Only three jobs in the world

By Al Portner

There are only three jobs in the whole wide world. There are people who make things. There are people who sell things. And there are people who supervise and account for the people who make and sell things.

The United States economy has shifted dangerously away from making things. The global economy was imagined as the erasure of borders while nations sat around the campfire singing folksongs of uplifting content.

Some workers from emerging economies are living better because of globalization. Some prices are lower than they would have been. Other workers are living not as well as they once did. Many are not working at all. Global companies have pinned down costs and held profits up. Some of the supervisors and accountants have gotten very wealthy.

The world picks winners and losers. In this new, global world, the winners are companies rather than common citizens or nation-states. Governments serve as the guarantors of bad decisions made by globalized private concerns. This state of affairs serves only the few.

The impact of the global economy has been to shift winner and loser categories from nations to corporate entities. Nation-states share ultimate duty for the well-being of their own citizens.

The system broke because it was not properly overseen. Strategic and tactical interests of individual countries were ignored. Our nation has a strategic interest in energy autonomy, as health outcomes as good as afforded in other developed countries at a similar share of GDP, and a manufacturing sector that adequately services domestic needs. We fooled ourselves into believing leveraged managerial know-how could replace the making of things.

Healthy globalization happens when all three legs of the economic stool support their share of the weight. Production surpluses relieve shortages in neighbor nations or are traded for raw materials or finished goods we don’t produce.

Our strength has been discovering better ways to create, produce, sell, and manage. The solution to our problem lies in creating and producing. Sales depends on perceived need. Management cannot stand on its own. We must re-learn to make stuff.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher of newspapers in seven states. He is the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author of the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

History of Intellectual Property in a Digital Age

By Al Portner

The digital age brings an old problem back into the limelight. As Amazon.com introduces its new Kindle II, and Google intends to create a single digital library that contains all of the world’s knowledge, the notion of “Intellectual Property” and how the creators of that property are compensated returns to top of mind awareness.

“Intellectual Property Laws” describe the system that determines legal ownership of ideas or artworks of various kinds. Copyrights protect the financial ownership of a work of art like photos, paintings, books, films, or music. The 1st U.S. copyright registered to John Barry for a spelling book in 1790.

In the United States, copyrights are registered with the Library of Congress. Registration makes rights easier to enforce, but the copyright is born at the moment the author creates the artwork. Registration does not necessarily secure all rights worldwide.

This was a problem in the 19th Century. Mark Twain, a proponent of copyright legislation, went to extraordinary lengths to register new works with American and British Empire Copyright Offices simultaneously. A number of Twain’s books were pirated by Canadian publishers.

The famous white suit in which we often think of Mark Twain first appeared at a Congressional hearing on copyright in December, 1906. He dressed in all white to draw additional attention to the issue. Delighted with the sensation caused, he immediately ordered six more white suits; ever after referred to as his “Don’t Care A Damn Suits.”

Finally, countries agreed to international treaties that most abide by; most recently -- the Berne Switzerland Convention of 1989. Copyrights on new works give authors ownership for their lifetime plus 70 years. Afterwards, works pass into the “Public Domain” without need to compensate an owner.

With all art, ideas expressed cannot be copyrighted, but exact duplication is protected. New, derivative works written must credit original sources. This is called “Fair Use.”

Google’s attempt to digitize the world’s libraries reached a settlement in 2008, but new complexities will continue the debate over “intellectual property” well into the future.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

Financial terminology intentionally opaque

By Al Portner

Ordinary "Joes" spend prodigious time worrying about the economy. Reporters and analysts speak a foreign language to most of us outside their confined bubbles of influence.

Banks need to strengthen their “balance sheets.” “Price earnings ratios” need to improve. “Hedge funds” lack of significant oversight. “TCE or tangible common equity” recently surfaced in news reports about the solvency of banks. Insider terminologies whizz past the understanding of most of us like a knuckleball hurled by a major leaguer.

A knuckleball (as metaphor) goes relatively slowly, but tends to make unexpected movements on its journey from the pitcher’s hand to the catcher’s mitt. And that describes our financial system.

I admit to a certain level of ignorance on these matters. Patiently explained, none of the concepts seems hard, but asking for explanations is discouraged. Balance sheet ratios and price/earnings standards are judged by industry within acceptable ranges.

