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I'm very well acquainted too with matters mathematical,

I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,


About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot 'o news--
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
~W.S. Gilbert, The Pirates of Penzance, 1879
The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but
swindling futurity on a large scale.
~Thomas Jefferson
Money, which represents the prose of life...is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
~Albert Einstein

Requiring Algebra II in high school gains momentum nationwide

1. Define: imaginary number, Algebra II, economic strength, Organization of Economic Cooperation and
Development, rigorous, tier, asymptote, prerequisite
2. “There was a fair amount of judgment that went into this.” Why was researchers’ judgment part of the study?
How can you tell if their judgment was good?
3. Do most students take Algebra II, according to the article?
4. Is the purpose of students’ education for their own benefit, or for the benefit of the country and its economy?
5. Should we require kids to take a course because it leads to more college graduates?
6. What is correlation? If A causes B, why will A and B be correlated? If A does not cause B, why might A and B
be correlated anyway?
7. How would you try to control an experiment to determine whether Algebra II was causing success, or whether
some other factor was causing both?
8. What is the purpose of graduation requirements--why don’t high schools and colleges just offer classes and let
kids choose?
9. Suppose that somebody failed to complete high school because of the Algebra II requirement, and applied to
work at the Kimberly-Clark plant. How would that company likely respond? Does the company care about Algebra
II?
10. What kinds of businesses, if any, would benefit from an Algebra II requirement?
11. What kind of thinking does mathematics encourage? What about algebra? Do you think ability to think this
way will help you in life?
12. Look at this question set again. Where do you see letters used similarly to how they are used in algebra? Did
you understand this use? How can such understanding help you?
Link to article source

Washington Post
Requiring Algebra II in high school gains momentum nationwide
By Peter Whoriskey
Sunday, April 3, 2011

