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September 03rd, 2014

9/3/2014

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MARYLAND LEADS IN COMMISSIONS, BOARDS, AND COMMITTEES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PUBLIC INTEREST OR OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY----THEY ARE THERE TO MAKE SURE THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN!

I want to spend a few days looking at individual government commissions at each level of government to show how dysfunctional they are.    Policy goes there to die or it is called one thing while doing another.
  You see just that in the article below about Massachusetts and its commissions.....I give an example of the same in Maryland.

The surge in states creating commissions and quasi-status for NGOs was a step towards moving the business of legislating away from state and local legislators and handing major public policy decisions to whatever appointee a Governor or Mayor made. Fast forward to neo-liberals and neo-cons controlling our major parties and you have global corporate pols appointing corporate people working in corporate/shareholder interest and against public interest. WE DO NOT WANT COMMISSIONS ETC CIRCUMVENTING OUR LEGISLATURES. This same process has Congress with appointed committees that write entire policy ------ten pols writing critical public policy and then taking it to the floor of Congress to 'tweak'. NONE OF THIS IS REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY.

A DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN WOULD NOT SUPPORT THESE CENTRALIZED POLICY-MAKING ENTITIES. GET RID OF THE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS.

Meanwhile the committees that were once filled with the general public in local communities/boards are languishing.  In their place----private corporate non-profits headed by directors appointed by corporations funding an issue.  As the article below states, and this is true in Maryland-----no oversight or accountability or even attention to staffing is happening with public committees and community groups.

In Maryland, the commissions that are active and filled with appointees by Governor or Mayor have most of their meetings behind closed doors calling issues proprietary and minutes reflect that lack of transparency.  This is why Maryland citizens never know what is happening in policy until it comes to vote......too late to organize and protest.


Imagine if all of those boards and committees met in our local schools in the evenings to discuss the issue assigned to these committees.......that is what we used to do.  This is the democratic discussion of issues that has been allowed to wither as boards meet during a workday in places not convenient to the general public. 

WE NEED EVERYONE DEMANDING PUBLIC COMMITTEES AND BOARDS AND GETTING OUT TO PARTICIPATE.  YOU ARE THE ONE WHO LEGISLATES.


State study confirms unfilled job boards


By Todd Wallack  | Globe Staff   July 30, 2014

Massachusetts is failing to properly staff and track hundreds of state boards, committees, and commissions, a Senate panel concluded in a report released Wednesday, resulting in what some call “zombie boards” that never meet.

The Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight discovered dozens of state panels that have not met or produced reports in years, alongside new committees that have not been able to start because of empty seats, while still other panels appear to be redundant. The review found that 48 boards are probably no longer needed either because they have completed their work or outlived their missions, such as one that issued its final report on the future of Boston Harbor beaches in the 1990s.

“I was surprised that we hadn’t taken action earlier,” said Senator Cynthia S. Creem, the Newton Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, who added that many people count on state boards to champion issues they care about. “I think it’s been neglected.”

The Senate researchers’ work was complicated, however, by the fact that the governor’s website for boards and commissions omitted some panels where the governor does not make appointments. And information for the roughly 700 boards that were listed was “often absent, incomplete, out-of-date and/or incorrect.”

“The Commonwealth’s current system for appointing commission members and monitoring commissions’ activities is inadequate,” the report found.

The Senate launched the review last spring after the Globe reported that more than one-third of the seats on state boards and commissions were either vacant or filled with holdovers whose terms had officially expired months or years ago — a figure that took many state officials by surprise. The Globe also found that some boards had not met in decades (including at least one with a member who was dead), while others struggled to gather a quorum because of the vacancies.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that Massachusetts appears to have far more boards than other states its size, according to a Globe survey of a dozen other states,making it difficult to keep track of them and fill all the vacant positions.

Senator Robert L. Hedlund, a Weymouth Republican on the post audit committee, said he believes lawmakers and the executive branch have become too eager to set up commissions and too reluctant to eliminate them when they are no longer useful.

“It seems as though government in general expands and it never really contracts,” said Hedlund, the assistant minority leader. “I would like us to be a little more serious when we form a commission and be judicious, so that when we do form a commission it is taken seriously.”

Officials in the governor’s office, which controls the majority of board appointments,
said they are already working on ways to eliminate unneeded boards.

“We have made tremendous progress in deactivating boards and commissions that are no longer current, where it is within our power to do so,” said Heather Nichols, a spokeswoman in the governor’s office. “Where it is not, we are happy to work with the Legislature to sunset those boards and commissions that have already served out their purpose.”

Patrick administration staffers said they do the best they can to fill vacant positions, but noted that it can be challenging because the vast majority of positions are unpaid and require significant hours to attend meetings, often during the day. Many vacant seats are also controlled by state lawmakers and other officials outside the adminstration’s control.

The Senate review made a number of recommendations to address the problems, some of which would require legislation:

■ Requiring the governor’s office and departments to review whether commissions are riddled with vacancies, struggled to gather a quorum, have not met in a year, or are no longer needed;

■ Creating a sunset review commission to determine whether boards or commissions should be dissolved because they are redundant or defunct;

■ Streamlining the background check for new board members;

■  Giving the governor more flexibility to fill seats when he cannot find someone meeting all the requirements specified in state law;

■ Reappointing holdover members to new terms if new members cannot be found;

■ Making greater efforts to update the state’s boards and commissions website, as well as to add details on panels that are currently missing;

■ Posting meeting agendas, minutes, and reports for all commissions online;

■ Changing the law to automatically eliminate special commissions after they have issued their final reports.

But Hedlund, the Republican committee member, worried that the government has become so lax about following up on commissions that it probably will not follow through on the Senate panel’s recommendations either.

“It will be treated in the same way,” Hedlund predicted. “Tomororrow, it will be yesterday’s news.”


__________________________________________
This is one example of a commission on fracking created by O'Malley and neo-liberals under the guise of protecting Maryland from fracking abuses.  Neo-liberals support fracking and O'Malley led the Governor's Commission on exporting natural gas----an action that places fracking on steroids.  So, we have pols painted as being 'green' because they formed a commission that did absolutely nothing and never had any intent to protect Maryland Marcellus Shale from fracking.

The millions of dollars sent to this 'study' more than likely went to subsidize natural gas exploration in Maryland to find the best land to frack and then allowing the same connected people to buy that land.



For Immediate Release Thursday, April 3, 2014 - 4:05pmFood & Water WatchContact: Jorge Aguilar – 202-683-2529; JAguilar@fwwatch.org
Rich Bindell – 202-683-2457; RBindell@fwwatch.org

Fracking Health Study Narrow, Hasty, and Underfunded Say Health Experts

Call On Gov. O’Malley and Maryland Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission To Extend Deadline On Health Study

WASHINGTON - Today, a commissioner from Governor Martin O’Malley’s Marcellus Shale Commission joined three leading medical advocacy groups at a press conference in Baltimore in critiquing the timeline and scope of a study on the possible health impacts of shale gas extraction via hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” that is scheduled for release in June.

