Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles and the Story of the Westerly Ghost Office

29 March 2013

Cory Egan

The office is only open Fridays, and yet the website claims the office operates Monday through Friday. We only learned later to our horror that the site was a lure for young men and women.

The phone line is completely automated with no telephone line access to an operator, but while on hold I swore that a gruff voice was on the other end of the line trying to clear some evil from his throat. Never mind that, as I thought it to be a static crack and soon hung up, angry but unawares of the danger.

No update on website to inform public office is closed on Good Friday, 29 March 2013. And so we came to Westerly, minds at ease and eager to leave as fast as we arrived. 

Both myself and a woman with two young daughters were inconvenienced, and as Steve and I turned the corner of the building's northerly wall we heard the mother shriek. We ran back in haste but found no one; neither the mother nor her two daughters, Jualita and Margarit, could be found. All that remained was a small pink bonnet fluttering down the sidewalk in the cool spring breeze. As it passed by our feet we heard an eerie whimper that seemed to fill the air so soft as the bonnet's cushion. And before we could speak a word a sharp cackle pierced through the wind, and a sickly yet proud voice of a man whispered into our ears, "So long, boys, and I hope you have a Good Friday!"

And this is the end result: Frustration; Anger; Disappointment; and a Complete Lack of Faith 

Get your fucking shit together, Rhode Island!

Former CIA operative and author, Robert Baer, being a Boss.

Former CIA operative, Middle Eastern specialist, and downright BOSS, Robert Baer, talks about the Iranian regime and the inability of the United States to come to terms with Iran's  growing power in the region.

Robert Baer. Video interview. "Dealing with Iran". June 23, 2012. Interviewed by Harry Kreisler. University of California, Berkeley, Institute of International Studies. 

Narragansett Town Manager Vacancy and a Compromise

Letter to the Editor:

Sir,

[PART II] 

I am happy to have the opportunity to speak with you again and shall do my best to honor the occasion.

For the second part to my lengthy letter addressed to you, I'll now address the concern(s) of the Town Council members who hold the belief that a pubic forum for the review of candidates via directed questioning might discourage individuals from applying. Yes, individuals who make public their intention to find a new career do run the risk of offending their current employers. Moreover, those applicants who are not chosen to be Narragansett's Town Manager -- and their will be many -- may experience awkwardness and discomfort at their current jobs following a public evaluation process. Are these considerations significant enough for an aspiring municipal planner to forgo the rare opportunity to fill a vacant Town Manager position? Absolutely not. When did we begin to accept this type of justification for the restraint of an individual's career ambitions? To apply for a new job while holding a different one is good form and a process every adult must manage for the same reason they are considered adults: professionalism. It's not personal; it's strictly business. 

With that in mind, it's important, nonetheless, to answer this question of form set before the members of the Town Council. Councilman McLaughlin succinctly framed the concern when he asked, "Don't you think that [subjecting applicants to a public forum] might discourage some very, very qualified candidates?" He continued, "Think of a person who's gainfully employed in our community. Would they subject themselves to a public hearing like that for a job?" To answer Councilman McLaughlin's last question: If they are adults then yes, absolutely. Narragansett is not considering a public forum for individuals seeking to be hired low-skilled jobs or menial labor. The job in question is arguably the most demanding, least secure, and most stressful position the Town has to offer: Town Manager. While the duties and responsibilities of Town Managers may vary from town to town, nonetheless, I understand the position to be the most critical municipal office. 

And so there are two issues the Narragansett Town Council must attend to: First, guaranteeing a democratic, open-forum for the public to vet the entire list of hopeful Town Managers. It is the public, after all, that gives life, substance, and meaning to a town. Second, easing the doubts and apprehensions for those applicants fearful of the blow-back from a public forum . These issues are not mutually exclusive; both can be satisfied by the Town Council. To do so, however, the Town Council must frame the forum -- and the need for a forum -- differently. 

