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Tuesday Quick Hits
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by– Holub out? I haven’t followed it closely but the Globe suggests that UMASS-Amherst Chancellor Holub is on his way out after just three years. One of the data points the article refers to is a survey of professors that shows dissatisfaction with the Chancellor. Its not entirely clear but the survey appears to be one of those on-line, opt-in surveys, not a scientific sampling. So that means approximately 100 (self-selected?) respondents (out of 1000+ faculty members) are responsible for the failing grade given to Holub. – Referee Needed. The Patrick Administration is claiming big $$$ savings from the opening of the automobile insurance market to competition. (A view I agree with and a stance for which the Governor does […]
The Soft Cost of Doing Business In Massachusetts?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byIf you talk with business leaders, you hear stories about the hidden costs of doing business in Massachusetts – huge building projects idled by recalcitrant local building inspectors, regulators blithely ignoring legitimate concerns raised by companies, and a general lack of understanding of how businesses work. I’ve always wanted to quantify these ‘soft costs’ to see if they amounted to much, or were just so much complaining. As I compiled information for my last post on business rankings, one pattern in the data caught my eye. If you look at Massachusetts strictly by the taxation and business cost numbers, we come out in the mid-30s. This year, we were ranked 32nd for tax climate by the Tax Foundation and 39th […]
Your vote is sacred, unless we don’t like it
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /byThe vote of the people is sacred. Except when it’s not. And it obviously is not sacred in Nahant, where town officials are perpetuating a dangerous trend – if your vote doesn’t conform with the wishes of those in power, you have to vote again. On April 30, voters in the town election rejected a proposed $260,000 override for the local schools. So, earlier this week, after receiving a petition from 173 residents, the Board of Selectmen voted to hold a special election on June 25 to reconsider it. Such things don’t happen often, but they should never happen. The justifications for it are the same lame talking points always presented in such circumstances, the worst of which is the […]
We’re #5! No wait, we’re #43!
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byDuring last year’s gubernatorial campaign, CNBC ranked Massachusetts #5 as one of the best places to do business. The ranking (and some of the subindexes that weren’t quite so positive) got bandied around by the campaigns as evidence and counterevidence of the state of our business climate. (Even some of my fellow bloggers have referenced it.) If you look at the subindexes for that ranking, you can quickly figure out our strengths and weaknesses – on productivity/quality of life measures, we are very strong; and on business cost/tax policy issues, we are pretty weak. And that gets replicated in lots of similar surveys – depending on which measures are chosen, Massachusetts does very well or quite poorly. So what matters? […]
King of New York
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byNathaniel Brooks for The New York Times If the weekend sweep of the Yankees was not enough for you, here is a story of a great Boston reformer who has made good in the Big Apple. John B. King Jr., who credits teachers for helping him surmount an isolated childhood as an orphan in Brooklyn and who ran celebrated charter schools in New York and Massachusetts, was named Monday as the state’s next education commissioner, with a unanimous vote of the Board of Regents. At 36, Dr. King, who previously served as deputy commissioner, will be among the nation’s youngest educational leaders… After losing both of his parents to illness by age 12, Dr. King earned an undergraduate degree from […]