Fri, 25 Sep 2009

Running amuck without housing

Last week saw another chapter in the saga of the floating homeless encampment. First this camp of up to 80 homeless people was Camp Runamuck under a Rt 195 bridge in Providence. Then they moved to East Providence. Then, with their numbers dwindled to around 20, to some commercial land in Providence. Now they're going to have to move from there, since the land isn't zoned for, um, protest camping.

It's a fascinating story, especially to hear about the camp's success with experiments in self-government, and there is some dark amusement available in wondering where they'll pop up next. But the tale of this doughty band tends to obscure some darker currents going on in the background.

For one thing, does anyone wonder why these guys are still camping? Told to leave one spot, they go to another rather than disperse. Told to leave that one, they still hang together. It all seems a jolly outing from the news reports, but it's not like the welcome sign is hanging from our bridges. Our state has homeless shelters, doesn't it?

Well, we do. But a funny thing has happened due to the foreclosure crisis and the recession during the past year. That is, our shelters are mostly full. According to the Coalition for the Homeless, there are as many people in the shelters this month as there usually are in mid-winter. And it's still nice outside. What will happen when it gets cold?

See more ...

15:57 - 25 Sep 2009 [/y9/cols] link

Fri, 18 Sep 2009

To get out of a hole, the first step is to stop digging.

It was a relief to see last week that the Governor and the state employee unions have come to an agreement (maybe) about how to achieve the savings in operations that the Assembly put into the budget in June, but it's a sign of how far gone things are that the amount in question was only a small fraction of the likely deficit in our budget.

According to the budget deal signed this spring, the Governor was supposed to come up with $68 million in savings that hadn't been specified yet. He chose to take the bulk of that from payment already promised to city and town governments, and by giving state employees 12 unpaid days off. They objected, and now it seems they'll still take those days, but there will be the opportunity to get some of it back in the future.

I'm glad the public employee unions have come to an agreement to forestall layoffs, but I continue to wonder what other shoes are going to drop soon. In November we'll have the semi-annual revenue estimating conference, and knowledgeable people I've spoken to are working on the assumption that we'll be looking at a deficit in the hundreds of millions. Again.

See more ...

23:07 - 18 Sep 2009 [/y9/cols] link

Thu, 17 Sep 2009

Wayland Square, Wakefield and Westerly

Update: Due to logistical concerns, the Other Tiger event has been postponed to October 23.

This coming week I'll be appearing at some area bookstores to talk about state government, our economy, and the pickle we're in, and maybe sign some copies of my book. Please come join me at:

• Books on the Square in Providence on Tuesday September 15, at 7pm
• Myopic Books in Wakefield on Thursday September 17 at 7pm
• Other Tiger bookstore in Westerly on Friday the 18th at 5pm

21:27 - 17 Sep 2009 [/y9/se] link

Wed, 16 Sep 2009

Income inequality in America

Emmanual Saez has updated his article, "Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States". Here's his rendition of what's been happening to incomes at the top end. One interesting thing is the extent to which the benefits of the past few years have accrued not to the top 10%, but to the top 1%. The tapayers in the 5th through 10th percentiles haven't done so well at all.

10:12 - 16 Sep 2009 [/y9/se] link

Mon, 14 Sep 2009

Health care for illegal immigrants?

Many may get it after all. From Mexico. (via)

08:09 - 14 Sep 2009 [/y9/se] link

Fri, 11 Sep 2009

Economic acts of God -- or not.

Events are changing too fast in our state's budget debacle for a weekly columnist to keep up, but the Governor's threat of layoffs brings up a chapter in our history that I wish would get more attention.

Here in 2009, it's possible to look around the wreckage of our industrial economy and wonder what happened to all our factories? In a way, it's pretty obvious, really. Competitive pressures forced many companies to leave for cheaper wages. We all know that. But what seldom gets any attention is the extent that this was the result of conscious policy choices by your governments.

For example, did you know that until the 1980's, it was considered illegal to close a unionized factory just to move to cheaper labor costs? A 1981 Supreme Court decision and a 1982 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board made it clear that reducing labor costs alone was not enough to justify abrogating a union contract. But time is capable of eroding judicial decisions as well as rocks, and only a few years later, Ronald Reagan's new NLRB appointees and new Supreme Court justices clouded or retracted those decisions, creating loopholes quite large enough to move factories through.

See more ...

19:06 - 11 Sep 2009 [/y9/cols] link

September 11

From here:

It still rankles -- a lot -- that Osama bin Laden is still out there. When the attacks happened, and in the days and weeks that followed, lots of notions flew through my mind, most of them wild and fanciful or flat-out insane. But it genuinely never occurred to me to that the main architect of the attacks would still be at large eight years later.

Once again, what matters is not what politicians say, but what government does.

15:27 - 11 Sep 2009 [/y9/se] link

Fri, 04 Sep 2009

Come clean up!

Each year the Ocean Conservancy holds its International Coastal Cleanup on the third Saturday in September. Tens of thousands of volunteers will spend that morning picking up trash along the shore. In Rhode Island, there are dozens of cleanups around the Bay and some inland, too (there's one at Lincoln Woods). There's probably one near you. Last year volunteers picked up 8,354 plastic bags, 14,490 food containers, and 47,905 cigarette butts and I'm afraid there's plenty more out there.. This year, the conservancy is highlighting the risks to wildlife of discarded fishing line, which we find in great profusion (2,718 pieces picked up last year).

Call the Audubon Society at 949-5454 to find a location where you can help. Since it's the 21st century and we may as well make the most of it, you can also go online at signuptocleanup.org where you'll find a cool Google maps application that will let you find the cleanup nearest you, or the most scenic. If you're near Wickford, come help me clean up the harbor -- I'm "captain" there. Please RSVP at the phone number or web site, so we know how many people to expect.

13:08 - 04 Sep 2009 [/y9/se] link

What About that Safety Net?

September is upon us, summer is drawing to a close, and after a two-month respite, the state budget debacle is about to begin exactly where it had left off. There are a couple of reasons to be as discouraged as ever, I'm afraid.

I'm not talking about the Governor's plan to slash still more aid to cities and towns and force state employees to take furlough days, and now layoffs. This is a shortsighted and counterproductive solution to our problems -- and it's appalling to be giving tax cuts to rich people at the same time -- but it's hardly a surprise. That is, this was all in the cards as soon as the legislature approved a budget with $68 million in unspecified cuts last June. What did they think he was going to do? Scrape off the gold leaf from his office ceiling and pawn it?

What's more discouraging than this, though, is a report out from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council and the United Way (summary, report). The report is the product of a commission of academics, business types, labor and activists that is supposed to be examining the collection of programs that make up the "safety net." It's not what's in the report that's discouraging; it's the report itself.

See more ...

13:07 - 04 Sep 2009 [/y9/cols] link

Thu, 03 Sep 2009

High speed rail: a boondoggle?

Or is the real boondoggle something else entirely. Read here.

17:19 - 03 Sep 2009 [/y9/se] link

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