Arkansans are going to the polls (again), this time to decide on whether the state should do a $575 million bond issue that would repair 400 miles of interstates.
They should say yes, even though it means adding to Arkansas’ state debt, which the nonpartisan State Budget Solutions totals $25 billion counting pension liabilities.
That’s because when it comes to roads, the state is going into debt whether we realize it or not. Every day, the interstates deteriorate. We can pay a lot to fix the cracks now, or we can pay a whole lot more to totally rebuild them, after they have torn up our cars and caused accidents.
Bottom line: If we are going to have interstates, we have to maintain them.
At Lincoln High School near Fayetteville, students learn not so much by listening to lectures but by working in self-directed group projects using laptops they can take home.
Could this be what schools will look like in the future? Maybe. This year, Lincoln is one of two New Tech schools – the other being Cross County High – using the New Tech model.
Begun 15 years ago in Napa Valley, New Tech schools give teachers and students more flexibility to decide how they will learn. Students are given a set of standards and then a project that they use MacBook laptops to design – in groups. They are graded not just on content mastery but also on their work ethic, communication skills and ability to collaborate with others.
Expect more Arkansas schools to adopt the New Tech model. Gov. Beebe’s STEM Works initiative encourages them to do so. Schools like Manor New Tech near Austin, Tex., have seen great success using the model. In the past month-and-a-half, at least 17 Arkansas schools have visited Manor.
Warren Buffett has gotten himself involved in politics, and he’s probably going to be sorry about it.
Buffett, the billionaire investor, has made the point lately that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. He’s talking about the unfairness of the tax system and, indirectly, the budget deficit.
President Obama has proposed a “Buffett Rule” that would place a minimum tax on million-dollar salaries. Republican Sen. John Thune has proposed his own “Buffett Rule” that would allow people to pay extra money to reduce the federal debt. Arkansas Sen. John Boozman is one of the co-sponsors.
Thune’s bill is a waste of time and a personal attack. In effect, Republicans are saying, “If you want to pay more taxes, Mr. Buffett, go right ahead.” But that would not solve the problems Buffett was pointing out.
I asked Sen. Boozman for some time to talk about this and sent him my questions, which were not softballs. He called me that day ready to answer them, and to his credit, he didn’t back down from any of them. Even when my questions were a little more direct than they should have been, his tone never changed. Man, he’s a cool customer.
Boozman’s main policy point was that Obama’s Buffett bill won’t address the problem Buffett was discussing because Buffett will still take advantage of the loopholes and deductions he uses now to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary. What’s needed are less spending and tax reform, he said.
Here’s more in my Wednesday column for the Arkansas News Bureau.
Several hundred Occupy Little Rock protestors marched through the streets of the state’s capital city Oct 15, and while lots of people, particularly Republicans, are dismissing them, they shouldn’t dismiss their concerns.
The protestors were a more diverse group than many would expect. I didn’t see a lot of the aimless young hippies they have been painted as being. They certainly weren’t a “mob,” as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called them, “anti-American,” as Herman Cain called them, or “the FLEA party,” in the words of a Democrat-Gazette columnist who wasn’t at the protest.
The protestors represented a variety of political persuasions, judging by the signs – everything from the Ron Paul-ian “End the Fed” to the Marxian “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
The protestors directed their anger mostly at big corporations and the government, and I agreed with a lot of what they were saying. Any American who is not outraged at the bank bailout hasn’t been paying attention. As the columnist Nick Kristoff put it, “The banks have gotten away with privatizing profits and socializing risks.”
But we don’t want America to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Most corporations aren’t causing the world’s problems; they just provide needed goods and services and employ people.
Finally, if the Occupy Little Rock protestors really want to accomplish their goals – and right now, it’s not clear what their goals are beyond expressing their anger – they need to organize and work within the system as the TEA Party has done.
As they marched along the street, the protestors chanted, “This is what democracy looks like!” I thought, “Well, really, this is part of democracy, but democracy really looks like people voting, running for office, and contacting their legislators.” If Occupy Little Rock doesn’t evolve into that, it won’t accomplish much.
Arkansas’ health care system, and the rest of the country’s, is finally adopting the same communications technology that the rest of the economy adopted two decades ago.
Eventually, that will mean no more handwritten prescriptions or paper files. The same information that your doctor has about you will be available to your cardiologist.
The transition has not been easy. The transition will disrupt practices that are already busy serving patients. Some older doctors do not want to change. Parts of Arkansas are still on dialup. Plus, there are privacy concerns.
Across America, physicians are eligible for up to $64,000 in federal funds to ease the transition, while hospitals can get up to $2 million. It’s a fraction of the cost, but that’s still taxpayer money going to doctors to do something the rest of us did on our own.
