Should we the people of Rhode Island pay large institutional bondbuyers $100 million we don’t legally owe them?
It’s the biggest
political and economic dilemma facing the Ocean State since pension cuts and
our elected officials don’t want the discussion to happen.
Last week, a
legislative committee tasked with investigating the pros and cons to taxpayers
was roundly criticized for holding
an informational meeting on the $100 million question but only presented one
side of the debate.
After the session, Ted Nesi, Rhode Island’s most respected reporter, wrote this gem of a lede:
As someone who
vehemently wants Rhode Island to be more politically powerful than Wall Street,
it felt like I had the wind knocked out of me when I read this. Then, Ian
Donnis of WRNI added insult to my economic
theory injury by writing in
his weekly news/media column: “If you read one overview on the debate over
defaulting on 38 Studios’ bonds, make it this one by Ted Nesi.”
But is it true that
Wall Street will always win when its interests are pitted against the people of
Rhode Island?
Enter Occupy
Providence and the the Stephen Hopkins Center to help the state figure it out.
I think they had a better discussion on
this issue than did the rest of the state. You can watch the entire hour-long
public discussion here. Please, for the love of Rhode Island and its economic
well-being, at least compare and contrast this with this discussion by the
legislative committee designated to study the decision, which you can watch here.
I think Elaine
Heebner, who isn’t a financial expert at all, offers one of the most important
perspectives on this very big political and economic question for the Ocean
State.
These economic
experts, moderated by WJAR’s Bill Rappleye, disagreed with the theory put forth
by our political leaders. Bob Cusack, a former bondbuyer and former East
Providence city councilor, said he doesn’t suspect the fiscal implications of
default will be as severe as some are predicting. (For more on the fiscal
merits of default, read this post by Cate Long, of
Reuters, who crunched the numbers.)
Perhaps just as
importantly, the panel faulted state leaders for not having a robust debate
about it. Cusack, said something at the State House on Thursday that I think we
can all agree with: “It’s not enough for pundits and even officials to predict
the reaction of rating agencies.” He suggested we ask them ourselves.
As I’ve written on several
occasions now, I think this $100
million question will show a new kind of political divide for Rhode Island –
one in which we see who thinks Rhode Islanders fiscal interests should be
subservient to Wall Street’s. I don’t know if they are, and hope for the
people’s sake they are not.
Plus, I would really
like to get to write this headline: “RI to Wall Street: Drop Dead”
- See
more at:
http://www.rifuture.org/the-100-million-question-ri-isnt-asking.html#sthash.3Xcr2oNu.dpuf
Bob Plain is the editor/publisher of Rhode Island's Future. Previously,
he's worked as a reporter for several different news organizations both in
Rhode Island and across the country.