Aisha Sultan at Parents Talk Back writes about the recent birth of octuplets to a woman who already had six children:

This is the height of selfishness and abdication of parental responsibility.[..] Instead of showering this woman with free diapers and formula, social services should keep a close eye on the health and welfare of a these 14 children.

Of course, I don’t personally know this woman, so I can’t vouch for her responsibility. But going by the information provided in the AP story, it sounds like she had six children and wanted seven. She had a fertility treatment that can result in multiple births (or single births, or none at all if it doesn’t work). Now she has 14 children.

There are other families in the U.S. that have 15, 16, 17, or even 18 children, with or without fertility treatments. Teachers in public schools are in charge of that many children at a time. So I don’t think a relatively low “parent-child ratio” is reason by itself for state surveillance.

This is funny to watch: A state senator explaining her vote in favor of a pay increase for legislators and judges. Although the state senators who voted against the increase may have been motivated more by political pressure and PR considerations, it’s amusing to hear her call for raises so the legislators will “value” themselves. I thought your self-esteem was supposed to be based on your inherent specialness and character, and not on how much money you make.

Thank you, Combest, for linking to this. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this excellent blog from the Southeast Missourian. Today, Brad Hollerbach writes about license plate redesign and the waste it entails:

I’ve had the same personalized plates for almost 20 years. This will be the third set of plates I’ve had to get because the bureaucracy in Jeff City thought they needed spruced up.

You know, like adding a squiggle that symbolizes the Mississippi River and changing the color scheme. Real mission-critical stuff.

Is license plate redesign the #1 irresponsible use of state resources? No, but little things add up. We’ve got to point out the waste that nobody cares about to make the case for lower government spending, or at least diverting the money to better uses.

Speaking of little things that matter to me but not to many other people, as soon as I wrote that last post about how getting calls from strangers is a great source of information, some scammer starting calling my cell phone and asking for my relatives to call their 800 number. When I inquired what the call was regarding, I was told they can’t discuss it because of “privacy laws.”

I still think legitimate telemarketers are a good, but maybe we shouldn’t have all these complicated regulations for the fake ones to hide behind.

I want to just take a minute to thank and applaud North Dakota for being on the cutting edge of technology and tax policy. A CNET article talks about how a North Dakota state legislator filed a bill that would specifically exempt digital downloads from taxation. The article touches on a few of the issues that I previously mentioned, like how a state government can’t be a nexus for external taxation, and how this proposed taxation of digital products is a short-sighted and foolhardy expedition. The article also talks about the states (17 of them) that are already taxing digital downloads, and two more that are going to try: Mississippi and New York. Despite failing previously, New York is yet again trying to kill business and growth.

I know this is not a Missouri issue yet, but I would really love to see someone who has a great record of being in touch with the people and populist issues take it up here in Missouri. Any suggestions?

An article in the Post-Dispatch (link via Combest) reports that Jim “70 votes” Lembke (R-1), narrow victor of the race for his state Senate seat, has filed a bill to ban red light cameras (full text of the bill here).

This blog has not exactly been quiet about red-light cameras. Enough has been said about the issue before, but I just wanted to keep our loyal readers up to date with some new movement.

The deadline to apply to be a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow — a program that includes two weeks of seminars at the Institute for Humane Studies in D.C., and eight weeks working as an intern with the Show-Me Institute here in Missouri — is rapidly approaching. Applications are due on Saturday, January 31.

We’re not yet sure whether we’ll be holding our regular summer internship program this year; it all depends on how many summer fellow applicants we accept. So, if you’d like to work with the Show-Me Institute this summer, the summer fellow program is your best bet for now.

If you’re debating whether you should apply, take a look at some of the highlights that Matt Simpson, our Koch Fellow from last summer, had from his time working here:

• Op-ed: Flood Relief Establishes Perverse Incentives
• Missourinet interview: Controversial proposal would deny government aid to flood victims
• Post-Dispatch blog citation: The flip side of flood aid
• Show-Me Daily: 30 blog entries
• Show-Me Quarterly: Front cover photo

Not bad for an eight-week internship here, eh? And that just scratches the surface of all the research that he, and our other interns, helped out with behind the scenes.

