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Opinion

Economists got 2025 all wrong

Well, Donald Trump has done it again! He stumped the chumps. The “chumps” in this case were the “blue-chip” academic and financial economists whose consensus forecast this time last year was of high inflation and low economic growth. Wrong on both counts. As you’ve probably heard, ...

Aging Ohio population is a concern

Elected officials and policymakers in Ohio have plenty to work on in the coming years. We talk a lot about the loss of population, but there’s a follow-up to that: The Buckeye State’s population is shrinking AND aging. Data projections show that by 2040, the percentage of residents 65 or ...

Harken back to a simpler and happier time in America

Scene: the Midwest in midcentury. The Madison, Wisconsin, neighborhood lived through the 1930s and 1940s, depression, wartime and polio. President Franklin Roosevelt’s radio fireside chats built morale. My father’s mother, Marie, a widowed nurse with four children, never missed Eleanor ...

Many lessons for US from fraud scandal in Minnesota

I recall a saying from my youth that went, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” This comes to mind reading reports of the mind-boggling welfare fraud megascandal that has been exposed in Minnesota. For perspective on the scope of the scandal, Assistant U.S. Attorney ...

More employers now seek help from workers in skilled trades

Those who had the opportunity to spend time with younger family members over this holiday break may have been tempted to ask questions such as “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or “What are you studying in college?” A growing number of employers are hoping the answer to that ...

To drink or not to drink: Wrong question

For anyone aiming to cut back drinking, January’s arrival times perfectly. Some may have simply overdone it through the long holiday stretch, when alcohol seemed piped into any vaguely celebratory event. Some may worry that they’re beginning to forget the last drink they accepted. ...