Anyway, the second on my result is an article called Goal Programming for Holistic Budget Analysis. published in Administration in Social Work, Volume 3, Issue 1 August 1979, so that probably predates my use of the term.

There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know. – Ambrose Bierce

Anyway, there’s a model for the holistic budget, even if it is jargon and costs $30.

GOAL PROGRAMMING FOR HOLISTIC BUDGET ANALYSIS
Authors: James A. Fitzsimmonsa; A. James Schwabb; Robert S. Sullivanc

Abstract
Goal programming is presented as a technique for holistic analysis of a public agency budget. Goal programming is a variation of linear programming which has as its objective the minimization of deviations from a desired set of goals. It is a satisficing rather than an optimizing technique of value where needs exceed resources of multiple goals exist in competition with one another. A specific scaled-down budgetary model is developed using available public data from a State Department of Public Welfare. The model requires the development of a set of goals or objectives which are ranked in ordinal priority and the statement of significant budgetary relationships in linear equation form. The model is run under six different situations to examine its potential usefulness in response to different concerns of budget administrators.
Administration in Social Work, Volume 3, Issue 1 August 1979 , pages 33 – 43

(published in The Irish Times, Mon, Mar 08, 2010)

In this open letter, 28 leading economists, social scientists and economic analysts tell the Government that it’s policies for dealing with the economic crisis are wrong. And they chart a different course

THE GOVERNMENT’S economic strategy is failing. The Irish recession has been deeper and longer than almost any other in the industrialised world.

photo credit: infomatique: some rights reserved.

Consumer spending has collapsed while at the same time unemployment and emigration have soared. Crucially, investment has plummeted off the chart. Not only have Government policies failed to stem this haemorrhage, they have actively contributed to this collapse.

The Government has pursued deflationary policies, in particular public expenditure cuts. The most damaging are cuts in transfers to low-income groups which, along with general tax increases on low and average pay in 2009, have reduced spending power in the economy at a time when it was most needed.

Equally damaging have been the cuts in public investment at a time when private investment has plummeted. This has laid the foundations for a low-growth, high-debt future where unemployment will remain high and inequality endemic. All the wrong options have been pursued.

Budgetary policies have been short-termist and reactive. Instead of cutting real waste in the public sector by increasing productivity and efficiency, the Government has cut public services and the living standards of those who can least afford it, further reducing domestic demand and, thus, employment.

These policies are weakening the economy’s ability to cope with growing debt levels. Without a strong recovery, tax revenues will fail to rise and future budgets will simply embed that deficit into the economy.

This will depress economic activity even further. This explains why the Government’s own forecasts for the deficit keep rising, not despite, but because of, its own deflationary measures. We are heading into a joyless, jobless recovery.

We require fundamentally different policies, a twin track strategy, which will maximise environmental and sustainable progress and restore employment while addressing the deficit. We urgently need measures to tackle five key areas which require fundamental reforms: our substantial physical infrastructure deficits;

our poor social infrastructure – early childhood education is poorly developed, primary and community healthcare lag behind European norms, housing lists continue to lengthen, while Irish public transport remains inadequate and under-funded; our high levels of relative poverty and income inequality; our under-performing indigenous business sector – which needs appropriate support to contribute to our export base, RD and innovation capacity; and our unsustainable reliance on carbon-heavy resources and activities.

It may seem astonishing that we face such economic and social deficits after 15 years of boom but these are the consequences of pursuing a failed low-tax, low-spend model which sought short-term gains from the speculative activity of a small but powerful golden circle.

Only the modernisation of our economic and social base through a sustained investment programme and a transformation of our corporate governance practices can overcome past mistakes. This will need substantial back-up in the form of retraining and return to education to ensure people – whether managers or employees – have the skills to fully exploit the opportunities that investment in innovative enterprise generates.

Educational investment, in particular, will be key to strengthening our export base. Driving competitiveness and productivity in the medium-term, while increasing employment in the short-term, is a win-win scenario.