So, once again, if you’d like to have the chance to dive into Missouri public policy this summer, be sure to apply to be a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow. After Saturday, it may be too late.

I know it’s me against the world on this issue, but I really think robo-calls are a valuable source of political information. Not that I get my information from them, personally! It’s just that I would hate to see them disappear. What’s next? No mailing brochures to people? No knocking on doors reminding them to vote? No emailing them or campaigning in virtual realms like Second Life? (Notice my new positive attitude towards Second Life.)

It’s like advertising — everyone complains about how annoying it is, without considering that the flow of information would be constrained without it.

This argument for requiring insurance to cover autism treatment just doesn’t make sense (emphasis mine):

Grisamore noted the exponential increase of the incidence of autism—going from one in 10,000 children to one in 150— as proof that his legislation is urgently needed. He also pointed to the growing number of states that that have passed and signed similar legislation as another indicator of the need for Missouri to do the same.

Insurance experts have documented that such insurance coverage would require less than one half of one percent in premium increases.

You can’t have it both ways. Either autism is becoming ubiquitous, or it will be cheap for insurance to cover its treatment. Autism treatment is expensive (hence the demand for an insurance mandate) and passing a law won’t change that reality. There’s no free lunch.

A recent article in the Political Fix (link via Combest) discusses the use of laptops on the Senate floor. Now, I may be speaking out of school on this subject, but I can’t imagine a better idea to allow legislators to have actual debates. Giving legislators ready access to the world of information represented on the Internet only serves to help the Missouri people.

A good Internet-enabled machine is relatively cheap, and gives legislators access to a plethora of information. I’m not talking about visiting Wikipedia to figure out the annual cost for dolphin studies during 2008; I’m talking about being able to figure out how much the Missouri government spends on particular projects, and how those figures compare to other states. Also, wouldn’t it be great if someone could easily pull out an article from the Show-Me Institute, the Cato Institute, or the Institute for Justice, and actually start talking about policy in-depth?

Having worked in the legislature, I am all for the efficiency of government — and there was more than one occasion in which I received a phone call or text message asking me to look up certain facts or find a rebuttal to a policy argument. I was happy to do my job, but by the time I actually found something, printed it out, went to the floor, had an usher get my legislator, wait for him read it, and then watch him wait to be called on by whomever was at the dais that day/hour, the point was moot — by that point, the bill or amendment was no longer up for discussion. So, allowing each legislator a laptop would hopefully solve at least this issue, while allowing them to particiapate in actual debate.

I know that there may be some issues with security and whatnot but I have to downplay those as minimal. Good firewalls, antivirus programs, and a great tech staff already exist, and this would not present any significant additional burden on the system. I have a very hard time understanding why legislators would protest the proposal so much. Someone care to explain it to me?

I am off for vacation until Monday. Here’s hoping the Cardinals win the big game on Sunday:

Rev. Lovejoy: [surveys his congregation, one man and two old ladies] Well, I’m glad some people could resist the lures of the big game.
Man: Oh, my God!  I forgot the game! [rushes out]
— Super Bowl Sunday, “Lisa the Greek”

Hopefully, when I return to work on Monday, all bones intact, we will have no red light cameras, fewer state government employees, Warner will have his second ring, Fitzgerald his first, and the attention of the state of Missouri will turn to my study of state government, to be released next Thursday. I know how excited you all are.

P.S. — I make no claim to being anything more than a fair-weather Cardinals fan, who — like most of St. Louis — has decided to root for them on Sunday because of the presence of Kurt Warner. Although Larry Fitzgerald really is an amazing player.

A good pair of articles (links via Combest) recently discussed the increase (or lack thereof) in pay raises for state officials. While legislators were denying themselves and judges a pay raise, the governor’s office had a mixed result. Some positions saw an increase, while others saw a decrease. Overall, though, there was an increase. A few legislators proposed an amendment to give a raise to judges while excluding themselves, but this was struck down.

