A federal judge comes to defense of good newspaper journalism; he's right, but industry gave up on making a difference too long ago

From a blog on Politico.com, Federal Court of Appeals Judge Harvie Wilkinson makes an appeal for the newspaper industry of the past, one that held institutions and those in power accountable.

Wilkinson was part of a majority decision that overturned a lower court decision throwing out a lawsuit filed by a Baltimore Police Department major over violation of his First Amendment rights. He complained to the Baltimore Sun over a botched murder investigation and was fired.

Wilkinson's worries about what will happen to people such as the police major when there no longer are newspapers of substance that will take their complaints, investigate, then publish.

There are a handful of newspapers still willing to take that risk. But most are worried about the bottom line, and how much time an investigation would take from their reporters filling the newspaper each day because of drastically reduced staffs. Many beats such as the courts aren't even covered daily. Newspapers also don't want to risk advertisers pulling out because of unfavorable content.

Still, I greatly appreciate the judge's concerns. I mourn for the loss of that industry that was first about making a difference and afflicting the comfortable. And with the institutional scandals of these times and the number of people in need, great newspapers are desperately needed.

But Judge Wilkinson is speaking about newspapering that has mostly died, particularly here in Nashville.

Still, his honor makes a most eloquent appeal worth reading for those of us who miss the old days. I just wish there was an industry left that would heed it:


WILKINSON, Circuit Judge, concurring: I agree that the dismissal of Andrew’s First Amendment claims was premature. In Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), the employee spoke on a matter as a part of his official duties. Here, as the court notes, that is very much in dispute. In Garcetti, the employee did not distribute the statement to a news organization. Here he did. And the matter about which Andrew spoke was not just an office quarrel or routine personnel action, but a question of real public importance, namely whether a police shooting of a citizen was justified and whether the investigation of that shooting was less than forthcoming.

To throw out this citizen who took his concerns to the press on a motion to dismiss would have profound adverse effects on accountability in government. And those effects would be felt at a particularly parlous time. It is well known that the advent of the Internet and the economic downturn have caused traditional news organizations throughout the country to lose circulation and advertising revenue to an unforeseen extent. As a result, the staffs and bureaus of newsgathering organizations—newspapers and television stations alike— have been shuttered or shrunk. Municipal and statehouse coverage in particular has too often been reduced to low-hanging fruit. The in-depth investigative report, so essential to exposure of public malfeasance, may seem a luxury even in the best of economic times, because such reports take time to develop and involve many dry (and commercially unproductive) runs. And in these most difficult of times, not only investigative coverage, but substantive reports on matters of critical public policy are increasingly shortchanged. So, for many reasons and on many fronts, intense scrutiny of the inner workings of massive public bureaucracies charged with major public responsibilities is in deep trouble.

The verdict is still out on whether the Internet and the online ventures of traditional journalistic enterprises can help fill the void left by less comprehensive print and network coverage of public business. While the Internet has produced information in vast quantities, speedy access to breaking news, more interactive discussion of public affairs and a healthy surfeit of unabashed opinion, much of its content remains derivative and dependent on mainstream media reportage. It likewise remains to be seen whether the web—or other forms of modern media—can replicate the deep sourcing and accumulated insights of the seasoned beat reporter and whether niche publications and proliferating sites and outlets can provide the community focus on governmental shortcomings that professional and independent metropolitan dailies have historically brought to bear.

There are pros and cons to the changing media landscape, and I do not pretend to know what assets and debits the future media mix will bring. But this I do know—that the First Amendment should never countenance the gamble that informed scrutiny of the workings of government will be left to wither on the vine. That scrutiny is impossible without some assistance from inside sources such as Michael Andrew. Indeed, it may be more important than ever that such sources carry the story to the reporter, because there are, sad to say, fewer shoeleather journalists to ferret the story out.

So I concur in Judge Alarcón’s fine opinion, because it recognizes this core First Amendment concern with the actual workings—not just the speeches and reports and handouts— of our public bodies. This case may seem a small one, involving a single incident in a single locality, but smaller cases are often not without larger implications. The court is right to note that at this early stage, we cannot foresee who will prevail. But as the state grows more layered and impacts lives more profoundly, it seems inimical to First Amendment principles to treat too summarily those who bring, often at some personal risk, its operations into public view. It is vital to the health of our polity that the functioning of the ever more com- plex and powerful machinery of government not become democracy’s dark lagoon.

