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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Over at Anchor, Don gets the broad strokes right in this post:
As someone who has led corporate turnarounds for nearly 20 years and has read extensively on what it takes to lead successful change initiatives, it is appalling how little progress has been made to effect real change in the face of the current crisis here in RI. It's not like these structural problems are a new development!
One of my favorite authors on leadership and change is Harvard Business School professor John Kotter. He has been writing for years about the topic of leading change and is a world authority on the subject. More on his books can be found here.
For the last decade, Kotter has been writing extensively on what he calls the "Eight Step Process of Successful Change." Here is an excerpt from his "Iceberg" book, a book which uses a fable to describe what it takes to realize successful change. Easily accessible to the layperson, I recommend reading it.
Set the Stage
1. Create a sense of urgency: Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately.
2. Pull together the guiding team: Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change - one with leadership skills, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills, and a sense of urgency.
Decide What to Do
3. Develop the change vision and strategy: Clarify how the future will be different from the past, and how you can make that future a reality.
Make it Happen
4. Communicate for understanding: Make sure as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and strategy.
5. Empower others to act: Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.
6. Produce short-term wins: Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.
7. Don't let up: Press harder and faster after the first successes. Be relentless with initiating change after change until the vision is a reality.
Make It Stick
8. Create a new culture: Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become strong enough to replace old traditions.
As we all reflect on the severe crisis here in RI, one of the most disconcerting conclusions is how RI is currently 0-for-8 in moving in the right direction.
So says a new report by Citizens for Tax Justice:
The report finds that:
• The majority of the benefits of the tax cuts for capital gains and dividend income go to the richest one percent in every state.
• Revenue collected by the capital gains tax was much higher during the Clinton administration, when the tax rate on capital gains was higher.
Karen Malcolm, executive director of Ocean State Action states, “The timing of this well-researched report is important to understanding the economic woes we face here in Rhode Island. We see a significantly widening gap between rich and poor, a declining middle class, and a structural state budget deficit that is used as an excuse for gutting Rhode Island’s social safety net, and steep increases in property taxes.”
The new report shows that among Rhode Islanders more than 65% of those benefiting from the Bush tax breaks earn over $422,000 annually, with an average income of $1.2 million. The tax windfall realized by these wealthy households under the Bush tax cut averages $20,482 each. Malcolm points out, “Rhode Island’s wealthiest have hit the trifecta. When you add the federal tax windfall to the state’s cut in the tax on capital gains and the alternative minimum tax available only to the highest income households, this group saves more than $30,000 a year for themselves. This comes at significant cost to Rhode Island’s middle, moderate and low-income families. The cost of just these two state tax cuts will be $62.4 million in 2009, at a time when there is a desperate need for revenue to close the state’s deficit.”
As middle, moderate and low-income Rhode Islanders continue to struggle with skyrocketing gas, housing and food prices and as the state enacts deep cuts to healthcare, education and other important social programs, Malcolm argues, “we must be ever-vigilant in ensuring that every Rhode Islander contributes their fair share in Federal and State taxes to help meet top priorities and to ensure every person has the opportunity to get ahead.”
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
State budget is out of whack and the local economy is sucking wind? Check.
Dems run the show in the legislature, and Republicans can't get a foothold? Check.
Quintessential boondoggle involving dubious activity (around the Central Landfill)? Check.
Corruption trial? Check.
Just another day . . .
Monday, May 12, 2008
This from a release touting URI economist Leonard Lardaro's latest tracking data:
The year 2008 continues to be a nightmare for Rhode Island’s economy. The Index remains at 8 for March, pointing to a second and deeper recession phase. Fifty is a neutral value—anything below that represents contraction, while anything above it represents expansion.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
T.F. Green is a vital economic generator for Rhode Island, and Kevin Dillon, the newish director of the airport is slated to share some of his thoughts tomorrow:
Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) President and CEO Kevin Dillon will deliver the keynote address at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Economic Outlook Luncheon on Wednesday, May 7. The event will take place at noon at the Rhode Island Convention Center in conjunction with Business EXPO 2008: Knowledge. Power. Opportunity.
