Governance

Book Review: “Weapons of Math Destruction. Read It!

April 14, 2017 Analysis

Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction, How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, is a terrific and important book.  O’Neil has the credentials and the cred. Her Ph.D. in mathematics is from Harvard and she subsequently taught at Barnard. She took her analytical skills to D. E. Shaw, a hedge fund and then to […]

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Data Thought for the Day

October 16, 2014 Data

Since the Obama election, and particularly the re-election, politicians have gained a deepening appreciation of the use of data for politics – for tactics, targeting and personalization. It’s just a matter of time – and we can accelerate that time – before they have the same appreciation of using data for governing – including both […]

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The Rising Cost of Ignorance in Local Government Finance

February 5, 2014 Bond Rating

And here’s a really nice summary by Liz Farmer of why the cost of ignorance is rising in local government finance: Financial Illiteracy: One of Government’s Biggest and Least Discussed Problems. Yes, it’s more eat your fruits and vegetables stuff but … Don’t be surprised, as some have been even when their actions are legal, […]

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Opening New York’s Budget

January 24, 2013 Budget

We recently congratulated Governor Cuomo for his promoting data transparency in his State of the State message. Little did we know how quickly his administration was moving to actually take concrete steps to make it so. Yesterday’s Budget showed us not only that his commitment was serious, but that the staff of the State Division […]

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Making the Public’s Data Public – Cuomo Edition

January 9, 2013 Data

Well, this seems an especially appropriate topic with which to kick off our 2013 posts. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2013 State-of-the-State address’s includes an entire section on using technology to promote “transparency.” Among other things, the Governor has now committed to providing online copies of the State budget in “machine-readable” form. That means you […]

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Keeping Watch for Local Government Fiscal Stress

December 2, 2012 Accounting

New York’s Comptroller, Tom DiNapoli has issued a draft proposal for identifying local governments at risk of fiscal stress. An earlier report touches on local fiscal distress. And here, former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky discusses the earlier Comptroller’s report. It’s a good idea, and given the local governments that have already gotten themselves in trouble the […]

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County on Crack? (Nassau County Debt Variety)

September 7, 2012 County Government

Nassau County, NY is not in financial trouble because of economic decline. It’s among the wealthiest counties in New York. It is in financial trouble because of an lengthy history of bad decision-making and evidently an inability to break its debt habit. Nassau County has a history of borrowing to pay tax refunds. Having been […]

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Corporations and Government are Almost the Same, Except Corporations are Voluntary?

September 6, 2012 Corporations

In the midst of the political season and the political conventions, in which the role of corporations is an increasingly significant issue (no corporations are not people), David Burge, who blogs here as Iowahawkblog, tweets this: “Government” is just a word for things we do together. “Corporation” is just a word for things we do […]

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Today’s Quote of the Day is About a Monkey, Politics and Democracy

August 24, 2012 Governance

Oddly enough, today’s quote of the day is about a macaque monkey that’s been running loose in Tampa, FL. And no, this is not about the upcoming Republican convention, to be held in Tampa. But it is about governance and democracy and finding ways to accommodate ourselves to others, including other primates, it’s from Jon […]

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Too Big to Fail? Too Big to Govern. Too Big to Manage

May 11, 2012 Economics

Today’s news that JP Morgan Chase had incurred a $2 billion trading loss reminds us again of the risks to the rest of us of organizations that are not only too big to fail, but too big and complex to effectively manage. Simon Johnson, author, with James Kwak, of White House Burning, The Founding Fathers, […]

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