We must mobilise all the resources available to accomplish this transformation. We still maintain a relatively low-debt status in the euro zone, buttressed by the vast accumulated borrowings in our exchequer cash balances (over €20 billion).

We can employ the strength of our combined public enterprises – their off-balance sheet borrowing and investment capacity to invest in our infrastructure and create new indigenous enterprises, both public and private.

We can further employ new funding vehicles – enterprise development bonds (eg green bonds), municipal bonds and the new National Solidarity Bonds – which can leverage our current high savings ratio and international investment. All this becomes even more necessary given the potential capacity of Nama to pile up considerable debt; at the same time there is little evidence of credit being freed up for investment purposes.

The resources and labour to finance this modernisation drive are there. We just need the political vision and will to make it happen.

Addressing the deficit needs a long-term vision of what kind of taxation system we want. In the short-term we need to target the least deflationary sources of revenue so as not to weaken our recovery prospects. A comprehensive property tax – encompassing both housing and financial assets – should be introduced starting with high income groups and eventually extended to all incomes. Reform of regressive tax expenditures (ie tax breaks that disproportionately benefit high income groups), shown by Tasc to be in the billions of euro, should be urgently undertaken to increase the income tax take. Extension of environmental taxes and incentives should be accelerated. An additional tax band at the higher level is needed.

In the medium term, we should explore the potential of social insurance and local taxation to broaden the tax base while providing real benefits in return. PRSI can be expanded to incorporate a comprehensive free healthcare system (in particular, primary care) as well as earnings-related pensions. Stronger local taxation powers have the potential to be more accountable while providing investment in services responsive to local needs. On the expenditure side, it is time to make public sector workers partners in the process to increase productivity and efficiencies.

As other countries have shown, employee-driven innovation (in both public and private sectors) has the capacity to reduce costs and increase output – much more so than crude, top-down employment and wage-slashing measures.

We can afford neither wasteful policies nor wasteful practices. But elevating the ethos of public service and personal responsibility will require harnessing the collective resources of employees through an open and honest engagement by all stakeholders – one that is not afraid to find and, then, repair fault.

What is absolutely crucial is that these twin approaches – investing in sustainable growth and full employment while addressing the deficit – complement each other.

This will require a level of fiscal management we have as yet not experienced. But it is do-able. Embedding investment, rather than debt, into the economy while restructuring taxation and expenditure in a progressive and expansionary manner to ensure a job-rich recovery – this, and not the current deflationary strategy, is the road to success.

This article has been co-ordinated by Tasc, which describes itself as an independent think-tank dedicated to combating Ireland’s high level of economic inequality and ensuring public policy has equality at its core.

Open Letter To The Government: The Signatories

PROF TERRENCE McDonough, Department of Economics, NUI Galway.

Prof Ray Kinsella, Smurfit Business School, UCD.

Prof David Jacobson, Dublin City University Business School.

Prof Paul Teague, School of Management and Economics, Queens University Belfast.

Prof Peadar Kirby, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick.

Prof Rob Kitchin, National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis, NUI Maynooth.

Prof James Wickham, Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

Prof Seán Ó Riain, Department of Sociology, NUI Maynooth.

Prof Mark Boyle, Department of Geography, NUI Maynooth.

Dr Jim Stewart, Senior Lecturer in Finance, School of Business, Trinity College Dublin.

Dr Joe Wallace, Kemmy School of Business, University of Limerick.

Dr Michelle OSullivan, Kemmy School of Business, University of Limerick.

Dr Daryl DArt, Dublin City University Business School.

Dr Roland Erne, UCD School of Business.

Dr Proinnsias Breathnach, Department of Geography, NUI Maynooth.

Dr Mary Murphy, Department of Sociology, NUI Maynooth.

Dr Colm ODoherty, Department of Applied Social Studies, Tralee Institute of Technology.

Paul Sweeney, economic adviser, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

Sinéad Pentony, head of policy, Tasc.

