David Kopel points out that Ref C advocates severely underestimated the amount of extra money the TABOR “timeout” would raise.   Now the Pueblo Chieftain estimates Ref C will end up costing Colorado taxpayers a whopping $10 billion, and still that’s not enough for the tax lobby that looks to raid the wallets of hard working Coloradans in 2008.

We wish you a Merry Christmas on this Christmas day.  I hope you all are enjoying the family togetherness and gift giving that goes on today.  I also hope that you will tune into KBDI this Thursday, the 27th, at 8:30pm to see a brand new Independent Thinking.  We’ve got Sheila Hicks and Linda Gorman on the show discussing end of life decisions in a single-payer health care system.  Really thought provoking stuff, so check it out!  But in case you miss it the first time around, don’t worry, it will be repeated on January 3rd.

Every once in awhile we do something that catches the attention of news outlets. This time it was our Christmas card! Thanks to the Rocky Mountain News for getting our message out with some holiday exposure.

Here at the Independence Institute, we value a good message…. and a good laugh. We were spot on with both with this year’s Christmas card. Check it out! And if you received one from us, thanks again for your support; we appreciate it.  Plus, your support enables us to think up more clever Christmas cards in the future.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at the Independence Institute.

So what happens when you let a few monkeys loose in the office? We decided to find out when we set a few crazed web-monkeys loose on the Internet. From what I could tell, they came up with some pretty cool stuff. For example, did you know that we have a YouTube channel now? Oh yes. And a MySpace page and Facebook group. They tell me that if you are a friend of ours on MySpace, you can view the dozen or so videos we have up on our video page. Now I know what you’re thinking. “That Caldara is too old for those hip new things!” To that I say, “oh really? Check out MY facebook page!” HAH! So don’t underestimate the power of a few underfed, undertrained, and underpaid monkeys. They might surprise you!

Remember when Bruce Randolph proclaimed, “Let my people go?!” He wasn’t kidding. On iVoices Ben DeGrow discusses this declaration of independence with Alan Gottlieb of the Public Education and Business Coalition. I don’t know about you, but I’m a little shocked that union bosses don’t like it when members ask for a little freedom. Is it too much to ask to let the Bruce Randolph School decide which day of the week will be French bread pizza day?

In our Free People, Free Markets class, we use a great book titled How Capitalism Saved America by Professor Thomas DiLorenzo.  The book and class do a great job of explaining how personal freedom and the ability to make unrestricted choices in the marketplace brings greater wealth to all people. (For proof, check out the demand wizard). We are honored that free market economics expert DiLorenzo did a podcast with FPFM’s teacher Penn Pfiffner. On iVoices, listen to bona fide free market intellectually royalty, Pfiffner and DiLorenzo, discuss the wealth creating power of the free market and at the same time, dispel some of the fallacies we were all taught in school.

All of us at the Independence Institute take the Colorado Constitution seriously. That’s why we, along with the Mesa County Commissioners, filed a lawsuit to force government officials to honor the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and let voters have their say on the 2007 School Finance Act, which is an unconstitutional tax increase. Makes me wonder where Governor Ritter got his manners. Everyone knows that a true gentleman always asks first. Check out our press release and the coverage in Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News , and the Colorado Springs Gazette.

We’ve got an amazing economics course here at I.I. called Free People, Free Markets. In it, Professor Penn Pfiffner summons the magic and mystery of the demand wizard. This character is a supposedly all-knowing, all-caring dictator. Consequently, the demand wizard assigns goods to people based on what he feels is best for them. Watch the video to see what happens when the wizard lifts his controls for a moment and leaves the class to their own devices.

The next Free People, Free Markets class starts February 16th and runs for a total of 5 Saturdays. Check out the class promo here.

Did you ever know that kid in school who upon hearing of someone else’s achievements felt the need to say something negative? Well, Governor Ritter is that kid. Apparently, Governor Ritter was a little perturbed with Colorado’s high ranking in the new Index of Worker Freedom and felt the need to give unions more power and control over the labor force. In our newest podcast Ben DeGrow and policy director at the Alliance for Worker Freedom, Brian Johnson, discuss this move by Ritter to rain on Colorado’s parade.