From the Left: Robert Reich says America is in a Depression and needs more stimulus spending

Just when the rallying stock market made Americans a bit hopeful, Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich tells Politico.com that we're in a depression -- with an unemployment rate that is actually twice that of what was announced today.

The Department of Commerce said the nation has a jobless rate of 8.5 percent.

From what I've seen and heard locally and across the nation, I believe Reich is right. But I'd rather see government spending deferred from the financial industry and its toxic assets and into communities with growing populaces needing simple help to survive. These banks don't want to loan money to help the average American anyway.

President Obama's stimulus package really is not being noticably felt. And that's because most of its spending is not until after 2010.

Here is Reich's interpretation of the unemployment rate and current economic conditions:


The March employment numbers, out this morning, are bleak: 8.5 percent of Americans officially unemployed, 663,000 more jobs lost. But if you include people who are out of work and have given up trying to find a job, the real unemployment rate is 9 percent. And if you include people working part time who'd rather be working full time, it's now up to 15.6 percent. One in every six workers in America is now either unemployed or underemployed.

Every lost job has a multiplier effect throughout the economy. For every person who no longer has a job and can't find another, or is trying to enter the job market and can't find one, there are at least three job holders who become more anxious that they may lose their job. Almost every American right now is within two degrees of separation of someone who is out of work. This broader anxiety expresses itself as less willingness to spend money on anything other than necessities. And this reluctance to spend further contracts the economy, leading to more job losses.

Capital markets may or may not unfreeze under the combined heat of the Treasury and the Fed, but what happens to Wall Street is becoming less and less relevant to Main Street. Anxious Americans will not borrow even if credit is available to them. And ever fewer Americans are good credit risks anyway.

All this means that the real economy will need a larger stimulus than the $787 billion already enacted. To be sure, only a small fraction of the $787 billion has been turned into new jobs so far. The money is still moving out the door. But today's bleak jobs report shows that the economy is so far below its productive capacity that much more money will be needed.

This is still not the Great Depression of the 1930s, but it is a Depression. And the only way out is government spending on a very large scale. We should stop worrying about Wall Street. Worry about American workers. Use money to build up Main Street, and the future capacities of our workforce.

Full-time jobs as we knew them will not return; Washington will have to provide health care

CNBC has a trend story that will become a truth in the employment market for the rest of our lifetimes.

Freelance work that does not tie companies down with paying health benefits and 401ks will become permanent no matter when the economy recovers. And that makes universal health care a must for this nation's welfare.

If companies are no longer going to pay for health care, then government will have to. It is as simple as that.

Contract work does not provide the kind of security that American families require. Leaving families uncovered only increases costs to emergency rooms and the health care industry.

CNBC reports:

Diane Shader Smith was laid off from her Los Angeles public relations job in December, but has found herself working nearly full-time since February—doing freelance PR for various companies.

"It's a very scary job environment out there, and I consider myself lucky to have any work," says the 49 year old Smith. "But I've got a list of seven clients and I love them. I'm very happy."

Shader Smith is part of a growing trend of workers who have gone from regular full-time jobs to contract work—or freelancing. They may not all be happy about it—but at least it's a way to keep working and maintain some income. For some, it also may be the best way to find a permanent job.

At the same time, contract workers are becoming a permanent fixture in the economy that is likely to continue even after the recession is over.

"I think we are seeing a fundamental change," says Tom Mobley, a professor of the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Ohio. "Companies will staff up at certain levels again, but I think they will use freelancers or consultants on a regular basis going forward."

The recession clearly has prompted the rapid growth of freelancing in a wide variety of professions.

Obama is having his best week of presidency; financial markets showing astounding strength

President Obama is having the best week of his presidency, with successes overseas in bridging a compromise of financial regulation and gaining passage of his budget here at home with a remarkably rallying stock market.

Is the guy that good?

Of course, the budget will have to go to conference committee, but the differences in the bills between the houses is not the big.

The stock market, despite shocking jobless numbers Friday, is only showing a small loss. A change in accounting rules for banks and their toxic assets fueled yesterday's gains. The market is threatening to finish the day above 8,000 one session soon.

Obama has been treated as a liberator by crowds overseas at the EU summit. And at least from pictures, world leaders also are taken with him. His NATO summit may be more difficult in convincing leaders to commit more troops to Afghanistan.