Dr Nat OConnor, Tasc.

Tom O’Connor, lecturer in Economics, Cork Institute of Technology.

Rory OFarrell, European Trade Union Institute (Brussels).

John Corcoran, lecturer in Economics, Limerick Institute of Technology.

Michael Burke, economic consultant (London).

Peter Connell, TCD.

Patrick Kinsella, DIT.

Tony Moriarty and Michael Taft, Unite trade union.

© 2010 The Irish Times

Al Gore’s speech
apologies, I’ve had to remove the actual embedded video as it crashed IE browsers

We Can Solve It

With maverick flair and a strategist’s disdain for accepted wisdom, Jaime Lerner re-invented urban space in his native Curitiba, Brazil. Along the way he managed to revolutionize bus transit, awaken green consciousness in a populace accustomed to litter and blight, and change the way city planners and bureaucrats world-wide conceive what’s possible within the tangled structure of the metropolitan landscape.

With maverick flair and a strategist’s disdain for accepted wisdom, Jaime Lerner re-invented urban space in his native Curitiba, Brazil. Along the way he managed to revolutionize bus transit, awaken green consciousness in a populace accustomed to litter and blight, and change the way city planners and bureaucrats world-wide conceive what’s possible within the tangled structure of the metropolitan landscape.

If we had something like what is shown in this video in Dublin, I would happily say bye bye to my dream of free-at-access transport. as this would cover many of the benefits I had thought of.

Actually, we could do it very quickly, combined with some of the ideas in the video below. An 18 metre streetcar, manufactured by Wrights of Ballymena, is supposed to have been on test for the last year or so, though I haven’t seen any sign of it. See my Streetcars of Desire.

Anyway, Jaime Lerner does my heart good. I hope he does yours too. (Yes, it’s another TED video ;>)

Note: Search for Transported to bring up all my posts on transport

The Modest Proposals

1. Transport: (a) Forget about extending the Luas. Bring the bus network up to Luas standard, ie electronic timetables, shelters, and high frequency. Thereby: saving millions, bypassing massive disruption – benefiting passengers on the entire network, not just a few routes. Almost immediate beneficial effect – no waiting for years on end. See my Mark of the BX
(b) Free public transport. Yes I know it has to be paid for, but no one says that when Minister Cullen opens yet another motorway. See my detailed proposal here.

2. Ireland sneaks data retention into law. This was the headline plastered all over the internet in 2005, when the Minister for Justice smuggled data retention into the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act before an almost empty Dáil. A secret de facto retention was in operation from 2002, until the Data Commissioner Joe Meade forced the Minister’s hand and it became law without proper debate.

“Under Irish law, your telephone records are being stored for three years. This includes the location of your mobile phone at all times. The Garda can find out who you rang or where you were up to three years ago without any approval from a judge: all that is required is the signature of a senior garda.” see Digital Rights Ireland
Minister McDowell says it is necessary to combat crime and terrorism. Translation: in order to preserve your freedom we must take away your freedom.

3. Accessibility: In the first instance, make every publicly-funded building, whether of government, a place of culture or entertainment, accessible to all citizens. If the excuse is that it is a listed building, then move all publicly-funded bodies to non-listed, accessible buildings. In the second instance, ensure that all public buildings are accessible by law. No ifs or buts.

4. Homeless. When are we going to see the end the scandal of people, many of them children, sleeping on the streets? Just because they’re junkies – and many are not – doesn’t mean they don’t have the same right to roof over their heads as the rest of us. Walk the streets of inner Dublin and see for yourself.

5. Marijuana. I don’t smoke it – or anything else. But it has many therapeutic properties, especially for those with neurological disorders. Keeping it illegal only lines the pockets of criminals, and criminalises sick people who need it. Legalise it. Let it replace some of the gunk given out on prescription which creates legal drug addiction (the hidden, tortored Ireland)

6. Shell. Apart from the rights of the local people involved (which I support), what about the question of royalties for the gas Shell wishes to extract? Estimated worth: €51 billion. Royalties? Zero. Zilch. Nada. This stunning deal was done by Ray Burke, who has since been in prison. Why isn’t this an election issue?

