Over July 4th we celebrate American Independence. More generally, as Americans, we celebrate freedom as fundamental to our way of life. Prosecutors play a central role in protecting the freedom we enjoy. Freedom may not be the first thing you think of when you think about prosecutors. However,prosecutors impact freedom in two important ways: we…
It is time to write about foreign trade again, sadly. Over the past few weeks the Trump Administration has been locked in ongoing trade negotiations with China and announced the suspension of perhaps a half million visas for foreign workers. These two issues are tied closely, as I shall shortly explain. Faithful readers of this column…
Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide and Huntingburg Mayor Denny Spinner issued a joint message regarding the proposed Mid-States Corridor: As your local elected officials, we strive each day to make our citizens proud of the communities in which they live, work and raise their families. Both of our cities have their place in Indiana’s history —…
Indiana’s new distracted driving law took effect July 1 this year. The new law makes it an infraction to hold and use a handheld mobile device while operating a moving vehicle. Indiana is the 22nd state to enact such a law. Indiana Governor, Eric Holcomb, made the distracted driving law a top priority in the 2020…
Last week the Trump Administration announced the suspension of visas for seven different categories of specialized workers and their family members. Many might be tempted to shrug this off, thinking that such a restriction will help American workers find better jobs. That conclusion is mistaken. This action will shrink the US economy by almost $100…
The federal Employment Situation Summary, published on May 5, caused quite a firestorm. The reason is a data irregularity, perhaps a miscoding of survey data that had the official unemployment rate drop to 13.3 percent. Every economist, including myself, expected the rate to rise, not fall. There is much to be puzzled about, but digging…
The interesting and turbulent age we inhabit urges us think about the lasting impact of current events. For an economist, chief among the questions to ask is how will the agents of change we now experience affect the location of economic activity. I don’t have answers, but offer a way to think about them. Halfway…
The past several months ushered in unprecedented changes in economic activity. By the end of May, roughly one in four workers were unemployed and many sectors of American commerce ground to a virtual stop. The previous high of unemployment was registered at 25.5 percent in the summer of 1933, the depths of the Great Depression….
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s coronavirus restrictions will ease in parts of the state on Friday, two days ahead of schedule, to allow for more activity over the Memorial Day weekend, the governor said Wednesday.
Along with many states, Indiana is moving slowly away from some restrictions in the stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders implemented in late March. Over that six-week period, more Hoosiers died of COVID-19 than died in the Vietnam War. The state’s economy experienced unprecedented damage. The next jobs report will be the worst since the Great Depression,…