Only months into his new position, Dillon already has great plans for the Rhode Island aviation industry, which he will share during his presentation. He is expected to specifically discuss improvements at the T.F. Green Airport terminal, the state’s largest commercial facility, as well as the proposed runway expansion project and the construction of the intermodal facility.
Commercial and general aviation airports in Rhode Island support more than 23,000 jobs and generate an estimated $2.1 billion in economic activity according to a 2006 Economic Impact Study. Created in 1992, RIAC is a quasi-public agency charged with the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the six state-owned airports. RIAC will serve as the Feature Sponsor of the Economic Outlook Luncheon.
Friday, May 02, 2008
My piece on the RI blogosphere has generated a lot of feedback, and as mentioned in a brief sidebar with the print piece, I want to highlight some of the other noteworthy blogs in the Ocean State.
Jack Templin of the Providence Geeks launched RI Nexus last year, and it seems like a great resource for the local tech community and people looking to learn more about it.
Here are some excerpts from a recent e-mail interview betweek Jack and myself:
What has the RI Nexus blog meant for the tech-geek sector/community?
Because info-tech and digital media professionals are early adopters of the blogosphere, we are reaping its benefits both sooner and to a greater extent than other groups. Dozens and dozens of individual RI geeks, as well as the companies they're associated with, have active blogs.
RINexus.com is a community and content management system complete with a calendar, a news tracking tool, interactive map of Rhode Island, discussion forums, and a job & internship board. A multi-author blog figures in prominently into the mix. With the RINexus.com blog, we highlight the voices, ideas, and achievements of Rhode Island's burgeoning info-tech and digital media sector. We try to pass the baton around to as many authors as possible. Postings trigger conversations, both online and off. We know that all sorts of business activity that has been catalyzed from RI Nexus blog postings including partnerships, events, sales, hirings, and investments.
How will this influence change going forward?
Keep an eye on the micro-blogging trend that's best represented by Twitter. A lot of Rhode Island Geeks are "twittering" and in doing so creating a whole additional layer of communication that complements both blogging and in-person interactions.
Also, note that RI's info-tech and digital media community has a very robust "in person" dimension with all sorts of events, small to large, super casual to slightly more formal. The blogosphere, and online activity in general, has been key to the community creating these rich "real world" happenings and relationships.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Labor activist Patrick Crowley, who's been on the warpath lately against Governor Carcieri (Pat, we suspect, would say it's the other way around), sends word of this rally:
Community Activists, Organized Labor and Religious Leaders Will Join In Calling On State Leaders To Promote Economic Justice For All Rhode Islanders
What:Thousands of people – including community activists, organized labor, religious leaders and hard-working Rhode Islanders – will march through Providence to the State House to attend a rally promoting economic justice for all Rhode Islanders.
When: Friday, May 2nd 4
4:00 pm: Photo Opportunity: Westin Ballroom, March to State House
5:00 pm Rally
Where: RI State House Lawn
82 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02903
Who: Master of Ceremony:
George Nee
Secretary/Treasurer, Rhode Island AFL-CIO
Speaking Program:
Paul Booth
AFSCME National Organizing Director
Sarita Gupta
Executive Director, National Jobs with Justice
Bob Walsh
Executive Director, NEA RI
Secretary-Treasurer, Working RI
Roxana Rivera
SEIU Local 615 Commercial Division Director
Why: The country is on the brink of recession and Rhode Island is in the midst of an economic crisis. How we move forward together out of this crisis will impact every Rhode Islander and will impact how communities across the country move forward.
On May 2nd, we will unite around a vision of Rhode Island that will protect and promote the dignity of every Rhode Islander. We will unite around a vision of a state that honors and respects hard work. We will fight for economic justice for all Rhode Islanders.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Speaking of economic development, and I'm bit late in getting to this, but Jack Templin of the Providence Geeks sees a lot of promise in the ongoing I-195 relocation project:
For those interested in urban and economic development though, the much more exciting aspect of the I-195 relocation project is not what's going up, but rather what will be coming down - the old stretch of I-195. Once the new I-195 is complete (scheduled for 2012), the old elevated portion of I-195, that cracking, concrete, rusting, metal mess that obtrusively snakes through the middle of Providence, will be razed. With its demise, 19.2 acres of prime center city real estate will be freed for development. Let me write that again - 19.2 acres! ....
