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an independent newspaper EDITORIALS


S Safety and oversight have been lacking, but both are within the system’s grasp.


TRICTLY SPEAKING, the National Transportation Safety Board broke no news Tuesday by announcing its formal finding that malfunctioning track cir- cuits were the immediate technical cause


of the Red Line crash in June 2009 that killed a train operator and eight passengers. That’s been known for months, as has the likelihood that NTSB would recommend that Metro replace its 1000 series rail cars, which buckle in a crash, as well as defective track circuit components. Still, it was chilling to listen to NTSB members render their final judgment about the worst acci- dent in Metro’s history — a tragedy that, they made clear, could have been avoided. What the board reported was that the crash, and sub- sequent accidents, were the result not just of bad hardware but of organizational and cultural fail- ures so profound that fixing them will require re- making the nation’s second-most heavily used rail transit system from the ground up. NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman insisted the findings did not constitute an indictment. None-


Bang for the tax buck


Lower rates for the rich won’t help the economy.


T


HE TAX CUTS passed under President Bush are about to expire. The deficit is at a once unimaginable level. In a saner po- litical environment, that would counsel


revisiting the sustainability of all the tax cuts. Certainly, given the yawning debt, there is no reason to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. But here is the worrisome devel- opment of recent days: Several ordinarily deficit-hawkish Democratic senators, including Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota — have suggested that the current economic slowdown justifies temporarily re- newing all the tax cuts, even for upper-bracket earners. Expressing similar concerns were Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.). “As a general rule, you don’t want to be cut- ting spending or raising taxes in the midst of a downturn,” Mr. Conrad said. “We know that very soon we’ve got to pivot and focus on the deficit. But it probably is too soon to cut spending or raise taxes.” As a general rule, what Mr. Conrad said is correct. In its particular application — raising taxes on the highest-income earners, households making more than $250,000 an- nually — he is dead wrong.


Analyzing the best bang-for-the-buck policies to stimulate the economy, the Congressional Budget Office found that the least effective was extending tax cuts for the top brackets. The rea- son is obvious. “The higher-income households . . . would probably save a larger fraction of their increase in after-tax income,” the CBO said. Yes, you say, but what about small business?


“Increasing the after-tax income of businesses typically does not create much incentive for [small businesses ] to hire more workers in or- der to produce more, because production de- pends principally on their ability to sell their products.” In other words, if you’re worried about the fragile state of the economy and you want to do something to make sure recovery is not set back, there are any number of more ef- fective ways to spend that money. Continuing to help states pay their Medicaid bills would be one. A temporary extension of the upper-income


tax cuts would be the worst of both worlds. In the short term, it would be ineffective as an eco- nomic stimulus. In the long term, it would add to the deficit. A two-year extension would cost about $75 billion, but the bigger risk is that a temporary extension would morph into a per- manent one, at a 10-year cost of $678 billion. Thankfully, the Obama administration appears to be sticking to its guns; Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the other day that the state of the economy does not justify extending the tax cuts for the wealthy. He is correct. Those truly worried about the nation’s dire fiscal pic- ture should seize this moment to lock in those substantial, badly needed, savings.


Ungovernable Japan? America’s most important Asian ally seems adrift. Don’t panic yet.


W


HEN THE Democratic Party of Japan swept into power last summer, a new era was proclaimed. The DPJ had turned out a conservative party that had


run the country since the U.S. military ended its oc- cupation after World War II. The newcomers to power, with a huge majority in the lower house of parliament, promised to build a European-style so- cial democracy while letting fresh air blow through the long-sealed corridors of power. There would be more openness, less corruption, more straight talk. But for the DPJ, the first year has been a very long one — and it’s not over yet. Plans for a new welfare state collided with Japan’s stagnant econo- my and mammoth debt. Some of the party’s leaders were dogged by corruption charges that sounded a lot like the old days. The party’s leader, Yukio Ha- toyama, proved indecisive as prime minister and had to step down after less than a year. In elections on July 12, voters delivered a sound spanking, de- priving the DPJ of a majority in the parliament’s upper house and providing a modest comeback to the conservatives who had been so soundly trounced last year. And the latest prime minister, Naoto Kan, must stand for reelection within the party in September. At the moment he seems likely to prevail, but if he does not, his defeat will lead to the sixth change of prime ministership in Japan in the past five years.


