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INVESTING: Tax hikes are just what the bull market doesn’t need

The seed of the next bear market might have just been planted, and what better place than right here in the Crossroads of America. A seed is a tiny and innocent thing. But one tiny seed from a destructive weed can ruin an entire garden. A little background for those who don’t live in Indianapolis (or for those who do but don’t follow local politics): For years, there has been a gaping hole in the promised retirement benefits for retired…

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City steps up effort to help immigrants: Mayor’s wife spearheading program to better acclimate newcomers

The burgeoning number of immigrants arriving in Indianapolis have a new source available to help them navigate unfamiliar surroundings and the kaleidoscope of social support systems available. The Immigrant Welcome Center is a program launched in October that uses volunteers dubbed “natural helpers” to link foreign newcomers to such basic needs as health care, government and transportation services. Although the effort is nearly 9 months old, it’s just now getting up to speed as organizers are interviewing candidates to lead…

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Union targets IPL over efficiency, customer programs: Is workers’ group taking on utility advocacy role?

A union that’s aggressively sought to organize the city’s janitors unsuccessfully tried to intervene in an Indianapolis Power & Light case before state utility regulators. IPL’s lawyers mopped the floor with the tenacious union-this time, anyway. The Service Employees International Union Local 3 wants IPL to expand its energy-efficiency and low-income customer assistance program, arguing that IPL and other utilities need to do more to help lower-income workers afford service. Attorneys who argue before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission said…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Long spoiled by low rates, nation now faces increase

It wasn’t long ago that writing an economic analysis column meant-surprise-that you analyzed the ups and downs of the economy. And if you came of age in the 1960s and ’70s, there were plenty of ups and downs to keep track of. Volatility in just about everything was higher then, with strikes, inflation and more frequent recessions the order of the day. And even though that environment has changed remarkably since the mid-’80s, the habit of peering at the data…

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BULLS & BEARS: Answers to tax questions are sometimes surprising

Taxes are always a consideration in investment decisionmaking. Investors need to be vigilant to changes in the tax code, because from year to year there may be changes that can affect the choices they make. And while there are some broad tax generalities, an individual’s tax profile is specific to that person. Navigating the tax code can be daunting. Yet with some tedious reading and a strong dose of common sense, investors can arrive at rational decisions. I have found…

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As barriers drop, even small firms go global: Local company pushed its blood monitor worldwide

Here’s one way to send your company’s revenue through the roof: Push your product into 70 countries around the world. That’s easier said than done, of course. But it’s exactly the path Polymer Technology Systems Inc. took to help quadruple sales of its cholesterol-checking device in the last three years. How Indianapolis-based PTS pulled off the feat shows how even small companies in Middle America can become global enterprises in today’s economy. In fact, the possibility of worldwide expansion is…

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Reaching the Pinnacle: Local women forge a path to the top in health care management

Local women forge a path to the top in health care management Health care is the second-fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, employing more than 12 million workers, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Women make up nearly 80 percent of the health care work force, and increasingly they’re moving into the executive ranks. Locally, St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, Riley Hospital for Children and Noblesville’s Riverview Hospital all have women at the helm. And women hold top…

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INVESTING: Modern portfolio theory may spawn mediocre returns

A tenet of modern portfolio theory is the call to diversify. Over the long haul, equities have gone up twothirds of the time. That means losses have occurred onethird of the time-and they’ve sometimes been severe. Hypothetically, a greater mix of asset classes should protect against the downside and perhaps even provide a portfolio with gains even when equities are down. But diversify into what? Thirty years ago, when modern portfolio theory was just gaining ground, investors had few choices….

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VIEWPOINT: What you eat hits your bottom line

For most companies, medical costs eat up half or more of corporate profits. Employees in poor health hurt the bottom line through sick days and productivity losses from chronic disease, including diabetes, obesity, cancer and heart diseases. But on a hopeful note, corporate wellness programs often show a high return on investment. Du Pont saw that each dollar invested in workplace health promotion yielded $1.42 over two years in lower absenteeism costs. The Travelers Corp. claimed a $3.40 return for…

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New WellPoint plan makes wellness push: Program lets members join fitness clubs-for free

Want to join a gym but don’t feel like splurging for the membership? No problem, if your company is one of a handful to offer a new wellness product that lets employees exercise at no charge. Called InTune, the program from Indianapolis-based insurance giant WellPoint Inc. is loaded with an array of services not unlike existing wellness offerings. Online and in-person coaching, diet advisers and holistic practitioners are among the benefits, for instance. But it’s the free gym membership that…

