At our first quarterly lunch forum of 2018 we will discuss a topic that impacts us every day: Taxes. The recent tax reform law is just beginning to take effect,…
Mondale has thrown down the legislative gauntlet, again. While annoying and not correct that the Council is acting under actual authority, he is correct that the legislature created the creature…
Minnesota's policymakers use high tax rates on cigarettes to discourage smoking. Won't the high tax rates they levy on labor discourage work?
UPDATE (1/25/18): The list of Minnesota companies sharing the financial benefits of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with their employees and communities just got longer with the addition of…
The latest federal government shutdown hardly registered a blip when it came to the effect on daily life for most folks. The inconsequential impact was partly due to the short–just…
California's policymakers seem to recognize that high tax rates incentivize individuals to move to jurisdictions with lower rates. But, for some reason, they think that if they impose higher rates…
There they go again. Another media outlet–the Star Tribune–perpetuating what Reason magazine recently labeled “the Southern Poverty Law Center scam. A hate group list loved by the media is bogus.”…
We wrote about Amazon’s plans for a massive second corporate headquarters, and the Twin Cities’ bid to be considered for its location, here, here, here and here. The last linked…
Center of the American Experiment’s most recent radio ad campaign focuses on wind energy in Minnesota and its unfortunate failure and high cost. Along with this radio ad, the Center…
The campaign to drive more cars off our streets by converting vehicle lanes to bike ways has taken off in Duluth. A community group has decided the parking on one…
As demand for Minnesotan labor continues to expand relative to supply, wages are starting to rise. To maintain increases in income per capita in the future, we need to focus…
The upside for the Dayton Administration’s hopelessly dysfunctional MNLARS vehicle registration system? It hasn’t crashed since November 2. The downside? Some 269,000 registration and title transactions remain backlogged in the…
In a little over a month, the Supreme Court is set to hear a momentous case on paying forced dues to public sector unions—Janus v. AFSCME. If the Court rules…
This article appeared January 20, 2018 in the West Sherburne Tribune. The recession that hit the U.S a decade ago may be over, but Minnesota’s economy hasn’t kept up with…
From California comes the latest news of the loony left. The federal government’s tax reform, which dramatically reduces the U.S.’s formerly highest-in-the-world corporate income tax rate, has already sparked a…
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota
Minnesota has effectively run out of federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The program covers health care costs for 125,000 Minnesota children. But now there’s a chance…
"The economy, stupid", was famously one of the three talking points in Bill Clinton's presidential campaign back in 1992. Elections aren't always focused on the economy, but Minnesota's 2018 gubernatorial election…
Reforming excessive state-based occupational licensing requirement is the issue that has a U of M labor professor sounding like a disciple of Milton Friedman and expressing strong support for legislation…
We do. Sunday’s Pioneer Press had a long article about refugees in Minnesota that featured an admirable family: the Sivasundarams, who have come to Minnesota from Sri Lanka, by way…
Think about it: in a country that prides itself on protecting citizen’s free speech rights, which includes the right NOT to speak and the right NOT to associate with a…
If there’s one city in Minnesota that ought to think twice before throwing away taxpayer dollars on creating a “brand” it’s Rochester. The first thing that comes to mind at the…
The Twin Cities are out of the race to attract Amazon's new HQ. When the company announces the winning bid and their reasoning later this year, it should give Minnesota's…
UPDATE: Two more Minnesota companies have made the Americans for Tax Reform list of companies handing out bonuses to their employees as a result of the federal tax cut. DTN,…