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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Slow, steady job growth certainly beats alternative

It’s good to have job growth in the U.S. economy once again, even if the monthly gains in employment reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics occasionally fall short of some analysts’ expectations. After a long spell of minuscule job growth in the wake of a painful recession, we’ve grown used to disappointing announcements from the federal statistical agency responsible for tracking the labor market. But the recent report on the employment situation in December caps a year-long streak of…

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Seeking to sway politicians: Lobbyists savor the challenge of playing the game, which requires chess-like strategizing

When Maureen Ferguson was a lobbyist for the Indiana Petroleum Council, she went skiing for the first time, in Colorado. As her ski instructor was taking her up the mountain, he asked her what she did for a living. When she told him, he “went off” on how the oil industry was corrupt and running the government, and she recalled that she found herself fearing for her life. Now when someone asks Ferguson what she does, sometimes she tells them,…

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Access at takeoff: Expert helps find accommodating design for terminal

Your spouse attempts to drop you off at the curb and unload your wheelchair as an airport cop who seems to mistake you for a terrorist barks an order to drive away immediately. Once inside, you get separated from your travel companions because you had to take an out-of-the-way wheelchair ramp. And heaven help you if the checkpoint screener is having a bad day. Gregory S. Fehribach has to imagine such scenarios-not that the life-long wheelchair user hasn’t already endured…

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Trucking firm to roll out own software product: Hoosier Tradewinds targets driver shortage

Carmel trucking line Hoosier Tradewinds Inc. plans to deliver an unusual product-its own software company. Tradewinds Technologies will offer an intranet portal product trucking firms can use to track everything from delivery status to driver revenue. The company will break ground by the end of next month on an 8,000-squarefoot facility at U.S. 31 and 236th Street. It also will house new corporate offices for Hoosier Tradewinds. The TIRES portal, short for Tradewinds Information Resource, will be marketed partly as…

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GERALD BEPKO Commentary: State should help insurance industry grow

GERALD BEPKO Commentary State should help insurance industry grow Everyone seems to agree that state governments must facilitate job growth and wealth creation. As pioneers in publicprivate partnerships, Indiana’s leaders have envisioned a future for Indiana that includes many partnership economi c – d eve l o p m e n t strategies. One reflection of this vision is the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership-led focus on key sectors, such as advanced manufacturing, logistics and life sciences. The priority associated with…

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Services of local plastics recycler sought after: Butler-MacDonald builds foundation for growth

The company that recycles high-resin plastic like the kind found in computers was attractive to other cities, but the two decades it spent developing a skilled work force and market here made cutting its roots difficult. Instead of moving across state lines, Butler-MacDonald last month moved across Park 100. Though the 80,000-square-foot facility is only 1,000 square feet larger than its former home, the new configuration allowed for nearly $1 million worth of upgrades in machinery and infrastructure. “We were…

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INVESTING: Dow constructed his averages to do technical analysis

As a technical analyst I am fascinated by history. I was a history major in college, so my interest here predates my addiction to financial markets. The predictive ability of technical analysis depends on people acting in ways similar to what they did in the past. Which means technicians spend a lot of time studying the past. Long before fundamental analysis became the standard by which investors attempt to figure out future prices, technical analysis was being used to give…

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Readers say transportation should top city’s agenda: Growing traffic delays, struggling IndyGo system, possible rapid transit system among issues facing planners

The average Indianapolis motorist sits in traffic delays more than nine times longer than he or she did 20 years ago: 37 hours a year vs. just four hours in 1982, according to a recent study by the Texas Transportation Institute. Growing delays have not only brought inconvenience and lost productivity, but also have earned the metro area “nonattainment” with federal air-quality standards. That raises the specter of expensive vehicle-emissions testing. IBJ Daily readers ranked solving congestion/public transportation issues as…

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Federal grants are flying to Indiana airports: Record money a boon for capital improvements

Indiana airports landed record federal grants of $61.9 million in fiscal 2004 for everything from building taxiways to extending runways to transmitting weather data to pilots. The $17 million, or 38 percent, increase from 2003 could bode well for economic development in cities with growing airports, such as Columbus. “About 65 percent of our traffic here is business during the week. The more accessible we become, it’s bound to have an impact,” said Rod Blasdel, manager of Columbus Municipal Airport….

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