Obama’s Public-Equity Record Is the Real Scandal

I guess I should celebrate it as some form of progress any time I find another Washington Post opinion blasting Obama. The premise is that Obama might want to rethink his strategy blasting Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital.

"After all, if Romney’s record in private equity is fair game, then so is Obama’s record in public equity — and that record is not pretty."

"Since taking office, Obama has invested billions of taxpayer dollars in private businesses, including as part of his stimulus spending bill. Many of those investments have turned out to be unmitigated disasters — leaving in their wake bankruptcies, layoffs, criminal investigations and taxpayers on the hook for billions."

"Amazingly, Obama has declared that all the projects received funding 'based solely on their merits.' But as Hoover Institution scholar Peter Schweizer reported in his book, 'Throw Them All Out,' fully 71 percent of the Obama Energy Department’s grants and loans went to 'individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party.' Collectively, these Obama cronies raised $457,834 for his campaign, and they were in turn approved for grants or loans of nearly $11.35 billion. Obama said this week it’s not the president’s job 'to make a lot of money for investors.' Well, he sure seems to have made a lot of (taxpayer) money for investors in his political machine."

If the record of failed projects is not enough, then the fact that so many of Obama's backers benefited from these raids on the US Treasury, money that we really don't have to begin with, gives everything about these financial scandals an especially bad smell.

"Now the man who made Solyndra a household name says Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital 'is what this campaign is going to be about.' Good luck with that, Mr. President. If Obama wants to attack Romney’s alleged private equity failures as chief executive of Bain, he’d better be ready to defend his own massive public equity failures as chief executive of the United States."

Forget Bain — Obama’s public-equity record is the real scandal - The Washington Post

It's Even Worse Than We Thought | Indystar.com

The acknowledged debt numbers are so bad it is easy to see how this report might not pack the punch it should because it is hard to fathom debt numbers this large anyway.

"USA Today, however, calculated the deficit with entitlement programs included. And the newspaper found -- are you ready, for this? Best hold on to something firm -- that the actual deficit last year was $5 trillion.

There's more -- and you really should sit down for this one. To cover the promises it has made to retirees and current workers, the federal government would need $22.2 trillion (yes, that's with a T) set aside in reserves and earning interest. Such reserves don't exist, of course. Instead, the government continues to pile up more debt, and at increasingly alarming rates."

I think of the savings brochures that encourage us to save money so we can take advantage of the effects of compound interest. If you have seen charts showing how compound interest builds savings, then you are familiar with the curve that begins to bend sharply upward after 30 years. But have you ever considered how borrowers, like US taxpayers, are affected in reverse by compound interest?

"Now some apologists for deficit spending try to downplay these types of warnings. The federal government, they argue, can do things that others can't.

It can, for example, print money -- lots of it. But there's also a consequence that tends to kick in when the government increases the overtime budget at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. A wicked inflation rate, the result of flooding the market with more dollars, would help tame the debt, but it also would inflict considerable pain on lots of ordinary Americans.

The government also can break ("bend" would be the more polite word here) its promises. "It's not easy, but it can be done," Jim Horney, a staff member of a liberal think tank, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told USA Today. "Retirement programs are not legal obligations." 

Now doesn't that make you feel better? The government doesn't really have to send you the Social Security checks you've calculated into your retirement plans. 

If that prospect doesn't satisfy you, this would be a good time -- in an election year -- to look for candidates who are serious about forcing the government to finally get serious about fiscal responsibility."

It seems that sooner or later it should become obvious to anyone that this debt trajectory of the federal government is simply unsustainable. The question remains how painful will the consequences be before corrective action is taken because the longer we wait to address the issue, the more painful the correction will have to be.

It's even worse than we thought - Indystar.com

Cocooned Liberals Unprepared for Political Debate

Michael Barone writes about a topic that I have pondered a lot. Why are so many liberals either afraid or incapable of having a political discourse? They tend so quickly to resort to name calling or to denigrating in some fashion the viewpoint or the position put forth by conservatives.

If you are a black conservative, then your views or ideas don't count because you are an Uncle Tom or an Oreo. If you are a women conservative, then you are a whore or worse. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just Google "Bill Maher" and you will see what I mean.

