Centralization reaches peak, faces irreversible breakup

“Centralization induces apoplexy at the center and paralysis at the extremities.” — Lamenais By Gary North Teapartyeconomist The present political system is clearly insane. It suffers from schizophrenia. Around the world, almost no one trusts the politicians, yet almost everyone votes for incumbent politicians who promise to reform the government. Voters now suspect (correctly) that […]

Econ lesson No. 2: Centralization destroys opportunity, prosperity, risk

The eye at the top of the pyramid tells of Uncle; in his world, relationships are vertical and most of us are at the bottom. In a decentralized society under God’s blessing, horizontal relationships among equals (more or less) are more common. By David Tulis A handy way to perceive the free market and local […]

With store, website, woman lives ideal of community, local economy

Mandy Henderson and her daughter, Autumn, stop by Tammy Drennan’s store and hangout in Fort Oglethorpe. Tammy Drennan’s store in the little Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe has very much a homemade look. It’s full of inexpensive cards,150 kinds of Dover art books, volumes from Mrs. Drennan’s personal library, Fort O magnets, puzzles, cookbooks and […]

Goats help family pour sweet milk into small farm, soaps sold online

Holding baby Elizabeth, Becky Ensinger prepares to sit down to milk a goat as her husband, Bill, shuffles buckets. By David Tulis Becky Ensinger’s soaps grace our shower stall dish and emit a pleasant, healthful fragrance. The couple supplies families at my church with eggs, though they won’t take a cash payment to avoid commerce […]

City enforces Bible law vs. theft, but will abolish office as antiquated

A scale at Bi-Lo lets shoppers estimate prices on produce before they are weighed on the cash register scale. By David Tulis For probably more than 100 years Chattanooga city government has had an office called sealer, whose duty is to enforce honest weights and measures. “The table of weights and measures provided by law […]

As U.S. falters, paper can prosper by refocusing on local economy

My sketch sees Times Free Press staffers under a deadening bubble, where all their professional lives are directed to two main products (paper, website). I propose that their servitude under employment not exclude other writing, that they be given liberty to be productive on their own websites as collaborators or clients of the company. By […]

The value of your own people and local economy in a personal crisis

You have agonized over your plan for an abortion, half horrified at yourself, and half proud that you are bold enough to consider such a difficult step to exit your dilemma. You are pregnant, not married; the baby’s father doesn’t want to marry you, and you are not sure you would want to marry him, […]

Why the Internet won’t make my local newspaper go extinct

In the cool honeysuckle-laced air of the morning, a Times Free Press awaits its subscriber to retrieve it. By David Tulis The crisis in the newspaper industry in recent years, particularly since the economic meltdown in September 2008, should prompt people who love their hometown paper to look into underlying realities they perhaps have not […]

ISP defies government-backed players, seeks to serve small outfits

EPB trucks install fiber-optic cable in the Chattanooga area as the government utility installs a taxpayer-subsidized high-speed Internet system for which little demand is expected. Government is thinking always of the consumer. How can our services be expanded to benefit members of the public? Is there any dysfunction in the marketplace that we can step […]

Small businesses create favorable context for rosy health

Kathryn Foster, overseer of the city’s business incubator, visits Ann Dickerson and her husband, Bill Zack, of Chattanooga Cookie. Despotism, which is of a very timorous nature, is never more secure of continuance than when it can keep men asunder. *** [A] despot easily forgives his subjects for not loving him, provided they do not […]