Representatives from the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE), Maryland Environment Health Network (MdEHN), Concerned Health Professionals of New York  (CHPNY), Food and Water Watch and Ann Bristow warned that the study is poised to fall woefully short of meeting international standards and health study guidelines for protecting public health.

They called on Governor O’Malley to commit more resources and to extend the health study deadline in order to fully assess the potential health effects to all Marylanders. They also noted that the study is limited to investigating possible impacts on public health only among residents of Western Maryland, even though exploitable shale gas reserves are located across the state.

“We are watching the emerging science from other states show increasing harms from fracking. We’re hearing about poisoned drinking water and radioactive waste, as well as smog in places that used to have pristine air.  So it is clear that an eight month study period, funded at $150,000 does not suffice to assess even the top tier of costly health impacts that fracking will likely have in Western Maryland, let alone the rest of the state,” said Rebecca Ruggles, Director of the Maryland Environmental Health Network said.

 “As it currently stands, the State of Maryland is conducting a flawed, rushed, and superficial study that will not help inform Maryland residents—nor their elected officials—about the full burden of possible health risks from the entire process of shale gas extraction,” said Katie Huffling, a registered nurse and the director of programs for the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. “As nurses, we are also gravely concerned that they will not be including a health cost assessment in their study. If the public is being asked to assume health risks from fracking, it deserves a comprehensive investigation of those risks and their economic costs, not a fig leaf."

Health professionals across the country have argued that a Health Impact Assessment (HIA)—a specific National Research Council-sanctioned process developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization (among others)—must be conducted to inform any decision as critical as whether or not fracking should be permitted in states.

“Drilling and fracking operations are inherently dangerous and pose demonstrable risks to health, especially for children, pregnant women and other vulnerable people living nearby,” said Sandra Steingraber, PhD and cofounder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York. “The proper tool for investigating these impacts is a comprehensive Health Impact Assessment with its vetted protocols and seal of approval by national and international public health institutions. A comprehensive HIA with full public participation, not a rushed study with a political deadline, is what the people of Maryland need and deserve. “

The Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission is currently scheduled to make a final recommendation on fracking in August to Governor Martin O’Malley that will include the health assessment report. 

Ann Bristow, a current commissioner on the Advisory Commission, also joined the medical advocates in calling for more time.

“As a member of Governor O’Malley’s Safe Drilling Initiative Commission, I am very worried that we are moving too fast and not getting all the health data we need to make protective recommendations to the residents of Maryland," said Bristow. “Several commissioners have repeatedly asked for more time and a more thorough scope of work on these critical health issues. If the health study team were on schedule, we would have received the baseline health assessment, with public commentary, last month. We need more time and a guarantee of transparency and public participation."


Food & Water Watch Southern Region Director Jorge Aguilar added that the O’Malley administration should pay attention to the demands of the health community.

“After two years of a largely unfunded process, Governor O’Malley’s administration now seems to be rushing through the final year, when specific studies just got started,” said Food & Water Watch Regional Organizing Director Jorge Aguilar. “The health study team has already missed its first deadline and it’s not clear that the health community will have time to comment on the final report.  The writing is on the wall: this will be an inadequate study unless the time line is drastically modified to address the concerns of the health community.”

###Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.


____________________________________________

You will note that it was an out-of-state organization that outed this commission for failing to do its duties on the mission tasked----not any Maryland organization.  Note as well Heather Mizeur is on this commission and ran as protecting Marylanders from fracking. 

YOU WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ON THIS COMMISSION IF YOU WANTED TO DO THAT.

Now, as this out-of-state organization says----this commission ----NARROW, HASTY, AND UNDERFUNDED----never meaning to find anything.  What this commission should be is a long-term, citizen-filled exploratory group committed to research and planning for the public interest.  This is why public committees and boards
tasked with doing just that are languishing without support.

WE MUST ENGAGE IN POLITICS----BE THE CITIZENS FILLING THESE BOARDS, COMMITTEES, AND COMMISSIONS IF WE ARE GOING TO REMAIN CITIZENS.


MARCELLUS SHALE SAFE-DRILLING INITIATIVE ADVISORY COMMISSION


David A. Vanko, Ph.D., Chair (appointed by Secretary of the Environment & Secretary of Natural Resources)

Appointed by Secretary of the Environment & Secretary of Natural Resources:
Shawn Bender; Ann R. Bristow, Ph.D.; Stephen M. Bunker; George C. Edwards; Margaret J. (Peggy) Jamison; Jeffrey F. Kupfer, Esq.; Clifford S. Mitchell, M.D.; Heather R. Mizeur; Dominick E. Murray; James M. Raley; Paul Roberts; William R. Valentine; Nicholas Weber, Ph.D.; Harry Weiss, Esq. Montgomery Park Business Center, 1800 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, Maryland, February 2004. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.


Staff: Brigid E. Kenney c/o Department of the Environment
Montgomery Park Business Center, 1800 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 537-3085
e-mail: bkenney@mde.state.md.us
web: www.mde.state.md.us/programs/land/mining/marcellus/pages/index.aspx

  • Maryland Marcellus Shale Public Health Study, July 2014
  • Interim Report, July 2014
  • Initial Report, December 2011
Final Report (with Dept. of the Environment & Dept. of Natural Resources) due Aug. 1, 2014.

In June 2011, the Governor created the Marcellus Shale Safe-Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission (Executive Order 01.01.2011.11). With the Department of the Environment and the Department of Natural Resources, the Commission is studying the short-term, long-term and cumulative effects of producing natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation. This formation underlies portions of Western Maryland: Allegany and Garrett counties being the only parts of the State with natural gas reserves in Marcellus Shale. Drilling for natural gas from the Marcellus shale involves a process called hydraulic fracturing. This requires very deep wells with long horizontal sections through which pressurized water, sand, and chemicals are blasted to crack rock and release the natural gas.

Authorization for the Commission extends through May 1, 2015.

_______________________________________
Keep in mind who supports O'Malley and neo-liberals every election in Maryland-----labor and justice leaders.  Anthony Brown will be worse than O'Malley if that is possible.  Of course all of these corporate policies are Republican so you do not vote Republican to get environmental policy.

Let's look at who these people are that O'Malley and the Maryland Assembly placed in charge of Departments that protect our land and water.


Keep in mind, this happens all the time and all Maryland pols know this is what Maryland Assembly and neo-liberals and neo-cons do with all these commissions.


Department of the Environment

21 August 2014

doe    DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Governor Martin J. O'Malley

Water Management      Jay G. Sakai
Robert M. Summers            Secretary

Guess what!  Sakai is from Baltimore with Baltimore's Public Works and a Hopkins graduate.  Hopkins is VEOLA Environment----privatizing public water works and Hopkins is a great big shareholder in natural gas and exporting raw energy.
  That is someone you would put in an agency to make sure commissions like this Marcellus Shale protects the fracking interests.

DO YOU HEAR MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SHOUTING THIS COLLUSION WITH CORPORATIONS THAT KILL THE ENVIRONMENT?  I DON'T.



Previously, Mr. Sakai also directed the technical support functions for the City of Baltimore’s Department of Public Works, an agency with more than 3,400 employees, where he administered application development contracts and large-scale information technology implementations.

