Idaho Pulse

This episode turns basic supply-and-demand economics loose on Idaho's biggest fights: the abortion measure likely headed for the November ballot, price controls and the minimum wage, cheap immigrant farm labor and depressed wages, and the tax subsidies used to lure Micron to the Treasure Valley. The through-line is the seen and the unseen — how policies with obvious, well-publicized winners quietl...

Comparative advantage is one of the most powerful ideas in economics — and one of the most misunderstood. This episode starts there, with a simple story that makes the principle click in minutes: why trade leaves both sides better off even when one party is better at everything. From that foundation, the conversation opens onto the issues filling the headlines — tariffs, taxes, regulation, the hou...

This episode runs through the Idaho fights driving the cycle: stalled teacher contracts and the state's education listening sessions, the first year of school choice and the education tax credit, and school-district waste from a land deal at nearly twice market value to administrator raises outpacing teachers'. It then turns to a billion-dollar rural health grant whose first dollars went to admini...

This episode runs through the Idaho fights driving the conservative cycle: illegal immigration and public safety, the immigration bills stalled in the legislature, ballooning school-administration costs and a widening student-proficiency gap, the case for school choice and the $5,000 education tax credit, Medicaid's climb to the state's largest budget line, and an abortion measure headed for the b...

Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate break down Idaho's 2026 primary election results, where five of the top-rated conservative legislators — including Glenita Zeiderweld, Lucas Kaler, and David Levitt — lost to establishment-backed challengers funded by an estimated $800,000 to $1 million in special interest spending. Nate identifies the demographic formula behind the losses: districts with high ag indust...

Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate examine three issues heading into Idaho's 2026 primary elections. They unpack the governor's Teacher Appreciation Week claim of "sustained investment" in teacher pay, revealing that while K-12 spending rose 70% since 2019, teacher pay rose only 21% — and nearly 100% of teachers receive top performance ratings regardless of outcomes. They explore the spread of flock came...

Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate expose $1.5 billion in Idaho reserve and stabilization funds sitting above the state's $5.5 billion general fund budget — roughly $784 per resident that Nate argues should be returned to taxpayers. They dismantle the property tax exemption myth, showing how exemptions for veterans or seniors don't reduce total collections but shift the burden to remaining homeowners, an...

Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate break down the 2026 Idaho Freedom Index, revealing that only 12 legislators scored 90% or above on freedom votes — down from 16 last year — while 42 members landed in the "Big Spender Caucus," voting for increased spending more than 84% of the time. Nate names the all-stars and the worst offenders, explains how election-year politics and lobbyist pressure erode conserva...

Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate expose Big Dairy's retaliation against Senator Glenita Zeiderweld's family — pulling 85% of her husband's business over her immigration votes — and lay out the essential questions every Idaho voter should ask candidates before the May primary, from defining what conservative actually means beyond pro-life and pro-gun to whether legislators would overturn a citizen abort...

Bob Neugebauer and Ron Nate break down the 2026 Idaho Freedom Index, revealing that only 12 legislators scored 90% or above on freedom votes — down from 16 last year — while 42 members landed in the "Big Spender Caucus," voting for increased spending more than 84% of the time. Nate names the all-stars and the worst offenders, explains how election-year politics and lobbyist pressure erode conserva...