But in general if you espouse conservative views to many liberals, you will not be countered with facts, with logic, or historical perspective. Rather you will be denigrated and discounted because you are mean, selfish, racist, hateful, etc. etc. etc... I've been call racist for no other reason than having the audacity to disagree with our multi-racial President.

I think all of us understand the preference to associate with those with whom we agree. And as Barone points out liberals often only hear liberal arguments and are shocked when their viewpoint loses in the marketplace of ideas. Conservatives however might associate mostly with those who think like them but they cannot escape the liberal bent going on all around them on television, radio, magazines, and newspapers where the mainstream media is overwhelmingly liberal.

But even though it is relatively easy for liberals to avoid conservative viewpoints, that often isn't enough for them because they call for the voices of conservative viewpoints to be squashed by government edict and regulations such as those against "hate speech" however that is defined. Apparently those liberals don't read the Constitution and all that stuff about freedom of speech.

Barone points out how this results in liberals being unprepared to face counter-arguments in cases like ObamaCare and the recall effort against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

"But cocooning has an asymmetrical effect on liberals and conservatives. Even in a cocoon, conservatives cannot avoid liberal mainstream media, liberal Hollywood entertainment and, these days, the liberal Obama administration.

They're made uncomfortably aware of the arguments of those on the other side. Which gives them an advantage in fashioning their own responses.

Liberals can protect themselves better against assaults from outside their cocoon. They can stay out of megachurches and make sure their remote controls never click on Fox News. They can stay off the AM radio dial so they will never hear Rush Limbaugh.

The problem is that this leaves them unprepared to make the best case for their side in public debate. They are too often not aware of holes in arguments that sound plausible when bandied between confreres entirely disposed to agree.

We have seen how this works on some issues this year.

Take the arguments developed by professor Randy Barnett of Georgetown Law that Obamacare's mandate to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. Some liberal scholars like Jack Balkin of Yale have addressed them with counterarguments of their own.

But liberal politicians and Eric Holder's Justice Department remained clueless about them. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asked whether Obamacare was unconstitutional, could only gasp: 'Are you serious? Are you serious?'

In March, after the Supreme Court heard extended oral argument on the case, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin was clearly flabbergasted that a majority of justices seemed to take the case against Obamacare's constitutionality very seriously indeed.

Liberals better informed about the other side's case might have drafted the legislation in a way to avoid this controversy. But nothing they heard in their cocoon alerted them to the danger."

RealClearPolitics - Cocooned Liberals Are Unprepared for Political Debate

IPO Stands For ‘It’s Probably Overpriced’ - Chuck Jaffe - MarketWatch

Chuck Jaffe appears to have made this call correctly dating back to his column when Facebook first filed the paperwork for its recent IPO. See the link in this article on what IPO really stands for.

"In the past few days, thanks to the initial public offering of Facebook, investors have learned what the letters IPO really stand for: 'It’s probably overpriced.'

Truthfully, the initial public offering process is built and managed to give a predictable pop on opening day, which results in an equally predictable fallback later, which is why chasing after any initial public offering is the Stupid Investment of the Week"

IPO stands for ‘it’s probably overpriced’ - Chuck Jaffe - MarketWatch

IPFW Softball Signs Homestead Standout

IPFW Softball has signed Homestead High School standout Hillary Kartman to join the Mastodons in the 2012-13 season. I think it is a great that another local student-athlete is able to continue her athletic career locally at IPFW.

"Kartman batted .465 this season with 23 runs scored, nine doubles, one triple, and two home runs."

IPFW Softball looks to continue the growth and success of the program under Head Coach Amy Tudor that saw the Mastodons push North Dakota State to a decisive game in the Summit League tournament just missing a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

"The Mastodons finished the season with a 45-14 overall record, and set single-season school records in individual runs scored, hits, RBI's, walks, times hit by pitch, stolen bases, wins, and saves; and team records in batting average, on-base percentage, runs, hits, RBI's, total bases, walks, times hit by pitch, sacrifice hits, stolen bases, ERA, opponent batting average, saves, strikeouts, and fielding percentage."

IPFW Softball Signs Homestead Player

Go Midwest, Young Man: Indiana's Plan to Steal California Jobs -The Atlantic

"Governor Mitch Daniels has a bold strategy to make his state the new destination for outbound sunbelt businesses. But making Indiana a tech magnet will take more than low taxes."