He serves on the board of the Maryland Association of Municipal Wastewater Agencies. Mr. Sakai is also a member of the American Water Works Association and the American Public Works Association.

Mr. Sakai succeeds Robert M. Summers, Ph.D., who is now MDE’s Deputy Secretary. A licensed professional engineer, Mr. Sakai holds a Master of Science in Business and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.


WOW------another Johns Hopkins grad in Natural Resources---water agency.  Don't forget, Hopkins is behind the collapse of our Baltimore water system as all of state and city revenue that should have gone to upgrading infrastructure went to building Hopkins global corporation...... and it's bid to take Baltimore Harbor global will kill the Chesapeake Bay with invasive species and pollution.  The Baltimore Harbor recently received an 'F' in pollution, and it was this Department of Natural Resources with the Department of Environment that approved the construction at Harbor Point on toxic waste dump.
  So, it takes lots of failed policy to remain at 'F' in environment for decades.

SEE WHY THIS MARCELLUS SHALE COMMISSION IS KNOWN FOR BEING NARROW, HASTY, AND UNDERFUNDED.





Dr. Summers received his B.A. (1976) and Ph.D. (1982) in Environmental Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining Maryland’s environmental programs, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the State University of New York, Marine Sciences Research Center in Stony Brook, NY and as a research assistant at the Johns Hopkins University’s Chesapeake Bay Institute.




DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES


Governor Martin J. O'Malley

Joseph P. Gill    Secretary


Land Resources    Kristin Saunders Evans



Mr Gill is a Georgetown grad in law with a history of leading a quasi-public land trust.
  Now, if you live in Maryland you know that public land is disappearing faster than ever usually under the guise of public private partnerships.  You place M and T Bank Stadium on public land and it is no longer public land.  You give the Port of Baltimore to a private investment firm and you no longer have public land/water.  You hand public land to expand natural gas export terminal and you lose public land.  You place a private residential high-rise on public housing land and you no longer have public land.  You privatize public schools to private charters and you no longer have public land.  You hand all waterfront property in Baltimore and National Harbor et al to private developers and you no longer have public land.  You give public parks/mansions -----public universities over to private non-profits and you no longer have public land.  You privatize public water and waste----you give private rights to natural gas, BGE, and CSX lines and the public loses large swaths of land.  All this is happening today in Maryland.  Baltimore is seeing all of its public land handed to private developers.

What is Maryland Environmental Land Trust?  Well, the development in Maryland is anything but environmental.



Maryland Environmental Trust


Company Description:

 The Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) is quasi-public statewide land trust established in 1967. Staffed with funds from the Department of Natural Resources, it is directed by an independent Board of Trustees. This unusual structure has resulted in the protection of over 100,000 acres of privately-owned forest, farm, and open space land across the State of Maryland with permanent, donated easements.



Below you see Ed Rendell of PA.....a state totally destroyed by fracking and a pol handing complete control of public land to fracking corporations.....teamed with Anthony Brown---do you hear Maryland Environmental Trust going crazy over all this?  Not a word.  They are represented on this Marcellus Shale commission by Mr Gill's appointee.

Maryland’s New Public-Private Partnerships



Date: Thursday, May 9, 2013 « Back to Events Start:May 9, 2013 8:30 amEnd:May 9, 2013 11:30 amCategory:News

Maryland’s New P3 Legislation Maryland’s New Public-Private Partnerships Legislation Maryland’s newly passed P3 Legislation sets the stage for Public-Private
Partnerships to increase investment in the state. This is the best and first
chance to hear about Maryland’s new P3 law from people who know what this means
for Maryland’s economy. The panel, moderated by Ballard Spahr, includes leaders
from the public and private sectors with extensive P3 experience in commercial
and institutional development, as well as infrastructure projects. Keynote
speakers include Maryland’s Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and former Pennsylvania
Governor Ed Rendell.
Plan to join us on May 9 at the BWI Hilton. We will be announcing the panel in
the near future, so check baltimore.uli.org for details and updates. Featured Speakers:
· Maryland Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown
· Ben Stutz, State of Maryland
· Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell

Moderator: Brian Walsh, Ballard Spahr
· Chuck Watters, Hines
· Andy Garbutt, KPMG
· Leif Dormsjo. Acting Deputy Secretary, MDOT
· Chris Guthkeltch, Skanska USA
· Tom Rousakis, Goldman Sachs

Master of Ceremonies:
· Sandy Apgar, Apgar Company


__________________________________________
Below you see a Department of Natural Resources staff charged with such things as appointing members of commissions like the Marcellus Shale with a long history of bad environmental results.  All of Maryland's environment is at risk because the Department of Natural Resources has such a skeleton staffing that no oversight happens.  As you see below stewardship of the land is not key in this public agency.

When we elect pols like O'Malley who are simply working for corporations they will staff agencies with people looking to move money to the right people and not to doing the work of the public.  Then, you compound that by having these same appointees choosing who participates on these commissions and you get the results outlined at the top. 

Public commissions, public committees, and public boards should have people passionate about the issues from the public perspective, not corporate profit.

YOUR LABOR AND JUSTICE LEADERS KEEP SUPPORTING THE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS CREATING THESE POLICIES-----PLEASE GET RID OF THESE INCUMBENTS!


Below you see who will be involved in these fracking and land use issues and who is appointed to commissions developing plans.

Remember, Maryland is one of the richest states in the nation----plenty of money for this stuff being lost to fraud and corruption.


   Kristin Saunders Evans

Secretary for Land Resources.


Study finds Md.'s parks, after deep cuts in staff and services in recent years, need an infusion

State parks in peril


November 09, 2007|

By Candus Thomson | Candus Thomson,Sun reporter



"I don't think anyone was surprised by the findings," said Kristin Saunders Evans, assistant secretary of the Department of Natural Resources who oversees parks. "We're trying to the best of our ability and resources, but in some instances we've let our stakeholders down."


Below you see yet another 'nationally recognized program' in Maryland that does not really exist.  It is all propaganda to make Maryland look progressive.
  Our Health Care reform and our Education reform is all called 'a national model' and is a mess because we have no oversight and accountability or pols in office working in the public interest.  JUKING THE STATS makes everything done a national model.


Indoor projects raise questions

Md. auditors criticize use of funds designated for open-space projects


August 08, 2008

|By Laura Smitherman | Laura Smitherman,Sun reporter

Program Open Space, Maryland's nationally recognized effort to create outdoor recreational opportunities and preserve untouched lands, has been spending money on the indoors - including golf-course building renovations, community centers and an indoor aquatic center.

Call it Program Enclosed Space.

State auditors criticized the longstanding practice in a report yesterday on the Department of Natural Resources and said that the General Assembly's counsel advised them that the use of open-space funding for indoor recreational facilities doesn't appear to be within the law.

Agency officials told auditors that they believed the indoor projects qualified for funding because the facilities accommodate recreational activities, such as swimming, that are typically done outdoors. And, agency officials noted, the public would be able to enjoy year-round use of the indoor facilities, making them a better investment.

John R. Griffin, natural resources secretary, promised to seek clarifying legislative language in the next General Assembly session to ensure that such expenditures follow the letter of the law. Nonetheless, agency officials said they were surprised by the dispute.

