It would be artless this week to write an article on economics and business in Indiana without remarking upon the passing of John Fisher. Much has been written about his legacy over this past week, so I will make do with an anecdote and a lesson I have learned from him.
When prominent Egyptologist Zahi Hawass shared stories at a recent event about his personal meeting with President Obama,
my pride was momentarily dashed by the behavior of the people sitting at the next table.
When Hawass noted how impressed he was with our new president, these people became incredulous. They started snickering like
schoolchildren.
While transparency is a stated goal of many corporations, deliberations regarding distribution of shareholder property
to executives are not subject to light of day or to review. Instead, decision-making is camouflaged by
thousands of words that appear substantial but disclose little.
In the not-too-distant past, Microsoft was the most dominant company on the planet. In 25 years, it had spawned the world’s
richest man along with products that became as ubiquitous as water.
I own and manage a small business. WellPoint is our health insurance carrier. I have an employee, makes good money. He is in excellent health but he is diabetic. WellPoint won’t insure him!
As both House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, and House Republican Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, see it, this is definitely a "Republican-flavored" budget. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels laid the framework, and legislators from both sides of the aisle largely abided by his bottom lines of spending, state agency cuts and surplus.
[In his June 22 column, Bruce Hetrick asked,] "Is global citizenship ‘intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous?’" This question, reflective of Newt Gingrich’s recent statement declaring himself not "a citizen of the world" elicited personal incredulousness.
The legislative session that concluded June 30 with passage of a two-year budget left a bad taste in our mouths. For starters,
legislators lacked the courage to tackle local government reform—even though cash-strapped units of government
desperately need the millions of dollars in savings they would generate. In short, they put political cronyism ahead of the
interests of the state.
Search the Web for Naisa and you may come up with the North American International Auto Show or the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. Neither has anything to do with the new Naisa Pan-Asian Cafe (1025 Virginia Ave., 602-3708), where the name comes from simply reversing the letters in the word Asian.
If we are lucky, by the time you read these words the Indiana General Assembly will have passed a new budget. Democrats use
tarot cards and Republicans chicken innards to determine how much to spend. There are alternatives.
One of just three Maker’s Mark restaurants in the country—the others are in Louisville, Ky., and Kansas City,
Mo.—the upscale eatery would have been a good fit in downtown Indianapolis or in one of the suburban dining-and-shopping
meccas.
Target-date mutual funds, a popular investment vehicle in 401(k) plans and college savings plans, have recently come under
scrutiny by Congress and regulators. Investors are in an uproar over the recent poor performance of funds nearing their target
date.
The folks who control executive compensation are often executives themselves. Boards must realize that their self-dealing,
self-benefiting ways are grossly out of line with the true value of one’s contribution to a business and society.
Here’s why some leaders are able to get so much more out of their teams than others.
Fledgling attorneys face a legal industry in defensive mode, resulting in drooping employment figures.
Fed up with excessive fees, some clients have started demanding alternatives to the tried-and-true methods, such as “value-based
legal services.”
To use a gardening metaphor, have the courage to prune back in a tough economy, and plant new seeds before the weather improves.
Unemployment often is a necessary and natural part of a healthy economy. But job losses that come when workers or even entire
industries become redundant are especially painful.
There’s nothing like following the wildly influential thinker Charles Darwin’s own footsteps, which I had the pleasure of doing by visiting the beautiful, mysterious, isolated and enchanted Galapagos Islands.
This week, catching "Octopus" at the Phoenix and opening night on the Prairie.
