Local labor markets have provided lots of news recently, and not much is good: Unemployment is up, new and continuing claims for unemployment are up and announced layoffs seem common. Earlier this week struggling ADC Telecommunications, a high flier just…
Good judgment can reduce damage to our way of life
Forces opposed to the United States managed to strike in St. Paul last week. No one was hurt, and economic damage was minimal. But the incident offers a lesson: Our nation’s economy may be hurt by attacks from enemies and…
Economies must let companies fail
Three business stories caught my eye this past week. Bethlehem Steel Corporation, long the nation’s second-largest steel maker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. So did Polaroid Corporation, a much younger, more technologically advanced firm based in Cambridge, Mass. But St.…
In public sphere, setting wages is a tricky business
Few administrative tasks are more difficult than setting efficient and equitable compensation levels for public employees. The Minnesota public employees strike bears this out. Minnesota’s two largest state employees’ unions went on strike largely because offered increases in pay for…