Brutus_buckeye

Given the companies with a large enough London presence here, I cant see how this wont be successful. Even going up to Dayton, Lexis Nexis parent company is based in London, so you have to figure that they will make use of this flight too. I hope this will lead American to expand the amount of other connecting flights through CVG and turn it into a focus city to further drive some traffic.

Ohio is guaranteed to add at least one more next year with GE joining the list.

The more I think about it, I do too. The business community will make it very difficult to pull the tourney and the community seems to be coming to the table to pretty much give the tournament whatever they want (within reason). As much as Beemok may prefer Charlotte, Mason provides a lot of advantages that Charlotte cannot. If you can turn the current facility into a state of the art facility (which I do not see why you cant) then Mason is the easy choice. The biggest thing, all things being equal facility wise, is that with Mason, you only have to invest 150 million into the facility vs in Charlotte triple the amount to create the same facility. Furthermore, Mason already has a dedicated base of support and the tourney is already very successful in Mason. There is every expectation that it will be successful for decades to come. In Charlotte, you have no guarantee of success. There is no built in fan base or expectation and such an event may fail there. It may be popular for 2-3 years as a novelty when it arrives but then support and interest will wane and people may quit coming, or come in much smaller numbers. In Mason, the base is already there and you do not have to spend as much marketing money to establish that base. If Mason is willing to invest the money to keep it, to me, it is the much safer choice for a company such as Beemok to make as opposed to charting a new course in Charlotte (after all, Atlanta once had a tennis tourney and it failed too, so what says Charlotte will be successful)

So considering with pre-season, that is $25k per game it seems pretty low. What other benefits does the county get? Do they get parking revenue or concessions or any ticket revenue split?

When treasuries are paying over 5% in some cases the returns on REITS are not as appealing.

It is not about getting 20k fans to fill it. It is about corporate dollars in the community to spend on the team and boxes. With Pacers and Colts is there enough big business in Indy to contribute to a 3rd team, especially when you have more established brands in the nearby markets that vie for that market share. Take the Pacers for example. Outside of Chicago, go pretty much 5 hours in any direction and they are the only team in the region. I take my kids to Pacer games a few times a year because they are closest to Cincinnati. Sponsors see this and this is what drives the value to sponsors.

that does make a lot of sense. While I dont have numbers, the vast majority of defaults are those that occur when the person drops out and does not finish the degree. For profit schools should theoretically have the highest dropout rate because they have the easiest barriers to entry and take practically any student with a pulse. While they offer opportunties to students to get a degree, it is also easy for people to quit when life gets busy and they would rather do something else (people being people and all). With historical black colleges, you can see this happening because you have a lot of first generation college students who may not be prepared for college or do not have enough stability on the home front that it can lead to a high drop out rate for other reasons such as family need, etc. One thing that I see a lot of that goes along with the for profit schools you mention are loans for schools like beauty schools, massage schools, art schools, etc. (essentially the schools that specialize in what i would consider light trades). These schools have an easy point of entry for students, offer a short program so it seems affordable, but have a high dropout rate for likely many reasons. I cant count how many people i see who have loans to these schools and are stuck paying on it for a certificate they never completed.

That is interesting. You would think that the other regional owners would push to block such a move if they could. Indy would have made a good MLS city before Cincinnati, Nashville and St. Louis jumped them in line. Now that part of the country is much too crowded. San Diego, Detroit and even Pittsburgh would make much more sense than Indy now. Of course if you get a $500 million check I guess it does not matter where it comes from. I would imagine the MLS knows that the chances of that happening are slim for Indy as outside investors with the money to invest would probably choose other cities first (safer return on their money at this point). kind of like what happened to Sacramento where they struggled to get off the ground because they could not attract the deep pocketed investor there. Meg Whitman who was courted to be the chief backer for Sacramento chose to invest in Cincinnati instead.

