Lost On The Shore

Stimulus That Will Benefit Us

It's good to hear that President-Elect Obama is planning on more fiscal stimulus for the American economy and even better to hear that he plans to stimulate the economy by investing in infrastructure rather than just sending out checks to everyone.  We have been ignoring our infrastructure requirements in this country for some time and the results are definitely showing.  So, since I know Barack is reading this blog, here are some suggestions:

High Speed Rail Most other industrialized countries are far ahead of us here.  Japan has been running their Shinkansen 'bullet trains' since 1964.  France began working on their TGV (train à grande vitesse, "high-speed train") in 1976 and the Paris-Lyon line opened in 1981.  The phenomenal success of the TGV has encouraged the French government to build six additional lines and other countries in Europe have built their own high speed networks - the Thalys in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, Eurostar linking Britain to France and Belgium as well as systems in Spain, Italy, Sweden and Norway.  High-speed rail networks are also being built in China, Taiwan and South Korea.

Here in the United States we don't have true high speed rail.  The Acela trains in the Northeast Corridor (Washington-New York-Boston) are called 'high-speed', but track conditions limit them to a top speed of about 125 mph rather than the 200 mph common on true high speed rail.

High speed rail doesn't make sense for much of the United states - the distances are too great to compete with air travel.  However, in the northeast corridor, the Chicago area and possibly the Dallas/Fort Worth/Houston area, high speed rail will produce city-to-city travel times that are considerably less than comparable air service while producing less pollution and being less subject to weather delays.  As an added bonus, the elimination of dozens of flights between Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and New York will do much to reduce air travel delays in the country by reducing congestion in the New York City area.

Construction of these lines will generate thousand of jobs and the construction of the trainsets, signalling equipment and other ancillary requirements will generate thousands more. A $50 billion commitment here will get us off to a good start. 

School Construction States and local jurisdictions have been falling behind on funding the expansion and replacement of existing school buildings.  Many existing school buildings were built in the 1950s and 1960s and need either replacement or substantial renovation.  Further, existing schools are being stretched well beyond capacity.  Temporary classroom buildings are a common sight throughout the country.  Finally, most of our existing schools do not meet today's technological requirements. 

The need is tremendous.  In 1995, the General Accounting Office estimated the backlog of school construction needs at $112 billion.  In 1999, the Education Department estimated the cost at $127 billion.  The National Education Association in 2002 came up with a number of $322 billion including technology improvements.  There's no doubt the backlog has grown.  Right here in my local jurisdiction of 50,000 people there are more than $100 million in unmet needs.  The State of New Jersey estimates a $30 billion backlog in that state alone. 

An investment of $400 billion will go a long way toward eliminating the backlog.  Further it will provide work for thousands of smaller construction firms around the country and for hundreds of thousands of construction workers who are out of work due to the housing slump.  As a bonus, the Department of Energy estimates that such a program would reduce energy costs for schools by some $2 billion a year.

Roads and Bridges We haven't done a good job of maintaining our road system let alone pay for the expansion needed to meet current demand.  Tens of thousands of bridges are deficient, pavement is crumbling all around the country and huge traffic backups are way of life.  A new commitment of $500 billion in Federal money will make a major dent in the backlog here, will stimulate the construction industry all across the country and put many Americans back to work.  There's no reason to delay here.

Mass Transit Along with expanded spending on roads and bridges must come renewed investment into mass transit.  We need our cities to work efficiently.  Like it or not, the vast majority of economic activity in the United States is generated in cities, not in rural areas.  An investment of $100 billion now will generate huge dividends in the future in terms of increased efficiency and lower energy use. In addition, of course, we'll see tens of thosuands of new jobs created. 

Let's start now.  We have no time to lose.

[The photo is of a Eurostar and a Thalys train in the Gare du Nord in Paris]

Lubyanka on the Severn

The Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and a host of other newspapers report today that the Maryland State Police have repeatedly spied on groups opposed to the death penalty or opposed to the war.  Despite the fact that the police spies reported no plans for illegal activity or any illegal activity itself, the State Police reported the names of some participants to the Federal government to be entered into the national database of people thought to be terrorists or drug traffickers.

