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Economy
Deal giving edge to unions muddies midfield contracts: Non-union contractors question whether bidding on project is worth
the trouble
August 15, 2005
Chris O\'malleyA construction agreement that requires union wages, work rules-and union workers-at the midfield terminal project has big
and small businesses alike concerned they'll be shut out of all but the tiniest contracts on the $300 million building. Unless
Janet South's painting firm Deco Group agrees to accept those terms, she'd only qualify for projects of $75,000 or less-the
threshold at which the agreement kicks in. That limitation, contained in the project labor agreement attached to the midfield
terminal, contrasts with...
MoreVIEWPOINT: Signs of economic recovery all around us
August 15, 2005
Barbara BranicAfter weathering some difficult times over the last few years, there are encouraging signs that central Indiana has turned
the corner on its road to economic recovery. The Indianapolis metro area added 22,000 jobs in the year ending in March-a 2.4-percent
increase-and in May, the Indiana unemployment rate dipped below the national average for the first time since December. All
signs point to continued modest growth. Patrick Barkey, IBJ contributor and Ball State University economist, says, "We should
expect to...
MoreGroup wants energy czar: Coalition believes utilities slow to climb on efficiency bandwagon
August 15, 2005
Chris O\'malleyChris Maher's crews at Thermo-Scan Inc. have been plenty busy inspecting for drafts and puny insulation in many of the 14,000
new homes built each year in the metro area. Even so, the principal at the Carmel firm can't help wonder about the vast potential
to make the hundreds of thousands of existing homes and businesses more energy efficient-if only homeowners had a little more
incentive. Utility companies, he says, have relatively few dollars budgeted to coax customers to install...
MorePast retail failures in China don't scare Simon away: Developer's partnership with Wal-Mart could be key
August 15, 2005
Scott OlsonExecutives of Simon Property Group Inc. are confident the shopping mall owner's foray into China will prove successful, even
though they acknowledge others have failed there. In a conference call with analysts late last month, the locally based real
estate investment trust announced its plan to be the first American company to develop retailing projects in the communist
country. Its first project will be a 500,000-squarefoot mall at Hangzhou, a city of 6 million people about two hours from
Shanghai....
MoreECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Indiana's 2 economies: Indy and everyone else
August 15, 2005
Patrick BarkeyI work for a state university. That's an important reason why I try to keep up to date on what is happening in the state economy.
That involves tracking what's going on with things like job growth, unemployment rates, and earnings across the state. I also
try to judge how the state's economy is performing against other states, particularly those in the Midwest. That's convenient,
but it's also a little misleading. Because for quite some time there really have been...
MoreGERALD BEPKO Commentary: State's bulk-sales law should be repealed
August 8, 2005
Law is an important part of the infrastructure for our economy. It can be just as important as highspeed information networks,
transportation systems or capital formation. And like all infrastructure, law has to be modernized to take account of changing
conditions. Although much law regarding commerce comes from Congress, the states have an important role through something
called the Uniform Commercial Code. The UCC reflects the best contemporary thought and is uniform in that it has been enacted
in all...
MoreECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Growth of GDP better than might first appear
August 8, 2005
Patrick BarkeyWhat happens when the world's largest economy continues to grow at a faster rate than that of any other industrialized nation?
The answer is, a tremendous amount of wealth is created. That's the real reason investment dollars and boatloads of consumer
goods continue to land on our shores from abroad every day. Compared to the tepid growth in the rest of the other mature economies
around the globe, we are still the best game to be found. That's a more...
MoreInteractive Intelligence posts profit, again: Communications software-maker nets modest earnings
August 1, 2005
Peter SchnitzlerIts profit may be modest. But after years of struggle, Interactive Intelligence Inc. knows the value of small gains. They
sure beat massive losses. Last week, the Indianapolis-based software company reported a second-quarter profit of $290,000
on sales of $15.6 million. That compares with a profit of $304,000 on sales of $13.6 million posted during the same quarter
last year. It was the company's sixth consecutive profitable quarter, for a total of $1.4 million. That's a big turnaround
for the...
MoreEYE ON THE PIE: Your call is important to someone
August 1, 2005
Morton MarcusI'm on hold after calling Wishard Hospital's Adult Medicine Clinic at 7 a.m., as instructed, to get an appointment with my
doctor. My call is very important, the recorded message says, but no one is responding. First, I am told that if this call
concerns a "life-threatening situation," I should hang up and call 9-1-1. That's really helpful. Maybe other, more sophisticated
patients can identify a "life-threatening situation." I am always reluctant to make such a determination. Then I go...