There are big Au Pair communities in most large and mid-sized cities. You just have to be involved with them to know how the process works. I know a bunch of friends who have Au-Pairs and it is quite an interesting thing. Most of the time, these are college age students who take 1-2 years off school to come over for an "american adventure" They typically have a student visa or something similar (not completely sure which Visa it is) that lets them work as an Au-Pair in the states for up to 2 years. There are strict rules for families with Au-Pairs regarding the hours they are allowed to work and time off. Just because they live in the house, you cant have them working all hours of the day and night. From what I understand, they typically work during the day and after 7PM they are considered "off the clock" which means if the family goes out to dinner, the Au-Pair cannot babysit unless they are paid extra. If the family travels, the Au-Pair has the choice to accompany the family on travels in some cases (oftentimes they do, because they get to see different parts of the country that way). The Au-Pair will get time off as well and they can mingle with the Au-Pair community and do activities. It is not a bad gig for the Au-Pair on the whole. Many initially are attracted to come to the US and want to be in the big cities like NY, DC, LA, etc, because that is what they know. However, when they actually get involved in the process, many will look at mid sized markets and even smaller markets like Dayton because they get a much better quality of life, often will have a bigger house and more private space, more money, and more ability to travel, etc. Like anything, communities form and once a foothold from one country is established, it is easier to get others from that country to come to a particular area. From what people have told me, like anything, there are good and bad Au-Pairs and anytime you have an 18-20 year old you have to deal with immaturity issues that come with it. Some are good, some are terrible and get sent back midway through their term. There are a few of them that have the goal to meet an American husband so they can remain in the US. It is quite an interesting program.

The development is nice, but it seems a bit large for a stadium for a minor league soccer stadium. Cant see Indy on the MLS radar for expansion and at this point you MLS would likely be openly hostile to an Indianapolis MLS team given that there are now teams in Columbus, Cincinnati, Nashville, St. Louis, & Chicago which are all within a 2-3 hour drive to Indy. Each city can claim some of the Indiana market and fan base (or will attempt to do so), which makes the footprint to establish a fan base in Indianapolis shrink even more.

Is part of the problem the specialization of games? For example someone who dominates in Call of Duty, would it be the same for another first person shooter or would the skillset be a bit different? Also, how do different versions of the came change things?Does that level the playing field between the experts of the older version when the new one comes out?

You have to figure there are interchangeable skills. From what I read, professional gamers have a short shelf live and like their professional athlete counterparts, they are often out of the business within 5 years after turning pro and are still pretty young to do something else. My question on the gaming industry is that many of the gamers have to specialize in a specific game (from what I understand). You have Call of Duty pros and you have Madden pros and you have other games that have their professional circuit. It seems as if it will lead to a very fragmented industry for the gamers to truly capitalize on their fame

Agreed. The Midwest had its day. It will likely have its day again when migration patterns change again. For now, there are limited options to spur the high growth that other areas are seeing. I think the Intel plant in Colubmus can be a big boost to the entire state. The Amazon hub in Cincinnati is another driver of employment too as they spur a lot of entry level jobs.

First of all, I do not find them malicious. As I have pointed out in other less provocative posts, they are an important tool for college and necessary evil. As mentioned, I even took out student loans myself. The problem, and anyone who thinks college should be free crowd should agree with is that too many people have student loans who will never be able to repay them. The majority of these loans are in the $30k of less category but they have them and they are accruing interest. They come from schooling which was started where the individual did not have a passion for and never realistically was going to finish. These would be considered bad investments. This is not to indict the entire system but certainly presents an issue. I review a lot of credit reports and the big issue that keeps people in poverty is outstanding student loan balances that will never be repaid because the individual dropped out

