Purdue's Brains Ferments Business

Purdue startup marketing ethanol yeast

An Indiana biotechnology company announced yesterday that it has begun producing a genetically modified yeast that promises to make it easier and faster to turn corn cobs, wood chips and a host of agricultural wastes into ethanol.

Green Tech America Inc. of West Lafayette said its modified yeast ferments both major forms of sugar - glucose and xylose - involved in creating cellulosic ethanol from plant matter.

Adn what keeps Indiana from more businesses like this?

Where Are the Democrats Going With Healthcare?

Health-Care Dialogue Alarms Obama's Allies:

"Disputes over whether to create a new government-sponsored insurance program to compete with private companies shine a light on the intraparty fissures that may prove more problematic than any partisan brawl.

More than 70 House Democrats recently warned party leaders that they will not support a broad health reform bill that does not offer consumers a government-sponsored policy, and two unions withdrew from a high-profile health coalition because it would not endorse a public plan.
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'It's way too early' to abandon what it considers a central plank in health reform, said Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. He said the organization pulled out of the bipartisan Health Reform Dialogue because it feared its friends in the coalition were sacrificing core principles too soon. 'You don't make compromises with your allies.'"

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Douglass disputed suggestions of a rift in the party. "The Democrats are extraordinarily unified this time around," she said.

Yet even administration allies acknowledged tensions over the public plan option.

"This issue has become so vituperative, a serious conversation about how to structure a public plan has gotten secondary attention," Pollack said.

Nichols, who has proposed creating a semi-public option that would have publicly appointed managers but no rate-setting authority, said the disagreement signals a new phase in the overall debate. As he put it: "We've gotten past the kumbaya phase."

Money for high-speed rail

States seek stimulus money for high-speed rail:

"Governors from Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin have sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking for his support.

A first phase would upgrade passenger-train routes from Chicago to St. Louis, from Chicago to Madison, Wis., and from Chicago to Pontiac, Mich., via Detroit.

Officials say the cost of the initial phase would be around $3.5 billion and that it could be done by 2014.

A later phase would develop the St. Louis-to-Kansas City route."

Lafayette Doing Well - Lessons for Anderson?

From Masson’s Blog, Lafayette, Indiana: Rising Star :

"(H/t Thomas for this link). There is a report on newgeography.com that lists Lafayette as #1 in the nation for its improvement in the “Best Cities for Jobs” rankings."

Take a look and I think there are things we can do here. Plus we have a closer relationship with Indianapolis. Do we have the will and the imagination?

What Blackford County Schools Doing About Cost Savings

Blackford board votes to keep schools open; cut teacher jobs | thestarpress.com | The Star Press

It was a decision that followed the recommendation of Supt. Ken Kline, who called it the “least invasive” of seven options considered by the board in the last month as a cost-saving move. It will save the school corporation $239,257.

Four of the teachers will be cut from the current Montpelier School roster, while one other position will be eliminated at Northside and Southside elementaries in Hartford City.

Compare what Anderson did.

Anderson Fixing Up Grandview Restaurant?

The Herald Bulletin - Grandview restaurant proposals considered

Roger and Cheryl Moran, who own Moran’s Bar & Grill at 23rd and Pitt streets, and Cilantros Inc. turned in proposals before Tuesday’s park board meeting. The committee will look at which proposal would be more beneficial for the restaurant.

Representatives from Cilantros were not at the meeting, but the Morans said their proposal would include the owners themselves being at the facility at all times.

***

Although supporters of only one of the proposals were at the meeting, park board President Darin Foltz emphasized the board had not made up its mind on who would operate the restaurant.

The board will look at both proposals and weigh the fact that the Parks Department does not have funding to contribute to the project.

“We have basically no capital to contribute to this,” Foltz said.

BSU's Gora gets award for tech innovation

BSU's Gora to be honored for tech innovation:

"Ball State University President Jo Ann Gora has been chosen to receive TechPoint's annual Trailblazer Award for 'significant and lasting contributions to technology innovation in Indiana,' the statewide business-development group announced today.

Gora will be recognized at the group's annual Mira Awards, which honor the state's top-performing companies, schools and individuals in technology-related pursuits. The Mira Gala takes place May 16 at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis."

***

Under Gora, Ball State's president since 2004, the Muncie university has been named the nation's top wireless campus in surveys conducted by Intel Corp. and the Center for Digital Education.


"Dr. Gora is a pioneer who is putting Indiana on the map in the world of emerging media," said Jim Jay, president and CEO of TechPoint.

