Drive through areas hit by the deluge of rain in the past few days and youâ??ll see mind-boggling soil
erosion.
At the base of myriad fields lie deltas of sediment washed downhill from elsewhere in their respective watersheds.
Not only was…
For the past 10-plus years, central Indiana has benefitted from growth in the distribution/logistics industry with hundreds of new jobs and millions of square feet of new facilities. We’ve seen massive facilities go up one right after another, often topping the square footage of our tallest downtown skyscrapers. In the past eight years alone, the square footage of central Indiana distribution centers has more than doubled from 20 million square feet to 51 million square feet. And we’re not just…
Congress is set to begin a debate on regulation designed to halt global warming. The question is whether and how we might limit greenhouse gases. Costs and benefits will be the central issue. So, despite what many would wish, this is primarily an economic debate. Below are the issues in a nutshell. There is strong scientific evidence that the Earth’s temperature is warming. Even so, there are a significant number of serious climate scientists who doubt this. And there is…
In 2000, gasoline cost 99 cents a gallon, you could barely give recyclable plastic away and the idea of manufacturers “going green” was a pioneering thought. Allegiant Global started that same year as Heritage Interactive Services, with one client and little market awareness of what industrial recycling and reuse initiatives meant. Heritage Interactive was started by principals of locally based Heritage Environmental Services, which was-and still is-involved in more traditional waste-disposal services. When one of Heritage Environmental’s clients, Michigan-based Lear…
Over the last 20 years, life expectancy for residents of the United States as a whole has increased steadily. However, recent studies by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have shown that not all Americans are enjoying longer, healthier lives. The implications of these studies are particularly ominous for Hoosiers. The disparities in life expectancy are most pronounced between richer and poorer Americans, reflecting the pronounced growth of income inequality the last two decades. In 1980, the most…
It’s time for a gut check on sentiment. In the stock market, sentiment is a contrary indicator, meaning that if everyone thinks the same thing (such as oil is going to $200 a barrel soon), your safer bet is to go the other way. Wall Street history is loaded with juicy examples of this theory at work. One of my favorites is Time magazine’s making Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, Man of the Year in 1999, right before the…
Since arriving at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Tiffany Wedekind has rubbed shoulders with comic book characters, connected schoolteachers to learning activities, and made plans to travel abroad to help gather ancient Egyptian artifacts. She is not a seasoned veteran of the museum field, but a 22-year-old intern who will graduate from Marian College in December. What’s more, Wedekind is not alone. She is among at least 22 college students who will share similar experiences there this summer. Exposing interns…
Last September, I instructed my retirement plan to purchase two of the very expensive Berkshire Hathaway (A) shares so I could attend the annual meeting of shareholders and participate in the numerous peripheral activities. Actually, I could have purchased just one share of the B stock for much less and still have been entitled to four credentials. Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, and his partner, Charlie Munger, are retail hucksters. They have created the perception…
The income disparities among Indiana’s 92 counties have been growing for decades. My imperfect memory recalls no administration and no candidate that has addressed the issue. In 1970, Marion County led the state in per-capita personal income (PCPI), at 115 percent of the state’s average. At the same time, Owen County was just 66 percent of that average. Thus, the average Owen County resident had income that was 57 percent of the level enjoyed by the average Marion County resident….
Encouraging new development-residential and commercial-is such a high priority in many communities these days that one would think both the private and public sectors would rush to break ground before the impulse passes. But as ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso often responds each Saturday during the season to the observations of others, “Not so fast my friend.” Before construction actually starts, all parties involved in a proposed project, if it is to be successful, must reach consensus on a…
Last week, after spending $71.83 to fill up my car, I said to myself, “Tomorrow, I’m taking the bus.” So I did. It wasn’t my first time on the new IndyGo commuter bus from Carmel; it was my fourth in the last five weeks. On that particular day, I was fed up. It was the first time that gassing up cost me more than $70, and it made an impression. I guess that’s what it’s going to take for all…
Indianapolis-based engineering and consulting giant RW Armstrong has become lead investor in an upstart ethanol firm that
would apply novel technology to make the automotive fuel without using corn as the key ingredient. It would be the first big
commercial plant in Indiana to make the alcohol fuel with so-called cellulosic material–the holy grail, of sorts, in the
ethanol
industry.
In terms of eco-friendliness, few homes in central Indiana boast much more than a high-efficiency furnace or low-flush toilet. But a Carmel-based custom-home builder is so certain the region is ready to embrace the green movement that he is willing to risk investing in a residential community designed to achieve national environmental recognition. Frank Redavide, president of Castalia Homes LLC, is finalizing financing for the project and plans to start construction within 60 days. The 144-lot development, called Villages of…
A renewed interest in nuclear energy coming at the same time aging workers are leaving the industry has created the elements for a shortage of nuclear engineers. Nuclear energy as an electricity source is enjoying a resurgence nearly 30 years after a reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania severely tarnished the industry’s image. Escalating oil prices and stiffening environmental regulations on coal-based systems are helping to spawn the rebirth of nuclear technology. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in…
Al Hubbard, the Indianapolis businessman who stepped down last year as director of President Bushâ??s National
Economic Council, is quoted in a recent Barronâ??s column as hammering Floridians and others living along U.S.
coasts for squeezing the tourniquet on additional…
Symphony Bank’s palatial branch along East 96th Street-outfitted with a copper roof, towering domed ceiling and heated parking lot-was designed to telegraph wealth and stability. But instead, the $5 million Taj Mahal became the most prominent symbol of the bank’s excesses and one reason the startup has lost money every year since its founding in June 2005. The bank, which has no other branches, has torn through two management teams and piled up annual losses of $2 million or more…
A volatile market is turning the rational investor irrational. Irrationals show up when markets get volatile or decline. They surface to buy stocks during bubbles, such as the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and early 2000. They react to the news of the day. Let’s start with a bit of education about what a rational investor looks like. Then outline how to adjust behaviors to remain rational-and actually benefit-during market ups and downs. What is a rational investor? Dr….
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…
In February, Indianapolis’ Wheeler Mission Ministries cut non-residential programming to stave off a budget shortfall as donations flat-lined and more homeless people came through its doors. Now the mission is facing more tough times, projecting as much as a $500,000 shortfall for the fiscal year that begins June 1. To help close the gap, supporters are kicking off Operation Restoration, a fund drive they hope will raise $11 million to help the mission expand, pay building debts, and build a…
A friend and I were having lunch. We were talking about an old issue: the lack of leadership in the state. Both of us agreed that Mitch Daniels has been doing a good job in following through on what he promised, whether or not folks liked it. But we were hard-pressed to find other examples of civic or political leadership. I suspect our problem may have been one of age. We’re guys who have been around for the past four…
