EYE ON THE PIE: Age numbers tell part of the story

In statistics, the median is not a strip of grass down the middle of the highway. The median is the number with half of all values above and half below.

EYE ON THE PIE: Where to put your money in troubled times

Snail Smith’s real name is Stanley, but his contorted windup and slow pitches gave him the nickname, Snail, during his short baseball career.

EYE ON THE PIE: Treat good news as good news

I like to complain as much as anybody else. In truth, I may do more than my share of finding fault and wagging a finger in warning.

EYE ON THE PIE: Transit proposals are game changers

After baseball, my favorite TV watching is the government channel. Here I can see the local government in action or local government inaction.

EYE ON THE PIE: Higher education completion rates questioned

Spring is really here. Baseball is being played, the Cubs are already tragic, and Faye of the Forest reappeared on the back deck. She was parked on the railing as I sat down to write this column.

EYE ON THE PIE: Our anger rests on varied values

The rancor and moral outrage of the left and right over various current issues eats at the very core of civilized discussion.

EYE ON THE PIE: Privatize another state resource

Hortense and I were strolling from our car to the Exposition Hall of the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Our goal was the Indiana Artisan Marketplace, but we had to pass the Southwest Pavilion where they were holding the Midwest Reptile Show.

EYE ON THE PIE: Measuring Indiana’s economic progress

The news recently about Indiana’s economy was a mixed bag. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Indiana ranked 16th in growth of personal income among the 50 states. Our 3.7 percent increase over 2011 beat out the national figure of 3.5 percent.

EYE ON THE PIE: Unemployment data demand attention

“Here’s a fact for you,” said Seymour Semaphore, who knows my interest in statistical realities. “Four of the five Indiana counties with the lowest average unemployment rates over the past 24 years border Indianapolis.”

EYE ON THE PIE: County population changes raise alarms

With all the hoopla about basketball, several important issues are being neglected. But what else can arouse the passions of our citizens?

EYE ON THE PIE: Money flows across county lines

Indiana gains from commuting. More money flows into Indiana than leaves the state from the daily movement of workers. In 2011 the difference between the inflow and the outflow was in excess of $4 billion.

EYE ON THE PIE: GDP, the DNA of MSA economies

The nation’s 366 metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, accounted for 89 percent of the $13.3 trillion United States Gross Domestic Product in 2011. After the polluted language we’ve heard from legislators in Washington and Indianapolis, doesn’t that sentence give you a nice, clean feeling?

EYE ON THE PIE: Speedway hits the trough

Tim Ptomaine is a quiet fellow not given to hysterics, but the day we met he was agitated.

EYE ON THE PIE: Inflation eats away at income and savings

Is inflation a problem that should concern retired citizens? The answer is, in the best tradition of economic thinking, yes and no. Plus, I must add, it all depends.

EYE ON THE PIE: Good signs in the housing market

The plane was ready to take off, and I could not help noticing the woman sitting next to me. She looked like the national real estate agent of the year. Her iridescent baby blue and muted magenta tweed outfit clung to a body that survived on Special-K alone.

EYE ON THE PIE: Art, music and credit cards

In the past week a suggestion has come forward that Hoosier schoolchildren should be educated in financial matters. Specific mention was given to loans, mortgages and credit cards.

EYE ON THE PIE: Economic development is no mystery

Local economic development organizations (LEDOs) have been severely challenged in the past few years.

EYE ON THE PIE: A realistic view of Indiana’s economy

You cannot blame Mike Pence for delivering an upbeat inaugural address. Let’s just hope he has a clear understanding of Indiana’s real economic circumstances.

EYE ON THE PIE: Plain talk about debt and deficits

For those of you who like to run to the dictionary while reading this column, I apologize for the simplicity and directness of the words I am going to use.

EYE ON THE PIE: A special inflation rate for the elderly

Each year consumers cooperate with the U.S. Bureaus of Labor Statistics and the Census to report how we spend our money. According to the 2011 Survey of Consumer Expenditures, our 122 million households spent $6.1 trillion or nearly $50,000 per household.

EYE ON THE PIE: Proud hope for Indiana’s future

At a time when hope for our governmental system was ebbing during the fiscal cliff crisis, several hundred young Hoosiers gathered at IUPUI in Indianapolis to refute despair.

EYE ON THE PIE: End age discrimination in income taxation

Home during Washington’s fiscal cliff negotiations, Indiana’s third U.S. Senator – Phinneas Pfogghorn – met with me for a late afternoon coffee.

EYE ON THE PIE: Fiscal cliff is unknowable terrain

Facts about the past or present are often hard to interpret. Facts about the future rarely exist, which leaves us with fantasies (forecasts) of pleasant anticipation or fearful apprehension.

EYE ON THE PIE: Where you shop makes a difference

FThe great shopping season is upon us. First, Halloween; now, Christmas. Americans tell us much about what they value, in time and money, as they hand over their cash, checks, debit and credit cards.