I truly hope the president is succeeding with his policies. The suffering across the globe is growing. It is just hard for me to believe that the reckless and shameful actions of so many industries that caused the Great Recession can so quickly be turned around.

I hope I am wrong.

Legal industry hit hard by recession; so there is justice in the world; change in billable hour a must for industry beyond public oversight

The New York Times reports today on how the Great Recession is hitting America's law firms hard, which shows there is some justice in the world.

American Lawyer is calling it “the fire this time” and warning that big firms may be hurtling toward “a paradigm-shifting, blood-in-the-suites” future. The Law Shucks blog has a “layoff tracker,” and it is grim reading. Top firms are rapidly thinning their ranks, and several — including Heller Ehrman, a venerable 500-plus-lawyer firm founded in 1890 — have closed.

The employment pains of the legal elite may not elicit a lot of sympathy in the broader context of the recession, but a lot of hard-working lawyers have been blindsided, including young associates who are suddenly finding themselves with six-figure student-loan debts and no source of income.

No sympathy here. The legal profession has the least oversight of the estates supposedly supporting society. And too many attorneys and judges have used this lack of transparency to rip off the public, mostly when people can least afford it and are hurting and children are involved, such as in divorce cases.

And that's were the infamous billable hour comes in.

Always ask for billable hours from your attorney throughout the period of representation. You need to see what you are being charged for -- the most and least. For instance, only use e-mail to communicate and have all your questions in the e-mail. Each time you bother them, you get charged. Electronic communication is the least expensive.

I requested my billable hours from a Williamson County divorce attorney I fired for getting my divorce case into the courts and to a hearing. In divorce, staying out of court and before a judge are the primary aim. The attorney had used up all of my $3,000 retainer, and the document I requested said I owed $30.

So if I had met with her for a billable hour for us to set our strategy for the bad advice she had given me that got me in court, that would have cost $300. Waiting on the judge and then the hearing would have cost $600. And getting past that obstacle was not even approaching mediation or any resolution, which would have cost another $4,000 at the minimum.

Then, if the judge was crazy(or corrupt), which is a distinct possibility from divorce cases I've been hearing about across this state and across the nation, then the cost would have multiplied many times.

In divorce court, the biggest problem too often is not what the law says but whether the judge likes you and what he or she says the laws says about your case. And you can even be jailed for exercising your First Amendment rights. Then if the judge and the attorney opposing you have a strong bar association relationship, then you may have another set of problems.

Our Founding Fathers would be shocked, I hope.

Thankfully, my wife and I have gone about negotiating and completing our case outside of billable hours. She has kept her attorney to simply review our agreements and give advice, and then file with the courts what we agree on.

We've ultimately agreed that it is better that these thousands of dollars go to her than the legal industry profiting from divorce and keeping sides angry at each other. We must quit feeding the beast with accusations and counter-accusations.

You can see how easily the legal industry surrounding divorce cases makes its money, big-time. So to hear it is being hit hard is sweet music and deserved justice. May this recession last 1,000 years.

And attorneys, touched by a brief moment of decency, are re-looking at the fairness of the billable hour and perhaps, just perhaps, basing their pay on the success of their representation -- not getting you in court like my fired attorney. (She still defended her representation as "competent". Doesn't everyone want a competent attorney instead of a good one?)

The Times reports of changes that MIGHT sweep the legal industry if this recession lasts long enough, beginning with big corporate clients, not peons like us:

Clients are also likely to benefit — and consumers, since legal fees are built into the cost of almost everything. Even before the downturn, big-firm clients, led by the Association of Corporate Counsel, were pushing to phase out the billable hour — which can go as high as $1,000. Tight corporate budgets will give clients more leverage to push to pay by the project or for successful outcomes.

Change can be good.

Sometimes, only hard times can force institutions to recognize others instead of only its perpetuation and power.

There are good attorneys and judges out there. I personally know many of them including my oldest brother and good friends and advocates. But attorneys cannot speak out against bad judges or they would lose their income before that court. Judges are not going to turn in their colleagues. That would make for ill feelings at bar association gatherings.

I was introduced to the legal system at 12 years of age when my father was tried for federal offenses in Oklahoma City. He was exonerated bu a jury because of an honest federal judge and a young attorney with brains and bravado. Dad had simply made the mistake of being a very successful civil service manager at the local Air Force Base -- and a Mexican-American. The Solicitor General's office had cleared him. But the local U.S. attorney went ahead and put our family through Hell.

But we were actually lucky and blessed.

