Reuters is reporting that Walmart stores have a new hiring strategy: They’re adding more temporary workers. Walmart isn’t saying they’re doing it in advance of the Obamacare deadline which will require that companies either pay a penalty or provide health coverage (meeting expensive federal mandates) to all permanent, full-time employees but I think we can…
Schafer Column: There's No Need For The Marketplace Fairness Act
Online shoppers last year spent an estimated $225 billion in retail. While that number is significant in this economy, it only represents about six percent of all retail transactions. Nearly 95 percent of consumers still prefer to see, feel and touch what they are buying. Nevertheless, the growth in online sales has been impressive enough…
More Than Half Of Green Car Companies Receiving Stimulus Subsidies Have Failed
Your tax dollars, hard at work: Of the 18 existing or would-be carmakers we identified as having applied for loans under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, 10 have since faded into bankruptcy or ceased operations. Numerous car companies, startups and parts manufacturers have applied for the loans since the program…
Is It The Government's Place To Pick And Choose?
The City of Minot will be getting another Walmart location thanks to the city council approving the store’s plans to build it. The location will be on the north side of the city, which will be nice for the folks who live there. For a long time the commerce centers of the centers have been…
The Solution To High Gas Prices Is Less Government, Not More
There’s a lot of consternation nationally about gas prices this spring, but that’s usually the case. As one of the most visible economic indicators in the market, it seems like gas prices are always making people gripe, especially when the inevitable summer price hikes come. This spring the angst seems particularly acute, especially in North…
Half Of College Graduates Working Jobs That Don't Require Degrees
I graduated from high school a little over ten years ago, and what I remember of my discussions with teachers and guidance counselors about my career was that college was a necessity. Without it, I’d be doomed to a career of flipping burgers, but with it I’d slide easily into the path to prosperity. Of…
More Than 350 Anti-Fracking Measures Passed By Local Governments
According to this list compiled by Food & Water Watch, some 359 local resolutions have been passed by local governing entities opposing hydraulic fracturing. In terms of of actual fracking policy, these resolutions mean very little. Most of them were passed in urban communities far from actual fracking operations, more an expression of political distaste…
Houses Passes Legislation Approving Keystone Pipeline
On a 222-175 vote, the US House today passed legislation approving the Keystone pipeline. The US state department had previous requested yet another environmental review, delaying the pipeline for at least another year. The House legislation would approve the pipeline, going around the obstructionist executive branch entirely. “The environmental safeguards we demanded on the Keystone…
Dorso Column: Legislature Should Demand Accountability For Tribal Appropriations
If you don’t get accountability from the state higher education system why would you expect it from a North Dakota’s tribal colleges? Back at the beginning of this century the legislature started giving an appropriation to the tribes for jobs training. That number has grown to 5 million dollars. During the 90’s a succession of…
"It’s simply not true that all high-paying jobs require a college degree."
Back in December I posted about data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which showed that only one of the fastest-growing professions in America required a college degree. Today Forbes contributor Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry notes the same number, and suggests that the path to prosperity doesn’t have to lay through a college campus. And that jobs…