Month / February 2015

by Hoosier Econ

Inflation Alert: Notre Dame Tuition

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Univeristy of Notre Dame is raising their tuition again. Get ready to pay according to the Indianapolis Star:

The University of Notre Dame is raising undergraduate tuition by 3.7 percent to $47,929 next school year.

The university says with average room and board rates of $13,846, the annual cost of attending Notre Dame will be $61,775.

The school said the 3.7 percentage increase in tuition and fees is the lowest at Notre Dame since there was no increase in 1960. Tuition had increased 3.8 percent for three straight years.

For the “there is no inflation” crowd, in just the last four years tuition has now increased 15.1%.

by Hoosier Econ

Robots Being Trained to Fight Fires

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Via The Washington Free Beacon:

The US Navy has begun to test the firefighting abilities of a humanoid robot it has been developing for several years. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR) walks on two legs, operates a fire hose, and even wears a track suit. The Navy is hoping SAFFiR can one day supplement its traditional human firefighting teams.

“This is a program that’s been going on for about five years basically to develop a humanoid capable of fire suppression,” Thomas McKenna said in an Office of Naval Research (ONR) video about the project. “There’s substantial losses incurred when you have a major fire and you can’t suppress it at an early stage.”

John Farley of the Naval Research Laboratory said that he sees the robot’s quick learning curve as a likely lifesaver.

by Hoosier Econ

Illinois Facing Debt Payments

Illinois is starting to get hit with rising interest payments on debt borrowed. Illinois Policy points out how compound interest is a vicious beast once it takes hold:

According to the fiscal year 2015 budget summary from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability the cost of debt service in fiscal year 2015 is nearly $4 billion on outstanding bond debt of nearly $32 billion. The debt service amounts to more than 11 percent of the state’s anticipated revenues for the fiscal year – 11 percent that can’t be used for essential programs.

Illinois will not be the only heavy spending state to start getting hammered on debt payments. But here is how a debt situation gets out of control:

Primarily as a result of these nontraditional uses of bond debt, the state began fiscal year 2015 saddled with $32 billion in bond debt requiring $4 billion, or 11 percent of its general funds budget, to pay the annual debt service. This represents nearly a 400 percent growth in debt service, more than 300 percent growth in outstanding bond debt, and more than 200 percent growth in debt service as a percentage of general revenues since 2002.

by Hoosier Econ

Cost of Political Correctness

This is just one example of political correctness having an actual cost associated with it. Story courtesy of College Fix:

PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SPENDS $16K ON CAMPAIGN TO WARN STUDENTS TO WATCH WHAT THEY SAY

‘Inclusive Language Campaign’ debuts at University of Michigan

Dozens of posters plastered across the University of Michigan caution students not to say things that might hurt others’ feelings, part of a new “Inclusive Language Campaign” at the state’s flagship public university that cost $16,000 to implement.

Words declared unacceptable through the campaign include “crazy,” “insane,” “retarded,” “gay,” “tranny,” “gypped,” “illegal alien,” “fag,” “ghetto” and “raghead.” Phrases such as “I want to die” and “that test raped me” are also verboten.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told The College Fix in an email the campaign aims to “address campus climate by helping individuals understand that their words can impact someone and to encourage individuals to commit to creating a positive campus community.”

You can read the rest here.

by Hoosier Econ

Federal Government Spending For the Next 10 Years

Economics 21 had an interesting graph in their article titled “How to Fix the $960 Billion Budget Deficit”.

Here is how federal government spending will be broken up the next ten years.

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Almost two-thirds of additional spending will be driven by entitlements, primarily Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. America’s aging population is the primary contributor to the growth of Social Security and Medicare, while the Affordable Care Act substantially expanded the scope of Medicaid.

Adding interest payments to the budget brings the total increase in the debt from mandatory spending to 85 percent. Spending is projected to grow by $2.3 trillion annually by 2024.

by Hoosier Econ

How Much Does NBC’s Brian Williams Make

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Per Breitbart News Brian Williams makes $13 Million a year.

by Hoosier Econ

Colleges Dealing with Unprepared Students

Wall Street Journal is showing a growing trend of high school students entering college still needing remedial help.
In the last 12 years, students needing at least one remedial course has risen 160%.

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by Hoosier Econ

Indiana in Top 10 for Tax Climate

Via The Payroll Blog

10 best business tax climates can be found in:

Wyoming
South Dakota
Nevada
Alaska
Florida
Washington
Montana
New Hampshire
Utah
Indiana

The worst tax climate states for small business, according to the report, are:

New York
California
Minnnesota
Wisconsin
North Carolina
Maryland
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New Jersey
Vermont

by Hoosier Econ

Oil Rig Production Drastically Drops

Gasoline prices are slowly rising which is correlating with oil rig production. Baker Hughes Inc. released data showing ninety four more oil rigs taken out of production.

oil rig production

RenewEconomy.com had this write up about the production of oil being shut off:

In just three months, the rig count has fallen by 24 per cent, or 389 from the all-time high of 1,609 recorded for the week of 10 October last year. As Mark Lewis, from Paris-based analysts Kepler Chevreux notes: “In all of the historical Baker Hughes data stretching back to July, 1987, there is no precedent for a drop of this speed or severity.”