7. Property Rights. For long term relationships, whether gay or straight. It’s not right that if a partner dies, you’re left with nothing except large bills.

8. Playgrounds. Can we have the same amount of playgrounds for children as golfcourses for grown-ups, please.

9. Communications: (a) Outlaw line rental – it’s a scam. While you’re at it, outlaw TV licences. In both instances you’re paying twice for the same service. Unless, of course, RTÉ allows free download of Irish-produced programmes under a Creative Commons license. in return for the licence.
(b) Bypass eircom’s stranglehold on broadband by bringing forward digital tv, freeing bandwidth for wireless broadband.

10.Think Holistically. eg Allow householders to sell electricity to the ESB, thus making solar panels etc more interesting and economical. Look on every roof as a power station. See huge dispersed power stations on Google Maps when you look at Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo etc from the air. A crash programme to insulate every house in the country, and change every lightbulb in the country to cfls/leds.

That’s all, Folks. I feel better now. Goodnight and good luck.

You Are What you Grow :: The New York Times [may require registration]

He gives two examples.

Example 1

This Government has wasted €200 million by overspending on the PPARs computer system for the Health Service. Cieran PERRY says we could have all of the following for that sum of money:

• 300 extra residential beds
• 50% increase in dental services
• 4000 extra operations from national treatment purchase fund
• 30 new inspectors for Nursing Homes
• additional respite care funding

as well as extra funding for new ambulances, Gardai in A&E at weekends, rehabilitation care etc…

Example 2

This Government has allowed a €250 million overspend on the Port Tunnel. We could have all of the following for that money:

• 500 new “Affordable” Houses
• 15 new children’s playgrounds
• 200 new public transport buses
• 5 new sports/recreational centres & pools.
• 6 fire engines

as well as additional funding for senior citizen complexes, new school & litter wardens, waste recycling projects, etc…

We hear a lot about Government waste, and indeed there has been a mountain of it, but it’s good to read about it in concrete terms.

I hadn’t heard the idea about Gardaí in A&E at weekends. Maybe the army Rangers should be called in. We’ve come to this…

Coastal conflicts such as that involving the Corrib gas project in north Mayo could be avoided if member states took a more “holistic” approach to major projects on European seaboards, according to EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs Joe Borg.

Governments have tended to look at situations in a “very compartmentalised way”, whereas a more integrated approach to maritime affairs, affording more time for consultation and participation, would allow for more straightforward implementation of decisions, he said.

(from a report by Lorna Siggins of The Irish Times [sub only])

The Commissioner’s call for a more “holistic” approach to European maritime affairs sums up the thesis of this website with regard to all public and government projects.

NB This is a very rough draft. I originally posted this on the alternative party forum, now defunct, and haven’t had time to update it. Hopefully seeing it on a public space again will prompt me to work on it.

DRAFT

Oil, and therefore petrol, will run dry in the next 15-20 years. Earlier estimates put it at 30 years or more, but didn’t take account of the rise of China and India as first world economies – which in today’s terms, means enormous consumers of oil.

I believe that when the concept of holistic accounting is considered, the cost of free transport would be considerably cheaper than any conventional figure. Holistic accounting takes in the social, health and environmental enhancements and savings involved in any costing. The health consequences of doing nothing will in themselves put a dent in any conventional budget:
“The report just released on Greenhouse Gas Abatement Strategy shows that there will be a 180 per cent rise in emissions from cars and trucks over the next 10 years if nothing is done. It shows this will cause huge damage to people’s health. Already EU limits for emissions from cars and trucks are massively exceeded in the Dublin region. (Vincent Browne, The Irish Times, September 20th, 2000).

