Summer Issue of Thinking Minnesota is out

The just-released summer issue of Thinking Minnesota makes a compelling case for how allowing more mining in northern Minnesota would give Minnesota’s economy a potent shot in the arm. In the cover story, Center policy fellows used a sophisticated economic modeling program to conclude that increased mining will produce 8500 jobs and bring in $3.7 billion to the state’s economy.

On top of that Minnesotans appear to agree. In a related article, the quarterly Thinking Minnesota poll shows that Minnesotans agree. When told that mining would add $3.4 billion to the economy and create thousands of Minnesota jobs, respondents’ support for mining grew from 54 percent to 73 percent, with “strongly favor” almost doubling from 23 percent to 45 percent. Only 11 percent opposed.

There’s even more great stuff:

In “The Real Legacy of 1968” Economist John Phelan debunks the affectionate commemorations of 1968. The year may have turned American politics on its head, Phelan concludes, but not in the way popular culture wants us to believe. Most Americans rejected the war-protesting, bra-burning Age of Aquarius. The real legacy of 1968 was the Age of Reagan.

Policy Fellow Catrin Thorman contributes “Washed Up,” in which she relates the remarkable (and infrequently told) story of how following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans schools used charter schools to transform a corrupt and thoroughly failed system of traditional public education and achieve impressive results.

Plus, anyone who saw keynote speaker Tucker Carlson dazzle our sold-out annual dinner with a no-notes tour of America’s devolving political terrain will not be surprised with his level of candor in a wide-ranging Q&A conducted by John Hinderaker, American Experiment’s president. He describes the how the left deploys of racism to shut down any kind of discourse that might have it rethinking its own ideas, from the Washington establishment-types to the increasingly shrill voices of the left. “They pick at the race scab consistently because it helps them maintain power,” he says, “and it keeps the population from asking obvious questions like, ‘Why is the tax code fair? Why are we taxing capital at half the rate of labor?’ It’s a way to move their attention on to something else. It’s a distraction, but it has terrible consequences in the end.”

Thinking Minnesota. It’s a good read. Pick it up at Barnes & Noble, view it here, or take a look at past issues at www.americanexperiment.org.

Tom Mason is the publisher and editor of Thinking Minnesota.