“What do you think will happen with interest rates?” “They will fluctuate.” “Could you be more specific?” “They will fluctuate up and down!” That little exchange may be familiar to anyone who has listened to Gary Stern, president of the…
What would war with Iraq do to the U.S. economy?
“What would a U.S. economy in wartime be like?” my friend asked. This is an important question right now, so I gave a full and precise answer: “It depends.” How any war affects a nation’s economy depends on how large…
Setting salaries in unsettling times
Here’s some advice to my friends and colleagues who work for Minnesota state and local governments: When it comes to wages, market conditions trump appeals to justice nearly every time. As the state looks to close a huge projected budget…
Acknowledge the tradeoffs, then tackle the negatives
It is human nature that makes us want to see issues in simple terms of right or wrong, good or bad. However, life is complicated and things are seldom that neat. Twenty-five years ago I was writing a long comprehensive…