On the issue of a new bridge across the St. Croix River, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann has made a good point. Unfortunately, many people will be outraged by her introducing a bill to exempt a bridge from the federal Wild…
Overpaid? Those lining up for the jobs will tell you
Once again the news is full of examples for teaching elementary economic principles. The ongoing public-sector union controversy in Wisconsin is one example. On Tuesday night’s news, two economists argued about whether unionized public employee compensation exceeded private-sector levels. One…
Social Security, Medicare and the debt
The role of Social Security and Medicare in our nation’s ongoing fiscal problems is widely misunderstood and often misrepresented. One often hears that the growth of spending on big entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, must be reduced. It…
State support for higher ed dwindled as costs rose
We don’t use state tax revenue to support higher education the way we once did. When I teach my macroeconomics students how to adjust for inflation using the consumer price index, I haul out my fee statement from my first…