4A - Tuesday, April 20, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com E-MAIL SIMON AT SIMKAL dUMICH.EDU CJ fiidiioan :a4lu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu SIMON BORST JACOB SMILOVITZ EDITOR IN CHIEF RACHEL VAN GILDER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MATT AARONSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. '09-'10 Edgar Awards These awards only cost $9,000 of students' money Back when J. Edgar Hoover, that infallible defender of our constitutional rights, was playing dictator and spying on Americans as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Daily's editorial page handed out the Edgar Awards annually to individuals and institutions best embodying his many admi- rable characteristics. Of necessity, we revived the tradition in recent years. HELPI 0 Practical economics And so we present the seventh annual Edgar Awards: - The University of Michigan Class of 2010 Edgar for getting a little too excited about President Barack Obama goes to the Nobel Peace Prize Commission. When Obama was nominated as the Nobel Peace Prize winner, he'd only been in office for 10 days. Everyone loves Obama, but even he admitted he probably didn't deserve the award. - The "Two If By Sea" Edgar for hos- tile invasion goes to the Asian carp for threatening to invade the Great Lakes. These terrifying fish could be the biggest threat the U.S has unilateral decision-making goes to the University administration for imple- menting an all-campus smoking ban. No one else seems to have had any real input in the decision to okay the ban, and campus outcry has been fairly strong, but it's going to happen anyway. Kind of like Iraq. - The Soviet Edgar for undemocratically (and illegally) choosing representatives goes to the Department of Public Safety Over- sight Committee. Of the three constituen- cies meant to provide representatives - the student body, the faculty body and the Uni- versity staff - there wasn't a single one that legally did so. The whole debacle was simply a snafu. seen since The Beatles. a e The "ze" Edgar for gen- der-neutral language goes to - The Michael Steele the University of Michigan Edgar for hiring strippers in English Department for inappropriate locations goes declaring that "they" could to the students at Mary be used in the singular form. Markley Residence Hall. CThat's great for people trying While Markley is known as a to avoid the clunky "he/she," party dorm, having strippers I but the Daily isn't ready to in the lounge goes just a little -- cave on this one ... yet. too far.j -"The third annual Kwame " The Joe "You lie!" Wil- Kilpatrick Edgar for hang- son (R-S.C.) Edgar for failing ing onto political office after to facilitate any useful discus- I an embarrassing scandal sion goes to Kanye West. Like stemming from use of an elec- Wilson's outburst during the tronic device goes jointly to president's State of the Union Michigan Student Assembly address, Kanye's attack on President Abhishek Mahanti Taylor Swift just made him and Rep. Hamdan Yousuf. even more of a jerk. But don't --: Mahanti didn't resign after he worry, Kanye. As you give - ., misspent $9,000 of students' your acceptance speech for ' money on fixing a website that this Edgar, we're gonna let still doesn't work, and Yousuf you finish. decided that voting for himself multiple times was completely - The GoDaddy.com Edgar r acceptable behavior. At least, for distasteful advertising o unlike last year's winner, Uni- goes to Topeka, Kansas for '-.versity Associate Prof. Yaron changing its name to Google U -.Eliav, neither of these two hired in attempt to lure Google a hooker. Fiber to the city. Changing the city's name was about as gimmicky as Topeka could - The Big House Edgar for intense get, and it's not fooling anyone. Plus, every- security goes to the Big House. It's under- one knows that Ann Arbor is just better standable that security at spring Com- and that we should get Google Fiber. mencement is expected to be so tight that ith Michigan's gubernato- rial race heating up and an utterly substandard pool of candidates to choose from, I felt like utilizing this opportunity to interject four sug- gested economic reforms our next governor should tackle following the November election. ALEX 1. End the I MEDC. BILES The Michigan- Economic Devel- opment Corporation has epitomized government mismanagement over the last decade. The MEDC utilizes money gathered from taxpayers and redistributes it through targeted tax breaks given to Gov. Jennifer Gran- holm and her buddies' favorite com- panies under the guise of promoting job growth. This "picking winners and losers" mentality is the worst type of central economic planning. An incident in March exemplified the failure when the MEDC gave $9.1 million in tax breaks to Richard Short, a convicted embezzler whose company address was located in a trailer park. Pictured shaking hands and smiling with Granholm, Short was arrested the next day on counts of a parole violation and failure to pay restitution for previous charges. