Horses & Broadband on my Mind

Today I'm in Winona, Minnesota at the Minnesota Equestrian Center watching my daughter compete at a regional horse show. If you've ever been to a large regional or national horse show, you truly know the meaning of the phrase "hurray up and wait!" We started the day at 5:30am and it is now around 4:30pm and we're still waiting for the first riding class. I'm figuring that the riding classes might be completed around midnight - but we're used to it. So I bring the laptop and a broadband card and spend much of the day working and writing in the trailer.

I've mentioned in an earlier post that I serve on the Governor's Broadband Task Force, which is good as broadband has been a longstanding research interest of mine. And coincidentally, I've just completed a study of 689 businesses throughout rural Minnesota, examining their adoption and utilization of the Internet in their business. So I'm sitting in the trailer writing up the findings and getting it ready for publication and release in a few weeks. I will release the final report through the EDA Center website at www.umcedacenter.org

But until then, let me give you a short sneak preview of a couple of the more salient findings:

• 89.7% of rural businesses are now online. This compares to 65.5% in 2004.
• 96% of rural businesses online connect with a broadband connection. Again, this compares to 61% back in 2004.
• The median price paid for a broadband connection was $50; not much more than a residential connection. That's likely because the majority of rural businesses are very small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
• And as a result 71% of businesses characterized the price they pay for broadband as "very affordable" or "priced about right."
• 85% of businesses reported that their current Internet connection speed is adequate for their business needs; however, only 37% had confidence that their current connection speed would meet their needs 24 months from now.

Well ... that's enough for now, as I can't spill all the beans. But needless to say that I believe that this new study provides an interesting update and tells an informative story of how rural businesses continue to utilize and integrate the Internet into their business strategy.

Better get back to the horses ...

What's Wrong with Socialized Medicine?

This week aside from the protests in Iran, the news and Sunday political shows were filled with a variety of opinions on Obama's desire for a national public health care plan. While the advantages of such a plan are simple; i.e. universal access and coverage, opponents suggest that the disadvantages are too numerous to mention. However their primary concerns are (1) keeping government out of health care; and (2) arguing that no one wants or needs socialized medicine.

For quite a while I bought into these arguments as my natural inclinations are capitalistic. But after following this issue for a while I have made a 180 degree turn; and my logic is rather simple.

First, for those who want the government out of health care, the reality is that ship sailed more than 40 years ago. If you simply add up Medicare, Medicaid, Indian Health Service, Veterans Administration and Railroad Retirement expenditures, you will discover that the government already pays more than 45% of the entire U.S. health care bill. Do we really want government to bail out of these programs? I don't think so.

But what about socialized medicine? We certainly don't want that, right? Well, I'm not so sure about that. What exactly is socialized medicine?

From my perspective, socialism is when the government controls industrial resources, or what Marx called the "means of production." So back in the 1970's we laughed at the Soviet Union's inefficient government-run agricultural cooperatives, where production was low and there were no incentives to increase production or efficiencies. Through examples such as these, we came to conclude that government was incompetent and couldn't organize a two-car funeral procession!

But clearly, there are many other services we want our government to control; right? When we call 911 do we want an emergency dispatch operator to first ask us whether we have "police insurance" and if so, what our policy number is? Heck no ... get the cops here right now!

But then why is it OK for such an exchange to occur in the hospital emergency room, but not on a 911 call? Does this suggest that we actually want socialized police protection, socialized fire protection, socialized national defense and socialized roads and bridges, but not ... socialized medicine? And if so why?

Well the answer seems to be simple. While the free markets are optimal for the exchange of most goods and services, they don't really work well for society's essential services. Services such as police and fire protection, clean water, roads and bridges and national defense are so central to our collective well-being, that we decided to exempt these services from the marketplace. Rather, we prefer to collectively tax ourselves to ensure that we all have access to these important services regardless of our ability to pay.

So the real question here is when will enough Americans come to the conclusion that access to health care is an essential service? And when we arrive at that point we just may begin to wonder ... So what's so wrong with socialized medicine?

