The Tribune from Seymour, Indiana • A4

OPINION The Tribune shall make no law respect- ing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of First Amendment, U.S. Constitution Bud Hunt PUBLISHER Email address: AuBrey Woods EDITOR Email address: The Tribune, Jackson counTy, ind.A4 saTurday-sunday, december 5-6, 2020 In the century after the Civil War, the USA went through a long pe-riod of regional convergence. This simply means that as our standard of living grew, poorer places generally grew faster than richer places. This caused states and cities to toward one another at a time when our overall standard of living grew more than five-fold. By the 1970s the trend of convergence slowed appreciably, and by the 1990s reversed.

Over the past three or so decades, rich places have grown more quickly, while poor places grew more slowly. Population flows exacerbate these trends. Rich places tend to attract more people, while poorer places shed them. This results in some stark geo- graphic anomalies. For example, Columbus, Ohio has captured 130 per- cent of population growth in the 21st Century, while Indianapolis captured 120 percent of all job growth.

In recent decades, nearly all large urban places thrived, while smaller cities and rural places mostly stagnated. Unsurprisingly, decades of these patterns cause unease and even resentment among many residents. There are several good studies tying this divergence to growing political discontent. Just last week, mayors of seven Midwestern cities called for a do- mestic Marshall Plan to invest in their cities. They invoked the memory of large commitment to rebuilding Europe after World War II.

Their argument focused mostly on federal investment in clean energy technologies and urban infrastructure as a means for revitalizing cities. Unfortunately, the gist of this argu- ment is that such investments would boost primarily factory and construc- tion employment. While I think it is time to have a frank discussion about place-based economic policies, this particular argument has two fatal weaknesses. First, the federal government heavily subsidizes poor places and people already. Federal tax dollars are disproportionally collected in affluent cities and distributed dispro- portionally to poor places.

While most of those tax dollars flow to individuals, not local governments, the notion poor cities and rural areas are not getting their share of government spending is simply false. It is the other way around. Rich places receive far fewer tax dollars per person from federal taxes than do poor places. Moreover, within states, rich counties subsidize poor counties through state tax systems. Again, it would be wise to review the spending priorities to poor places.

But, taxpayers in rich cities also tax themselves more heavily than do smaller cities and rural places. To ask them to fork over even more money to places unwilling to raise their own revenues seems to me like a political dead end. The second, bigger problem confronting the idea of a domestic Marshall Plan is that what ails cities and rural places has almost nothing to do with private sector capital investment. The problem is more fundamental. Declining cities and struggling rural places almost always have two overwhelming problems: Their educational attainment is too low to attract the types of jobs that will grow in the 21st Century, and the quality of their public services is too low to attract new households.

This is a tough thing for most people to hear about their commu- nity, yet it is inevitably true. As an exercise, I have my undergraduate students build a predictive algorithm of a population growth using only educational attainment. They can do so with about 90 percent accuracy, and that gets at the heart of why the nation is experiencing regional divergence. Educational attainment is the strongest causal factor in regional economic growth. A century ago, workers enjoyed a wage premium by moving to a city with good transpor- tation networks and a cheap energy source.

Those factors dictated the strength of cities. Today, educated workers enjoy a wage premium by working closely with other educated workers. In the 21st Century economy, education and skills have replaced electricity, railroads and canals as the prime contributors of city growth. There is a small chance that federal place-based economic policies can help smaller cities and rural places do better, but it is no more than a small chance. Federal spending might improve roads or sewage systems, extend broadband or help subsidize more reliable elec- tricity.

All of these are helpful, but they the keys to revitalizing a Rust Belt city or aging factory town. The real policy challenges re- main at the state and local level. The federal government going to address the fundamental weak- nesses that keep some places poor while other thrive. Moreover, most people want them to. The building blocks to better educational attainment happen in school board meetings and in statehouse votes, not in Congress.