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy found that for every 100 jobs the government promised through the MEDC since 1995, only 29 ever arrived. And Michigan continues to lead the nation in unemployment at 14.1 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's time to recognize the MEDC's failures and abolish an organization that's robbing Michigan taxpayers, espe- cially when funds could be allocated toward more worthwhile causes. 2. Introduce HSAs. Republican Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels penned an excellent Mar. 1 piece in the Wall Street Jour- nal describing the process of allowing state employees to opt out of Indi- ana's public insurance plan in favor of health savings accounts (HSAs). Under Indiana's HSA plan, $2,750 is deposited into each state employee's account for health expenditures, with the state covering the plan's premium. The goal was to incentivize participants to spend money wisely, make better health decisions and help Indiana's budget in the process. HSAs were a tough sell under Daniels' first year as governor five years ago - only 4 percent of employees opted out of public insur- ance in favor of HSAs. Today, over 70 percent of Indiana's 30,000 state employees utilize HSAs. Their satis- faction with HSAs is extremely high - only 3 percent have returned to their public provider. In 2010 alone, Indiana will save over $20 million exclusively due to the HSA option and the state's total costs will be reduced by 11 percent. Facing one of the most constrained budgets in the nation, perhaps it's time Michigan considered embrac- ing a similar health care plan that expands choice and lowers costs without compromising quality. 3. Legalize it. Legalizing growth, possession and sale of marijuana in Michigan and modestly taxing it would bring much-needed revenue to a state whose ailing budget is hemorrhaging green. Beyond the social freedom and potentially increased tourism that legalization would bring, the eco- nomic benefits of marijuana legaliza- tion are patent. 4. Stop stupid projects. Under President Barack Obama's stimulus plan, $244 million was allocated to construct a high-speed rail line between Detroit and Chi- cago. Some think new trains will help the economy by providing an enhanced means of travel and the impetus for increased development. Unfortunately, this notion is rooted in the imagination of naive individu- als lacking any trace of practical- ity - people who envision oodles of Michiganders crowding lines, eager- ly awaiting rides in sleek trains from Pontiac to Gary. This concept could work if any- body you knew rode trains on a regu- lar basis to begin with. But in 2009 alone, Amtrak lost over $22 million operating trains in Michigan. Under the proposal, Michigan has agreed to cover any losses from the high-speed initiative. To cover these potential loses, the state will either raise taxes or cut budgets for other programs like education. A one-way ticket from New York to Washington on the high-speed Amtrak Acela starts at $133 and this is a subsidized rate. For lower-class individuals to afford these trains even larger subsidies would have to be enacted, again begging the ques- tion of how many tax increases or budget cuts Michigan will have to make. Michigan's next governor should heed this advice. Advocates argue trains will enhance travel between downtowns, but fewer than 8 percent of Ameri- cans work in major city downtowns and these individuals tend to be bankers, government workers and lawyers. It shouldn't be the state of Michigan's priority to subsidize the travel of wealthy individuals. The state of Michigan should scrap the misguided fantasy of high-speed rail that's destined for financial ruin and instead utilize tax dollars for essential government services. The recommendations I've made are practical, and politically feasi- ble, whether it's Indiana's successful introduction of HSAs or marijuana legalization that's receiving serious consideration in California. But as a disclaimer to the dedicated Alex Biles fan club: I have no intention of running for office in the conceivable future. - Alex Biles can be reached at jabiles@umich.edu. *I - The Russell Apparel Edgar for over- working the team goes to Michigan foot- ball Coach Rich Roderiguez for allegedly breaking NCAA rules governing practice time. The University recently cut ties with Russell for its unethical sweatshops. But the University seems unlikely to cut ties with Rich Rod... " The Bush administration Edgar for graduates and their families are urged to show up hours in advance and the ceremo- ny has been pushed back. But we still don't get why it's necessary to ban purses during the football team's regular season. - The Santa Claus-Isn't-Real Edgar for shattering the dreams of young people goes to the Michigan state government for