Editorials from around New York

Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York’s newspapers:

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on making the flu vaccine a fall priority.

Oct. 13

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will once again fire up FluView. It’s an online flu monitoring site, providing a weekly rundown on how many Americans have been diagnosed with the flu and where these achy, feverish, stuffy, coughing people live.

The CDC tracks this stuff because the flu is a lot more serious than most of us think it is. Last season, flu and pneumonia-related deaths reached epidemic proportions in the United States for eight weeks in a row.

And that was just a “moderately severe” season by CDC standards.

At one point right around the end of December, nearly one out of every 10 deaths in America was attributed to flu and pneumonia complications. More than 140 children were among last season’s fatalities. More than 20,000 youngsters, many of them who were healthy otherwise, ended up in the hospital because of it.

Most of the people who became very ill probably caught the flu from someone who did not. Maybe it was someone who showed up for work instead of taking a sick day, or the person standing in line at the grocery store to buy an over-the-counter remedy.

That is why all of us, from six months on up, need to get vaccinated unless our doctor tells us it’s a bad idea- because of allergies to vaccine ingredients or other risks. But having a flu shot usually reduces your chances of getting the flu, or at least makes the symptoms much more bearable.

The CDC is shooting for “universal” vaccination, but that was only determined about five years ago. So getting vaccinated has not fully worked its way into our fall routines yet, like cleaning the gutters and putting away the lawnmower.

Fewer than half of New Yorkers bothered to get vaccinated last season. Nationwide, only about a third of adults ages 18 to 49 did.

Even those of us who generally get the flu shot or a squirt of nasal spray tend to put it off as long as we can. We wait until FluView starts lighting up our region before we mosey into the doctor’s office or the neighborhood pharmacy.

It doesn’t help matters when vaccine delivery lags a little every year; the CDC says there just aren’t enough manufacturers. Right now in Rochester, a few doctors’ offices only have enough vaccine on hand for their highest risk patients. But as health reporter Patti Singer blogged this week, most places are ready for you to walk through the door with your sleeve rolled up.

By now, many of the myths about the flu vaccine are starting to wane. We know the vaccination can’t cause the flu, though a low-grade fever and a few aches and pains can be one of the side effects.

So there is really no good excuse not to make an appointment today. At the very least, put a date on the calendar and commit to it now.

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Online:

https://on.rocne.ws/1OBJbFc

The Syracuse Post-Standard on Central New York’s bid for $500 million in state money.

Oct. 11

Central New York’s bid for $500 million in state money would propel the region into the 21st century global economy- and take people of all skill levels along for the ride.

Ours is one of seven regions competing for three grants of $500 million from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Cuomo’s intent is to replicate the success of the “Buffalo Billion,” a combination of public and private investment that has changed the trajectory of that city. The governor’s charge to the seven regions was to come up with plans that were transformative, inclusive and heavily backed by private investment and community buy-in.

Rob Simpson, CenterState CEO president, speaks about CNY’s bid for $500 million from the Upstate Revitalization Initiative and the economic potential for unmanned systems.

The Central New York Regional Economic Development Council narrowed 800 ideas down to six signature investments: a global center for unmanned systems (drones) and the connectivity backbone that allows them to operate safely; feeding the global market for safe and healthy food; creating a global manufacturing and logistics hub (inland port); creating a national resource complex for veterans; modernizing local government; and linking education, training and business development efforts to lift people out of poverty.

We think Central New York’s URI plan is a winner for these reasons:

- It recognizes we have several key strengths as a region and builds on them. The plan does not rely on a silver bullet investment in one or two sectors or industries. There is strength in economic diversity. In addition, many of the objectives of the Central New York plan align with the strengths of adjacent regions, creating more opportunities for synergy and growth within New York state.

- It exploits assets we already have: our geographic location at the center of New York, our road and rail networks, our strong agricultural heritage, our expertise in sensors and radars, our presence on the cutting edge of unmanned aerial systems as one of six federal test sites for drone technology. The CNYREDC projects that each dollar of state commitment in year one will spur $16 of economic activity over the near term. That amount of return illustrates the enormous potential behind this plan.

- It taps markets far beyond Central New York. Unmanned systems and the infrastructure that supports them will be in great demand globally, and the dominant market position in this field is still up for grabs. Sensors and software can be taken in other directions, such as precision health care and “the Internet of things.” With new packaging technologies and export networks, agricultural products grown here can feed our own communities and the world.

- It does more to be inclusive than any other economic development effort we’ve ever seen. The plan creates job opportunities along the full spectrum of skill levels- from truck driver to warehouse supervisor to software engineer. It intentionally places centers of employment in or near our poorest and most segregated neighborhoods. It acts upon a simple but powerful idea: The solution to poverty is jobs.

We urge you to read the plan. See if there’s a place for you (or your children, or grandchildren) in it. Get behind it. Talk it up. Write to the governor in Albany.

Five hundred million dollars will be a game-changer for Central New York- if we can persuade Cuomo we have a plan to invest it wisely.

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Online:

https://bit.ly/1VS4JTJ

The Daily Gazette of Schenectady on the unaddressed student loan crisis.

Oct. 10

When someone graduates from college with massive student loan debt, it falls on all of us.

Saddled with large loans to pay back, those people who would normally be buying houses and cars and getting married and having kids and otherwise stimulating the economy are instead forced into poverty or worse, their parents’ basement.

That’s why Congress should make it a top priority to finally address the nation’s collective student debt, which is now at an incredible $1.2 billion.