All of this has left many Japanese, and some of


Japan’s overseas friends, wondering if Japan’s problems are simply too big for its politics. Such pessimism is understandable but wrong, or at least premature. Japan remains a wealthy, productive, stable society with the world’s second-largest econ- omy. The instability of its politics reflects a healthy debate on what is, after all, a daunting problem, and one humans have never had to face in this way: how to maintain economic prosperity while declin- ing birthrates and increasing longevity produce an older and older population. If Japanese voters are unsure about whether it’s better to raise taxes or cut spending, well, join the club. The challenge for U.S. officials is to manage day-


to-day relations while safeguarding what remains a hugely important alliance in the shadow of China’s growth. The bad news is that the issue that bedev- iled the relationship throughout the past year, a re- alignment of U.S. forces in Okinawa, is likely to get kicked down the road yet again. The more impor- tant good news is that the past year’s turmoil has only reaffirmed the importance of the alliance for most Japanese. Mr. Hatoyama, who came into of- fice flirting with a more China-centric foreign pol- icy, found little appetite for that among his compa- triots. Americans should keep that in mind as the U.S.-Japan alliance bumps along in the coming months.


theless, her own verdict was withering. “It’s like we’re talking to someone who’s tone deaf — they’re not hearing it, they’re not getting it,” Ms. Hersman said of the failure of Metro and its board of directors to heed warnings about safety fail- ures. “If they don’t listen this time, I’m not really sure what can be done here. There’s got to be some action, there’s got to be some change.” Not coincidentally, the NTSB listed a lack of safety cul- ture as the first of six factors that contributed to the accident. For all the clout it wields from its bully pulpit as the nation’s oracle of transportation safety, the NTSB has no oversight or enforcement capacity. Nor, when it comes to the nation’s urban transit systems, does the federal government. Of several dozen recommendations the board announced Tuesday, among the most critical was imple- menting a federal oversight and enforcement re- gime under the Transportation Department and the Federal Transit Administration. As Ms. Hers- man noted, it is absurd that Washington can reg- ulate commuter train systems such as MARC and


freight trains but not urban transit systems. Af- ter all, more people board rail transit systems in this country each day than board airplanes. Con- gress must act to provide the federal government with the necessary statutory authority to rectify this. The NTSB was also harshly critical of Metro’s board, which it portrayed as scarcely aware, at the time of the June accident and subsequently, of the need for more muscular monitoring than is pro- vided by the toothless Tristate Oversight Commit- tee. The committee, which is bereft of staff and re- sources, for years has provided only nominal re- view of the transit agency. Building a culture of safety takes years; it’s not a project to complete but a continuous process and habit of mind that can be cultivated with the help of good management and oversight. There is no reason to think that Metro and its 10,000 em- ployees are no more or less receptive to a safety culture than any other transit agency. With the proper support and legislative framework, they can be part of the solution.


TOM TOLES


WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR dletters@washpost.com


The impact of the D.C. teacher firings


Regarding the July 24 front-page article “Rhee dis- misses 241 teachers in the District”: I can only applaud the leadership and courage that


D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has displayed during her tenure. As a native of Michigan, I can attest to what unions should do, as opposed to what they all too often do. In the early years of the auto industry, workers were largely overworked and underpaid, and they faced workplace discrimination as well. Unions were created to protect workers’ rights; to make sure they were paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work; and to root out the discrimination that was rampant. But before the recent financial collapse in the United


States and the almost total collapse of the American auto industry, the auto union served to protect bad workers and to guarantee ridiculous salaries for un- skilled laborers. In short, the auto union went beyond its original charter, protecting those who should have lost their jobs — much like what is now happening in school districts across the nation. We can’t continue to overpay teachers who aren’t teaching, and we can’t continue to hold on to teachers who refuse to change their methods after receiving poor evaluations. As it was many years ago when the unions began, teachers deserve a fair wage for a fair day’s work, with no discrimination in the workplace. In return for that, they owe the school districts they work for — and their students — some results. SLADE SEARIGHT, Fairfax





As a “highly effective” teacher under the evaluation system Ms. Rhee is using to fire teachers, I feel qual- ified to comment on IMPACT, as the evaluation system is known, and its Teaching and Learning Framework (TLF). True, they are complicated and lack provision for good training and support, but their worst short- coming is their questionable criteria for assessing good teaching. In a half-hour observation, IMPACT and TLF require teachers to keep reciting “objectives,” though the value of the objectives is never judged. Teachers must teach to five different “learning styles” for which underlying research is doubtful. They must not only praise stu- dents repeatedly but make sure students praise one an- other (e.g., by applauding correct answers). Student work is ignored. One “master educator” told me that reading student essays on my walls would “distract from seeing your real teaching.” It’s a dog-and-pony show, with little focus on substance. I don’t object to it all, but it’s a poor formula for re- warding excellence or weeding out laggards. The old system, which Ms. Rhee never seriously tried to use, was quicker and better. Failing teachers could be put on notice, given support and fired in 90 days if they could not improve. Teachers deserve better. Perform- ance pay cannot erase the sadness I feel. WILLIAM F. ROPE,Washington


The writer teaches third grade in the D.C. Public Schools and is a member of the executive board of the Washington Teachers’ Union. 


