Mourning opportunities lost, a reprise

October 18, 2016

Below the bubbles is a story I wrote in the wake of the 2014 elections and the DFL’s loss of the Minnesota House of Representatives. One of the things I predicted — although it wasn’t that hard — was this: My friends, you can look forward another [2016] election cycle just like the last [2014] one, only […]

by Steve Timmer

And Amy’s not a journalist, either!

October 15, 2016

And yet another update (10/19): The instances of people trying to divide the media from everyone else and decide who’s a journalist continue apace. Here’s constitutional lawyer Eugene Volokh in the Washington Post on CNN’s Chris Cuomo: “Also interesting is, remember, it’s illegal to possess these stolen documents. It’s different for the media. So everything you […]

by Steve Timmer

Who runs this burg, anyway? Part Two

October 13, 2016

In Part One, I described the outsized role in making policy held by the staff (well, and consultants, too) in a city like Edina, and in fact, in Edina. And I cautioned against stacking the city council with members who are themselves professional municipal technocrats, likely to be staff and developer oriented, rather than resident […]

by Steve Timmer

Who runs this burg, anyway?

October 12, 2016

Playing Sim City with other people’s money

by Steve Timmer

Drinking Liberally talks politics

October 8, 2016

Well, even more than usual

by Steve Timmer

Who the [blank] is “The Northstar Leadership Fund?”

October 3, 2016

Update: It is always gratifying when a newspaper article is published subsequently that confirms what you wrote, here about the EpiPen price gouging. This lit piece arrived in my mailbox this weekend: It was sent, not by Anselmo’s campaign, but by a group that lists its address as on the 48th floor of the IDS […]

by Steve Timmer

Here a VAT, etc., part three

October 3, 2016

See the update at the foot of the story. In the first and second stories in this series, I described how the international trading system is stacked against US manufacturing workers, and that much of it is our own fault. Or more accurately, it is because we want it that way. The neo-liberal elites who […]

by Steve Timmer

Here a VAT, etc., part two

October 2, 2016

Now with an update at the foot of the story. (10/3) And a second update. (10/4) In an earlier story, I wrote about value added taxes everywhere but the US, and how they can disadvantage US business. There is much more to this story, of course. One of the first thing we must realize is what […]

by Steve Timmer

Here a VAT; there a VAT; everywhere a VAT VAT

September 30, 2016

I had an animated conversation with someone recently about value added taxes, arising in part out of Donald Trump’s mention of them in the recent debate as a disadvantage to the United States. My conversation partner said VAT was neutral, since everyone selling in a market pays them. I said that’s true as far as […]

by Steve Timmer

Brian, is there lint in that media navel?

September 22, 2016

He don’t need no stinkin’ badges

by Steve Timmer

It’ll probably be moot, anyway

September 20, 2016

Update 9/25: (If you haven’t read the original story, you might want to scroll down and do that first, before reading this update.) There was a hearing on Sandra Grazzini-Rucki’s petition last Thursday. Her attorney Michelle MacDonald explained to the court that her client was indisposed and could not be there, having been hauled off […]

by Steve Timmer

It’s a puzzle

September 13, 2016

The Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a decision yesterday in the case of Range Development Company of Chisholm v. Star Tribune. (It would be interesting to check sometime to see if the plaintiff here is a beneficiary of the IRRRB’s largess. I imagine it is.) It was of interest to me because it involves newspapers, the […]

by Steve Timmer