Health care ruling a bitter pill for business

Chief Justice John Roberts surprised the planet by effectively siding with the Supreme Court’s four liberal activists in upholding most of ObamaCare as constitutional. In a stunningly convoluted and contradictory majority opinion, Roberts said the ObamaCare individual mandate — that everyone must have or purchase health insurance coverage, or if not, face penalties — was […]

He ran calling wildfire

At least that seems to be the campaign slogan for Colorado. Did you catch President Barack Obama’s latest campaign stopover in Colorado Springs last week? It would be difficult not to, what with all of the hype, promises and rhetoric that raged across the foothills of Colorado with more ferociousness than the fires themselves. In […]

Award-winning entrepreneur shares some key lessons

The way Jack Hays explains it, it sounds so simple managing the companies he’s launched in Western Colorado. It’s just a matter of identifying and exploiting opportunities for growth. Hays puts it this way: “We find a need and fill it. We provide solutions.” Any good entrepreneur like Hays will attribute success in large part […]

Wisconsin governor sets an example in taking a stand against labor unions

It takes a lot of courage to start a small business. It takes even more courage to stick with it during tough times like these when the nation’s financial structure is wobbling, uncertainty fills the air and even the basic principles of free enterprise are questioned by anti-business politicians. Although the sinking economy has threatened […]

Ballots and business: Why the recall vote mattered

Why should small business owners and their employees care about the recall election in Wisconsin or local elections in California? The key reason: The failure to remove Gov. Scott Walker constitutes a significant failure for government labor unions. Those labor unions didn’t like the fact that Walker carried through on his campaign promises to limit […]

A residential recovery would be welcome news

The residential construction industry has long constituted an important component of the Mesa County economy. Consider that the construction of 100 single-family homes creates an average of more than 300 jobs. So it was significant when the home building industry surged in the boom days and suffered in the bust that followed. Now there are […]

Government spending at fault for bleak economic outlook

In its latest economic outlook, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects further economic underperformance in the U.S. and other developing nations. While the global economy is “gaining momentum,” the OECD warns “the recovery is fragile, extremely uneven across different regions. The group forecasts Europe will barely grow at 0.1 percent in 2012 and […]

Excellence in exporting pays economic benefits

There’s no small measure of irony in the fact the company that manufactures components for the largest and most innovative aquarium projects around the world maintains its headquarters in the landlocked desert of Western Colorado. Nonetheless, there are millions of reasons to be thankful Reynolds Polymer Technology is located in Grand Junction — as in […]