Met Council Holds Workshop on Climate-Caused Racism

It’s no stretch to say the Met Council is on a mission to make race an issue in every conceivable aspect of local and regional government under its jurisdiction. But racial disparities due to global warming? That’s the focus of the latest Met Council workshop being held in Minneapolis today for metro-wide city and county government workers being trained to be on the watch for climate-related racism in their communities. They [communities of color] frequently bear a disproportionate share of the burden of environmental degradation and are more vulnerable to climate change impact. This session will strengthen your community’s ability...

Even left wingers embrace the Laffer Curve now

Economists Thomas Piketty and Arthur Laffer agree that high tax rates do not bring high tax revenues.

Met Council votes to increase transit fares by 25 cents. Why now?

So why did the Council step up and make a reasonable rate increase now? Answer: They are flying out to DC to lobby Congress and the FTA/DOT on a regular basis trying to secure full funding grants for LRT expansion: Southwest LRT and Bottineau. But the Met Council, and its friends on the Hennepin and Ramsey County boards (Peter McLaughlin, et. al.) have NOT secured federal funding.

AMERICAN EXPERIMENT BOOK SHELF

Victory: PCA Access to Union List Upheld by Court

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling is a significant win for MNPCA and the 8,500 PCAs in Minnesota who have signed a card to authorize a new election. It is the Center’s position that a new election is the only equitable solution for PCAs. Even better? Have the 2014 election tossed out for fraud.

What drives Minnesota’s business cycle?

Minnesota's famously varied weather probably accounts for much of the state's growth pattern. But the extremes are driven by events beyond the state's control

Report shows Minnesota’s estate tax burden is among the highest in the country

Minnesota is one of 18 states and the District of Columbia that levy either an estate or inheritance tax, often called death taxes.  Among these states, a new report by the Tax Foundation shows Minnesota imposes the sixth most burdensome death tax in the country, making Minnesota a real outlier. Comparing state estate and inheritance taxes is complicated because there are so many variations in how these taxes are levied.  To help compare states, the Tax Foundation calculated the effective estate tax rate each state applies to four different values of estates—$2.5 million, $5 million, $10 million, and $20 million.  ...

Revolutionary new tool helps employers find skilled workers

Finding workers for hard-to-fill skilled jobs is one of the toughest challenges that Minnesota’s small- to medium-sized employers face. Fortunately, a revolutionary new on-line search tool—the RealTime Talent Exchange—now gives them the kind of reach and sophistication they can otherwise only dream of. For these employers, the Exchange is like having their own top-dollar, Fortune 500-style human resources department. And it’s remarkably affordable: $39 for regular job postings and $19 for internships. RealTime Talent, which operates the Exchange, is a public-private collaboration formed in 2015 out of work started by the business advisory group Itasca Project. RealTime Talent’s goal is...