With its intricate mysteries of quadratics, logarithms and imaginary numbers, Algebra II often provokes a lament
from high-schoolers.
What exactly does this have to do with real life?
The answer: maybe more than anyone could have guessed.
Of all of the classes offered in high school, Algebra II is the leading predictor of college and work success,
according to research that has launched a growing national movement to require it of graduates.
In recent years, 20 states and the District have moved to raise graduation requirements to include Algebra II, and
its complexities are being demanded of more and more students.
The effort has been led by Achieve, a group organized by governors and business leaders and funded by
corporations and their foundations, to improve the skills of the workforce. Although U.S. economic strength has
been attributed in part to high levels of education, the workforce is lagging in the percentage of younger workers
with college degrees, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
But exactly how to raise the education levels of the U.S. workforce is a matter of debate. And whether learning
Algebra II causes students to fare better in life, or whether it is merely correlated with them doing better —
because smart, motivated kids take Algebra II — isn’t clear. Meanwhile, some worry that Algebra II requirements
are leading some young people to quit school.
The District this year joins other states requiring high school graduates to meet the Achieve standards that
include Algebra II; Maryland and Virginia do not.
But no state has pushed Algebra II more than Arkansas, which began requiring the class last year for most
graduates and assesses how well students have done with a rigorous test — one of only two states to administer
the test. Only 13 percent of those who took the Algebra II test in Arkansas were deemed “prepared” or better, but
state officials said they are aiming to raise that figure rather than lower standards.
“All those numbers and letters, it’s like another language, like hieroglyphics,” said Tiffany Woodle, a Conway High
School student and an aspiring beauty salon owner. “It obviously says something. I’m just not sure what,
sometimes.”
Achieve and other educational groups, which spent years defining standards to better prepare students for
college and work, quickly fastened on Algebra II as a fundamental component.
One of the key studies supporting the Algebra II focus was conducted by Anthony Carnevale and Alice
Desrochers, then both at the Educational Testing Service. They used a data set that followed a group of students
from 1988 to 2000, from eighth grade to a time when most were working.
The study showed that of those who held top-tier jobs, 84 percent had taken Algebra II or a higher class as their
last high school math course. Only 50 percent of employees in the bottom tier had taken Algebra II.
“Algebra II does increase the likelihood of being employed in a good job,” they reported, although warning that
many factors come into play.
To check the Algebra II findings against the “real world,” the Achieve researchers then asked college professors
and employers to identify which skills are necessary to succeed.
Somewhat to their surprise, they found that whether students were going into work or college, they needed the
skills taught in Algebra II. Other independent studies backed them up. One conducted by U.S. Department of
Education researcher Clifford Adelman found that students who took Algebra II and at least one more math
course attained “momentum” toward receiving a bachelor’s degree.
“There was a fair amount of judgment that went into this,” said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve and a former
assistant secretary of education in the Clinton administration. But “it turns out to get the skills needed, students
had to reach Algebra II.”
The push for Algebra II had begun, and it was embraced by many states.
But not everyone is convinced that Algebra II is the answer.
Among the skeptics is Carnevale, one of the researchers who reported the link between Algebra II and good jobs.
He warns against thinking of Algebra II as a cause of students getting good jobs merely because it is correlated
with success.
“The causal relationship is very, very weak,” he said. “Most people don’t use Algebra II in college, let alone in real
life. The state governments need to be careful with this.”
The danger, he said, is leaving some kids behind by “getting locked into a one-size-fits-all curriculum.”
Conway, about 30 miles north of Little Rock, is a small town with rural roots; the annual summer festival is known
as Toad Suck Daze, a local reference to a time when steamboats worked the Arkansas River. The Conway High
School mascot is the mythical Wampus Cat. About 44 percent of its students have qualified for free or reduced-
price lunches.
Yet its students have performed better on the test than all but a handful of other districts.
Among the 15 students gathered recently in an Algebra II class, however, the difficulties were apparent. Eight of
the students said it was the hardest class they had ever taken, and several questioned why they needed it.
Garrett Baldwin, an outfielder on the baseball team who wants to be a firefighter, said, “I’d enjoy it — if I ever
knew what was going on.”
And Hunter Venable, who likes nothing better than duck hunting — “it’s all I do” — snorted at a question about the
real-life relevance of Algebra II.
“Ass-um-topes,” he said, intentionally stumbling over the word “asymptotes,” which they have been studying. “I
have no idea what those are.”
In Arkansas and elsewhere, educators worry that the class requirement could lead students to quit.
“Some students, who’ve gotten behind over the years, are never going to pass Algebra II,” said Teresa George, a
veteran teacher, after a morning coaxing students through rational functions. If it becomes an obstacle to
graduation, “then you’ve lost them. And what’s their next option?”
For proof of the usefulness of Algebra II, students need look no farther than the largest employers in Conway.
Acxiom, a database company that employs 2,100 in the town, hires software and database developers, most of
whom have bachelor’s degrees in technical fields. For them, Algebra II skills are a prerequisite. Similarly, at Snap-
on Equipment, a plant that employs 170 making the sophisticated gears that garages use to align and balance
tires, most production jobs require associate’s degrees in electronics.
By contrast, at the Kimberly-Clark plant, which makes feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products,
production workers need only a high school education. The jobs pay 11 to $20 an hour, and when 70 spots
recently came open during an expansion, about 2,000 people applied.
“We’re looking for people with the ability to think critically,” said Jeremy Cannady, until recently a manufacturing
efficiency coordinator at the plant. But “not the ability to do exponential functions or logarithms.”
Whatever the demands for Algebra II, state officials are loath to lower the bar. The state has ranked near the
bottom in the percentage of adults with bachelor’s degrees, just above West Virginia. So despite the complaints,
students should be made to try, they say.
“Everybody else in the world believes it takes effort when it comes to math,” said Gayle Potter, associate director
of academic standards in the Arkansas education department. “In America, we seem to believe that there is a
math gene, and if it’s not there, forget it. But math is challenging, and you have to work at it.”