The Great Depression and Now

Remember reasoning by analogies always have a limited run - no two things are ever identical. Here is a good reminder of that fact. Learn what you can and then figure out what are the differences.

Robert J. Samuelson - The Financial Crisis and the Great Depression - washingtonpost.com

The Depression was exceptional in its economic ferocity. As Liaquat Ahamed writes in his book "Lords of Finance": "During a three-year period, real GDP [gross domestic product] in the major economies fell by over 25 percent, a quarter of the adult male population was thrown out of work. . . . The economic turmoil created hardships in every corner of the globe, from the prairies of Canada to the teeming cities of Asia."

Anyone who wants to know why should read this engrossing book. Ahamed, a professional money manager, attributes the Depression to two central causes: the misguided restoration of the gold standard in the 1920s and the massive inter-governmental debts, including German reparations, resulting from World War I.

***

Still, striking differences separate now from then. The biggest is that governments -- unencumbered by the gold standard -- have eased credit, propped up financial institutions and increased spending to arrest an economic free fall. The Federal Reserve and the International Monetary Fund have made loans available to emerging-market countries to offset the loss of private credit. Nor is there anything like the international rancor that followed World War I and impeded cooperation: In 1931, the French balked at rescuing Austria's biggest bank (Creditanstalt), whose failure triggered a chain reaction of European panics.

When countries left the gold standard -- the United States effectively did so in 1933 -- their economies began to recover. Some indicators now imply that the present decline is ebbing ("glimmers of hope," says President Obama). China shows similar signs of improvement. All this diminishes the dreary comparisons with the Depression. But if these omens prove false, a more somber conclusion could emerge.

The mistakes of the Depression were rooted in prevailing economic orthodoxies, which had been overtaken by new realities. The present policies likewise reflect today's orthodoxies. But what if they, too, turn out to be misguided because the world has moved on in ways that become obvious mostly in retrospect?

Bright Goes to Washington

Give the Herald Bulletin's Bright unveils ‘Idea’ hybrid-electric car a read. It appears they actually sent a reporter to D.C. There is even a photo - a minivan with a different look.

They also have a website of their own here.

More news:
Bright Automotive unveils 100 mpg hybrid truck (AP)
Bright Automotive Unveils its "IDEA" (Inside Indiana Business)

UN World Digital Library

U.N. Launches World Digital Library - washingtonpost.com

PARIS, April 20 -- A globe-spanning U.N. digital library seeking to display and explain the wealth of all human cultures has gone into operation on the Internet, serving up mankind's accumulated knowledge in seven languages for students around the world.

***

The site (www.wdl.org) has put up the Japanese work that is considered the first novel in history, for instance, along with the Aztecs' first mention of the Christ child in the New World and the works of ancient Arab scholars piercing the mysteries of algebra, each entry flanked by learned commentary. "There are many one-of-a-kind documents," Billington said in an interview.

Interesting but my first impression is that it is a bit bare. Listening to a video on Jefferson's A Summary View of the Rights of British America.

Rural Rental Housing Association of Indiana

Here is an association I never heard of but might be of more interest, Rural Rental Housing Association of Indiana

RRHA is a not-for-profit trade association established in 1983 of approximately 300 property management companies in the state of Indiana, from single owner, corporation, partnership and other organizations which own one or more Rural Affordable Housing project(s), or which is a public housing authority or a full-time employee of either of the agencies, representing over 15,000 Affordable Housing apartment units.

RRHA is the only association that solely represents the needs of the rural rental housing industry in Indiana, through education, networking, promoting professionalism, initiating the cooperation and exchange of information among our membership, relating important industry information, and encouraging ethical practices within the Affordable Housing industry. RRHA is committed to providing a respected voice for its members, and it regularly meets with key members of USDA Rural Development to discuss the Section 515 program.

Obama Economic Theory

I think the idea is sound but I wonder how it will be executed. What I am learning from this economic crisis is just how unstable we have been these past few years. We keep jumping from fad to fad, being told this way to prosperity. Sounds like a return to tradtional - conservative? - values - of hard work, steady work.

Obama plans to regulate new 'bubbles'

But what Obama rarely says about ending the “cycle of bubble and bust” is this: He’s prepared to intervene to make sure that kind of red-hot growth doesn’t occur.

And he’s willing to do it with added government regulation if needed to prevent any one sector of the economy from getting out of balance – the way the dot-com boom did in the 1990s and the real-estate market did earlier this decade.

