Author: Ed Lotterman

Cost of the commute

The census always provides interesting information about American lifestyles. The tabulations of 2000 data released earlier this week are no exception. Particularly striking is the fact that Minnesota commuters now spend nearly 22 minutes driving from their homes to work.…

If you value sound reasoning, watch out for these words

“Patriotism,” Samuel Johnson famously said, “is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” The great English writer did not mean that patriotism is bad, but that people sometimes use it as a shield when their arguments lack substance. The same thing…

What’s behind shopping for a bargain? It isn’t just being thrifty

You may not have noticed, but we’re in the middle of an undeclared grocery price war in the Twin Cities metro area. The two principal low-cost food chains are advertising and discounting heavily. This engenders responses on the part of…

Media need to know value of dollar vs. trade deficit

Some members of the financial press continue to flub international economic issues. Consider an Associated Press article published in this newspaper on Tuesday. Under the headline of “Dollar still lags against euro, yen,” it states: “The dollar continued to languish…

Telecom boom’s bust has basis in economic history

The telecommunications sector is in the doldrums, alarming some analysts and those investors who put major portions of their net worth into firms such as 3-Com, Worldcom, ADC Telecommunications, Sprint and even AT&T. The good news is that a severe…

U.S. account deficit will shrink one way or the other

In modern economies, trade in physical goods is only one component in determining international money flows. Services also flow, whether it be a Minneapolis architectural firm designing a housing project in Korea or a German insurance firm selling variable annuities…