Last week, I called a stockbroker friend and asked him for a list of industry sectors and normalized ratio values for those sectors. I hoped to analyze financial positions and make smart buy or sell decisions. He couldn’t access the information, and so far hasn’t found it. Financial folks don’t really want investors to know the definition of normal.

I will look also and bring what I find here in the form of short columns that begin to explain the economy that threatens to collapse around us.

The $50 billion Bernie Madoff fraud case/giant Ponzi scheme makes one wonder if many financial people who act like they know what they are talking about can be completely trusted. Certainly, not all financial executives are crooks. To steal a phrase from Ronald Reagan… “Trust; but verify.”

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

Nation needs new revenue streams

By Al Portner

President Obama has submitted a culture-changing fiscal blueprint to the Congress for consideration. The President’s priorities are appropriate and long overdue.

Healthcare costs as a percentage of GDP are double the rest of the comparable, developed world. Sending $700 billion dollars annually overseas to buy fossil fuels can’t be good for the economic health of the nation or the environmental health of the planet. That the financial future of the nation rests on the higher education of its people is tough to argue against when the entire history and prominence of America has been based on the notions of innovation and discovery.

But all these initiatives are mind-blowingly expensive. The markets and the people who control them are gasping. An already weakened financial system must be reinforced, re-regulated, or in some cases regulated for the first time.

President Obama plans to pay for this platter full of problems by programs of fiscal responsibility and taxes on those who are most able to pay. The top five percent of earning families will be resentful.

The country needs new revenue streams. Money is the mother’s milk of innovation in a digital age. If the nation achieves the goals enumerated in the budget and clearly stated before the 2008 election, we will have to fund the research that makes them possible.

The nation should benefit from a portion of the intellectual property that it pays to develop. And the use of that money should be limited to paying down or paying interest on debt.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

Bank nationalization new boogeyman

by Al Portner

Bank Nationalization is the new national boogeyman. If the largest banks are beyond repair, the government might have to take temporary ownership of some of them. Most depositors would be minimally affected. Investors (including large institutional funds) would lose their investments.

Sen. Chris Dodd intimated several large banks might require this to achieve stability. Market reaction was immediate. Shares values in Bank of America and Citigroup tumbled up to 25 percent in minutes.

The White House quickly reassured markets it favors private banks, but didn't absolutely rule out later action. Stocks reflexively recovered some of their lost value.

The root the banking crisis is probable over-valuation of toxic loan assets brought on by a lack of oversight. TARP was necessary because a very few large financial institutions were deemed “too large to fail.”

The $700 billion TARP program addressed this concern. So far, TARP has not worked as presented by Bush Treasury Secretary Paulson. Worse, banks refused to disclose what they did with their first $350 billion allotment.

A process, currently ongoing, will evaluate bank toxic assets before more taxpayer money is expended. Nationalization will hurt investors and should be avoided if possible, but it also presents an opportunity for taxpayers to recover emergency funding and for the government to break up any “institution too large to fail.”

Huge financial institutions may appear more efficient. They operate at the speed of light. Consequences of systemic errors can be catestrophic. They are also remote from most people who depend on them. Perhaps they should to slow down a tad. Perhaps financial markets need reasonable regulation. Completely free markets tend to implode on themselves in ever new and innovative ways.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher of newspapers in seven states. He is the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author of the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

Natural gas vehicles: A quick win-win

By Al Portner

Carbon emission reduction is a future national imperative. Meanwhile, what happens to America’s 250 million gasoline-powered vehicles? Americans, a famously impatient lot, can access a practical, environmentally superior alternative today. Gasoline engines can convert to natural gas. The distribution infrastructure is mostly in place for home heating.

Natural gas is available domestically, is more economical, and releases less carbon than gasoline. Government can encourage natural gas conversions by making available a “Conversion to Natural Gas Vehicle Tax Credit” and require installation of “Natural Gas Refueling Pumps” at service stations.

In addition to the native cost and environmental benefits, natural gas promotes economic activity, creates jobs, and slows the flow of energy dollars offshore. Conversion kits cost as little as $1000 per vehicle. Some “NG” conversions even allow drivers to switch between natural gas and gasoline.

