WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The UPI Think Tank Wrap-Up is a daily digest covering brief opinion pieces, reactions to recent news events, and position statements released by various think tanks.
Progress and Freedom Foundation
(PFF studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. P&FF is ideologically diverse and politically non-partisan, and its work focuses heavily on communications, computing and telecommunications.)
WASHINGTON -- States boost use of digital technology
The implementation of digital technology at the state government level continues to grow. The latest quarterly release of results from the Digital State Survey by The Progress & Freedom Foundation shows Illinois, South Dakota and Utah leading in the use of digital technology for education, while Kansas ranks No. 1 in deploying digital technology for geographic information systems, known as GIS, and transportation.
"Several states made significant gains in this survey over last year's positions," says Kent Lassman, director of PFF's Digital Policy Network.
"These states are recognizing that digital technologies increase efficiencies, increase productivity, and enhance learning while improving citizen service. The large numbers of newcomers in the top ten for education and high scores in GIS/transportation show that states are very competitive," Lassman says.
The 2001 education survey combines last year's K-12 and higher education categories into a single measure to distinguish how well states are adopting digital technologies to manage educational programs. The GIS/transportation category is new to the survey; it gauges the adoption of digital technologies in state uses of geographic information systems and transportation.
The Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Center for Digital Government conduct the Digital State Survey annually to assess the extent to which state governments are utilizing digital technologies to improve the delivery of services to their citizens. Surveys are conducted quarterly, with an annual summary and compilation of results -- including presentation of the annual Digital State Award--released at the end of the year.
The latest release of the survey is now available on the PFF Web site at pff.org.
The Cato Institute
WASHINGTON -- Make smallpox vaccines available now, scholar says
An outbreak of smallpox or other contagious diseases may cause widespread panic among the population. To prevent that, the Centers for Disease Control has drafted the Emergency Health Powers Act, a model statute that the Department of Health and Human Services is urging states to adopt.
The proposal would give government the power to seize or destroy property and corpses, impose quarantine measures and force people to undergo medical examination, vaccination or treatment. People who refused to comply with the emergency measures would, in some cases, face criminal penalties and be forced at gunpoint, if necessary, by state police or the National Guard to comply. Veronique de Rugy, health policy analyst, had the following comments about the model act.
"We need to recognize that in a case of an outbreak, these unfortunate measures might be necessary to stop the disease from spreading because our population is not vaccinated at all. However, it seems that the mere existence of this report is a sign that CDC, HHS and others did not do what they were supposed to do: prepare the U.S. population for bio-terrorist attacks--despite their huge budgets.
"It is frightening to realize that this report operates under the assumption that nothing is going to be done in the future. It assumes that the population will remain unvaccinated, that HHS will keep total control of the vaccines and decide when and where to make it available. The report does not consider the possibility of making the vaccine available to the American public.
"Right now the Bush administration's plan is to stockpile the vaccine and wait for an outbreak to happen and then force-vaccinate the population. But the right thing to do is to make the smallpox vaccine immediately available to the public.
"Americans should be allowed to individually decide for themselves whether they consider vaccination to be a good thing, whether they want to take the risk associated with any vaccination, or whether they want to take the risk of not being vaccinated in case of an outbreak.
"A well-vaccinated population, apart from being unattractive to bio-terrorists, would create what is called 'community immunity' and would drastically lower the rate of transmission of the disease even for those who are not themselves immune."
WASHINGTON -- Argentina needs dollarization, private bank notes, study says: Coupled strategy would avoid devaluation, increase bank dollar reserves
Late last week, Argentina began to restrict its citizens from transferring funds abroad or withdrawing more than $250 per week in cash. The move came after an alarming run on banks prompted by fears of devaluation.
In the new Cato Institute report, "Argentine Endgame: Couple Dollarization with Free Banking," Johns Hopkins Economics Professor Steve H. Hanke calls for the official dollarization of the Argentinean economy to stave off a financial collapse and spur economic growth.
"By unilaterally dollarizing the economy, monetary policy would become 'looser' because the exchange-rate risk with the dollar would be eliminated, interest rates would be lower, and credit would be more readily available," he writes.
"High rates of interest for peso loans, which result from uncertainty about the government's monetary policy, indicate that the best course of action would be to eliminate the central bank and cease issuing pesos," Hanke writes. "Doing so would eliminate the perceived risk of devaluation that is hurting Argentina's economy."
A former advisor to Argentinean President Carlos Menem, Hanke also recommends that private banks be allowed to issue their own dollar-denominated notes. Competitive note issue by private banks would help increase the supply of reserves on hand at banks and allow Argentina to capture seigniorage -- the profit from issuing notes, which otherwise would accrue to the U.S. government, he says.
"There is nothing novel about such a system," according to Hanke. "It is technically feasible and can begin to operate as soon as banks can get notes printed."
