Thursday, October 28, 2004
The Future of Business in Duluth
I recently attended a business exploration seminar in Sweden. The event was well worth the travel, and I came back with an appreciation for the Swede’s spirit of entrepreneurship.
I had a preconceived idea that Sweden was a socialistic, highly regulated, over-taxed state. While the Swedes do face a high degree of regulation and seem to pay higher taxes than we Americans pay, they collectively value entrepreneurship. The Swedes are willing to take a risk to create value and wealth through starting and running their own businesses.
Duluthians can learn a lot from the Swedes. Generally speaking, Duluthians tend to believe that we ought to attract large, well-established companies to our area – after all, these companies are sure to bring jobs, money, and growth with them. And in all fairness, sometimes these endeavors work out. For example, we successfully attracted United Health Care, Cirrus Design, and the Northwest Airbus Maintenance Facility to our community. However, if we want to succeed on all levels, we must be like the Swedes and embrace a spirit of entrepreneurship – which means two things.
First, we must be excited about business and embrace anyone who will risk his or her own money and reputation to start one. Furthermore, we, as regional society, need to applaud these people, whether their new businesses are a success or a failure. Secondly, we must engage our schools and colleges in entrepreneurship. By fostering a sense of entrepreneurship at the secondary and post-secondary levels, we prepare our young people to take risks – like the Swedes – when they are ready to enter the workforce. Instead of raising generations to simply “get a job,” we empower our future generations to create value and wealth through building their own businesses.
Jobs are good – no one disputes that. But entrepreneurship is where our future lies.
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
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Our Future
I recently attended a business exploration seminar in Sweden. The event was well worth the travel, and I came back with an appreciation for the Swede’s spirit of entrepreneurship.
I had a preconceived idea that Sweden was a socialistic, highly regulated, over-taxed state. While the Swedes do face a high degree of regulation and seem to pay higher taxes than we Americans pay, they collectively value entrepreneurship. The Swedes are willing to take a risk to create value and wealth through starting and running their own businesses.
Duluthians can learn a lot from the Swedes. Generally speaking, Duluthians tend to believe that we ought to attract large, well-established companies to our area – after all, these companies are sure to bring jobs, money, and growth with them. And in all fairness, sometimes these endeavors work out. For example, we successfully attracted United Health Care, Cirrus Design, and the Northwest Airbus Maintenance Facility to our community. However, if we want to succeed on all levels, we must be like the Swedes and embrace a spirit of entrepreneurship – which means two things.
First, we must be excited about business and embrace anyone who will risk his or her own money and reputation to start one. Furthermore, we, as regional society, need to applaud these people, whether their new businesses are a success or a failure. Secondly, we must engage our schools and colleges in entrepreneurship. By fostering a sense of entrepreneurship at the secondary and post-secondary levels, we prepare our young people to take risks – like the Swedes – when they are ready to enter the workforce. Instead of raising generations to simply “get a job,” we empower our future generations to create value and wealth through building their own businesses.
Jobs are good – no one disputes that. But entrepreneurship is where our future lies.
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Show me the money and I'll shut up
These days, it seems there is plenty of cynicism for everyone.
Perhaps the leading driver of cynicism in our society is the politics of government. You would have to live under a rock to avoid it this political season. Even more so, you would have to make a concerted effort to avoid cynicism in our fair city.
In addition to a booming retiree healthcare crisis, our city faces declining populations, flat sales taxes, and poor investment returns – leading to a major budget deficit. As such, our mayor and city councilors have been working to balance the budget – without being perceived as the “bad guys” by the general public. This plight to balance the budget using the same means that have been used over and over (in an attempt to keep from offending a particular group) leads to increased cynicism among the city population.
To be sure, nobody likes the idea of paying more taxes, especially when he or she is unconvinced that an increase in taxes will solve the deficit. I do not oppose the rising cost of government. However, that is not to say that I endorse tax increases. In fact, I contend just the opposite: if the City of Duluth wants to raise taxes, the City needs to show me that I am getting the best value for my money. The same follows for any major purchase I make. If I am shopping for a car or a house, I make sure that I receive the best value for my dollar. When I am convinced this is the case, I am satisfied with the purchase and do not begrudge spending the money.
Perhaps every city department should model itself after the parking enforcement folks who are amazingly good at ticketing anyone who lets his or her parking meter expire. If, and when, the general population perceives the city to operate at this level of efficiency, there would be no outcry about a tax increase. Everyone would understand that the tax increase is indeed necessary and is not just an easy out.
Until then: show me the money.
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Painful Budget Cropping
No dog looks forward to the pain brought about by the tail cropping procedure – especially because cropping is purely a cosmetic endeavor. Imagine, if dogs had to endure this painful and ugly procedure year after year simply to remain in fashion.
