by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. It is sometimes helpful to use an analogy to get a handle on difficult economic concepts. Assume for the moment that Indiana and California are two separate sovereign states. Indiana exports large amounts of corn to California, and California in turn exports large amounts of oranges to Indiana. What if Indiana imposes tariff duties on oranges imported from California? The price of oranges in Indiana increases and the quantity consumed…

by Craig Ladwig Gannett Company, Inc., which owns five metropolitan dailies here in Indiana and more than 100 nationwide, is nearing a deal to combine with a private-equity-backed firm with “a reputation for aggressively slashing expenses,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “The companies are grappling with a brutal environment for local newspapers around the country,” the paper notes. “Local papers have suffered particularly sharp declines in circulation compared to national outlets as readers look elsewhere…

by Leo Morris When I heard that South Bend Mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg had taught himself Norwegian just to read more books by an author he enjoyed, my immediate reaction was to join with other conservatives in hurling a wicked retort. Mine was: Now, perhaps he will learn English so he can read the Constitution. But the truth is that I was impressed. If he was being sincere, not just dishing up the…

“Only the future is certain, the past is always changing.” ― Douglas Schofield in “Time of Departure” MY CONGRESSMAN was in the Indianapolis Star the other day promising that he would make certain that white supremacists are named, targeted and defeated. “I deployed to Afghanistan as a response to radical Islamic terrorism,” he said. “We now face a different enemy that has also emerged from the shadows but demands the same focus and determination to…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Charging $700 per hour for routine physical therapy — my first thought was to switch professions. I love my job, but for the standard 2,000 hours of work per year, $700 an hour equates to $1.4 million for services that are professional but relatively modest and routine. I could live with that. But then you quickly realize that the physical therapists (PTs) are only making a small fraction of that money.…

by Leo Morris No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye. – Aristotle I’ve always resisted the temptation to comment on mass shootings, partly because it is difficult to add anything new or useful to the discussion, and partly because I don’t want to contribute to the notoriety the perpetrators seek. But when there are two such horrific events in less than 24 hours, staying silent no…

HAVE YOU NOTICED that your elected representatives only pretend to care what you think? That your newspaper heralds one new economic development “investment” after another but nobody can find a better job? The annual seminar is set for Sept. 12 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Sycamore Country Club in Terre Haute. We will be taking a close look at changes in community investment strategies (crony capitalism, corporatism) and how that has affected…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Bernie Sanders has been fun to watch the last few weeks as he struggles to run a campaign under the principles he claims to believe. Either you’re a hypocrite (as Sanders has often been on socialism) or you try to live out its principles and it costs you a ton (as Sanders is running into now). Will the reality check make a difference to him and his followers — or to…

by Richard McGowan Years ago, I asked my wife to watch a women’s basketball game at Butler. She declined the invitation even though the games were free to attend. I took my oldest son and several of his friends to the game. At the time, we held season tickets, for $500, to watch the Butler men. Apparently, my wife would rather pay to watch the men than watch the women for free. Miss Indiana Basketball…

Are We all Baltimore Now? “Whew, Jesus. Oh, my God, you can smell the dead animals.” — Then-Mayor Catherine Pugh touring an east Baltimore neighborhood in September 2018 MY CITY, PERHAPS FOR THE FIRST TIME in its history, is facing serious problems with orderly trash disposal, not comparable with Baltimore as yet but nonetheless alarming to some of us. The trash contract negotiated by the mayor has broken down for certain neighborhoods. Garbage there is…