1. Define: tentative, demand-based, epochal, scheme, fluctuate, market economy, real-time, gauge
2. What resource is San Francisco selling? Why do most resources increase in price as people use more of
them? Why has public parking been an exception?
3. “Rates at curbside meters in the project area will be adjusted block by block in an attempt to have at least one
parking space available at any time on a given block.” How will the rates change as the parking space gets close
to filling? How will it change if hardly anybody is parking?
4. “This isn’t about pricing to raise revenue…This is about getting drivers off the street quicker.” Why does
Nathaniel Ford think that charging the maximum price that people will pay is beneficial for people?
5. If a seller is trying to raise revenue, how will the seller respond to changing demand? Is this response a good
thing? Who else will respond to the seller’s change in price?
6. If parking prices became high enough, how could the city create more parking spaces?
7. “Drivers unwilling to pay higher rates will adjust their travel plans…” How would people have responded if the
city had only asked everyone nicely to avoid parking at peak hours in order to make spaces available for those
who truly needed them? How does charging money change things?
8. Why did the federal government think that San Francisco needed a grant to fund this project? Do you think it
will pay for itself over time, or are the costs of measuring demand for parking more than the revenues from
exploiting that demand? Why is the federal government better able than the city of San Francisco to fund a
project that takes a long time to pay for itself?
9. How do sellers measure the demand for other resources we buy (think of your local Wal Mart, for instance)?
What are the costs of doing so?
Link to article source

San Francisco Chronicle


Parking: S.F. releases details on flexible pricing
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, April 2, 2011

San Francisco drivers will be the focus of a nationally watched experiment to combat congestion and air pollution
by regularly adjusting parking prices at curbside meters and public garages.
If the city-run program, tentatively set to launch April 21, works as advertised, it will change not only the way
motorists pay for parking, but also how they think about it.
More than four years in the making, SFpark aims to use demand-based pricing to influence where and when
people park. City officials released more details of the potentially epochal scheme last week.
Rates at curbside meters in the project area will be adjusted block by block in an attempt to have at least one
parking space available at any time on a given block.
That way, transportation planners speculate, drivers will spend less time circling for parking, resulting in less
traffic congestion, ozone-depleting carbon emissions and aggravation.
The hourly rate to park at a meter in San Francisco currently ranges from $2 to $3.50, depending on the
neighborhood. Agency officials anticipate the price will fluctuate between 25 cents and $6 under SFpark.
The price could jump as high as $18 an hour for special events, such as popular ballgames, street festivals and
Fleet Week. However, the special event rates initially will be closer to $5 an hour.
"This isn't about pricing to raise revenue," said Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal
Transportation Agency. "This is about getting drivers off the street quicker."
The premise may seem simple, but developing the right formula is much more complex.
If the parking-availability target isn't met, the hourly rate will go up or down by increments of 25 cents. If the
occupancy rate falls within a band of 65 to 85 percent, the price will stay the same.
The idea is to charge more when demand is high. Drivers unwilling to pay higher rates will adjust their travel plans
either by driving at off-peak times or abandoning their cars for transit, walking, cabs or bikes.
The first price adjustments at the meters are expected in late spring or early summer when public acceptance will
be put to the first real test.
Market economy
City-owned garages also will be included in the project, with a similar pricing strategy.
"It's just going to bring parking into the rest of the market economy," said parking guru Donald Shoup, an
economist and professor of urban planning at UCLA who has been at the forefront of the parking-reform
movement.
He said the concept is no different than charging more for theater tickets on Friday and Saturday nights.
The city has embedded thousands of sensors in the pavement to measure when a parking space is being used.
The meter prices will be adjusted once a month. However, they will vary during times of the day, with different
rates for the morning, early-afternoon, late-afternoon and nighttime periods.
While drivers could end up paying more to park, there will be a trade-off of added convenience. Time restrictions
at many meters will be extended to four hours, and the meters will accept payment by coin, credit card and
prepaid parking cards. A pay-by-phone option also is in the works.
Online updates
Real-time parking availability will be available online and by smart-phone app, and on-street electronic message
signs will be installed to alert drivers to parking availability in nearby city garages.
Kerina Yao fed a meter across the street from City Hall on Friday afternoon and said she would welcome the
changes under SFpark - even if she ends up paying more.
"Now sometimes I have to circle the block 10 times to find parking. It's frustrating," said the 17-year-old San
Francisco resident.
Funded largely with a $20 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant, SFpark was conceived when George
W. Bush was president and has since been embraced by the Obama administration to gauge its effectiveness as
a tool to cut carbon emissions and congestion.
The two-year SFpark test will operate in Civic Center, South of Market, Hayes Valley, the Fillmore, the Mission
District, the Financial District, the Marina and Fisherman's Wharf. It will include 5,100 metered spaces, or about
20 percent of the city's total.
The 14 city-owned public garages in the project area also will be included, with offers of discounted rates for
entering and exiting the garages during off-peak hours.
At first, parking garage rates will stay the same or decrease. The first two garages affected are the Moscone
Center Garage on Third Street and the Lombard Street Garage in the Marina.

