Does money really buy prosperity | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer. I enjoy his take on Economic Development a.k.a the Height of Corporate Welfare.

The Gov. reveals which is more important to her: Corporate welfare (a.k.a. political contributions) or the children.

    Several years ago, North Carolina was almost breathlessly headed full speed into the world of technology with grants to Dell Corporation in support of a computer assembly plant near Winston Salem. The honeymoon didn't last too long. The demand for computers seems to have moved from desk tops (which were to be assembled in NC) to lap tops which were being assembled somewhere else. So, although it doesn't sound plausible, the assembly operation was moved to Mexico due to the decreased demand for desk tops.

    On Friday, April 8th the Wall Street Journal reported that Dell is going to spend $1B over the next two years to build 10 data centers (world wide) to support their increased emphasis on "cloud computing" services. One billion: that's one thousand million, which is generally considered by all except politicians to be a fairly large number. They are reportedly also planning to activate 22 centers where customers can be trained. As best as can be determined, none of those facilities are scheduled for North Carolina. It apparently was a short romance. Do you suppose they got a better offer from someone else??

    Dell has recently acquired Compellent (a storage maker) for $800M and purchased Perot Systems Corp for $3.9B (yes, billion); two additional fairly significant amounts. The foregoing would seem to indicate that they are not quite ready for Chapter 11, and here we are offering handouts.

    Here are our BTOs (Big Time Operators) calling special sessions of the legislature to rush through financial incentives intended to bring Dell here. It sounds almost like the folks in New London and all the help they provided Pfizer in order to ensure themselves unending prosperity from having Pfizer there. Somehow, that dream seems to have evaporated on the way to the unending prosperity that was expected, just as our Dell "deal" has , likewise evaporated.

    When are we going to learn?? Apparently, not very soon. In a 2/22/2011 article the Greensboro News-Record reported that the reason Gov. Perdue vetoed the first bill submitted to her by the GOP legislature was because it would take away $8.2M of her "walking around money" (my words, not hers) which she plans to use to lure other companies to NC. She is willing to get rid of teachers and teacher assistants in order to keep her walking around money; so who is it that really supports education?? Sooner or later we will learn that you cannot buy prosperity. (Some of us already know it.) You earn it. Luring corporations, most of which could likely buy the entire state, with promises of handouts, does not count as "earning it".

    It seems fairly clear that Gov. Bev. puts her "walking around money" ahead of money for the schools. In fighting to keep that money, she claims that she will have to eliminate more than 18,000 positions to make ends meet if the legislature prevails. Around here we never mention how many of the positions are actually filled. That is one of the tricks politicians use to make us think they are really saving us some money. The unfortunate thing about that strategy is that a lot of folks believe that they really are saving money by getting rid of vacant positions. It's scary....

    And, as might be expected, she would also like to renege on the promise that was made to the taxpayers a couple of years ago (not by her - but by the politico she replaced) that the sales tax rate increase was "temporary". The usual interpretation of "temporary" is that it has a beginning and an end. It is the last part of that definition that politicians (of all stripes) frequently seem to forget. We were told that if we would only pull together we could solve a short term fiscal problem that we had a couple of years ago by enacting a "temporary"a sales tax increase, And now the Gov. Is wanting to keep most of that increase in place - apparently so she can be a BTO with her walking around money.

    Now we have Judge Manning weighing in on the legislature's deliberations - as if it was any of his business as a judge. As a taxpayer, yes; but as a judge, no. Not the deliberations. Clearly, the court should not interfere with the legislative process before the action of the legislature is implemented and a party with standing contests the action. What is interesting about the whole situation is that it would seem that he is going to get away with it. He tried the Leandro case, decided it, and then bestowed upon himself continuing authority to monitor education funding in North Carolina - seemingly forever after. He seems to be operating well outside the "balance/separation of powers" envisioned by the framers of our constitution. In any case, it is certainly time to get him out of the legislative process. Perhaps someone needs to challenge his "right" to appoint himself the "Protector of Education in North Carolina" with seemingly plenary powers.

    In exercising those self assigned powers, he could well decide that we aren't spending enough on education, and order more spending on the schools. If he does so, we can only wonder if he is also going to tell the legislature where to get the money to take care of his desires.

    Back in 1938 there was a gentleman named Chester Barnard who wrote on the subject of management. He was President of New Jersey Bell and his book The Functions of the Executive is still in wide use at many universities. Among other things, he suggested that a manager has no authority unless those who work for him (or her) give him (or her) authority. He was right. You can give orders all day long and if people ignore them, you may as well have not spoken. That is the very situation encountered by the Judge in New Orleans that directed Ken Salazar to cease and desist with the drilling moratorium. He was ignored and nothing untoward seems to have happened to Mr. Salazar or his merry band of tree huggers. That is the exact opposite of the situation with Judge Manning. We keep listening to what he tells us, thereby giving him authority over us. Perhaps if we were to ignore him we would be better off. It is difficult to believe that a judge is empowered to grant himself (or herself) perpetual authority over education processes and funding (or anything else) as Judge Manning seems to have done. The Leandro case must end sometime. That time has surely already come and gone. Anticipating an order to increase funding for the schools, someone needs to ask the judge how dumping all the extra money on the D.C. school system as has been done for a long time has worked out.

    In the meantime, the Gov seems perfectly willing to provide corporate welfare to "rich corporations" at the expense of losing Teacher Assistants in the early grades.

    D'ya think??