For release noon Aug. 18 and thereafter (710 words)Congressional town meetings have received lots of media attention of late due to disruptive outbursts by citizens concerned about health care legislation. Expect more civilized and courteous discussion at public meetings to be held on proposed Indiana property tax caps. Aaron Smith, founder of Watchdog Indiana, has carefully designed the events so they will generate more light than heat.    In fact, Smith is organizing something unprecedented that…

The ‘Angry White Man’ Meets Healthcare Reform“The Democratic message on the Republicans has gone from ‘the party of no’ to ‘the party of angry white men.’” — Peggy Noonan in the June 12 Wall Street Journal by Craig Ladwig If you happen to be male, if you happen to be white and if you’ve allowed yourself to get angry over recent shifts in public policy, then, like it or not, you are the last permissible…

For release Aug. 12 and thereafter (652 words) Arthur Laffer’s most famous contribution to public policy is said to have been delivered on the back of a paper napkin. The “Laffer Curve” illustrates the necessary relationship between marginal tax rates and tax revenues — that higher tax rates raise more revenue, but only up to a point. After reaching that level, higher rates will reduce the revenues taken by the government. In the early 1980s,…

For release noon Aug. 4 and thereafter (675 words)   School Superintendent Tony Bennett’s plan to reform the educator licensing system has ignited more controversy than it merits. Although the proposal would make the licensing process more flexible for teachers and the principals who hire them, it certainly wouldn’t make it less rigorous, as some critics have charged.     “This is raising standards,” Bennett says of his plan, now under review by the Professional Standards…

For release noon noon July 28 and thereafter (554 words) To a labor economist watching the saga of Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Officer James Crowley the most obvious point is that discrimination is all around us — since all of us engage in discrimination frequently.  Labor economists distinguish between two forms of discrimination. “Personal discrimination” is a personal preference rooted in a socially unacceptable form of ignorance. A person doesn’t like a group…

For release noon July 22 and thereafter (628 words)Had the mourning period for Michael Jackson lasted just a few days, Sgt. Eric B. Horning might not have said anything. But three weeks of incessant Jackson publicity, most recently newly-discovered footage of the pop star’s hair ablaze during filming of a Pepsi commercial, riled him.    Horning, 31, an Iraq War veteran from Greenfield, wrote a letter to the news media suggesting “an article on why America’s…

For immediate release (496 words)“Indiana Government Has Grown so Complex There Are not Enough Reporters or Even Informed Activists to Stay With its Twists and Turns.” Can anybody anymore know what’s going on in the Statehouse? That is not a flippant question. Our constitutional democracy, if that is any longer the right description, increasingly defies understanding. This General Assembly left even the hardest working Statehouse reporters exhausted and scratching their heads. For example: Last week,…

For release noon July 7 and thereafter (669 words) Indiana’s public universities are missing a golden opportunity to help Hoosier students. With the state’s unemployment rate at 10.6 percent and family income at a 35-year low, now is the time to freeze tuition. Instead, the cost of higher education keeps going up. Ivy Tech plans a 4.9 percent tuition increase, about $140 for a full-time student. Indiana State has proposed 3.9 percent or $278. At…

For immediate release (443 words) A friend was invited to what he described as a “quite important” academic seminar this week at an impressive Indianapolis address where some of the smartest minds in the nation were to gather to discuss health-care reform. Our friend declined. That decision disappointed many of his political and academic acquaintances. The friend is a policy analyst, after all, and “quite important” academic seminars are what policy analysts do. Nonetheless, his…

For release July 1 and thereafter (572 words) Congressman Mike Pence’s refusal to earmark federal transportation funds for specific projects related to Ball State University has been criticized, not surprisingly, by many in my university community.  As a BSU faculty member and homeowner near campus, I certainly do appreciate the road improvements that have flowed from the specific earmarks of both Congressman Pence and his predecessor David McIntosh. Yet, as a political economist I see…