1. Define: revamp, pillars, Great Society, reverberate, beneficiaries, bipartisan, subsidize, red ink, antipathy,
legitimate
2. What is Medicare? Why do you think people decided to create Medicare rather than saving for their own old-
age medical needs?
3. Why does Ryan’s proposal call for changing the system for people 54 and younger rather than current
beneficiaries?
4. What are the differences between the current Medicare system and Paul Ryan’s proposal?
5. How would government still be involved in health care for old people, under Paul Ryan’s plan? Why does he
favor changing Medicare?
6. How do Republicans want to reduce the deficit? How do Democrats want to accomplish this? Can you tell from
the article how much debt each Party’s plan would reduce? What information could it give you to help you figure
this out?
7. “Waste is inevitable in a top-down, government-run system, and it translates into runaway health inflation,”
Ryan said. Why might Ryan think this? Why doesn’t the article provide an explanation for why he thinks it?
8. Republicans “reason that the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt is so damaging that it could cause a market crisis
similar to those in Europe.” What has happened in Europe? Should people be worried that something similar will
happen in the U.S.? Does the article give you enough information to determine this?
9. What would happen to Medicare and other programs if government ran out of money?
10. Consider this recent comment by economist Thomas Sowell: “In your own life, you get mad at the guy who
gave you a check that bounced, not at the bank. But, in politics, you get mad at whoever tells you that there is no
money…Anyone who says that we don’t have the money to pay what was promised is accused of trying to
destroy Social Security, Medicare…or whatever other unfounded promises have been made. It is like blaming the
bank for saying that the check bounced.”
Why do people see Social Security and Medicare as promises to them? How have they planned around having
these programs? Where are the people who initially made these promises?
11. Would Ryan’s proposal cause future recipients to change their expectations about what government will
provide?
Link to article source

USA Today
GOP Seeking Dramatic Changes In Medicare And Medicaid
April 6, 2011
By Richard Wolf and Kelly Kennedy