I’ve always thought that the pay of elected officials and their staff is a tricky subject. On one hand, you want to ensure that you attract the “best and the brightest,” so that the taxpayers are getting good government. On the other hand, you don’t want to spend more of the taxpayers’ money than necessary in order to have a good working government. I realize that the combination of someone being brilliant and also willing to accept what is normally a substantially lower salary than they might receive elsewhere is a rarity. The people who fit this description are usually driven by a sense of service and duty to the state.

Salaries in the governor’s office are up $21,757, and by rejecting their 4-percent cost-of-living increase, the state legislature “saved” the taxpayers $234,165.80 according to my calculations ($35,915 x .04 x 163). That is a fairly substantial savings, in my book. Additionally, by rejecting pay raises for associate circuit judges, they saved the state $289,500 (193 x $1,500). Overall, there was a “savings” of $501,908.80 ($234,165.80 + $289,500 – $21,757). The cynical part of me understands that the legislature needed to make a political move, because voting for a pay raise — even if it is a cost-of-living increase — can be political suicide, but it is a good move nonetheless.

While I’m on the subject of pay raises for judges, it seems that a modest increase of $1,500 per judge won’t be enough to make an actual difference for either cost of living or recruitment away from the private sector, so the fact that this didn’t pass is a good thing. Additionally, the judges just received a pay raise in July, up to $$109,366. So, a new increase from $109,366 to $110,866 doesn’t seem all that enticing. This decision to let each of the 5,842,713 people in Missouri keep their average of $0.90 (443,367.35 ÷ 5,842,713) is a good thing. Yes, I know that not each one of those people pays taxes, but you get my point).

So, that’s just my $0.02.

I just got done reviewing the governor’s State of the State speech, and I’d like to follow up on Sarah’s post with one of my own. After reading the speech, I think that even though Gov. Nixon and I may differ in the way we reach conclusions about what would be wise in terms of public policy, he seems to have arrived at some very good ideas.

Far too frequently, bureaucratic inertia allows certain government programs, positions, and workers to continue on well beyond the point at which they are more expensive than is justified by the value they provide to citizens. Sentimentality and political concerns make it difficult for elected officials to fire government workers, which is one reason why the government tends to be less efficient than private businesses, which are under constant pressure to discard workers or divisions that are no longer creating enough value to justify the expense. Gov. Nixon has pledged to cut nearly $200 million from the budget by treating the government more like a business. I’m certain that this is an unpopular position among many people with whom the governor associates, but it is one that — assuming he follows through with it — will be very good for the state. And, for all those worried about what will happen to the government workers who will be downsized, remember that if they are as good and effective workers as we hope they are, they should have little trouble finding a job somewhere in the private sector.

Gov. Nixon also announced his intention to review the state’s system of tax credits, suggesting that he will work to eliminate those that are corporate welfare masquerading as the public good. This is an excellent idea. Tax credits can be very useful to encourage private businesses and citizens to invest in Missouri, but they should never be used to give a special advantage to certain businesses, industries, or interest groups. Examples of good tax credit programs are those that lighten the tax burden for people who donate to chartities — such as domestic violence shelters, food pantries, and the Higher Education Scholarship Program. Examples of negative tax credit programs are those that lighten the tax burden only for specially favored businesses and industries, such as last year’s proposed Bombardier tax credit, the Hazelwood Ford Plant tax credit, or the tax credit for grape and wine producers. While we don’t know which tax credit programs Gov. Nixon will eventually target, his stance offers hope that he will work to end corporate welfare tax credits.

There are certainly points in the governor’s address that I disagree with, and you can be assured that I’ll address those points in the future. But, for now, I just want to say that I applaud him for the positive positions that he seems to be taking in regard to improving government transparency and efficiency, and targeting the misuse of tax credit schemes.

France has many things going for it. It has smart public policy on nuclear power, and its court ruled in favor of Linden Labs when a complaint was brought against them. (I mention that last point to try to win back the commenters who were outraged by my anti-Second Life post.)

However, reading Mound City Money reveals one aspect of French policy that ought to stay in France: free newspaper subscriptions for teenagers. If you’re going to waste money on newspapers, at least give them to someone who will read them.

