News

A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.

Minnesota’s workforce reality requires increased talent recruitment and retention to tackle a worker shortage expected to explode the number of unfilled technical positions from the current 60,000 to close to…

Farmers across Minnesota are now cast into regulatory uncertainty as the U.S. District Court in South Carolina ruled against the Trump administration's attempt to block the Obama-era Waters of the…

As socialism enjoys a new bout of popularity among so-called intellectuals, Milton Friedman's analysis of this phenomenon remains as timely and incisive as ever. 

Our state government is not good at managing simple IT functions; our confidential data is not secure, we are paying for services that we are not receiving in a timely…

Aretha Franklin passed away on August 16, 2018 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Franklin was the unquestioned Queen of Soul, had a plethora of hits, but this cover of…

Sen. Warren's "Accountable Capitalism Act" fundamentally misunderstands business and the free market system. That is why it is such a rotten bit of legislation. Let us hope it doesn't make…

This post originally appeared on the Institute for Family Studies blog. Anne Tyler has written a wonderful new novel about every three years going back to 1964—or to be precise,…

I admire Crow Wing Power because they shoot straight on the true cost of wind power on their website. Other power providers should follow suit and put the true cost…

Minnesota teachers want protection against allegations that could threaten their entire career. And in the wake of the Janus decision, non-union teacher associations want educators to know they have options…

In terms of per capita incomes, what matters is productivity. Immigration will help boost per capita GDP to the extent that it boosts productivity. From an economic standpoint, we want…

A recent paper from the Federal Reserve shows that we can expect states with high corporate tax rates to perform poorly on entrepreneurship. Minnesota has high corporate tax rates and…

Minnesota’s unfunded public pension obligations are not a new problem. But reform is difficult when government unions turn a blind eye to shortchanged pension funds and oppose necessary steps to…

Minnesota beer retailers are taxed $0.15 per gallon and then an alcohol-specific sales tax of 9 percent.

Citypages writer Pete Kotz recently wrote an article claiming renewable energy is a free market success story, and that jobs in the renewable energy industry are "blowing up" despite "sabotage"…

Arvonne Fraser, who died recently at 92, contributed several essays over the years to American Experiment symposia that I compiled on a variety of subjects.  She also was one of…

For most, the St. Croix is a scenic river. For others, it is an Iron Curtain or 38th Parallel, separating different economic systems. This is the position taken by the…

In 1970, Minnesota was among the states with the least income inequality. Black household median income was competitive with white households, and Hispanic incomes were nearly identical to white households. Since…

Bans on plastic have become all the rage. Minneapolis wanted to ban plastic bags last year, and cities on the Left Coast are banning plastic straws. Despite the inconvenience and…

If Farmer and Sue had been forced by the government to pay us the equivalent of $15 an hour, I think they would have hired older people, and avoided teenagers…

The Minneapolis School District can’t seem to get their act together. The district overspent by $21.6 million last year, now the school district is seeking to raise property taxes by…

A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.

This cartoon sums up a fundamental truth that for some reason, lots of liberals seem unable to grasp. It should be posted in every high school and college classroom!

Socialism is not about sharing. In fact, it is about replacing sharing with government redistribution, which is not the same thing.