Jason Margolis examines Indiana's efforts to recruit employers to relocate from California (and Illinois) to Indiana even utlizing coffee mug ads to proclaim Indiana as THE place to do business.

"Some Californians may have recently noticed an advertisement with a coffee mug and the word 'Indiana' written in the milky latte foam. A crumpled napkin sits next to the mug with this scribbled on it: 'Admit it, you find me fiscally attractive.' On another napkin it reads, 'Indiana: low taxes, pro-business, fiscally responsible.'

Ads like this are part of the Hoosier state's new push to lure California companies 2,300 miles east, trying to convince them to give up the morass of California regulations and high business taxes, in exchange for the regulation-light, low tax business nirvana of Indiana."
 
But is the initial attraction of lower taxes and lower operating costs enough to get companies to relocate from California to Indiana even with California's hostility to business?

"According to Indiana's Economic Development Department, eight California companies have relocated to Indiana in the past three years. Those companies employ 1517 people in Indiana.

'In a state like Indiana, which has nearly 3 million jobs, that doesn't really amount to very much,' said Morton Marcus, a retired economics professor from Indiana University in Bloomington. He also questions how many Indiana companies are opening offices in California. 

Marcus said lower taxes rank toward the bottom of the list for a company considering relocation. 'The most important issue they have is how do they get their product to market and whether or not they have the workforce they need. And Indiana's main problem is that it doesn't have the kind of workforce that even our existing firms feel that they need.' "

All of this is an interesting concept but it would seem that Indiana will have much more luck enticing jobs from Illinois than from California, but that is not to say that such recruiting efforts should not be continued and maybe even expanded.

Go Midwest, Young Man: Indiana's Plan to Steal California Jobs - Jason Margolis - Business - The Atlantic

Ordinary people believe only in the possible...

“Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.”
– Cherie Carter-Scott

FranklinCovey <<go>> QUOTE

The Fallacy of Dollar-Cost Averaging - MarketWatch

Through the years I have heard a lot of talk about the investing approach known as dollar-cost averaging. I think it is clear that Kirk Spano is not a fan of that approach. So what does he suggest?

"What is an investor to do then who is sitting on the sidelines like so many are today? It is very simple, buy low when low happens. It is that easy and that hard. But it is not impossible with an informed and patient approach."

The fallacy of dollar-cost averaging - MarketWatch

PJ Media » Solving the Student Loan Debt Problem

I don't know when I first read that the next big bubble is the Student Loan Bubble and that it would be worse than the Mortgage Bubble. The link below takes you to a sarcastic look at the problem that caused some chuckles within me until I consider how serious the problem is.

And I know the outcome. Taxpayers like me are going to get stuck with this bill too. How else can this turn out? I mean how many jobs are there out there for <FILL IN THE BLANK> Studies majors?

"But I guess I’m not the only victim here. Other victims are actually the stupid kids being tricked into borrowing huge amounts of debt to get worthless diplomas. It’s hard to see them as victims when, like most people, I hate teenagers and want bad things to happen to them. And when I think about the incoherent, angry young adults in OWS, knowing that their futures have been crushed under giant piles of debt they’ll never be able to repay kind of makes me smile. Even so, this collusion between the government, banks, and colleges to take advantage of stupid people needs to stop."

PJ Media » Solving the Student Loan Debt Problem

The Changing Face of Retirement

This Morningstar article discusses how retirement is changing in our society. There is nothing particularly new with that but this caught my attention.

"Meanwhile, the social safety net is showing frayed edges. Just this week the Social Security Board of Trustees released revised estimates showing the Social Security trust fund is scheduled to run out of money in 2033, three years earlier than previously thought."

That is the first updated report that I have seen that the Social Security trust fund problems continue to grow worse. That is no surprise either. How are we going to solve that especially when one national party demagogues the heck out of the issue whenever the other party actually floats some ideas on how to correct the problem?

Make no mistake. This is a problem. And if we don't address it, then reality will force a solution upon us that we don't like. And the longer we wait, the worse that solution will be.

The Changing Face of Retirement

Webb Is Right | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Bravo to Senator Jim Webb for taking this position.