WASHINGTON — Republicans unveiled a budget-cutting plan Tuesday that would dramatically revamp the twin
health care pillars of the Great Society, taking a huge political risk that could reverberate all the way to November
2012 and beyond.
Medicare, the government-run health insurance program covering about 47 million seniors and people with
disabilities, would be run by private insurers and would cost beneficiaries more, or offer them less. Medicaid, the
federal-state program covering more than 50 million low-income Americans, would be turned over to the states
and cut by $750 billion over 10 years, forcing lesser benefits or higher co-payments. Social Security eventually
would be cut, too.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives likely will pass the plan, but it will run into a roadblock in the
Democrat-led Senate, where a bipartisan group of lawmakers is seeking a compromise to cut the deficit by $4
trillion over 10 years….
"Our goal here is to leave our children and our grandchildren with a debt-free nation," said Ryan, 41, of
Wisconsin. "At stake is America."
Ryan and his party are betting that after the 2010 midterm elections — in which Republicans campaigned
successfully against big government and excessive spending — Americans are ready to sacrifice to reduce red
ink, avoid a potential economic crisis and leave future generations in better financial shape.
However, the proposed changes represent an enormous political gamble for the GOP because they would strike
at the heart of popular insurance programs long viewed as backbones of stability for millions of families. Seniors
and people with disabilities would have to pay more for the best coverage.
For Democrats — who noted Tuesday that some Republicans attacked President Obama's health care overhaul
even though it included much smaller cuts to Medicare than what the GOP is proposing now — the plan outlined
by Ryan could be a rallying cry to attract those who count on Medicare and Medicaid.
"While we agree with his ultimate goal" of deficit cuts, "we strongly disagree with his approach," White House
press secretary Jay Carney said. "Any plan to reduce our deficit must reflect the American values of fairness and
shared sacrifice. Congressman Ryan's plan fails this test. ... The president believes there is a more balanced way
to put America on a path to prosperity."
The plan would turn Medicare, which adds a person to its rolls every eight seconds, into a program that would pay
private insurers a set amount of money, with beneficiaries making up any costs the insurers wouldn't cover….
"The gamble by Republicans is that there is a public willing to deal with these issues," said Mickey Edwards, a
former member of the House Republican leadership now at the Aspen Institute, a think tank that promotes
leadership. "I think it's a risk. But I also do think that more than any other time in my entire lifetime, there is a
strong feeling that government has really gone too far into debt, that it has spent too much."
Ryan and fellow Republicans realized the risk when writing their budget. They avoided including a detailed plan
for cutting Social Security benefits or raising the retirement age from 67, where it is headed now, choosing
instead to create budget rules that would force both parties to fix Social Security eventually….
The absence of a Social Security plan didn't stop Democrats from blasting the GOP plan. Even before Ryan
released it, they were ready with attacks on its Medicare and Medicaid cuts, as well as its refusal to roll back tax
cuts for wealthy Americans.
"We must do everything we can to responsibly reduce our nation's debt and keep our economy on the path to
prosperity, but we draw the line at penalizing seniors and children for an economic mess they did not create," said
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, chairman of Senate Democrats' campaign committee.
Republicans, behind Ryan, drew no such lines. They reason that the nation's $14.3 trillion debt is so damaging
that it could cause a market crisis similar to those in Europe. Their prescriptions are every bit as revolutionary as
those espoused by Newt Gingrich and his band of Republicans in 1994, when the GOP last seized power.
Gingrich said Medicare eventually would "wither on the vine."
Republicans believe that Americans now are ready to take their medicine.
"At least in 2012," Ryan said, "they'll have a real choice."
The political game begins
The Republicans' plan for Medicare got most of the attention Tuesday.
Under the plan, starting in 2022, new beneficiaries would choose a private health plan, and the U.S. government
would subsidize the cost. Low-income recipients and those with greater health risks would get extra help. The
approach is modeled after Medicare's prescription drug program, passed in 2003.
The size of the challenge that Republicans face in persuading Americans to back their plan can be seen in public
opinion polls. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll in January showed that 61% of Americans don't want to cut Medicare.
Other polls this year have shown an even greater antipathy toward Medicare cuts. A CBS poll in March found
76% unwilling to cut the program to reduce the deficit. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
found 65% opposed to Social Security or Medicare reductions.
Democrats seized on those views Tuesday. "House Republicans should be honest with the American people and
repeal giveaways to the oil companies and tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy before forcing seniors to clip coupons
if they need to see a doctor," said Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of House Democrats' campaign
committee….
Driving up deficits, debt
For years, lawmakers in both parties have known that the nation's mammoth health care programs were the
major drivers of the soaring national debt.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers the nation's health care
plan for seniors, expects 2.8 million 65-year-old Americans to enter Medicare this year, about 800,000 more than
the average annual enrollment from 1975 through 2010. Their average costs will exceed $7,700 per person.
For the next 35 years, the agency projects annual new enrollments to average 3.8 million. By 2030, when the last
of the Baby Boomers turn 65, they will have nearly doubled the size of Medicare to 80 million.
During the early Boomer entry years, spending is projected to increase at an annual rate of 5.8%, rising to $916
billion in 2020 from $526 billion in 2010.
"Waste is inevitable in a top-down, government-run system, and it translates into runaway health inflation," Ryan
said.
Under his proposal, those 54 and younger would be able to choose from a list of competing private plans.
Medicare would provide a payment to subsidize the cost. From then on, the beneficiary would be on his or her
own: stay cheap and conserve out-of-pocket costs, or go gold-plate and contribute handsomely.
Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade group, said private
insurance has a proven track record of high-quality, affordable coverage for seniors, people with disabilities and
low-income families.
By contrast, he said, the current system focuses "almost exclusively" on treating people when they are sick,
rather than preventive services that can catch disease and bad health behaviors early.
Research by his group found that Medicare Advantage, a privatized form of the program, reduced emergency
room visits by 24% and hospital readmissions by 39%. But the Kaiser Family Foundation found Medicare
Advantage plans cost 9% more than similar fee-for-service plans.
De Ann Friedholm, director for health care reform at the Consumers Union, said the GOP budget plan leaves her
with more questions than answers.
"It's taking away the guarantee that is in the current system that when you reach retirement age, you will have
access to a certain set of benefits," she said.
Medicaid would be turned into a block grant to states and cut by $750 billion over the decade.
Ron Pollack, executive director of the health care consumers group Families USA, said Medicaid pays for two-
thirds of long-term care for seniors, and the block grants to states would amount to a 33% cut by 2021.
"The states will have to increase taxes," Pollack said. "That's unlikely to happen, so the states will cut benefits."
'A legitimate debate to have'
As the dust settled Tuesday evening, Republicans had lined up solidly behind Ryan's plan, and Democrats were
equally united against it. That doesn't bode well for budget compromises in the months ahead.
House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Republican National Committee
Chairman Reince Priebus all said it shows the GOP is willing to lead the debate on cutting deficits and debt.
Democrats and liberal advocacy groups rejected that notion. The Center for Medicare Advocacy called the GOP
health care rationing. The Center for American Progress warned that 16 million seniors and people with
disabilities would face higher costs or risk losing Medicaid coverage.
Waiting in the wings is the Senate's "Gang of Six," a bipartisan group of senators trying to come up with a plan
that includes devoting tax revenue to the deficit as well as spending cuts. Ryan's plan calls for reducing the top
individual and corporate tax rates to 25% from their current 35% levels — and paying for that by wiping out some
special-interest tax breaks. It devotes none of those savings to the deficit.
"We're going to have some very tough negotiations," Obama said. "And there are going to be, I think, very sharply
contrasting visions in terms of where we should move the country. That's a legitimate debate to have."

