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The Minneapolis Star Ledger passed on this, which is submitted BEFORE the IRS scandal broke. A  substantially different version appeared on Bloomberg Echoes last week. Washington's budget impasse could be ameliorated if the government would allow the ancient   American tradition of voluntarism to again thrive. Voluntarism means relying on voluntary action to achieve goals. It can be evoked and coordinated by non-profit organizations, mutual businesses, or for-profit stock corporations. When early Americans faced a problem requiring coordinated action they did not automatically run to Washington for aid. Instead, they studied the problem and attempted to solve it rationally. Early Americans occasionally concluded that some level of government (rarely federal, sometimes state, usually local) was best suited to combat the problem. Typically, however, they believed that voluntarism was a better option. That sometimes meant forming a for-profit corporation but in specific areas of...

Washington today faces two major domestic policy issues, gun control and the federal budget. Interestingly, reforming the former could help to ameliorate the latter. Early in the twenty-first century, the text of the Second Amendment can seem inscrutable: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The Founders were intelligent people. The parts about the militia and security were intentional, not make weight or window dressing. What in the world could the Founders have meant? After years of studying the issue, I’ve concluded that the Founders believed that America would always have state militias. State governments, they believed, would always require males of military age to own a serviceable military firearm and to train with it on muster days. They would always modestly fine those who did not, would not, or could not train at specified intervals. In addition to raising revenues f...

    Now some fun stuff for the end of the school year. Rock 'n’ Roll comes to Personal Finance. Check out this cool video published by Period 5 Personal Finance Class on Dec 17, 2012. I don’t know the name of the school that published this video. If you have more information please pass it on to me.  I smile every time I watch it. This teacher really knows how to make class fun. I give her and her students 5 stars on their enthusiasm and performance. If you have a fun personal finance video that your students created and you would like to see it on this blog - drop me a line. Thanks for Stopping By.

  A Great Personal Finance Lesson Plan for the Spring!   Ohhh My First Car is a great assignment for keeping kids interested, especially at the end of the school year when the weather warms and their thoughts drift off to summer break.   They may even be thinking about tooling around in their dream car with their best friend or girlfriend.   If you need a lesson to keep your students focused check out Ohhh My First Car .   It’s the kind of lesson that grabs kids’ attention and holds it all the way through. It is a great lesson for any Personal Finance class, but if you happen to have a class full of rambunctious boys in the Spring this lesson will keep them engaged. One of the more memorable moments of my teaching career was when a student of mine stopped by after school one Spring day. He had taken my Personal Finance class two years prior, and was now ready to buy his first car!   He remembered learnin...