Articles

Hicks: Gimmicks won’t solve middle-class dilemma

If excessive government spending and artificially inflated wages offered actual help for America’s dwindling middle class, then east-central Indiana would’ve seen unbridled prosperity over the past half century instead of decline.

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Hicks: Pence was right to reject federal pre-K funding

Given my strong support for early childhood education programs, you might suppose I think Gov. Pence mistaken in his decision to forgo some $85 million in federal support for early childhood education. I do not. Accepting this money would have been easy, popular and wrong.

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Kelley School economists expect stronger 2015

Economists from Indiana University Kelley School of Business say they are cautiously optimistic that 2015 will be the strongest year the economy has seen yet in its long, slow recovery from the Great Recession.

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Hicks: Voters are massing to fight bad government

The meme of the 2016 election is becoming clear. For the Democrats, the leftward pull of Elizabeth Warren will exert great influence. For the GOP, the coming two years offer a chance to lay out a pragmatic opposition to the last decade in economic, social and foreign policy.

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Hicks: We might be headed for another financial crisis

Today’s financial markets offer few good choices for retirement investments, and that is both a symptom and cause of a problem. Stock markets in the United States are hovering at near-record levels. But there is real reason to worry.

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Hicks: Rein in tax increment financing districts

Because TIF districts never go away, redevelopment commissions will have many opportunities over the coming centuries to think of multiple uses for their money. To no surprise, this raises many legitimate policy questions.

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Hicks: Traditional economic development doesn’t work

The cost of luring a firm to town has skyrocketed, while the benefits have plummeted. The United States has created more than 90 million net new jobs over the past 45 years, but fewer “attractable” jobs are available today than in 1969.

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HICKS: Focus on shrinking the federal government

Small-government sentiment runs strong in Indiana, and we can be pleased with the resulting low taxes, thoughtful regulatory environment and greater personal freedom. Still, I think much of the small-government movement in Indiana targets the wrong problems.

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Hicks: Liberalism on campus is mostly irrelevant

That academia is a creature of the left is hardly in question. Voting patterns and political contributions of professors are widely studied, and astonishingly leftist. Diversity efforts seek to build a cadre of people who look different but think exactly alike. Still, I wonder how much it really matters.

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Hicks: Indiana good, but not optimal, for small firms

a recen studied of states’ friendliness to small businesses gave Indiana poor grades for ease in finding workers, leveling blame on networking and training programs. This is interesting, but almost certainly not the actual problem.

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