When I saw this, I immediately thought of Dave Stokes’ classic post about people who don’t seek government assistance. Here’s the Post-Dispatch’s summary of what Nixon said about uninsured children in MIssouri:

Most are eligible for coverage under the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program but haven’t signed up.

“That’s unacceptable,” Nixon said. He promised to start identifying eligible families, who can make up to three times the federal poverty limit, or $63,600 for a family of four.

Now’s a good time to review what Dave said:

Some types, generally of the left-leaning persuasion, just can not understand that people eligible for government aid might still prefer to make it by on their own.

And for the good news, here are Nixon’s words on reducing the number of Missouri state employees:

In total, my FY10 budget proposes the elimination of more than 1,300 positions. We will cut nearly $200 million from overhead by eliminating these positions and cutting bureaucracy.

I’m glad he isn’t using the economic situation as an excuse to add government jobs.

There’s more good stuff at Education Next. Here’s a forum on the subject of technology in K–12 education. John E. Chubb and Terry M. Moe think that technology will radically transform the sector, while Larry Cuban is more cautious and maintains that reformers are too quick to buy the latest gadget for every classroom.

I think that technology has the potential to change the market and the way educational services are delivered to students. Virtual schools bring competition to areas where there was none before, and help break the connection between where a student lives and his learning environment. They bring enrichment opportunities to students who once had only the foreign languages and electives offered by their local schools to choose from.

However, curriculum and learning processes will evolve more slowly. “Virtual” students take tests and complete assignments online, but they still read books and practice handwriting. Although they have more subjects to choose from than their counterparts in brick-and-mortar schools, they don’t study them in radically different ways. A student learning Chinese online will memorize vocabulary and learn to write just as a student studying French in a classroom would.

Some municipalities in Missouri have smoking bans on the books; some don’t. Some private businesses forbid smoking on their premises; some allow it. That’s the kind of spontaneous order that legislators just can’t resist overriding with a statewide policy.

I recommend reading John LaPlante’s excellent post today about smoking bans, and why the decision should be left to individual businesses.

Education Next reports on education blogging. The list of top education policy blogs includes Jay P. Greene, who participated in the Show-Me Institute’s 2007 conference, From Equity to Adequacy to Choice.

Show-Me Daily didn’t make the cut this past year, but maybe in 2009?

One thing that my brother, Mike (the second-oldest of four, with moi being the eldest), and I have in common is a devotion to the “Bloom County” comic strip. I own all the books, have read them all at least six times, quote them a lot, etc., which is also true for Mike. For whatever reason, many of my interests/hobbies are ones I share with my friends (”The Simpsons,” politics, Axis and Allies, darts, trivia nights, everything sports), but “Bloom County” — like skiing and Coen Brothers movies — is one I mostly share with my family. There are certainly crossovers between these sets of interests, especially so for politics and sports, but for whatever reason my friends never really gotten into “Bloom County.” Dunno, maybe they’re cooler than I am. …

I know what you are thinking: Is there a point to all of this? Not really, but because I am the only staffer to make it through the snow to come in today (thanks to my new 4WD SUV, and the fact that I live only a mile away), I may be particularly inclined to poignancy. Which gets me to reassessment, that special period every two years in Missouri during which our property gets revalued — a process that determines our tax rates.

This morning’s Wall Street Journal has bad news for anyone expecting the upcoming reassessments to lead to tax cuts, at least in the St. Louis area. You can’t read the full article without a subscription, but I’d like to point you to the map that’s on page one today, if you are interested. This map lists the decline in the price of homes in about thirty major cities during the past year. St. Louis has one of the smallest declines, at 3.7 percent. Many other cities have seen declines well into double digits, and only a few cities have slightly smaller declines.

This is all pertinent because, as the Post-Dispatch has reported recently, many homeowners are gearing up for a fight in St. Louis County, which has been ground zero for assessment and property tax issues during the past decade. From what I’ve heard, many people were astounded when, in an article that ran a few weeks ago, the St. Louis County assessor claimed property values really hadn’t gone down that much. Well, at least according to Zillow.com and the WSJ, he may be right. Frankly, the difference may be even less than negative 3.7 percent in St. Louis County, because that number applies to the entire metro area, and the new home construction prices in extended suburbs like St. Charles have probably fallen more than areas like St. Louis city and county.