Natural gas may not be a perfect, long-term energy solution, but it makes “Change-Now” available to many Americans and it allows us to utilize all that current hardware we already own. Americans can decide to personally make a difference.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher of newspapers in seven states. He is the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author of the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

How did the press become non-partisan?

By Al Portner

The notion of a non-partisan press serving a watchdog function without inserting its own opinions into news stories is amusing when one digs a bit to find out from whence the idea originally came. Journalists are taught to report the Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why without regard to party or ideological persuasion.

Has it always been thus? Or is this just a part of the business cycle that is now completing its 1880 beginning orbit of its readers/viewers? How did the press become the whipping boy for all politicians? What causes all the animosity that seems to display itself against the media?

The notion of a non-partisan media took hold only after ownership consolidation of media outlets got rolling. This coincided with the development of big box stores. At first, we had J.C. Penney and Sears Roebuck, Kresge’s, Woolworth, and Montgomery Ward. The advertisers wanted to reduce the number of buys required to cover their cities.

In 1900 alone, sixteen daily newspapers circulated in New York City, not including the additional newspapers produced in the various boroughs. Additional specialty newspapers were produced in each of the five boroughs. Each of these newspapers had a very specific audience component whose interests were paired with the newspapers story selection and style. The circulation of each was very limited by their specialized readership and the technology of the day.

Over time, the newspapers consolidated. Speeds improved. Publishers gave News/Editorial departments the instruction to write stories from a neutral point of view so as to appear as if they were not promoting any particular point of view. The idea was to appeal to a broader audience segment and capture the big box merchants.

Prior to this time, newspapers printed whatever they chose to fill their space and the needs of their readers. It was common to see advertising on the front page. Fiction and hoaxes were enjoyed. Newspaper pages were limited. In 1884, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) asked the new Associated Press Bureau Chief in New York to place a promotional piece on the wire. The man demanded a $150 payment in exchange for doing so. Clemens was outraged. But this didn’t stop him from providing reviews of his books already written by friends (notably by William Dean Howells) to other publications.

The result was fairly predictable. As with the lover, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The slant of a story is in the eye of the reader. Since newspapers after consolidation started were now writing for people who agreed, disagreed, or had no opinion… they were guaranteed to offend on average two-thirds of the readers at all times.

While this was probably always the case, if a writer just wrote for people who agree with his or her point of view (as before the beginning of consolidation), the writer could usually be assured that his or her story would be mainly well received. On the other hand, if he or she wrote about a political person or issue that would be disapproved of by the audience, he or she could be assured that he or she might be castigated. But the disagreeable person was not an important constituent and the writer didn’t care much.

This was also the beginning of the falling away of much of the audience. Who wants to read a publication with which you disagree two thirds of the time? The hostility began to grow.

The press has been damned as liberal. Media has taken on the role of adversary to whom-ever is in political power. A non-partisan media that reports news without opinion is a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to 1900, it probably did not exist at all. Up until through the Kennedy Administration, it lived up to certain ground rules which protected some pretty outrageous personal behavior.

This may be a built in bias. Actually, many writers are political conservatives. But conservatives are usually more certain of their positions than liberals. Living a life of asking questions tends to make a writer seem a liberal by itself.

Remember the old joke? I don’t belong to an organized party – I’m a Democrat.

The discussion is summed up by a great quote from Winston Churchill: “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains. ...”

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

The actual root of the banking difficulties...

By Al Portner,

Where did our financial system begin to go wrong?

I believe the root of the problem is the very business model that modern banks have adopted. It used to be a bank profited from the interest it earned.

Individuals made deposits of their savings on which they were paid interest. Credit-worthy businesses and individuals borrowed the deposited money and paid a higher interest rate than was offered to the depositors. The difference between the two rates was known as “the spread” or the bank’s profit.

The owners of the bank assumed the risk of default. They were required to put some of their own money into the bank as capital and because they did -- they were very concerned about the quality of the people to whom they lent money. The capital basis of the bank and pledged assets of the borrowers ensured that depositor’s monies were safe.

Periodically, depositors lost confidence in financial institutions for a variety of reasons and many demanded their money back simultaneously. This became known as a “bank run.” Overnight, a bank’s capital resources could be depleted.

President Franklin Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to address this concern. Banks were required to pay an insurance premium to the government which then stood behind the bank deposits with its full faith and credit up to a certain limit.

