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. I wonder how many paranoid, credulous listeners are buying in to the doom-and-gloom and foolishly over-preparing for extremely unlikely catastrophes…

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 been what is called the “balanced budget multiplier” (BBM). That is, even with equal increases in government spending and taxes…

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. Many of these trees predated the writing of Indiana’s 1816 constitution; some are older than the Declaration of Independence. “I…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. I’ve grown fond of saying that the world would be a much better place if we had many more real conservatives and liberals. For example, imagine how much public life would improve if we had many more people who were as tolerant and compassionate as a lot of “liberals” claim to be. Many people embrace another ideology (e.g., libertarian) or have a de facto lack of ideology (e.g., some forms of…

by Jason Arp In the committee chambers of my council recently we heard something that could significantly affect the future of my city and the surrounding 11-county area. A veteran councilman announced there would be a discussion in January of a new tax to be collected by way of an increase in the Community Economic Development Income Tax. To the untrained ear, this is gobbledygook, another tax, blah, blah, blah. However, this will have so…

by Tom Charles Huston The original concept of the Electoral College was that each state by popular election or through its state legislature would select its best men who would consult among themselves and cast ballots for the two men in the country they deemed most fit to hold the presidency and vice presidency of the United States. That philosophy lasted through one election cycle: the first in 1788. Four years later, party influences were…

by T. Norman Van Cott A recent letter to my hometown newspaper included an erroneous assumption regarding the now decades-old debate about the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Debaters, both pro and con, take it as given that Cubans would be inundated with things American should the embargo be lifted. Nothing could be further from the truth. For left-liberal opponents of the embargo, the error probably traces to wishful thinking — it seems they always want…

by Andrea Neal Sept. 11, 2001. The very mention of that date sends chills down the spine of all Hoosiers, indeed all Americans, who lived through it. It was the day that terrorists from the Middle East turned commercial aircraft into weapons of mass destruction, killing nearly 3,000 people in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on board four hijacked planes. “It was the first shot in the global war on terrorism,” reflects Teri…

by Tom Charles Huston History may not repeat, but it forewarns. James G. Blaine was the preeminent Republican of his time. Speaker of the House of Representatives, United States Senator, Secretary of State during the brief presidency of James Garfield and unsuccessful candidate for the White House in 1884, Blaine was known by his friends as “the Plumed Knight” and by his enemies as the “Continental Liar from the State of Maine.” Blaine was an…

George C. Parker, a character to whom you will be more fully introduced later, would relish the ongoing discussions of how supposedly earmarked or set-aside funds can be spent by Indiana mayors. Few issues are so loaded with misconception, a specialty of Mr. Parker. It is an assumption of our municipal governments that city officials cannot hide behind walls of legal and accounting abstractions to lie about public finance. That assumption is being tested in…