In a response to a letter from an 8-year-old girl, the New York Sun opined in an editorial published in 1897 that yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Francis Pharcellus Church wrote the words that remain famous more than a century later: “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and […]
When I look forward to 2013 for our local business economy, the state and national economies and a whole bunch of just about everything else, I see history repeating itself. Sadly, much of it isn’t very good. Let’s face the facts. This is the second of heaven knows how many fiscal cliffs we’ll face as […]
It can generally be accepted the fall of 2012 wasn’t a particularly good one for conservatives or our cause. But, as generally happens, there exist here and there glimmers of contrarian resistance. One of these glimmers occurred in Michigan, whose governor signed right-to-work legislation allowing workers the right to associate with whomever they wish. There […]
A major election is behind us. Yet, little has really changed, and that includes the state of our economy. We’ve been stuck in a grossly underperforming economic recovery after a long, deep recession. Unfortunately, there’s little in the data to tell us that things are changing in any substantive way for the positive. In fact, […]
In the course of perusing the “fiscal cliff” rhetoric dominating the political world recently, I came across a story about deliberations over the Times magazine “Person of the Year.” While meditating on the issues surrounding the fiscal cliff, it occurred to me the perfect nominee for the Times cover is Julia — the haplessly dependent […]
Those weary of reading gloomy news as a stubbornly slow economy grinds along can take heart as such words as “recovery” and “rebound” start appearing in headlines. By many accounts, the economic news is improving, if not markedly so. The latest economic outlook report from the University of Colorado is especially upbeat in forecasting business […]
And I’m talking about a “Thelma and Louise” style landing in our future. You all remember the final scene from that movie, don’t you? I can’t recall the exact reason or line that made Thelma and Louse drive over the cliff, but I do know the two had hit the point where their behavior had […]
In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday and in recognition of the importance of an attitude of gratitude, here are some things for which Grand Valley business owners and managers can be thankful this year: The onset of the holiday shopping season. While no retailer longs for the long hours and hard work that comes […]
I guess I could do the totally abridged version and say the government spends too much, there isn’t enough to confiscate to sate its appetite and we’re going over the cliff no matter what. But where’s the fun in that? Actually, there’s no fun in any of this. Just ask Europe. How many times did […]
OK, enough already. The battle is over, and, yes, the good guys lost. Since then, everyone with a word processor or access to a microphone has joined in the autopsy. On the right, many are looking for a smoking gun, the one thing that spelled final defeat for Mitt Romney — it was changing demographics, […]