To maximize profits, complex and/or exotic financial instruments were designed that spread out the risk of failure of a single business among all businesses. The theory was that this was less risky for investors. Over time, transactions became much more complex and the focus of the business model changed from retail to wholesale. Bank profitability structures began to depend more on "fees" than “the interest spread.”

No longer did banks want to hold the security interests that had been the basis of their loans. It was better sell the securities and re-loan the money. Better yet, fees collected were immediate and flowed directly to the profit line. The ability of borrowers to repay now mattered less.

If a prospective homeowner didn’t qualify under traditional standards, the bank could change the standards; stretch out the term of the note; or create an exotic payback scheme. The bank became mortgage originators who passed off risk to someone else and collected his or her fees up front. Home prices inevitably rose and it was in the interest of the originator to allow it.

Fast forward to today. Combining contingent liabilities to reduce risk works if standards for determining the risk remain sound. In other words, it is necessary a lender live with the results of his or her lending and make a good portion of profits from “the spread” if the system is going to work.

Financial instruments designed to reduce risk are only as good as the underlying assets. The sum of the total reflects only itself. To prove the truth of this axiom, just take a look at your investment account.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

Surprising results on newspaper discussion

By Al Portner

About a week ago, I started a discussion about the newspaper business cycle among several relevant groups. There has been a great deal of interest and a number of replies.

My goal in starting the discussion was to stimulate discussion on three specific points.

First, do writers think reporting is an intrinsic need for a successful representative democracy? Second, if media is the watchdog, then its practitioners should be paid well for all the abuse they take in serving that role. Last, I was hoping for new ideas about sources of money to pay all those necessary salaries.

I don’t have any firm answers myself. Obviously, from what is happening in the economy generally nobody else has many suggestions either.

A non-profit, charitable, endowed model was suggested by a fundraiser op-ed in the New York Times. Not a terrible idea, but a tall mountain to climb. According to the article, the Times alone would need an endowment of about $5 billion to maintain its current newsroom staff. Nationally, the idea could cost about $114 billion.

A group from the American Press Institute called "Newspaper Next" has agreed that there is a problem. Another group of newspaper executives has announced through their website, http://www.newspaperproject.org/, that things are not as bad as they seem.

What is surprising, however, is the extreme vitriol with which a number of the replies to my discussion were written. Bottom line is that there is a tremendous built up anger and dissatisfaction out there towards media in general and newspapers in particular. Some comments are directed at management. Some replies are directed at the writers. Other anger manifests as being flat out general frustration.

There is a perception abroad in the land that the media used to be bi-partisan and non-judgmental. The opinion is that reporting was better in "the good old days." Was it ever thus? Should it be? Where did this "independent media" notion come from anyway?

Very few of the replies or comments from various quarters address any of the three questions posed. I suspect that the responses I did receive do speak volumes. Probably, they express a view akin to seeing forests from among the trees.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

Too big to fail?

by Al Portner

Too big to fail has been the rationale for endless bail-out votes in Congress and discussions among various political talking heads. We are warned a governmental failure to help big business will bring the entire economy down.

Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson approached Congress last fall with a three page request for $700 million to stabilize the nation’s financial markets. Congress argued for a couple of weeks, added 330 pages to the enabling legislation, and agreed to provide the money in two big slugs of $350 million each. Treasury doled out the first slug, but now has no idea how it was used. Worse, the bankers who received the money feel no responsibility to account for their actions.

No one, with the possible exception of the recipient banks, has been satisfied with the result. Endless conversations continue about how to make the system more transparent and more accountable. Unfortunately, the basic issue has yet to be publically discussed.

The issue is size.

If we believe in the capitalist ideal, then some companies will be winners, others will be losers, and some will disappear. It is intolerable that some companies have become so large that they cannot be allowed to fail.

Companies should not be allowed a market share over “x” percent of the total in whatever business it engages. If memory serves, President Theodore Roosevelt addressed similar difficulties using the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Act for authority.

The Theodore Roosevelt administration filed 44 lawsuits to dismantle the trusts of his time that included railroads, oil cartels, and some banks. T.R. was not opposed to big business, but he did believe that regulation must serve as a check to keep business from overwhelming government.

