| Is this the best you can do |
|
|
|
| Written by DJ Smith | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 07 July 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lt. Bill Halter had until today to submit the number of signatures needed for his proposed constitutional amendment ballot initiative that will give Arkansans the chance to vote whether they want a state lottery. Halter’s office said he submitted 138,615 signatures Thursday that state officials will have to verify that at least 77,486 – the magic number – of those signatures came from registered voters. Halter is gambling that voters want the lottery here that he said will be used to give Arkansas students scholarships for in-state 2- and 4-year colleges. He said the lottery scholarships will help solve the problems Arkansas has with being the 49th ranked state for median income and 49th ranked state in the country for 4-year college degrees. Tackling the first ranking; to quote the Clinton presidential administration Halter worked for buzz phrase from the 1992 election campaign, “It’s the economy stupid.” We’re not 49th in median income because we don’t have college degrees, we are 49th because we don’t have good paying jobs in the state. Remember, median income means the average. You have to add in the Wal-Mart Waltons who live here – worth billions – then everybody else, including the lowest paid W2 holder in the state who doesn’t show up on a Google list the way a Walton does. If we had blue collar jobs that paid the kind of money a family could live on, and possible prosper on, the average would go up. Prosper would include helping their kids pay for college. It caused me no small amount of consternation when the Arkansas AFL-CIO added their support to the lottery ballot. This support went so far as the organization saying they would ask union members volunteer to sign up registered voters. That they would take away from the (non-union) men and women who were trying to make a buck as paid employees of the Nevada-based signature-gathering firm National Voter Outreach Inc. seemed a bit scabby to me. In the March 21 Russellville Courier he said, “In my experience, there is no way to advance income in our state without improving higher education.” An October 2007 123-month report on manufacturing jobs by Manufacturer’s News showed that Arkansas – like so many other states – had seen a 2.8 percent decrease in manufacturing (and usually better paying) jobs in 2007. A trend it said had continued with the loss of 41,000 manufacturing jobs since August 2001 which has probably lowered our sate income average. Of course, if more Arkansans were to get college degrees they would receive the higher pay awarded those who spend ungodly amounts of money on their secondary education. But, without companies to work for here the college scholarship lottery graduates in Arkansas’ lottery players would basically be subsidizing companies in other states who will open their arms to hire them. And we would lose well paid, college educated Arkansans who wouldn’t play our lottery to support the next students. And no one can question that our educational system – in its entirety, not just college – is in need of help. But, the big question is why the Lt. Governor is simply rehashing old ideas instead of spending his time looking for new ideas that could do the entire state some good. From Halter’s website: “Bill Halter is focused on education and jobs. He believes Arkansas must develop a skilled work force capable of meeting the challenges of a 21st century economy.” He studied economics and politics as a National Merit Scholar and Harry S. Truman Scholar at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and received a Masters of Philosophy as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford in England. At McKinsey & Co. that Halter worked for before the election, its website’s “About Us” said. “Our clients need new insight. We ask our people to bring their best thinking to our clients.” If a lottery plan is considered new insight and bringing the best thinking then I am sorely disappointed. This is neither, but rather a rehash of others’ ideas, and you dismiss the many studies which show a lottery to be a regressive tax on the poor. There isn’t enough space to argue that point. From his own website he said, “Bill first joined the Clinton administration in 1993, working to help trim bureaucratic waste with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President. During his six years at OMB, the government's $290 billion budget deficit transformed to a $125 billion surplus. The United States enjoyed its first balanced budget in 40 years.” How about tearing into the Arkansas budget and find the money for scholarships by cutting waste, or would that be a bit too close to home. It is far easier to clamp down on the federal bureaucracy as an appointee, but it isn’t a stretch that you might want to run for governor and stepping on local political toes might not fit into a possible march to the mansion. You have the time since your website defines, “The official duties of Arkansas' Lieutenant Governor as described by the Arkansas Constitution are to preside over the Senate with a tie-breaking vote, to serve as governor when the governor is out of state, and to serve as governor if the governor is impeached, removed from office, dies or is otherwise unable to discharge the office's duties.” The legislation meets for 60 days every two years unless it votes to extend this period or the Governor calls a special meeting. I’m not an economics major but simple math shows a whole bunch of weeks over two years to allow you and your staff of four to delve into new ideas rather than phoning in old ones. Could we use more college graduates? You bet, but our K-12 public educational system is in shambles and would be better served with additional funds spend on them by lottery profits as many states do. New businesses looking to move do look for nearby colleges and universities they can hire from or have research and development programs they can donate to. They also look for healthy K-12 public school systems for their manufacturing employees to come from and their employees’ children to go to. The Diplomas Count 2008: School to College showed Arkansas is ranked 24th in the country for high school graduates with a 73.2 of students getting a diploma. Only Missouri beat us on this list as the top southern state with a rate of 76.5. Lt. Governors more than not want to move into the big mansion so just remember what it is Halter decided he would use his obvious intelligence and time on when he was in the second highest office in the state. He recently said the lottery here would stem the flow of “millions of dollars” that now leaves the state as residents head over our borders to buy tickets. What’s next; a state tax on Arkansans to stem the flow of money they would spend when they choose to leave the state for vacation?  14 Comments
Write comment
You must be logged in to comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
OP/ED POLICY
Dogtown Wire is an interactive publication and discussion site with registered users commenting on individual stories in Dogtown Wire. We encourage people to comment on the stories and these comments are in effect letters to the editor for each specific story.Dogtown Wire does accept guest columns for publication. The column should be limited to 750 words and one picture will be accepted per column. The guest column must be submitted in Microsoft Word format with a picture in a jpeg format no larger than 1 Mb. Only one picture per guest column will be published. Guest columns will only be accepted electronically by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Publication of any guest column is up to the discretion of the editor of Dogtown Wire. Please make sure you indicate the preferred guest column date for publication in Dogtown Wire. Dogtown Wire will attempt to publish the guest column on the date requested although the exact publishing date will vary, due to content and space considerations.
Sponsor
Our News Feeds
Search
Please Login
Sponsor
July 07, 2008