It is awesome to see our sector so prominent in the context of this historic undertaking. Many of us would love to see RI's info-tech and digital media have a geographic center, a physical hub. And the soon to be uncovered land seems like the perfect spot. Its strengths include:
• Easy access to both I-95 and the new I-195; within walking distance of the train station's Amtrak and MBTA lines
• Proximity to many of our institutions of higher learning including Brown, RISD, and Johnson & Wales
• A funky, walkable mixed-use neighborhood with plenty of amenities, and with plenty more to come, including a big new riverfront park
• Adjacency to the state's large and growing bio-tech and medical sectors. From computational biology to medical devices to bioinformatics, there are all sorts of opportunities for our sector and the bio-tech/medical/life science industries to collaborate and innovate
Already, there are a myriad of ITDM companies in the vicinity of the old I-195 including Dynamic Diagrams, Creative Circle, SprintOut, Andera, Providence Health Solutions, Diamond Star Media, Machine Hero and Public Display, just to name a few. (See the RI Nexus Map for more.) With the relocation project, and a strategy that has the our sector prominent in the mix, I have little doubt that we can reach the critical mass of people, companies, and activity needed to make the neighborhood the true center of our community.
Stay tuned - this could be great.
Grow Smart RI does a lot of good work in helping to preserve the best of the state's distinctive character, so Scott Wolf and his crew want you to know about the group's May 2 Power of Place Summit, for which registration closes next Tuesday, April 29, at noon.
Our inaugural Power of Place Summit in 2006 drew nearly 500 opinion leaders, state and local officials,  academics, development professionals, investors, journalists and citizen activists for the launch of Rhode Island’s new smart growth oriented state land-use plan. There are now encouraging examples all across our state of how some of the plan’s long-term strategies and recommendations are being embraced and implemented to the benefit of our communities and future generations. Yet other key objectives - such as reducing our state’s over-reliance on the local property tax, better integrating our transportation system with desired development goals and targeting more of our state investment dollars to energy efficient urban, town and village centers - remain daunting challenges that keep us from reaching our potential.
This upcoming Summit will take a closer look at how the growth and development choices we make today will impact our economy, quality places, public health, environment, the efficiency of state and local government and the taxes we pay. We’ll look at what’s working and what needs to be improved to grow our innovation economy, revitalize our walkable centers, ensure agricultural viability, promote healthy community design and reduce global warming pollution, among other key goals for a prosperous and sustainable future.
Highlights:
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
From the Geeks:
Wednesday, March 23, 2008, 5:30 – 9pm
AS220
115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
Spring is in the air, and you know what that means – time to get your Geek on! (Alright, fine… according to us, it’s always that time.)
 Chances are you’ve never heard of Rhode Island’s fastest growing private company as they tend to fly (and we do mean fly) under the local radar. According to Inc. Magazine, it’s North Kingston-based The Corporate Marketplace (TCMPI) with a recent annual growth rate of 1,858.3%. And get this – TCMPI was also ranked as the 73rd fastest growing company in the country.
Inc. explains that TCMPI, “builds private online stores for large corporations running employee incentive and reward programs… TCMPI’s software acts as a procurement hub, linking… reward buyers to factories at high-end brands.” In addition to the thousands of private stores, TCMPI also powers parts of Amazon.com and American Express’s huge Membership Rewards Program.
At this month’s Providence Geek Dinner, TCMPI CEO Chris Crawford and CTO Peter Mackey, will explain their incredible business, and give a rare demo of the online engine that makes it all possible.
Update: Chris has just authored a post about TCMPI for the RI Nexus weblog – The Little Engine that said it could.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Consumers are squeezed.
More retailers are facing bankruptcy.
And big tax breaks are being included in a bill meant to alleviate the foreclosure crisis.