"Provided that banks have any confidence in the future, reversing Argentina' s recent trend of declining bank reserves would therefore lead to an expansion of bank credit and lower interest rates, enabling businesses to undertake projects that are not profitable in today's very high-interest rate environment," he writes. "More business activity would create jobs and spur economic growth."
The report is available as Foreign Policy Briefing no. 67 on the Cato Institute Web site at cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb-067es.html.
Institute for Public Accuracy
(The IPA is a nationwide consortium of policy researchers that seeks to broaden public discourse by gaining media access for experts whose perspectives are often overshadowed by major think tanks and other influential institutions.)
WASHINGTON -- Fast track showdown
-- Connie Garcia, policy advocate for the San Diego-based Environmental Health Coalition, one of the oldest grassroots environmental and social justice organizations in the United States.
"While the evidence is clear that NAFTA has failed to protect the environment, the president is promoting it as a model for the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Fast track would allow President Bush to negotiate the FTAA without being hampered by public input. It was fast-track authority that allowed the closed-door negotiation of NAFTA with Canadian, U.S. and Mexican trade officials and multinational corporations -- with no input from environmental or labor interests. The results have been very negative for the environment, especially here at ground zero of NAFTA. For example, the Alamar River in Mexico is rank with raw sewage and industrial wastewater--a byproduct of U.S. and foreign-owned maquiladoras operating in Mexico under NAFTA."
-- Maria Luisa Mendonca, director of the Social Network for Justice and Human Rights in Brazil.
"If Congress approves fast-track authority, it will be giving a blank check to big business to carry out policies that will be very detrimental to the people of the Americas. The FTAA will mean that large corporations will benefit while the public's right to health, education, food, job security, living wages and environmental safety will be further threatened. It will also increase Latin America's vulnerability to whims of speculative capital."
Karen Hansen-Kuhn, international coordinator of the Alliance for Responsible Trade.
"The current debate on fast-track authority has been marred by accusations that are either inflammatory, irrelevant or both. A recent example is U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick's assertion that those opposing the administration's request for that authority are 'xenophobes and isolationists.' In fact, opposition to this model of corporate-led globalization is both global in scale and internationalist in perspective. Tens of thousands of people from Buenos Aires to Quebec have taken this message to the streets, to city councils and national legislatures to demand a very different kind of economic integration. The real issue is who wins and who loses under the resulting accords. People throughout the Americas understand that it is not countries that benefit or suffer from these policies but rather specific sectors within each nation. Workers, environmentalists, family farmers, women and many others in the United States have joined forces with their counterparts in other countries to advance a common agenda..."
--Antonia Juhasz, project director for the International Forum on Globalization, which represents over 60 organizations in 25 countries.
"The administration wants fast-track authority in order to speed through agreements such as the proposed FTAA that would extend NAFTA to the entire Southern Hemisphere and to further the agenda of the November meeting of the WTO--the first ministerial-level meeting since the collapse of talks in Seattle. Fast track is a mechanism by which many of the key democratic processes used to create legislation are eliminated--these include the full committee process, full debate and the ability to amend legislation. The full when addressing democratic process is critical issues about which there is so much controversy and disagreement."
Sharon vs. Hamas?
-- Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center.
"Shortly before the latest suicide bombings, the mass-circulation right-of-center Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot ran a prominent front-page analysis pointing out that Hamas had suspended suicide bombings, but was sure to return to them, since Sharon had once again turned to assassinating Hamas' leaders. Surely Sharon knew this as well. What is really going on here is a conspiracy of right-wingers -- Palestinian and Israeli, Hamas and Sharon -- to shatter any chance of peace. Sharon thinks if he does that, the result will be permanent Israeli control over the West Bank, and probably the piece-by-piece expulsion of the Palestinians. Hamas thinks that over a longer time, the result will be the shattering of Israel. Of course, this analysis does not lessen the horror and inhumanity of the suicide bombings. They are inexcusable -- as is Sharon's callous attitude toward Israeli and Palestinian lives."
-- Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law.
"Israel is acting in total violation of international law, including U.N. resolutions that allowed it into the United Nations in the first place. If something is not done quite soon to stop Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinians, it could very well degenerate into genocide, literally fit that legal definition -- if Israel is not there already. In this regard, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is what international lawyers call a genocidaire -- one who has already committed genocide in the past. There is currently a criminal case against Sharon in Belgium, using the Pinochet principle, for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacres against Palestinian refugees. Sharon is ready, willing, and able to inflict genocide yet again upon the Palestinians."
-- Lamis Andoni, an independent journalist and analyst who has written extensively about the Mideast.
"Israel is sending a message: Either the Palestinian leadership does the dirty work for Israel of repressing the Palestinian people, or it will be eliminated."
