New Interstate Between Minnesota/North Dakota May Be Necessary; I-94 To Be Widened -- A Reader

Something tells me this may not be true but a reader writes me telling that US DOT studies suggest US 2 across Minnesota - North Dakota will need to be made into I-98; and I-94 (Minneapolis - Fargo) will need to be widened. The new interstate and the widened interstate will be needed to accommodate all the taxpayers fleeing Minnesota over the next few years. The reader sends me this link, Midwest Energy News is reporting:

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday signed into law an energy bill that’s projected to give the state a more than thirtyfold increase in solar generation by the end of the decade.

The Solar Energy Jobs Act was rolled into a larger, omnibus economic development bill and approved by the state’s legislature last week.

The section that’s drawn the most attention is a 1.5 percent by 2020 solar electricity standard for large utilities that is on top of the state’s existing 25 percent by 2025 renewable mandate.

But the bill has several other components that could rival the solar standard’s impact, from expanded incentives and net-metering reforms to the creation of shared, community “solar gardens.”

Horatio Alger: "move west, young men and women." 

Governor Mark Dayton might be advised to read this from Forbes, dated January 28, 2014 -- like four or five days ago -- "Sun sets on solar power in Germany; industry slashes 50% of jobs in two years.

Germany’s solar power industry shed a staggering 5,000 jobs over the past two years, reducing the size of the industry by more than half, ....

A prolonged supply glut induced by cheap Chinese solar imports has resulted in a scourge of bankruptcies at several of Germany’s erstwhile elite solar manufacturers, including Q-Cells, Conergy and Solon.

In 2012, the solar industry employed more than 10,000 workers in Germany. More than half of those jobs have vanished over the past 24 months, according to figures from the Federal Office for Statistics.

The solar jobs data was shared with reporters from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which stated that less than 5,000 Germans are currently employed by the solar power industry – the lowest employed level in nearly half a decade.

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

By the way, if they do indeed build I-98, it needs to be a natural gas corridor for long-haul truckers.

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Minnesota Will Soon Join The List

The Obama Legacy

From USA Today:

In 28 states, a third or more of the unemployed have been without a job for six months or longer, leaving them with no unemployment insurance safety net following the expiration of extended benefits in December.

In New Jersey, Florida and the District of Columbia, nearly half (50%) of the unemployed have been out of work for longer than 26 weeks, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among all 50 states and D.C., the average is 33%.

Before the Great Recession, the highest the long-term joblessness share ever reached was 26% in mid-1983, according to the EPI analysis. Today, 41 states and D.C. have shares of long-term unemployment above that level.

1,083 days and counting.