"Virginia Sen. Jim Webb has introduced legislation requiring the president to obtain congressional say-so before sending American troops abroad for humanitarian interventions where U.S. interests are not directly threatened."

National Defense: Webb is right | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Defining Diversity at Harvard Law - BostonHerald.com

I think this article points out how ridiculous the issue of minority status has become. And the author asks some very pointed questions to Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for the US Senate from Massachusetts.

1. Do you favor racial preferences in university hiring and admissions? In the corporate world? In federal contracting? How about in government lending policies?

2. Do you believe that racial preferences cast doubt upon the qualifications of minorities who would have excelled without the extra boost?

3. Who should “count” as a minority for purposes of affirmative action? Anyone with minority roots? Or only those who are one-fourth or one-half minority?

4. Does “diversity” include all minorities? Or only those with left-wing political viewpoints?

I think the last question is the most interesting since examples of conservative minorities being discounted completely by so-called minority leaders and the mainstream media because they are conservative as if that makes them as bad as a white male.

Defining diversity at Harvard Law - BostonHerald.com

Notes on a New Economic Model - Jason O'Mahony's Irish Insight - MarketWatch

Commentary: Picking either unregulated capitalism or stifling socialism is a false choice

This opinion column in MarketWatch is by Jason O’Mahony described at the end of his opinion article as living in Dublin, Ireland, working in the construction industry. He’s a liberal, pro-EU activist and former candidate. He blogs at www.jasonomahony.ie about politics and things that make him laugh.

He makes several really interesting points that I think are useful reading for people in any point between the left and the right of the political spectrum. I have encapsulated his thoughts here. 

Whatever your political beliefs, I highly recommend that you follow the link at the bottom and read his entire column which I found to be very thought-provoking.

1. At this stage of human development in the West we can eliminate poverty.

2. However, whereas we could fund a right to health care, we can’t fund the right to an iPad...

3. Capitalism, for all its flaws, has still proven to be the most effective way of encouraging innovation and wealth creation.

4. If we are to fund a society that prevents its people from falling into poverty, wealth production requires that the overwhelming majority of the adult populace contribute.

5. Capitalism will only survive with the consent of the great majority...Such a deal has to recognize, however, that while job creation, alongside stable families, is the greatest contributor to wealth creation and poverty reduction, it is at its most effective when linked to the pursuit of profit. 

6. The creation of a permanent economic aristocracy of the megawealthy has the potential to be a threat to capitalism itself, in that by sucking the wealth away from the rest of society it calls into question the ability of capitalism to provide an acceptable living standard to the great majority, which could lead to dissatisfaction and eventual revolution. In short, capitalism needs millionaires to survive, to act as an incentive to others to innovate. But does it actually need billionaires?

7. This doesn't mean that we should follow the confiscation policies of the hard left. They advocate a short-term solution that, if followed, will actually strangle the wealth-creating capacity of the West. The problem with the hard left, especially in Europe, is that it believes that wealth is a naturally occurring phenomena, whereas capitalists believe, rightly, that wealth is created by the ingenuity of man, and requires that man be free to create and benefit from the fruits of his creation.

8. The key must be to balance the freedom to strive and create and benefit from that effort with a proportion of that wealth going back into society through redistribution. How does one do that without stifling effort through punitive taxation? Estate taxes have proven an effective means, not interfering with the wealth-creation effort during the life of the creator. This does have to be balanced with the maintaining of economically viable entities after their creator’s passing and the very human desire to pass on wealth to family.

9. Finally, a new economic model must recognize that globalization is a fact.

"Many on the political right will look aghast at such ideas as socialist or 'big government.' They should look to history. From the Industrial Revolution onward, it has been progressive politicians of the center and left who have adjusted capitalism to save it from revolution. Mill owners said an eight-hour day wasn't economically viable. Plutocrats said banning child workers or slavery would destroy the free-enterprise system, and that the welfare state would end capitalism.

But is it a coincidence that the period of intervention in the free-market system, not to control it but to regulate it, has been the period of its greatest triumph? During the U.S.’s golden age of the 1950s, oft harked back to by conservatives, the top marginal income tax rate was an eye-watering 91% under that well-known arch-pinko Dwight Eisenhower. From the creation of National Insurance in 1911 in the U.K. to FDR’s New Deal to Clement Attlee’s welfare state in 1945 to Johnson’s Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 to Obama’s saving of General Motors, the center-left across the West has taken just enough cream from the top to fund the social stability that is vital for the free-enterprise system to prosper in.

