No Flowers for Gates?

Turns out people have left flowers at the Apple store in Reston.  I don't expect Bill Gates to have flowers left when he dies: first there's no Microsoft stores; second he never established the personal connection that Jobs did.  But I do expect ambassadors and other figures from various countries to express their condolences.  Jobs never did charity; Gates is, and is making a difference.  To me that makes him a bigger man.

Sen. Lugar Is Heard From

Via FarmPolicy, here's an analysis of Senator Lugar's plan to put FSA mostly out of business (tongue in cheek). Centerpiece seems to be a version of the ARRM I blogged previously, plus cutting CRP, consolidating other programs and some other stuff I can't follow.  But here's a command: "This section directs the Secretary to create a simplified form for initial requests by producers for
assistance. This section also directs the Secretary to evaluate how all conservation application
materials can be streamlined to make it easier for producers to apply to one or more programs."

[Updated by adding all the language after "previously".]

A Hole in the Crop Insurance Safety Net

FarmDocDaily has a post pointing out a hole in crop insurance as a one-stop, do-it-all safety net: periods when crop prices are low for multiple years (mid 80's, late 90's).  (His graph misled me, because it compares the 5-year average price with the projected price used for setting crop insurance.  I believe the actual price for the year would show more variability.) Of course, in such years the political pressure becomes such that Congress will do something to patch the hole; at least, that's been the experience in the past but whether it works that way in the context of large deficits is another question.

On Line Education

Margaret Soltan at University Diaries has a major vendetta against on-line education, as well as laptops in class, Powerpoint, etc., all positions you might expect of a humanities professor at GWU. In my younger days I used to be an early adapter, so the idea of online education makes a lot of sense to me.  So I'm torn.

Matt Yglesias came out with a good post which strikes to the heart of the problem of online education, but I'll link to Kevin Drum's commentary/excerpting of it.  The problem is, of course, almost no one is self-motivated enough to do online education.

I think there's a simple solution to that problem: your online university requires the student to deposit a total fee, say 50 percent of the cost of an in-person education, or $50,000, whichever is smaller.  Then, as the online student completes courses and passes tests, she gets a refund of part of the deposit..

Problem solved.

Harvest Time at the White House

Apparently today is harvest time for the White House garden. Either I've not kept up, Obamafoodorama hasn't kept up, or the White House hasn't been publicizing it, but I've lost track of what they're growing.  According to today's post, sweet potatoes.

In our own garden the tomatoes are done, cleaned up the rest of the vines this morning (early blight is a problem so the vines go out in the trash, not back into the ground. We don't grow sweet potatoes, though we like them well enough.  The fall vegetables have been in the ground for a good well: lettuce and brassicas.

Back to the White House garden--if I remember correctly next spring they can claim to be organic, since the land has been free of chemicals for 3 years next March.

[Updated:  Apparently in June they were planting the three sisters of Native Americans, corn, beans, and squash--that's from a link in the post above.]

What Is the Proper Role of the Bureaucrat?

The NYTimes has an article discussing the pipeline being proposed to run across Canada and much of the US.  The pipeline opponents believe that a bureaucrat in the State Department was inappropriately helping a lobbyist for the pipeline, who had a political connection to Clinton.  It raises for me the question of what is the proper role of a bureaucrat:

• the neutral arbiter of the rules, enforcing them as best you can, rather like an umpire in a baseball game?
• the advocate for the cause, like the Army Chief of Staff for the army? 
• the helpful postal clerk, who attempts to guide the aged customer with an odd package through his options?
• the social worker, encouraging the client to do the right thing? 
• the FBI agent, enforcing the law? 

Seems to me all of the above are appropriate in context.  

There's also the question of different personalities: some people are effusive and outgoing, others (the better ones I say with total bias) are reserved and taciturn.

It's often difficult to judge a bureaucrat's behavior fairly without seeing a lot of their interactions with clients/customers.

Those Underpaid CEO's

The Post today reveals the nation-wide shortfall in CEO pay: it seems at least half the CEO's in America are underpaid, failing to make the median income.

Great Bureaucrats?

Government Executive Magazine has a list of 20 great American government bureaucrats. Not sure I agree with all the judgments: if number of Presidential nominations is the rule Elliot Richardson might deserve a mention, as well as his resignation in the Saturday Night Massacre.  I'd also throw Ben Franklin into the mix.

Farm Bill Proposals

Stu Ellis at Farmgate reviews some proposals for changed farm programs.

The Pack of Aides

The Project on Government Operations observes that the top brass arrive to testify before Congress with a pack of aides.  They're critical, as well they might be.  Their point is there are too many generals and admirals in proportion to the grunts.

However there's a counter argument, which may not apply to testimony before Congress but can apply to attendance at meetings.  One of the best things I think a manager can do is to highlight the contributions of subordinates. If a manager brings staff to a meeting, he/she should often be able to have the staff person do the talking and arguing.  I was able to do that sometimes, though often my know-it-all tendencies interfered.  :-(