I feel the entire point from the last post has gone completely over your head and you do not seem to grasp the concept. Of course Columbus is going to gain more with a smaller growth rate, it started from a much bigger position. Same can be said about Boise Idaho, another growth town. The point is that you have a state in North Dakota that is growing despite what you may perceive is a major detriment of having conservative politics and being located in the great white North. The hypo was if Ohio was this wonderful LGBTQ world with progressive governance and @jon81oh as the governor and chief policy maker in Ohio, that even in this perfect utopia, you still wont get many LGBTQ individuals to relocate to Ohio. Regarding your Disney example, again it is not as simple as you seem to want to make it out to be. Now I do not want to fully discount your take, as there could be some truth to it, but instead of swallow that full throat consider that maybe 1) Disney did not pull the plug because an employee revolt, they pulled the plug because their economic fortunes had changed. As a company, they were hemorrhaging money and have announced massive layoffs across the company. 2) Building and relocating the talent at this time was an expensive proposition that would take up considerable cash at a time where you would want to save and protect the cash. 3) Moving to Florida presented the company with many long term tax benefits but would take a number of years to realize and only after they spend a lot of money up front. Now, certainly, a silver lining for Disney is throwing egg and DiSantis face when they pulled the plug but do you really think that Disney pulled the plug because of Florida policies or is it more plausible that it was the overall economic issues going on with the company who had recently replace their CEO for failing to deliver to shareholders. And a 4th nugget to consider in this process. Disney would be around in Florida much longer than DiSantis would be governor so dont you think their influence could whether the storm and come out ahead? Yes, bigotry and hatred can take many forms.

It does not matter. It is not about the actual "saving money for college" it is about taking time to understand yourself and make sure you are ready for the financial commitment once you get to college and are mature enough to take on the investment and student loans that will accompany it. if you are going to college because you graduated high school and do not have a plan for what is next in life and your plan is to take a bunch of college classes to figure it out, then taking on a large amount of student loans at this time is not a good idea. If you know you want to be a doctor and have a plan when you get to school, then taking out loans to accomplish the goal makes much more sense. It is more about the maturity of the student taking on the loans than anything

I dont disagree with you, and I had since clarified my earlier comment. However, you had a plan when you went there and appeared to know what you wanted to study. Loans can be fine. Heck, I even took out student loans for school. My biggest issue with loans is that they are given out like candy at a parade to anyone and everyone who requests one. This puts certain people at a huge disadvantage because they are attending college without a purpose and financing that on loans. They have no plan for what they want to do or how to get there but they take out costly loans that they will never be able to repay in the process because they never had a purpose for their education. There should be safeguards to prevent loans from being given to students who are not prepared for the rigors of college or even have the focus to achieve the goals in front of them.

I did not mean to sound harsh that student loans have no place. They certainly do. The problem is that they are given out without any restrictions as to if they will benefit the student or serve as a hinderance. Using your town doctor as an example, he probably knew and had a plan from the time he was in high school that he was going to be a doctor. He was also geared toward academics from high school so he had a strong liklihood of success (at least in college). Too often, especially of late, you are sending kids to college that have no business being there or no real idea of what they want out of college. I am someone who is supportive of a liberal arts education but at the same time, you have to have a plan for when you get to college. Going and taking college classes for the sake of going to college since it is the next step in life is not a plan and students who take on such loans are likely going to do themselves a long term disservice. They would probably be better off waiting for a few years and working before going back to college.

Or hold schools accountable for the results of their students on loans. Maybe it will make admissions policies tougher and actually drive prices down. There are certainly a place for loans, but they should be more restrictive. Make sure the right kids are going to college. College is not for everyone. some HS kids need to work or experience the world to be ready to take on college at 18, otherwise you give loans to kids who are not ready. Giving them free college does not help the problem. Things like the GI bill or maybe something tied to Americorp volunteers to provide college tuition for students to work for 3-4 years in a program like this and allow them to mature enough to take on college would be beneficial. There are a number of ideas out there that could ensure that student loan debt could be minimized and that it would flow to students who could provide the best chance for positive outcomes.

