Opinion

Many economic development leaders and elected officials think of their state or city like it’s a business.

Let’s start with a confession.

One of the most disheartening things I saw following the failed attempt to assassinate Donald Trump was a concentrated, days-long social media flogging of a female U.S. Secret Service agent.

The Historic Artcraft Theatre auditorium is lit dimly by the screen showing a repetitive sequence of local businesses’ ads, promotions and PSAs. It is early and not too difficult to find a row of six unoccupied seats in the slowly filling space. We find a bank of seats, and we all settle in.

Getting home in the evening, I’m never quite sure what I’ll walk into.

Each month a handful or two of conservative friends gather to discuss a predetermined topic chosen the previous month. We have the conceit of calling our group Socratic, but I suspect Socrates would not grade us favorably should he chance onto one of our meetings.

Every summer, I spend time with one of my favorite authors, Sigurd Olson. For me, Olson is a guide, a person whose words transport into the power of wilderness.

Editor’s note: This column was penned before Sen. J.D. Vance became the GOP vice presidential nominee.

As a new adjunct professor six years ago, the class I was asked to teach was titled “Public law and government relations.” It was a class designed to teach how ideas become laws. The students were public affairs majors, just like I was, thirty years earlier.

The past three months of economic data offer an increasingly clear picture to Federal Reserve policymakers wrestling with the moment to begin cutting interest rates. The next meeting to consider rate cuts occurs July 30 and 31. It is possible the Fed will cut rates at that meeting. Instead, it might hold rates constant until the September 17-18 meeting.