MoreManufacturers struggle with China's risk, opportunity: Currency valuation one of many competitive issues
August 1, 2005
Peter SchnitzlerEighteen months ago, 110 people worked for Swiss Plywood Co., a Tell City-based cabinet-maker in business since 1945. The
average tenure was 17 years. Today, only 65 employees are left at the controls of Swiss Plywood's machines. Chairman Bill
Borders blames China. "We've weathered storms over the years," Borders said. "But nothing approaching this." Manufacturers
in Indiana and across the nation have long complained about what they call Chinese currency manipulation. It's one of a litany
of grumbles about Chinese...
MoreECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Manufacturing sector keeps Indiana economy chugging
July 25, 2005
Patrick BarkeyThere is mostly good news on the economy. Both in Indiana and in the nation as a whole, we appear to be heading into the year's
second half with reasonably strong momentum. Buoyed by surprisingly low interest rates, a weak dollar and a strong rebound
in business spending nationwide, the state economy has turned in a solid performance in the last six quarters. Through the
first six months of the year, the Indiana economy is on a pace to create...
MoreCHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: China Syndrome hits 21st century
July 25, 2005
The Chinese have taken a keen interest in U.S. corporations of late. Just this year, a Chinese firm acquired the personal
computer business of IBM Corp., and a consortium led by a large Chinese conglomerate investigated-but dropped-the idea of
buying appliance maker Maytag. Though they involved long-standing and cherished American brands, neither deal raised too much
reaction from American business executives or politicians in Washington. By contrast, when China's CNOOC Ltd. offered in June
to acquire California-based Unocal, all hell...
MoreTOM HARTON Commentary: Keep your eye on the design
July 18, 2005
Design matters, and architects aren't the only ones who should care. On the eve of two significant ground breakings, even
those of us who know nothing about facades and fenestration should consider what's about to take place here. Later this month,
the first dirt will be turned on the site of the city's new airport terminal, and we can assume that dignitaries will brandish
shiny shovels next month just south of the existing RCA Dome. In both cases, there will...
MoreEYE ON THE PIE: Nation forgets how it achieved prosperity
July 18, 2005
Morton Marcus"How do you do it?" The question came from Mumbles Marcus, my talk-showhost cousin. "Every week, another fresh, insightful
column addressing one of our nation's leading issues." Since we were onair, I kept my reply polite: "Actually, Mumbles, I
write the same column almost every week. I change the clothing, but the body remains the same. I am obsessed with the many
choices we must make to satisfy private interests today and meet the needs of ourselves and others in...
MoreIncentives take aim at rising fuel costs: State pumps out grants for company vehicles using alternative fuels
July 18, 2005
Chris O\'malleyA combination of soaring gasoline prices, state grants and environmental idealism have whet appetites among businesses for
"alternative fuel vehicles" such as this batterypowered Global Electric Motorcars model. A $3,996 grant from the Lieutenant
Governor's Office paid for about one-third the cost of the Pizza Express vehicle, manufactured by a DaimlerChrysler subsidiary.
"Industries such as ours should be pioneers in the electric vehicle frontier," said Gabe Connell, franchisee of the Pizza
Express restaurants near IUPUI and in Broad Ripple. As...
MoreVIEWPOINT: Hoosiers gave tech transfer a big boost
July 18, 2005
Cam CarterToday, we take for granted that our state universities play a role far beyond their traditional educational mission-especially
in the economic arena. University-sponsored research is being licensed to the private sector, or used to form new companies.
Universities are managing business incubators. Consulting partnerships between academia and industry are commonplace. It wasn't
always this way. Not long ago, university officials were skeptical of becoming too involved with the private sector. Business
leaders and investors didn't recognize the value of innovation...
MoreMusic events seeking rhythm: Midwest Music Summit picks up the beat for industry convention expected to draw 23,000
July 18, 2005
Andrea MuirraguiThe Midwest Music Summit is approaching its fifth year bigger than ever as organizers fine-tune an event they hope will find
harmony with a massive convention planned for the same weekend. More than 400 artists are slated to perform at 35 venues throughout
the city during the July 21-23 summit-scheduled this year to coincide with International Music Products Association's NAMM
Summer Session, an annual gathering expected to draw 23,000 music aficionados for its first stop in Indianapolis. The timing
is...
