. . . let's take a moment to think about pretending to save jobs while actually (a) socializing the losses of millionaires and (b) throwing good money after bad. You will note that today's WNJ article bemoaning the drop in Dover Downs net gambling profits from last years' $4.7 million to a mere $13,000 heavily quotes DD CEO Dennis McGlynn talking about how badly his industry needs another State bail-out: Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment and Dover Motorsports Inc., said the earnings drop, caused by an increase in competition and disproportionate tax rates, validates long-held concerns by casinos that the state has not kept up with a rapidly changing  casino industry.   “I think the numbers validate the story we’ve been telling everyone basically, and most particularly those who do control our destiny,” McGlynn said.   “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what next year is going to look like,” he said.   ...

. . . which is almost sure to come up for a vote this week . . . There are important things to understand about the minimum wage in Delaware, not the least of which would be that about 11,000 workers make at or below the minimum, which is about 5% of our workforce.  About two-thirds of those workers are women; about 51% of them are age 24 or younger [ 2012 stats ]. The first thing to realize is that whether you support the bill or not, it is not going to do very much, either to the businesses or for the employees.  Governor Markell's proposed 10-cent per gallon hike to the gasoline tax will hurt businesses a lot more than the minimum wage hike, and neither McDonalds or Wal-Mart can really cut their staffing much further. But the optics allow the Democrats to portray themselves as on the side of the workers, and the Republicans to present themselves as on the side of small businesses . . . while neither one gets anything done for Delaware citizens (especially in Wilmingto...

. . . because this one--the subtitle--is a fascinating piece of work: More charter school growth coming, applications show   Public schools are OK with the competition So what's wrong with that?  Well, possibly just the fact that very little in  Matthew Albright's story even addresses the question of whether "public schools" are "OK with the competition." In point of fact, only Brandywine School District Superintendent Mark Holodick addresses the issue at all: “I think charter schools, like private and parochial schools, give us healthy   competition . If they make us think differently about what we are doing and offer better services, that’s a good thing,” said Brandywine School District Superintendent Mark Holodick. “This is not something that I’m worrying about or focused on.” Possibly that's because, for a variety of reasons, Brandywine has been able to insulate itself from the charter school movement.  Part of that has been intention...

We live in a state that likes to think good things about itself--sometimes our biggest obstacle to solving problems is our adamant refusal to admit they exist. Here's a problem that undercuts the entire minimum-wage, violence-in-Wilmington, public education, etc. etc. etc. arguments: Delaware in general (and Wilmington in specific) is a very bad place to be poor, because your chances of upward mobility are considerably worse than the national averages. First, take a look at this map from Equality of Opportunity.org : You should visit the link for a larger view of the county-by-county map if you want nuances, but even a quick glance at Delaware will tell you what the statistics show:  in terms of the ability of children born into poverty escaping poverty, Delaware ranks with North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi [the darker the red, the worse the chances]. As for Wilmington proper, Equality of Opportunity divided the country up into 709 Comm...

Here are actual excerpts from Governor Jack Markell's State of the State address , in the order that they appear in the speech (you may assume that at each line break there is a < >): Only 20% of our kids graduate from high school ready for college or a career.   Too many working Delawareans struggle to care for their families and put food on the table.   We can’t eat our fish from the St. Jones. We can’t swim in too many parts of the Inland Bays. The Christina and Brandywine rivers are laced with toxic pollutants. . . .[A]   century of pollution has impaired nearly every waterway in our state.    We have one of the most rigid [public education] funding systems in the country. This leaves little room for school leaders – those who know our students best – to innovate, create a vision, and pursue it.   Our starting salaries [for teachers] are not competitive with our neighbors.   Wilmington is the business capital of the state and our ...

A note:  this was going to be much longer, but my sister-in-law's illness changed a number of plans.  There will be additional installments. I love these kinds of speeches , but they are better read as philosophical tracts than actual political programs. It's amazing what you can learn about the paradoxes of Governor Markell and the entirety of the Delaware General Assembly when you parse his speech of this past week. Consider these sentences about public education, which DO actually appear this close together in the speech: Our schools are implementing higher standards while, thanks to legislation passed by the General Assembly, we are better preparing our teachers. And the companies that will hire our students are dealing with fewer and clearer government regulations. In actual English: When dealing with public education, micro-manage.  When dealing with corporations, less regulation is essential. Or this: Before the end of the decade, 60 percent of our jo...

Governor Markell's State of the State address is just chocked full of goodies primarily for corporations and wondrous promises (that we'll pay for later, apparently). In fact, there's too much interesting stuff to do it justice without letting it soak in a little. So tomorrow I'll take it on, although I'm thinking that the new slogan for the Governor's office should be:  "Governor Jack Markell, the Calvin Coolidge of Governors (except that he smiles and talks a lot ore)."