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In the recent Merrimack Repertory Theatre rendition of the long-running Broadway musical, The Fantasticks, the first act ends on a happy note. Boy gets girl, the wall between two familes comes down, the fathers remain friends, and the whole cast strikes a joyful pose. But, even before the curtain came down, there was wobbling, the grins started to seem a trifle forced, the audience knew that there was trouble ahead, and there was.

In the midst of my joy over the election results at every level, I feel a little wobbly. After all, look at the mess we are in both at home and in the world; it’s not going to be easy to pick up the pieces. We all know that Obama has a difficult task ahead of him. That said, I think he’s the man for the job. Pundits on AM radio are saying he only got elected because of his race and are questioning his experience and credentials (his, but not Palin’s, of course). Certainly, George W. Bush had a less than inspiring resume, and I remember thinking in 2000 that I hoped he had some good advisors- as it turned out he assembled a team of self-serving, behind-the-scenes operators who pulled the strings and kept him in a cocoon of his own delusions. As fantastic as it is for all Americans that the racial barrier has fallen, the election was about more than race. It was about a needed change from the last 8 years of failed policies and disasterous governing.

And for a happy ending that’s believable, you might care to see how The Fantasticks turns out – the show runs until November 9 and tickets are still available.

Decades ago, I visited a place where adults with mental disabilities made a living preparing large-scale mailings for businesses. I remember being impressed by their work ethic and their joy at being productive self-earners. I thought of that place recently when I read about Governor Patrick’s budget cuts that required layoffs at a Malden employment center for the blind, as well as other impacts to social services statewide. I know the Commonwealth faces a financial crisis due to a Wall Street fiasco with global impacts. I also believe the governor is a good and intelligent man, trying to do more with less in a climate overwhelmed with real fiscal problems (not counting the havoc if Ballot 1 passes—see here for earlier mention), but is this really what we’ve come to? How is it that our society cannot care for the least of us—even when it simply means giving them the opportunity to work? It reminds me of a Mary Oliver poem, unlike her in its dark brooding, but so indicative of the day:

Of the Empire, by Mary Oliver, from her book Red Bird

We will be known as a culture that feared death

and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity

for the few and cared little for the penury of the

many. We will be known as a culture that taught

and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke

little if at all about the quality of life for

people (other people), for dogs, for rivers. All

the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a

commodity. And they will say that this structure

was held together politically, which it was, and

they will say also that our politics was no more

than an apparatus to accommodate the feelings of

the heart, and that the heart, in those days,

was small, and hard, and full of meanness.

Despite Bill Gates warning last week about a severe decline in consumer spending, sometimes you have to spend money to protect your investments even during tight times. In my case, we realized that trees were growing into our house, the paint was peeling to expose wood, and the porch stairs were rotting—factors that prompted us to take on some hefty expenses immediately. Believe me, we do not have thousands of dollars right now to invest in painters and carpenters, yet exposing our home, our biggest asset, to another New England winter would have been foolhardy. It reminds me of the Lowell City Council last night reaffirming its earlier decision to upgrade the city’s sewer system. This is a priority investment for so many reasons from protecting residents from floods to making sure the city remains eligible for federal funding and maintaining our precious waterways. It was the painfully necessary thing to do in spite of the difficult financial climate, and no matter how much angst they had about it, the City Council made the right decision. When it comes to government services to our communities, there are many areas that fall into that “priority investment” category, such as education and public safety. These services are important and don’t come cheaply, which is why I oppose Ballot Question 1 to eliminate the income tax. More efficient delivery must be the focus, rather than slashing support for vital services that impact our quality of life today and in the future. That way you ensure the money, at least, is well spent.

Yesterday’s Boston Globe featured an op-ed by UMass Lowell Amy Perlmutter and Joel Tickner (fellow and associate professor at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production) that promotes exploiting the connection between environmentally friendly technology and future economic strength. The authors say, in addition to efforts around renewable energy, Massachusetts has “a leading edge in four other key areas”: green chemistry, green buildings, materials reuse, and emerging materials. They urge state power brokers to “take advantage of…the Commonwealth’s competitive advantages to become a world leader of the green economy of the future.” Contrast that message to James Carroll’s column on the same page where he discusses the “nice coincidence” of the government’s $700 billion Wall Street bailout costing about the same as the Pentagon’s yearly budget. Carroll’s point: “One need not be an economist to know that spending money on war planes, missiles, and exotic weapons systems, not to mention combat operations, creates far less social capitol than spending on education, bridges, mass transit, new forms of energy—even the arts. The genius of this nation’s most brilliant minds has been yoked for more than half a century to the invention of ways to kill and destroy.”