I am not saying that this is a good thing. Of course, I would like to see lower property taxes and less government involvement in our lives. Fewer government employees and (self-assumed) government responsibilities are the best things that can come from a recession. But, to repeat what I said here a few weeks ago, the best thing that most of us can probably hope to arise from this reassessment in Missouri is that our property taxes will remain level for the next two years. Considering how much they have increased during past cycles, perhaps a leveling-off would not be so bad.

To some opponents of charter schools, a proliferation of charters in your city is almost as bad as a natural disaster. So what happens when charter school growth follows a disaster in quick succession? Chaos, right? Not according to this editorial in the Times-Picayune (thanks to Edspresso for the link):

Just as encouraging is the finding that scores jumped from 2007 to 2008 within all school types, including campuses run by the Recovery School District, the Orleans Parish School Board and dozens of independently run charter schools.

[...] the quality of education New Orleans’ children are getting is improving. And for the first time, parents have numerous educational choices.

This diminishes the credibility of those who predict imminent doom and gloom with the opening of each new charter. As the editorial points out, it’s not possible to prove that charters directly caused the rising test scores and other positive developments in the New Orleans education market. But it conclusively shows that progress is possible even with a bunch of new charters in town — and charters don’t have to mean the end of life as we know it.

Combest links to this article in the Fulton Sun about a proposed nuclear reactor. The General Assembly is considering AmerenUE’s plan to add on to the Callaway Nuclear Plant. What I liked best about the article was that in addition to summarizing the usual arguments for and against, it points out that nuclear energy is a success in countries that don’t impose so many political barriers to its use:

France has more than 60 nuclear power plants that generate more than 80 percent of its electrical power. France also is the world’s largest exporter of electrical power, sending 18 percent of its production to other nations.

We’ve followed in France’s footsteps by establishing an official language; it would be a good idea to emulate their openness to energy innovation, too.

The Springfield Business-Journal ran a nice article about my occupational licensing study and some reactions to it. I think it’s a great article, and I thank Jeremy for his interest in the subject.

Like any good journalist, the reporter got quotes from all sides of the debate. And, man, did he ever get some good quotes from the supporters of licensing (all emphasis below is added):

“The licensing process is a must,” said Detwiler, who along with fellow state-certified massage therapist Stephanie Lansdown run The Neuromuscular Clinic, which opened Nov. 15 in Springfield. “If you don’t know what you’re doing and say that you do, you could really do some harm to somebody.”

Clearly, this person has never tried to pick someone up at a bar.

“If we did the same work in San Diego, it would be a lot more expensive,” Detwiler said.

“I think it’s more about where you are. I don’t think the licensing would really have an effect on price.“

Believe it or not, we actually considered the issues of cost-of-living. The therapist is right that it matters, but wrong when he or she says that it explains the difference between Wichita and Springfield. The two cities have a very comparable cost-of-living, and Wichita’s is actually slightly higher. The main reason a massage session is $10 more in Springfield than Wichita is licensing, not costs of living.

I’ll finish with one quote that shows progress being made:

He added that the National Council of Architecture Review Boards has in recent years made it easier for architects licensed in one state to get licensed in others.

That is one way for the harmful effects of licensing to be reduced, and I applaud the architects for making it happen.

Check out this article in the Columbia Missourian about Missouri government’s use of the website Second Life:

Avatars can make their way through the flowering dogwoods, stop to view a spinning Missouri state seal overhead and browse displays about information technology opportunities and facts about the state.

I wonder whether they can eat official Missouri dessert ice cream cones, catch official Missouri invertebrate crayfish, and dance the square dance, the official folk dance of the state of Missouri. (I don’t know, because I’m not on Second Life!)

The Information Technology Services Division has already hired someone they recruited on Second Life. In the virtual world, he was a kitten. The article doesn’t say what he turned out to be in real life.

