ILS 604-70 Advanced Reference
Pamela R. Dennis
April 19, 2003
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THE BRONX SCHOOL DISTRICT'S QUEST TO HARNESS THE EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY.
Contents
HomeBase8[TM] - Connecting Home-to- School
Table 1
Community School District 8 Demographics
Creating HomeBase8[TM]
This article describes the decision making process which lead to the creation of HomeBase8[TM]. There has always been a need for information to flow freely between schools and parents. Too often parents are denied critical information regarding their children's education because of faulty, antiquated methods of communication. To meet this challenge, Dr. Betty A. Rosa, Superintendent of Community School District 8 in the Bronx, launched Project HomeBase8[TM]. This initiative's goal is to place a new Apple iMac computer into the home of every Community School District 8 fifth grade student. An Internet provider and an E-mail account are also included. Participating parents receive free and comprehensive to include educational uses of the Internet, word processing skills, and Email protocol. The article also addresses the fundamental change technology has brought about within all levels of the' teaching profession.
Over the past twenty years educational entities large and small, urban and rural, serving pre-K children and graduates students have budgeted countless millions of dollars toward the purchase of digital technology components. In the United States alone I conservatively estimate this amount to be in excess of seven billion dollars.[1] Schools and universities have been, wired, rewired, fitted with state-of-the art technology only to be told two years later that their initial investment was obsolete. The educational effectiveness of this massive investment has generated a fierce debate within the pedagogical community, some labeling technology as no better than snake oil while others claim demonstrable learning benefits. This article focus on a single school district's attempt to use digital technology as an effective teaching and learning tool. The school district is Community School District 8 located in the Bronx, New York and the project is HomeBase8[TM2]
Community School District 8 is an educational researcher's dream come true home to a proud Hispanic and African American populace and a quickly expanding immigrant community with neighborhoods resonating with the sights and sounds of new and hard fought achievements. Streets once strewn with litter, defaced by graffiti, and rife with crime now are broom-clean and safe for families and businesses. In many meaningful ways "the Bronx is Back."
However, the renaissance currently remaking and reviving the Bronx is far from complete. Not far removed from the newly washed walls and trim new housing lurks considerable amounts of poverty and mistrust. Socially responsible proposals of all types must first pass through a challenging and often unpleasant maze of local politics. To champion and nurture an issue to the satisfaction of the many ethnic and interest groups is a Herculean task. However, there is a single demand that is voiced in every Bronx neighborhood - public education must be improved and without delay! So while the sociologists and pollsters comb through the borough's valuable demographic data, CSD 8 educators struggle to deliver a viable, twenty-first century education. The polyglot of languages spoken in school hallways coupled with the district's competing and often contentious interest groups, only adds to already complex and demanding pedagogical tasks.
Geographically CSD 8 stretches from the shadows of the Throggs Neck Bridge to a central point where Castle Hill Avenue intersects the Bruckner Expressway and ends past the renowned and tumultuous Hunts Point Market in the South Bronx. CSD 8 has been the public education home base for countless thousands of students, Secretary of State Colin Powell among them. At first glance the district's student demographics mirror many inner city school districts (see Table 1):
But don't let the ubiquitous New York Yankee caps (outnumbering New York Mets headgear by my unofficial and unscientific count by more than 4 to 1) and New York Knick jerseys mislead you. On any sunny Sunday while many CSD 8 kids are shooting hoops in the projects many others are dribbling a soccer ball in the park and shouting Gooooooal. With the exception of Antarctica, CSD 8 students can legitimately place a flag of origin on every continent and converse in more than twenty-five languages and dialects. This wide scope of diversity is simultaneously a source of strength and energy and a formidable educational challenge. While certainly not the lowest scoring district in New York City, CSD 8 has struggles to remain near the middle of the pack. As the district became more ethnically diverse and the number of native born students peaked, reading and mathematics scores began a slow but noticeable decline.
