Those Special Interests and Public Data

One of the things that's problematic these days is the line between public data and non-public data. Obama ran on transparent government, meaning government data should be freely available. But you run into problems, as is illustrated in the following, when private interests have found a way to exploit public data and sell it, or perhaps some farmers are trying to claim a privacy interest:

"If you are an FSA/NRCS/RD employee or have an E-Authentication account, go directly to the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway to order the Common Land Unit (CLU) data. Be sure to click on the Login menu item for the E-Authentication.

Please be advised that with the enactment of The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Title I - Commodity Programs, Subtitle F - Administration, Section 1619 on May 22, 2008, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is no longer allowed to make the geospatial data, including access to the Common Land Unit records, available to the public, even through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Section 1619 is an Exemption 3 statute that prohibits FSA from sharing this data with the public."

This isn't an "earmark", mandating the spending of taxpayer money on a particular project, but it works the same, because a narrow interest is being served without a proper debate.

A Sentimental Tale for the Holidays

My wife and I got the first DVD from the TV series made in 1979 called "Backstairs at the White House", based on the book by Lillian Rogers Park see her NY Times obit [note, not one of the Times' permalinks, but a query to their archives --Nov 12, 1997]. She was the daughter of a black maid at the White House, starting 1912, who herself later came to work at the White House.

It's affecting because the makers of the series didn't know of Obama, but we do. (It sort of follows a Wil Haygood piece in the Post, focused on a butler, still living.) Not great TV, too much exposition and too many two-dimensional characters, but it's history. And it's rare that we see that on the screen.

Burrowing in at Farm Credit Administration

This announcement of the new PR man for the Farm Credit Administration hows how politics is played in DC. (Technically it's not burrowing, because the guy wasn't in government when appointed, but it's a cause where his "power" (or his "rabbi") has just enough clout left to get him a job. (That's being cynical, because Hastert resigned in Nov. 2007, over a year ago, but I'm feeling cynical as I write.)

Carrots, Sticks, and Rewarding Conservation

Here's an interesting piece, via grist, on the problems of using "carrots". I'd extend the problem to conservation measures on farms. If you have, as you do, a range of farmers, from those who are operating responsibly (i.e., taking measures to reduce erosion) to those who are not, issuing carrots poses big problems. Either you give carrots to everyone who meets a standard, thus not getting much bang for your buck because you aren't changing the behavior of the good farmers, or you give carrots only to those bad farmers who become good, which is unfair to those who have been good all the time.

See the Bible and the prodigal son for the resentments this can cause.

Are Farmers Rich?

All depends on your definition. If you look at Census data, there are about 1 million people employed in farming, forestry, and fishing with a median earning of %16,700, which is above the $11K for food service but below the rates for other occupations.

(It probably all is a matter of definitions, with Census and ERS definitions differing.)

Bureaucracy at DHS

The New Republic has an article by Jeffrey Rosen on DHS:

"Chertoff hasn't settled into an office partly because the six-year-old Department of Homeland Security (DHS) still has no permanent, consolidated headquarters. Instead, the unwieldy amalgam of 22 separate federal agencies operates out of 70 buildings at 40 different locations in the Washington area. And the lack of a real home is just the beginning of the department's bureaucratic problems. The most recent survey by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on the job satisfaction of federal employees in 36 agencies ranked Homeland Security last or near last in every category. Meanwhile, officials from the Pentagon who have tried to do business with DHS complained to me of organizational chaos at the department. Homeland Security employees, they said, are often unaware of overlapping initiatives championed by their colleagues, and even by Chertoff himself."

Rosen's article is anti-DHS, but I think that's short-sighted. DHS has been established for years now, so it's not going to be easy to undo it (which might have been possible within 12-15 months after the event). And the quoted bit points to one of the problems of any reorganization: you have to worry about logistics. Where is the headquarters, who sits where, how does the paper flow, who handles budget allotments, who does payroll, etc. It takes years to get things running pretty smoothly. (Sometimes it never does--I saw one passing reference to General Motors during recent discussion of the bailout which suggested the reorganization which incorporated Buick into GM (back in the teens or 20's?) never did meld it into GM.

All of the above is not saying I agreed with how they reorganized, but that Secretary Napolitano and Obama should be careful in what they do. (And Obama should press the Dems in Congress to redo the committees overseeing DHS.)

No Cuts in Middle Managers?

That's the position as reported in Government Executive of something called the "Government Managers Coalition".

They've got some valid points in dissing Al Gore's initiative in the 1990's. The problem is reorganization from the top will be resisted. It's the old story--people like the way things have been.

What's This About--Enviros and USDA?

Beats me why Secretary Schafer would announce creation of a new USDA office about 32 days before he leaves office. Actually, it's the "intention to establish a new USDA Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets and the creation of a federal government-wide Conservation and Land Management Environmental Services Board to assist the Secretary of Agriculture in the development of new technical guidelines and science-based methods to assess environmental service benefits which will in turn promote markets for ecosystem services including carbon trading to mitigate climate change."

I guess my senility is advancing--I used to be good in deciphering bureaucratese. I think what it's saying is USDA is going to try to figure out when farmers can claim they created a carbon offset that can be traded. I wonder if Vilsack was consulted?

Merry Christmas to FSA

My condolences to current FSA employees in DC charged with implementing the farm bill. Looks to me as if, between Congress and your bosses, you got stuck with some lumps of coal for Christmas.

Chris Clayton at DTN/Progressive Farmer gripes at you for announcing the interim final rule for payment limitation (actively engaged and AGI) changes and ACRE implementation on Friday afternoon. Looking at the notices FSA just issued for 2009 DCP signup and advance payments, and on pay limit, I can only guess the amount of work put in already. And remembering the events in 1986/87 when the actively engaged rules were first attempted and the problems of training a new administration, I can only pity you. Enjoy your Christmas, because the next year is going to be grim.

Calories and Nicotine

I posted yesterday marveling at how far the country had come in 50 years, from ads on Christmas specials promoting cartons of cigarettes as stocking stuffers to now. Today the NYTimes has an article following up on the posting of calorie counts in restaurants and food vendors. It feels to me similar to the time when the Surgeon General's cancer warning was first printed on cigarette packs. While it took a while for cigarettes to become socially disapproved, it happened. I predict the same will happen for calories. Hope I'll be around 50 years from now to see it.