Today, our situation is similar. History teaches that companies or governments tend to become so complex over time that they collapse under their own weight while becoming tyrannical and/or non-competitive. Recent advances in computing power have allowed for ever-larger companies to be managed in what seems to be an effective manner. The downside is that fallacies in original reasoning are more difficult to identify because speed pressures have encouraged these very thinking errors.

The society should count to ten and break up a number of these huge, dominating concerns so that they can once again be allowed to fail if that is what they deserve.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

Whatever happened to newspapers?

By Al Portner

A column blasting management for the decline of newspapers just crossed my desk. It repeats an argument made frequently by legions of newspaper journalists and could as easily be applied to general distribution magazines, radio, and television. The continual whining and desperate rending of clothing is exhausting and serves no purpose.

Newspapers, as we have known them, are at the end of a business cycle that started around 1880 with the introduction of the Mergenthaler Linotype and is completing a natural arc. The old business model is broken. Traditional revenue streams have dried up and newer technologies are not sufficiently monetized. Publishers struggle to identify revenue streams, but no financially viable template has yet emerged.

Circulation was never more than 19 percent of revenue. Classified receipts in big-city newspapers contributed around 40 percent. The remaining 40 percent of cash streamed from display, national, and legal advertising. Much of this is gone.

Rather than ruminate “on the good old days” and damn the perceived misdeeds of those to whom we reported, it is far more important to ask fundamental questions on the future of news, technology, and distribution.

Given:
Democracy requires its citizens have access to “The News” as a condition to it being able to flourish.

Questions:
What will be the method(s) for transmission of this information?
How will reader convenient information be gathered and sculpted?
Who will pay the gatherers and sculptors (i.e. the journalists)?

Ever since 1880, new technical iterations have allowed publishers to become continually more efficient. Production of the product required fewer and fewer people behind the scenes. Initially, the changes were invisible.

Coincidently, advertising rates and circulation penetration increased as the literate population boomed and the economy expanded. For a relatively short period, editorial staffs also grew as production staffs shrank. Media companies threw off obscene rates of investment return sometimes exceeding 40 percent of “Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA).”

Newspapers became valuable -- cash cows selling for more than twenty times EBITDA. The next generation couldn’t afford to take over. Inheritance taxes, growing lines of descendents, and high company taxes encouraged consolidation into a few corporate owners. Individuals were priced out of a market unwittingly subsidized by government.

Stock analysts (funding all this consolidation) worked from historical earnings expectations. Although technology continued to evolve, revenues shrank or got divided up among more mediums and more players. To satisfy the analysts’ expectations, staffs were further reduced and facilities closed. These reductions included writers, editors, and photographers. No one else was left to downsize.

A Connecticut state legislator recently proposed government extend financial help to newspapers. This suggestion was met with fierce opposition from interference-phobic journalists. On the other hand, the well respected B.B.C. is funded at least in part by government. Here in America, the Federal government once believed distribution of news information was so important, it subsidized newspapers with free mail delivery service in the early years of the republic.

Events have caught up to media industries. Even Draconian amputations won’t allow service on massive consolidation debt. A new business model will be developed, but it won’t afford the profitability of the old model.

If we, as a nation, believe “News” is important, then accommodations must be made. Somehow, the news/editorial department must be walled off from the rest of the business. New paradigms should encourage local owner/operators of media. These folks tend to be satisfied with more modest ROIs and sensitive to their readers/viewers concerns then are managers accountable to a distant headquarters. Law must allow family businesses to pass from one generation to the next without a penalty for success. Finally, financing decisions must be based on the actual perceived value of the asset rather than on future currency devaluations and exit strategies. Reasonable performance should afford companies the ability to repay lines of credit.

There is a future for “News,” but an adequate way must be found to compensate the news-gathers. The future lies in helping to formulate the new model.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

Meeting the energy challenge

By Al Portner

America must be energy independent of countries whose people don’t like us very much. This requires development and adoption of technologies that minimize some older energy models and re-examine discarded ones. Energy self reliance is a primary national goal.

Strategically, it makes no sense to risk allowing potential adversaries the ability to turn off the spigot that runs our defense machinery. Economically, every dollar spent in the United States circulates seven times. Energy dollars spent overseas are gone once they leave our shores. A negative balance of payments must, over time, inevitably lead to a U.S. default. From an employment standpoint, energy self reliance will be a primary engine for job growth. And environmentally, most scientists agree carbon emissions negatively alter the global climate.