The open-space program has been used to build or acquire indoor facilities since the 1970s, they said, and state lawmakers are typically enthusiastically supportive, attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the projects throughout the summer. They said the indoor facilities must be related to the mission of the program and are often nature centers or recreational facilities.

"Bottom line is, this has been going on for a long time, and this is the first time we've seen it raised by legislative auditors,"
said Eric Schwaab, the agency's deputy secretary. "These local projects have long been supported. It's not like this has been conducted in secret."

In recent months, $2 million in open-space funding has been approved for Calvert County's first indoor aquatic center, $1.4 million for the purchase of the Sonic Sports Arena in Cecil County and about $240,000 for indoor tennis lights in Montgomery County.

Program Open Space, established in 1969, is funded through transfer taxes on real estate transactions. The money is split between the state government and local communities based on a complicated formula, and much of it goes toward buying large tracts of land for preservation or parks. About $276 million has been allocated to the program over the last two years.

Local governments develop long-range plans on land preservation and recreation, and individual projects for which they seek reimbursement must be approved by the state's Board of Public Works. Public comment can be made at several times in the process.


"It's a wide-open, very public process," said Kristin Saunders Evans, assistant secretary for land resources at the natural resources department.






Logging GRSF 3

In the coming months, the Forest Service will publish the FY2011plan for the Green Ridge State Forest. As with previous plans, the Forest Service will propose cutting down more than 200 acres of trees in several sites.Most of the logging will leave about six trees per acre.DNR cuts trees that are 90-100 years old, far short of their biological maturity,1with the stated goal of optimizing production of timber.2Other goals, such as encouraging wildlife growth and breeding, providing healthy forests for Maryland citizens, stabilization of soil, or sequestering carbon are subsidiary or have not been considered.


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August 27th, 2014

8/27/2014

0 Comments

 
Here in Baltimore the media and watchdogs expose scandals and corruption all the time and nothing happens.  If you go to a Baltimore Board of Estimates meeting you will see no one protesting anymore because the Board has worn down all of the contractors seeing what is widespread bid rigging and inflation.  I was at a meeting where an out of state contractor's bid was so much lower and he was as qualified and was incredulous as he was turned away from protest.  People no longer go to the meetings because they are so closed to justice there is no way through normal public channels to seek justice.  This is what happens on the state and Federal level as well.  Now that global corporations are getting contract bids from all levels of government and subcontracting ----they are the only ones pocketing all of this fraud and corruption.  Local contractors are left to the status of subcontractor having to bid so low as to not be able to earn a profit.  They then lower the standards for their workers so everyone is effected by this massive and systemic fraud.  Let's take a look again today at a local fraud and then national.  Remember, your pols are creating these conditions.  They could shout loudly, place pressure on the people in the process or the Attorney General to give due process and equal protection but the laws they are passing moves to further keep the public from accessing justice. 

NEO-LIBERALS ARE WORKING FOR GLOBAL CORPORATIONS AND NOT YOU AND ME!  STOP VOTING FOR THE SAME INCUMBENTS AND RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFICE!

Below you see how our public utilities are being corrupted by this privatization push.  My concern for Smart Meters is they are set to gather data to sell and that the goal will be to ration water and electricity.  Even greater than that is that the process has already been filled with fraud and corruption.  California, Texas, and Arizona were ground zero for this privatization and installation of Smart Meters and tons of articles exist speaking of billing inflation-----the high cost of the product and installation----all when the public system we used for a century has worked just fine until the last decade when public employees were fired and bills were 'estimated'. 

When global corporations commit fraud----no one goes after them.  Imagine a $600 utility bill and how you would get that back?  Well, those already exposed to this are shouting -----YOU DON'T GET IT BACK AND YOUR STATE WILL NOT HELP YOU!


In Maryland, O'Malley and the Maryland Assembly are so neo-liberal as to pass laws that fine you for opting out and making those fines grow too costly to have a choice.  They say----YOU WILL CONNECT---WE WANT THAT DATA!


Another Attorney General exposes "smart" meter scam
Written by Donna Hancock
Date: 04-22-2013
Subject: Big Brother
Sent from at reader:

“What the record sadly lacks is a discussion of competing considerations regarding the program or the necessity of the program and its costs as related to any net benefit to customers.”
~ Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette

Warren Woodward

55 Ross Circle

Sedona, Arizona 86336

928 204 6434

April 20, 2013

Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC)

Docket Control Center

1200 West Washington Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Re: Docket # E-00000C-11-0328

Commissioners;

           In addition to both the Attorneys General of Illinois and Connecticut, the Attorney General of Michigan has also issued a statement calling into question the efficacy of “smart” meters and the “smart” grid.

           Salient excerpts:

·         “A net economic benefit to electric utility ratepayers from ... smart meter programs has yet to be established.”

·         “Any assumption that large numbers of residential customers will have the time, ability and motivation to attend to, and act upon daily or even hourly changes in their electrical is questionable.”

·         “What the record sadly lacks is a discussion of competing considerations regarding the program or the necessity of the program and its costs as related to any net benefit to customers.” [italics in original]

           The Michigan Attorney General's statement (enclosed and available online here: http://efile.mpsc.state.mi.us/efile/docs/17000/0408.pdf) reinforces what I have said repeatedly: the only benefit of the “smart” grid is to utilities, not ratepayers. Utilities are gaming the system through their 8 to 10% guaranteed rate of return on so-called “capital investments”.

           Of course another part of the scam is the proven over-billing of “smart” meters. California's KION/FOX35 TV did a three month side-by-side comparison of a “smart” meter and a calibrated mechanical analog meter. After three months the “smart” meter showed an extra 37 kilowatt hours. The test is consistent with anecdotal over-billing reports I receive from Arizonans. Do the math. I calculate a similar rip-off in Arizona would net APS over $20 million more per year. (“PG&E Smart Meter Side By Side Test Final Results” – http://www.kionrightnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14016659)

           What a miserable pity for Arizona ratepayers that the ACC never followed through on its 2007 decision that called for the costs and benefits of the “smart” grid to be considered. Indeed, “What the record sadly lacks is a discussion of competing considerations regarding the program or the necessity of the program and its costs as related to any net benefit to customers.”

           When will it be admitted that the ACC made a colossal mistake by allowing the utilities to install “smart” meters without any regulatory oversight or examination? How much more ratepayer money will be wasted on this utility scam, while the already bloated salaries of APS executives are set to double and triple? (“APS offering executives potential bonuses for 2013” - http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2012/12/28/aps-offering-executives-potential.html?ana=yfcpc)

Sincerely,

 Warren Woodward

Cc: Governor Jan Brewer, Attorney General Tom Horne



_____________________________________________
I had a friend run into these problems where late water bills end in your house being placed for auction.  The City Hall allows citizens homes to be handed to an investment firm buying the debt.  My friend asked 'DO YOU WANT MY HOUSE' to which the City Council person said----yes they do.  It's in a valuable section of the city.  The article below is from 2012 but it is still happening today.  Nothing has changed.