According to Austan Goolsbee, a key Obama economic adviser, the president plans to focus on stopping bubbles along with preventing busts. And in an interview with POLITICO, Goolsbee said the administration will be on the lookout for new bubbles, like the tech stocks or housing prices.

If new threats are spotted, he said Obama would use “regulatory oversight to prevent guys who want to make a quick buck from doing real harm to the economy. ... That is what it means to get out of the bubble-and-bust cycle.”

It’s a controversial and largely untested idea – one that involves government intervention in the economy to a degree that recent presidents have been unwilling or unable to impose. There would be great political risks for Obama, particularly after the depths of this painful recession, and it would open him up to criticism that he is trying to squelch the free market.

Two Views on The Economy - Theory Kind of Stuff

Not one that I will necessarily agree with:

The Becker-Posner Blog: Is the Stock Market an "Efficient" Market?--Posner

But what about stock market bubbles? The explanation may lie in the fact that under Knightian uncertainty, often the best, though not a good, predictor of the future is the immediate past. If there is no weather forecasting, probably the best guess as to tomorrow's weather is that it will be similar to today's. If stock prices are rising, this suggests that something is happening to make people think that corporate profits will be greater in the foreseeable future. One might counter by asking why, if investors are expecting stock prices to continue rising, prices don't immediately jump to their peak value. But there is some inertia in trading, and, more important, no one can know the market peak in advance; for if everyone knew that, no one would sell at the current price or buy at the peak price, and trading would come to a halt.

And one that I will. Sorry but I think Milton Friedman is overrated.

Surely You're Kidding, Mr. Friedman

First, another "New Economy" theory? Please. Remember 10 years ago when we were all being told that the Dot Com Boom had changed all the rules? Turns out it hadn't. And none of the innovations Thomas is banging the drum for now will change them either. New tools? Yes. New rules? No.

Second, just what kind of crystal balls do you think the venture capital people have, Thomas? I remember reading one of the tech tabloids that were all around Seattle during the Dot Com Boom and looking at a cartoon of a scruffy teenager announcing that he had created a website for his cat and then watching the suits line up to dump money on him. It was about that bad. And of course the VC people also made the real estate bubble possible. Let's just say they haven't proved infallible in locating long-term investments.

Third, and here's the kicker, your economy isn't even real, let alone sustainable, if all it produces is electrons and documents. We have a textbook case in the United Arab Emirates right now: Dubai and its "New Economy" are having to be saved from ruin by Abu Dhabi and that dirty, old school dinosaur stuff it pumps. If you want an economy that lasts more than ten years, you need to make stuff: food, tools, stuff you can touch, stuff you can pick up, and yes, stuff you can drive around in.

Muncie Arts Festival

I suppose Anderson would worry too much about its failed Florentine city project, but read Muncie to throw huge arts event and wonder just how much money and recognition this will bring to Muncie.

"Just a year later, Bailey had the chance to prove it. When the Indiana Arts Commission asked cities to apply to host the 2009 awards, Bailey and other Muncie community leaders, including Mayor Sharon McShurley, jumped on the opportunity. And the commission liked what they heard -- Muncie was chosen to host the fall event -- just the second time in the award's history that it will be celebrated outside of Indianapolis.

And this year, it's going to be bigger than ever.

Instead of just hosting the awards Sept. 25, members of the local steering committee have decided to create a three-day event."

Thank You, Tim Livesay

Lee’s Theater gets second chance

A month ago, Pendleton resident Tim Livesay purchased the building hoping to use it for his company, Low Cost Mobility Services.

When a location more suitable for Livesay’s needs became available, the businessman decided not to unload the theater, but to give it back to the community.

Though he has not yet removed the Lee’s Theater lettering from the building, Livesay has renamed the facility the Ridge Crossing Auditorium.

Now let us use it wisely and well.

Local Banks Doing Good

Local banks keep lending strong with TARP

First Merchants President and CEO Mike Rechin said that bank would probably repurchase its $116 million worth of stock within two or three years but had no immediate plans to do so, predicting the economy would not turn around in the next year.

“Our original interest was it gives you the capital to try to be an active lender in the community,” Rechin said. “I don’t think the balance of this year is likely to get a lot stronger economically, so I like having access to the capital.”

Locally, Mike Baker, who is regional president of First Merchants in the Madison County area, can use the extra capital to provide for any type of lending, from mortgages to small business loans.

