Jobs, jobs, jobs! Everybody’s talking about creating jobs, especially in St. Paul and Washington. But few address the underlying question of exactly what government can do to create jobs, perhaps because the answer is discouraging. Whether they voted for Obama…
Category: Other
Fed walking the wire between recovery, inflation
The irony is rich, if unintended. For months, the Obama administration and many others have been urging banks to increase lending, especially to businesses. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke outlined for Congress new methods to discourage lending by…
Rail travel funding argument can be twisted both ways
The news that President Barack Obama granted $8 billion in stimulus funds to high-speed rail service gladdened passenger train enthusiasts, especially Midwestern ones, as some of the money would go to an eventual Chicago-Madison, Wis., high-speed line and a smaller…
We all bear costs of ash borer and other invaders
I take the pending onslaught of the emerald ash borer personally. It is not just that these Chinese-origin insects already infest some trees a half-mile south of my house in St. Paul, but that they eventually will reach the farm…
Anger over bailout, stimulus: A political reality check
Anger is everywhere these days. We’re mad about the economy and our personal balance sheets. We’re angry with the Obama administration and with Congress. And don’t get us started on bailouts and budget deficits, which have many of us particularly…
We’re all to blame for economic mess
We need to get a grip on reality. We don’t like the recession, fallen stock and house prices, unemployment, foreclosures, bailouts or deficits, and we’re mad as hell at politicians. There is much public anger voiced at elected officials who…
Blame game for meltdown should trigger skepticism
It’s too bad Thomas Nast, the father of U.S. political cartooning, died a century ago, because we need his acid wit and sharp pencil to depict the blame game over the causes of the great financial fiasco of 2007-2010. One…
Irrationality informs more decisions than you think
Irrationality is the root cause of major and minor outcomes in the real world. Whether or not you are outraged by the idea of credit card companies charging their usual fees on donations for Haiti relief, the fact that the…
Tiny countries endure greater devastation
Poor Haiti. This week’s devastating earthquake is yet another blow for a country with a tragic history. The images of death and destruction are heartbreaking. Right now, the focus is rightly on trying to get food, water and medical care…
The Central Bank does not exist to make a profit
The question of whether the Federal Reserve made a ‘profit’ is of much less importance than the per-capita consumption of snails in North Dakota. So I was disappointed this week when I heard a long news story on the radio…