I’ve been violating the first rule of blogging – post something! daily! at least 4 or 5 times a week!
In the past several months, I’ve become a grandfather; my mother-in-law has had major surgery; I vacationed in Paris for 2 weeks; I’ve been dealing with severe budget cuts to my agency, the Maine State Library.
The budget cuts are the direct result of the failure of the under-regulated banking system and capitalism as an economic system which focuses far too intently on private good.
In the October 30 businessweek.com, Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School speaks of our long-term economic challenges and what has led to them. He recommends some short-term solutions which could lead us out of the current crisis.
Everyone, including Porter, has ideas about an economic stimulus plan – how much it will cost, on what the money should be spent. One of Porter’s ideas that really caught my attention was that federal money should be sent to the states with the proviso that much of it goes to state universities (emphasis added).
I have been advocating something similar since late 2007 when I wrote to Maine’s Congressional delegation to include construction money for public library renovation in any deliberations of an economic stimulus package. You can see how far this idea got when all those individual ”rebate” checks were mailed out last spring.
I would include in Porter’s suggestion that all community colleges and public libraries be included with state universities. These three educational groups have long-terms presences in the U.S. Many public libraries have been fixtures in their communities for 100 years or more.
As demand for the services of universities, community colleges and public libraries increase, their budgets will be slashed. Opportunities for retraining or improving skills, access to computers and databases, and a new possibilities for entrpreneurship are all products of these educational institutions. It makes no sense to further hinder social mobility by strangling the very institutions that can assist in it.
