Monday, January 11, 2010
BS Alert by Brett Narloch
Issue: Budget & Spending
When the NDPC released a study about the state of North Dakota's higher education system (Higher Education and North Dakota's Economic Future) written by a nationally recognized expert in higher education policy, the Grand Forks Herald declared that our research was poisoned by an "anti-tax bias," simply because we challenged the notions held by the political establishment about higher education.
If the Herald were to be intellectually honest, they would then declare Larry Leistritz's recent study about the impact of the Centers of Excellence on the state's economy to be poisoned by a pro-tax bias. You see, Leistritz is a government employee. He's been working at North Dakota State University for many years. Is it any wonder that he would declare a government program that further subsidizes higher education a success when he earns a paycheck from that higher education system?
Of course, the Herald chose another path. In a recent op-ed, the Herald wrote, "a study of the program by one of North Dakota's most prominent economists said it is doing exactly what it's intended to do," with the big winner being the 2,059 jobs that Leistritz's study claims have been created because of the program. The point of this isn't to impugn the integrity of a professor; rather, it's to wonder how the research of one long-time and respected professor can be deemed "anti-tax" and the research of another long-time and respected professor can be accepted without asking any questions.
Of course, the NDPC has shown time and time again that the numbers used in the study are phony, that the study does not include the costs of the program. And there are real costs. For instance, the money that taxpayers are forced to give to the program - federal, state, and local dollars, would have cycled through the economy and created jobs had it not been taken in the first place. The impact study makes it seem as though that money never would have existed had some wise government officials not taken it from taxpayers and given it to their friends.
The jobs numbers given on the reports are also flawed. They are not verified. In other words, the private businesses tell the centers how many jobs they have created as a result of the program, and the centers send them to professors like Leistritz to use in impact studies. However, no one checks to make sure those jobs were created and that they were created as a result of the program. In addition, those businesses that are linked to the program have an incentive to make the program seem as successful as possible to keep the gravy train going.
Furthermore, the theory behind the Centers of Excellence program has not fared too well in history. Committees simply cannot centrally plan entire economies. They are simply not smart enough. It makes no sense to take money from productive businesses, skim some off the top to fund the government administrators of the program, select some businesses to receive the money who may or may not be successful in the long run, and expect economic growth to be higher than if the money had never been taken in the first place.
If the NDPC is tainted with an anti-tax bias, then certainly government workers defending a government program are tainted with a pro-tax bias. It makes one wonder what type of bias the Herald has. The double standard is BS.
