Morton Marcus

Today, with our national economic crisis, it is easy to focus on getting jobs. Under such dire conditions as those facing some workers, homeowners and retirees, we can forget that getting back to where we were before all this economic distress may not be an appropriate goal. Imagine with me that Hershel Hoosier was born […]

In this space last week, I wrote that the Great Depression ended in 1937. Several readers reminded me that for those who lived through it, the Great Depression did not feel over until much later. For some, hardship and denial did not end until well after World War II. Others failed to see significant improvement […]

It’s time to set the record straight. It was not World War II that moved America out of the Great Depression. When we talk about the American economy, we discuss the actual or “real” goods and services produced in this country. To compare one year with another, we must remove price changes so we can […]

I’m sick. It’s just a cold. All my joints ache, I cannot speak, I don’t want any liquid or solid inputs and have little control over my nasal and other outputs. It’s just a cold that modern medicine acknowledges it cannot cure. Mitigation of symptoms is what we get. The throat is soothed by a […]

I had a dream that I met with President Obama during his visit to Elkhart. It was just before breakfast in a school gymnasium. He was shooting baskets with one hand and drinking orange juice with the other. “A little one-onone?” he asked. “No,” I answered. “My basketball days are over.” “What do you do […]

The phone rings. “Hello,” I say. “Hi. This is Dannae Deadline from the Denver Drought,” a female voice replies. “Denver, Colorado?” I ask. “No,” she says, “Denver in Miami County, north of Peru, near Mexico and Chili.” “What can I do for you Dannae?” I ask. “My editor tells me you received some distinction recently […]

Consider now the familiar unemployment data that are put out for each county each month. How the U.S. Department of Labor and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development get meaningful “estimates” for most Indiana counties is a mystery that Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Lenny Briscoe are still trying to solve. We get figures followed […]

Two weeks ago in this space, I offered an over-the-top column about online networks. Many readers failed to recognize the tonguein-cheek approach to linking up with others. Instead, they interpreted that hyperbolic diatribe as an attack on computers, the modern age, progress and humanity. Your author was described as an isolationist doomed to a lonely […]

Here we go again. The Legislature is in session and the governor tells us how tight the budget will be. Can you recall a time when Hoosier state and local budgets were not in trouble? Did any governor ever come before the General Assembly and say, “Folks, we got more money than we know what […]