On the way into work today, or maybe on the way home last night, I was listening to the radio. The news broke in with a story about many people,…
Back in the mid-1980s, there was a surge of writing celebrating the supposed poetry of baseball as opposed to the mere prose of other sports. George Will’s Men at Work…
Between 2000 and 2017, increased transfer payments accounted for 48% of the increase in Minnesota's per capita personal income. This trend-also seen at the national level-is unsustainable.
Did you know Minnesota has promising potential as gold-mining state?
At the New York Post, Paul Sperry reports that the Trump administration’s Departments of Education and Justice will revoke the Obama administration’s infamous “guidance” on race quotas in school discipline:…
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics gives the lie to the notion that there are lots of breadwinners trying to raise families on the minimum wage, especially in Minnesota.
A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota
American Experiment has recently launched a billboard campaign highlighting the findings of our study “Energy Policy in Minnesota: The High Cost of Failure,” and we have received some feedback on…
If you haven’t read American Experiment’s explosive report on wind energy, Energy Policy in Minnesota: The High Cost of Failure, you should. It documents the fact that around $15 billion…
Governor Mark Dayton recently unveiled his proposal for Minnesota's state budget. On Wednesday, Morgan Scarboro of the Tax Foundation gave her take on it.
The push for all high school graduates to earn a four-year baccalaureate degree over other post-secondary pathways has resulted in employers struggling to find workers with in-demand technical skills. Vocational…
Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius is the latest to weigh in with a Star Tribune counterpoint denouncing my recent op-ed, “Undisciplined: Chaos may be coming to Minnesota classrooms, by decree.”…
Philadelphia has been shut down by a nor'easter. (We call them blizzards). Tomorrow morning, I am going to pop into Independence Hall. Then, assuming this town re-opens, I am going…
The purpose of an energy industry is to generate energy, not jobs. We should bear that in mind when discussing the economics of renewables.
The Star Tribune ran a sobering and important story on Tuesday (March 20) with the headline “Black-White Gap Persists, Even in Affluent America.” It dealt with a new study by…
Yesterday (March 20th, 2018) John Hinderaker, John Phelan, and I were invited to give a presentation in front of the Minnesota House of Representatives Committee on Job Growth and Energy…
My colleague Kim Crockett testified on Minnesota teacher pensions before the Minnesota Senate Committee on E-12 Finance on Monday (March 19) afternoon. Her message was clear: we need to keep…
As we commented last week, January's job numbers contained good and bad news for Minnesota. Watchdog.org's Michael Carroll looks at some of the responses.
I testified in the House Transportation Policy committee in favor of an idea that is long overdue: requiring MnDOT to revise the 20-year plan to prioritize mobility and relieve congestion.…
When a high school slides downhill from pre-eminence to mediocrity, one symptom is violence. A school that no longer stands for high standards has a harder time maintaining control over…
The Star Tribune has published two counterpoints to my March 18 op-ed on the racial discipline gap in Minnesota schools [“Undisciplined: Chaos may be coming to Minnesota classrooms by decree.”]…
Question. When it’s written or said that a person has taken out, say, $30,000 in student loans, is it usually assumed that $30,000 is the total to be paid back,…
How do community and technical colleges decide what programs to offer to meet the labor market’s needs most effectively? Two college presidents recently offered their insights in MinnPost. Rich Wagner,…
The federal tax bill provides states with an additional revenue buffer and an incentive to compete for additional domestic investment expected under the new law. States are already adjusting their tax…