Hugo Chávez

Posted on 6 March 2013 by Erik Hare | 11 Comments

The United States’ biggest bogeyman dictator remaining, Hugo Chávez, has died of cancer at age 58. His status as our most feared repressive ruler says something about the state of the world today because by any reasonable accounts he was neither all that repressive nor that big of a challenge to the US. Even the amount he was feared was greatly exaggerated as a badge of honor by this man of the people. Yet his passing is extremely important in that it probably marks a new phase in the continuing progress of Latin America.

Why did we fear Chávez, if we did at all? What will come next? Most of it has been show so far, but in typical South American fashion it was a pretty good show. This one may have some lasting and even positive effects.

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Austerity Goes Down

Posted on 4 March 2013 by Erik Hare | 13 Comments

How’s that austerity workin’ for ya? Just as sequestration takes hold here in the US, Europe is looking to go the other way, releasing more Euros (and even Pounds) in order to get things going again. The new US “policy” of budget balancing, backed into without thinking, is now being formally abandoned by everyone else.

There is probably some kind of requirement that any blog on economics has to write about Europe every so often, even if nothing new is happening. But today there may well be something worth writing about as the Central Banks develop the whiff of panic that has been absent so far. As Japan becomes more urgent and the US shoots itself, Europe has some tough choices to make. What, or better yet can, they do?

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Transit Planning

Posted on 1 March 2013 by Erik Hare | 11 Comments

Transit planning. If the phrase gave you a cold shiver as it called up memories you’d rather repress, we should talk. It’s been a real horror show here in St Paul as a parade of officials and hired engineers have stood in front of citizen committees and neighborhood gatherings telling us whatever they thought we wanted to hear and never (never!) listening. The decisions were always made long ago by people more interested in chasing pots of money, appropriate or not.

The same shiver went up my spine when I heard that the West Side was holding a meeting on their own transit plans along Robert Street (or US52). I read up on the materials, talked with people, went to the meeting and … I have to tell you, I think this is gonna be allright. And when we get our plans going in the West End soon we have every reason to hope this will work out. Here’s why.

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