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INVESTING: Outlook bright long term, but look out for potholes

Bull markets can take many forms, depending on the investor’s perspective. Terms like secular and cyclical get thrown around, along with more obscure references to Kondratief Waves and Fibonacci sequences. I know day traders who think a bull market lasts only two hours. Then there’s Warren Buffett, who still has a few positions he bought in 1974. I remember cruising around Indianapolis eight years ago looking for a home so my family could move from Florida and seeing gas at…

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Law lets small employers band together for insurance: Experts disagree on whether associations will take off

The Healthy Indiana Plan, which enacts a system to bring affordable health insurance to low-income Hoosiers, is one of the most far-reaching pieces of legislation to arise from the General Assembly this spring. The noble cause could provide coverage to about 15 percent of the state’s population. Yet it could affect the small-business community as much as the state’s growing number of uninsured. House Bill 1678, introduced by State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, and signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels May…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Infrastructure is costly to improve, but costlier to ignore

A recent article in Strategy+business magazine estimated that “the world’s urban infrastructure needs a $41 trillion makeover” between now and 2030. The article explained that $41 trillion is roughly equivalent to the “2006 market capitalization of all shares held in all stock markets in the world.” Some experts think that “new technology” will be the answer, and it may be when nanotechnology takes over the world. For now, however, the trend usually reinforces the trend, and we do the same…

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INVESTING: Big caps are back and best place for big 2007 gains

As this rally labors on, one point I brought up a few times in January is becoming clear. I expected that the small-cap stocks, which put on a powerful era of outperformance from 1999 until 2006, would cede their leadership to the bigger companies in America. A seven-year cycle of better returns is typical of the smaller stocks, and that ended last May. For the rest of 2006, things were about equal, and now the evidence is staring us right…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Employers hope to save by promoting healthy living

“Mandates are a form of love,” a state legislator once said, explaining a vote that added requirements to privately funded health insurance programs statewide. And our governments evidently love all of us-businesses, individuals, and even other governments-very much. Our legislatures tell us the lowest wage we can pay our workers, the questions we can and cannot ask during job interviews, and how many gallons of water we use to flush our toilets. To the admittedly narrow-minded thinking of an economist,…

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INVESTING: Google’s been outbidding Microsoft; is it overpaying?

Google hasn’t been around for even 10 years, yet it has the world’s wealthiest man and his company playing defense practically on their home court. In many cases, great defenses wins titles (our own Colts defense proved invaluable during this past season’s Super Bowl run) but the jury is out on whether Microsoft can successfully keep Google in check during this battle of technology heavyweights. The real action began in late 2005 when Google paid $1 billion for a 5-percent…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Gambling quenched lawmakers’ appetite for new revenue

The 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly is now history. Whatever else might have been involved in shaping its outcome, nothing was so determinative as the revelation in the closing days that property taxes-driven by the first application of trending, rising property values in general, the elimination of the inventory tax, and some old-fashioned political legerdemain on the part of some assessors in different regions of the state-were expected to rise an average of 24 percent for taxes payable…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Does growth in health care drive our state’s economy?

Indiana households, businesses and governments spent more than $33 billion on health care products and services in 2004. We don’t have current data yet, but you can be sure the amount is higher today. That’s because growth in health care expenditures in the state has averaged a whopping 8.6 percent per year since 1980. In 2004, spending on hospital care, physician services, prescription drugs, nursing homes, and every other kind of health care product or service gobbled up 14.4 percent…

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New strategies help some salons survive: Traditionalists say booth rental will remain the norm

Americans spend billions every year on professional primping and pampering, but independent salons still are among the riskiest of small-business ventures-with a failure rate second only to restaurants. Hoping to buck that trend, some salon owners are trying different business models, breaking away from traditional booth-space rentals and engaging stylists as employees with a stake in the shop’s success. Large chains like Great Clips broke the mold decades ago, paying employees an hourly wage to cut patrons’ hair. Now local…

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Disease management proves less of a success: Indiana Medicaid quietly cuts savings estimate

In October 2005, Indiana’s Medicaid program touted that it could save the state $29 million a year through disease management, a program aimed at reducing the medical costs of patients with chronic illnesses. But now, those estimated savings quietly have been slashed more than 75 percent. And one critic of Indiana’s program says it is likely achieving even less in savings. The debate over the effectiveness of the Indiana Chronic Disease Management Program comes as the state moves to triple…

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