Bob CollinsIt’s tax season which means we must endure another round of blaming Americans because they like refund checks. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Economy
A newspaper in Japan is reporting that Foxconn is suspending work on its $10 billion plant in Wisconsin, a day after news broke the company isn’t going to provide manufacturing jobs, but will make the facility a research and engineering facility instead. Read more →
Fewer firms increased capital spending compared to the October survey responses, but the cutback appeared to be concentrated more in structures than in information and communication technology investments, according to a press release accompanying the survey, which also showed that while most respondents don’t see a recession within the next year, they also don’t see much business growth. Read more →
A minimum wage hike makes for a convenient punching bag for managements that just can’t figure out why employees aren’t more loyal these days. Read more →
The frightening part of what happened to Apple’s stock yesterday is how much the U.S. economy depends on the cultists of Apple, who religiously have bought products that are overpriced even though the updates are hardly so impressive that people should shell out ridiculous amounts of money for them.
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Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, said on Friday his party will press ahead for Brexit, Britain’s go-it-alone separation from the European Union, if there’s another referendum on exiting the Union. Read more →
In western Michigan, the owner of a company that sells foam that’s used in floral arrangements, is giving his 200 employees $4 million in bonuses. Read more →
The Sunday paper ‘outdoors’ section carries an article or column almost every week that laments the threat to the sport of hunting whether it’s the threat to wildlife, the hunting environment, or the lack of young people interested in it.
So, perhaps, Dick’s Sporting Goods testing the idea of getting rid of its hunting gear shouldn’t be all that surprising. Read more →
Let’s see: minimum wage, paid sick leave are on the clock. Here’s one more idea for a mandatory workplace ordinance: What if you had to take the vacation time you’ve got coming?
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The cops will move in to clear the camp on Thursday morning. That won’t be a proud day in St. Paul. Read more →
Gasoline prices at the pump have fallen about 15 cents a gallon in the last month, far less than the price of oil to the refineries, the Star Tribune says. They’re pocketing the savings. Read more →
In a bid for jobs for the people of Wisconsin, state officials opened the treasury to lure Foxconn, the Taiwanese supplier to Apple, to the state.
But now it appears it’ll have a difficult time finding workers. Read more →
The soybeans of Arthur, N.D., northwest of Fargo, aren’t waiting for an end to a trade war that seems to have no end. They’re going to rot.
It was a good year for growing soybeans in these parts. Not so good for selling them. Read more →
Nothing much has worked so far to get the message through to the masses that climate change is real and it’s going to hurt. So a group of researchers have changed their approach. Drought? Famine? Floods? It’s not enough to get people interested. Read more →
There was nothing happening in the sugar beet section of Minnesota on Wednesday. The yards at the sugar beet factory in Crookston were empty, the machines were silent. There were no trucks. Along the fields from Ada into Crookston, harvesters, combines, and trailers sit idled. It’s been raining and snowing and the harvest is on hold.
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