If our president is right—and who doubts a word he utters?—writing this is wasting time, as it is scheduled for publication that day after the “sequester” takes effect and life comes to an end. But on the off chance the world survives, let’s soldier on for the fraction of readers who might not always find this column a waste of time.
Have you ever wondered how and why the mutual funds your brokerage firm recommends or those that appear on your 401(k) plan’s menu of investment options were chosen?
I am often asked some version of the question, “Can we really survive becoming a service economy—won’t our loss of manufacturing jobs spell doom for our country?” The answer is, “No.”
I guarantee he’s closely watching the team he assembled and has a trained eye on the 22-year-old.
The prudence of a third term for Mayor Greg Ballard requires the question: Which Greg Ballard?
Why would the mayor of Carmel be weighing in on who runs for mayor of Indianapolis? It is because we are sincere when we talk about regionalism and how we work best when we work together.
Do the politicians care what nonvoters think? House Speaker Brian Bosma recently took issue with the WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey because, he said, it wasn’t a voter poll. When challenged, he said that he cares what everybody thinks, but the message he delivered was that the opinions of voters matter more than those of adults […]
A nation’s choice between spending on military defense and spending on civilian goods has often been posed as “guns versus butter.” But understanding the choices of many nations’ political leaders might be helped by examining the contrast between their runaway spending on pensions while skimping on military defense.
After each decennial census, the law requires redrawing the City-County Council districts. A decade ago, after a Democratic mayor vetoed a redistricting ordinance adopted by the Republican majority following the 2000 census, the Indiana Supreme Court rejected the partisan maps proposed by the two parties and adopted a neutral map that established the districts through the 2011 election.
Will Rogers once said, “Congress is in session; hold onto your wallets.” Now, with the General Assembly in session, and with Rogers’ spirit of affectionate cynicism, I offer a corollary: “Hold onto your open government.
No more than an hour had passed on that awful day at Sandy Hook Elementary School before the usual suspects began their mantra: The whole thing was because of the gun.
A word I like to introduce my students to is “intractable.” This is a fancy, 75-cent college word that means can’t be solved, can only be dealt with—as in, the problems of homelessness are intractable.
Everyone knows you are not supposed to discuss taboo subjects such as religion and politics in the workplace.
Americans in general and Hoosiers in particular like to see the economy as a morality play. If you are rich, it is because you are hard-working and clever. If you are poor, it is because you are lazy and stupid.
Daily, I see politicians arguing, reciting their talking points, without facts. I hear political pundits repeating those talking points, urging on the political rhetoric.
It’s hard to tell when the notion began to sink in that too many Americans have forgotten the point of the American Revolution.
I had a happy Valentine’s Day visiting with members of the General Assembly.
Gov. Mike Pence doesn’t just want a tax cut for Hoosiers. A tax cut was foundational to his campaign and his philosophy of conservatism: Growth comes faster when individuals and corporations spend their own money, because it is more productive (leveraged better), more diversely spread (less likely to be bet on winners and losers), and more reflective of actual markets.
Do the politicians care what nonvoters think? House Speaker Brian Bosma recently took issue with the WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey because, he said, it wasn’t a voter poll. When challenged, he said that he cares what everybody thinks, but the message he delivered was that the opinions of voters matter more than those of adults who don’t get to the polls.
Something important is missing on planning desks of Indianapolis leaders as they contemplate mass transit, waterworks and other big-ticket projects. It is well past time for a strategy for a new criminal justice complex outside of downtown.
