Source: Boston.com
Beth Israel Deaconess article, Lynn Teachers article, Patrick article, Kennedy article

In the age of recession and layoffs, people are worried whether they’ll keep the jobs and…you get it. You’ve heard this story already. It’s been on TV shows, you’ve heard it from your parents, your neighbors, your colleagues, your boss…everyone. I ran across three articles recently that show good and bad uses of money during the economic recession. Without further ado:

Good Example 1: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center President/CEO Paul Levy. A great article by Globe columnist Kevin Cullen who gets into the mind of Levy as Levy offers an alternate solution to booting workers. Instead of laying some off, how about we keep everyone on board for slightly less? Sure, there will be less money to go around, but less people have to deal with the cyclical unemployment process than usual. It’s brilliant; it’s human sacrifice and teamwork.

Good Example 2: Teachers in Lynn last week went a day without pay to prevent layoffs. Not only did the teachers agree to volunteer for a day, but also, administrators and other employees also agreed. This greatly cut their deficit and allowed them to cancel over one hundred layoffs. Imagine if every school did such a thing to cut some of their deficit instead of destroying entire departments or cutting teachers, thereby lowering the quality of the entire school? You have to think about the kids when making budget cuts.

Bad Example 1: Deval Patrick decides to give State Senator Marian Walsh a job at a state bonding authority, “despite declaring in the past that he would not honor patronage appointment requests from lawmakers.”. Not only did Patrick break his promise; he also, in principle, ignored the financial crisis facing the state. You can’t cut some workers and simultaneously give other workers a raise (it’s a good extra $100,000 for her now, moving from the state senator job). That’s by far the easiest way to anger the populace, and from what I have heard from people and read on forums, people don’t really like Patrick that might right now to begin with…

Bad Example 2: Preserving the Kennedy legacy during a recession. Apparently, “More than one out of every five dollars of the $126 million Massachusetts is receiving in earmarks from a $410 billion federal spending package is going to help preserve the legacy of the Kennedys.” What? I don’t even want to read the details. Yes, the Kennedys are important, as is their legacy, but did we forget what time it is right now? The time when other people need that money more? One fifth of $120 million is $24 million. Put in perspective, my high school, Latin Academy, has a $2 million deficit or something like that. In other words, with that money, we could have bailed out twelve schools. And who needs bailing out more than the education system? Should we screw our future over just because our present is bad? Why are we using that money to instead provide a monument for our past than to work toward a better future? The past is gone. The future’s yet to come.