Should a city give incentives to companies that want to leave the city and expand in another town?
That question is dogging Muncie officials after they offered a $600,000 loan to a Spanish company that plans
to move an auto-parts plant…
Gas is over $4 in northwest Indiana, according to http://www.indianagasprices.com/.
In some places, itâ??s up to $4.09.
How long until it hits $4 in the Indianapolis area, and how high will it go?
Americans are in a tough spot when it comes to negotiating free trade agreements. With the exception of a small Scandinavian country and a couple of European principalities, everyone we trade with has lower wages, weaker environmental standards, and less personal liberty. So it is easy to argue that we shouldn’t trade with a country until it becomes like us. This is the siren song of economic catastrophe. Here’s why. First, countries don’t trade with each other; people do. The…
Hoosier executives aren’t exactly crowing about the Indianapolis-area economy these days. But they’re painting a brighter picture than you might think, especially compared with the carnage they see in what used to be the nation’s hottest markets. Here’s what Simon Property Group CEO David Simon, not one to lavish idle praise, said during a February conference call with analysts: “I think the Midwest has been flat for I don’t know how many years, other than Indianapolis. Indianapolis seems to be…
Rube Goldberg was an engineer by training who rose to prominence not for his engineering skills but for his political cartoons, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Goldberg was also famous for his cartoons that depicted whimsical machines with complex mechanisms to perform simple tasks. Goldberg’s fantastic contraptions served as an inspiration for the annual Rube Goldberg competitions held at colleges, universities and high schools across the country. In years past, students have been required to develop…
In mid-March, Bill Gates traveled to Washington to carry an unpopular message to Congress: Raise the limits on visas for foreignborn tech workers, or Microsoft and other high-tech companies will be forced to move more jobs overseas in search of a skilled work force. Gates’ testimony to the House Committee on Science & Technology wasn’t groundbreaking-the shortage of tech workers is well-documented. But it begs an obvious question: Why have computer science enrollments at U.S. colleges and universities fallen by…
British entrepreneur Richard Branson has unloaded a company thatâ??s building two ethanol plants in the U.S.,
including one near Fort Wayne.
In an interview with Fortune magazine during the peak of ethanol optimism in early 2006, Branson said industry…
Exit polls yesterday showed Hoosiers voted their pocketbooks. Theyâ??re worried about the economy.
That has a familiar ring. Many voters made a similar point four years ago when Gov. Mitch Daniels beat
Gov. Joe Kernan by promising to improve the economy.
Now,…
In this curious primary season, Indiana finds itself the brief center of attention as Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama invest time and treasure in the crossroads of America. The strongest focus in both their campaigns is my favorite subject-the economy. Both candidates bemoan the poor Hoosier economy, its job losses and income inequality. This would be a superb campaign approach for both candidates, except that their claims are wholly, totally and embarrassingly devoid of facts. Indiana’s economy is doing…
There are many things I do not understand. I don’t understand why a golf gallery must remain “pin-drop” silent while a person hits a ball that sits stationary on a tee, yet fans can scream at the top of their lungs while a batter tries to hit a ball coming toward him at 95 miles per hour. I also don’t understand how economists take massive amounts of conflicting economic data, input the statistics into a model, and, presto, out comes…
Domestic automakers were already scheming about new ways to chop dealers–cutting costs to service them–as their market share
drained to Toyota and other foreign competitors. Now, an economy standing on the brakes could drive another round of dealer
consolidations that might not be a good deal for family-owned peddlers of metal.
There are professions in which you are never noticed until you screw it up-the center of a football team when he snaps the ball over the quarterback’s head, the business assistant when he or she brings the wrong set of papers to the closing, and the bus driver who-after 20 years of safe driving-rear-ends the rock star’s limousine. Included in this list is the CEO of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Do you remember Joel Silverman, former commissioner of…
A depression in the home-building market has claimed a Fishers builder and continues to hammer locally based Davis Homes LLC–a
powerhouse for years that now is facing foreclosure on about 80 home sites.
Even storm clouds have silver linings, if you know where to look. Likewise, even a slowing economy has market opportunities, for those who can adjust. Economists haven’t agreed yet about whether the U.S. economy has slipped into recession. But Indianapolisbased investment banking firm Periculum Capital Co. LLC isn’t waiting for the official call. Known since 1998 for its expertise in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, Periculum is beefing up its expertise in business restructuring. “Most people who build businesses…
Each day, the headlines are filled with r e c e s s i o n – r e l a t e d news. Some predict a pending recession, while others outline pre-emptive actions of the Federal Reserve, Congress and the president. During the 2000-2002 recession, Indiana did not perform well. Indiana lost more jobs than the national average, and its recovery lagged behind the nation’s. In fact, Indiana’s jobs still have not recovered to the pre-recession level. If…
Hamilton County is where the wealth is, followed by Boone County, right?
Not necessarily, anymore.
The average person in Boone County now makes more money than the average person next door in Hamilton County.
In an upcoming column in IBJ, Morton Marcus, who…
On the eve of the allegedly crucial Ohio presidential primary, I e-mailed a friend in Columbus to ask what it’s like in a state where primaries matter. Her response spoke of endless phone calls from volunteers and machines, get-outthe-vote visits to her neighborhood, yard signs everywhere, nonstop commercials on TV and candidate visits galore. I lamented that Indiana would never experience such a thing. I stand corrected. Thanks to the never-ending Democratic contest between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack…
Day after day, the news seems filled with stories of disruptive credit markets, an economy teetering on recession, and increasing energy costs. As business professionals grapple with such issues daily, why would commercial real estate professionals consider the time and effort to “go green”? Historically, green initiatives suffered in part from stereotypical “tree-hugger” false perceptions. Such perceptions may lead people to believe that green investments simply aren’t worth it. The truth? The real focus has always been the efficient use…
It takes courage, but sometimes the best time to invest in a stock is when almost no one else is. That strategy paid off royally with Finish Line Inc., whose shares are up 180 percent this year. Now, is the time right to dive into The Steak n Shake Co.? To be sure, naysayers can find plenty of reasons to steer clear of Steak n Shake, which helps explain why shortsellers-investors who make their money when shares fall-have flocked to…
A former Duke Realty Corp. executive who hung up her own shingle last year is close to breaking ground on her first project. Cindy Schembre, 49, launched Via Retail Development LLC in January 2007 and is negotiating with tenants and closing on the purchase of 11 acres at 56th Street and Mitthoeffer Road. The $15 million project, known as Lawrence Commons, is an 80,000-square-foot neighborhood center that is slated to break ground in June. The development includes a 45,000-square-foot anchor…