In April of 1998 this was the situation faced by Dr. Betty A. Rosa, newly appointed Community Superintendent of CSD 8. Complicating the situation was the fact that Dr. Rosa was hired from outside CSD 8 borders, moving up from principal of a lower Manhattan school. Like many outsiders assuming an authoritative role and needing to win the hearts and minds of the current staff, she brought with her a few trusted colleagues but left the existing district office department heads mostly intact. To jump-start the district's educational plan, Dr. Rosa quickly enhanced the existing literacy program and mandated additional instructional time for reading, mathematics, and science; but she was troubled by the district's haphazard technology initiative. Fortunately one of the people Dr. Rosa brought with her would play a major role in developing a rather simple but revolutionary solution to the district's existing technology program. Bronx High School of Science graduate, attorney, and self-described code warrior Steven Rosenthal was appointed CSD 8's Director of Information Technology (DIT) and with Dr. Rosa created the technology initiative now known as Homebase8[TM].
Homebase8[TM]'s centerpiece is the placement of a new Apple iMac computer into the home of every CSD 8 fifth-grade student. Therefore unlike most other technology efforts, Homebase8[TM] takes into account the integral role the family plays in every child's education. To further extend the home-to-school connection an Internet provider and E-mail account are also included. The choice of a desktop computer as opposed to a laptop devise was deliberate. Many school districts have recently issued laptops to students but CSD 8 felt a desktop machine would better serve the goals of HomeBase8TM for the following reasons:
- Student backpacks are already weighted down by textbooks and supplies;
- Why make a student a target for possible theft and/or violence?
- Digital documents deserve digital transportation such as floppy disks or E-mail.
Prior to receiving their computer participating parents must complete ten hours of computer training (free of charge). The training sessions cover basic computer skills such as beginning and ending a computer session, word processing skills, educational uses of the Internet, and Email protocol. To reinforce this concept that the computer is intended for all family members children are not allowed at parent training sessions, since its inception in 1999 more than five hundred families have taken the requisite training and received computers. An additional one thousand families are slated to begin training in the Fall of 2001. Participating families currently pay fifteen dollars a month for the computer, E-mail account, and dial-up service. Computers remain with the family as long as their son or daughter is enrolled in CSD 8.
With Homebase8[TM] placing computers into homes, Dr. Rosa then focused her attention on CSD 8's twenty-seven schools. Each school was then assigned a Technology Learning Specialist (TLS). The TLS conducts professional development workshops and also works in classrooms, directly with teachers and students. The aim is to provide and demonstrate quality web-based learning activities. For teachers, students, and parents, The District 8 Curriculum Development Team produced technology infused lessons, activities, and links that address New York State and New York City Standards across all curriculum areas. All of these resources are housed on the CSD 8 web site (http//www.homebase.net). Another vital function of the TLS is to help teachers effectively manage all the technology in their classrooms. Often sited as the major reason for teacher resistance to technology, classroom management techniques are provided with every technology infused activity.
The curriculum itself has also undergone a transformation because simply finding answers has become a starting point to further investigation and reflection. Borrowing from Bernie Dodge and Tom March's WebQuest model, the TLS encourages educators to ask higher order thinking questions and evaluate student work with rubrics. Teachers, parents, and students are also provided with a range online resources, including EdResourcs8 (an online education newsletter), reference and curriculum resources, discussion forums, and up-to-date district and school news. Many CSD 8 educators report that technology's most revolutionary consequence is how it transforms learners from passive listeners into active participants. For some teachers and supervisors this conjures up memories of the now infamous 'open classroom' experiments popular during the late 1960's. Technology integration does indeed share some of the student-centered characteristics with the 'open classroom' but this time around most educators appreciate that acquiring technology skills through content-based lessons and projects is not an option but a twenty-first century necessity.
The final piece in Dr. Rosa's Home-Base8[TM] plan is collaboration with Bronx teaching colleges and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). Lehman College, a four-year senior college offering a range of both undergraduate and graduate degrees and member of the City University of New York, has worked closely with a number of CSD 8 schools. In addition, the New York Institute of Technology has made available graduate level courses for CSD 8 schools. Many teachers have availed themselves of these opportunities to earn credits towards their graduate degrees. The UFT has established a computer lab in one CSD 8 middle school and also conducts numerous technology integration courses throughout CSD 8 and the other Bronx school districts. These collaborations serve a dual purpose by providing additional professional development for current staff and ensure that all future educators enter the profession with extensive technology skills and are well-versed in effective technology integration planning and integration strategies and techniques. Due to the high number of retirements within the ranks of New York City teachers the second purpose has acquired a special sense of urgency.
