A statewide survey of ideas for making rural Kansas a more compelling place for young adults to put down roots revealed the need for government investment in expansion of child care options and strengthening of entrepreneurial business pipelines. The state’s Office of Rural Prosperity worked with the Kansas Sampler Foundation to examine what Kansans aged 21 to 39 thought about recruiting and retaining them in small towns and remote counties suffering depopulation. The foundation drew upon 460 survey responses from all 105 counties and 175 follow-up interviews to identify why people chose to live in rural areas and why it might [...]

Anybody who remembers the 1970s remembers the Great Inflation, when retirees on fixed incomes struggled to make ends meet. They probably also remember what happened next, when the Federal Reserve under Paul Volker tightened the money supply, driving down prices by driving down the economy, forcing two recessions that lowered consumer spending and increased unemployment. For the last four decades, inflation has been not much more than a bad memory for most people. This year, however, it has reappeared as a cause for concern. Fear of a return to 1970s-style inflation is driving calls for a retreat from the free-spending goals [...]