by Mark Franke We think of money these days as anything but tangible. Venmo accounts, credit and debit cards, ACH transfers—we don’t really touch “real” money anymore. And so we can’t appreciate its importance in the development of civilization and our comfortable standard of living. “The History of Money: A Story of Humanity” (Henry Holt and Company 2024, 367 pages plus notes, $26 hardcover at Amazon) is a mostly irreverent, frequently enlightening and sometimes witty…

Reality Check: NFL Economics BACK WHEN INDIANAPOLIS was selling its grandchildren to bring the Colts to town, an economist friend estimated that the contribution to the local economy would be equivalent to only three Walmarts. He was way off. When spread over 365 days, the daily economic “foot traffic” impact of an NFL stadium falls between that of a gas station convenience store and a single grocery store, not a big-box store. How can that be? Well, a…

History Matters, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez IT IS EASY to make fun of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and her flubs. It is clear she doesn’t  understand the dynamics that created America or her own heritage. But she is not alone. It would be surprising if there are 20 Indiana legislators who would fare better. Surveys of how little this generation understands of Western Civilization are so discouraging that they have quit conducting them. There is a hole in our education system where there should be a complementary history…

by Mark Frank “Time is the only scarce commodity.” I heard this on a Viking commercial from company chairman Torstein Hagen. His point, I assume, is don’t put off things you have always wanted to do. Since Viking’s clientele is largely aging retirees, his advice is certainly well given. The problem with time is that it doesn’t move at the same speed for everyone, nor at a constant pace during a person’s lifetime.  When I was…

The Media: Prescience Matters “A journalist needs a disciplined reverence for the facts, because the temptations of story-telling are strong and seductive.” — Lance Morrow in “The Noise of Typewriters” A SCHOLAR OF OUR FOUNDATION is an expert at framing questions, instructions and context for Artificial Intelligence (AI). He and others are training a new profession, Prompt Engineer, manned by a brave new generation of young men and women learning how to design, refine and optimize the…

by Mark Franke I have a fondness for counter-factual history, perhaps too much so. This category of fiction begins with a what if question about some critical point in history and then hypothesizes a chain of events to follow. Some end up with a radically different ending while others argue that history would have worked itself back to the same end point. This type of thinking can be an interesting diversion or simply a recreational…

Pimping for Data Centers “The idea is to get back to a society where people can live together as neighbors and not just as wage slaves or bureaucratic cogs.” — G.K. Chesterton LOOK, I LIKE PROGRESS as much as the next guy but sacrificing local autonomy is stupid. There are nine distinct regions of Indiana, each with its own charm and value; the Legislature would be wise — economically and politically — to preserve them, not…

Our ‘Somali Mindset’ WHY, REALLY, do the impoverished want to come to America? Is it the promises embedded in our Declaration of Independence? Perhaps a legal system based on 800 years of Common Law and respect for private property? Liberty with responsibility? That would make us proud. But why is it, to pick an example from the news, that 75 percent of Somalis in the U.S. are unemployed? And should we be glad that an estimated 10,000 Haitians…

‘Home’ Needs Some Definition COMMUNITY TRUST is breaking down as crime becomes more wanton, the roads are disintegrating in sub-zero temperatures and the city budget is not prioritized. So what is our mayor doing? Bringing casino gambling to town and establishing government grocery stores, to repeat complaints of mine, plus some new diversions. Among the last is a seminar this weekend to allay the fears of anyone in our city in violation of U.S. immigration law. The mayor…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. The Trump-Powell feud over the interest rate is Shakespearean. Who knew that monetary policy could be so riveting? At this point, Kevin Warsh has emerged from a list of pretenders as President Trump’s nominee for the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed), replacing Jerome Powell.   The big question on everyone’s mind: If Warsh is appointed, does this mean that Trump will now have a direct hand in setting…