The most significant theft that has occurred is not that of liquor or merchandise; the looters, by their actions, are stealing the credibility of the good people peacefully protesting a lengthy history of opportunity denied to people of color and those without means.
Decisions are impossible to make when leadership fails to listen to the community; fails to communicate a comprehensive plan; and falls into a reactive, not proactive, stance on protecting our community.
We can and will address the concerns of citizens and business owners grappling with the damage to public and private spaces caused by last weekend’s violence. But we cannot do so without simultaneously wrestling, and besting, the historically tolerated race disparities that lie at the heart of that violence.
It’s hard to find words for the horror that is the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, just as it is hard to comprehend how the anger over that death—and too many others—led to so much destruction in downtown Indianapolis. But IBJ asked several community leaders to give it a shot. Here’s what they wrote.
But drawing on my federal agency experience helping economically distressed areas and now leading an institute helping communities make better economic decisions, here is how leaders can create an economic recovery plan.
If sales taxes continue to fall in tandem with income taxes, the results would be crushing for Indiana; we collect more than half our general fund revenue from sales taxes (the 50-state average is about 31%).
We must provide as many people as possible access to health and safety information in their primary language. Failure to do so threatens the health of every one of us.
Reality seems to echo Warren Buffett, who famously stated, “Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.”
Indiana law is clear that unemployed workers are not required to accept offers of employment or reemployment if conditions are not “suitable.”
We now have a five-stage tangled web of differing and undefined “capacities” that are all voluntary and admittedly unenforceable and will quickly be seen as entirely optional.
Hotel Tango hand sanitizer can now be found in Navy shipbuilding yards in Wisconsin, shoe retailers around the country, shipping companies that handle packages as an integral part of their business, as well as military ships and bases around the world.
When Daniels and the Republicans in the Statehouse told Hoosier voters they were “protecting taxpayers” by putting tax caps in the state’s constitution, objections by mayors and warnings by fiscal and tax policy experts were pooh-poohed. Politics won. Prudent and informed policy lost.
Going without college sports pales in comparison to the sacrifices made at hospitals every day, but the absence of normalcy weighs on everyone.
It’s no surprise that those of us who see the arts as a core part of our identity are finding ways to connect with creative expression even when we can’t gather in theaters, in the studio, on the street or in the gallery. We stream performances, collaborate remotely or document life at home.
To overcome this crisis, we need to balance regulations that protect Indiana’s health with the freedom of private individuals to develop indispensable solutions.
Under the federal government’s national emergency declaration, employers, corporate foundations and public charities have been granted more flexibility to issue financial assistance to employees facing hardship as the result of the pandemic.
I know people are under enormous strain and very tough days and weeks are ahead for all of us, but companies should not be afraid to share what they’re doing to help, how they are growing or how they are making life better in their communities. Good news is still important.
The changes the state is making in the primary due to the coronavirus pandemic might indefinitely alter how we carry out campaigns and conduct elections going forward. Today’s alternative might become tomorrow’s norm.
Across the economy, private and not-for-profit enterprises are going to discover which works of theirs, and which expenditures, are really essential.
The most important lesson to be learned by policymakers and plutocrats alike is that fortunate people are secure only when everyone is secure.