Baltimore uses fraud and corruption to take people's houses from them and it of course hits those struggling financially as it is.  WHEN GOVERNMENT PREYS ON THE PUBLIC FOR REVENUE RATHER THAN COLLECT IT FROM CORPORATIONS----

You have a neo-liberal or neo-con working City Hall.  GET RID OF THEM!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         Contact: Lester Davis Monday, March 5, 2012        410-396-4804 (office)   443-835-0784 (mobile)
Council President Young Calls for Moratorium on Placing Liens Against Properties Based Solely on Unpaid Water or Sewer Charges
Legislation comes after audit reveals dozens of homes were placed under lien based on estimated water bills


BALTIMORE
, MD –City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young has taken the bold step of calling for a moratorium on listing properties in the City’s annual tax sale based solely on unpaid water or sewer charges.

Council President Young will introduce a resolution at tonight’s City Council meeting requesting a moratorium on placing liens on properties with unpaid water or sewer charges. The moratorium would be in place for a two year period, or until the Departments of Public Works and Finance are able to create a viable and fair system for billing the more than 400,000 city and Baltimore County customers served by DPW. Tonight’s resolution will be followed on Monday, March 26, 2012, by the introduction of an ordinance that would enforce the moratorium through a change in city law.

Council President Young’s legislation was prompted by a recent audit that found widespread problems with the integrity of the billing system used by the Department of Public Works to charge residents for water and sewer usage.

Some of the troubling findings from the audit include:

  • 38,000 customers in Baltimore City and Baltimore County were over-billed, resulting in refunds totaling more than $4 million.
  • More than 18,000 properties were billed based solely on estimates, with no actual meter readings for a year or longer.
  • More than 2,600 customers were billed based solely on estimated meter readings for at least 4 ½ years.
  • Efforts by customers to correct these billing issues by requesting actual meter readings often resulted in the customers subsequently being over-billed.
  • $31.7 million, or 25 percent, of the total adjusted water billings for the year examined resulted from estimated billing.
Council President Young has a history of working to solve long-standing problems with the city’s water billing system. As recently as 2010, Council President Young supported legislation by Maryland State Sen. James Brochin that sought to stop the forced sale or foreclosure of properties due to unpaid water or sewer bills. Council President Young has also introduced legislation in the City Council to address this persistent problem.

“I’ve encountered too many constituents on fixed incomes, who routinely have to choose between feeding their families and buying needed medication or paying improperly estimated water bills, which if left unpaid have the danger of forcing them into homelessness,” Council President Young said. “It’s time we do something serious to remedy this situation, which has driven too many Baltimoreans further into poverty.”

In May 2010, 851 properties were included in the city’s tax sale based solely on estimated readings for one or more years. Some of these bills were for just hundreds of dollars, and a DPW review suggested that in at least one instance a property would not have been eligible for the tax sale if actual readings, instead of estimates, had been used.

Ms. Lelia Ellerbe, who has lived at Alameda Place in North Baltimore for 18 years, said that she recently contacted Council President Young’s office after growing increasingly suspicious about inflated water bills. Ms. Ellerbe said her research showed that nearly a dozen of her neighbors had received identical water bills over several billing cycles, despite differences in their water consumption.

“If you’re on a fixed income, a discrepancy with your water bill could be extremely detrimental,” Ms. Ellerbe said.

Placing unnecessary financial burdens on families during difficult economic times is harmful and unacceptable, but overcharges on water and sewer bills are especially dangerous because the charges, if left unpaid, are routinely converted into liens against the properties. The liens can then be sold or foreclosed on, which could lead to a family losing its home because of an unpaid water or sewer bill.

Click here for a copy of Council President Young’s resolution

_____________________________________

If corporations are not paying taxes, getting all kinds of subsidy, and committing huge frauds-----we need the working and middle-class paying lots of fines and fees to state and local government.  That is what speed cameras is about.  In Baltimore it became so corrupt and fraudulent that thousands of people were ticketed without cause and we could not get City Hall to turn off the cameras.  It took a huge upswell of citizen rage to have these faulty cameras turned off.

Again, a public employee used to do just fine randomly setting up speed zones to keep citizens aware.  THAT IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED.   Now, you have no idea when an infraction happens and almost no way to fight it.

The reason all this exists is no oversight and accountability and no public justice makes the conditions for a free-for-all in corporate operations.  Remember, all these businesss getting these contracts are global corporations.


This article is long but it does a great job at showing how massive the corporate grab for money has become.

Speed Cameras: A Scam the Motorist Cannot Win

It's all about the revenue

May 9, 2013 by Doug Gill

So glad we are all better drivers these days. No cell phone calls, no texting, no smoking with the snowflakes present, mandatory seat belts, helmet laws, the crackdown on drunk drivers, sobriety checkpoints, red light cameras, work zone cameras, speed cameras – why, getting behind the wheel these days is the motoring equivalent of being a babe in its mama’s arms.

Well, one may think that is so – especially the way the elected ninnies tout all the “safety” regulations they’ve enacted, particularly when it comes to traffic surveillance.
But the truth? Well, the reality belies what our lawmakers are shoveling, as 2012 saw the highway death total climb faster than at any time since 1975.

Yet, fudged safety stats notwithstanding, the real truth about traffic cameras lies not in the amount of lives saved and accidents avoided, but in the enormous amount of revenue it supplies both the camera manufacturer and the jurisdictions that embrace these forms of policing for profit.

And in most instances the profits roll in whether the cameras are accurate or not… and these contraptions are proving to be anything but precise.

The evidence of that inaccuracy is overwhelming.
In mid-April, Baltimore City became the latest jurisdiction to join the ever-growing list of cities/municipalities that are revamping, reevaluating or in some cases eliminating their revenue-generating speed camera programs.

The Department of Transportation issued a news release saying Baltimore City has temporarily suspended use of its red light and speed cameras because “the devices haven’t been accurate.”
Of course, that explanation reeks of dishonesty; if accuracy was the true reason for shelving the automated cash-snatchers they would have been abandoned six months after implementation.

As of April 1, more than 580 communities had welcomed some form – red light, speed, work zone – of traffic enforcement cameras. And while 29 states currently have no camera enforcement laws on the books, only 12 states have banned the use of speed cameras.
Seven states currently prohibit red light cameras.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 66 bills related to photo enforcement have been presented nationwide so far in 2013.

But at the same time, the critical chorus against these boxed money-grabs is growing exponentially.

In New York, the same state senate that nearly always accepts Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Liberal credit card put the kibosh on a plan for cameras in New York City, prompting Emperor Michael Bloomberg to throw a hissy and announce that the next time a speeder kills a kid it will be the legislature’s fault.

Shocking, I know: Bloomberg desperate to support for-profit businesses other than his own.

In Ohio, Judge Robert Ruehlman ordered the Elmwood Place township to halt usage of the cameras saying they are “a scam” and described the issuing of thousands of $105 citations as a “high-tech game of 3-Card Monty.”

Similar rulings have ignited debate from sea to strobe-flashing sea, and Baltimore’s actions are now at the forefront of the discussions.

Not only did the city suspend use of the cameras, officials also agreed to nullify more than 6,000 tickets that had been mailed to the alleged violators.

