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Retailers hope to buck holiday predictions: Optimism found in online sales, busy Black Friday

High oil prices and a continuing credit crunch have many retailers bracing for a blue Christmas. Holiday sales this year are expected to grow a modest 4 percent, according to some retail experts, which would be the weakest pace in five years. The ominous forecasts prompted retailers to unveil promotions in October, although the official start of the shopping season was the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally known as “Black Friday.” Stores likely will rely upon a variety of incentives to…

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Should Formula One come back?

When Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Formula One parted ways this summer, more than one person in Indianapolis
muttered, â??Good riddance.â??

F1â??s leader, Bernie Ecclestone, was viewed as arrogant, pushy and greedy. Just the same, the city likes the
prestige of hosting…

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‘Creative class’ debunked?

The Wall Street Journal carried an interesting op-ed piece yesterday by a researcher who claimed cities are
putting their eggs in the wrong basket by trying to attract young single professionals with a â??brew-latte-and-they-will-come-approach.â??

Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow at Chapman University,…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Technology, life sciences creating new Hoosier jobs

While other states strive to find their places in today’s international economy, the Hoosier state has made a reputation for itself in the life sciences arena. It’s an important effort, especially when you consider that our state’s past successes were in the field of manufacturing. Con sidering that the 2007 Indiana Manufacturers Directory reports Indiana lost more than 17,000 manufacturing jobs in the past year, this new economic model built upon technology and life sciences is important, if not essential,…

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Acquisitions fuel growth for Consona: Former Made2Manage roars back after struggling as public company

Building Consona Corp. into a billion-dollar company is well within the sights of CEO Jeff Tognoni. But for now, he’s content with a recent growth spurt that is earning national recognition. Indianapolis-based Consona, formerly known as M2M Holdings Inc., grew at a clip of 131.4 percent last year, landing it on Software Magazine’s annual list of the 10 fastest-growing software firms in the nation. While Tognoni is proud of the achievement, he’s reticent to toot the company horn too loudly….

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What’s new is old for Brooks: Former U.S. attorney finding familiar ground in Ivy Tech positions

Susan Brooks seems to have returned to her roots in her new role with Ivy Tech Community College. The former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana began Oct. 1 leading the post-secondary educational institution’s work force and economic development functions, as well as becoming its general counsel. Brooks spent her growing-up years in Fort Wayne watching her father, a high school teacher and football coach, push his students and players on the football field and in the classroom….

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INVESTING: Long slide of U.S. dollar has many repercussions

Few economic topics get more complicated than those about the U.S. dollar. The interrelated causes, effects and ramifications of changes in the value of the U.S dollar can make anyone’s head swim. Because the dollar has been the “reserve currency” for the world-the currency held in store by foreign central banks and used to settle economic trade in things like oil-the prolonged slide in the dollar’s value is of concern to many around the world. For example, the greenback has…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Tax reform to take center stage on Organization Day

In this column 10 years ago, we told you that, typically, our “short” electionyear legislative sessions are swift and relatively sweet. With the biennial budget the priority of the long, odd-year sessions, significant fiscal matters are usually untouched in the short, even-year session. Major issues that threaten to divide often are left undebated as the two major political parties avoid issues making them look bad in the eyes of voters. Only a decade ago, lawmakers prepared to enter just such…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Subprime concerns overblown; so spend, spend, spend

An emerging holiday tradition in my family is for the womenfolk to rise very early on the Friday after Thanksgiving to go shopping. The same thing happens across the nation. This event aptly named Black Friday, corresponds to the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season. For the record, I would rather spend the weekend in a chain gang than tag along, but this year I will be encouraging them to shop. Here’s why. The subprime mortgage mess has not…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Existing work force is our biggest education challenge

As Hoosiers, every time we open our wallets and pocketbooks, we should think about going back to school. For the last three decades, Indiana’s per capita income growth has lagged the rest of the country, to the point where the average Hoosier earns less nized for work force development use a combination of state and local dollars and even lottery funds (as in Georgia). Private management of the Hoosier Lottery, as proposed during the last legislative session, could provide the…

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Saving Steak n Shake

Lots of Hoosiers have warm-and-fuzzy feelings for Steak n Shake. Wall Street’s feelings are an entirely different
matter.

As the company readies to announce fiscal fourth quarter financial results this Thursday, investors are exasperated.
The company has reported eight straight quarters…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: World War II veterans built economy into juggernaut

Veterans Day is upon us again, and the slow passing of the World War II generation sparks thought on their contributions. I will let others dwell on their considerable wartime achievements. I am an economist, not a historian, after all. Our 16 million World War II veterans emerged from conflict in the late summer of 1945 to a muchfractured world. The production of goods-where facilities had survived bombs and artillery-was almost wholly focused on the demands of war. A worldwide…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Children are central issue for ’08

The election campaign of 2008 can transform our state if the candidates focus their attention on children. We can develop a healthy economy and become a model of civility if we focus systematically on our children. Many people are convinced government spends too much. What they mean is that government spends for services that don’t benefit them or services they wish they did not need. Who wants to spend money on juvenile corrections or adult reading programs for prisoners? Who…

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Will ATA leave Indy entirely?

IBJ reporter Chris Oâ??Malley reported last weekend that ATA Airlinesâ?? parent company has quietly moved its
headquarters to Peachtree City, Ga. Global Aero Logistics no longer flies out of Indianapolis International
Airport, but it has other operations here that employ…

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Will business like Ballard?

Dating at least to the â??60s, when Richard Lugar was mayor of Indianapolis, the cityâ??s comeback has been
driven by nationally renowned cooperation between government and business.

Business interests came out of the woodwork to support Lugar, and subsequent mayors William…

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My, how Marion has changed

It wasnâ??t so long ago that Marion was the poster child for Rust Belt decline in Indiana. The city, which
is just off Interstate 69 between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, lost a string of manufacturers and then finally
the big…

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SURF THIS: Our changing expectation of experts

It seems like everyone is an expert at something. We have automobile experts, stock market experts, antique experts… my company even has a client who’s a sheep and goat expert. In an I n t e r n e t – c e n t r i c world, though, these experts can find themselves in a tough place. Online, information is clamoring to be free (or pretty cheap) and readily available. It’s no longer enough to declare yourself an…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Smooth sailing for Simon, despite economic squall?

Retail pundits are trotting out all the downbeat analogies these days, as they fret that high gas prices and the slumping housing market will crimp consumer spending the rest of the year. As Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte Research, put it, “The holiday season will be somewhat Grinch-like.” So it may come as a surprise that some analysts are almost gushing about the prospects for Simon Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest mall owner. As Rich Moore, managing director…

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Commentary: To the victor go the schools?

I have no idea who will get the job of mayor of Indianapolis come Nov. 7. But whoever it is can make a real difference in this town by tackling its most pressing issue: public schools. Good schools are the lifeblood of any community. They increase property values, lower crime and make your municipality more attractive to companies looking to relocate. Marion County schools haven’t had the best track records. Whether it’s Indianapolis Public Schools and its academic performance, Washington…

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Midwest Mole tunnels into large local projects: East-side company in unusual niche makes mark

In the face of a slumping local economy in the early 1980s, several national construction firms packed up and left Indianapolis. One locally based salesman, Len Liotti, was given a choice-move to St. Louis along with his job at tunneling contractor Affholder Inc., or set out on his own. Seeing the void the big players would create when leaving, Liotti started Midwest Mole Inc. in 1982 to fill it. Twenty-five years later, the privately held firm is thriving thanks to…

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