Rechin said First Merchants, headquartered in Muncie, probably wouldn’t have a problem lending the money even if it didn’t participate in TARP, but the extra funds would help the bank if the recession continues.

“We were well capitalized before the money,” he said. “I don’t think we would have a problem, but the safety cushion that the excess capital provides makes me very confident that even if the recession lasts until 2010, that we’re going to continue to be a real consistent source of banking services for our customers.”

Anyone want to bet that their lending standards were a bit different than those used by Citigroup, Wells Fargo, etc?

Small Midwestern Cities Are Dying?

Oh, boy. Too many response I can make to this. Like, we did not know this? You think you have seen backwaters - wait till you see Elwood! (That is an inside joke for my Madison County readers.)

Seriously, we probably need to be reminded of this possibility. Keep us from the addiction of false nostalgia. Read the solutions, too.

Warning: Small Midwestern cities are dying:

"But a lot of them will decline into backwaters, cut out of the global conversation, lived in by people who are too poor, too uneducated to afford anything better," Longworth said. Some will become ghettos, he added.

In introducing Longworth, Tom Kinghorn, treasurer of Ball State University, said Longworth's book Caught in the Middle: American's Heartland in the Age of Globalism, was "heartbreakingly familiar to many of us." Kinghorn spoke of "failing schools," "hollowed-out cities," "sometimes clueless politicians" and other problems.

The reasons for the decline of the Rust Belt are well known, Longworth said. They include high wages and relatively low skills, the rise of the Sun Belt, the loss of jobs to Mexico, Japanese superiority in the making of automobile, televisions and other products and globalization, including the Internet and the addition of several billion new workers from relatively poor countries.

There are solutions offered and I think they could be implemented here:

Longworth offered some answers: new technology, including green energy like wind, solar and biofuels; community colleges that teach 21st century skills; communities like Steubenville, Ohio, that are willing to link to big cities, even those like Pittsburgh that are in other states; embracing immigrants and public transportation like high-speed and light rail.

"I'd like to see this Midwest region take a truly regional approach to its problems and solutions," Longworth said. "Some of the Midwest's tired old towns and cities may not survive in any real sense. But those that do won't do it by relying on their own dwindling resources, by staying proud and independent, by refusing cooperation with other towns and cities.

Our political leadership needs to realize we must change, that the idea that if you want change then leave the state is dead.

We need to ask why Anderson and Muncie do not collaborate more.

We need to ask if our schools are training us into this backwater or not.

Maybe This Is Why ACS Has Money Problems?

No, it is not the only reason and probably not a major reason, but come on - this kind of discount on the price of real estate says something aobut the business judgmetn of the ACS Board.


ACS land sale gets heated

Irma Stewart, the only black member of the ACS board, argued that it would contradict the board’s cost-saving efforts to hand land over for a fraction of the price, but board members P.T. Morgan and Keith Millikan spoke out in support of the sale.

“I do believe that we are in need of housing for the elderly,” Morgan said, arguing that the school district recently sold North Anderson Elementary School to the city parks department with the belief that it would better the community, much like an assisted-living facility would.

Due to its position on the west side of town, the assisted-living facility would likely serve Anderson’s black residents, but the idea of selling land at such a low cost did not sit well with Stewart. “You can always come up with a story that says we need to do this because it helps black people.”

Listening to MSNBC About Obama and Ortega

Joe Scarborough equating Ortega with Putin. Saying FDR, LBJ, Carter would not have listened to Ortega's diatribe. I did not catch the name of the woman who said what I sat here thinking: Ortega is a flea. People ignore fleas. My mother had two sayings that seem to apply here: 1) consider the source and 2) in one ear and out the other.

(I heard somewhere over the weekend that Ortega was to give a five minute speech and it turned into a 50 minute one and that annoyed many. I think the conservatives are making mountains out of molehills.)

NASA Report Helping Scottish Windfarms, Where Now Indiana?

The Scottish Sunday Herald reports that their wind farms might make more money and energy than expected, Windfall

THE UK offshore wind industry could be worth £300 million to £400m more than expected each year after climate specialists discovered a substantial rise in summer wind speeds over the past 20 years, the Sunday Herald can exclusively reveal.

The news is likely to be a great relief to the UK and Scottish governments and climate campaigners at a time when major investors' enthusiasm for offshore wind has been waning, with multinationals including Shell having withdrawn altogether.

The new piece of research by Edinburgh-based Atmos Consulting and Nasa suggests that wind farms will produce much more electricity each year than expected.