Hooverism

 A few months ago I posted some notes on a couple of semi-recent books, one of which was Ages of American Capitalism by Jonathan Levy.  One of the main takeaways from that book for me was the extent to which Herbert Hoover's ideology of the "associational state" continues to dominate the policy program of both political parties to this very day.  What that entails at its essence is: 1) an accession to the holders of concentrated wealth and their perogative to decide how capital should be allocated. 2) hoping that those decisions will sometimes accrue to the greater good if our elected representatives in government ask nicely.  Here's the same quote I pulled the last time I brought this up. 

On the telephone and at two White House conferences, the president personally pleaded with the corporate executives of the largest, most regulated industries to increase capital investment expenditures. In 1930 railroads and utilities obliged. Yet everywhere else, especially in residential construction, fixed investment kept falling. Hoover recognized that during the 1920s, corporate profits had run ahead of wages, and he believed that high wages would stabilize spending, a good thing. “The first shock,” he declared, “must fall on profits and not wages.” Whether because of Hoover’s promptings or not, the nation’s largest employers agreed not to slash wages, even as they continued to fire their less desirable employees, a pattern that would persist. Proudly, Hoover said the agreements were, “not a dictation or interference by the government with business.” Rather they were the result of “a request from the government that you co-operate in prudent measure to solve a national problem.” The president boasted, “This is a far cry from the arbitrary and dog-eat-dog attitude of the business world of some thirty for forty years ago.” Hoover believed his “associational state” transcended the Jacksonian sphering of public and private, state, and market, which under the banner of equal commercial opportunity, had withered state action throughout the Age of Capital. But he drew one line in the sand. He would not coerce capitalists to invest. 

To make the point about how little things have changed, I highlighted this statement from Joe Biden  shortly after Hurricane Ida. Biden publicly asked insurers and utitlity companies to please not exploit their policy holders and ratepayers in the wake of the disater.  

“I’m calling on the insurance companies at this critical moment. Don’t hide behind the fine print and technicality. Do your job. Keep your commitment to your communities you insure,” he continued. “Do the right thing. Pay your policy holders what you owe them to cover the cost of temporary housing in the midst of a natural disaster. Help those in need. That’s what all of us need to do.” 

Biden also expressed that, throughout the week, he’d expressed that same message to local officials and utility and energy company representatives during virtual meetings.

Like Hoover, however, Biden did not take any extraordinary steps to compel them.  

The reason I bring this up again today is because we read in this morning's news that a "frustrated" Governor Jeff Landry is taking a similar approach with Louisiana's out of control insurance rates. 

Landry, a Republican who took office in January, has convened lawmakers for three special sessions – on redistricting, crime and taxes – but hasn’t convened one for the insurance crisis.

In an interview, Landry said he’s open to holding another special session on insurance, but he has not seen a package of bills that would fix the problem. He called on insurers to offer up solutions that would lead to savings for homeowners.

The article goes on to point out that there are things the state could do in a legislative session to take on the problem. The easiest and least radical of these would be requiring insurers to discount homeowners who take advantage of a state subsidized fortified roof program.  (Those roof grants could be bolstered as well.) Alli pointed out last week that coastal Alabama's success at controlling insurance costs (relative to the rest of the Gulf South) is at least partially attributable to its fortified roof program. 

But so far, Landry would prefer that insurers "offer up solutions" themselves.  He does sound mad, though. 

Landry said he’s miffed that the package of bills pushed by the insurance industry that he signed in the spring hasn’t brought relief yet.

“I feel completely frustrated,” Landry said. “It leads me to believe the things the insurance companies told the commissioner of insurance, told the lawmakers, don’t seem to be coming to fruition.”

He means the package of bills that he himself signed at a high profile press event this spring.  The explicit purpose of those laws was to give insurance companies more power to raise rates and drop coverage without penalty. Could anyone have predicted this program would not produce fantastic results for Louisiana residents?  The Governor sure didn't.  Now he says he's miffed. Maybe someone should do something. Not him, though. Someone.  

While Temple supported bills to limit insurance companies’ exposure to lawsuits, Landry, who has support from prominent members of the trial bar, said insurers wouldn’t get sued if they didn’t delay and fight claims made by homeowners. And the governor said he’s open to a federal solution to the insurance crisis, given the global nature of the business that ties Louisiana premiums to reinsurers in London and Bermuda.

Gonna have to wait until we hear back from President Musk on that one.  In the meantime, we'll go back to asking the insurers to come up with solutions for us.  Maybe if we get them a nice Christmas card or something. 

The error that keeps on erring

They're going to have to tell us what this NOLA Public Schools "accouting error" actually is eventually, right?  Last month they tried to say an accountant forgot what a fiscal year is.  But that story didn't stick.  Now we're nowhere nearer to understanding what happened. But we do know that whatever it is, it's worse now.  

Because of the city’s all-charter school system, school closures have become one of the city’s ongoing winter traditions. This week, students, families and staff at four New Orleans charters were anxiously awaiting word on whether their schools will remain open beyond May.

This year’s closures are complicated by a surprise budget shortfall and declining enrollment.

Enrollment has steadily fallen over the last decade, leaving empty seats and strained budgets at under-enrolled schools across the city. There’s no way to resolve this problem without shuttering or merging some city schools, school officials have said.

The growing budget shortfall for the district is also at the top of officials’ minds.

The projected budget gap started at $20 million and rose last month to $36 million. This week, officials warned it could top $49 million.

While hired accountants are scouring the district’s books to get to the bottom of the budget shortfall, top district staff is focused on charter contracts — with renewals for schools with passing grades and closures for those with failing grades.