HomeBase8[TM] like all technology integration initiatives is a work in progress and has undergone more than a few changes since its inception. But its core belief that by bringing together all participants-students, parents, educators, the UFT, and the local teaching colleges-is sound educational policy and, given a chance, will pay off in measurable, educational benefits for all students and their families.
[1]After an exhaustive and frustrating Internet search for hard accounting data my personal estimate is closer to twenty billion dollars.
[2]http://homebase8.net
[3]Homebase8 webquest titles include: Lady Liberty, colonial America, Ancient Latin American Civilizations, the Solar System, Rainforest, Henry Hudson, Oceans, Global Warming, and Zenathorias Comes to America. Table 1 Community School District 8 Demographics
Community School District 8 Demographics
PreK-8 schools -- 26 Student total -- 20,747
Hispanic 58 %
African American 29.9 %
Caucasian 9.2%
Asian & Native American 2.9%
English Language Learners 14.0% and continually increasing
(English is the students second language)
Newly Arrived Immigrant
Students 3.7% and continually increasing
Free Lunch Eligibility 86.0%
~~~~~~~~
By Joe Josephs, Technology Learning Specialist Community School District 8 650 White Plains Road Bronx, NY 10473
Copyright of Education is the property of Project Innovation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Source: Education, Winter2001, Vol. 122 Issue 2, p257, 5p
Item: 6352452
- What is the U.S. General Services Administration doing to increase opportunities for small business? More money is being channeled into IT for small businesses.
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Title: STARS, STRIPES & SOLUTIONS , By: Lindemann, Carl, VARBusiness, 08945802, 3/4/2002, Vol. 18, Issue 5
Database: Business Source Premier
Section: Customer
STARS, STRIPES & SOLUTIONS
Contents
Hot Vertical
Waiting In the Wings
ROI Factor
Government Rules
Spending Spree
In light of national events, more solution providers are pledging their allegiance to the government market
John Ladd witnessed the Sept. 11 explosion at the Pentagon from his office window. As director of engineering for SMS Data Products Group, he quickly realized the McLean, Va.-based systems integrator would play a crucial role in getting displaced employees back to work in a new location. After all, SMS had completed a similar project for the Pentagon when it had been under renovation several years before.
The first day [Tuesday], it took time to get any idea what was happening, he says. On day two, we got back into the building and could assess the IT damage.
Ironically, the portion of the building that suffered the most damage was the same area where SMS had worked previously. We had very good documentation of what was in place, Ladd says. We knew the IT infrastructure and the networks, the agencies they served and their missions.
SMS engineers came up with a network-infrastructure design for a new facility based on Cisco products and presented it to the government's newly created Emergency Network Team, which approved it, polished the details, drew up the equipment list and developed an implementation strategy. Cisco pulled hardware directly off the assembly line in California to fill the order, then chartered a plane that carried the equipment cross-country for Sunday-night delivery.
Putting in 30-hour shifts, Ladd and his team of 30 SMS engineersaided by volunteers, vendors, integrators and whoever else could be pressed into serviceaccomplished the task faster than employees could figure out where they were assigned to go. Office space and an operational network for more than 1,500 Pentagon workers was ready for the start of business Monday morning, Sept. 17. These buildings were bare when we started, Ladd says. Seeing this come together from scratch was a remarkable feat to witness.
Remarkable indeed: SMS' prior project for the Pentagon took a year-and-a-half to complete, though it did involve another 3,000-plus government employees. Hopefully, no one will have to engage in such a massive disaster-response mode again. But even in the absence of catastrophe, business for solution providers working in the government vertical market is anything but business as usual. Not long ago, the notion that government work could outshine private industry in IT opportunities was unimaginable. But the dot-com bust, recession and terrorist attacks have ignited the marketplace.
Projections for government IT spending show a 10 to 15 percent growth for the foreseeable future, according to Rishi Sood, principal analyst, government, for Gartner. There's an incredible shift taking place, he says. Traditionally, state and local governments grow anywhere from 5 to 7 percent in IT spending. Federal spending is usually in the 3 to 5 percent range.
