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We’re #43!

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Those with long memories will recall the days of the campaign when CNBC’s ranking of Massachusetts as the 5th best state to do business in was widely touted. To be sure, all these rankings are highly dependent on the underlying methodology — CNBC emphasized education and quality of life strongly, so Massachusetts did well. Well, another ranking has come down the pike, from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. They emphasize tax policy and regulation heavily. And Massachusetts does not do so well — ranking 43rd out of 51 states (and DC). Roll that in with the CEO magazine ranking (47th!) and the Tax Foundation ranking (32nd), and there may be a message there.

Governor’s Pep Rally on Health Care Cost Containment

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Governor Patrick held an informational briefing on cost containment. The problem is that all things are not equal — insurance premiums are rising at an unsustainable rate…I am a private marketeer, not a market fundamentalist. I don’t think the market always gets it right and I don’t think the market has gotten it right in this case. I heard nothing new from the Administration, only the same unwavering faith in their ability to manage and regulate the marketplace.  I am not sure what the next step is, as the Governor’s bill calls for the details for payment reform and cost containment to form in the regulatory arena, and I don’t believe the Legislature will give that sort of power to […]

Proven reforms for urban students

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There are no silver bullets. In education, our landmark 1993 education reform act was testimony to that dictum, laying out a blueprint based on high academic standards, accountability for teachers and districts, testing for students, and innovation through charter schools. That said, there are those who believe in complicated processes and those who are more decentralizing in how they think about reform. Count me among the latter–and that’s why I have always found parental choice, tying money to the child not the system, and clear rules about school flexibility and accountability interesting. Each of these principles helps create the conditions and incentives for engaging parents, which I think is a crucial pressure point (and frankly the more they are engaged, […]

Gilded benefits clash with ‘fair share’

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Public employee unions leaders love to talk about “fair share” when they are trying to score even sweeter contracts than the ones they enjoy now. It is the classic class envy diversion – it can’t be fair if anybody out there is making more than they are. If the idle rich just paid their fair share in taxes, then there would be plenty of money for government to pay their hard-working members bigger raises and provide even better benefits. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that most rich people got that way by working hard. But that is a topic for another post. What is interesting here is that in the long-overdue focus on public employee health benefits, you […]

A way to bend the cost curve up

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Minimum staffing provisions in public sector union contracts – largely in police and fire departments – are a major reasons those services are so expensive. They lead to massive, unnecessary overtime costs and are easily abused – it is simple for a worker to call in sick so a friend can pick up some extra OT. It also turns the proper relationship of manager and worker on its head – employees, not management, dictate how many people are required to do a task. The union, naturally, wants as many people as possible on a task, a vehicle, a shift. It undermines efficiency and productivity, by design. Gov. Deval Patrick and state legislators, who huff and puff about “bending the cost […]