IS IT TRUE the New York Times has reported that over half of the college graduates for year 2012 cannot find a job or they are working in areas with low paying wages?…the Times reported that the median annual pay for college grads was $26,756 per year ($12.86 per hour)?…the University of Evansville reports that 92% of their 2012 graduates are employed or are in a graduate program?…the median salary of UE graduates was $42,500 ($20.43 per hour) or nearly double the averages reported by the NYT for the Class of 2012 as a whole?…U.S. News & World Report recognizes UE as a top 10 ‘master’s degree university” in the Midwest, and third in the Midwest for “Great Schools, Great Prices.”?…this community needs to be proud of the University of Evansville; it seems to still be one of the things that is going in a positive way for our city?…the question that is not answered is the question of how many of those UE grads are working in the Evansville MSA and of those who found work here what are they paid?…the answer to those two questions may just unlock the reason our best and brightest still choose to leave Evansville for a better career and more upward mobility?
IS IT TRUE the list of entertainment establishments to be broken by the recession to the point of closing has grown by one?…the Fox and the Hound, the eastside establishment that has served the pool playing, ping-pong playing, and beer loving population for 13 years has a sign in the window stating that they have ceased doing business?…the Fox & Hound joins Fast Eddy’s and Stoney’s in the dust bin of Evansville eating and partying establishments that have succumbed to the economy?
IS IT TRUE as economic recovery goes sometimes a natural disaster can be stimulating and the theory that Hurricane Sandy may be good for business has been tossed around the halls of government recently?…as is often true with disasters, when government gets involved all sorts of unexplainable and psychotic rules and regulations get in the way and cause what should be a routine repair to turn into literally a federal case?…this insanity is playing itself out in New Jersey with the repair efforts due to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy right now?…the latest moronic and inappropriate use of government power is the Obama Administrations attempts to force Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s) onto all federal projects in the Sandy repair world?…a PLA is a brazen document that forces contracts to be with unions and eliminates much of the perfectly capable competition for a given project?…in the State of New Jersey only 24.5% of the construction industry is unionized which means that PLA’s keep over 75% of the licensed firms from bidding on jobs?…an October 2010 report by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development concluded that school projects using PLAs took 28.2% longer to complete and cost 30.5% more than non-PLA projects?…for our government to codify overspending by 30% on projects where limited funds are available in the aftermath of a natural disaster is absolutely malpractice of financial management?…we wonder what President Obama’s former smile for the camera buddy Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey thinks about such an institutionalized amount of waste going on in his state while freezing a large number of his constituents out of the bidding process?…the fat lady has not sung on this one but the fat man has not uttered a word?
IS IT TRUE that one of the efforts being considered by the State of Kentucky to stem the shuttering of two aluminum smelters in Western Kentucky is to allow the companies to purchase their electricity directly from the wholesale electricity markets?…company officials have been quoted as saying they may save 30% if allowed to do so?…if that is accurate it would take their net cost for electricity down to about 4 cents per kWh from the current 6 cents per kWh that they say prompted their notice to shut down?…this is an exclamation point on the unintended and usury consequences of state granted monopolies?…it is right that these companies should be free to participate in the closest thing that electricity has to a free market?…if the average homeowner in Evansville could do the same and get the 4 cent power the average electric bill would drop from $150 to more like $40 per month?…that would add over $180 Million in disposable income per year to the local economy?…that the words “let freedom ring†would be welcome in all American markets and especially the ones where legislated monopolies are granted?…there are many more legislated monopolies than electricity?…see paragraph 3 on PLAs and the cost of legislated monopolies in the construction business?…the Ford Center had a PLA in place from day one signed by former Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel?…the RFP for the downtown convention hotel issued by the Weinzapfel Administration mandated a PLA?…we would like to know if the secretive Winnecke Administration dealt that same PLA card from the bottom of the deck as well?
