Rick Scott (otherwise known as Richard Lynn Scott) is the
governor of Florida. For my money, he is proof that it’s not Dicks you have to
watch out for but Ricks. Rick Scott, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum. Hmmmm, I sense
a pattern.
Anyway, Rick (who will turn 60 this Saturday, December 1) is
a businessman and the current governor of Florida. He is originally from the
Midwest: born in Bloomington, Indiana, he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.
Rick is largely a self-made man. His parents were not wealthy (his father was a
truck driver and his mother a store clerk) and Rick joined the Navy and went to
college on the G.I. Bill. Rick then attended law school and practiced law for
several years in Texas. In the late 1980s, Rick and another man (Richard
Rainwater) created Columbia Hospital Corporation and purchased some hospitals
in El Paso. Finances turned around at those hospitals and things just got
better from there. Columbia purchased more hospitals, even buying out
corporations that already owned and managed whole strings of hospitals. In
1994, Columbia purchased the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). The
company, Columbia/HCA, purchased more “chains” and by 1997 was “the world's largest
health care provider with more than 340 hospitals, 130 surgery centers, and 550
home health locations in 38 states and two foreign countries”^ Wow.
But 1997 wasn’t all fun and games. The FBI, IRS, and
Department of Health and Human Services began to investigate the company for
fraud. The Board of Directors requested that Rick resign, which he did to the
tune of a $9.88 million settlement and 10 million shares of stock (companies
have that much stock to give to one person?). The stock was worth over $350
million.^ By 2002 the government’s case was wrapped up. Columbia/HCA (by then
just going by HCA) paid over $2 billion in settlements, as penalty for
overcharging the government on Medicare, making illegal deals, and a host of
other fraudulent practices.
But Rick persevered. He moved to Florida, started his own
investment firm, and became a venture capitalist. He continued to dabble in the
financial side of healthcare and has invested in pharmacies.
In 2010, Rick ran for governor in Florida as a Republican.
Obviously, he won. His notable acts thus far include rejecting federal money to
build high-speed railroads and signing a bill requiring welfare recipients to
pass a drug test. He claimed a higher percentage of people on welfare use drugs
than in the non-welfare-receiving population, but data has not proven this
assertion true.^
^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott
^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott
But old Rick is on my shit list because of the
recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform.
Rick established this group in May because he “has said he wants to run Florida’s
education system more like a business.”* One of the recommendations of this
fine group is that universities should charge differential tuition. In-state
tuition would be kept constant for strategic major for three years; other
majors (such as the humanities) would be subject to different (presumably
increasing) tuition rates. Naturally the idea is that higher tuition would
drive people away from humanities majors. That is lame.
Also lame is the amount of “research” this group apparently
did.
Task force chairman Dale Brill,
Florida Chamber Foundation president and Scott’s appointee to the group, said
the recommendations were based on “logic,” rather than research into which
degree programs have proven to be the most beneficial to individual students
and state economies. Defining “strategic” and “non-strategic” programs
ultimately will be the work of the state legislature, he said.”
I believe “logic” is code for assumptions.
Anyway, I knew back in high school that I wanted to major in
history, and I would not have appreciated having to pay extra for the
privilege. Forcing people into majors (and then jobs) they don’t want seems to
be a recipe for disaster. Plus, shouldn’t we allow the free market to dictate
things? If college students really want to avoid unemployment and/or earn high
salaries, they will gravitate towards science-y majors. Don’t punish those of
us who are prepared to earn less money in order to spend our lives doing what
we truly love.