In short, is it the progressive and thoughtful centrists who will once again save capitalism?"

Notes on a new economic model - Jason O'Mahony's Irish Insight - MarketWatch

Practice Retirement Before Leaping Into Leisure - Robert Powell - MarketWatch

I have read this article on practicing retirement a couple times and I am still not sure of the concept. The question in my mind is if I start to practice retirement what can I really change while I am still working?

It seems to me that I don't need to practice retirement. In my mind I think I will be pretty good at retirement from Day One without any practice or training.

I guess this is the key point that I need to focus on while I check out the link to the manual mentioned in this paragraph.

"Of course, one critical part of making this 'practice retirement' strategy work is getting a handle on how you will work and play. That won’t be easy, but T. Rowe Price has created a training manual to help you explore how you might spend your 60s. The manual, in which you list milestones and create a 'training' schedule, can be found here."

Practice retirement before leaping into leisure - Robert Powell - MarketWatch

Social Media Offers Sweet Revenge for Bad Service - MarketWatch

“ 'There is a tremendous echo in social-media channels,' said Thomas Sclafani, a spokesman for American Express, which found in a recent survey that consumers who use social media to get a company’s attention wield a much bigger stick than those who don’t.

That’s because, beyond the broader audience who might see a complaint on, say, Facebook or Twitter, people who use social media to voice their discontent are much likelier to also talk to people directly about the problem, compared with someone who simply calls the customer-service center."

I guess that is an indication that those who use Social Media are...well, more social.

"Social media-ites, according to the American Express survey, will directly tell 53 people about bad customer-service experiences, who will tell their friends who will tell their friends and so on.

Those who don’t use social media tell only 17 people they’re unhappy with a service, compared with the 24 people that the general population tells.

The same is true for good experiences, by the way. Social-media users tell 42 people they were thrilled with some service versus the nine people told by those who don’t use social media and the 15 people with whom the general population confides."

The article concludes with tips on how to complain using Social Media.

Social media offers sweet revenge for bad service - Jennifer Waters's Consumer Confidential - MarketWatch

Toyota RAV4 EV: Will Anyone Buy It? - MarketWatch

"The car maker unveiled its RAV4 EV at the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles. It has the same unimpressive 100-mile range and roughly six-hour charging time of other new electric vehicles.

It can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in seven seconds and has a top speed of 100 mph. But the number likely to matter most is its nearly $50,000 sticker price ($49,800 to be exact)."

I don't think I will be ordering one at that price, even if I needed another car. I am still interested in what happens in the marketplace for hybrids and electrics, but it all has to make economic sense both short-term and long-term.

And if we all purchased an electric vehicle, I wonder where the far-left environmentalists would let us get the electricity to power them.

Toyota RAV4 EV: Will anyone buy it? - MarketWatch

Amy Recht, Queen of the Court via theSummitLeague.org

Homestead High School graduate Amy Recht attended IPFW where she competed as a women's tennis player and established two Summit League marks that will never be exceeded, matched maybe, but never exceeded.

"Do you remember when you were participating in sports as a child and your coach or parents told you to just go out and play and not worry about the end result?  That was the philosophy Amy Recht brought to the tennis courts as a member of the IPFW women's tennis team.  Little did she realize that her easy-going attitude in the competitive world of collegiate tennis would help her become one of the most successful and accomplished student-athletes in The Summit League's 30-year history."

Amy Recht is the only student-athlete in the 30-year history of the Summit League to earn Player of the Year honors in his or her sport for all four years of her NCAA eligibility. And she never lost a Summit League women's singles tennis match during her four-year career at IPFW going 28-0.

"'Big accomplishments' is an understatement when describing Recht's career at IPFW - four consecutive Player of the Year awards (2008-11), the 2008 league Newcomer of the Year, 11 league Player of the Week honors,  and a 28-0 record against Summit League competition.  Recht is the only athlete in league history to earn four Player of the Year awards in any sport and her 28 career league victories ranks first all-time."

Women's tennis is not a marque collegiate sport like basketball so it get less attention from the media and fans. But for her accomplishments at IPFW Amy Recht deserves to be recognized as one of the most accomplished student-athletes in Fort Wayne history.