MoreNarrow Gate Media LLC: Brothers help others sell via the Web They've developed a template that can be tweaked to create unique
sites
July 18, 2005
Jo Ellen"People would always tell me I had the personality and social skills that made me a good salesman," said Vaught, who, with
his older brother Tim Vaught, founded Narrow Gate Media LLC in January 2000 in Indianapolis. For example, when Tom Vaught
bought a motor scooter for his paper route, all his friends wanted to ride it, and he let them-in exchange for delivering
the newspapers. "They got to ride the scooter and I still collected the money" from the...
MoreECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Have surging gas prices lost their stinging power?
July 18, 2005
Patrick BarkeyHave you checked out the satellite radios that are showing up everywhere nowadays? They've got a button and a station for
just about everything. If you want to hear music from the 1960s, or the 1940s, it's yours at the press of a button. If the
radio gave you economic news, and you hit the button marked 1980s, you might get something like this: Oil prices skyrocket,
inflation roars, car sales plummet and the economy plunges into recession. But hit...
MoreECONOMIC ANALYSIS: My city is bigger than your city, or is it?
July 11, 2005
Patrick BarkeyDoes anyone remember the World Almanac? Perhaps not. But in the Barkey household of many years back, it was a well-worn little
book. Especially those pages where populations were listed for every city in the country. That's where we could proudly look
up our own hometown and see where we stood against everyone else. We're still doing that, of course. The paper books are gone,
naturally, replaced by Web pages from the Census Bureau that pop up at the click...
MoreECONOMIC ANALYSIS: New data gives economists a new way to gauge state
July 4, 2005
Patrick BarkeyAsk any economic developer what he or she is expected to produce, and the answer is a single syllable: jobs. Sure, there are
a few qualifiers. We want good jobs, which generally means highpaying, secure, or even non-polluting jobs. But high-profile
announcements of business expansion or recruitment always lead with the projected effects on employment-often spelled out
to the last digit. It's hard to see anything wrong with that. Job growth is easy to grasp and even if we're not...
MoreABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ Commentary: There are benefits to an open U.S. border
July 4, 2005
I was frequenting one of my favorite watering holes downtown and ordered a chocolate martini with a strawberry when my bartender
informed me the price was likely to go up this summer. I asked him why and he told me there was some kind of shortage out
West. So, after doing some investigation, I discovered there is a problem with the strawberry crop. There aren't enough workers
to pick them, therefore they stay on the vines and don't make it...
MoreTaking the pulse of life sciences: Experts weigh in on whether Indiana is keeping up in the economic development race
June 27, 2005
IBJ: Is Indiana gaining ground against other states in the race to grow as a life sciences hub? What are some specific benchmarks
that underscore your opinion? JOHNSON: Indiana is gaining ground, but Indiana already starts on really very substantial ground.
There are a lot of outside validations of that and I think it's important for this audience to hear a couple of them because
there is nothing like having people on the outside pay attention to what we're doing...
MoreECONOMIC ANALYSIS Patrick Barkey: Intelligence isn't only factor that sets earnings potential
June 27, 2005
Do we have a passion for economics? Judging from the numbers of economics majors at colleges and universities across the country,
the answer is probably no. The world of graphs and statistics we inhabit is not everyone's cup of tea. But if few of us like
to study the economy, we all have to live and work within its borders. And the most important interaction most of us will
ever have with the economy occurs when we venture into the...
MoreHolding serve: Racquet Club rallies through tennis slump
June 27, 2005
Anthony SchoettleBorn during boom times and volleyed through the bad, the Indianapolis Racquet Club, though a little leaner than in the 1980s,
has survived four decades while many of its competitors have double-faulted. IRC officials said they've survived tennis industry
tumult by adding instructors and programs, expanding the pro shop to become one of the biggest in the Midwest, and staying
focused on the club's core business. "It's simple, really," said Ed Brune, who has been general manager and tennis director...
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Laura-the festivals and tastings are free. What does is strengthen the sense of community with activities. What are those empty lots doing for the Village? it's sad you can't see the good that this progress can do for the area. No one is requiring anyone to shop there. I guess you'd rather see a Dollar store move in or no, we'd rather see the property stand empty b/c change is out of the question.
Read down to the part about Brizzi. Someone needs to subpoena his "purchases" of Red RockPictures and Cellstar and his corresponding bank records, I mean c'mon, I'd like to see his alcohol usage records, too. http://diana-vice.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
Wonder if my neighborhood can advertise our "retention" pond and act like it is a beach too?
a new record at the '11 salebration until they realized that it was a futile effort to get their crapwagon moter and crapwagon car up speed. And then they just quietly slunk off into the night and never spoke of it again. Nothing to see here folks.
millions for putting a company's bumper sticker on one of its Lolas. But you gotta take what you can get.