1. Define: methadone, poach, itinerant, bodega, black market, plaza, misdemeanor, furtive, felony
2. Is it wrong for people to buy cigarettes illegally? Is there any level of taxation at which it would be okay to buy
smuggled goods?
3. Should government take advantage of people's addiction to make money?
4. "We don't allow people to sell drugs on this block." Why do people with products to sell like to maintain control
of an area? How does government help do this for people with legal products to sell? What do people do when
they have an illegal product to sell?
5. What are the advantages to a business of participating in the legitimate economy? What are the drawbacks?
6. What would the results be if New York lengthened the jail sentences for illegal sales? Would the money New
York gained be worth the cost?
7. What exactly is government charging you for when it taxes a purchase or other activity? What happens when it
charges too much?
8. Why doesn't the government ban cigarettes rather than taxing them? Would it be right to take away people's
freedom to smoke? Are New York's taxes a restriction on that freedom? What about the laws against smoking in
certain areas?
9. How do New York's cigarette taxes affect a poor person who purchases on the legitimate market? What about
a rich person?
Link to article source

New York Times


April 4, 2011
A Cigarette for 75 Cents, 2 for $1: The Brisk, Shady Sale of ‘Loosies’
By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

By 8:30 a.m., amid the procession of sleepy-eyed office workers and addicts from the nearby methadone clinic,
Lonnie Loosie plants himself in the middle of the sidewalk on Eighth Avenue in Midtown. Addressing no one in
particular, he calls out his one-size-fits-all greeting: “Newports, Newports, packs and loosies.”
Rarely does a minute go by without a customer stopping just long enough to pass a dollar bill to Lonnie Loosie,
known to the police by his given name, Lonnie Warner, 50. They clench the two “loosies” — as single cigarettes
are called — that he thrusts back in return.
Soon Mr. Warner’s two partners, both younger men, arrive for the day and fan out along the same block. By
midmorning, the block to the south is occupied by Carlton, who sells loosies, as does Carlton’s younger brother,
Norman, 54.
A few blocks north, another man sells cigarettes near a check-cashing storefront. Add to these a few roving
vendors who poach territory when they can.
Itinerant cigarette vendors have long been a fixture in some parts of the city, like bodegas that sell individual
cigarettes in violation of state law. But with cigarette prices up and the number of smoke-friendly places down, the
black market for loosies is now thriving on the streets.
The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has outlawed smoking in restaurants, bars and playgrounds,
and outside hospital entrances. Even city parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas will soon be off limits to smokers.
Then there have been successive rounds of taxes — the most recent one, a $1.60 rise in the state tax in July —
that raised the price of a pack of cigarettes to $12.50 at many Midtown newsstands.
“The tax went up, and we started selling 10 times as much,” Mr. Warner said. “Bloomberg thinks he’s stopping
people from smoking. He’s just turning them onto loosies.”
Mr. Warner and his partners patrol the east side of Eighth Avenue, from 35th to 36th Street. He started out on
Seventh Avenue, but eventually moved a block west, in front of Staples at 35th. “You look for the crowd,” he said.
Mr. Warner said he believed that the official price was above what many people were willing or able to pay. As
evidence, he noted that his customers included office workers from as far south as 32nd Street and as far north
as 40th Street — people with good-paying jobs, as far as he can discern.
Mr. Warner said he bought his cigarettes — almost always Newports — for a bit over $50 a carton from
smugglers who get them in states like Virginia, where the state tax is well under a dollar a pack. He then resells
them for 75 cents each, two for $1 or $8 for a pack ($7 for friends).
Mr. Warner said he and each of his two partners took home $120 to $150 a day, profit made from selling about
2,000 cigarettes, mostly two at a time. Each transaction is a misdemeanor offense.
Among all of Midtown’s cigarette vendors, Mr. Warner stands out, partly because he seems to get arrested more
frequently than others. That may be because his style of salesmanship is hardly furtive.
“The cops call me a fish — that’s my nickname, cause I’m easy to catch,” Mr. Warner said during a series of
recent interviews. “When they need a body to arrest, they come pick me up.”
In the four years since he began selling cigarettes, Mr. Warner recalls being arrested 15 times, generally on the
charge of selling untaxed tobacco. He has been arrested so often that he can recognize 10 different plainclothes
police officers, he claims. The ever-present risk of arrest makes working with partners valuable — “we have six
eyes on this block,” he explained.
Over many court appearances, Mr. Warner has made a favorable impression on the lawyers in Midtown
Community Court, who know him as Lonnie Loosie and consider him better company than the typical
misdemeanor defendant.
“There are people who are known bad guys, and then there’s him,” said Russell S. Novack, the Legal Aid lawyer
who represents many of Midtown’s hustlers, prostitutes, shoplifters and public drunks. “He’s like the goodwill
