The 24/7 Wall St. website asks the question, “How well-run are America’s 50 states?” To answer this complex question, “we chose what we considered to be the 10 most important ranking [sic] of financial and overall government management.”
Most people take toilets seriously. A dirty toilet is an affront to people who care about themselves, their families and their fellow citizens. Management can always blame the users of the toilets for persistent filth and disarray, but ultimately it’s management’s responsibility.
he U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis,” I began, “has just released quarterly personal-income data through the second quarter of 2010. They show Indiana in third place among the 50 states—third from the bottom—for income growth during April, May and June.
Bloomington, in 2009, had the state’s strongest private-sector earnings growth. But that was only a pathetic 0.1 percent.
There’s no reason to use the valuable land at the airport for new hotels that will drive out existing facilities nearby.
When a government entity does not want to assume the political risk of managing its resources, it finds a private firm that, for a price, will do the job.
Indiana’s unemployment rate in July was 10.1 percent—the 12th-highest of the 50 states. Nevada was running at 14.3 percent to lead the nation, while the lowest rate was 3.6 percent, in North Dakota. We’re much closer to the worst than we are to the best.
Economic development is a long-term proposition with uncertain benefits at a distant date. It is not just
opening a plant or expanding an existing one.
Most companies select from a work force that has a mixed quality of education. Instead of using this diversity as an asset, management today tries to impose ‘behavioral metrics’ on its workers independent of their individual strengths.
People have to be hired to do valuable things with the money the government pumps into the economy. That money can’t be given to people or to businesses with the hope that they will use it. It has to be spent on activities that increase employment.
People are divided on what they want, skeptical about the ability of government to provide services, and resentful about paying for those services they do not perceive as benefiting themselves.
The simple fact is that we are having a recession on top of the continuing restructuring of the economy that has been
going on since the 1980s.
Once upon a time, school transportation eased the journey of farm kids going to school. Today,
it’s a massive subsidy for suburban kids whose parents have chosen to live far from a school in a place without sidewalks.
What do you do when you have little discretionary money and enormous challenges? You might follow the example being set by
Mayor Greg Goodnight in Kokomo.
It is counterproductive to have Hoosier children stay in Indiana as young adults. Let them come
back when they have something to offer.
The federal government pumped $6.3 billion into the Indiana economy through higher unemployment compensation and increased
Social Security and Medicare payments.
The now famous housing bubble has been blamed for many of our nation’s problems. In truth, it is the opposite. The
massive private debt, including mortgage debt, was made possible by lax lending practices.
Unless you have extraordinary assets, your communication skills will go a long way to determining your social and economic
standing.
Regular readers know I’m a numbers guy. Give me a set of data and I can be happily
occupied for hours. A simple visit to Hoosiers by the Numbers on the Indiana Department of Workforce Development website is a data junkie’s joy.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a major step forward. It widens the door to health insurance for those
with pre-existing conditions, for employees of small businesses and others currently not covered.