Total spending for state and local government is estimated to reach $56.7 billion by 2005. At the same time, federal spending is expected to hit $52.1 billion. Most of that overall growth is centered on defense spendingparticularly homeland defensewith disaster recovery, enhanced security and decentralization of data resources as the top priorities. That spending will eventually spread across all government sectors.
We see Department of Defense spending spilling over into the civilian federal agencies and then spreading downward into certain state and local government segments, like public safety and health, Sood says.
Solution providers established in the federal marketplace are eagerly reaching out for new solutions to fill urgent demands for homeland security, as well as other allied initiatives. The race is on to present proposals by April, according to Terri Allen, senior vice president of sales at GTSI, a $677 million Chantilly, Va.-based VAR that often acts as a general contractor, providing entree to companies with innovative solutions.
For example, GTSI recently announced a strategic partnership with mFormation Technologies, an Edison, N.J.-based start-up that provides wireless infrastructure-management software. The public sector was not part of the vendor's original business plan, according to mFormation CEO Ron Pettengill, but reports of how text-messaging devices weathered the catastrophe in New York changed that.
As cell phones became useless in the metro New York area, RIM Blackberry devices could still communicate, he says. That wasn't lost on the government, or us. We've seen a fast spin-up of procurement contracts for devices and applications for mobile information.
Government officials, too, are busy connecting technology providers to federal agencies and departments. Boyd Rutherford, administrator in the Office of Enterprise Development at the General Services Administration (GSA), is eager to demystify the process of doing business with the government. I'm trying to make us more of a resource to our acquisition community, he says. Small businesses know that we're here. We're ready to do business, and we're ready to help. Now we can also help connect [government departments] with quality small businesses.
On the state and local levels, it will take some time before homeland defense funds wash through the system, Gartner's Sood predicts. There hasn't been a lot of IT spending allocated in matching grants down to state and local government. But we expect that to occur during the next 18 months, he says.
In the meantime, Sood sees ample opportunity for solution providers to become established in those markets by providing traditional IT offerings or going after fast-growing segments, including e-government and videoconferencing in various courtroom applications.
With the slowdown in corporate spending, some solution providers are even transforming their business models to take advantage of the new opportunities. For example, Logical Choice Technologies, a Duluth, Ga.-based solution provider, closed down its corporate efforts to focus entirely on government contracts; two years ago, private-sector revenue accounted for 40 percent of its billing. Our vision is to be one of the top public-sector companies on the East Coast, says Cynthia Kaye, president and CEO of Logical Choice.
That, in large part, means going after federal dollars. Right now, we sell off existing Compaq GSA contracts, she says. We're in the process of getting our own, but that takes months. In the meantime, in-state prospects are bright. Logical Choice's most recent deal was a million-dollar implementation of a pair of SunFire 4800 midframe computers dedicated to running the judicial and tax system in Cobb County, Ga.
Paul Sylvester, president and CEO of Manatron, a Portage, Mich.-based software and service provider, has seen his business double in size during the past five years. Revenue topped $43 million last year, in large part due to Manatron's core business of real-estate appraisal and taxation systems for county governments. One of those relationships led to a contract to develop the county auditor's Web site in Hamilton County, Ohio. The project involved taking reams of real-estate information stashed in filing cabinets and making it available online.
We wanted to make the information available at the taxpayer's convenience, says Hamilton County auditor Dusty Rhoads. If we could reduce staff and save taxpayers money, that was a bonus. In fact, the project proved so successful-with more than 4,000 daily visits taking place online instead of in-person-office staff was reduced by more than 34 percent, savings that outweigh Manatron's $24,000 annual fee to host the service.
For all the talk of government flooding the market with money, state governments still have to contend with tight budgets. In this environment, IT has to demonstrate speedy return on investment. John Cook, manager of information systems for the Florida Court System, has been pioneering a videoconferencing system to deliver enormous savings in time and transportation costs.
The project began in the mid-'90s in an effort to find better ways to manage workers' compensation cases. Plaintiffs would have to appear in person in Tallahassee, Florida's capital, to deliver brief statements. From Miami, that's an eight-hour drive north.
