During the recent Midwest Rural Assembly, Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns stopped in South Sioux City for a community coffee. Since it happened to be in the same building we were in, I stopped in to listen, too. Here are my live notes from the senator’s presentation and the question and answer period. This is not intended to be a political…
Our friend Des Walsh from Australia sent me a great email, that I just had to share with all of you. You might not have known but we had a Federal election here on Saturday. The outcome hangs in the balance (although I don’t think there are any hanging chads), with the likelihood of a…
Onshore Technologies office CNN Money published a feature on rural sourcing, “Forget India, outsource to Arkansas.” Dubbed “ruralsourcing,” “rural outsourcing” and “onshoring,” the practice relies on two simple premises: Smaller towns need jobs, and they offer a cheaper cost of living than urban centers. So businesses that outsource work to these areas can expect to…
Wind turbine, Cumbria, by S John Davey This week, a monumental report on rural England’s problems and rural potential hit the media with headlines like “Rural England key to economic recovery.” Rural England is leading the way to economic recovery, thanks to high levels of entrepreneurship in the countryside, a report has revealed. Another news…
[This arrived by email from the National Rural Assembly. I didn’t think I could improve on it, so I asked for permission to reprint it here, which they have kindly granted. I added photos from the White House blog. -Becky] From the National Rural Assembly, www.ruralassembly.org President Barack Obama tours MogoOrganic in Mt. Pleasant, Ia.,…
A quick update on small business resources online. First, the US Small Business Administration has updated their annual Small Business FAQ (PDF). It’s packed full of statistics on US small business. For example, here’s the latest on small business survival rates: Seven out of ten new employer firms last at least two years, and about…
Internet providers who charge customers by how much they use would have to justify their prices to federal regulators under a bill introduced last week. Freshman Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) filed the bill after some providers tested plans to charge customers more if they download video or otherwise use a lot of bandwidth. The companies…
By Steven HendricksonWith all the unsettling national news about recession, layoffs and unemployment, it may seem strange to be talking about labor shortages, but that’s what we face in Oklahoma. The state’s 2009 employment outlook is vastly better than the nation’s, and Oklahoma employers will continue to confront shortages in all kinds of jobs. Some…
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