From the NYT:
The Senate proclaimed a fierce bipartisan resolve two weeks ago to help American homeowners in danger of foreclosure. But while a bill that senators approved last week would take modest steps toward that goal, it would also provide billions of dollars in tax breaks — for automakers, airlines, alternative energy producers and other struggling industries, as well as home builders.
The tax provisions of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which consumer groups and labor leaders say amount to government handouts to big business, show how the credit crisis, while rattling the housing and financial markets, has created beneficiaries in the power corridors of Washington.
It also shows how legislation with a populist imperative offers a chance for lobbyists to press their clients’ interests.
This has proved especially true on the housing legislation, which many lawmakers and lobbyists view as one of the last opportunities before Congress grinds to a halt amid election-year politics.
In the Senate bill, the nation’s biggest home builders, some now on the verge of bankruptcy, won a provision that would let them claim millions in tax refunds by charging their current losses against the huge profits they made three or four years ago. Other struggling industries would benefit from this provision.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
NPR this morning broadcast a fascinating interview with Kevin Phillips, big-brained GOP strategist-turned-populist.
In short, Phillips said the nation's current economic problems can be traced to how we went from being a country that made stuff to one that makes money by moving money around, with "convenience" fees and all the rest.
He likened the dollar to a bloodied gladiator laying on the floor of the Coliseum, and predicted, as have others, that this century will be dominated economically by Asian countries.
Phillips said it's not too late for America to gets it economic act together, and he pointed to England, which had food rationing for a decade after WWII, as a country that emerged with prosperity after a jarring transition. Yet he also cited an overreliance on the financial sector as a symtom of decline in other great powers, and he said the US economy is a bigger source of concern than we've been led to believe.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Returning today to the ProJo's op-ep page, Justin makes the case that economic flight is one of the most dire problems facing Rhode Island, and that a fix is needed, pronto.
First, the problem:
• Almost 30,000 fewer Rhode Islanders lived in households earning over three times the poverty level (around $60,000 for a family of four) in 2006 than 2005 (U.S. Census American Community Survey).
• Over that same period, married-with-children households earning more than $100,000 or more a year decreased by 1,033.
• According to tax returns filed in 2005 and 2006 (based on income from 2004 and 2005), Rhode Island lost, on a net basis, 8,296 taxpayers, with an aggregate adjusted gross income totaling $485 million, over those two years (IRS Migration Data). ...
If the trends portrayed in the latest available data have continued, Rhode Island has been losing around 1 percent of its tax-paying population every year since 2004, and those who’ve fled have taken a quarter billion dollars of income with them annually. Stopping this flight must become state and local governments’ Number 1 objective.
One simple solution is to make Rhode Island a more attractive place to live by decreasing the cost of living here (i.e., lowering taxes) and increasing the incentive for businesses to open up shop. Therefore, seeking to drain more tax revenue from commerce and layering taxes on corporations, both of which are “on the table” at the General Assembly, borders on dementia.
A clear consequence of lowering taxes, at least near-term, is that revenue will slip even further below spending. Compensating by taxing the rich more would simply tip the capsizing boat the other way. In 2003, the $75,000-$200,000 and $200,000-plus categories each paid around 35 percent of the total income-tax liability for the state. As the former’s percentage has dropped, the latter’s has increased to over 40 percent. As reluctant as we all may be to take taxpayer-funded services and other public-sector benefits away from those who’ve come to rely on them, our budget must be balanced entirely from the spending column.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Things are heating up for the future of the land being made available by the I-195 relocation, as we saw with the announcement this week of a related partnership between the state and the city. In related news, David P. Riley and some other advocates have long called for maximizing public access to the land that will be available for fresh uses. A program on the subject is et for Monday:
Making a Special Place at the Head of the Bay Placemaking Workshop
Monday, April 7, 2008, 3 -7 pm, Radisson Hotel (foot of Gano St.)
Please join an interactive workshop led by the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) to imagine a future for the last expanse of shoreline open to the public in Providence, at the head of Narragansett Bay. Join planners, stakeholders, and citizens concerned about the fate of the former Shooters nightclub for a presentation of what makes waterfront public spaces work in other cities, a placemaking exercise, and a brainstorming session to create a vision that makes the most of India Point’s unique geography and panoramic views and ensures public access to our most distinctive natural and historic asset.