ambassador of Eighth Avenue. And when he comes into court, he says hello to everybody.”
For Mr. Warner, punishment usually means a few days in jail on Rikers Island, or a week of community service,
some of it spent sweeping cigarette butts.
Mr. Warner asserts that the block is safer and less unruly because of him.
“We don’t allow people to sell drugs on this block,” he said. “We just don’t allow it.”
Mr. Warner grew up in Jersey City and spent about two decades in New Jersey prisons for a series of armed
robberies. Those crimes date from a time when he says he was addicted to crack cocaine.
After his release from a 13-year sentence in 2006, Mr. Warner tried to find steady work in New York, but was
invariably rebuffed — because of his felony status, he suspects. When he considers his options for making a
living, he sees few besides selling loosies.
“I’m sorry that it’s come to this, but this is what it’s come to,” he said.
He said he would like to work someday as a barker for tour buses, selling Manhattan’s attractions to wandering
tourists.
“I love the streets,” he said. “I love the people in the streets.”
In his time, Mr. Warner has learned a lot about smokers’ habits. He sometimes hears from customers who explain
to him they are quitting as they buy two final loosies.
“A lot of them believe they are quitting,” he said, “but they come back every day.”
For the moment, business is good enough that Mr. Warner said he intended to buy health insurance for the first
time. He currently relies on his periodic stays on Rikers Island — an occupational hazard — for medical attention.
“When they screen me, I ask for all the blood tests,” he said.
Mr. Warner knows few customers by name, but dozens by face. He often tells female customers that they are too
pretty to smoke, just before completing the sale. What he will not do is light a cigarette for anybody. Start offering
customers a light and “you’ll have a crowd of four or five smokers around you in no time,” Mr. Warner explained.
That could attract the police.
When he is on the move, as he often is, Mr. Warner walks exceptionally fast. Covering tremendous stretches of
sidewalk each day keeps him fit. He is often pulled away from his Eighth Avenue post on business.
Mr. Warner carries only one or two cartons of cigarettes in his backpack, because that is the most he cares to
lose should he be arrested. So each time he and his two partners run out, Mr. Warner takes the train up to
Harlem, or walks a few blocks east to meet one of his half-dozen suppliers, mostly immigrants from West Africa.
There are also deliveries to make. Mr. Warner is constantly on his cellphone scheduling meetings in the lobbies of
office buildings, where he will drop off a pack. “A lot of customers, especially women, don’t like coming out to the
block,” he explained. “They think it’s too hot.”
At the end of the day, Mr. Warner returns to Harlem, where he often stays with his girlfriend. But even in bed, he
is unable to put his day entirely behind him. His girlfriend sometimes complains, he said, that he mutters the word
“Newports” again and again in his sleep.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: April 9, 2011
Because of an editing error, an article on Tuesday about the sale of individual cigarettes in New York City
misstated the timing of the city’s ban on smoking in parks and pedestrian plazas and on beaches. It goes into
effect May 23; it is not currently in effect. The article also misstated, in some copies, the history of a 1975 ban on
smoking in movie theaters in New York. It was imposed by state law, not by the Bloomberg administration.
Note: Today's original current event was to a subscription article. When we get the link sorted out, it will be re-
posted next week. We apologize for any inconvenience. Have a great weekend!
1. Define: decriminalizing, corruption, deter, converge, postulation, rupee, manifestation, allocation, bracketed
2. What is the difference between a “harassment bribe” and other kinds of bribes?
3. Why do governments try to discourage their workers from demanding bribes for providing government
services?
4. Is it wrong to pay a harassment bribe?
5. What is game theory? How are games involving strategy similar to other social situations? Why do economists
use game theory?
6. Why does Basu think that officials are more likely to demand bribes if it is illegal to give bribes?
7. Why do we consider it immoral for government employees to demand bribes for providing public services?
What are some other ways that public officials can enrich themselves and reward loyalists that we consider to be
wrong?
8. “Mr. Basu…does make the case that in the end there is no alternative to building up the values of honesty and
integrity in society.” If a public official decides not to seek bribes, what values are motivating that official? Where
does the official place his loyalty that prevents him from seeking to enrich himself or his friends or family?
9. What are some ways in which public officials in our society use their office to reward those who have helped
them? Are any of these practices corrupt? Are any of them "harassment bribes"?
10. What might cause people to place their loyalty somewhere other than with themselves and their families or
associates?
11. Should America's government allow U.S. companies to bribe foreign governments? What would you expect
some results to be of such a policy?
Link to article source