As for the financial benefits, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce estimates that the traffic chaos is costing Ireland €3 billion a year.

But what about private sector transport services? Public funding doesn’t imply taking away people’s livelihoods. They should be funded in the same way, subject to a high standard of service being implemented. According to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Coughlan, along with Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éreann, up to 80 private companies already participate in the Free Travel Scheme, so there is a precedent for subsidising private transport companies.

The principle is already there, in other words.

The question that is never asked about subsidising private transport will of course be immediately asked when in comes to the public sphere – where will the money come from?
“Last year (2004) 528 people died on the roads of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; several thousand more were seriously injured. The death toll on Ireland’s roads over the last 30 years is about 20,000, although advances in vehicle and road engineering and changes in the behaviour of road-users mean that the number of people killed each year is now half what it was 30 years ago. Each of those deaths is a family tragedy and many need not have happened. Bad driving is often a cause of road deaths, but in many instances neither the vehicle nor the road have provided road-users with adequate protection. see European Road Assessment Program

The Alberta Medical Association estimated that in 1999 traffic crash costs in Alberta,
Canada total $3.8 billion (1998 Canadian dollars), based on a value of $2.9 million
per fatality, $100,000 per injury, and $8,000 for each property-damage-only
collision.53 This averages about $515 dollars per capita ($335 U.S.), $740 per motor
vehicle ($471), and 3.7¢ per motor vehicle-kilometre (4.0¢ U.S. per vehicle-mile).
NB this link is to a pdf file.

At 528 fatalities in Ireland, that would appear to be a cost of 1.125billion Euro. That’s not counting the cost of injury.

It will in part be a long term investment in savings in public health costs, fines for not meeting our Kyoto Protocol agreements, lives saved, and world wide publicity for Ireland. These are beyond my capacity to estimate, but might make a nice thesis for an student economist. Directly in the short to medium term it would come from a parity of investment principle, and possibly charges similar to those in Ken Livingstone’s scheme for London. And not least, by the savings to the economy through reduced traffic congestion, as highlighted by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce (see link above).

I believe a small towns in Holland and the US provide free transport, but Ireland would be the first country per se to do so. Let’s be the first to do worthwhile things, especially now that we have a smoking ban success, and stop looking to Britain and the US before we do anything.

The advantages immediately appararent are as follows:

* Immediate and significant transfer of wealth to the poor and less well-off.
* Increased access to social and economic activity for the same groups
* Greater parity of investment in public and private transport (important principle)
* Greater speed of bus journeys
* Tax payers would see value for money. The tax payer pays, the tax payer benefits.
* Greater sense of public ownership
* Zero robberies and reduced assaults on bus drivers and staff. Reduced workload for drivers and
inspectors making confrontation with the public unlikely.
* No more wasting of inspector and court time bringing prosecutions
* Coupled with the proper implementation of QBCs, greatly reduced traffic congestion. This has
obvious large savings for businesses etc
* Reduced inflation.
* Reduced stress for the travelling public, therefore greater productivty and health; more free
time for personal and family interests
* Reduced oil imports and dependency. Reduction in car imports.
* Reduced traffic accidents as outlined above
* Improvement in air quality, and consequent improvement in health
* Significant step towards implementation of Kyoto Principles – a national obligation
* Alleviation of rural and suburban isolation – less depression
* The benefit to students and their families would amount to the equivalent of a significant
increase in student grants
* The present cost of pensioner and social welfare free travel would be absorbed into overall cost,
with greater dignity for pensioners and social welfare recipients
* Cut in administration, accounting, printing and security costs
* Redeployment of inspectors to raise standards
* Liberation of management from profit-driven to service-driven mentality
* Tourist relief and delight – a tourist attraction in itself. World kudos for Ireland.

I also advocate the scrapping of the extension of Luas lines, to be replaced by Streetcars – beautiful a bus-tram hybrid manufactured by Wrights of Ballymena. See my Streetcars of Desire entry.