It has been nearly a year since the Town of Narragansett has employed a full-time Town Manager. I consider that unacceptable, and I suspect many Narragansett residents and municipal officials agree. Therefore, instead of passively accepting applications, the Town Council could actively seek out and issue non-binding summons to qualified candidates, regardless of the intentions those candidates may hold. The qualified candidates can choose not to attend the forum. For those who have already applied for the position, the Town Council could issue a blanket statement to treat all candidates as summoned. The statement would uniformly include the names of those qualifying candidates who were summoned and the names of candidates who have applied or plan to do so. Applicant or not, the numerous candidates as a collective group could be labeled under one heading titled, "Qualifying Town Manager Candidates". The list will be given a ceiling, or sliding ceiling, of the total candidates allowed for consideration. Crucially, no distinction should be made between qualified, summoned candidates and applicant candidates. The summons should include an identification of the candidate's qualifying credentials, a description of the public forum where questions are to be conveyed, and the more intimate, directed inquiry to be made by the Town Council. 

If framed in this fashion, the hiring process would protect the private intentions of candidates who attend the public forum and dramatically reduce the likelihood they would suffer workplace discomfort or discrimination by their current employer. In other words, it would be justifiable for each candidate in this scenario to argue that they have simply chosen to perform their civic duty for the Town of Narragansett by entertaining the non-binding summons and, furthermore, have no intention of resigning from their current job. If all candidates can rely upon this 'escape clause' then they will all, collectively, support one another's privacy by their very omission of career intentions. 

The Town Council of Narragansett, as a municipal body, will, in one fell swoop, communicate its appreciation for: the public desire for transparency; the critical, professional role a full-time town manager fulfills and the long overdue need to fill that position; the reluctance of applicants to make public their wish to move from one career to another; and the Council's responsible choice to implement proactive, decisive solutions to local problems.

Narragansett Town Manager Vacancy and the American 'Accreditation Problem'

Letter to the Editor:

Sir,

[PART I]

As a student and hopeful future practitioner of municipal affairs, I beg you to indulge me as I offer my humble advice to the members of the Narragansett Town Council as they: consider the list of candidates seeking to fill the vacant Town Manager position; the professional standards against which to judge the qualifications of said candidates; and the tension between the conflicting needs for a public Q&A forum on one hand, and to respect the privacy of applicants who are currently employed on the other, purportedly two mutually exclusive options. These issues, raised in Derek Gomes' article, "Search for town manager resumes," from April 8, 2013 are at once delicate yet manageable. 

First, the issue of professional qualifications. Gomes explains, "[Town Council President James] Callaghan recommended adopting the qualifications initially posted after [former Town Manager Grady] Miller's dismissal in May 2012, which 'strongly preferred' a master's degree and municipal management experience." This preference, however, has given way to a sense of pragmatism.  Gomes noted, "After an appointed search committee screened more than 70 applications... the former Town Council re-posted the job, tweaking the language so a master's degree and municipal management experience were 'preferred,' rather than 'strongly preferred.'" The distinction is one of semantics, not substance. The considerations that should matter most to the Town Council in particular, and the Narragansett public in general, are: a candidate's ability to resolve municipal problems; the confidence to act decisively and with vision to seize opportunities to foster and strengthen municipal health; and the candidate's provision of proof which demonstrates his/her experience and training in active municipal affairs.

To unpack the question of which managerial skills a town's executive should possess, I must ask that you indulge me further, while I briefly list the qualifications I consider most valuable:

(1) A firm grasp of both the Town's and State's institutional structures, functions, and legislative processes. In other words, in order to do something at the local level, which legislative requirements must the Town Manager satisfy? and to whom must the Town Manager direct his/her efforts for evaluation?

(2) Understand top-down vs. organic economic growth. Should Naragansett rely primarily on support from the State for growth? or is growth more likely to be borne from local projects that require less funding and fewer bureaucratic hurdles? 

(3) In principle, the ability to develop a plan which insulates the Town from financial instability as it occurs at either the national level, state level, or both. If and when a recession occurs, will Naragansett suffer from a dramatic drop in funding and support from the State of Rhode Island, as happened recently? Which efforts would a Town Manager pursue to protect his/her community from this threat?

(4) A desire to re-invigorate the public's social activism at the local level. How can the residents of a municipality shoulder more responsibilities? and what might those responsibilities be?

(5) An appreciation for the educational system as the foundation for his/her municipality's health.

(6) Effective strategic planning. This entails: communicating an accurate and shared, unified vision for the community; diagnosing the Town's current strengths, weaknesses, and overall health; identifying short, medium, and long-term goals; identifying the means of achieving those goals; offering sober recommendations to the Town Council for realistic and sustainable growth; and spearheading the efforts to implement approved proposals and projects. 