Collectively, Duluthians don’t appear to take much interest in the fact that our city government allows – and, seemingly, embraces – painful budget battles every year. It is only after these battles are fought that the city is able to control the budget. This cycle is tantamount to having our proverbial budget tail whacked off every year - one inch at a time -so we can balance the books.
Perhaps the citizenry suffers from issue fatigue. And it is this fatigue that allows all of us to look the other way when the budget issue is presented for discussion. I can only surmise that most citizens smirk at the “politics” of the whole matter. Busy citizens do not want to get involved in such complicated issues. Rather, they trust the mayor and the city council to resolve the city’s budget issues - without significantly raising taxes.
This year, whether or not this scenario plays out remains to be seen. What is of concern, however, is the looming budget crisis of our own making. For years, we have promised employees benefits while, at the, same we’ve ignored the significant cost associated with such promises. Instead, we simply whack off another inch to make the budget work.
We make the numbers work, that’s what we do. We cling to the political promises of past administrations and simply make the budget balance – at least for another year – through an acidic and painful process. Then, like any good dog, we forget about it … until it’s cropping time the following year.
Duluthians will soon line up to have their tales cropped again – at least proverbially speaking – without the proper anesthetic to assuage the pain. Political promises have come due – as they always do. And, this time, all the budget forces - flat sales taxes, less than expected revenue from the state, and political promises in the form of overly ambitious labor contracts - have left little money for us to afford any budgetary anesthesia. We will endure the pain fully this year.
When, when will we learn?
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Too much of a good thing?
Too much of a good thing?
Northeastern Minnesota prides itself on citizen involvement in civic affairs. We are really good at rallying public opinion and encouraging press reaction. As such, we get equal and, sometimes, over-reactive responses from elected officials. We view this attention as good and necessary.
The way Northeastern Minnesotans approach civic affairs and receive attention from the press and elected officials may be unique to our region. Having spent seventeen and one-half years in the Twin Cities (equipping me with a different perspective) I find this kind of zealous involvement to be one the foremost challenges to developing good public policy.
Of course, I am not saying that citizen involvement is bad. Rather, I contend just the opposite. Citizen participation in public affairs is a good and necessary thing - if it is done right. Like so many other things in America – advertising, political affairs, sales of goods and services – we have to sort out the facts and decide for ourselves what really matters.
School closings, city budgets, and political campaigns did not draw as much attention in the Twin Cities as they do here. Perhaps the non-reactionary response of those living in the Twin Cities is due to being over stimulated by the vastness of the metro area, issue fatigue, or just plain non-interest. My speculation is that people in the metro area are accustomed to change. These “things” happen and residents adjust.
Duluth is different. We Duluthians get all wound up whenever we hear about a school closing or a project that forges ahead without the consent of the masses. We go to meetings and surmise that if the elected officials carry through with their intentions, parents will pull their kids out of the new school, or that somehow we’ll all end up in a sea of blacktop. We make a ruckus; the press picks it up; and voila! - policy is changed to accommodate those making the most noise. Good policy is thwarted.
The citizens of Northeastern Minnesota need to begin thinking long-term. What are the facts? What policy will serve us best in the long-term? Until we endorse these qualities and aspects of civic involvement versus the reactionary involvement, we can only expect our public officials to produce paltry policy.
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
1 Comments
Friday, October 01, 2004
An unvarnished look at a new business fee. Does this say, "Business Friendly?"
I am starting to understand the outrage that Californians felt when Proposition 13 was passed. Starting next year, the City of Duluth will charge every business owner $300 to inspect his or her property. Each business will accrue this charge, in addition to paying taxes which already funds the fire department.
Mayor Bergson, in the Duluth News Tribune, October 1, 2004, stated: “In today’s tough times, we have to make sure we are recovering a share of what it costs us to provide a given service.” I thought citizens already did that when they paid their property taxes? Evidently, I thought wrong.
Unfortunately, we have no other public service provider. Unlike private sector services, we must take what the city hands us in regards to fire protection, police services, or any kind of public works. If the costs go up – so be it. At least the city can automatically vote to give itself a surcharge. Problem solved. No questions asked.
And who better to pass along those costs than business owners? They, after all, only have to make payroll, pay inordinately high insurance rates, and be competitive so their customers don’t shop elsewhere. They cannot arbitrarily announce that they “must recover a share of the costs” they have built into the sales price of their service or product they provide. Who better, then, than business owners to absorb a new fee?
I only wish I had another public sector service provider so I could go somewhere else to get less costly and more quality services. Oh yes, that is precisely why many other Minnesota communities are growing and we are not.
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
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