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is leading the charge for energy independence with his well advertised “Pickens’ Plan.” He proposes that wind power and natural gas replace many uses of oil for energy. If successful, Pickens’ initiative will yield him a tidy profit.

“The Pickens’ Plan” requires a significant investment in energy infrastructure to move wind power from where it is generated to where it is needed. The time required for the “Pickens’ Plan” to show significant benefits is eight to ten years. Boone Pickens will be approaching 90 years old. His profits aside, Boone is a patriot promoting a bold idea.

A number of additional potential technologies will contribute to America’s future energy independence. These include geothermal heat, nuclear power, ocean wave-action, bio-fuels, and hydrogen fuel cells. Is it possible to harness the power of coal in a way that doesn’t pollute the environment? Who knows what research can achieve when research into cleaner, local, more cost-effective alternatives becomes a primary national goal?

Can existing technologies become more efficient? Why do vehicles made by U.S. manufacturers overseas achieve several times the mileage of similar cars sold here?

The discussion is not new. Gas lines in 1972 and 1973 forced us to drive smaller cars for a few years. Too bad the short memories of many allowed a return to wasteful ways as prices declined and supplies became plentiful. Today, last summer’s $4.00 a gallon gas prices have declined again. In the 1970’s our big concerns were price and supply. Today, the stakes are ever so much higher.

In 2000, H. Ross Perot suggested a 50 cent increase in gasoline taxes as a means to pay off the deficit when he ran unsuccessfully for President. The idea was very unpopular.
Perhaps Perot’s proposal was too timid. An increase in the gasoline tax could be used to build mass transit, encourage vehicles that get better mileage, or even redirect some industry away from the most populated centers both relieving problems of infrastructure congestion and encouraging community rebirth. Like the international negotiators say, no option should be off the table.

Your thoughts on this and previous postings are always welcome.

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Comments from the Inaugural posting of Assignment Desk Notes were very positive and helpful. Commenters were initially concerned with the Financial and Healthcare systems. Columns that open these areas, the media, communication, and others for discussion will be posted shortly. Let the conversation continue. It is hoped readership and contributions will continue to grow. Yesterday's massive turnout and tremendous good will shown on the National Mall by over 2 million eyewitnesses was heartwarming despite the cold day in Washington.

The Assignment Desk, L.L.C. wishes the new President nothing but the best.
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Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

An Introduction and an Inaugural Posting

By Al Portner

Here’s hoping this inaugural entry to a new web log marks the beginning of a long conversation. This week our government is transformed. A new administration takes office. It is my hope that the new President, his advisors, and the new Congress live up to the huge challenges placed squarely in front of them.

Observers from many points on the political spectrum have commented that President Obama’s plate is full. I would argue the multitude of issues now facing our country tumbles over the sides of the plate. The man doesn’t need a plate; he needs a tremendous bowl with high sides to hold all the issues, but then again it is only in the face of great crisis that great progress can be made.

Perhaps a little introduction is in order. I’m Al Portner, a recently retired daily newspaper editor and publisher, who lives in the Washington D.C. area. Writing several columns each week is a habit I have tried to break without success and which you (as reader) are about to become either beneficiary or victim depending on your point of view.

My goal in beginning this journal is to enunciate some of the issues facing us today and to offer possible solutions without regard to political point of view. Not everyone will agree with someone from the heartland of America like me, but I’m used to that. (Following is a tip for all newspaper publishers out there. Never drop a comic strip from your newspaper. It is the quickest way to make sure your readers hate you.)

President Obama has said that he wants to hear from us… you and me. He needs opinions from outside that bubble that he and his family are moving into called “The White House.” Your comments to the issues discussed on this web log are your unofficial way of sending your message right to the top.

I have confidence that it will shortly be discovered and our good thoughts will be added to the federal mix-master and hopefully come out the other side of the grinder as part of a gold nugget that helps better our national lot.

Check back frequently and we’ll see where this new conversation takes us.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC is Al Portner, a former daily newspaper editor and publisher, who has operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. The Assignment Desk, LLC, is an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers. Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.