And state involvement in this online community goes even further:

In November 2008, the Missouri Government Island was established. A plan is under way to use virtual construction machinery, even bulldozers, to make the island the shape of Missouri. This will become home to several state government entities.

“We understand that we are the only state to go out and obtain our own island,” Grecian said.

Now, I don’t want to be overly critical of this because it sounds like expenditures on the project have been negligible so far. But there’s a fine line between staying ahead of the pack when other states are too conservative in taking advantage of new technology, and going off the deep end. If other states aren’t buying islands, that’s probably because states just don’t need their own virtual islands. And there are lots of options for state agencies to use social networking — for example, through Facebook pages — to get in touch with people in more direct ways. I thought the whole idea of using online networking was to avoid the bulldozers and stuff you need in real life. If you have to create a virtual MoDot in order to recruit people on Second Life, how is that an improvement over planet Earth?

The explanations that are being given to justify the black-white achievement gap in suburban school districts are disturbing:

When affluent districts show a similar achievement gap, the usual excuses given don’t seem to apply. Students in Clayton, Webster, Parkway, would all come from home environment not associated with poverty. Perhaps, it is a matter of “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

That’s a comment from “taxpayer” on today’s Post-Dispatch article about the achievement gap.

Any reasonable person would agree that skin color alone has no effect on a person’s desire to learn and succeed. If the gap persists even in affluent districts, you have to conclude that that there is some socioeconomic difference between the black and white students — perhaps because minority families are making sacrifices to move to the better districts — or that the schools are not educating everyone equally.

I’m amazed at how reluctant people are to criticize public schools, to the point where they resort to blatant racism rather than admit that public schools systematically produce worse outcomes for some students.

I urge everyone to read this study from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments about the ludicrous economic development policies that the St. Louis area has been pursuing during the past decades. The Post-Dispatch had a major article about it over the weekend. People at the Show-Me Institute, including me, have been raising issues like this for some time, but it is great to see EWG’s proof in the pudding. I will return to this issue after I have had time to read the entire study.

For most men, beer and sports go well with just about anything. That is the basic business plan of Knockouts barbershop in St. Joseph. Guys can go in, have a beer, get a haircut from an attractive young lady, and watch TV. Of course, the state can’t possibly allow something like this to go on without intervention of some type. So, now there is an investigation into whether or not Knockouts needs a liquor license — because, you know, God forbid the government not get its cut.

Mr. Schler, the acting state liquor and tobacco supervisor, said any salon requiring a purchase in order to obtain a complimentary drink is indirectly selling alcohol.

“You’re getting a haircut and alcohol all in one monetary consideration. It’s all a package,” he said. “You cannot get the drink without the money. So, it’s not actually free.”

I am pretty sure that at some point in the future, the government will try to license Super Bowl parties at your house. Because, you know, somebody has to pay for the television in the first place — so it’s not actually free. Speaking of guys who love beer and sports, thanks Combest for the link.

I was intrigued when I saw this headline on Combest: “Lawmaker seeks to cut alcohol tab for school staffers.” Are education officials given some kind of allotment to spend on alcohol, which is being cut? No, but it turns out that at least one district has a problem with employees buying alcohol on the taxpayers’ dime:

The audit, available on the district Web site, flags $4,513 in confirmed alcoholic beverage purchases, including 14 pitchers of beer charged in one evening and as many as 46 alcoholic beverages split between two administrators on one other occasion.

And, in response, a state representative wants Missouri law to forbid the practice.

I’m sympathetic to this attempt to curb egregious spending, but I don’t think it will even make a ripple in the ocean of district wastefulness. The same audit revealed unwarranted purchases of items like sunglasses and flowers. We can’t write a separate law for each of these things: “No buying sunglasses … no buying this … no buying that …”

And if the state gives districts more incentive to conserve — for example, less money to begin with, or the threat of competition — there wouldn’t be a need for all those express prohibitions.

