Gov. Strickland to respond to Chester Finn’s depression over Ohio

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal Weekend Special Edition [written by Dayton resident and president of the pro-charter school Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Chester E. Finn, Jr.] painted a grim picture of Ohio’s economy.

…

The article started, “Once known as the Mother of Presidents, Ohio is now getting poorer, older and dumber –- and making all the wrong moves to reverse the situation.”

Governor Ted Strickland’s office was drafting a response Monday, NBC 4’s Mikaela Hunt reported.

The office will ask the paper to write a follow-up, too.

A spokesperson for Strickland called the op-ed piece a “very hard-edge partisan political attack” and cited the state is creating a job atmosphere that has a lot of potential, Hunt reported.

You can leave a comment to the question NBC4i asks, “Do you agree with the op-ed piece or with Gov. Strickland’s office?” the only problem being that there is no “piece” from the Strickland office yet, but you know what they mean, I think.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:14 pm June 30th, 2008 in Social Issues, Debates, Ted Strickland, Breaking, Economy, Government, Education, Media, Announcements, Ohio, Politics

Comments

12 Responses to “Gov. Strickland to respond to Chester Finn’s depression over Ohio”

1 Chuck Butcher on June 30th, 2008 8:09 pm

I graduated from a Springfield, O county high school in 1971. At the time our school and Ohio in general provided a well above per capita average of National Merit students and ACT/SAT scores. Obviously well before the appellation “rust belt.”

How much of that is still true? I’ve been gone way too long to know.
2 Jen Nedeau on June 30th, 2008 8:09 pm

I feel like there is no good way for Strickland to respond - unless of course he mentions that Ohio is going to be rather influential in this upcoming election; I think that deserves at least a happy face for Ohio.
3 kegbot1 on June 30th, 2008 8:31 pm

Finn failed to note his criticism of what Ohoo is becoming sounds better in Latin:

penuriosusm, senilis et stupidus

New state motto?
4 kegbot1 on June 30th, 2008 8:32 pm

Ohoo hoo hoo. Typing. While. Tired.
5 Jill Miller Zimon on June 30th, 2008 9:16 pm

Chuck - that’s an interesting question and yet, I wonder how much we can even compare, right? Since needs and expectations have changed so much, of ourselves and of employers and globally. And yet, the thing is, we can’t just graft from another culture - because there are things in our culture that will prevent that from working.

We need to find what works for us - but there’s a lot of debate about what that is, and what it should be - and what should drive it.

Still - the complexity should not, should never, deter us from trying to figure it out.
6 Jill Miller Zimon on June 30th, 2008 9:18 pm

Thanks for remembering Ohio, Jen - it’s a weird thing here right now - with Obama’s campaign kind of hedging about the importance of Ohio. I can understand that he has to plan on how he can win the election without Ohio, but on the other hand, here in Ohio? We feel - or many feel - so left out and falling behind already, the last thing that we would want is to know that the candidates really don’t care because they don’t need us.

Unless it’s like a dating thing, you know? When you don’t look for it, it happens? lol
7 Jill Miller Zimon on June 30th, 2008 9:19 pm

Kegbot - you are cracking me up - speaking of Chardon - I know that I am in fact going to be there one day late in July - I will let you know when that is as soon as I know.
8 oengus on June 30th, 2008 11:13 pm

So we have these schools in the middle of blighted areas, rundown and dilapidated structures.

I have to stop because the key is within the individual and having opportunity. That’s a cycle that can, if allowed establish self esteem and pride, construction and rebuilding, education is part of it and really not everyone is predestined to be a scholar, some get much more satisfaction from a hard days work.

There is one problem and that is the interpretation of what is low cost and that of low income. The difference is a root cause, low cost is a price that satisfies the majority, low-income requires subsidizing in that since the market does not exist then other than being out on the street, compensation has to be offered to make up the difference. That generates a false existence, difficult to be proud if you are not independent.

I believe that the ingredients are getting better, the minimum wage increased and the value for housing lowered. We really need nice clean and safe that is affordable, then that can be detailed into component costs, the prices needs to meet the market at a lower point. However the qualifiers for higher markets have to be stricter, in fact even at the lowest level they need to be strictly defined. A low point needs to be defined and unrestricted a low cost lifestyle defined, clean, safe and affordable.

Education is an obvious component as is healthcare, pensions and insurances as well.

I am a libertarian, but what we are missing is long term and sustainable, the free market system will not magically address that, what it will result in is grossly inefficient and poorly configured urban environs.

Government should be master planning and implementation and then the other aspect is a set of laws that are addressed when necessary, with less monetary resolutions and more restrictions on perpetrators. A simpler clearer set of laws, more liberal and obvious results for breaking laws. Should we have common law classes for children, basic civics and if its too complex of a process, then for the good of all simplify it. We need to get rid of tooth sucking morons and get moving on real matters.

Here is the thing, if they build modest and low cost, but not without style and character and have no restriction to gain access, then integration occurs. Affordable safe and clean, is an order winner, well served with public transport, highly efficient and low maintenance.

Its actually imperative that we reduce auto use and the inherent costs, not just cars but also the use of trucks, we really need rail and that rail should be 100% electric and 100% nuclear, in that nuclear generated energy needs to power the rail and make up larger percentage of the energy consumed for transportation. If goods were transported by rail then the large costs of road maintenance would be reduced, also all goods could be tracked better, the use of central terminals and distribution systems, everything into a central database and totally traceable. That’s were the tax will have to be in a global economy, on consumption not on income, because the wages and costs associated with living need to drop or balance find equilibrium at a lower point.

How long has this lack of education been going on?

We actually need a regional government that forms around addressing this, as part of a larger national initiative. It is planning that we are missing, we have to have it now because we are entering the era of scarcity, and that is directly related to population growth and the only way to address that is eradicating what we consider poverty.

We have to site precedence, a way to mange things better and take these ideals to other areas of the globe. That is the only hope to slow the population growth which is driving scarcity.
9 Al on July 1st, 2008 12:06 am

What did Mr. Finn mean in the article when he said that Gov. Strickland has given the teachers and adult groups everything they wanted?

I wrote to Mr. Finn’s organization, but they haven’t responded yet. I am just curious.
10 Harold Thomas on July 1st, 2008 8:08 am

Jill:

Responding to your comment #6: Ohio has been ill-used by Presidential candidates for years. Our vote was supposedly decisive in the 2004 election, but how did the Republicans reward us?

They didn’t. I can’t even remember the last time an Ohioan held a cabinet position, and the Feds have done more to aggravate our economic problems than they have to help them.

If Ohio proves to be a red state this year, it won’t be because the Republicans didn’t try to change it! (You may need to think about that for a second…)

Harold
11 Chuck Butcher on July 1st, 2008 3:52 pm

Let’s look at something, when I was there Ohio was prosperous. There was some hope doing something in school would pay off. Contrast that. Hope and belief are primary to willingness in most endeavors.

It might seem I agree with Republicans when I state that government cannot hand out and call that success or that government is the solution to all problems. The problem with that idea of agreement is that their solutions compound the damn problems. If 1% of the citizens make more than the remaining 90% there is going to be a real problem. Thanks (R)s and the preceding (D) enablers.
12 kegbot1 on July 1st, 2008 7:03 pm

Jill:

Late July, eh? Ok, gonna hold you to that this time.

Want Ohio to drown in money? Five years from now, start selling water to Las Vegas.

::::ducks, runs::::::