Half Past the Month: The Farce of Facade Grants
Now that the Legislature has agreed to let our friends at Ball State University regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the various tax “incentives,” here is a nomination for the next-worst economic-development program. Popular throughout Indiana, it is called a “façade” grant. Tens of thousands of tax dollars are awarded each year to select businesses to Read the full article…
Bohanon: When Government Kills Jobs
by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Alice’s Restaurant in Hometown, Ind., makes the best pancakes and tenderloins this side of heaven. It also employs 150 workers; some full-time, some part-time. Suppose Alice, for whatever reason, announces she is going to let go an equivalent of two full-time workers. The sacking could take a number of forms: She Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (20): Indiana Becomes 16th State
by Andrea Neal It’s a date every Hoosier should know: Dec. 11, 1816. On that day, Indiana became the 16th state. We’ve been observing it formally since 1925, when the Indiana General Assembly passed a law requiring the governor to “issue a proclamation annually designating the eleventh day of December as Indiana Day.” Indiana Code Read the full article…
Bohanon: Is Health Care a Right?
by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. As a former cigarette smoker, I have a nightmare. Somewhere down the road, I get a diagnosis of lung cancer. The doctor tells me the the cancer is treatable, the prospects for a full recovery are better than 60 percent and the costs of the treatments will be around $250,000. Now Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (19): Framers Met Under an Elm
by Andrea Neal James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and colleagues spent almost four months debating, writing and editing the document that would become the U.S. Constitution. It took James Brownlee, Benjamin Parke and associates only 18 days to write Indiana’s. The framing of our first constitution represented the final step in a lengthy and sometimes controversial Read the full article…
The Spring Journal: ‘Why Politics Turned Nasty’
REGISTRATION: To ensure an advance copy of the spring journal, click on the “Join Us” button on the menu bar above. WHY POLITICS TURNED NASTY “The narcissism of my generation — the baby boomers — has become a permanent feature of our culture. An ‘it’s all about me’ attitude extends beyond materialistic selfishness. It also Read the full article…
