More on stadium madness
Today the Minnesota House is expected to vote on whether to send taxpayer money to the NFL and its team in the state, the Vikings. While some political observers I respect have said that the vote will be no, I doubt that: Never underestimate the power of the office of the governor (who wants the project), trade unions (ditto), and emotion in politics (“the Vikings […]
Asserting Self-Governance in Education
A core principle of the American ideal is self-governance. The rise of technical expertise, combined with a “progressive” vision of a state-led society, has undermined that vision. Fortunately, examples of self-governance can still be found, and in some cases, growing in number. One place you find them is in education. Today, roughly 9 out of 10 children are educated in a public school that is […]
Wear Facepaint for Commerce, not Sports Welfare
The sight of people donning replica jerseys to lobby their elected officials to force some taxpayers to pay for their hobby makes me a bit sad: “Don’t you have a life,” I quietly ask. But I think I’ve found the hints of a silver lining in that passion: Perhaps this is a point for us to remember that commerce–freely and successfully conducted–is a beautiful thing […]
Backlash from Health Care Law is a Good Sign for Freedom
Sometime in the future, historians may point to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) as the time when the centralizing power of the federal power reached its peak. The resulting push back from citizen activists and officials in the states set off a wave of successful efforts to reduce the size and scope of government generally, and the federal government, […]
CISPA in your casa: Federal snoopervision without search warrants?
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) has shepherded CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, through the U.S. House. That’s good for the federal government, and bad for Americans. According to the tech site CNET, the measure “would usher in a new era of information sharing between companies and government agencies — with limited oversight and privacy safeguards.” Privacy and civil liberties groups beg to differ. While […]
Minnesota #41 out of 50 on economic outlook
By current standards, Minnesota’s economy is among the best in the nation. But will it continue to be in the top tier? Last year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said that Minnesota ranked 13th in per capital personal income. The state’s average income of $42,843, was six percent higher than the national average. That’s pretty good, though I suspect it’s lower than most Minnesotans would have […]
The State-by-State Economic Impact of Proposed EPA Regulations
As a nation, we’ve made great strides in combining growing the economy and cleaning up air pollution. But as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is setting up to roll out nine new new rules or regulations, most of which are related to coal-powered electricity, it’s worth asking, “Is the gain worth the pain?” The report, Economy Derailed: State-by-State Impacts of the EPA Regulatory Trainwreck, comes in four […]