Cook turned to two companies for a voice-over-IP system. One, Tallahassee-based Hays Computer Systems, had provided networking hardware and services with the state government since the mid-'80s. But as videoconferencing was added to the mix, Polycom distributor GBH Distributing won a contract to provide endpoints and additional services. For Cook, it was a win-win scenario.
Hays resells Polycom, too. We put this through a competitive process and felt it was best to leverage both companies, he says. Hays knows networking, but is still fairly new to the videoconferencing application. GBH knows that very well. The two together make a good team for us, though they compete with each other. It's the best of both worlds for us.
Cook is now promoting how videoconferencing can cut costs elsewhere. For example, the state of Florida pays $6.7 million annually to transport inmates round-trip from jail to court to make their pleas. According to Cook, a $1 million investment in IP-based videoconferencing can end the need for costly teams of law-enforcement officers to serve as chauffeurs.
Spending money to save moneyeveryone hears about that, says Stephen Price, East Coast vice president of sales at GBH. But to actually see it implemented and achieved through technology is impressive. That's what Cook and his team have been able to do.
While it is still too early to tell the full extent of the shift in the IT marketplace, those looking to feed the government's increased appetite for IT are likely to see a long stretch of prosperity. The call to protect the IT homefront is a monumental taska wholistic integration that cuts across federal, state and local boundaries. It is at least as significant as the space program in the 1960s. Solution providers that join in the effort will now have their own opportunities to fly high.
Solution providers were polled before and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks regarding their vertical-market focus in the next three years. The top five verticals that saw the largest percentage growth rates were:
Federal government 72.7%
Pharmacy 66.7%
Communications 23.1%
Banking/finance 16.7%
Health care/medical/dental 7.4%
SOURCE: VARBUSINESS 2001 STATE OF THE MARKET RESEARCH
Federal spending on IT services, by fiscal year[1]
1990 $3.7 billion
2000 $13.4 billion
2002 $45 billion
Figures encompass hardware and software
SOURCE: U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
~~~~~~~~
By Carl Lindemann
HOW TO GET INTO GOVERNMENT
When is the government's buying season? How do you get your foot in the door? What are GSA schedules all about? Those are just a few things VARs positioning themselves for public-sector opportunities need to know. Distributors, in particular, are making every effort to provide the answers for their clients with partnering programs. It's not like you just flip on a light switch and say, OK, now I'm a government reseller, says Bob Stegner, vice president for channel development at Ingram Micro, a large Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor. Here are several factors to keep in mind:
- MOVING INTO PUBLIC-SECTOR work has to be part of a long-term strategy. To start, Stegner suggests seeking information and advice from existing channel partners. Partnership America (www.partnershipamerica.com), Ingram's channel-development program for government/education resellers, is a forum to share best practices among noncompeting VARs. For those working at the state level, comparing notes cross-country can be especially valuable. Often, what works in one state can be implemented elsewhere, Stegner says.
- CHANNEL PARTNERS can also provide the coattails to get past red tape, according to Stuart Schwartzreich, director of strategic accounts for Westcon Group, a Tarrytown, N.Y.-based channel provider for networking products. Westcon's GSA Agent Program is specifically designed to carry VARs past the legal and contractual hurdles to make their initial federal deals. We can give them contract vehicles to work with, Schwartzreich says. They're still responsible for going in and selling their services and capabilities to the federal government.
- CONSIDER PARTNERING with large, established government contractors, advises Erich Ohngemach, director of outside field sales for the government division at Tech Data. A lot of prime contractors have subcontracting and specialty requirements. They must subcontract out to other types of companies, he says. They have specific goals for set-asides. For example, a certain percentage of their prime- contract business must go to minority, disadvantaged and small-business category companies. That's a great opportunity for those kinds of companies to jump into the market.
- EXTENSIVE ONLINE resources are also provided by the GSA, which was established by the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act in 1949. The www.gsa.gov /smallbusiness site is a good starting point that provides an overview of legal, contractual and practical considerations. Next, www.fedbizopps.gov is a clearinghouse for federal government RFPs. Visitors can sign up for e-mail announcements about opportunities in their specific areas of expertise. Also of note, GSA Expo 2002 will be held May 21 to 23 in San Diego (www.expo.gsa.gov).
