Gov. Mark Dayton has done a great favor to all microeconomics teachers with his call for a requirement that landowners maintain 50-foot-wide filter strips along streams and other bodies of water to reduce pollution. This is not because the measure…
Falling prices can signal end of cycle
The prices of many primary commodities, agricultural, mineral and fuel, have fallen significantly. Crude oil is down by 40 percent to 50 percent just in recent months. Copper is down 18 percent since July and 28 percent from the beginning…
Minnesota’s budget bonanza can teach us a lesson
Minnesota has forecast a budget surplus of $1.87 billion over the next two years based on the latest calculation by the office of the state economist. That is good news and is an increase from the $1.06 billion forecast just…
Using tax to capture increased value an ideal, but tricky, feat
Many people understand that we are not even maintaining our existing transportation infrastructure, much less improving it. However, that isn’t translating into political willingness to raise more money by increasing long-established taxes, such as the state-level gas tax or local-level…