If mom and dad had not been able to take out a second mortgage on the home they were buying, and if the young brash attorney had not been able to get my father's case shifted to a more liberal judge, I could very well have been raised by only my mother during my teen years. That means I would not have had my writing career, nor this blog to write.

Life should not come so close to disaster, particularly in our legal system. A lot of money is needed for justice.

From personal experience and communication with regular people, evidence is mounting of the corrupt nature of the divorce industry and the gross lack of oversight in states like Tennessee. Here, a former judge serves as the gatekeeper for public complaints at state commission. So few complaints survive. And this immorality continues because we don't speak up and demand our rights from the legal system that belongs to us, not the bar association.

While we should pray for the Great Recession to ease on this nation, it would be better if it continues on the legal industry, to force some contrition along with draining its pocketbooks filled by so many years of hurting people and their children more than helping them.

Markets zoom past 8,000 but there is little data to support such a surge; be careful about reinvesting

The Dow has zipped past 8,000 in intraday trading despite the lack of data to support such a surge.

In fact, data just released today shows a personal financial and employment situation continuing to crater across the nation.

CNBC reports:

More U.S. consumers have fallen behind on loan payments than ever before, and the problem may worsen as millions more find themselves out of a job, a study released Thursday shows.

According to the American Bankers Association, which represents most large U.S. banks and credit card companies, the percentage of consumer loans at least 30 days late rose to a seasonally adjusted 3.22 percent in the October-to-December period from 2.9 percent in the prior quarter.

The ABA said the fourth-quarter rate was the highest since it began tracking the data in 1974, with delinquencies rising in nearly every category. It said these credit trends are unlikely to improve before 2010.

"Job losses have really hurt the economy and will continue to inflict pain for several months," James Chessen, the ABA's chief economist, said in an interview. "The greater the losses are, the more severe an impact it has on all credit markets."

The ABA study covers direct auto, indirect auto, closed-end home equity, home improvement, marine, mobile home, personal, and recreational vehicle loans. It excludes bank credit card and education loans.

A report issued Wednesday by ADP Employer Services said U.S. private employers shed a record 742,000 jobs in March, pushing year-to-date losses above 2 million.

Economists polled by Reuters expect the Labor Department to say on Friday that the U.S. jobless rate rose to 8.5 percent in March, a level not seen since 1983, from February's 8.1 percent.


I just don't find a lot of hope in those numbers to get back into the financial markets. But perhaps I am wrong.

Here's why politics stink: Biden takes credit for new fire station being built by Bush administration

In an effort to sell the Obama administration's stimulus plan as immediately helping Americans, Vice President Joe Biden went to a rural North Carolina town and tried to take credit for a fire station being built with Bush administration money.

That's really sad and typically political. Both political parties stink and betray. And the Obama administration is a tad desperate to show it is doing something as numbers released today for continuing jobless claims reached a record high.

McClatchy Newspapers report in this excerpt:

PIKEVILLE, N.C. — Vice President Joe Biden brought a clear message to this tiny Eastern North Carolina town Wednesday: The federal recovery money isn't just for big banks and auto companies.

Biden and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced a new wave of $10.4 billion in federal stimulus money for home loans across the country, and billions more for essential services in rural communities such as Pikeville, which is getting money for a new fire station. Biden used the outdated, current station as a backdrop. Pikeville is just north of Goldsboro in Wayne County.

"We're investing in places like this all across the country," Biden said, "to demonstrate the vital role towns like this play in the recovery."

Most of the money for the station that was announced Wednesday, however, had been secured last year under the Bush administration, according to fire department officials.

State Sen. David Rouzer, a Republican who represents Pikeville and worked in the Agriculture Department under President Bush, said he helped secure the fire department money last year out of the federal agency's regular programs.

"They're coming in and cherry picking the best projects and switching out the money, saying it's stimulus money," Rouzer said. "But it was already approved and in the pipeline. It's totally disingenuous to come down here and say this is stimulus money, when regardless of whether a stimulus bill passed, they were getting the money."

More signs of the times: Libraries, storage unit operators feeling the hurt of hard times; but garage sales are made more expansive, exciting

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a new and rather exciting opportunity has emerged for officiandos of garage sales to discover hidden treasures.

A lot of folks can no longer make payments on storage units, so the operators are allowed to put the possessions in the unit up for auction. People are allowed five minutes to look inside the unit, but are allowed to wade through the stuff.