Total cost? Over 300 grand. In the last fiscal year the city’s speed cameras – just the speed cameras – generated $19 million.

Gesture, meet token.

Obviously, the business partnerships between camera companies and cities willing to deliberately tweak their speed limits, camera locations and caution lights for maximum ticket profits, rather than for safety, are thriving in spite of symbolic damage control.
“The cameras have never really fully been tested,” Gene Simmers, a retired Maryland State Highway Administration employee, told CBS Philadelphia. Simmers was referencing a state report that found the cameras were not tested as many times as they should have been and that the type of speed detection equipment used by the cameras in highway work zones was not approved by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Pennsylvania media is interested in the thoughts of a former SHA employee because the state legislature in Harrisburg had been considering expanding the automated enforcement programs.

Now, thanks to some of the laughable examples of Baltimore City’s camera follies, even AAA Mid-Atlantic has joined the anti-camera chorus.

“It wasn’t even moving and it got a ticket,” AAA spokesperson Jenny Robinson told CBS News, referencing a Baltimore delivery truck that was issued a citation for traveling 57 miles-per-hour in a 25-mph zone even though video from the camera showed the truck was nearly at a standstill.
“That’s one example of the concerns that we have with automatic enforcement,” Robinson continued. “If it’s not accurate then there’s no point in using it.”
But there is a point in using them, and that purpose is to continue reaping the benefits of the $6 billion per year that Americans pay for speeding violations.

According to an extensive investigation by The Baltimore Sun we’ve learned – through the former camera company’s own admission – that the error rate for these devices exceeds five percent. And more than 1.6 million tickets have been issued since 2009.
And the city nullified 6,000.


“The troubles with Baltimore’s speed camera system have raised the eyebrows of motorists, legislators and traffic safety advocates,” wrote AAA spokesperson Ragina Averella, “and have truly called the integrity of the city’s entire program into question.”
But it’s not just Baltimore. Prince George’s County is taking action to stop Fairmount Heights from issuing any camera citations because the town appears to be in violation of a state law that allows photo enforcement only in school zones and requires that cameras are properly announced via signage.

In Laurel, the city is under fire for circumventing state requirements for independent calibration of the cameras.

Dozens of other national jurisdictions are waking up to elected officials trying to follow the lead of former D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty who, in 2010, accelerated the revenue-vs-safety debate when he raised traffic fines – in one instance from $50 – $125 – to help balance his city’s budget.
And why not? In a report released by AAA one camera on one stretch of the District’s New York Avenue raised $11 million in two years.

That kind of cash comes in mighty handy when you need to grease the lobbyists that help government skim the taxpayer.

If the actions of Fenty and other such kindred governmentals don’t offer proof enough of automated enforcement offering no more than a direct line to your wallet, witness the actions of the Maryland Legislature during the just-concluded General Assembly sessions.
Delegate John Cluster (R – Baltimore County) introduced a bill that would have imposed a daily calibration check on the cameras. Delegate Jon Cardin’s (D – Baltimore County) legislation would have forced the courts to impose a $1,000 fine on the camera company if it were found that a citation was issued erroneously. Delegate Frank Conaway (D – Baltimore City) wanted those who maintain the speed enforcement systems to pay a $250 penalty to the motorist who received said erroneous ticket.

Various speed camera bills were introduced by Sen. James Brochin, Sen. E.J. Pipkin, Del. Carolyn Howard and Del. Mike Smigiel and they not only addressed accuracy and effectiveness, but some also called for outright elimination of the program.
When the confetti dropped (made from shredded taxpayer dollars) in early April to signal the end of the session not a single traffic camera bill had passed, including a final version that would have placed stricter limits on where local governments could put speed cameras, required appointments of ombudsmen to hear complaints, and strengthened language prohibiting governments from entering into new contracts under which they paid private companies for each ticket issued.

Noting the bill’s failure, Sen. Brochin told the Baltimore Sun that the final product would have helped protect Maryland drivers from abuses of the camera system.
Of course, Marylanders are use to having elected officials that continually fail to do the right thing – even if it is our own fault for sending the same repeat offenders back to Annapolis.

No amount of information – no amount of facts counteracting the myths of these devices – will prevent lawmakers from trumping-up the safety angle while gorging at the predatory revenue trough.
“We’ve been able to achieve a pretty significant reduction in traffic fatalities,” Gov. Martin O’Malley weighed in on the safety aspects of traffic cameras in Maryland. “I think part of that has to do with better technology and all of us taking it a little slower. We are saving a lot of lives and reducing traffic fatalities.”

Well, save for that pesky spike in 2012 – and even though he ignored the numbers that showed fatal crashes on state highways dropped in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

State wide use of speed cameras wasn’t authorized until 2009.

In Baltimore the focus remains on getting the cash IV back into the arm of the motoring public. In January the city switched from its current camera provider – Xerox State & Local Solutions – to Brekford, a Maryland-based “upstart” in the industry that has been contracted to install/replace 72 speed cameras throughout the city. In addition to costing $2.2 million, the contract will allow a vendor to share in the proceeds of the fines collected – for every $75 traffic ticket generated by the cameras and collected by the city, Brekford is rebated $21. For every $40 ticket, Brekford gets $11.20.
Also of interest is an April 19 report by Baltimore Brew that notes that members of Brekford’s board include Douglas DeLeaver, a former chief of the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Police; Jessie Lee Jr., executive director of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (which has longstanding ties to the Baltimore City Police Department).

The Brew also reported that the head of Brekford’s speed camera division, Maurice Nelson, was hired from Montgomery County’s automated traffic enforcement program.
In addition, the $2.2 million was handed over to Brekford even though that company’s “clerical mistakes” (and software compatibility issues) are what resulted in an undisclosed number of erroneous tickets given out to motorists.
And, Brekford scored all the repeat business without having to jump through the hoops of competitive bidding
.

“We decided it was not practical to seek competitive bids on these additional cameras,” Timothy M. Krus, the city’s chief purchasing agent said in response to City Comptroller Joan Pratt questioning the process.

When it comes to the cameras themselves as well as the government officials who vote to authorize them, it becomes more apparent that Judge Reuhlman’s said it best: automated traffic enforcement is “a scam the motorist cannot win.”


0 Comments

August 16th, 2014

8/16/2014

0 Comments

 
I want to spend one more day shouting to the middle-class to WAKE UP!!!!!!  STOP LOOKING AT THE TV NEWS AND THINKING THIS MILITARIZED POLICING AND SPYING IS ONLY HURTING THE WORKING CLASS AND POOR.

The small government of neo-liberals and neo-cons gutted oversight and accountability and public justice.  We want to be clear----when equal protection disappears everyone is hurt but women and people of color the most.  The middle-class is seeing its life savings and investments shredded by fraud and corruption linked to this outsourcing of the public sector.  The unemployment in the US is at around 36% and is called a permanent fixture because that 36% is the middle-management that gave oversight and accountability to corporations and government.  All of this plays hard on people of color and the working class in the form of poverty issues, but it opens as well to the fact that 80% and soon 90% of American people will fall into this category.  Republican voters must see that small government effects all people's rights as citizens-----not just the poor and/or people of color.  It will come to your family!

