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A sobering economic view

Editorials

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland delivered some unsettling news as we roll toward the holiday season. Indicators suggest there is a 24% chance the U.S. economy was in recession last month. The Cleveland Fed represents Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky, where the Ohio Capital Journal noted there have been a number of worrying indicators. Credit card debt is rising faster in Ohio than in all but four other states. We had the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country in August. In fact, hiring across the country has slowed dramatically, ...

Don’t understand entrepreneurship? You don’t understand U.S.

Columns

A few years ago, I was invited to speak at an event in Mobile, Ala. Driving from Indiana, I stopped for the night in Nashville, Tenn., but on the way back, I decided to drive all the way from Mobile to Indianapolis. I had planned an early start, but, enjoying the company of good friends, I didn’t leave until well after noon. That’s an 11-hour drive under the best of circumstances. Add in some traffic, the inevitable construction around Music City and occasional stops for fuel and bathroom breaks, and I was rolling into Indy at about 2:30 a.m.. There’s something remarkable ...

Republicans have a failure to communicate

Columns

In the 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke,” the “Captain” says to Luke (Paul Newman) “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” The same could be said of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. While they have much to brag about — from a closed border, the deportation of undocumented immigrants and lower taxes — it’s not getting through to especially a younger generation that seems enamored with socialism as we’ve recently seen with the election of democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City and the disastrous result of that ...

Panicked POTUS is still flailing around

Columns

It’s a pretty reliable rule of thumb that when President Donald Trump calls something a “hoax,” it’s true. He insists that the strong indication, which seems likelier by the week, that he participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s exploitative exploits is another hoax. Assume that on this one, he’s telling the truth. If so, he sure isn’t acting like it. Let’s recap. Of the 20,000 emails obtained by the House Oversight Committee from Epstein’s estate, a reported 1,000 mention Trump. Here’s what Trump told New York Magazine in 2002: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. ...

Food desert bill good

Editorials

Ohio is riddled with food deserts. Affordable, accessible fresh foods and healthy options for grocery shopping are not available to as many as 2 million residents. A report this year by the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies found 67 counties with at least one food desert, though in some counties, there are several. And it’s not just rural populations suffering. Nearly 60% of Cleveland residents are in food deserts. WTOL reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls most of Toledo a food desert. Now, Ohio House members have created House Bill 543, to “Create a food ...

The numbers show Trump has not lost the Hispanic vote — yet

Columns

Is President Donald Trump losing the winning coalition he built just a year ago? He’s been the subject of premature political obituaries before — but Republicans are worried about signs that his gains with Hispanics are evaporating. Trump stunned pundits last year by very nearly winning the Hispanic vote outright. A constituency Democrats had come to take for granted suddenly seemed ready to realign with Republicans. But the numbers from the off-year elections earlier this month tell a different story. New Jersey townships with high proportions of Hispanic voters shifted ...