Places that do well recognize this, and places that do not will continue to lose population and relevance. That leads me to my final point. Recall that more affluent cities typically tax themselves more heavily than other places. a reason for this, and it reinforces the diver- gence between rich and poor places. Over time, household preferences change, and in recent decades school quality and neighborhood amenities have become more attractive.

These attributes seem especially attractive to mobile households with educated workers and children. In short, the type of families that communities wish to attract. They also cost money. The implication is that places that tax themselves more heavily to provide better schools and neigh- borhoods will capture most of the population growth. These are state and municipal governments who seek to compete for people on the basis of value.

In contrast, many state and municipal governments focus more heavily on lower tax rates. These communities compete on price, not value. There may have been a time when being a low-price community was a successful strategy, but that time has long since passed. The eco- nomic forces that led to that change show no signs of abating, and suc- cessful cities have already figured that out. Michael J.

Hicks is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and an associate professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. Send comments to Contrary to popular belief, service animals (and dogs in particular) have literally come alongside their furless cohorts for centuries, working diligently to se- cure the well-deserved title Best something you can sink your canine teeth into. According to artwork discovered midst the Pompeii ruins, though not able to prevent a volcanic eruption, dogs showed usefulness in helping to lead the blind as early as the first century. A millennium later, relief work found upon building architecture showed further canine assistance. Five hundred years after that, Italian sculptor Leone Leoni (love that name) did similar work, and French painter Paul Gauguin did a painting showing a blind girl being led by her dog through the rural countryside, and by the close of the 18th century, a French Parisian hospital for the blind began as- sisting their patients in the training of guide dogs for them.

During World War dogs would regularly lead medics to wounded troops and alert their masters to the approaching enemy, too Our dogs still do this. To this day, our prop- erty is vigorously protected from feral cats, rabies-infested squirrels and marauding toddlers. As time trotted on, the Swiss began training German Shepherds in police work. Soon after, the animals were trained in snow rescue, and once World War II began, a host of further applications were discovered. Decades later, not to be outdone by their four-legged counterparts, miniature horses galloped onto the scene and still do their work (I saw one on an airplane once).

And though never seen a (miniature) police horse, I have seen police dogs our barking heroes that run and jump and bite and disarm the most troublesome el- ements of our society but we need more than just dogs and horses, and thanks to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, we get monkeys and more, yet even primates need backup. That is why I propose ser- vice gerbils. Therapy gerbil: He should be taken to the nursing home, just make sure the resident exterminator is not on duty at the same time. If the patient is blind and nearing death, he may be comforted by petting it, presuming it to be his long lost nephew Nathan or niece Saundra. Drug-sniffing gerbil: Once prop- erly trained, this little guy will be immensely helpful to the boys of blue in their bid to take more cap- tives in the war on drugs.

If the officers come upon a white powder, the rodent will stick out his tongue to lick it. If it tests positive for co- caine, the creature will be sporting a gigantic grin and his beady little eyes will pop out like fresh twin, out-of-the-box Slinkies. If an of- ficer suspects the substance is an opiate, he will bring a wheel down to the level. If he climbs in and goes to sleep, it was an opiate. If the element is meth, the critter immediately goes into a dance solo to the Kenny Loggins tune Al- as seen by his larger gopher cousin in the movie If our friend needs backup for an especially challenging operation, he calls upon his rooster friend, who, upon finding the drug stash warns of discovery in a staccato, vomit-inducing shrill of ur ur ur To reward their efforts, the gerbil will get a fennel pellet, while the rooster enjoys a voluptuous pumpkin seed.

Seeing-eye gerbil: After furtively scouting the landscape for trouble with his beady little eyes, when danger is determined, he climbs up on top of the ankle and stays upon it until unceremoniously dismounting, alerting the owner that it is safe to proceed. Service gerbil: He wears a little harness attached to his mas- long leash. If the owner is people-sensitive, he is trained in ventriloquism, so when the owner is nervous due to others in proximity, the furry guy will stop, look up and glare at the nearby person. The space-invader will be stunned by the icy gaze, and when on command the gerbil opens his mouth, the kinesic creep will flee in shock upon hearing, buddy. What is your problem? Police gerbil: Graduates from the academy after being formally trained by the squirrel used in the Trident television commercial that explained why the fifth out of five dentists surveyed, who unlike his peers failed to recommend the brand to his patients that chew sug- arless.

