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 […]
Economics
One-sided Economics Afflicts Politics
The warm winter, virtually without snow, provides a lesson in incomplete thinking about economics. The Star Tribune recently published a story about the economic impact of the season: “Minnesota businesses are seeing red ink in brown winter.” It then quotes, as evidence, people with businesses that clear driveways of snow, remove ice dams from buildings, and sell cross-country ski equipment. As someone who enjoys the […]
Governments driving us to bankruptcy through maxing out credit cards on frivolities
To put the size of the U.S. debt in perspective: It’s $14.3 trillion, as Dan Calabrese mentions. The entire U.S. economy, as measured in the last three months of last year, was $14.8 trillion. In other words, for every dollar in the economy, the U.S. government owes someone another dollar. Add in $2.4 trillion (or more) debt owed by state and local governments, and you’ve got bankruptcy […]
Democratic Congressman revels in economic ignorance
Economic ignorance abounds in Congressed, as witnessed by the comments of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.). The Chicago Democrat has decried Apple’s iPad, saying the device “is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs.” Jackson laments Chicago State University’s move towards electronic textbooks, and asks,“what becomes of … all the jobs associated with paper?” To which I might say, “Why didn’t someone stop […]
North to Alaska . . . for filming
If offering sweetheart deals to film makers is a permanent thing, is it worth the bother? Last week I spoke with some people with the Anchorage Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Did you know there are 9 different reality shows based in or focusing on Alaska? The person I spoke to suggested that a film credit the state enacted a few years ago was at least partly […]
Price controls for consumer banking?
Can some good news come out of Washington DC? Yes. Key regulators at the Fed and FDIC have been signalling for weeks that they do not support price controls contained in the Durbin Amendment to the financial overhaul known as “Dodd-Frank.” This according to an article at the Star-Tribune, among other places. Under the draft of regulations proposed by Fed staff, the U.S. government “would cap the fees […]
Manufacturing has changed, not ended
Is manufacturing in the U.S. dead? No, but it certainly has been transformed. Syndicated columnist Jeff Jacoby points out that that 20 percent of the world’s manufacturing output comes from the United States. “A vast amount of ‘stuff’ is still made in the USA, albeit not the inexpensive consumer goods that fill the shelves in Target or Walgreens.” http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/watercooler/index.php?blogid=1647
There’s a difference between being pro-market and a crony capitalist
“Contrary to popular presumption, being friendly to business is not the same as being pro-economic growth or pro-free-market.” So says Donald J. Boudreaux in this essay. “In a free market,” he writes, “businesses profit only by pleasing consumers. But a business that obtains special favors from government can profit without pleasing consumers. And it’s here that trouble starts.” And when it comes to businesses trying to […]
More bailout candidates for 2011
Dailyfinance.com has a list of 10 American companies that will disappear in 2011. Bailout possibilities, anyone? Failed governments usually soldier on, propped up by cash infusions. (The Obama stimulus plan, for example, largely stimulated the finances of state and local governments.) http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/watercooler/index.php?blogid=1514 Private companies that fail to meet public demands and keep costs under control are either taken over, or dissolve entirely.
Creative destruction
A couple of weeks ago I purchased a new laptop computer, and I have enjoyed learning about its features since. But I also have the slightest tinge of sadness. You see, this computer will replace one I bought in 2004 – which at the time was the latest and greatest. Now its best days are past, with its technology on the junk heap of computer […]