St. Paul teachers will vote today whether to authorize a strike over unsettled contract negotiations. The St. Paul Federation of Teachers—the local teachers’ union—scheduled the strike vote after contract talks…
Enrollment at Minnesota State colleges and universities continues to fall, along with revenue from tuition, resulting in more schools than not running in the red again in the 2016-17 school…
Minnesota's policymakers impose lower business tax rates on craft brewers to stimulate their growth. Why not apply this logic across our state's economy?
One would hope that instead of being a pretend “Secretary of Homeland Security”, she would be an ambassador from the Somali community to Minnesotans and the nation, who would like…
Many employees are forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment. Are they aware of what or whom these dues support?
Congresswoman Betty McCollum has come out in favor of impeaching President Trump. For what, you may wonder? The Constitution specifies that a president can be impeached for “high crimes and…
Burger chain Red Robin responds to minimum wage increases by cutting low skilled staff. This is exactly what theory and evidence suggests would happen, so why do policymakers ignore it?
The former president of the teachers’ union in St. Paul Public Schools has broken ranks with the St. Paul Federation of Teachers’ hardline leadership. In a tough rebuke to labor…
Snappy ad campaigns like “the North,” designed to get Minnesotans to embrace our inner Nordic and attract people from other states, no matter how successful, are no match for the…
Wages are driven by worker productivity. Minimum wages don't boost productivity so they don't boost wages, all they do is outlaw low productivity jobs.
On his radio show last Thursday, Dennis Prager articulated a perspective that will no doubt be shared by many conservatives. You can listen to the audio here. Trump was Prager’s…
Remember when Gov. Mark Dayton dubbed it the “People’s Stadium” in order to sell the proposed $1 billion US Bank Stadium to the public? The press release still resides on the…
The federal government took another step this week to roll back the Obama administration’s last-ditch effort to sabotage responsible mineral development on the Iron Range for decades. The Forest Service…
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota
Kris and I indulged by splitting a HUGE apple fritter. Believe me, we walked it off. We wish all our PCAs from Minnesota could have been there. We will keep…
“3M, in the groove as global economy thrives, raises outlook on tax-law gains.” The accelerating global economy lifted 3M Co.’s sales and profits past expectations, and executives on Thursday raised…
Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than anything else in human history. Countries which remain poor need more of it, not less. And, to become rich themselves they…
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.”…