Free and open to the public. Pre-registration required.
Space limited to 100.
Please call 831-5995 x712 with your name & phone number.
Sponsored by Head of the Bay Gateway and Friends of India Point Park. Led by Ethan Kent from PPS.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
While Governor Carcieri and his critics continue to square off on immigration, Amy Littlefield has a profile in this week's Phoenix of Stella Carrera, coordinator of immigration and advocacy services for the Diocese of Providence, a piece that tells us something about the stories behind the debate.
Carrera knows better than most how complicated the US immigration system can be. She came here, from Colombia, with a visitor’s visa in 1973 and overstayed her visit.
She moved to New York to be with her older brother and sister, and worked in a cosmetics factory, filling nail polish and mascara bottles, for minimum wage with no benefits. Carrera says someone from a local union heard about the mistreatment of the workers and he came around with some fliers. The owner caught wind of it and called immigration authorities.
When Carrera went outside for a cigarette and a coffee that day, she saw the cars and the officers. Immigration authorities shut the doors, herded everyone into a room, and asked them, one by one, for their paperwork.
Carrera remembers helping a woman who was several months pregnant, and who began to hyperventilate. Another woman curled up inside a cardboard box for two hours, praying to God she wouldn’t sneeze, while authorities combed through the factory. There were probably 10 cars, Carrera says. They probably took away 100 people that day.
At least 300 workers were detained after a similar raid last march in New Bedford, Massachusetts. History repeats itself, Carrera says. “Nothing changes.”
Littlefield also reports from Mexico on some of the factors that influence immigration to the US:
Miguel Pickard, who works for a social-research organization in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, says that the mainstream US media often overlooks how neo-liberal policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have contributed dramatically to the rise in Mexican immigration. Following NAFTA’s implementation in 1994, subsidized US agricultural products flooded the Mexican markets, and Mexican farmers couldn’t compete with the cheap imports.
Immigration to the US became a “survival strategy,” Pickard says, for campesinos that could no longer make money selling corn and other agricultural products, as they had for many years. As a result, immigration to the US from Mexico tripled after 1994, leading “millions” of people to make the trip, he says.
NAFTA’s impact illuminates how the source of the Latino immigration “problem” is sometimes closer to home than we are willing to admit.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Besides Frank J. Williams, Representatives Art Handy (D-Cranston) and Joe Trillo (R-Warwick) also appear on Newsmakers this weekend (Sunday, 5:30 am on Channel 12, 10 am on Fox 64), for a discussion of the state budget and Handy's much-discussed proposal.
You can expect where this comes down: Handy says his plan would benefit most Rhode Islanders and slightly diminish the bite of property taxes, while Trillo says Rhode Islanders are already overtaxed and that any further tax hikes should be avoided.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
As demonstrated by National Grid's opposition to a key part of the plan for Allco Renewable's proposed solar farm in Cranston, moving forward with renewable energy in Rhode Island won't be without some fits and starts. Yet change is at hand, and in this week's Phoenix, I write about the push fior renewables:
Until now, the renewable approach in Rhode Island has been restricted to a few isolated efforts, like a wind turbine that was added a few years ago to reduce energy costs at the Portsmouth Abbey School. Similarly, it’s not particularly surprising that an environmentally attuned outfit, like the Southside Community Land Trust, a nonprofit in Providence, is partnering with People’s Power & Light to power its urban farm operation through renewable sources.
Now, however, in terms of other large-scale projects, Allco Renewable has proposed a wind farm that would involve hundreds of wind turbines off the coast of Block Island and Little Compton. An Australian firm, with state backing, has plans to create two wave-energy facilities. And state and labor officials are hopeful that a manufacturing facility for wind turbines, like those to be used at the Cape Wind project, could be established at Quonset Point.