How’s that been working for us so far? The United States is a major exporter of weapons worldwide, which has aided the growth of terrorism and destruction of our environment; we desperately need leadership with a new vision for employment for our people and our role in the world. We must rethink our focus and put our best creative minds and resources to developing green technologies that will reinvigorate our economy and sustain our future.

I decided to flip through the Massachusetts Voter Guide which reminded me that November 4th is coming up fast! First of all, it’s not too late to register to vote! The deadline is October 15. To register, go to City Hall, fill out a form and keep the receipt. Official acknowledgement should arrive in 2 to 3 weeks. Mail-in registration forms must be postmarked October 15.

Next, I read the arguments for and against Question 1, the proposal to repeal the State Income Tax. As we’ve mentioned before, this is a bad idea for many reasons (dramatic cuts in state aid which will drive up property taxes, drastic reduction in state funding for schools, police, fire protection, lack of funds for infrastructure, etc). Reading the arguments for the proposal as put forth by the Committee for Small Government, the claims, besides the obvious one of more money in your pocket, is that

“Your “Yes” vote will NOT raise your property taxes NOR any other taxes.”
“Your “Yes” vote will NOT cut, NOR require cuts of any essential government services.”

This seems ludicrous to say the least! Certainly, in Lowell we will have to raise local taxes just to maintain a minimum of services, and I don’t even want to think what will happen to the school system, which relies heavily on State money. Perusing their website (just search Question 1 and it will pop up on google), I couldn’t find anything to back up the above assertions. They also have a carefully worded statement in the Voter Guide: “‘41% waste in Massachusetts state government’ reveals survey.” The survey appears to be a web poll, which their readers respond to, and 41% is the “mean, average response.” What, they can’t come up with any real statistics? On government waste??? They then proceed to use this “statistic” to make their argument: “with 41% waste, a 17% cut isn’t enough to remove even half the waste in state government spending.” Isn’t this – using a biased sample to prove a point – a logical fallacy of some kind?

For more about this group, see Tony’s interesting post about their funding.

Quote above: attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and taken up by Mark Twain, who said:

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.

Yesterday’s Globe had an article entitled A Crash Course in Credit that shows how the woes of Wall Street end up on Main Street. A seriously in-debt homeowner and two businesses are profiled, showing how hard it is becoming to get loans. The homeowner, already “awash in mortgage and credit card debt” is an example of the easy credit problems that led us to this point. The fact that he wants to borrow more money is a little scary; however, the pendulum is swinging too far the other way, illustrated by the two business owners who are also finding it hard to get credit and are putting projects on hold, scaling back and just trying to hold on. To quote the subheading of the article:

When lenders are afraid to lend, the economy stalls and uncertainty grows.

That was yesterday. Today, with Republicans pulling out of the bipartisan bailout plan (which their leadership helped to craft), there’s no deal. No one was 100% thrilled with the plan; however, this stalling and playing politics isn’t doing anyone any good. As I heard on Morningstar.com this morning, it should be called a Main Street Safety Net rather than a Wall Street Bailout. Why? Because if the big banks who hold the toxic loans aren’t stabilized with an infusion of cash and more importantly, confidence, the credit that fuels our economy becomes harder to get. Morningstar’s Pat Dorsey likens credit to the oil that keeps the engine running and without it, the financial markets, like an engine without oil, will seize up. Many businesses, such as the two mentioned above, rely on short-term loans for inventory, day-to-day operations, crafting deals, etc. Without these funds, they will grind to a halt, increasing business risk for themselves with a ripple effect out to consumers, employees and other organizations. Credit has been tightening since the subprime crisis began almost a year ago; but now we’re about to find out what happens to an economy when there is no credit. We might like the poetic justice of letting Wall Street twist in the wind, but we’re all going to feel the pain.