(7) Although not necessary, a supplemental knowledge of technical skills in the following areas would greatly enhance a manager's competence: GIS mapping; AutoCAD design software; data collection, organization, and analysis; presentation software and delivery; and economic-financial forecasting.

Does holding a Master's Degree necessarily endow a candidate with these abilities? More than likely, yes, but not necessarily, no. More importantly, is it wise to reject for consideration those applicants who -- for any number of reasons -- have not received a Master's Degree? Of course not. American history is littered with the lives of individuals -- the American Framer Benjamin Franklin, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, for instance -- who walked the road less travelled to attain an educational curricula using free educational resources, both of which were less formal and less expensive than the formal, institutional path often taken by their more wealthy and socially connected counterparts. Although times have changed, the question under consideration by the members of the Town Council -- to require, prefer, or overlook the absence of a Master's Degree? -- is nothing more than the latest struggle to differentiate between the value of formal schooling, the credential system, and where the twain meet.

Given the professional duties of a town manager -- which are interestingly both demanding on the one hand, and humble on the other -- the Town Council should exercise a more liberal approach to the first assessment step -- educational requirements -- for two reasons.

First, expanding access to applicants without Master's Degrees will at once capture more potential candidates with less formal, but no less effective, training while not inundating the Town Council with a flood of applicants. The article explains that, "[Councilman] Callaghan said the town's recent struggles with hiring and retaining town managers might already dissuade some qualified candidates [from applying]. 'I don't know how attractive the Narragansett [Town Manager] job is with our track record' ", Callaghan said. 

Second, as the article explains, the review process is rigorous. The Town Council and, perhaps, the public will enjoy a lengthy regimen which will use a host of different means to evaluate applicants. Invariably, this process will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate regardless of -- or rather in spite of -- the candidate's educational credentials. I do not mean to sully the value of higher education. But what is clear to the public and experts alike is that higher education has recently demonstrated two worrying obstacles for potential students: cost and, in some cases, an overabundant and burdensome number of requirements. The latter impediment directly concerns this discussion.

As Seth Godin, former Yahoo! Vice-President explained in his January 22nd interview with Kara Miller from WGBH Boston's Innovation Hub, titled "The Future of College" (2013), "The challenge that we have [in America] is the 'accreditation problem.' It's one thing to teach people; it's another thing to prove that they learned something. And so what you pay for, now, at a 4-year institution [or for a master's degree] is not the courses... What you pay for is proof that you finished. And so, what we have to do is figure out a shorthand that will enable people to prove what they know." Godin continues, "I think most talented people do not, and should not, have a resume. What they should have is a list of projects. What have they built? Who have they impacted? Who is so in love with their work that they will speak up on their behalf?" 

What is encouraging to bear in mind is that, coupled with a less rigorous -- and less expensive -- formal educational curriculum, there exist today a growing number of emerging opportunities for aspiring professionals to prove their expertise more easily, without undermining the quality of standards their field uses to verify that expertise.

The AmeriCorps member group "Teach for America" , College Level Examination Programs, or CLEP exams, and, specific to town management, the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) are but three organizations and institutions that serve as accreditation resources for aspiring professionals who are eager to qualify for careers, but who lack the money, time, etc., to do so. In order to attain the AICP certification, for instance, test applicants must show a mix of educational credentials and experiential training in the field of municipal affairs, or another field with a similar skill-set. Interestingly enough, however, applicants with neither a master's degree in Planning nor a master's degree, period, can nonetheless offset their lack of formal credentials by engaging in more frequent field work and training, or by attaining more project experience within municipal affairs. Case in point, an individual who applies for the AICP certification with a Graduate Degree in Planning is required to have only 2 years of professional and experiential training, whereas an applicant with no Master's Degree can compensate for this by showing 4 years of professional experience! 

The current President of Northeastern University, Joseph Aoun, spoke to the value of these types of accreditation institutions. Their value is derived from their willingness and authority to offer an indirect, and far more affordable, means of acquiring the same skills one would receive from a traditional higher education institution. In the same interview conducted by Kara Miller with Messr. Godin, Aoun put forward the following prediction: "I think we [educational institutions] are in the middle of a transition that is going to have an enormous impact... because at some point... nothing [will] prevent employers from saying, 'We don't care about the formal credential process.'" For all intents and purposes, the Town Council of Narragansett should be willing to acknowledge the validity of a candidate's credentials and abilities regardless of educational attainment over and above a Bachelor's Degree.