revoking the Michigan Promise Schol- arship. Enough said. JASON RAYMOND AND ALEX SERWER I TFA needs federal funding EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Nina Amilineni, Jordan Birnholtz, Adrianna Bojrab, William Butler, Nicholas Clift, Michelle DeWitt, Brian Flaherty, Jeremy Levy, Erika Mayer, Edward McPhee, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Alex Schiff, Asa Smith, Brittany Smith, Robert Soave, Radhika Upadhyaya, Laura Veith DANIEL GOLD E -MAIL DIANIE:L ATIDWI)1'JLD c1UM iCHI.EDU The Michigan Student Assembly passed a resolution last week supporting Teach For America in its bid to retain federal funding. TFA has relied on federal fund- ing for years, and this money plays an instrumental role in the organization's ability to recruit new teachers and serve America's underperforming school districts. This is a crucial time for TFA as it considers the prospect of expanding to cities like Detroit and Seattle next year. Since its inception, over 24,000 individuals have participated in Teach For America impacting the lives of over 3 million students nationwide. Currently, some 7,300 corps members teach in 35 regions, both urban and rural. In 2010, more than 46,000 applicants applied for this fall's class of 4,350 teacher corps members. Here at the University, 461 seniors applied - an astounding 7.4 percent of the senior class. For the past four years, the University has been the nation's largest contributor to TFA's teacher corps. In America, education is supposed to be the great equalizer and the primary vehicle for upward mobil- ity. But all too often, birthplace determines a student's educational prospects. Across the country, the 14 million children living in poverty have academic setbacks and, therefore, life prospects that are dramatically different than those of their peers in wealthier communities. Chil- dren living in low-income communities are already two to three grades behind their higher-income peers by the time they reach fourth grade. About 50 percent of stu- dents in low-income communities will not graduate from high school by the age of 18. Only one in 10 students from low-income communities graduate from college. Teach For America is working to end this national inequity and close the achievement gap. After recruiting some of America's brightest into its teacher corps, TFA intensively trains these individuals over the summer and places them in America's poorest school systems. There, they teach classes, mentor students, and provide hope for school districts that badly need attention. But Teach For America's work is in jeopardy. A new congressional proposal would eliminate TFA's federal funding for 2011-2012. For years, TFA has relied on fed- eral funding to continue its programs and outreach to America's poorest communities. Losing this support would seriously inhibit the organization from its long- term goal of ending education inequity across America. This year, TFA requested $50 million from Congress to meet increasing demand among college students and communities. Without this funding, TFA would be unable to hire more than 1,350 teachers who would teach 86,000 students in the coming school year. Losing this funding would severely limit the ability of TFA to recruit potentially qualified applicants at the University and other schools. It could also prevent TFA from expanding to Detroit, a city in desperate need of education reform. But you can help save TFA. First, contact your U.S. senators and representatives in Washington and urge them to support federal funding for TFA. Call the offices of U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Visit TFA's website at http://teachfo- ramerica.org/federalfunding. There you can send letters and e-mails to your representatives in Washington urg- ing them to support TFA. Most importantly, educate yourself on the work of TFA and the ways you can get involved. Learn about their pro- grams, meet with their on-campus representatives, attend information sessions and consider TFA after graduation. Talk to friends who are or will be in the program next year. Learn about their experiences and understand the impact of their work on thousands of children nationwide. As the largest contributor to TFA's teacher corps, the University community must defend this organization accordingly. Teach For America needs our help - let's join them in their fight. Jason Raymond is the vice president of MSA and Alex Serwer is MSA's chief of staff. 0 0 0 I can't understand why you bought four gallons of soy milk, thirteen bottles of nasal spray, and a box of tampons. 1.. I had to spend all my Blue Bucks on something. I -c- 0I The Daily is looking for diverse, passionate, strong student writers to join the Editorial Board this summer. Editorial Board members are responsible for discussing and writing the editorials that appear on the left side of the opinion page. E-MAIL ALEX SCHIFF AT ASCHIFF@UMICH.EDU FOR MORE INFORMATION.