Firing 241 teachers and labeling an additional 737 as “minimally effective” is quite a show of force for D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Ms. Rhee. But I think D.C. residents should know the answer to two simple ques- tions before the District labels 25 percent of public school teachers as bad at what they do. First question: How long does Ms. Rhee intend to stick around to accept the success or failure of her pol- icies? I would challenge the chancellor to promise to stick with the school system until clear and sustained evidence of this great crusade’s success has been found. If the mission is not accomplished, she should be will- ing to accept an entry-level teaching job in the school system. Remember, this is a person with “minimal” classroom time.


Second, how will the District attract “highly effec-


tive” teachers for the long term? With the poor econo- my on Ms. Rhee’s side, it may be possible to find enough out-of-work professionals and teachers willing to accept a dismal paycheck. As the economy recovers, D.C. residents can be assured it will be much harder to attract teachers because of the uncertainty of teaching in an underachieving district. Firing batches of educators is just another distrac- tion from the issue of poverty, which accompanies all failing school districts. If I were a D.C. resident, I would want some sort of tangible warranty or guarantee on this program.


ADAMKUSHNER, College Park 


The July 25 editorial “The D.C. teacher firings” sup-


ported Michelle Rhee for ridding the schools of 241 supposedly ineffective teachers and applauded the “precise standards, multiple observations by experts and clear expectations” of her new evaluation system. Now I think D.C. residents should see the standards the chancellor’s team is using to select replacement teachers. This should include a complete and verifiable list of the newcomers’ stellar teaching qualifications, including their students’ high achievement levels and positive evaluations from previous teaching jobs. There shouldn’t be any rookies among the replace- ment teachers; the situation in our schools is too dire to leave to beginners.


LINDALASCOLA, Washington 


Michelle Rhee’s dismissal of 241 teachers shows why she should stay out of politics, as Jay Mathews said in his July 5 column. Now her actions are perceived by some as politically motivated. I favor of getting rid of bad teachers, but the IMPACT


evaluation system hasn’t been tested yet, and it ap- pears that teachers are being dismissed without any re- mediation. Did those fired receive interim evaluations? Were they told where they were going wrong? Did they have a mentor to help them change? Employees need to be treated fairly. If they are bad,


LOCAL OPINIONS 3Join the debate at washingtonpost.com/localopinions


Metro workers need exposure to policy on picture-taking You can take my name off the list of “local


shutterbugs” who give Metro “higher marks” for educating its employees about photographers’ rights [“When freedom doesn’t click; Officers of- ten clamp down on photographers, even when shots are legal,” Metro, July 26]. I’ve been incorrectly told on at least three oc- casions that photography or videography is re- stricted in the Metro system. One Metro employ- ee told me in March 2009 that I couldn’t take pic- tures because of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Another told me last month that I was allowed to take video only of other people, not of structures. Metro policy explicitly allows noncommercial photography that does not involve a tripod. All of those incidents involved either a hand-held cam- era phone or a point-and-shoot camera, and none involved commercial activity.


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Business and advertising: Vice Presidents LINDA DAVIDSON/THE WASHINGTON POST The Metro Center station.


I can’t say for sure whether my experiences are representative, but if so, Metro has more work to do to educate its staff that photography is not a crime or a threat.


NOAHVANGILDER,Washington


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they should go — not for political reasons but for edu- cational reasons, and not to make Mayor Fenty or Ms. Rhee look like they are doing their jobs, but for the ben- efit of our children.


PETER D. ROSENSTEIN, Washington A memory of Daniel Schorr As a Washington journalist, I had numerous con-


tacts with Daniel Schorr over the years, but one that I recall with a smile was standing with him and a few other reporters outside the offices of Vice Presi- dent Nelson A. Rockefeller. We were waiting for the vice president to comment on a now-long-forgotten commission that he headed. After hours of standing and waiting in vain, Mr. Schorr, with a twinkle in his eyes, turned to me and said, “Bob, what do you think we’ll be doing when we grow up?” His sense of irony served us both well. We contin- ued on with journalism, taking the bad and boring with the good and exciting. Mr. Schorr will be sorely missed by journalists and the general public. ROBERT TRAUTMAN, Alexandria


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