Business & Economy – Page 9 – TheMinotVoice.com

Minnesota power company looks to study big battery concept in South Dakota

by: Josh Wolsky | June 26, 2018

One of the downsides of wind energy is there are times when it produces power that it isn’t demanded. That creates a storage problem. A Minnesota-based power company is looking to store that energy by pumping Missouri River water uphill where it can later be released for hydro-electric power generation. The Fargo Forum has the story

Read & Share sourced from: InForum

Trade tariffs weigh heavy on big beer bottom lines

by: Josh Wolsky | June 26, 2018

When tariffs on aluminum get tossed around as negotiating chips, America’s big beer makers get nervous. When you sell a lot of beer in aluminum cans, even a little tariff can have a big impact. Joe Deaux writing for Bloomberg has the story on the trade-offs that may result from fighting a trade war. It’s

Read & Share sourced from: Bloomberg

New film urges action to protect Badlands from oil impacts

by: Josh Wolsky | February 26, 2018

Teddy Roosevelt came to the North Dakota Badlands more than a 130 years ago, and the spirit of conservation was one of the ideals he took back to the East Coast and ultimately, the Presidency. And according to one group of North Dakota citizens, that same call to conservation is needed again in our state’s oil

Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Mining the magic: MN Industry leftovers reinvented by influx of silent sports

by: Josh Wolsky | February 23, 2018

How do you take a once scarred landscape filled abandoned ore mines and turn it into something positive? One method: by embracing silent sports like mountain biking, hiking, trout fishing, and kayaking. A two-hour drive from the twin cities, you’ll find the Cayuna State Recreation Area, home to a then-radical idea hatched 30-years ago that is

Read & Share sourced from: Star Tribune

The cult of productivity has a counterproductive flaw

by: Josh Wolsky | February 23, 2018

Imagine you figure out a new way to do something at work, saving you five hours each week. Over a year, you’ll save 260 hours. Now suppose you spent 10 hours teaching this work hack to 10 of your colleagues. At the end of the year, your productivity would be 4% lower (you’d only save

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz

Who’s Going to Capitalize on the North Dakota/NAFTA Talking Point?

by: Jim Maxson | January 3, 2018

In November of 2017, two studies were made public regarding the effect of NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) were it to be repealed. One study was done by BMO Capital Markets and the other by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The third most vulnerable state were NAFTA to be repealed would be North

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Paying people to move to rural locations

by: Josh Wolsky | January 2, 2018

The efforts to reenergize and repopulate rural portions of the United States are an ongoing topic for politicians. Often framed under the idea of ‘economic development’, the hope is that government can incentivize a behavior deemed to be beneficial to an area that’s not taking place on it’s own through the private sector. In Georgia,

Read & Share sourced from: Politically Georgia

This is what job creation looks like!

by: Josh Wolsky | December 21, 2017

For the past 25-years, I've watched our economic development efforts swing for the fences. We've spent millions and millions incentivizing and luring the big fish. There are some legitimate success stories. There are also some spectacular failures.

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Welcome to Washington… er … La-La Land

by: Jim Maxson | December 18, 2017

This month has been what looks like a reality check. Let’s stipulate to a few facts. In Washington, D.C. we have a Republican President, a Republican House of Representatives and a Republican Senate. In the opinion of these duly elected persons, a tax decrease is needed to stimulate the economy. This is at a time

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N.D. farmers Vertically Integrating with Investments in East Coast Restaurants

by: Josh Wolsky | November 29, 2017

How do you make a product or a company more profitable? There are lots of ways including reducing costs through innovative practices, creating a differentiated product that commands a higher price. And there’s also vertical integration — the method of getting control of the supply chain and middlemen that separate a raw product from the

Read & Share sourced from: Philly.com

Diversifying an oil and gas economy in Carlsbad, NM

by: Josh Wolsky | October 31, 2017

Carlsbad, New Mexico — it’s a city with more than a few similarities to Minot. Notably, it’s fortunes also rise and fall with the price of oil. It’s a cycle that’s led community leaders and business owners alike if there aren’t better ways to build a sustainable livelihood and economy. Sound familiar? As a solution,

Read & Share sourced from: Associated Press

Tax & Spend or Borrow & Spend? Or Reject the Premise?

by: Jim Maxson | October 31, 2017

I am very possibly of the minority when it comes to public opinion, but nonetheless in the mainstream with the opinions of the majority of credible economists. If there are tax reductions by Congress, it will in all probability stimulate the economy at least over the short term. A tax decrease would also be popular

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Nobel Goes To American Richard Thaler For Work In Behavioral Economics

by: Josh Wolsky | October 31, 2017

Economics is very much a scientific study of simplified, rational decision making. But there’s a problem, humans aren’t always rational decision makers. Sometimes we’re downright weird and inexplicable. Richard Thaler was among the first economists to consider our weirdness, and his work won him a Nobel Prize. NPR has the story.

Read & Share sourced from: NPR

Grand Forks warily eyes once-dependable federal grant process

by: Josh Wolsky | October 24, 2017

Elected officials in Grand Forks are opening their eyes to a new financial reality — funding from the federal government is coming more slowly and less regularly. It means many programs, particularly those that fall under the umbrella of Community Development Block Grants have a less secure future. It matters for Minot because local municipalities

Read & Share sourced from: Grand Forks Herald

Equifax Deserves the Corporate Death Penalty

by: Josh Wolsky | October 23, 2017

If your personal information was compromised by the data breach at Equifax, hopefully you’ve been notified and are taking steps to protect yourself. And if you were impacted, there’s no doubt the situation has been more than a little inconvenient. And all of it speaks to what standard of corporate responsibility Equifax should be held

Read & Share sourced from: WIRED

Costco has officially raised the alarm on US tariffs

by: Josh Wolsky | October 23, 2017

With recent discussions about NAFTA making headlines, it’s always worth noting when and where possible how businesses react to political posturing. The first law of politics and policy should be, “beware the unintended consequences”. And in the case of the tough talk over North American trade policy, it’s fair to say the private sector is taking

Read & Share sourced from: Quartz