If you wanted a good picture of the economy at any given moment, you could track such statistics as monthly unemployment, housing starts, the University of Michigan confidence index, the Consumer and Producer Price indices, etc. Or . . . you could just watch Wal-Mart’s stock price. When the economy slows or contracts — or people fear...Read More
Thornton Wilder Got it Wrong Jane Crofut; The Crofut Farm; Grover’s Corners; Sutton County; New Hampshire; United States of America; North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the Mind of God. –Letter addressed to Jane Crofut; “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder It turns out that one of my favorite literary quotes...Read More
Not to Be Confused With Eating on the Run OK, so I’m not a dietician or nutritionist, and don’t have a speck of data to back me up. And gourmands would be appalled by what I’m about to suggest. But, here goes anyway: Maybe one of the factors in America’s obesity epidemic isn’t just what...Read More
Translating “Minnesota Nice” I’ve got to remind myself when I work with out-of-town Buyers — I have three such clients at the moment — that outside of Minnesota, “interesting” actually can mean “interesting.” As in “unique” (in a good way), “provocative,” or “stimulating.” When Minnesotans say it — especially in the context of house-hunting, and they enunciate...Read More
Retail Gas Gauge If you want to track the spot price of a barrel of oil in world markets, you could monitor various Web sites that specialize in commodities. Or . . . you could just watch the gas lines at Costco. When they’re inexplicably long, mid-day –as they are now — you know that...Read More
“If at First You Don’t Succeed . . . “ Maybe they’ll try again. That’s my reaction to the news that North Dakota voters overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment yesterday that would have eliminated that state’s property tax. To be fair, energy-rich (and financially flush) North Dakota is in a better position than most states...Read More