Earlier this week, I tuned into UML Sunrise to hear Michael Goodman, of the UMASS Donahue Institute with his thoughts on the scary economic situation (I’m getting sick of the technical jargon and decided to call it how it feels, and that’s scary). Goodman is the Director of economic and public policy research at the Institute, and he was “shocked” that, as others have noted, the planned bailout of Wall Street has no oversight built into it. Apparently, though, Paulson is now admitting that oversight is needed for the $700 billion handout to failing corporations. It’s hard to keep up as the situation is changing by the hour! The conversation with Goodman also included a discussion of how Wall Street’s woes will affect Main Street: (1) businesses can’t get loans and only consumers with perfect credit scores and 20% down will be able to access capital, (2) as the government overspends to buy up the bad debt on Wall Street, the value of the dollar will continue to shrink, which affects each of us every day, (3) in Massachusetts, where the financial services industry is a big part of the economy, there could be shrinking employment, (4) the state also depends heavily on capital gains for revenue; with shrinking stock prices, this money will also dry up. Hopefully, the podcast will be up soon while this information is still relevant. Last week, UML Professor of Economics, Ravi Jain was on with a calm and logical survey of the scene which still provides valuable insights. His point about the bailout is that these companies gambled and to be bailed out because they lost the bet is not setting a good precedent. Some of these so-called experts were leveraging $30 to $1. The moral hazard is that companies may not learn a lesson and be encouraged to repeat the behavior. As host, Christine Dunlap, asked, referencing the dot-com boom and the last real estate boom, ‘why don’t we learn?’ Co-host and Head of the English Department at UML, Melissa Pennell, had the final word: “Maybe we need a psychology professor.”

Congratulations to Governor Deval Patrick, who has been minimally successful in fulfilling most of his campaign promises for positive change, but at least has been able to make a dent in one area—that is, regarding police details for state road projects as the Globe reports today. I support Patrick’s compromise to keep police details only on busy or high-speed streets while also recognizing that my union friends will not be happy with his “disregard for collective bargaining.” Although the Globe article chose to focus on the negative angle as a loss for the police union, this change is good for the collective community to which we all belong for it will allow the state to save money desperately needed in other areas. I would even go so far as to support moving to blinking signs for truly less-travelled roads, as I saw in Ireland this summer, rather than paying flaggers.

This morning dawned bright and crisp, similar in many ways to Sept. 11, 2001, a day forever etched in our hearts as a national tragedy. This morning, we remembered 9-11 together in a moving ceremony in the courtyard at Lowell High School led by the Jr. ROTC Honor Guard with accompaniment from the high school’s show choir, students, staff and school administrators. As the superintendent noted in her remarks, most high school students were in elementary school when those jets slammed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, but the adults remember exactly where we were when we learned of the attacks. We remember this day as we do other days that have marked our national consciousness—from the assassinations of beloved leaders to the bombing of Pearl Harbor—because it is important to recognize the sacrifice of others as a way to appreciate the gifts we live today. Yesterday, the Boston Globe ran an op ed that noted a different kind of remembering—one that also resonated with me because it spoke of hope and moving forward: “On Sept. 12, 2001, America’s tragedy elicited sympathy from all over the world, including places as unlikely as Tehran. Thousands of Iranians spontaneously lit candles in solidarity with the families of victims and the American people.”

Perhaps we have squandered that goodwill as the authors claim. Perhaps our current administration’s tendency to rattle the sword rather than sit at the table of diplomacy has not made us safer, instead fueling those who hate and would destroy us, and leading us down a slippery slope of ongoing battles. As we look toward new leadership this fall, I hope voters will remember the attacks of 9-11, not as an impetus for revenge or fear, but as a tool to bring reasonable people together worldwide to create a new kind of international community—one that recognizes the mutual benefits of peace.

While teen pregnancy took center stage nationally with the news that GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s unwed 17-year old daughter is expecting, it is also an issue that is hot in Lowell these days. At its curriculum subcommittee meeting on Monday, Sept. 15, the Lowell School Committee will explore offering comprehensive sex education to its students as opposed to the program in place since 2003 when district budget cuts and federal funding mandated abstinence-only programs.  It is no secret that teen pregnancies directly correlate to dropout rates and poverty. What is debatable, however, is the role schools should play and the impact these programs have on teen behavior. As these responses (100+ comments) to an Aug. 21 article in the Sun show, sex education is controversial and fraught with misconceptions. The subcommittee meeting on Monday (2^nd floor, 155 Middlesex Street at 7 p.m.) is open to the public and should shed some light on the issue. It’s also important to remember, as this Globe article notes, many teen parents do not come from financially secure, supportive families as Palin’s, and of the 100 or so teen parents currently attending LHS, most struggle with basic living expenses and being able to attend school. Although some GOP supporters want to make Palin and her daughter heroines, I can’t help but see the irony of her family’s situation given her own and her party’s positions on sex education, contraception, and a women’s right to choose. The reality is most unwed teens continue a cycle of poverty they themselves were born into; it is only through education that we can stem that tide.