uncertain times, with conflicts around the world that could spin out of control. Most of these conflicts involve disputes over borders: Ukraine and Russia; China and Taiwan; North and South
Read More »Living The Louisiana Life
For the first time in about two weeks, it wasn’t raining and the sun was shining. So I decided to mow my back lawn in the area where the grass was now two feet
Read More »An Evening At The Mad Hot Ballroom
My wife, Cathy, and I recently attended the annual Mad Hot Ballroom competition as guests of our long-time friends Karen and Darrel Drewett. Cathy was a judge for the first competition in 2010 and
Read More »The Fed’s Dilemma
Fighting Inflation While Maintaining Economic Growth In the second full week of June, the inflation rate hit 8.6 percent, the highest it has been in 40 years; the Federal Reserve announced its biggest interest
Read More »Ukraine’s Struggle For Independence
To justify his recent invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin claimed “The Ukraine” is historically part of Russia and the Russian and Ukrainian people are one and the same. Most Ukrainians, however, would disagree with
Read More »Putin’s Russian Empire Goals
Many pundits explain Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Putin wanting to restore the Soviet Union. I believe they’re wrong. In a rambling hour-long speech to the Russian people on the eve of the invasion,
Read More »The Cold War Revisited
With Russian troops massed along the border with Ukraine ready to pounce, some political pundits are suggesting that NATO is provoking the crisis by trying to expand into Ukraine and Putin is just defending
Read More »