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In the August 16 New York Times, in an article entitled “Officials Saw Flaws at Polls will Remain in November,” reporter Ian Urbina notes that several of the new voting machine systems, particularly those with the touch screens, will not be ready for deployment before November because of a delay in federal testing and certification processes.

As I read this article, I continue to be mystified as to why elections officials believe that machines will solve voting problems. Our experience with technology is that it is subject to a wide range of potential errors in deployment and use, and that a single testing and certification process never anticipates every possible problem.  Pitney Bowes equipment is highly reliable, particularly with respect to equipment used for postal revenue collection, but part of the reason is that we continually assess how it is being used, and are able to anticipate and react to all of the challenges we see.  We are also fortunate that, although our equipment is critical to our customers’ success, we have the luxury of being able to repair it, and, if necessary, replace it without negatively impacting our customers’ operations. (more…)

I am continually frustrated when I read about the laser-like focus elected officials and advocates for health care reform have with respect to universal, affordable insurance, but without a comparable focus on addressing supply imbalances with respect to health care professionals.

I was reminded of this in reading an article in the August 7 Wall Street Journal (page D4) relative to the increased waiting time in emergency departments all over the country.  Among the reasons cited in the article entitled “Average ER Waiting Time Jumps to Nearly an Hour” is the difficulty patients have in getting appointments at doctor’s offices. (more…)

As a person who has been involved in providing advocacy and advisory services as a volunteer for over two decades, I find that public and political decision making relative to transportation shows our elected officials and the public in their least flattering light.

Clearly, we have a crisis in terms of traffic congestion, overburdened existing transportation infrastructure, too many bridges that are structurally deficient and functionally obsolete, and too many preventable safety-related problems.  In the July 28, 2008, USA Today, a federal transportation official was quoted as saying that we need an additional $225 billion in transportation spending to address this crisis.  Moreover, in the July 29 New York Times, an articled reported that the Federal Highway Trust Fund, the main source of federal dollars for road and bridge projects is in such dire financial straits that money may need to be borrowed from a federal mass transit fund. (more…)