Finneran: Random Thoughts on Life’s Merry-Go-Round
Friday, February 27, 2015
WATCH OUT WORCESTER:
Wednesday’s GoLocal article about the possibility of the minor league Red Sox affiliate abandoning Pawtucket for greener pastures bears close watching. It appears that Providence might be the team’s preferred home but speculation has been raised about Worcester enticing the team to Central Massachusetts.
I’m a capitalist to the core, reverential to the concepts of private property, private enterprise, hard work, superior service, superior products, free markets, and personal profit. And it is as a capitalist that I ask the simple question—what does Worcester get in return for any “investment” that it might be asked to make? Would Worcester’s “investment” give it a substantial equity stake in the team? If not, why not? And is not the precedent of going down this path of the public subsidy of private assets fraught with peril? What would Worcester officials then say to a bank or an insurance company or any other enterprise which employs hundreds of people on a year-round basis who, on the basis of such precedent, seek similar subsidy of their private assets?
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe article mentions a figure of 60-70 million dollars as the established cost of building a minor league stadium. That’s not pocket change. And it’s not in the petty cash account. As I said, watch out Worcester…………..
CAMPUS LUNACY:
I have to believe that serious college presidents know that the gig is just about up. Rational students and parents cannot endure ever-escalating tuition expenses. Now topping $ 60,000 a year, and heading in rapid fashion toward the six figure a year mark, such sums raise many questions and stimulate consideration of many options. Ordinary American families are stunned by the challenge. Even successful, financially comfortable families are hard-pressed to meet those costs. Such costs cannot be justified. E-learning or on-line learning will make serious inroads into the college and university cabal. Trade schools will flourish as more and more sensible students choose not to bear six figure debts for ten or more years. I see more future electricians and plumbers enjoying high earnings while indulging their interests in history or literature at their mortgage-free second homes on the Cape or their ski cabins up North.
Combine the lunatic tuition with a lunatic faculty, toss in some speech code nonsense, and an offering of courses that are beyond caricature and any sensible high school student would flee the premises. Let’s hope that today’s ridiculous campus realities might be reversed. Trustees? Alumnae? Alumni?
LOUSY WEATHER/ GOOD MOVIES:
We’re at that time of year where cabin fever settles in. It’s been cold and dark for a few months now and most folks are yearning for some sunshine. This year’s weather has brought such cabin fever to a heightened pitch, with massive snowdrifts proving a daunting challenge even to a simple walk around the block. My most recent remedy to the malady has been to take in a movie at a local theater. It’s important to actually get out of the house rather than relying on a home rental or some on-demand offering. And choosing a good movie helps. I have three for your consideration— all worthy of the price of admission and navigating the mountains of snow in the theater parking lot. Check out WHIPLASH about an aspiring musician and a demonic and manipulative instructor. It’s surprisingly intense and a very good movie. I liked it a lot. Or see THE IMITATION GAME about the obsessed and successful effort made by the Brits to break the German codes used in World War II. It combines great acting and musical scoring with several emotional plot lines. It’s so well done that I thought that it might have won an Oscar for Best Picture. Or check out AMERICAN SNIPER which is smashing box office records all across the country. This is a war film well told. That grim, cold, cruel, nasty business known as war exacts its toll both in foreign lands and in family kitchens. I pay zero attention to the likes of Michael Moore and other Hollywood frauds when they offer their critiques of such films. Rather, I watch and listen to the audience reaction at the end of the film, as the credits begin to roll. My audience had some limited but spirited clapping for the bravery and the skill shown by our soldiers. There was also very audible sobbing from several patrons. But the overwhelming reaction from a fully packed theater was a stunned and thoughtful silence with many patrons still sitting in their seats for ten minutes or more. There’s breadth and depth and nuance and heartbreak in this film. Go see it.
Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.
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