Report Shows Twin Cities Traffic Congestion is No Accident

Twin Cities traffic congestion has reached the crisis point with metro area drivers stuck in traffic 47 hours per year on average compared to 12 hours in 1982. But instead of focusing on comprehensive congestion relief, the state agencies responsible for the transportation system—the Metropolitan Council and MnDOT–pursue policies that make the problem worse, according to a new Center of the American Experiment report. The 24-page report, “Twin Cities Traffic Congestion: It’s No Accident,” estimates the cost of wasted time, wasted fuel and increased pollution from commuters, delivery drivers and others stuck in traffic tie-ups totals nearly $4 billion a...

Major new study jolts liberals out of Fantasyland on $15 minimum wage

Steven Hayward has written about how liberals enjoy hiking cigarette and alcohol taxes so less is consumed but somehow totally fail to understand economic basics like supply and demand and price sensitivity when it comes to raising the minimum wage. The much needed reality check is delivered via a game-changing new study described in yesterday’s Washington Post story, “A ‘very credible’ new study on Seattle’s $15 minimum wage has bad news for liberals”: When Seattle officials voted three years ago to incrementally boost the city’s minimum wage up to $15 an hour, they’d hoped to improve the lives of low-income...

Virginia shooting reiterates need for self-defense

This op-ed originally appeared June 24, 2017 in the St. Cloud Times. In addition to giving thanks that only the shooter was killed June 14 in Alexandria, Virginia, I suggest a proper response is devoting more energy than we usually do to thinking seriously, not just about how violent ends can befall any of us anytime, but how we’re more acquiescent about such vulnerabilities than we need be or should be. Politicians, journalists and the rest of the nation continue to speculate in fearful unison about how many members of Congress and other people likely would have been killed if two...

AMERICAN EXPERIMENT BOOK SHELF

US Bank Stadium Suites Scandal Leads to Reforms

The housecleaning continues at U.S. Bank Stadium in the aftermath of revelations of political perks handed out by DFL insiders. It’s a big house to clean, but here’s a scorecard compiled from the Star Tribune of reforms taking shape in the aftermath of legislative oversight hearings earlier this year. For starters, the two luxury suites used to wine and dine Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and her husband, Minneapolis City Councilman Jacob Frey, Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal and her husband Commissioner of Management and Budget Myron Frans and other Dayton administration cronies will be officially turned over to SMG, the management...

Increasing productivity, not the minimum wage, is the way to increase worker’s pay

Higher wages will only come from higher productivity. Trying to raise wages by dictating prices is like trying to slow your car by pressing down on the speedometer’s needle.

Minnesota Joins States Fighting Plastic Bag Ban

Minnesota routinely receives national recognition for leading the way among the states on environmental issues. But today the Wall Street Journal singled out the state for being at the forefront of a different sort of preservation campaign–the preservation of plastic bags as an option in the checkout line. In an article headlined “Bans Over Plastic Bags Face a Growing Backlash” the paper noted momentum has shifted away from bans and restrictions on plastic bags that started in predictably liberal cities and states. Activists claim plastic bags harm the environment more than paper and reusable bags. Business groups are fighting back...

I’d be dancing, too (if I lived in a luxury loft subsidized by taxpayers).

The A-Mill Artists Lofts, located along the Mississippi River, are a special “affordable housing” project of the Metropolitan Council, City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, et. al. The project is subsidized with taxes and grants, the below-market rate rents are tied to a certain income and reserved for people who are “committed” to being an artist. Anyone who voted to spend tax dollars on this project ought to be banned from public life.

Skepticism about state’s economy isn’t ‘naysaying’

Minnesota is a wonderful state with many advantages. But prosperity isn't a given. Rather than patting ourselves on the back over this or that bit of data, we need to be constantly exploring new ways to improve the economic prospects for all in our state.