Editor: Coast to coast, it’s crisis to crisis

Management by crisis is the new model of governing in America, says Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball in his latest column. “Nothing of significance gets done at our nation’s capital unless the president and Congress are staring down some artificially created fiscal cliff, a sequestration or the double-barrel of a Joe Biden shotgun,” Ball writes. “A lot is getting done—for better or worse—at our state’s capitol, but only because the current governor has done a masterful job of creating one ‘great crisis of our times’ after another.” Over the past five years, Ball says, Louisianans have seen crises over ethics, tax rates, public education, higher education, public pensions and—presently—its complex tax code. And then there’s the annual budget crisis, which provides the impetus for the previously mentioned crises. Now, it appears even local government is embracing the motto, “In crisis comes accomplishment,” Ball says. “After repeated voter rejections of parishwide proposals, CATS officials declared the bus system would cease to exist if specially selected taxing districts did not approve a hefty property tax increase. The claim of a July 1 shutdown was dubious, but the crisis-on-the-horizon approach did gin up enough interest to get the tax approved,” he writes. “Not since the 1980s, when Jim Wharton perfected the art as chancellor of LSU, have we seen the public sector embrace crisis management as its near singular modus operandi.” Read the full column here; and send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.