Blog

City Regulators, Airbnb and the Road From Serfdom

Jun 13, 2017
In the same week that the city of Kansas City, Missouri, published its proposed new rules to regulate Airbnb, I just happened to be re-reading F.A. Hayek’s classic, The Road to Serfdom. My guess is that Hayek would not smile… more

A 15-Year Perspective on Funding Higher Education

May 11, 2017
While the state of Kansas was facing some very difficult decisions, potentially involving dramatic budget cuts, the hammer had already fallen on funding public universities in Missouri. Missouri’s General Assembly and Gov. Bob Holden had just approved a remarkable 37… more

Entrepreneurship: Where Great Minds Come to Meld

May 11, 2017
Not long ago, I had the pleasure of moderating a two-person panel on the subject of entrepreneurship. On the surface, the two panelists had close to nothing in common. One was a 24-year-old New Yorker born into a modest family… more

Why the ‘Brownback Experiment’ Had to Fail

Mar 15, 2017
The Kansas City Star sowed the seeds for the failed harvest of the “Brownback experiment” the very day that Gov. Sam Brownback signed the epic tax-cut bill into law in May 2012. The first full sentence of the newspaper’s report… more

Why Is VW Still Selling Cars in America?

Mar 15, 2017
It’s interesting, and more than a touch ironic, that as we released the March print issue with a feature on successful emerging brands, America is witnessing one brand in steep decline: Volkswagen. Nearly three years after the German auto maker… more

So Much for the Valentine’s Day Massacre

Feb 23, 2017
I earned a lifetime teaching degree while at Mizzou, and like those icons we feature in this issue, I particularly enjoy the classroom environment and interaction with students. Consider Ingram’s, if you will, Continuing Ed for the business professional. At… more

Puppies May Save KC’s Bond Deal. Pavement Won’t.

Feb 23, 2017
In 2010, activists succeeded in getting a proposition on the Missouri ballot with the title, “Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act.” Not surprisingly, the measure passed. At the time, I commented on KCPT’s Kansas City Week in Review that if I… more

The Digital Age Needs a Godfather or Two

Jan 27, 2017
“You found paradise in America,” Don Corleone tells Bonasera, the mortician, in the opening scene of The Godfather. “You had a good trade. You made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law.” As Don… more

High Atop the Town

Oct 17, 2016
Random Thoughts: We may not retire independently wealthy, but I have to tell you that serving as publisher of Ingram’s for 20 years (come February) has enabled me to get to know thousands of the brightest and most talented business… more

Is Everything ‘Free’ a Success?

Oct 17, 2016
Some years back, we had a yard sale. I put all the sundry flotsam and jetsam out front, as people normally do, and waited for the eager customers to come flocking by. Alas, “flocking” did not prove to be the… more