Folk song foreign policy out of tune with reality

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 and re-election last year, I shared in many of my compatriots’ dread at what his policies would do to the economy and other domestic concerns. But I always harbored an even greater fear of what an Obama presidency would mean for the United States in terms of […]

Small business week good time to sound off

 Originally a celebration to honor those of you who truly built your own businesses, National Small Business Week is often hijacked by politicians who care little about what you do. You’ll hear many flattering phrases like “champions of free enterprise” and “backbone of the economy.” Don’t be fooled. Not every elected official who pats you […]

It’s time to strike while the iron is hot

Got a struggling business? Perhaps you have a startup idea that’s proven it can’t work in the free marketplace. Maybe you don’t like the landscape along the street on which your small business is located. Well, have no fear. The Grand Junction City Council just uncovered the last remaining money trees the Obama administration hasn’t […]

The right tactics in the wrong hands

A couple of weeks ago, President Barack Obama effectively declared the war on terror was over. Now, he wasn’t entirely clear about what matrix was used to arrive at that determination. It was not that the enemy had surrendered, signed an armistice, called for a cease fire or just gave up the fight. It appears […]

Maybe it’s time to send the Avalon to Avalon

Perhaps you find that harsh. Well, so are life, love, war and especially business for the vast majority of us. Unless, of course, you are General Motors, Chrysler, certain banks, insurance companies, a campaign donation bundler who happens to have a green energy firm or a favored political group, then life is a subsidy away. […]

Even if it really is slow, construction activity a promising indicator

There’s a curious, at least to us, juxtaposition between the series of media events announcing large construction projects in the Grand Valley and the characterization that, overall, local construction activity remains slow. By one count,  nearly a dozen projects are expected to soon begin in the Grand Valley — from the construction of a small […]

Self-inflicted woes beset the Obama administration

The Barack Obama administration has become a mess simultaneously convulsed by three separate scandals. Separate, yes, but each in their own way the result of a government grown too big to focus its priorities and one in which political calculation trumps all other concerns. Revelations the Internal Revenue Service inappropriately targeted conservative and Tea Party […]

Shaping public policy legitimate chamber function

Much has been made in the aftermath of the latest municipal election of the efforts of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce to shape public policy. Some claim there’s a nefarious plot afoot for the chamber and its newly formed Western Colorado Business Alliance to fill elected positions with its hand-picked candidates and then […]