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Victoria Wilson

Victoria Wilson's picture
Plymouth, MN
Commenter for
2 years 38 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 09/19/12 at 02:48 pm in response to Affordable housing in the Central Corridor: How much is too much?

Coincidentally there is a presentation next week offered by CURA that addresses the issue of neighborhood mix: http://www.cura.umn.edu/events/2012-09-26/cura-housing-forum-neighborhoo... From what I can gather, George Galstar feels that a neighborhood composition of 20% or more of financially...

Posted on 07/07/12 at 05:40 pm in response to Why Americans want to spend more on health care

“Jones made a distinction between goods and services (such as cars, televisions, clothing, movies, concerts) and years of life.”

The popularity of end of life directives seems to betray Jones’s marginal utility distinction. If each additional week, month or year of life was of equal quality there would be no need to entrust your most dependable offspring to shut down ventilators or withdraw feeding tubes.

The distinction between banal goods and services and health related...

Posted on 06/05/12 at 05:09 pm in response to Thought-provoking study of 'values' differences across party lines

If you look at the complete report, and scroll down to the chart on trend in party affiliation, you can see that in 2001 the about 30% of the population identified themselves as republican, 30% as independents and 33% as democrats. Today the report says 38% identify themselves as independent and 24% as republican with 32% classifying themselves as democrats. It seems clear that the moderates have left both parties. Hence the gap in 'values' (not sure how this word is appropriate) is due...

Posted on 05/10/12 at 03:30 pm in response to Why Rep. Steve Gottwalt’s view of the economy doesn’t make sense

I would add a bit to the professor’s definition, even if it is presumptuous of me:

“An economy is an interdependent system of organizations and individuals working together to produce goods and services people need and want. The organizations include households, businesses, non-profits and government. Organizations and individuals produce and exchange goods and services through markets.” A market can be identified when more than 100 transactions will result in statistically the same...

Posted on 05/03/12 at 07:17 am in response to From Tonka trucks to pacemakers: Free trade isn't free

What I always look for in articles that try to express social costs are examples. After all it’s hard to account for something if we don’t know what it is. In this article there is a suggestion that workers whose jobs are taken overseas incur costs. But the specifics are not investigated. Is it the cost of temporary unemployment? Because we have a safety net in place for this situation whether work is taken elsewhere or is seasonal or is lost due to a poor economy. Is it a cost...

Posted on 03/26/12 at 08:50 pm in response to Housing squeeze tight for Minnesota's low-income families

"A household here would have to earn $15.50 per hour to afford a two-bedroom home without spending more than 30 percent of its income, the group said. By contrast, the typical Minnesota renter earns $12.17 per hour."

A more detailed breakdown of renters and rents would be helpful. In these two sentences Steve switches from household needing $15.5 for a two bedroom, to one average renter earning $12.17. I have to think that many renters are 27 and younger, living on their own or...

Posted on 03/21/12 at 11:57 am in response to Minnesota’s child-protection system is inconsistent and underfunded

“This scenario, based on current court cases, illustrates a key finding of a February report by the Minnesota Legislative Auditor: If you are a neglected or abused Minnesota child, whether you receive meaningful help depends on where you live.”

Maybe the conclusion to draw is that tax dollars should not be spent on housing vulnerable populations in high density. A neighborhood can only provide so many hours toward the social contracts we intend for all Minnesotans.

Posted on 02/27/12 at 11:55 am in response to Vikings vs. NWA: Does the NFL really deserve the largest subsidy in Minnesota history?

If we all followed this analysis I would think that cities would halt providing baseball diamonds for Little Leagues to play on, ice rinks for the hockey players, municipal swimming pools for the swimmers. And certainly no community would be crazy enough to compete to build an Olympic Village that would be used one season, ever, or perfect a Super G course so we can watch Lindsey Vonn set another record, or construct a hockey arena to watch team Team USA bring home the gold as they did in...

Posted on 02/27/12 at 03:13 pm in response to Vikings vs. NWA: Does the NFL really deserve the largest subsidy in Minnesota history?

Oh, finally! Someone who wants to talk about determining the public market value of the stadium instead of looking at a cost justification in for-profit business market terms.

The way to find any other market price is by comparing it to how much others have paid, or are willing to pay, for the same product. So the going rate is what another city will do to attract an NFL team. Is it really $700 million?

Posted on 02/27/12 at 03:11 pm in response to Vikings vs. NWA: Does the NFL really deserve the largest subsidy in Minnesota history?

Those professional atheletes probably started their careers in Little Leagues and Youth Hockey programs and at community pools. Didn't Lindsey Vonn ski at Highland (a county park)? or maybe it was Buck Hill.