Bids go from $10 to $3,000. One buyer discovered a Harley autographed by Elvis. But most of the stuff usually is not that valuable.

You can Google auctions in your area.

The New York Times reports that libraries have turned into gathering places for the dispossessed. And library workers feel ill-prepared to deal with outbursts from these newest patrons whose stress level is peaking. One dispute ended up in a stabbing outside the library.

It reports in this excerpt:

As the national economic crisis has deepened and social services have become casualties of budget cuts, libraries have come to fill a void for more people, particularly job-seekers and those who have fallen on hard times. Libraries across the country are seeing double-digit increases in patronage, often from 10 percent to 30 percent, over previous years.

But in some cities, this new popularity — some would call it overtaxing — is pushing libraries in directions not seen before, with librarians dealing with stresses that go far beyond overdue fines and misshelved books. Many say they feel ill-equipped for the newfound demands of the job, the result of working with anxious and often depressed patrons who say they have nowhere else to go.

The stresses have become so significant here that a therapist will soon be counseling library employees.


Why relay these pictures of despair on this blog?

Because things are not getting better out there, no matter which way the Dow is going and no matter what nonsense Dave Ramsey and others disperse.

Prepare your own budget for these times. And see what you and your place of worship can do to address these hard times affecting so many new people each day.

Texans are interesting people, but I would not want to be one: their sense of history lacks truth

I ran into a group of Texans Saturday night at Mexican restaurant in Nashville.

As an Oklahoman most of my life, I've learned how to loathe Texans but keep it to myself.

But Saturday, I couldn't help it. I asked them how they could stand being away from God's country and among us peons in Tennessee.

They remarked how Tennessee was a sort of sister state, since so many Tennesseans were invited by the Mexicans in the 1830s to come and help fight for independence.

Excuse me.

These Texans have had to depend on a false history to justify not only the supposed fight for independence from Mexico but then the illegal Mexican-American War that was simply a land grab pushed by another Tennessean, James K. Polk.

An enraged Congress, including then Congressman Abraham Lincoln, passed legislation providing $15 million in reparations to the Mexican government for the destruction of that war brought upon a sovereign nation and innocent families.

All those wonderful Tennesseans and Texans reinstituted slavery in Texas once they took over. Mexico had outlawed it. So much for these folks being the good guys. It would not be until Juneteenth in 1865 that Texas' slaves would be notified of their freedom.

I reminded the Texans that their beloved Tennesseans came to the land of people who looked like me with guns. Consider what would happen to Hispanics today if they came to Tennessee with guns.

I then asked if all the American Indians asked for all the freedom fighters from Texas to push further out West and decimate their numbers and civilizations.

Texans don't like to be challenged, particularly when it comes to the truth. But I enjoyed the exercise, because Texas by 2020 is going to be majority Hispanic. And the group of Texans I came across are going to have helluva time dealing with that. You can already see the fighting in Dallas, which is majority Hispanic.

What was taken illegally and with guns, God and Our Lady of Guadalupe have simply returned with the peaceful births of All-American children who happen to have brown skin like me. His justice and timing are perfect.

And these children will rewrite the history of Texas from fable to the truth.

'60' Minutes' Kroft has good advice to journalism students and newspapers still trying to survive

"60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft had some good advice for journalism students at Indiana University:

Learn to write.

There is no replacement for good writing, telling a story in an effective, powerful way.

One of deepest points of deterioration in newspapers has been in the writing. A lot of the old pros have been put out to pasture for younger reporters who are forced to do many things -- which shows in their lack of attention to good writing.

It is poor. And it is hard to come up with a good writer left in the Midstate print market.

Kroft also told students that 60 Minutes' ratings are up sharply this year as viewers look for content and solid reporting, two other casualties of the decline in newspapers.

In a note on inter-office politics, Kroft said that the late Ed Bradley felt that Mike Wallace had screwed him out of a couple of good stories. Competitive fires within a newsroom also make for better content.

Here is an excerpt from the J-school's coverage of Kroft:

Kroft, who has been with the show for 28 years, said ratings are up about 15 percent in the last year, perhaps because viewers want this kind of reporting, something that is beginning to disappear from other media outlets as newspapers’ shrink and fold.

“The business model is changing,” Kroft said of how media outlets make money. “It’s up to journalists to make content and corporate to make money – they just haven’t figured out how to make money in this new media world. There’s always going to be a place for good content.”