WE MUST FIGHT AGAINST THIS ILLEGAL ATTACK ON OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AS CITIZENS, EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER RULE OF LAW, AND OUR BILL OF RIGHTS.

Baltimore City State's Attorney does not even have a white collar criminal unit and no funds to build one.  Rawlings-Blake and City Hall are overseeing a systemic fleecing of government coffers and have no interest in public oversight and accountability.  Baltimore City is one of a few governments not having routine audits -----it all happens because Johns Hopkins controls public policy and revenue in the city and does not want oversight and accountability.  They want only to control the symptoms of the poverty this creates.


Baltimore City Will Hire 2 New Prosecutors To Reduce Violence

July 11, 2013 7:01 PM

Mike Hellgren WJZ general assignment reporter

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A new plan of action. The recent spike in city violence sparks local and federal lawmakers to enact a new plan of action.

The mayor, police commissioner and U.S. attorney appoint two special prosecutors to target violent offenders.

Mike Hellgren has more on the new partnership.

These two new experienced prosecutors are veterans of the system. They have not yet been selected; background checks are underway now. They will have the full resources of the federal government.




I shared with everyone that Maryland's Attorney General Doug Gansler ran with an agenda item being dismantling the prosecutor's office assign to provide oversight and justice from government malfeasance and corruption.  This office was created as a result of the Agnew years.  Well, fraud and corruption never left and the attorneys running for these state's attorney and Attorney's General offices simply ignore and defund agencies tasked with public justice.  There is so much business fraud in Maryland against citizens that people have to work hard to find an honest contractor and then watch them like a hawk-----just because these public justice agencies are dismantled.  These are the same agencies that protect people's civil rights as with police brutality and unconstitutional policing.  So, THIS AFFECTS EVERYONE FOLKS!

THINK WHICH GROUPS IN MARYLAND BACK NEO-LIBERALS LIKE ANTHONY BROWN AND DOUG GANSLER ----AND REPUBLICAN HOGAN WILL DO THE SAME-----LABOR AND JUSTICE LEADERS IN MARYLAND BACK THE VERY POLS DOING THIS DAMAGE.  MARYLAND HAS NO LABOR AND JUSTICE LEADERS THAT ARE NOT CAPTURED BY THIS PROCESS.


People need to see that the white collar crime that empties the Baltimore City coffers----and this happens all across Maryland----is directly related to the crime and violence in low-income communities.  If billions are stolen by Baltimore Development Corporation and Johns Hopkins through fraud and corruption then cuts to social services and community programs occur.  If Johns Hopkins writes policy that floods the city labor market with immigrants who are then fleeced of their wages ----or workers brought from out of state to work in Baltimore
-----high unemployment drives crime and violence.  The middle-class in Baltimore are being hit with car/home break ins/robberies because people are not able to be employed.  RAIDING CITY COFFERS WITH FRAUD AND CORRUPTION AND THEN BRINGING LABOR TO BALTIMORE WHO ARE THEN FLEECED OF WAGES-----all involving suspended Rule of Law and public justice.  THIS WILL AFFECT EVERYONE.

IT IS NOT ONLY THE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF POLICING--IT IS THE SUSPENSION OF RULE OF LAW FOR ALL WHITE COLLAR CRIME.


This report simply shows the pattern that exists throughout Baltimore City government.  If you look at the report on SAIC from yesterday and the corruption in that Hopkins corporation the problems are the same.  If you go further and look at the structure for Wall Street financial instruments filling our financial industry with fraud-----it is all the same model.  Creating multiple layers of service and responsibility and then claim it is all too complicated to audit.  Baltimore does not have a revenue problem----the revenue is being stolen and diverted to the same people.

IInside City Hall: What a federal audit tells us about city spending Baltimore ranks at the bottom of cities audited by HUD's Inspector General. Where, exactly, did the $9.5 million in homeless funds go?

Mark Reutter December 5, 2012 at 7:11 am


Homeless men and women sit near the city’s Harry and Jeanette Weinberg homeless shelter at 620 Fallsway.

Calling for audits has become a popular pastime at City Hall.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake wants one to look at Comptroller Joan Pratt’s Municipal Telephone Exchange office, while Pratt is calling for numbers crunchers to sift through the contracts of the Mayor’s Office of Information Technology.

Councilman Carl Stokes has called for audits of all city agencies, something the mayor and majority of the City Council don’t want to do. But the mayor and Council did agree over the summer to audit selective agencies beginning in year 2014.

Given all the fuss, wouldn’t it seem that when an audit does appear, elected officials would rush to find out what it says about how the city spends money?

Such a report arrived last month. The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released an audit of Baltimore’s use of $9.5 million for homeless programs awarded under President Obama’s 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

A Crash Nobody Heard

City Hall seems to be pretending that this audit does not exist, like the proverbial tree that fell in the woods with a crash nobody heard.

There’s been no comment about the report by top officials, not least by Mayor Rawlings-Blake, whose Office of Human Services and Homeless Services Program stand accused of ineptitude and mismanagement by HUD’s auditors.

The report says that the city did not properly monitor the homeless funds, paid sub-providers based on a preset formula rather than on actual expenditures, lost track of money in several instances, and paid city staffers according to estimates, not on the actual time they spent on grant activities.

Calling 100% of Baltimore’s homeless expenditures “unsupported” by required documentation, HUD’s Inspector General is recommending that the city either provide proof that its homeless payments were legit or return the dough – all $9,472,118 – to the federal government.

The Inspector General faulted Baltimore’s homeless program.

“Baltimore Was Delinquent”

While Rawlings-Blake and her staff haven’t publicly responded to the audit, the Homeless Services’ rebuttal to HUD was published in the report.

It’s revealing. The city admits that it violated federal regulations because it did not have the staff to ensure compliance and because it found the program’s regulations too complicated.

“The City of Baltimore was delinquent in monitoring the program’s sub-providers as required because we lacked resources to conduct an appropriate level of monitoring, both fiscally and programmatically,” Kate Briddell, director of Homeless Services, wrote.


She acknowledged a number of management infractions. Among them: “the fiscal director improperly directed the fiscal staff to draft funds . . . to reimburse itself,” the Board of Estimates approved a homeless contract “in error,” the language of another contract “was not amended in title or terms to accommodate” the federal program, and funds “that appear to be drawn” improperly from one account were in fact used without documentation for a related program.

After making these admissions, Briddell went on to deny that they had any real consequences. “[W]hile some of the paperwork was not completed or kept in a standard we would like, no waste, fraud or abuse was conducted during the course of administering this project,” she wrote.

Briddell’s statement was flatly contradicted by her own acknowledgment that the Prisoner’s Aid Association of Maryland did not properly handle $270,550 in homeless funds – HUD claims the group was double billing the government for clients they had placed in emergency housing.

Perhaps that’s why HUD’s reply to Briddell begins so bluntly: “We disagree with the city’s statements.”

At the Bottom of Cities Audited


To check whether other cities shared Baltimore’s managerial shortcomings, The Brew reviewed a dozen HUD audits of city and county governments that also received funds under the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.