Copyright of VARBusiness is the property of CMP Media LLC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Source: VARBusiness, 3/4/2002, Vol. 18 Issue 5, p48, 4p
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Caption: The memorial at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota under construction. The four heads are those of Presidents George Washington (1732 - 1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919) and Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865).
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Title: A New Voice At Treasury , By: Insana, Ron, Money, 01494953, Apr2003, Vol. 32, Issue 4
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A New Voice At Treasury
In one of his first interviews as Treasury Secretary, former CSX head John Snow shows that he understands what his job is
Whoever succeeded Bob Rubin and Lawrence Summers as Treasury Secretary would have had a couple of tough acts to follow. Both Rubin and his protege Summers had the good fortune of running the nation's finances in a period of nearly unprecedented peace and prosperity. Paul O'Neill wasn't so lucky. He inherited a faltering economy. Plus, the iconoclastic industrialist was often at odds with his boss. Now comes John Snow. Accustomed to making the trains run on time at CSX, Snow knows that as Treasury Secretary it's his job to shovel the coal, not drive the train. In our interview, he did just that.
INSANA: A recent poll from the New York Times suggests that most Americans are more worried about the economy than they are about the war, and yet the unemployment rate's at 5.7% and incomes are still going up. Why do you think there's so much trepidation?
SNOW: I think the war does play into the cloud over the economy. Beyond that, there is a basic apprehension that you encounter as you go out and talk to business executives or employees about how robust this recovery is. There's a lot of talk about it being fragile. There's a lot of concern about that. That's why the President's growth package is so important. We figure the best way to ensure that we stay on the recovery path is to give the taxpayers more discretionary income now and let them know that income will be available to them year after year.
Q. You were in the private sector at a company that feels economic cycles very acutely. What did you think was wrong with the economy when you were running CSX?
A. Manufacturing is recovering at a much slower rate than it normally does in a recovery period, and I think two things besides the war are contributing to this state of affairs. One, certain amounts of wealth have come out of the economy as a result of the stock market meltdown. Two, businesses are not undertaking renewed capital expenditures.
Q. Why?
A. Because they don't see their own profitability returning as fast as they would like. Businesses invest when they see prospects for profits. They aren't seeing those prospects for high returns right now, so they're sitting on their capital. We've had lots of recessions in this country over the past century. This is unique. In a typical recession, there is an inventory buildup, which causes firms to trim capital spending, reduce employment, let inventories run out, and then rehire and get their enterprises going again. With the lean inventories that characterize the modern economy, I don't think we can look at the inventories as you would in prior recessions. This is an investor-led recession, where the stock market wealth effects have had a disproportionate effect in producing the situation and restraining the recovery.
Q. How would the Bush economic program fix that?
A. The President's plan addresses both the short-term issues that affect the economy and the longer term. The immediate effects are most visible from putting a lot more money in people's pockets. The child credits of an additional $400 per child will put a lot of money into an average young married couple's pockets, and it'll make them feel a lot better about their current circumstances. But the important thing is, it'll make them feel better about 2004, 2005 and 2006. And accelerating the lower rates that were going to be put into effect in '04 and '06 means sizable additional purchasing power in the hands of millions and millions of Americans.
All of us in the field of economics feel pretty modest about what we know, but one thing that I think we do know with a high degree of certainty is that people's current behavior is a function of how they see themselves over some longer period of time. And as we make people feel better about their economic circumstances out into the future, they'll spend and invest more today.
And, of course, small business will get a more generous depreciation allowance that will help them invest more in new equipment. That's important in an economy that is starved for new business investment. And it's small business, you know, that creates most of the jobs.
Looking longer term, the centerpiece is the ending of the double taxation on dividends. That will mean that a lot of people--a lot of average people--will have more real income. After the proposal is enacted, a $1.50 dividend, which today is only worth $1 to you, will be worth a full $1.50. And you multiply that out, that'll be a sizable amount of money. But--and this is really the critically important point--companies will pay more dividends because they will see it as a way to reward their shareholders. We always get more of anything we tax less. So if you reduce the tax on sin, you'd probably get more sin. Reduce the taxes on dividends, you get more dividends. You'd pay more as an investor for a company that could yield you a dividend of $1.50 rather than $1, right?
