I’ve got a tough travel schedule over the next couple of months.  Conferences, talks, stuff like that.  To ease the pain, I thought I’d share my reflections, including some reporting on interesting developments in economic policy from around the country.

With the disclaimer that I’m a visitor who saw very little of the city, Minneapolis seems like a cool place.  Tons of green areas, little lakes scattered about, a great sculpture garden, wide streets with big sidewalks. 

And there’s a good sense of progressive politics here in the state of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, an economic populist before it was popular.  They’ve got a state minimum wage higher than the federal, a state EITC (an add-on to the Federal tax credit for low-income, working families) and the Minnesota Budget Project is fighting hard for tax fairness.  They even had soy milk at a coffee shop in the airport.

I was here for a meeting of the Economic Analysis and Research Network, EARN, a great alliance of progressive “think and do” tanks from throughout the nation (disclosure: the network is coordinated by my employer, the Economic Policy Institute).  I’m an EARN vet, and wrote this piece from an earlier year’s meeting to give you the flavor.

This year, there was a palpable sense of optimism regarding both the plan for a progressive economic agenda and our chances of seeing the plan actually get somewhere.  There was an ample dose of sobering realism about this latter point—but progressive ideas are getting more of a hearing these days.

I heard discussions on good stuff like revitalizing unions, health care reform, reducing poverty, immigration policy, and ideas for balancing work/family life.  Some of these ideas are discussed here.

Mark Greenberg’s report on the Center For America’s Progress anti-poverty agenda included a set of policies designed to cut the poverty rate by half over the next decade, including higher minimum wages, expanded tax credits, full employment, and more union coverage.  Speaking of unions, Beth Handy made a passionate argument in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation designed to balance the union organizing playing field (it’s currently tilted heavily toward anti-union forces).  Joel Rodgers from COWS (Center on Wisconsin Strategy) sketched out a doable path toward diminished energy consumption (I’ll link to his excellent presentation ASAP).

Back in the Minneapolis airport (where I maintained an excessively narrow stance in the men's room), the plane is only a little late, so all’s well…except:

Why, oh why, am I and other travelers forced to listen to this horrible noise from CNN about the new OJ Simpson case?  Let’s look at the economics of this.  The fact that CNN has what appears to be an airport TV monopoly is a huge boon for them.  But if they broadcast annoying junk that nobody cares about, and do it in such a way that you can’t escape it, like here in the airport, it should ultimately hurt the company’s bottom line.

So, either they’re stupid, or the people around me want to hear this crap.  If I had the nerve, I’d survey those people.  For the record, it looked to me like nobody was paying much attention.

There’s a third alternative: demand for this type of substance is endogenous, meaning that since CNN features it, we assume it’s important, and we pay attention.  They—CNN—create the demand for their product by imprinting it with headline status, despite the fact that it’s meaningless.

Of course, I may simply not get the importance of this story.  Feel free to educate me.