The reactions have been swift to the decision by the incoming governor’s administration to halt a contract with Motorola that would have led to installation of a statewide emergency communications system allowing different public safety departments to talk to each other during emergencies. This is of great interest to me, because I actually did an extremely small amount of work on this project at the request of the Department of Public Safety. (So small, in fact, that I was unaware the contract with Motorola had been signed until I read on Combest that it had been canceled.)

If this halting of the contract is merely part of the new administration’s review of everything, than it is not a big deal. It is understandable that a new administration will want to take a look at pending projects, especially during tough financial times. But the fact that times are tough also makes it more important than ever to get the best deal, and when a well-known company like Motorola comes in with a bid that is significantly below the estimated cost, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to address an important need for a very reasonable price.

I am confident the governor’s administration will see the benefits of partnering with Motorola to give public safety officers the tools they need during emergencies.

P.S. — The work I did only involved gathering information about the involvement of public-private partnerships in emergency communications around the world, and forwarding it to the Department of Public Safety. It was a great deal of fun, and — just to be clear — the state did not pay us anything for the work. We don’t do contract work for anyone, or accept government money for anything.

There’s an interesting post on the Freakonomics blog about the computer game SimCity and how it relates to a new web application from the Kansas Department of Transportation.

In SimCity, you play the role of the concerned and active government planner, taxing, zoning, and highway-building your citizens into a better tomorrow. When I was younger I found playing the game very stressful; it was tough to balance an attractive tax rate that will grow the population with satisfactory services, such as sufficient power plants, highways, railways, and appropriate balances of residential, commercial, and industrial zones.

A few years ago, I realized that the reason the game was not fun for me is that I don’t and can’t know what the people really want. I just do the best I can with the limited information I get from them. If they claim to want more industrial zones, the question becomes: “Do they demand industrial zones?” If they do, and it’s efficient to provide them, someone will start some heavy industry plants, hopefully where the people want, or he will be competed out of business by a superiorly located competitor. That’s what the market is all about: many competing actors, each with their own share of limited information, discovering they can reach remarkably efficient arrangements without a central organizing plan (or planner).

The T-Link Calculator is your chance to experience the confounding, hapless charade that is central planning. Try to make predictions about things as varied and likely-outside-your-expertise as “Will existing revenue sources grow slower or faster than they have historically?” and “Will KDOT’s non-construction expenditures grow faster or slower than they have historically?” I suppose someone has to make these tough decisions for all of us, and here’s your chance to be that planner.

I don’t mean to pick on Kansas in particular. Its funding calculator is actually a fun tool that performs the task it was perhaps meant to — namely, it shows the people of Kansas and elsewhere which sorts of decisions go into the roads they use every day. It is a relic of static thinking, however. Roads, like shoes, chicken dinners, and haircuts, are an example of something that can be well handled by private enterprise. Here’s some reading, if you’re interested.

Chrysler’s full-page thank you advertisement to American taxpayers has provoked an unintended reaction.

As for the price of the ad, which ran in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal (among others), Judson Berger with Foxnews.com found that “A full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal runs between $206,000 and $264,000, and a full-page ad in USA Today runs between $112,000 and $217,000.” So, there is little surprise that the advertisement has spurred some critical remarks.

On the same topic, Citigroup’s $400 million contract to name the newly built Mets stadium “Citi Field” came into question as Republicans Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo suggested the stadium’s name be modified to “Citi/Taxpayer Field” in order to pay homage to those who kept the company afloat.

The FDIC recently clarified that transparency concerning federal bailout money is a requirement rather than a suggestion. Three major companies in Missouri that received financial aid include: Blue Valley Bancorp (Kansas City), which received $21.75 million; Hawthorne Bancshares Inc. (Lee’s Summit), which accepted $30.26 million; and Enterprise Financial Services Corp. (Saint Louis), which accepted $35 million.

I always love to announce new education blogs focusing on Missouri issues, but this time the pleasure’s bittersweet because it means the closing of Class Notes. Jonathon Braden will write the Columbia Daily Tribune’s new education blog, to be called Homeroom. Janese Heavin begins blogging at Capitol Notes, and, from a glance at the first page of Homeroom, it looks like she’s continuing to discuss education there as well — but now in the comments section, like the rest of us.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Homeroom.