The Midwest Rural Assembly

I received an email from Eleonore Wesserle from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis with further information about the upcoming Midwest Rural Assembly, August 10-11 in Sioux Falls. It appears that slowly but surely they are putting together the agenda for this first ever event.

Click here to view the preliminary agenda. It is my understanding that they plan to fill in the blanks in the agenda as they go along. So viist their website regularly to see who's coming and what will be happening in Sioux Falls.

For further information contact about the Midwest Rural Assembly contact Elenore at ewesserle@iatp.org

The Rural Policy Forum

Today I moderated a legislative panel of 4 legislators at the Minnesota Rural Health Conference here in Duluth. The day turned out to be outstanding with bright sunshine all day, which clearly brightened everyone's mood. The 4 legislators in attendance were Rep. Tom Huntley (D-Duluth); Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba (D-Long Prairie); Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud); and Sen Yvonne Prettner Solon (D-Duluth).

There were few partisan fireworks to report from up here. Rather, there was a sense (or hope) by many that this was the year meaningful health care reform was going to occur at the federal level. While they were all quite hopeful, it was equally clear that they all have a great deal of faith in President Obama's ability to deliver. We'll see ....

Job Losses Linger

I'm taking off for Duluth, Minnesota later today to attend the state Rural Health Conference on Monday and Tuesday. Hope the weather is decent as it can be anywhere from 50 to 90 degrees in Duluth this time of year.

I should also mention that on Friday of next week (June 19) the Governor's Broadband Task Force is meeting in Grand Rapids, MN. This is the first time they are holding a meeting out in my neck of the woods (i.e. rural Minnesota), so I have agreed to coordinate the meeting. Two additional meetings in rural MN are scheduled for July and August in Mankato and Fergus Falls. As a member of the task force I can tell you that we are now at the stage where the rubber is meeting the road (some may suggest that the gloves are coming off). The reality is that the task force is comprised of folks from a variety of constituencies that don't always see things the same way. But in my view that's the way it should be. So if you around Grand Rapids next week, stop by and check out the Task Force at work. And here is my June article for Prairie Business Magazine.

Two Upcoming Events

Two upcoming events that I would recommend for those who care about the future of rural places are the annual Minnesota Rural Health Conference June 15-16 in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota; and the first ever Midwest Rural Assembly August 10-11 in Sioux Falls.

The Annual Rural Heath Conference is an event that I have attended every year since its inception and have never been disappointed. The idea of once a year having health care providers, academics and just plain folks who care about rural health come together and share their ideas and knowledge is a great concept. In addition, I will be facilitating a legislative panel with 5 or 6 state legislators (both GOP and DFL) to discuss the fiasco that occurred in St. Paul this year. That alone is worth the price of admission!

As I stated above, the Midwest Rural Assembly is a first-ever event. It will be held in Sioux Falls. South Dakota on August 10-11. I really don't know much about it except that it is a spin-off from the National Rural Assembly which I attended a few years ago outside of Washington, DC and was sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. While I don't know many of the details about this event, I'm going to go because that's what THE RURAL GUY does! The rule is simple, when a group of rural folks come together --show up. It's a rule that has seldom disappointed me; besides, I'm sure the Assembly will make great fodder for my magazine columns.

So if you take a chance and check out either of these events, please find me and say hello. It's the only way I would know that anyone is actually reading this dribble!

A Bathtub Recovery

As I mentioned, I like to write about the economy, politics and rural Minnesota. Here is a copy of my June column that appears in Minnesota Valley Business and discusses my views on the state of the economic recovery. If you click on the article it will enlarge and make it much easier to read.

Let's Get Started

This is my first attempt at a blog ... so please be patient and forgiving. I've been an active researcher/writer and hope to use this space as a launching point for views on issues that I care about. I named this blog "The Rural Guy" because over the years I have found myself at the Minnesota State Capitol and often being recognized as "the rural guy." After a while the name kinda stuck and now I wear it as a badge of honor.

I write a monthly column in two regional business magazines, Minnesota Valley Business and Prairie Business magazine. I hope to bring these resources to this blog as well. But most of all, I hope to use this blog to engage in an active dialogue with others who care about the issues that I do. We'll see ...