The Outstater
Statehouse Eyes Turn to Taxes “Read my lips.” — George H.W. Bush, 1988 GOP Convention HEARING HINTS from the Statehouse floor about details of a property tax “cut,” we are reminded of the “Bohanan Rule” named after the Ball State University economist Cecil Bohanon who first explained it to us. It says that taxes can be cut for Read the full article…
The Outstater
The Not-So-Great Gatsby THIS WEEK MARKS the 100th anniversary of the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is an occasion, I read in the New York Times, to speculate on Jay Gatsby’s identity, his swarthiness. Was he a member of one oppressed minority or another, or, if not, a literary representation of the ways that race Read the full article…
Franke: Birth Citizenship
One of Donald Trump’s executive orders establishes an official administrative interpretation of the citizenship language of the Fourteenth Amendment. The question, contentious of course in these divisive times, centers on the right of “birth citizenship,” the automatic granting of United States citizenship to any baby born within the U.S. regardless of the parents’ citizenship status. Read the full article…
The Outstater
When Good Intentions Go Bad WE ARE GLAD to learn that Indiana University occasionally offers study-abroad courses in South Africa. What a wonderful chance for students to learn what happens when you discard the tenets of Western Civilization solely because they were developed by white people. To begin, because college students are interested in fairness above Read the full article…
The Outstater
The Statehouse: Our House of Mirrors SPRING IS IN THE AIR and now is the time everyone — the Indy media, the legislative leadership, everyone — scrambles to pretend they know how the session will end. They don’t have any idea, of course, for we once sent people to Indianapolis to represent us as our friends and Read the full article…
Keating: Freedom to Work
by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. Consider the desperate job searches of a youth with limited skills in need of job training, a professional between jobs, or a worker constrained by location and personal responsibilities. Opportunities for flexible finite employment contracts enable individuals to freely negotiate wages, benefits and conditions of employment. In 1981, legal historian Tibor Read the full article…