Wall Street Journal Blog


March 30, 2011
Kaushik Basu Says Make Bribe Giving Legal

To help a nation plagued by corruption scandals on a veritably daily basis, the top government economist has
suggested a radical solution: Paying bribes should be legal.
India’s chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu argues that for a certain class of bribes, which possibly for want of a
better word he describes as ”harassment bribes,” bribe giving should be a legitimate activity. Such bribes should
be directed only toward getting services to which you and I are legally entitled at the moment, such as an income
tax refund or customs clearance for an exporter’s goods.
In a working paper, Mr. Basu argues that decriminalizing bribe paying would cause a sharp decline in the
incidence of bribery. The reasoning he offers involves game theory, which tries to analyze how players will act in
situations where the outcome also depends on the behavior of others. He suggests that once the law is altered in
this manner, the interests of the bribe giver and the bribe taker will be at odds—and that will help reduce
corruption.
In theory, once a demand for a bribe has been satisfied—and the service received, one presumes—the bribe
giver may be interested in cooperating in getting the bribe taker caught, knowing that he or she will not face any
punishment. That possibility could deter the bribe taker from taking a bribe in the first place. Right now, the
interests of both converge, since both payer and taker face punishment if caught, and so the payer has a reduced
interest in uncovering bribery.
In his postulation, Mr. Basu clarifies that the act of bribe taking is still considered illegal, and the total punishment
meted out for bribery may still be the same. He says that if under the existing system, the bribe giver and the
bribe taker are fined x rupees each if caught, under his proposed regime the bribe taker should pay the full
amount if caught and the bribe giver nil.
Mr. Basu’s radical suggestion is sure to generate wide chatter especially in the current context of moral outrage at
the manifestation of corruption in all walks of life—be it the allocation of telecom spectrum to phone companies,
the spiriting away of black money in undeclared overseas accounts, the spending and general mismanagement of
the Commonwealth Games, or the appropriation by politicians of housing facilities meant for war widows and
veterans.
The Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy recently bracketed India, along with countries like
Cambodia and Indonesia as among the most corrupt nations in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr. Basu, while justifying his thesis, however does make the case that in the end there is no alternative to building
up the values of honesty and integrity in society.

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