Articles

Skarbeck: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac roil big investment firms

In 2012, Fannie and Freddie started making money as the housing market rebounded and losses in their mortgage portfolios reversed. By the end of this month, the firms will have returned $203 billion to taxpayers. In the meantime, several hedge funds began acquiring both the preferred shares and common stocks of Fannie and Freddie.

Read More

Hicks: Inflation could precede real economic recovery

The new Keynesian model suggests that a government stimulus might work to temporarily boost consumption or investment just like the old Keynesian model does. But the new model requires businesses and households to adjust their buying because of fears of expected inflation.

Read More

Kim: Investors must play to win to reach long-term goals

Whether an athletic contest or the “game” of investing, many factors determining whether we win or lose are beyond our control. However, we can control how we approach the game and respond as events unfold, which can be just as important.

Read More

Think twice before deregulating utilities

For decades, our state has enjoyed low, stable electricity prices due in large measure to using Indiana’s abundant natural resource—coal. However, federal environmental mandates have eroded that advantage as our electric utilities have had to make expensive investments to comply with stricter rules.

Read More

GUY: Don’t run education like a business

Disagreements about education reform result from conflicting models: the business model and the social model. Governors such as Daniels and Pence, reflecting their backgrounds and support structures, tend toward the business model. Superintendent Ritz, with almost 35 years as a teacher/communications coordinator in elementary schools, is more aligned with the social model.

Read More

RUSTHOVEN: Donnelly wisely bucks his president

On March 5, Joe Donnelly joined six other Senate Democrats and all Republicans, including Dan Coats, in rejecting President Obama’s nomination of Debo Adegbile to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Hoosier senators did the right thing.

Read More

RASMUSSEN: Politics now minus-sum game where everyone loses

“A simple recipe for violence: promise a lot, deliver a little. Lead people to believe they will be much better off, but let there be no dramatic improvement.” The brilliant political scientist Aaron Wildavsky wrote these words in 1968 while America was engulfed in race riots and anti-war protests. Sadly, his words from long ago eerily describe the politics of 21st-century America.

Read More

GARRISON: Planned Parenthood’s latest subsidized exploit

So I am preparing for the show one recent morning when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a story at Breitbart.com about a new PR campaign being launched by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. The subject? Bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism for “active teens.”

Read More

DOWD: Already worn to exhaustion by Hillary’s campaign

Oy. By the time the Bushes and Clintons are finished, they are going to make the Tudors and the Plantagenets look like pikers. Barack Obama will turn out to be the interim guy who provided a tepid respite while Hillary and Jeb geared up to go at it.

Read More

MASSON: New slogan destined for ‘Wander Indiana’ infamy

The Indiana Office of Tourism Development has announced that “Honest to Goodness Indiana” is the new slogan with which it will attempt to promote the state to tourists. IBJ reported that slogan was the product of a panel of 30 individuals within the travel, tourism and hospitality industries, government leaders, and representatives from both the public and private sectors as well as a development process including input from nearly 8,000 consumers.

Read More