Queen of the Court - theSummitLeague.org—Official Web Site of The Summit League

My New Mower For the Man Who Has Everything

From Christmas through my birthday I annually receive some money gifts that accumulate until I decide what to spend the cash on. This year I bought myself a new mower. Now I didn't need another mower. We have a Toro self-propelled Personal Pace mulching mower that I like and that is still serving us very well after approximately ten years use.

But for a number of reasons I decided to spend my money on a mower unlike any I have used since cutting my Grandpa's grass over five decades ago but with the latest technology that makes it much easier to use than Grandpa's was. I bought a Fiskars Reel Mower.

In fact this is the mower I bought, the StaySharp™ Max Reel Mower. And no, I didn't pay the listed price.

Why did I buy another mower? Well there are a number of reasons. My plan is to use the reel mower on our front lawn. Maybe I'll start using it to cut my mother-in-law's front yard also. I plan to continue to use the mulching mower in our back yard because it gets a lot of shade and grows thicker and more quickly.

I can use the Fiskars reel mower early in the morning as long as the grass is dry and not have to worry about disturbing neighbors who might be sleeping in. I can listen to the radio or my MP3 player while cutting the grass. And if I am going to take a walk for exercise, I can just get my walk behind the Fiskars mower back and forth across our yard instead of around and around our neighborhood sidewalks.

And there are two more related reasons for trying the reel mower. Our Toro has a 6-horsepower engine which devours about one gallon of gas every time I mow our lawn. I am thinking that the Fiskars reel mower will pay for itself in about two years.

And even though I don't consider myself an environmentalist politically, I care about the environment. I care about noise pollution. And I care about my health and physical well-being. For all these reasons I think this experiment makes a lot of sense.

I have cut the grass in our front yard twice with the new mower and so far I like what I see. The mower misses a long blade of grass here and there so I am still working on fine tuning the adjustment of the blades. But so far I am satisfied with the reel mower experiment that I think is going to be a success.

Hiding Money From a Spouse Gets Harder - MarketWatch

I don't think this would ever be a good idea, but it would certainly be much more difficult today in the computer age.

"While in the past a paper trail might be hidden by a second set of books or the shredding of documents, the trail left by files on a computer is etched onto a hard drive somewhere, just waiting to be discovered," says Ken Altshuler, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Hiding Money From a Spouse Gets Harder - MarketWatch

Butler May Leave Horizon for Atlantic 10 - News-Sentinel.com

This report from The News-Sentinel that Butler is considering leaving the Horizon Conference for the Atlantic 10 is not a surprise based on rumors that have been circulating since the NCAA tournament. But the news that Butler is doing a cost/benefit analysis and will probably make a decision within the next week or two is an interesting update.

I can understand the draw of stepping up to a more highly rated conference but how much more income will actually result from that. There is also the opportunity to resurrect conference rivalries with schools like Xavier, Dayton, and so on.

But these concerns relate mostly to men's basketball. What about the increased travel costs for all the Butler athletic teams to travel all around the eastern half of the US in the Atlantic 10 with no appreciable increase in revenue from those sports. That is the downside in the cost/benefit analysis.

However to me the more interesting question is what does the Horizon League do if Butler goes? Do they stand pat? Do they look for one school to replace Butler? Or do they look at maybe three or more schools to expand the league.

That results in really interesting conversations for schools like Oakland University, IUPUI, and, yes, IPFW, and perhaps others including Northern Kentucky who is moving to D-I in the Atlantic Sun but maybe they could be enticed by the Horizon League. Certainly the Summit League and its member schools have to be watching this drama very closely and with some concern.

For IPFW the concern would be what happens if IUPUI and Oakland would leave the Summit League and leave IPFW out on an island in the Summit League where the nearest rival is Western Illinois? And even with University of Nebraska-Omaha coming on board the Summit League drops to nine members with the losses of Oral Roberts and Southern Utah. What is the minimum number of member schools that the Summit League must have in order to retain its automatic bid to NCAA tournaments?

Butler may leave Horizon for Atlantic 10 - News-Sentinel.com

UPDATE: ESPN's Andy Katz says Butler to A-10 is a done deal.

Source: Butler to join Atlantic 10