Elsewhere around the state, Portsmouth, Barrington, Bristol, Warren, and Jamestown are among the growing number of communities, Auten says, that are pursuing plans for a municipal wind turbine. The 1.5 megawatt project in Portsmouth, on the grounds of the high school, will be enough to power the school while also producing considerable excess energy.
Meanwhile, one of the bills under consideration at the State House would, through the concept known as net-metering, lower the utility costs of individuals who produce more energy than they consume, thereby offering an incentive for them to invest in solar panels or other renewable devices whose costs could otherwise prove prohibitive.
These days, with New Englanders reeling from their winter heating bills, and gas again selling for more than $3 a gallon, you don’t need to be an ardent environmentalist to appreciate the need for different approaches. There’s even some appealing poetry in how Rhode Island, which was left environmentally blighted by the bygone industrial revolution, is poised to reap economic benefits by going green.
A more muscular renewable sector won’t be a panacea for the state’s ongoing budget problems. Yet it could have a variety of beneficial effects, including the creation of thousands of good-paying jobs, diminished dependence on foreign oil, a stable and safe energy sources, and a positive impact on the environment.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey says he'd outflank legislative Democrats, if elected governor, by making far more effective use of the bully pulpit than Governor Carcieri. The Republican, who emitted a loud laugh when I noted that he's expected to run for governor in 2010, made the comment during a taping this morning of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers.
For the record, Laffey told me, off-camera, that he's not ready to divulge his plans for 2010.
Yet in response to my question during our taping, he pointed to how he mobilized citizens during his time as mayor in Cranston, and says that he would do the same thing if he were in the governor's office. The galvanization of the public, he says, would be sufficient to have an impact on the majority Democrats in the General Assembly.
Laffey seemed in campaign-mode, talking up the state's budget problems and quickly changing the subject when I asked about the source of the foreclosure crisis, and whether it's due to a regulatory failure. (He said he could talk all day about the federal government's role in economic bubbles, but turned the subject back to the state.)
Earlier in Governor Carcieri's tenure, it seemed as if his communication skills would help to advance his political agenda. Now, though, the governor appears bogged down and it's open to question if things will improve, particularly with a likely growing amount of staff departures, before he leaves office in 2011. When previously asked on Newsmakers about his inability to outflank legislative Dems, Carcieri has pointed to the paucity of Republicans in the General Assembly.
Also joining Steve Aveson, Arlene Violet, and myself were URI economist Leonard Lardaro, and, in a separate segment, Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence. Newsmakers is broadcast Sunday, at 5:30 am on Channel 12 and at 10 am on Fox 64.
In a lighter moment before we began taping, Laffey indicated he got a chuckle out of my recent bit describing his uncanny similarities to muckraker Greg Palast.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
From the Geeks:
Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 5:30 – 9pm
AS220
115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
Between the excellent presentation by Location Inc., the great crowd, and the Boston Globe’s coverage, February’s Geek Dinner is going to be hard to match. That said, I think March’s dinner might do just that.
 See what stole the buzz at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in Feb – CNN & others rave about GyPSii.
A group of seasoned RI-based entreprenaurs get together again to grow GyPSii on a global footprint in the converging markets of mobile social networking and location based services – Mobile 3.0 – GyPSii the mobile lifestyle application. Meet Shane Lennon, SVP, Strategy & Marketing, Norm Olean, Director of Product Marketing & Vikas Singh, Director of Software Development and see a demo of GyPSii in action, share in the experience, see the latest features and network with the team.
Update: Shane has just authored a blog post at RI Nexus – Gypsii: Social networking meets location-based services on your mobile phone.
Please RSVP in the comments section of this post so that we can give the good folks at AS220 an estimated headcount. And while you’re at it, subscribe to Providence Geeks’ RSS feed (see sidebar) and/or join our very-low-volume email announcement list (for the announcement list, send an email to Jack Templin, jtemplin over at Gmail with your name and affiliation).
Monday, March 17, 2008
From our senior senator:
WASHINGTON, DC -- In the wake of the Federal Reserve’s latest rate cuts and actions to help Bear Stearns meet its financial obligations, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a senior member of the Banking Committee, today issued the following statement:
“This weekend’s dramatic and extraordinary action by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department demonstrate the urgent and critical challenges facing our economy.