Operation Twist and QE3: The answer for sluggish recovery or fundamentally wrong?

Tomorrow I'll have a post summarizing the Fed's extension of Operation Twist and the newly crafted QE3 and what I believe to be the merits/criticisms of these programs.

First, I'll be looking at the market's response to Ben Bernanke's speech detailing the extension and initiation of these programs. Second, the political dynamics of The Fed's policies. In particular, it is important to analyze whether or not the Fed's policies are political or not (spoiler alert: they're not), and the possible backlash the Fed might face in the near future. Personally, I believe the Fed should remain as independent as it is right now, perhaps even more some in relation to Congress. Finally, I'm going to delve into the debate surrounding the Fed's dual mandate: controlling inflation & maintaining acceptable levels of employment. Are these mandates fundamentally at odds with one another? Is there a better indicator to watch for inflation than the Consumer Price Index? What supplementary efforts should Congress pursue that would help the Fed maintain acceptable levels of employment? For example, what can Congress do to help the labor force acquire skills that are needed for growing industries?

I'll be writing all day so leave some suggestions that I have not included.

US Employment: Cyclical, Structural or What Type of Mix of the Two?

Here's a Council on Foreign Relations special report on US competitiveness. I haven't had the time to read it yet, but rest assured, I will.

And here's an earlier report from The McKinsey Global Institute on the same subject.

Both reports deal with a sobering issue in the US economy. Nominal and Real unemployment numbers are symptoms of a larger problem. In the face of growing competition from the Emerging world's markets and renewed strength from industrial powerhouses like Germany, the US needs to become more competitive in all sectors of the economy to construct a more healthy economy.

Cheers and expect more on these posts and the issue at large.

China's Five-Year Plan: Energy, Energy, Energy

China is the biggest consumer of energy in the world, largest exporter, and - depending on who you ask - will have the largest economy in the world in the next few decades. Despite a demographic bomb that is sure to explode in the future thanks to Beijing's one-child policy, China still is threatened by a growth and resource dilemma: Record numbers of rural migrants are traveling to the coastal cities for work; unrest in the Middle East and higher aggregate world demand for crude oil is creating structurally higher prices; and the sheer pace of economic growth risks degradation of China's ecosystem. Because of these threats, it's no surprise that officials in Beijing have begun to take some very needed and forceful steps. 


First, a draft of China's 12th Five-Year plan was released this Saturday, March 5th. If you are curious, the Chinese National People's Congress meets every so often to reflect upon the last Five-Year plan (2006) and whether or not the country met its goals and obligations. It is basically a road-map. A strategic plan with room for tactical tweaks of the economy if warranted. The Congress also debates and agrees upon the next Five-Year plan. Upon review of how the economy performed, a couple of things stood out: The Chinese economy grew at an annualized rate of 9% or higher for the five years in question which was 2.3 percentage points higher than their targets. The GDP growth is important here because The Plan's targets for energy use are correlated with how fast the country grows. For instance, China hopes to reach a 16 percent reduction in CO2 emissions per unit of GDP, and 17 percent by 2015. More importantly, The Plan sets a target of 11.4 percent of primary energy use to be generated through non-fossil fuels. As Deborah Seligsohn  of the World Resources Institute explains:
"China continues to exceed earlier targets in non-fossil development. For example, the five-year target for wind is 70 gigawatts of additional installation, which exceeds the 2020 target of just a few years ago. For nuclear, the plan is to install 40 additional gigawatts of capacity by 2015. China currently has around 10 gigawatts of installed nuclear capacity now, which means that if this five-year target is achieved, China is likely to exceed even the expectation of 70 gigawatts by 2020 discussed a year ago. If China achieves these numbers, it will have the world's highest installed capacity of nuclear energy by 2020".


