Why the stimulus didn't create more jobs   

By Steffen Schmidt

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Steffen Schmidt is a University Professor of political science at Iowa State University and lead author of the country's most widely adopted introductory college textbook, "American Government and Politics Today." He provides weekly political analysis for Iowa Public Radio, and periodically in Spanish for CNN en Español. He is chief political and foreign correspondent for InsiderIowa.com

The Kill Bill: Eliminating Film Tax Credits    

By Dave Swenson

A few years ago, Richard Florida, an academic and urbanist, burst onto the scene with his somewhat intriguing book, The Rise of the Creative Class.  It was his hypothesis that places where critical clusters of scientists, scholars, artists, and other “super creative” people intersected grew faster in the 1990s than other places with less creative folks. Many people only heard part of his message and took away an overly simplistic formula that more artists and cultural investments equal more job growth. MORE

Dave Swenson is a long-time analyst of Iowa political, social, and economic issues. He is a staff research economist at Iowa State University and an extension-to-communities economics educator. He also teaches community and regional planners (those nefarious agents of totalitarian control) how to do economic things in their profession. 

Strong Like Bear

An Insider Session with Erika Iverson

Strong Like Bear is a local Ames band that not only plays beautiful, misty folk songs but also contributes a lot of work to the Ames music scene. They invited me to their homemade recording studio to hear a couple songs and get access to them a little better. The vocalist, Jordan, serenades you with sweet lyrics while the bass, guitar, and drum play along in bouncy and playful rhythm. It's a joyful sound and I will definitely be awaiting their first album!  See the video.