“The same focus and aggressiveness the Administration directed toward rescuing Bear Sterns should be applied to the economic problems facing America’s homeowners.
“The President needs to address the middle-class folks who are struggling with the mortgage crisis, their neighbors whose homes are loosing value due to foreclosures, and the local communities dealing with the fallout from declining property taxes.
“Democrats have put forth a plan that would help more families refinance out of bad loans, stabilize the economy, and improve regulations so this type of foreclosure crisis never happens again.
“Now that the Bush Administration has addressed the concerns of sophisticated investors, it should support legislation to reduce the impact of the foreclosure crisis on middle-class families."
Even with a woman running for president, equality in earnings remains elusive.
Brown University, Rhode Island College, Johnson and Wales University hold negotiating seminars designed to battle the Earnings Gap and to mark Women's History Month and Equal Pay Day
When J&W University Tuesday, March 18th, 6:30pm to 8:00pm
& RIC Wednesday, March 19th, 12:30pm to 2:30pm
Where: Brown Wednesday, April 23, 12:00pm-1:30pm
What: "Battle The Gap" is a series of negotiating seminars being held at local colleges and universities designed to highlight the disparity between women's earnings and those of their male counterparts. Prominent members of the business community will facilitate 90-minute training sessions with college age women. Participants will learn how to "price their worth" and receive directed instruction in proven negotiating strategies.
In 2006, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. Over the course of a lifetime, that discrepancy causes women to earn between $500,000 and 2 million dollars less than men. The loss of financial power has broad implications for society at large and greatly contributes to increasing numbers of women and children in poverty.
• A woman high school graduate earns $700,000 less than her male counterpart.
• A woman college graduate earns $1.2 million less than her male counterpart.
• A woman professional school graduate earns $2 million less than her male counterpart.
85% of men negotiate their first salaries; 85% of women do not.
20% of women don't negotiate at all.
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has a dour forecast (via Drudge):
The current crisis rocking the markets and global economy could turn out to be the worst since World War II, former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said in remarks published Monday.
"The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War," Greenspan said in a Financial Times commentary.
"It will end eventually when home prices stabilise and with them the value of equity in homes supporting troubled mortgage securities," he said, referring to the meltdown in the US subprime home loan market and subsequent massive losses for the banks holding the debt instruments.
"The crisis will leave many casualties," he said, his remarks coming after Bear Stearns, the fifth largest US investment house collapsed Friday and was taken over by JPMorgan Chase for a fraction of its value of only a week ago.
At the weekend, the Fed also announced a series of emergency measures intended to ease the credit crunch and calm nerves as investors fled to apparent safety in the euro and commodities such as oil and gold, which hit record highs again Monday as stockmarkets in Asia and Europe tumbled.
"Particularly hard hit will be much of today’s financial risk-valuation system, significant parts of which failed under stress," said Greenspan, who some have criticised for contributing at least in part to the current crisis by being too lax on monetary policy whilst head of the Fed.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
From URI's Leonard Lardaro:
The Current Conditions Index for January 2008 tied its lowest value ever, 8. That means the Index has been in the contracting range for the sixth consecutive month. The last time the Index posted an expanding value was July at 58. There is one inescapable conclusion — Rhode Island fell into recession in 2007.
On a day when the ProJo reports on a local merchant asking would-be customers for proof of citizenship because they were speaking Spanish, Bill Gates, a slightly more influential capitalist, has shared his thoughts about US immigration policy with Congress (h/t Drudge):
US high-tech companies are being forced to outsource more jobs overseas because of outdated restrictions on immigration, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told Congress Wednesday.
Gates, echoing a longstanding complaint from the technology sector, told a congressional panel that the US immigration system "makes attracting and retaining high-skilled immigrants exceptionally challenging for US firms."
"Congress's failure to pass high-skilled immigration reform has exacerbated an already grave situation," Gates said in remarks prepared for delivery to a hearing of the House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee.
"As a result, many US firms, including Microsoft, have been forced to locate staff in countries that welcome skilled foreign workers to do work that could otherwise have been done in the United States, if it were not for our counterproductive immigration policies."
