Doug McReynolds March 27, 2026   On January 25, 2007, Iowa’s Democratic Governor Chet Culver signed House File 1 into law, raising the minimum hourly wage paid to Iowa’s workers from $5.15 to $6.20 on April first of that year and to $7.25 on January 1, 2008.  Figuring a 40-hour work week and a 50-week work year, this comes to an annual gross income of $14,500 for Iowa’s lowest paid workers.  It was a significant step, and it put Iowa ahead of a plodding federal government, which didn’t get...

Doug Smith December 19, 2025 While watching Ken Burns’ new documentary about the Revolutionary War, I was reminded of the great writer Thomas Paine and his inspirational “Common Sense” essays that gave our fledgling country hope in the darkest of times. I had never read them in their entirety, but I looked up the text of his most famous essay “The American Crisis”, published on December 19, 1776, precisely 249 years ago. As I read it, I started to re-imagine what his message could mean to...

Doug Smith November 3, 2025   The government is still shut down, with no end in sight.  Republicans have been very vocal about blaming this on Democrats, but is that true?  No, it’s not.  Republicans were HOPING Democrats would insist on negotiations on the health insurance issue before voting for a debt ceiling bill.  By keeping the government in shut down mode, it gives the president and his minions a free hand to slash and burn parts of the government that they don’t like.  Chief among...