This is both stupid and dangerous.  Stupid because it diverts scarce resources from fighting crime to unproductive spying on people who are peaceful and law-abiding.  Dangerous because it erodes popular support for the police and damages their credibility.  Who can trust them?  Many in Maryland oppose the death penalty, the war in Iraq or war in general.  Why would our state police spy on them and report them as, of all things, potential terrorists? 

The right to dissent and protest are important American values - they help keep our democracy strong and have played an important part in the evolution of our country, from the very founding of our country to the abolitionist movement that helped raise public consciousness about slavery to the suffragette movement that won the right to vote for women to the civil rights movement that helped to finally bring equal rights to African-Americans and to the anti-war movement that helped end the fruitless war in Vietnam.  Dissent is important because it helps us examine our assumptions and see others' points of view.

Of course, some of this can be attributed to sheer laziness.  The agents that the Maryland State Police sent to spy on the peaceful and law-abiding citizens of the state repeatedly reported that no illegal activity was planned or had taken place.  Yet they consistently recommended the spying be continued.  Why would they do that?  Well, going to meetings of peace activists and anti-death penalty types is certainly easier and safer than going after criminals!

Governor O'Malley needs to get to the bottom of this.  Those responsible for this fiasco need to be terminated - there's no place in our state government for this kind of nonsense.  Investigating and spying on people simply because they dissent is an affront to our American way of life.  After a full disclosure of what went on, the records of this spying need to be purged to protect the reputations of those who were spied upon.  And our police need to get back to enforcing the law and catching criminals - certainly there is enough crime in Maryland to keep them busy.

The photo above is of the KBG headquarters on Lubyanka Square in Moscow.  Russians used to joke that it was the tallest building in Moscow because 'from its basement you can see Siberia'.  We don't need any secret police in Maryland. 

Performance in Education

Several newspapers and TV stations, including the Daily Times here on the Shore, recently carried an article discussing the increased use of 'performance pay' in Maryland schools.   According to the article, Prince George's County schools are instituting a series of 'performance bonuses' for teachers while Harford and Anne Arundel schools offer modest performance bonuses to principals.

Now, if you believe, as I do, that government has the power to improve people's lives, you must also demand that government, at all levels, perform at the highest levels of effectiveness and be transparently accountable to the taxpayers.  After all, money to run the government is not contributed voluntarily but is taken involuntarily.  If we fail to demand and expect the highest levels of performance from our government then we are playing into the hands of those to whom all taxes are anathema and government is just a wasteful boondoggle.

And in many areas, government is becoming more accountable.  In Maryland, Governor O'Malley has introduced 'statestat' and 'baystat' which, although imperfectly, try to publicly and transparently measure the performance of the various state agencies.  And in many areas of the government, pay has been tied to performance, although the measures are sometimes crude and the system is often not administered in a transparent fashion.

But not in education.  For some reason or other, we don't pay our teachers according to their performance.  The primary reason for this, of course, is the violent opposition of the teachers themselves.  They would have us believe that there is no way to effectively measure the performance of teachers and that, anyway, they're all good. 

Of course, that's absurd.  Anyone who's been a student or anyone who is a parent of a student can tell you that there are good teachers and bad teachers and, quite probably, can tell you, with a fair degree of unanimity, which are good and which are not.

Many of our school systems have salaries based on performance for other staff but not for teachers.  Somerset County schools have performance pay for secretaries, custodians, receptionists, classroom aides, cafeteria workers and administrators - but not for teachers.  Here in Worcester County, there is no thought to performance pay for teachers.  According to the spokeswoman as long as they get enough money, they'll do fine.

And that's the crux of the matter.  For most of our local jurisdictions, schools take the lion's share of the budget.  And they get what they ask for almost always - cut their budget request by even a small fraction of a percent and there will be predictions of doom.

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I am a big fan of education.  It's the key to our ability to compete in a global economy and to the relatively high income levels we enjoy in Maryland.  And that's even more reason why we should have the highest expectations of our educational establishments and our teachers and why they should be held to the highest standards of accountability and transparency.