The Outstater: Passenger Rail and the Mencken Axiom
“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” — H.L. Mencken by Craig Read the full article…
Half Past the Month: ‘False’ News
“Newspaper editors separate the wheat from the chaff and print the chaff.” — Adlai Stevensen by Craig Ladwig You won’t read any of this in your morning newspaper but Indiana is hurting for news, “false” or otherwise. The Associated Press Bureau here is minimally staffed. The capital city newspaper, once the state’s arbiter of sound Read the full article…
Backgrounder: Capitalism or Cronyism?
by John Pickerill As I’m writing this, the stock market is breaking above 19,900. That’s a 1,000-point increase since Donald Trump was elected. So this must be proof that people believe Trump will generate a healthy economy, right? After all, if people are willing to buy stock in American companies it must mean they’re confident Read the full article…
Backgrounder: The Folly of Food Hoarding
by Tyler Watts, Ph.D. Advertising on talk radio and cable news is full of alarmist inducements to stockpile gold and food, rife with implications and predictions that the next economic crisis will feature food riots and a complete societal breakdown. As both a Christian and an economist I am bothered by this kind of alarmism. Read the full article…
Backgrounder: The Keynesian Multiplier
by T. Norman Van Cott The notion that additional government expenditures magically increase national output is ingrained in the national psyche. Keynesian economics professors can certainly take credit for this mindset; it is they who have schooled multiple generations of college students in Keynesian multiplier analysis. The professors’ counter-intuitive tease in this effort has always Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (100): Meltzer Woods
by Andrea Neal Eight miles from Shelbyville at a place called Meltzer Woods, a remnant of old-growth forest thrives untouched by human development. It’s an oasis of tall trees in the midst of some of the most fertile farmland anywhere. The 48-acre expanse is a powerful reminder that our history is older than our state. Read the full article…
