Van Cott: Student Loans
by Norman Van Cott, Ph.D. College students currently graduate with an average student loan debt of $30,000. At a 4 percent interest rate, monthly payments of $304 ($3,648 per year) retire the debt in 10 years. In all the current brouhaha about the college loan crisis, an important cost to borrowers is unmentioned. To wit, Read the full article…
Half Past the Month
“So this is how liberty dies . . . with thunderous applause.” — Sen. Padme Amidala in Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of Sith WOULD YOU SAY your district representative is reasonably conservative, that is, conversant with the founding principles of Indiana and the nation? If so, you would be wrong. The proof is passage Read the full article…
Backgrounder: We’re Rebar Rich
by JASON ARP When a political machine runs your town, you get results that may not make much economic sense but are nonetheless predictable — predictably bad. Who, for example, would spend the equivalent of $220 a month to lease a space for which they intend to get revenue equivalent to $65 per month? The Read the full article…
Morris: The Insult of Not Being a So-and-So
by Leo Morris You’re a Hoosier. That’s not the biggest insult that can be hurled at us, to humble us with who we are. Apparently, to cut us to the quick, you have to sneer at who we are not. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden got into the name-calling recently. Feeling former South Bend Mayor Read the full article…
Holcomb: Our Man in China
IT IS DIFFICULT TO TELL from his expression whether Gov. Eric Holcomb knows that the woman in this photo taken during this summer’s junket is president of the Chinese Communist front group targeting U.S. governors and state-level politicians in an attempt to influence policy here. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed at the Feb. 8 meeting of the Read the full article…
Morris: The ‘In-betweeners’
by Leo Morris How about those kids today, huh? Don’t ask members of the Indiana General Assembly. They’re still trying to figure it out. In every legislative session, issues come up that the most astute observers had not anticipated. This time around, there seem to be a lot of proposals involving young people that weren’t Read the full article…
