A sudden rash of problems appearing

Now it can be told. The election is finally behind us, and we are switching to a new federal administration. Suddenly, heretofore unknown problems are bubbling up to the surface.

We’ll take two from the energy world first.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reported last week on efforts by the state’s tribes to organize to combat high energy prices:

Tribal nations have the ability to regulate energy on tribal lands. A new initiative by tribal elected officials aims to lower the cost of energy for Indigenous people living on tribal lands.

Of course, high energy costs impact everyone in Minnesota. However, sovereign tribal units are, perhaps, in a better position to do something about it. As MPR notes:

It has been an issue for years. The Minnesota Indian Affairs council believes tribal leaders can help bring down the high cost of energy through policymaking.  

We wish them good luck. It’s been a problem for years, but now something needs to be done about it. What could be causing these high energy costs? We don’t really get an answer, but MPR gives a big hint:

The new initiative comes at a moment when the state is working toward a major green energy goal. The state is requiring utilities to give customers 100 percent carbon free electricity by 2040. 

Speaking of carbon-free electricity, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports on a local solar power company noticing the election results:

A Canadian company that identified the Twin Cities as a potential site for a $200 million solar cell factory says it’s too risky to move ahead until Congress decides whether to eliminate clean energy tax credits under incoming President Donald Trump.

The company, Heliene, already operates factories in Ontario and in Moutain Iron, Minnesota. The 2021 expansion of the Mountain Iron facility was done at a cost of $21 million, most of which was subsidized by the state. Now the company is looking for Federal taxpayer dollars to back its next project.

Energy isn’t the only subject matter in which years-old problems are suddenly getting noticed. We return to MPR, who reports:

Even with the state’s relatively low 3.5 percent unemployment rate, some mid-career Minnesotans and those just coming out of college are seeing a job market now that worries them.

I predict that we will discover in the next few months that the unemployment rate really wasn’t 3.5 percent. According to the most recent data available, over the past year, Minnesota saw a net 33,000 new jobs created. Government added more jobs (17,000) than the private sector (16,000). That will not continue going forward.

Add the above items to the recently discovered Minnesota “fraud problem.”

Sudden problem onset is not confined to the state level. Receiving wide media coverage last week was the surprise discovery of another 120,000 homeless people across America. We’ll go with National Public Radio (NPR) on this one:

More than 770,000 people were living in shelters or outside in January, according to an annual federal report on homelessness by the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD]. The number is up 18% from last year’s count—which had also jumped from the year before—and is the largest number since HUD started doing this report in 2007.

Huh, anything to account for this? NPR notes:

HUD officials say another key factor was the recent increase in asylum seekers coming to the U.S., often fleeing dangerous conditions in their home countries. In 13 communities that reported being affected by migration, family homelessness more than doubled.

File this last item under “homelessness rediscovery watch.” Mark Halprin wrote back in late October 2000:

If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition’s arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Now that political power has flipped at both the state and federal levels, expect more surprise revelations to emerge in the next month.