“Good content” is more than just entertaining stories. Kroft talked about the Washington Post’s investigative coverage of injured soldiers’ treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and 60 Minutes’ later coverage of that story. Kroft said this is the kind of reporting that makes a difference, and it often finds its beginnings in newspaper reporting.

To the journalism students in the crowded theater, Kroft advised learning to shoot and edit video in order to make themselves more marketable. But his main piece of advice had to deal with something a bit more basic.

“Learn to write,” he said. “You can be born with that ability, but it’s also something that can be learned and, if that’s all you get from what you learned here, you’ll be fine.”

WSJ on retirement of Craig Moon; says he'll explore opportunities in media where values are way down; that's great news for readers here

The Wall Street Journal wrote the following story from an interview with former Tennessean publisher Craig Moon, who is returning to Nashville to explore media business opportunities.

That's good news for readers here who are poorly served by the existing print media outlets.

USA Today President and Publisher Craig Moon announced his sudden retirement Tuesday, leaving the country's largest newspaper with its top two jobs unfilled during perhaps the most difficult stretch in its 27-year history. He also said the newspaper has lost about 100,000 subscribers just from the slowdown in travel.

Mr. Moon said in an interview that the slowdown has resulted in a reduction of more than 7% in the number of copies of USA Today distributed through partnerships with hotel chains such as Marriott, which account for more than half of its circulation.

The 59-year-old executive, who spent 23 years at parent company Gannett Co. and the last six as publisher of USA Today, has overseen a publication that has come under increasing economic pressure. Gannett expects ad revenue to fall by as much as 35% in the first quarter, Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore said at an investor conference in March. Gannett executives also had said at the conference they were bracing for a significant circulation hit.

The 1.3 million daily copies distributed at hotels in the six months ending Sept. 28 accounted for more than half of USA Today's average weekday circulation of 2.3 million, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. ABC releases figures for the six months ending in March at the end of April.

Mr. Moon said he decided to leave USA Today to explore investment opportunities in the media industry, where "values are way down." He said he did not view his departure as an escape from a sinking industry, adding in USA Today "you still have the workings of a successful business."

Mr. Moon's departure expands the void at the top of the paper following the recent resignation of editor Kenneth Paulson, whose replacement has not been named. John Hillkirk is serving as Mr. Paulson's interim replacement.

Gannett said it hasn't decided on a successor for Mr. Moon.

The move was largely unexpected within Gannett. USA Today founder Al Neuharth, who still writes a weekly column for the paper, said he found out in a call Tuesday morning from Mr. Moon and Gannett Chief Executive Craig Dubow. "It would be unfair to say I expected that news," Mr. Neuharth said. "But things happen. People retire."

Mr. Moon isn't walking away empty-handed. Gannett in its 2008 proxy statement valued Mr. Moon's pension at $3.3 million as of Dec. 31, 2007.

Shocking sign of the times: Owners abandoning boats too costly to keep in today's economy

America's coastlines are becoming littered with the unthinkable: boats that owners now consider too expensive to maintain.

As the economy worsens, these luxuries are being abandoned.

A new survey on employers reported today that 742,000 private industry jobs were lost in March. That's the largest number since the survey began. The nation's unemployment rate comes out Friday.

Here's is The Times' story:

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — Boat owners are abandoning ship.

They often sandpaper over the names and file off the registry numbers, doing their best to render the boats, and themselves, untraceable. Then they casually ditch the vessels in the middle of busy harbors, beach them at low tide on the banks of creeks or occasionally scuttle them outright.

The bad economy is creating a flotilla of forsaken boats. While there is no national census of abandoned boats, officials in coastal states are worried the problem will only grow worse as unemployment and financial stress continue to rise. Several states are even drafting laws against derelicts and say they are aggressively starting to pursue delinquent owners.

“Our waters have become dumping grounds,” said Maj. Paul R. Ouellette of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It’s got to the point where something has to be done.”

Derelict boats are environmental and navigational hazards, leaking toxins and posing obstacles for other craft, especially at night. Thieves plunder them for scrap metal. In a storm, these runabouts and sailboats, cruisers and houseboats can break free or break up, causing havoc.

Some of those disposing of their boats are in the same bind as overstretched homeowners: they face steep payments on an asset that is diminishing in value and decide not to continue. They either default on the debt or take bolder measures.

Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe, however, that most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters are fully paid for. They are expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal.