I haven’t done “observations” in a while, but some stories in today’s paper are just calling to me.
- From the “Give Me Your Money or I’ll Have A Tantrum” department: The Los Angeles Times is reporting about a Rand study about the effects of early pre-school. One thing caught my eye about the study: the claim that “Los Angeles County would have about 3,300 fewer high school dropouts annually and nearly 10,000 fewer criminal cases filed against juveniles each year if publicly funded preschool were available in California”. Somehow, I don’t think the effect is immediate, unless we have a lot of 5 year-olds going into a bank and threatening to have a temper tantrum unless the teller gives them all their money. Hell, they can’t even write a good demand note without preschool.
The article quotes Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca as saying: “For me, the message is clear. Preschool is a powerful tool for crime prevention.” Yup, we gotta keep those 4 and 5 year old tykes in school, so they aren’t robbing those banks or beating up little-old-ladies.
- From the “It’s Always Christmas Time (for Safeway)” Department: The Los Angeles Times is also reporting that Safeway is predicting that store remodelings might result in a rise in profit of as much as 15% next year. Safeway has a long history of remodelling stores, as noted on Groceteria. It appears that store remodellings haven’t helped in the past; in fact, I see many a reused building that I can recognize as a former Safeway based on architecture alone. Safeway believes that its new format, called Lifestyle, will make folks be willing to pay exorbatant prices as long as they can shop in a store with wood floors, organic produce and exclusive brands. Perhaps it might work; after all, this is the model followed by Whole Paycheck markets (thanks to ellipticcurve for that name).
- From the “Golden Fleece Awards in Heaven” Department: CNN is reporting the death of former Senator William Proxmire. For those of you not old enough to remember him, Proxmire was the maverick senator that replaced Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1958. To give you an idea of this man: Proxmire made a point of accepting no contributions. In 1982 he registered only $145.10 in campaign costs, yet gleaned 64 percent of the vote. In more than two decades, Proxmire did not travel abroad on Senate business and he returned more than $900,000 from his office allowances to the Treasury. He repeatedly sparked his colleagues’ ire by staunchly opposing salary increases, fighting against such Senate `perks’ as a new gym in the Hart office building and keeping the Senate open all night long — at a cost of thousands of dollars — so he alone could argue against increasing the national debt limit. He held the longest unbroken record in the history of the Senate for roll call votes. He was rated by the National Taxpayers Union consistently as the toughest foe of government waste. He was a staunch advocate for a balanced budget. He also focused on consumer legislation, pushed a “truth in lending law” through Congress to protect borrowers and attempted to get the Federal Reserve System open to public scrutiny.
We need more politicians like Senator Proxmire.
And now, my break between tasks is over, and it’s back to work…
