I recently returned to Philadelphia from a visit with my daughter and son-in-law in Rhode Island. I heard about the folly of Providence's mayor and school board who believe that the answer to all the academic failures and to all the financial deficits of the Providence School District can be solved by firing every single school teacher.
Considering a parallel in medicine might present the following scenario: People notice that the mortality rate at the local cancer hospital is higher than that of the local general hospital. To resolve the problem, physicians feel more money is needed for research and patient care. But, no one wants to pay more in taxes to support proper care for the cancer patients, and politicians are hard pressed to look as though they are doing something. So, they fire all of the professionals at the hospital, doctors and nurses alike. What sense does that make?
None. Nor does firing the professionals who dedicate their lives to work with inner city children, often from families with financial and linguistic challenges. Politicians can pretend they are doing something when in reality they are blowing out a smoke screen that will only pollute the lives of disadvantaged children while solving nothing. Shame on the mayor, the school board, and all of the voters who allowed this to happen.
Maybe my Keynes is showing, but firing people to save the economy can't help but lubricate the slide. Yes, it's worst when it directly affects children, the sick and otherwise helpless but since social responsibility, if not public spiritedness and even civilization itself, has become a bogeyman, these folks are usually the first to be thrown overboard.
ReplyDeleteLate breaking news (source: Huffington Post):
ReplyDelete"Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) split his controversial budget-repair bill in two on Wednesday, allowing the Senate to pass the most hotly contested provisions while their 14 Democratic colleagues remained out of state.
The parliamentary maneuver, first reported by local press, allowed the anti-collective bargaining measure to pass with just Republican support. Under Wisconsin law, a quorum of 3/5 of the Senate is needed for a statute that is fiscal in nature. A lower quorum is needed for non-fiscal matters.
It was also a 180-degree reversal by Walker and state Senate Republicans, who have insisted for the past three weeks that the collective bargaining provision was designed to help alleviate the state’s budget problems. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) had previously said he would not attempt to pass any portions of the bill without Democrats present."
Tomorrow, I am doubling my donation to the recall effort in Wisconsin. Bastards!
Would take a lot of doubling down to equal the money being poured into the Dairy State by Rove and the Kochs.
ReplyDeleteIt has to get pretty bad to wake people up so maybe it has to get worse if there's to be any hope.