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Open Markets and Open Skies

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The thicket of regulations which used to govern air travel between the US and Europe, which severely limited which airlines could fly to and from various destinations, will be gone on March 30. Here’s hoping the innovators in low cost travel in Europe (Ryanair, Wizzair, et al; take a look at their sites and the unbelievable prices) will make transatlantic travel more affordable. Of course, as an investor, you might be interested in Warren Buffett’s take on the industry: “if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down.”

I went to a fight

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…and a birthday party broke out. Sheesh, two police reports from kids’ birthday parties — one at a Chuck E. Cheese and the other from the Good Time Emporium in Somerville. At least the second one was on Easter.

WaPo on Michelle Rhee and quality teachers

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The keynote for this year’s Better Government Competition, which is focused solely on improving our educational system, is Michelle Rhee. In addition to a recent shakeup in the bureaucracy, she has been closing some schools. All very focused on improvement. Probably more important, as the WaPo notes, are hiring and retention rules for teachers. As noted in the Friday WaPo: Rules that put the interests of teachers ahead of the educational needs of children must be changed if Ms. Rhee is to succeed in transforming the system. The contract with the Washington Teachers’ Union, which represents some 4,400 employees, expired last fall. Neither side would discuss what’s on the table or comment on the progress of the talks. It’s apparent, […]

A rose by another name

/0 Comments/in , /by Liam Day

Totally off topic, but I do want to acknowledge Kevin Cullen’s column in today’s Globe. One of my first jobs out of college was as one of the teen directors at the Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester, which has now changed its name – to reflect how much it’s grown – to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester. In all, I spent three years at the Club. The men and women who work there – Bob Scannell, Mike Joyce, Dave Bonnell, Bruce Seals and Queenie Santos, the person I worked with most closely – are among the finest people I know. The club has been an anchor and an oasis in a neighborhood that too often […]

Getting the Incentives Right

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At the end of the day, compensation systems are intended to attract a workforce appropriate to the task. So, the details in Monday’s Globe story on expanded State Police recruitment are alarming. The story leads with a push for greater diversity but quickly gets to the point: Thirty-nine percent of the department’s 2,429 officers are eligible to retire because they’ve been on the job for more than 20 years, and more than half of those already qualify for a full pension, according to State Police. “Over 500 troopers have maxed out their pension and could walk out the door any time,” said Colonel Mark Delaney. As our 2006 paper on state pensions points out, the Commonwealth builds all kinds of […]