Author: Paul Prentice
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OPINION: Third-party litigation funding is harming Colorado businesses
Tort law provides for just compensation to injured parties. This is an important civil law complement to criminal law. These two legal institutions provide critical guardrails to a market economy by keeping wrongdoers in check. Yet many argue that America’s tort law system is broken and has become a major economic liability. Excessive litigation and…
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GUEST COLUMN: We don’t need more government control of business
In a misguided effort to protect consumers, the Biden administration has embarked on a well-intentioned but ill-advised crusade against what it deems to be “hidden” and “junk” fees. This initiative, while ostensibly aimed at promoting transparency and fairness, overlooks the nuanced economic landscape in which small and medium-sized businesses operate, particularly in states like Colorado.…
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GUEST COLUMN: Climate Change lawsuits could cause tremendous harm
“It is a message that makes sense to young people if you can get them to hear it.” — Economist Paul Prentice on TABOR. (Gazette file) The U.S. Supreme Court recently signaled a shift in climate litigation aimed at energy producers, allowing the suits to proceed in state rather than federal, courts across the country.…
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GUEST COLUMN: Colorado’s assault on property rights
Paul Prentice “The theory of the Communists can be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.” So said Karl Marx in his 1848 book, The Communist Manifesto. While very few in the Colorado State Legislature would self-identify as outright Marxist Communists, many of their actions and policies align with the Marxist philosophy…
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GUEST COLUMN: What’s causing division in El Paso County’s GOP?
There has been much community discussion in the Gazette, on local radio, and in other media, regarding the conflict within the El Paso County Republican Party; a conflict that might be called Establishment v Grassroots. This conflict has led to a recent guest editorial suggesting the Republican Party be disbanded and replaced. Most of the…
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GUEST COLUMN: Colorado energy in need of federal permitting reform
Gas prices in the U.S. have fallen from their summer highs. While this has many Americans breathing a sigh of relief, they are still about double what they were just two short years ago. Many energy traders also say prices are set to again move higher into the fall and winter months. This market roller…
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GUEST COLUMN: Biden’s policies worsening high food, gas prices
Our economy is teetering on the brink of recession, with oil and gas prices skyrocketing and the U.S. supply chain still suffering from COVID-induced shocks. It’s unclear what steps, if any, the administration will take to alleviate both crises, but energy and transportation policies threaten to exacerbate both concerns. President Joe Biden recently praised astronomical…
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GUEST COLUMN: Follow the science, reopen Colorado’s economy now
We hear all the time about how COVID shut down the economy. That is incorrect; COVID did not shut down the economy, the political response to COVID shut it down. There were policy choices at several levels of state and local government. The economic damage from those choices is immense. This is not a natural…
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POINT/COUNTERPOINT: Should Colorado reestablish a moratorium on evictions?
Point: Beth Hall Roalstad Yes, Colorado should extend the eviction moratorium. Before COVID-19, Colorado was not dealing with evictions well in the face of an affordable housing crisis. With the highest rate of unemployment seen in decades, Colorado cannot allow tens of thousands of residents face evictions. Thousands of Coloradoans live on the brink of…
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GUEST COLUMN: Coronavirus v the economy: We are at the tipping point
Most states and municipalities have shut down major sectors of their economies in the hope of minimizing the very real medical damage from the spread of the coronavirus. The benefit is assumed to be in saved lives, or at least a “flattened curve” that allows time for hospitals to ramp up capacity and for medical…