Say you’re an average college graduate making about $22,000 a year. That’s about $1,700 a month gross. (We’re rounding here.) Take out 31 percent for taxes and you’re left with about $1,200 to spend. Now take out $500 for your college loan. Suddenly, you’re down to $700. Your $400 studio apartment leaves you with $300- for the entire month. That’s all you have left for car payments, food, heat, entertainment, etc.

If a big chunk of your income is going to loans instead of being reinvested back into the economy, then the rest of us are making up the difference in higher prices and fewer jobs (because a whole segment of the population isn’t buying anything).

The problem has become so big that it’s affecting multiple generations of families, with parents having to pay their own loans along with their kids’ loans, and having their kids move back home.

If there’s ever a trickle-down economic, it’s student loans. But so far, Congress has been unable or unwilling to tackle the crisis. That has to change.

Lowering interest rates on college loans should be the first tactic. No one should be paying 7 or 8 percent for a loan through the government. All that excess interest does nothing for the economy but makes people poorer and keeps them poor.

Another solution: Make repayments comparable to salaries and require that a certain limited percentage be taken from a paycheck, say 10 percent. That way, that $500 payment on your $1,700 monthly paycheck is reduced to a more reasonable $170. As your pay goes up, so does the amount you pay back.

Make federal loans forgivable in certain instances under bankruptcy to help people get on their feet and contribute to the economy.

Making college free to eliminate loans should not be one of the solutions. It will only encourage more people to go to college, raising costs, increasing incompletion rates, and devaluing the entire experience. Instead, increase grants for low-income students.

There are plenty of other ideas out there. They need to be put on the table and acted upon.

What can’t happen is for the government to continue to talk about the problem without doing anything about it.

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Online:

https://bit.ly/1LM9bsi

The Glens Falls Post-Star on stopping gun violence.

Oct. 11

This newspaper supports the Second Amendment rights of all United States citizens. It always has.

We don’t know of anyone who is for repealing the Second Amendment.

We know of no politician who has proposed legislation to repeal the Second Amendment.

We know of no plans to come for the guns.

But we do believe that common-sense regulation should be considered to make all citizens safe.

In 1991, ex-President Ronald Reagan said the following as Congress considered gun control legislation:

“I’m a member of the NRA. And my position on the right to bear arms is well known. But I support the Brady bill and I urge the Congress to enact it without delay. It’s just plain common sense that there be a waiting period - 7 days - to allow local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks on those who wish to buy a handgun.”

Maybe you feel differently after you have been shot.

Shortly after the Oregon shooting last week, President Barack Obama addressed the media in the press room in the White House and showed the anger and frustration that so many Americans feel.

“Somehow this has become routine,” he said.

We don’t think these tragedies should ever become routine.

We believe the president’s words should be heard by every American, taken to heart and part of a vigorous conversation about how a civilized nation acts when addressing a danger.

We urge you to watch it online so you can hear the frustration, the anger in the president’s voice.

We have reprinted the entire text here.

Our country is better than this.

We have to change.

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Online:

https://bit.ly/1jopaXi

The Wall Street Journal on the Democratic presidential debate.

Oct. 13

The first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday evening was an opportunity for the unknown challengers to Hillary Clinton to make an impression, and it’s fair to say they did. The four men on stage showed they lack the ability and will to take her on.

The most important moment of the debate came when CNN’s Anderson Cooper gingerly raised the issue of her private emails as Secretary of State. Bernie Sanders, who is leading in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, replied by giving her a whitewash. Americans “are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails,” he declared. The Democratic crowd loved it, and so did Mrs. Clinton, who shook Mr. Sanders’s hand in gratitude after having ducked Mr. Cooper’s question by dismissing the whole issue as a Republican attack.

Only Lincoln Chafee dared to suggest that her “credibility” might be an issue for voters, but he apologized for doing even that. If Democrats aren’t willing to raise the main reason that Mrs. Clinton is losing in head-to-head polls against most Republicans- her penchant for ethical corner-cutting and deceit -then they are essentially putting their nomination into a Clinton blind trust.

The debate went a long way to proving how weak this Democratic field is. Mr. Chafee is a former Republican and failed Governor of Rhode Island whose reason for running is “ending the perpetual wars,” though he didn’t say how. That’s a nice sentiment if you’re a priest, but maybe not a President.

Jim Webb, the former Virginia Senator and Navy secretary, is a thoughtful man with experience. But he’s clearly running in the wrong party. You could hear the roar of silence from the crowd when he opposed racial preferences for non-black minorities or talked about his war record or the need for the U.S. to resist Chinese dominance of the South China Sea.

Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland Governor, is your man if you feel the pressing need to restore the 1930s’ Glass-Steagall Act that separated investment and commercial banks. Other than that, he sounded like Hillary-lite.

As for Mr. Sanders, he rehearsed his well-known populist riffs against “millionaires and billionaires” and a “rigged” economy- notwithstanding seven years of President Obama’s policies. But his debate performance mainly proved that he is too far left even for most Democrats. He said his economic models are Denmark and Sweden, except even those countries have had to rein in their entitlement states.

The Vermont Senator praised Edward Snowden, the security thief who fled to Moscow with U.S. secrets. He also indulged the left’s fantasy of a “political revolution,” leaving it to Mr. Webb to inject a note of reality by saying the revolution isn’t coming and that Congress isn’t likely “to pay for a lot of this stuff.”

All of this left the field wide open for Mrs. Clinton, who posed as the heir to President Obama who wants to “go even further.” Her competitors played into her hands by making their policy attacks mainly about the past- her vote for the Iraq war in 2002 or her husband’s economic policies. Unless Vice President Joe Biden joins the race, the Democratic Party’s Clinton coronation is back on schedule.

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Online:

https://on.wsj.com/1LtKANd