After graduation, authorities are advised not to pin a badge to the chest, as this may cause an unwanted reaction. Undercover gerbil: A graduate of the advanced course, the rodent goes about the city, disguised in a fur-colored facial covering, de- signed to look as though being compliant with the coronavirus mask mandate. Attack gerbil: He crawls up your pants leg and makes you wish you a man-resist further and you will not be one. Hearing gerbil: Upon hearing sounds the gerbil knows his master cannot hear, he screeches a high that Ella Fitzgerald would be jealous of and shatters the nearest glass, causing the owner to realize something needs greater attention. In cases where the gerbil is adept at the English language, the critter will scurry over to the nearest computer keyboard and type out a descriptive message for the owner.

Allergy detection gerbil: Already sensitive through training to what his master is allergic to, he vig- orously shakes his head in warning, all the while sneezing 10 times in rapid succession, giving the owner some ominous clues. DISCLAIMER: No gerbil was harmed in the preparation of this column. Les Linz of Seymour writes the More or column. For information about Linz, visit his amazon.com author page. Send comments to Regional divergence and local taxes In praise of service animals Opportunity for leadership Terre HauTe Tribune STar.

two U.S. senators, Todd Young and Mike Braun, have been mostly quiet in the three weeks since Election Day. They have not mounted the same high horse of indignation as some of their Republican colleagues in the aftermath of President Donald defeat. There have been no wild claims of election stealing. No crazed fits of outrage about alleged ballot fraud, dead people voting or a rigged election.

Yet neither has publicly acknowledged the election results or congratulated President- elect Joe Biden and Vice-president-elect Ka- mala Harris on their victory. When Young and Braun have made statements, they echo the tepid, party-line refrain about legal bal- lots being counted or the rule of law being upheld. understandable that these Hoosier senators are treading lightly around Trump, supporting and defending him so as not to incite his ire while conspicuously avoid- ing the appearance of joining the chorus of unsubstantiated and false claims about widespread election fraud. refusal to accept defeat while claiming he is a victim of a rigged election has stoked rage and resentment among his ardent followers. More restrained Republi- cans such as Young and Braun find them- selves in an awkward position.

Perhaps even more awkward than most Hoosiers realize. Carl Bernstein, the investigative journal- ist of Watergate fame, reported on Twitter this week that there are 21 U.S. senators who privately express contempt for Trump and his behavior while remaining publicly silent. Among those on list were Sens. Braun and Young.

Both have denied reporting, which leaves it up to the reader to decide whether the report rings true or false. If true, the Hoosier senators would not be alone. A small but growing number of their GOP colleagues are publicly expressing similar thoughts about Trump. Their personal feelings about Trump whatever they may be are irrelevant in the current political climate. What they should be willing to do, however, is stand up in defense of our democratic institutions and take the lead in tamping down political hostility toward the voting process and those who carry it out.

Acknowledging the results, congratulating the winners and expressing gratitude to poll workers and our stout election system is the only appropriate action at this point. No one is going to doubt either reputation as a red-state warrior simply because they do the right thing and encourage others to do the same. Send comments to Another viewpoint A different take on top stories michael J. hicks guest columnist guest columnist les linz WRITE A LETTER The Tribune invites readers to submit letters, columns and other comments for the opinion page. Guidelines Letters must include the name and a daytime telephone number for verifi- cation to be considered for publication.

Letters should be kept as brief as possible. Opinion columns for the editorial page also will be considered for publication. The article should be kept to a reason- able length and should include the name, address and telephone number for verification. Because of space and legal considerations, The Tribune reserves the right to edit any letters or articles and to limit comments..