Gates said the limits on so-called H-1B visas aimed at highly skilled professionals are far too low for the rapidly growing tech sector.
He said the current cap of 65,000 H-1B visas "is arbitrarily set and bears no relation to the US economy's demand for skilled professionals."
The Microsoft founder noted that all the 65,000 visas for the current fiscal year were snapped up in one day last April and that employers are now waiting to apply for visas for fiscal 2009, starting in October.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The more economic development Rhode Island can realize through green initiatives, the better, so this seems like a good thing.
STATE HOUSE – Rep. David A. Segal (D-Dist. 2, Providence, East Providence), Rep. Raymond J. Sullivan Jr. (D-Dist. 29, Coventry, West Greenwich), Sen. Paul E. Moura (D-Dist. 18, East Providence) and Sen. Joshua Miller (D-Dist. 28, Cranston, Warwick) will hold a news conference tomorrow to announce the formation of the “Green Jobs Alliance,” a coalition of labor unions, environmental advocates and anti-poverty groups that have come together to promote a green economy that improves the environment and creates middle-class jobs.
The news conference is scheduled tomorrow, Tuesday, March 11, at 3 p.m. in the House lounge on the second floor of the State House.
The legislators will be joined by advocates from environmental, labor and anti-poverty organizations in the state, including George Nee, secretary-treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO; Sheila Dormody of Clean Water Action; Chris Wilhite of the Sierra Club; and Aden Van Noppen of the Rhode Island Student Climate Coalition. The alliance expects also to announce its legislative platform for the year at the event.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Anchor Rising's Andrew has a detailed report on yesterday's state budget conversation at Brown, presenting the bulleted points of the participants. Here's an excerpt:
Gary Sasse (Director of the Rhode Island Department of Revenue) classified the Rhode Island budget into 3 main silos...
- Personnel and government operations, $950 million.
- Entitlements, including Medicaid, $1 billion.
- State aid, 80% going towards education, $1.1 billion.
He offered observations on all three silos…
- Government needs to be redesigned and made to work smarter. The Governor's proposed budget will reduce the state workforce to 14,800 FTEs (Note: down from 15,688.7, according to this year's official state budget document).
- Medicare needs to be made more efficient, especially in moving long-term care away from institutional settings wherever possible.
- Schools are being "held harmless", i.e. level funded, for the time being.
Sasse claimed that, if adopted as is, the Governor's proposed budget will get the structural budget deficit down to $12-$20 million by 2012.
Linda Katz (Policy Director, Rhode Island Poverty Institute) observed that 21 states are also facing budget crises, so Rhode Island is not alone. She suggested places to look to for enhancing revenues...
- Reverse the recent tax cuts (capital gains, flat tax for higher income taxpayers).
- Look closely at tax expenditures.
- Modernize the sales tax, especially to include more household services.
Rhode Island has already cut back on programs that help lower income people, by placing caps on eligibility for eligibility to Rite care and subsidized child care; that is not a place to make further cuts.
Katz agreed that Medicare reform is needed and that government needs to be made more efficient. But cuts that ultimately take money out of the healthcare economy can have negative ripple effects.
Paul Choquette (Chairman, Gilbane, Inc) used two phrases to describe the Rhode Island budget crisis…
- The Perfect Storm
- The chickens coming home to roost.
Rhode Island's population is declining. 1% of the wealthiest filers pay 40% of the income tax. We've increased spending at twice the rate of inflation over the past 10 years. 15% of the Rhode Island workforce is employed by the government. The Tax Foundation says our business climate is worst in the nation; CNBC says 48th. RIPEC says RI is 7 out of 50 in total tax burden.
What needs to be done…
- Reduce the cost and size of government.
- Review all services that government delivers, does government need to be doing everything it's doing now, and can it be done more efficiently?
- Explore regionalization and sharing of services.
- Recognize that government can't provide all the answers.
Non-profits should not be dependent on government, they need to raise more private dollars. If they can't raise money, maybe they shouldn't be in business.
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