Funny how you always seem to lack any facts in your arguments. The problem is that Ohio's population decline is not something that has occurred in the last 10 years or even 20 years because of GOP policies. This has been going on for 50 years. And yes, the GOP leadership does bear responsibility, but so do Democrats who have also stymied many good ideas over the last 50 years, both when they were in the majority or even from the minority. jonboy, your biggest problem is that you are always looking for a bad guy to blame. You look at things as a black or white good vs bad and you have manufactured in your head that the GOP is always the enemy and that if only Dems were in charge all the problems would go away and things would be wonderful. Unfortunately, that view is devoid of reality and things are not that simple. If you can't recognize or even admit to the flaws on the Dem side and can see where both sides have contributed to this issue (as well as other outside economic forces outside of both parties control) then you clearly do not understand the issues at play or your analysis is too jaded to draw a proper conclusion.

jon, you seem to think that if only the conservatives were not in charge Ohio would be a shining beacon of light on the hill and people will flock here and sing kumbaya. That is an extremely naive and ignorant view of things. People are not leaving Ohio because of conservative policies. People were not coming to Ohio when they were a more liberal state either. People have been steadily leaving Ohio for much of the last 50 years and the reason has little if nothing to do with their LGBT policies or which party controls the legislature. It is about jobs and opportunity, that is it. Why were people flocking to North Dakota 10 years ago? It is a frozen tundra and run by conservative politicians that probably did not have a strong LGBTQ policy. But it did have jobs, and those jobs paid pretty well. And it had a low cost of living, so people wanted to move there. People left Ohio and detroit, and Buffalo, Rochester, etc. because the mills closed, it was not efficient to manufacture in Ohio and the new industries in the economy led to the ability to work other places and make it more attractive to move. It really is as simple as that. Look at boomtowns, look at areas that have growth over the last 50 years. people come there for jobs and opportunity. You could create a perfect LGBTQ utopia in Ohio and it could be the most perfect community for all LBGTQ people to live in wonderful harmony and you still will not get people in the LGBTQ population to move from Florida to Ohio because Florida offers more JOBS and opportunity.

Both parties are equally guilty of this. The problems have been an issue for over 50 years now yet both sides just want to engage in culture wars that play to their bases because it is easier to fight the culture war that placates the base than actually do something to fix the systemic issues. Plus, there is zero incentive to fix the systemic issues because to do so would likely create short term pain for a long term benefit that may not be realized for another generation, oftentimes when most of those politicians are out of power. That does not help win elections in the short term.

Student loans are one of the dumbest concepts ever created. How much sense does it make to give someone a loan with zero collateral attached (only future potential work earnings of the student) yet alone give it to an 18 year old kid who has no idea what he/she wants to do in life and keep giving them such money regardless of what they choose to do or study. 18 year olds make poor decisions and when it is really easy to get money in the form of a student loan, it leads to bad decision making. The only people who do well with student loans are the colleges who have no recourse to ensure the student on the loans succeeds. It is free money to them and allows them to become bloated unaccountable organizations.

I would not quite go that far. Anecdotes are important because they are real and personal and provide individual perspective. No, they cannot be measured by data or may just be a blip in the data, but just because you can't capture it by data does not mean it was not real or factual. You want to argue that in a negative way it allows people to openly show their "bias." and you act like that is a bad thing. Bias is a natural thing, everyone has a bias. You show your bias, I have bias, everyone has their bias. It is shaped by perspective and their life events. It is not necessarily bad, but it needs to be recognized as such. Bias can be a good thing in many cases because it allows you to check the data you are seeing and determine if it makes sense. Oftentimes, and you see it mostly in government, people are too dogmatic to data that it leads them to make bad decisions. Oftentimes, data can be misleading, inaccurate or even just downright false. Without perspective, and what some may say bias, people are unable to check against bad data and make decisions that can lead to disaster. Anecdotal evidence or "the smell test" allows decision makers a way to show prudence when the data may be telling the decision maker something that may be contrary to common sense.

Actually they are. If it happened to you, it was a factual occurrence. Just because it was not reported in the news does not make it factual. No, you cannot cite the data in an academic paper, but that does not mean a personal anecdote is not a fact (assuming it truly did happen). You probably want to phrase it as an unverifiable fact or event.