Posts Tagged ‘economy’
Claims that Raising the Minimum Wage to $15 in St. Paul Would Harm Workers Ignore the Facts
Note: the following is a letter co-signed with colleagues at the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and submitted to Mayor Melvin Carter and St. Paul City Council Members. * * * * * * * October 30, 2018 Dear Mayor Carter and Council Members, In September, the nonpartisan Citizens League’s Saint Paul Minimum Wage Study Committee released…
Read MoreA Tale of Two Wind Farms
On Thursday, June 28 at 6:00 pm, Minnesotans will attend two simultaneous public hearings on proposed wind energy projects in the Southwest Minnesota communities of Canby and Hendricks. The scheduling of two wind farm hearings at the exact same date and time, just 20 miles apart, speaks to the tremendous wind energy growth that is…
Read MoreCatching the Wind: New report examines the impact of local vs. non-local hiring practices on construction of Minnesota wind farms
A new report published by North Star Policy Institute finds that hundreds of new family-supporting jobs and tens of millions of dollars in economic activity are at stake for Southern Minnesota communities based on imminent hiring decisions by wind energy companies and whether new projects are built by local or non-local workers. Minnesota’s wind energy economy…
Read MoreMid-Week Reads: Merkel and Minnesotans' Income
Every week, North Star will take some time out of our schedules to bring you our favorite reads from the past week. Jeff Van Wychen Merkel’s Mettle The current world leader that I admire above all others is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel has risked her political career by welcoming one million Syrian refugees to…
Read MoreMid-Week Reads: Minnesota's Economy and Colin Kaepernick
Every week, North Star will take some time out of our schedules to bring you our favorite reads from the past week. Jeff Van Wychen The Center of the American Experiment Report on Minnesota’s Economy? It’s Politics, Not Economics. Saint John’s University economist and regular MinnPost contributor Louis Johnston critiques the recent CAE report on…
Read MoreMid-Week Reads: Economics and Early Ed
Every week, North Star will take some time out of our schedules to bring you our favorite reads from the past week. Jeff Van Wychen The Third Way: Share-the-Gains Capitalism Economist and for U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich outlines three economic systems in America: (1) “no-lose socialism” for the uber-rich, in which they get lavish…
Read MoreThe 1% vs. the Rest of Us
We hear a lot about income inequality, and thanks to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), we now have some state-, county-, and metropolitan area-level data to take a closer look at local inequalities. According to EPI: “Income inequality has risen in every state since the 1970s and in many states is…
Read MoreIs Minnesota Keeping Up with Its Neighbors?
Conservative groups are spinning a narrative that Minnesota’s economy has been slipping due to the tax increases enacted in 2013. The centerpiece of the 2013 tax act was a 2.0 percent income tax rate increase targeted to the state’s highest income households. The new revenue generated from the 2013 tax act helped to balance the…
Read More