Comprehensive Information Management System

FSA put out a notice describing the Comprehensive Information Management System (CIMS), not to be confused with SCIMS.  CIMS tries to accomplish what we played with in 1992--reconciling data between FCIC/RMA and FSA data.  The farmer who has crop insurance ends up reporting her crops and acreages twice.  Because the programs differ, there are rational differences in the data.  Because the history of the programs and agencies differs, there are historical differences in the data.  A farmer, and her representatives in Congress, are naturally not eager to understand the differences.  The dual system opens the way for confusion and fraud.  One way to solve it would be to consolidate the programs. Another way to solve it would be to consolidate the IT systems. Both options have the advantage of simplicity, at least in concept, as in KISS. But politics and bureaucracy rule out both.

The worst solution is the one Congress mandated--a rear-end process copying the FCIC/RMA and FSA data into one place so the data can be matched and compared.  (I'm sure I'm unfair to CIMS--no doubt the process of creating it uncovered some places where the data elements themselves could be tweaked for compatibility.)  I say "worst", because the solution probably doesn't simplify anything for the farmer, nor does it put in place any checks to keep the farmer from misreporting.  All it does is enable FSA bureaucrats to identify conflicts, and possibly fraud.  That's better than nothing, so progress is being made. It remains to be seen how well the process will work in 2010.

Twelve Years Ago in FSA

Found an article in Government Executive from 1998 with a good overview of the bureaucratic structures and policies which led to conflict between FmHA and ASCS people after the reorganization.

Centralized Versus Decentralized: Unmanned Drones

Government Executive has a post on the management of drones.  Turns out management of air space is problematic--when you call in an airstrike, you want everyone else (all drones and planes) out of the way.  But years ago we refused to designate an overall manager of drones, so now there's problems in coordinating drone flights over Afghanistan.  As a country we tend to believe in decentralization, which definitely has advantages in encouraging innovation and flexibility.  But there's a time for centralization as well.  Wisdom consists in figuring out when and where to use each tactic.

Faking It

Freakonomics has a post, and a lot of comments, on the subject of "faking it" (pretending one is religious when you aren't, liberal when you're conservative, etc.) in order to enjoy the benefits of fitting in.

Bureaucrats Hall of Shame: Samuel Swarthout

According to a review of a new volume of Jackson papers:

"He [Jackson] also  refused to listen when Martin Van Buren warned against the appointment 
of Samuel Swartwout as Collector of Customs for the Port of New York, yet Swartwout became the first man to steal one million dollars from the U.S. Treasury (pp. 177-178).

Environmental Impact and Nostalgia

Chris Clayton passes on an academic argument that USDA should be doing an environmental impact statement for farm programs, with the implication that the green types may well sue based on the argument.  I'm no expert in such issues, but I remember back when the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which requires the impact statements, was passed, and ASCS scrambled to figure out how to comply with it.  As I remember the lawyers of the day decided an impact statement was needed for the Agricultural Conservation Program (the cost-sharing for conservation practices program which has evolved and evolved since then). I guess they said there wasn't enough direct impact of the production adjustment programs on the environment.  As I remember the Directives Branch in which I worked got stuck with the assembly and typing job, since we had by then bought some IBM Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriters.

MT/ST's were an early and primitive form of word processor.  Few people much younger than I will appreciate the advances technology has made in that area.  Why back in the day we not only walked in the snow uphill both ways to school 5 miles, but we were able to type copy very fast and with no errors, ever. Standards have purely gone to hell since then, and it's all the fault of computers.

A Reason for the Estate Tax

From a post at Overcoming Bias on a study of management of firms in a variety of countries:

Inherited family-owned firms who appoint a family member (especially the eldest son) as chief executive officer are very badly managed on average.

France and Homogeneity

Read a good book called something like: "Discovering France", which was an impressionistic history of France in the 18th and 19th century, with emphasis on the differences  in language and culture among the different regions.  One of the things you see in Mr. Beauregarde's blog is how extensively the state regulates the society and culture.  This post at Strange Maps touches on both themes: the underlying differences and the homogeneity.
 

Silence Is the Law in France

From Dirk Beauregarde: You aren’t even allowed to mow your lawn on a Sunday (unless you have an old manual mower).

Actively Engaged Definition

Via Farmgate, an Iowa State interpretation of FSA notices.