EYE ON THE PIE: A proposal for more jobs

The Rockefeller Foundation has called for ideas that address the nation’s youth unemployment situation. Here are mine:

EYE ON THE PIE: Are we ready to talk about rich and poor counties?

During the recent election campaign, candidates talked about per capita personal income, or PCPI, as a measure of our state’s economic success.

EYE ON THE PIE: Political ads do little to advance choice

After all the weeks of political campaigning, it is a joy to see an ad for an automobile, a beer, a hamburger, a dish washing detergent, even a medicine that has disastrous side effects.

EYE ON THE PIE: The meaning of economic data

Jim talks more than anybody else. Our Wednesday breakfasts aren’t dominated by him, but he does have more to say than any of the other nine at the table.

EYE ON THE PIE: Debt and taxes not understood

No week goes by without an email from Murkey Matrus, a successful Hoosier entrepreneur, now in retirement. Lately the themes have been consistent with the national debate consuming the presidential and congressional elections.

EYE ON THE PIE: Premium highway deserves premium price

If you are new to Indiana, there are mysteries you need to understand. One of those is called Interstate 69, the highway being built between Indianapolis, Bloomington, Crane and Evansville.

EYE ON THE PIE: Elections could turn on lags

In most economic matters there are information/action lags.

EYE ON THE PIE: Indiana’s economy shows strength

The data are in from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. Indiana had a good year in fiscal 2012 (the 12 months ending in June this year).

EYE ON THE PIE: Population projections neglected by candidates

In the decade of the Great Depression, the 1930s, the population of Indiana grew by 5.8 percent. Later, in the 1970s, a decade of great economic turmoil, the state’s population advanced by 5.7 percent. The 1980s saw a strong recession and a subsequent restructuring of American business; Indi…

EYE ON THE PIE: Are the arts part of economic development?

If you buy a pack of chewing gum, your consumption of that gum does not infringe on my well being.

EYE ON THE PIE: Three tough questions get answered

One of my recent columns on economic development prompted three thoughtful questions from a friend.

EYE ON THE PIE: Vision lacking in Hoosier thinking

Economic development is not a single story told in a hurried voice. Rather, economic development is an intertwining of two tales told patiently with significant attention to detail. There is the major theme of big projects which give rise to hundreds and thousands of small investments that f…

EYE ON THE PIE: Kentland shows the way

Recently the Kentland Economic Development Commission, or KEDC, met in the Town Hall to discuss and resolve a key issue concerning the town’s future. It did so successfully, demonstrating the best of Hoosier values.

EYE ON THE PIE: Laughable proposals put forth by candidates

He is waiting for me at our usual meeting place, cigarette half smoked, and cynicism in his eyes. Sore Throat, the most secure state government employee, hacks a greeting and we begin to walk along the canal that winds north from the State Office Building.

EYE ON THE PIE: It's time to get serious about gun control

This should be a no-brainer, but many unthinking people are blocking gun control in this country.

EYE ON THE PIE: Where the jobs pay well

A reader wrote to ask, “Where are the jobs that pay well?”

EYE ON THE PIE: JOLTS reveal improving job market

Just when you thought you had enough of statistics, let me introduce you to JOLTS. No, this is not something about the NFL Colts. JOLTS is a series of data produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

EYE ON THE PIE: Employment snapshots challenge policy discussion

Every month we get snapshots of employment from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

EYE ON THE PIE: Yes, Indiana is doing comparatively well

Last week the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest state quarterly personal income data for the first quarter of this year. The timing could not have been better.

EYE ON THE PIE: Baby boomers and the next housing surge

"We ought to be more concerned about the future." Mervyn Muddlestone made this profound pronouncement as I was surveying my Cobb salad.

EYE ON THE PIE: Jobs, jobs, unneeded jobs

"More than 100 people lost their jobs when the Indiana Toll Road automated its toll collection system." Dwight Duwright shouted in my ear as we stood at a social gathering.

EYE ON THE PIE: Housing data a needless expense?

The American home had been on a diet, but the latest evidence is homes are getting bigger once again.

EYE ON THE PIE: Take care, the doors are closing in Hammond

What do you care if the Hammond buses stop running? Hammond is up there in the northwest corner of the most northwest county in the state. In fact, what do you care if all the public bus routes in the state were closed down?

EYE ON THE PIE: Tie between output and jobs loosened

Crusty Crawford joined our lunch table with a pronouncement. "We've always assumed a close tie between output and employment," he said. No one responded.

EYE ON THE PIE: Tools needed to help repair economy

My friend is a carpenter. He has two heavy boxes of tools and several other containers with stuff. I recognize some of the tools, but many of them are mysterious to me.

EYE ON THE PIE: A book on education worth reading from NWI

Rarely do I find a book that I can suggest to all my friends. "College Acceleration: Innovating Through the New American Research High School" by Eric Ban is such a book.