Two disconcerting indicators continue to reflect the lag in economic recovery in Mesa County compared to other areas of Colorado. While the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, sales tax collections trend downward. And if you surmise there’s a connection between the two, you’re likely right. The circumstances lead to a second point, and that’s the […]
Writing this on the morning following the deadline for the dreaded sequestration cuts to commence, I note happily that civilization is not crumbling around me like some B-grade movie. In the heady exhilaration of that realization, I make a bold prediction: When this column goes to print, no explicit signs of a sequestration-generated Armageddon will […]
How else can we explain what we hear out of our state capitals and Washington, D.C.? Just how our elected leaders and entrenched bureaucrats can binge and purge so effortlessly and methodically should be a warning sign to all of us: Because if anyone should be losing control of our bodily functions en masse, it […]
One of the best lines to come from the many presentations at the latest Energy Forum & Expo at Grand Junction encapsulated in a single sentence what it’s going to take to keep pace with increasing global energy demand: We really do need everything, everywhere all the time. But even as all-of-the-above approach involving such […]
There’s no denying the growing influence of a growing Latino population in terms of politics, culture or economics. So it’s fitting an organization has been formed to not only respond to this important change in demographics, but also help in making connections between Latino and non-Latino businesses and people. The Western Colorado Latino Chamber of […]
Counterbalancing the good news about economic recovery in the Grand Valley is the increasingly worrisome news about sales tax collections. According to the latest monthly reports, sales tax collections dropped on a year-over-year basis 4.4 percent in Mesa County and 4.1 percent in Grand Junction. The declines are doubly troublesome because they reflect sales in […]
Kelly Sloan Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel can, and should, be honored for his service in Vietnam. It’s not for his heroism in 1967 and 1968 the nominee for secretary of defense ought to be evaluated, however, but for his analysis of the national security situation facing the nation in 2013 and beyond. There would […]
Studies that attempt to quantify economic effects tend to elicit the skeptical response the numbers are overblown. Using mistaken assumptions and unrealistic multipliers, studies invariably purport that a given industry sector or even an individual business contributes billions and billions of dollars to the economy. Fortunately, that’s not the case with studies detailing the economic […]
How many times have studies been conducted and plans been drafted only to have the results of all that time and hard work sit on a shelf, so much paper gathering dust? How often is what initially seemed an essential undertaking never realized? Fortunately, an economic development plan drafted for Mesa County has proved a […]
So we’ve survived the apocalypse supposedly foretold by the end of the ancient Mayan calendar. And we didn’t tumble off the so-called fiscal cliff, even though the last-minute deal worked out to avert tax hikes and automatic government spending cuts was rightfully panned by some as causing more harm than good. So what’s next for […]