Second, at the end of last year, we remember this piece of Reuters (or someone else):
"China, which produces about 97 percent of the global supply of rare earth minerals, cut its export quotas by 35 percent for the first half of 2011 versus a year ago, saying it wanted to preserve ample reserves." The rare earth metals in question are a group of seventeen elements that are used for making household electronic devices, clean energy technology, and guidance systems for...missiles. Also, hybrid cars are rare-earth metal intensive. So if the price of oil continues to rise, then you would assume that demand for conventional, gasoline-combustion cars would decrease. This would force producers to begin to manufacture hybrid and electric cars because the profit margin for these products would start to align more closely with combustion vehicles. However, if China - a country that controls 97% of the available rare earth metals - restricts a larger portion of its exports then the supply of said metals will fall. So as demand for these metals via hyrbid cars increases, but the supply falls, consumers get hit with a double whammy. The prices will stay high and won't necessarily reach acceptable levels for consumers given the higher costs of inputs...(sighhh!). Reuters continues: "World demand for rare earth minerals at present is about 110,000 tons a year, with China accounting for about 75 percent of total demand with the remainder split between Japan, the United States and Europe, in descending order. With global demand outside of China expected to rise further to between 55,000 and 60,000 tons in 2011, the rare earth shortages we saw in 2010 are likely to occur again in 2011 and may be even more pronounced," Molycorp's [a leading rare-earth metal mining firm] Smith said. "Demand is set to more than double to 250,000 tons by 2015, according to industry estimates." The WSJ has a more in-depth coverage here.

Thirdly, China is heavily protecting their alternative energy economy. As Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations explains the procurement of solar panel technology by the Chinese government, "The situation is pretty straightforward. China hasn’t signed the WTO agreement on government procurement [of solar panels]. That means that Chinese government purchases are exempt from China’s free trade obligations. But the state is a massive piece of the Chinese economy. In practice, then, Beijing uses that loophole to mandate domestic content for a huge amount of its economic activity. The United States, whose government is a much smaller part of the economy, can’t behave similarly. The result is a perfectly legal Chinese policy that is in practice unfair." The Chinese effectively subsidize the production of some inputs to solar panels, keeping costs for their businesses to a minimum. This gives Chinese firms a lot of room to obtain market share and a solid profit margin. The US Congress, amongst other governing bodies, may have a case at the WTO, but that is not the point of this post. 

Finally, China has begun to realize that the growth of its cities is becoming unsustainable. Referring back to their Five-Year Plan released the other day, "A total of 18.06 million motor vehicles were sold, an increase of 32.4%". That's all well and good for the consumption part of the GDP calculus (Consumption + Investment + Government + Trade Balance) but it's a worrying sign for a country that has 44 metropolitan areas with populations over 1 million residents, migrants and full-time tenants. Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou alone have roughly 43,200,000 residents. I'm sure these numbers have something to do with the 60-mile long traffic jam that Beijing experienced in August of last year. Which is why the officials in Beijing are taking action. After an investigation into Beijing's cluttered traffic and population growth, the authorities discovered some worrying trends: "Beijing's population had topped 19.7 million by the end of 2009. This was 2 million more than official figures had suggested. In a development plan published seven years ago, the government had aimed not even to reach 18 million by 2020" (The Economist). Whoops! So the authorities are now kicking out slum dwellers and strengthening the hukou regime, a "proof of domicile that is hard to obtain when not inherited and that confers all sorts of health and welfare rights, even more difficult to get"(ibid). 

All of these changes and goals will take place under the auspices of the 12th Five-Year Plan, and the efficiency of the Party shouldn't be doubted. A couple of worrying points however. Because China won't let the yuan (renmimbi) appreciate faster, then they're forced to accept another typed of real appreciation: inflation. Consumer prices are rising, M2 or the money stock including bank loans increased by 19.7% with 7.95 trillion yuan of that being from loans. Once prices start to rise in an economy operating at full capacity, then workers demand and receive higher wages. This, along with an increase in M2 and loans outstanding, increase aggregate demand. Whenever aggregate demand increases in an economy at capacity, prices continue to rise. Eventually, Beijing must stop this free for all with higher interest rates, MORE money on down-payments for houses, restrictions on flipping of said houses, capital controls, so on and so forth. In other words, Beijing needs to slow the economy down or face a wage-spiral induced inflation bubble. But to do this could re-open fissures in the Chinese society. Many rural and city workers accept their subservience in exchange for plentiful jobs and a higher standard of living. But if exporting firms face continually rising prices and then are hit with monetary tightening, they will need to lay off workers. Rural workers who came to the city for a job will have to take the long road back home; and they won't do it willingly. This is the political element of the Chinese dilemma. 

I'll make a follow up post on this subject. I thank Dev Lewis for bring its importance to my attention. He is an acquaintance of mine, nothing more.