Q. Absolutely.
A. So the market cap of that company would immediately rise. Economists can differ on how much. I don't think any would dispute the fact that it will have quite a significant effect on the current valuation.
Q. Do you believe the economy can't recover until the stock market does?
A. I think the recovery of the stock market will play a more important role in the recovery of the economy than it ever played before, because the stock market is built into the psychology and the fundamental economics of the country in new ways. We've become an investor society.
Q. The administration has pulled out all the stops to explain to the American people why Saddam Hussein has to go, being an enormous threat to both national and global security. And yet in the aftermath of the biggest bubble in the history of financial markets, no such hyperbole is being used. Why don't you come out and say, "Listen, if we don't have a Marshall Plan for the U.S. economy, we're Japan or we're the U.S. in the 1930s"?
A. I don't think we need a Marshall Plan. I do think we need good policy. Tax policy is a central piece of that, but it's not all of it. Regulatory policy plays a part. Trade policy plays a part. Fixing things like the tort system plays a part.
Don't underestimate the power of this tax package: 500,000 additional jobs by the end of the fourth quarter of this year, a million and a half conservatively estimated by the end of the fourth quarter next year, two million in 2005. And even more important, increasing the real returns on equity, encouraging equity capital formation, creating a larger capital stock--that means American workers will have more of the tools that make them more productive. Then their productivity goes up, which leads, in turn, to their having a higher real wage rate. Growth is an absolutely necessary condition to get back into fiscal balance.
Q. If the war doesn't go as quickly as planned, what kind of contingency plan, in the absence of the passage of this program, does the Bush administration have for the economy?
A. I'm going to defer on that one. It wouldn't serve any useful purpose for me to speculate.
PHOTO (COLOR): Secretary Snow: Responding to concerns about the weakness of the recovery
PHOTO (COLOR)
~~~~~~~~
By Ron Insana
Ron Insana is co-anchor of CNBC's Business Center and author of Trend-Watching, published by HarperBusiness
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Title: The Future of Reference Still Uncertain , By: Roncevic, Mirela, Library Journal, 03630277, 4/15/2003, Vol. 128, Issue 7
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Section: BEST REFERENCE SOURCES 2002
The Future of Reference Still Uncertain
Almost everyone agrees: in the public library, online databases will not soon replace print reference. But do libraries have space and budgets to offer their patrons a choice? Rivkah Sass, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR, says, "If I can't have it both ways, I would rather have it electronically. The electronic tools are easier to use, and many libraries can no longer accommodate bulky sets."
As expensive as it may be to produce and buy, print still plays an important role and, says Sass, concerns about space should not take precedence. Nevertheless, one side effect of choosing digital over print is that fewer patrons come to the reference desk, as they become more comfortable searching on their own. If libraries must reduce their print purchases in order to provide web content, Sass believes they should implement live digital reference. "That way librarians can assist patrons by teaching them how to search as opposed to searching for them," maintains Sass. "Then librarians retain their elemental job to navigate information."
Linda Dickinson, Hunter College Library in New York, is not as enthusiastic about electronic resources. Although her library continues to purchase online references, it is not cutting back on print. "Web databases get a fair amount of use, but we've had numerous technical difficulties with some," she says. "And the advantages of remote access don't always apply since many [of our] students still don't have [it]. The lack of computers in our library complicates matters further." If a choice must be made, Dickinson favors print.
Reference publishers such as Facts On File and Gale are taking note. While they continue to invest in print, saying sales are still growing, they are vigorously producing online works. In fact, Facts On File rarely publishes a book that doesn't have a future place in one of its databases. "Our mission is to serve the needs of different consumers," says Paul Conklin of Facts On File, adding that while publishers must not abandon print reference, they must also let online resources evolve as its natural byproduct.
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By Mirela Roncevic
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Source: Library Journal, 4/15/2003, Vol. 128 Issue 7, p41, 1p
Item: 9464003