Meanwhile, about those charter contracts, they're closing schools again.  Here is how that is going to work this time.  

Separately, district officials want Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School for Sci Tech to close its high school grades at the end of the school year due to chronically low enrollment and poor academic performance. The district would allow the school to continue operating kindergarten through eighth grade.

If the high school closes, it will leave the Lower 9th Ward without any high schools.

There is an alternate history where we rebuilt stable communities after Katrina by investing in the social infrastructure that supports families and children instead of the chaotic "experiment" in privatization we have now.  That project has all but ensured the destruction of the neighborhoods.  Two decades after the floods, New Orleans feels like a poor shadow of what it once was. In addition to the mass displacement of people from the city, those who do live here now experience a disorienting alienation. The rooted sense of space felt by previous generations is gone. That's not all because of the annual school shuffling but certainly this does not help. 

This year, only 185 students were enrolled in the high school, reflecting a steep drop-off over the last five years.

More than 85% of its students live outside the Lower 9th Ward. Most high-school age students in the neighborhood attend other high schools, largely Frederick Douglass, Warren Easton, G. W. Carver and McDonogh 35.

Maybe the system shouldn't be set up this way. Maybe a more holistic and supportive investment in all of the city's schoolchildren is a better way to do things than playing an "accountability" Squid Game with everyone every year. Maybe someone in position to make policy should do something about that.  

Or they could just shrug their shoulders. They do like to do that too. 

Dale Simeon, the high school's counselor, warned against closing the school.

"When children are a part of the community and they are disrupted," she said. "Sometimes they never recover."

She argued King isn't "failing" and that data used to assess the school, including graduation rates and the rigor of classes, isn't accurate. She made the same claims at the school's renewal hearing but didn't present any evidence.

Other community members criticized the fidelity of the renewal process. They said they believed that no matter what the high school did, the board would close it, reflecting a lingering mistrust between some New Orleanians and the school district since Hurricane Katrina.

Parents from King and The Arthur School said they wished the board would intervene to help schools get back on track rather than shut them down.

(Olin) Parker, the board member, reminded them that's not how a charter model works.

"Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the way our system is set up is schools are granted additional autonomy in exchange for accountability," he said.

"Unfortunately or fortunately."  It could be bad or good. We aren't really here to say. We're just the school board.  Stop asking us. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting accountants who can resolve a budget too.

UPDATE: I guess there's no way to know whether the accounting errors have anything to do secret payouts to departing executives.  

Both parties agreed not to tell the public about the settlement, unless legally required to do so.

"Unless required by law, the Employee and School Board agree not to disclose the terms, amount, or existence of this Agreement to anyone other than the Employee's attorney or financial advisor," according to the settlement, which Fox8 posted online. The news outlet said it obtained the agreement through a public records request.

The agreement was signed by Williams and board President Katie Baudouin. It was dated Nov. 14, the day the district announced Williams' departure. The agreement says both parties signed off on the language of the press release announcing her resignation, a copy of which is included in the agreement.

Quote of the day

 The thing I am always saying

Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson who is facing a slew of charges in Pennsylvania and New York arrived to court Tuesday, yelling.

Mangione is now in court awaiting his extradition hearing.

Mangione could be heard yelling, in part, “it’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It’s lived experience!”

Anyway, it's not on any of us to apologize for or reconcile with the fact that a guy who would shoot someone dead in the street isn't a perfect gentleman with entirely coherent politics.  That's not how anything in this country works.  At the same time, it's not hard to have some sense of solidarity with the notion that Americans have been extorted and left to die as a cold matter of course by a health insurance mega bureaucracy for decades. 

Corrupt politicians may shrug their shoulders at it all they want, but most of us would say this is a deeper matter than a "policy difference."

Update:  No need to go scouring the guy's social media or interview his high school classmates for clues. This seems pretty straightforward.

Over the rusty rainbow bridge right into Galt's Gulch

Oh no! A Bywater hotel project ran into some minor pushback from the neighborhood. What will we do when all the real estate vampires good entrepreneurs are driven away by the negativity of the pesky residents? Who will "create and build" all the STR hotels for destination weddings then?

In an email to council members early Friday, Fuselier said the city has "rigged the process against developers," and blamed neighborhood groups for being "manipulative" and driving economic development from the city.

"All of our good entrepreneurs and people that aspire to create and build leave. People that want to do business here leave. They are forced to shut down or not even try, and we are left with these negative types that don’t really add much to the equation," Fuselier wrote.

Anyway, what he's mad about here is City Council told him he could not build his hotel 4 feet taller than he originally said he would. Also he is still going to build the hotel. He's not actually being driven away anywhere.

Guess they dodged this bullet

NOLA.com: Auditor warned New Orleans RTA that paratransit issues could lead to federal oversight

An estimated 1,200 residents in New Orleans rely on the RTA’s federally-mandated paratransit service to get to and from work, doctor’s appointments and recreational activities.

The RTA, however, “engaged in patterns and practices” in 2022 and 2023 that limited the availability of that service, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the report from the RTA’s Office of Internal Audit and Compliance.

A “significant number” of trips from Jan. 2022 to June 2023 were excessively long or had “untimely pickups,” RTA Manager of Audit Compliance Malon Thompson wrote.

The RTA also used incomplete data to “inflate” the paratransit service's performance metrics during that time period, Thompson wrote.

Under a heading labeled "exposure," Malon wrote: "Failure to adhere to ADA regulations and [Federal Transit Administration] guidelines can cause the organization to be subject to lawsuits, consent decrees, fines, and/or increased federal oversight."

Joke's on the auditors, though.  Pretty sure "federal oversight" isn't going to exist anymore by the time this would come across anyone's desk.