Bob Confer

Bob Confer

CONFER: Long-term care, long-term burden
Sometime very soon, the Department of Health and Human Services will iron out details of the CLASS Act and submit information to employers in preparation for enrolling their employees into the voluntary program in 2012.

April 21, 2011 1 Photo
CONFER: Regrowing the Niagara frontier
Green is the buzzword of the 21st century. Businesses and governments everywhere endeavor to pursue green practices in an effort to preserve Earth’s fragile natural world and her limited resources.

March 1, 2011 1 Photo
CONFER: Chris Lee threw away great potential
Famous or not, adultery is a serious character flaw. It’s just that the former pay for it more than the latter once discovered. Former congressman Chris Lee knew that, just as the others did. Yet, they took the risk and suffered the losses.

February 21, 2011 1 Photo
CONFER: A new power struggle
If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know that the high cost of electricity is a recurring theme. As someone whose company is a heavy power user, I can’t help but rail against New York’s exorbitant cost structure and its adverse impact on economic development.

February 21, 2011 1 Photo
CONFER: Wanted: Seat on NYPA board
Do you ever feel like Niagara County is the so-called “red-headed stepchild” when it comes to state governance?

January 31, 2011 1 Photo
CONFER: Stories the trees tell
The Erie Canal towpath was once the interstate for itinerant workers — hoboes, if you will — who traveled from town to town in search of their next farming or handyman gig. While doing so, they frequently stopped over on my family’s farm, which butts up to the canal.

January 28, 2011 1 Photo
CONFER: Why do I stay in New York?
Longtime readers probably wonder what keeps me in the Empire State. You can’t blame them for being quizzical, for a good many of my columns focus on what’s wrong with New York. Usually, it’s a government run amok that creates ever-growing taxes, prevents prosperity and sends long-time residents away.

August 24, 2010 1 Photo
CONFER: The real unemployment rate
The July jobs report recently issued by the labor department noted that total employment was down by 131,000 jobs for the month. Despite the significant drop in employment, the unemployment rate stayed at 9.5 percent.

August 16, 2010 1 Photo
CONFER: Solar is not the answer
Knowing the struggles that my company faces in paying some of the highest electrical rates in the nation — double what our competitors pay — many people have asked me: “Have you ever thought about solar energy?”

August 2, 2010 1 Photo
CONFER: Having a say in school closings
I recently wrote a column in which I discussed the need to return to a more localized approach to schooling, in which the teachers, school boards and parents were empowered to determine the curriculum for their schoolchildren and teach accordingly. Nowadays, such local control is grossly subdued as the federal and state governments dictate what and how the teachers can teach, making for a standardized and markedly dumber student body.

July 25, 2010 1 Photo
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