Compared to Baltimore’s 100% “unsupported” expenditures, HUD’s Inspector General found that less than 1% of the funds spent by New York City, Houston and San Francisco to be “unsupported” or “ineligible.” The exact percentages were: New York (0.6%), Houston  (0.48%) and San Francisco (0.7%).

The Los Angeles Housing Department was also audited. HUD found $29,004 of the $29.4 million awarded was not properly documented, or less than 0.001%.

Even the worst offenders – Buffalo with 6.6% unsupported documentation and Newark with 8.5% unsupported, according to HUD – look like like fiscal angels compared to Charm City.

HUD certified in its audit of Baltimore that it followed generally accepted government auditing standards.

Coming Back for More

The lack of sufficient internal controls has been a longstanding criticism of Baltimore government.

City departments, including the Mayor’s various offices handling criminal justice, CitiStat operations, information technology, health and human services, are budgeted a certain amount of funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

But the practice of letting departments come back for more funds during the year, through supplemental appropriations approved by the Board of Estimates, undercuts fiscal discipline, critics say.

This coupled with the lack of oversight by the City Council – the Budget and Appropriations Committee chaired by Councilman Helen Holton has yet to reconvene a hearing concerning agency spending last year – and the necessary checks and balances are absent.

Farming Out Responsibility

A larger issue brought out by the HUD audit was the lack of programmatic oversight by the city.
The Mayor’s Office of Human Services did not even hand out the homeless grants. The task was farmed out to its fiscal agent, the United Way of Maryland.

That process split up management functions, which effectively meant that nobody was minding the store and determining whether the sub-providers were actually fulfilling the needs of the homeless as well as meeting the requirements of HUD.

Until effective accountability is instilled at the top, the future audits promised for city agencies are likely to suffer the same fate as the HUD homeless audit – official silence from those in charge, leading to more public cynicism about the workings of local government.

_____________________________________________



Below you see the supposed Democratic candidate for Maryland Attorney General.  If you look at the issues you will never see or hear the words----massive corporate fraud and government corruption as any justice candidate's platform.  You see selected justice issues that are always aimed at low level criminals such as scammers targeting senior citizens.  The subprime mortgage fraud targeted seniors and the parking ticket settlement was a disgrace yet Frosh never mentioned the injustice---he instead looked at individual solutions to foreclosures.  The fact that Maryland was the source of the fraud----MERS operated out of Frosh's Montgomery County as well as Virginia's Washington beltway----Maryland was the hardest hit by subprime mortgage fraud-----and it is the state with the highest number of foreclosures happening even now.  All of this shows there is no public justice at work in this particular case.  I choose Frosh and his statement on protecting seniors as a way to show how these issues mean nothing.  Sure, there are scammers targeting seniors but that exists because there is absolutely no public justice agency in place preventing these predations.  Maryland TV programming is filled with businesses that scam people.  Our local and state agencies of Licensing and Regulation DLLR is a skeleton crew and this is what allows for contractors to act criminal at will.  Frosh never mentions this and will not do anything to change this.

If you listen to Republican candidate for Governor Hogan he will use the fraud and corruption issue but as with Frosh-----he means he will look at low-level scams like Food Stamp and Pension fraud and never mentions the systemic culture of corporate fraud and government corruption.  So, don't vote for a Republican just because neo-liberals have made the Democratic Party so corrupt.....

GET RID OF THE NEO-LIBERALS!  THEY ARE ONLY PROTECTING WEALTH AND PROFIT AND WILL NOT HOLD POWER ACCOUNTABLE.


Neo-liberals always talk about gun violence and control but they are the ones implementing the policies that kill labor and justice....creating the conditions for this increase in crime and violence.  So, if a candidate simply shouts a mantra of gun control and gun violence without shouting that the Maryland Assembly and Baltimore City Hall passes policy that creates the conditions for crime and violence----he/she will do nothing about solving these problems.
  Now, FROSH is definitely better than Jon Cardin but the point is Maryland never has a candidate for public justice that will provide public justice.

Google  '
Frosh and government corruption and corporate fraud' and you will get nothing.

THE GOVERNOR HAS THE ABILITY TO CREATE SPECIAL TASK FORCES AND PRESSURE MARYLAND AGENCIES TO ENFORCE LAW-----


neo-liberals like Brown will protect the fraud and corruption----Cindy Walsh for Governor will fight and reverse it!



PETER FROSH FOR MARYLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL



Issues Protecting Kids Online


Information technology has made our world more connected and productive than ever before. Unfortunately, the anonymity and freedom of the Internet have also created greater opportunities for crime, exploitation, and abuse. As a father of two daughters, I know firsthand the threats the Internet brings into the lives of young people today. Through that expe...

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Protecting Seniors Our seniors deserve the respect and care that they have earned throughout their lifetime. Maryland's senior population will only continue to rise in the coming years. As a result, the number of crimes against seniors will also increase. Far too often, scam artists perceive senior citizens as vulnerable and relatively wealthy due to their ability to access...

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Making Maryland Safer Protecting people - it’s what I have done in the courtroom and in the legislature. My number one priority as Attorney General will be keeping Maryland families safe. I have been a leader in keeping Maryland families safe by: Leading the fight for the Firearm Safety Act, landmark gun safety legislation that will prevent gun violence and save thousan...

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Protecting Maryland's Environment We know that the beauty of our state isn’t just something we enjoy, but it is also one of the things that make our economy strong. Responsible and sustainable utilization of our natural resources should be a guiding principle for Maryland businesses and individuals. Everywhere I go, Marylanders tell me they want clean water to drink and clean air to...

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Protecting Maryland Consumers As a young man, I was taught the importance of justice and fairness, and to stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. I have carried those values with me throughout my career in public service: championing laws to protect children from ingesting harmful chemicals in baby bottles and formula; expanding the Attorney General’s power t...

______________________________________________

The only oversight in Maryland comes from the Federal government and as we all know Eric Holder and Obama have made it their top priority to get rid of that with the help of Congress.  You see below that all of the agencies tasked with oversight and transparency are the ones cut in the attack of small government.  THAT IS ALL THESE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS CARE ABOUT---HIDING THE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION TRAIL.

This is third world.  It is what Trans Pacific Trade Pact does----eliminates a sovereign nation's ability to limit corporate profit in any way.  I had a young black Republican in Maryland tell me WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH PROFIT?  Well, you are being sold a bill of goods if you do not understand the power of Rule of Law and Equal Protection and Bill of Rights in everyone's life.



Continued cuts to legislative branch budget hurt transparency, accountability, and capacity

.
by Matthew Rumsey
  • policy
July 9, 2013, 4:16 p.m.


This morning, the House Appropriations Committee's Legislative Branch Subcommittee marked up its FY 2014 funding bill, agreeing to a plan that would cut funding for Congress and legislative support agencies well below FY 2013 levels, and even beneath sequestration levels for most offices.

Committee leadership claimed that cuts were necessary to "lead by example" and help get the government's "fiscal house in order,"
but, in reality, the cuts will likely limit accountability, access to information, and the ability of Congress and the legislative support agencies to do their jobs efficiently and effectively
. The shrinking budgets could also make it more difficult for Congress to implement a number of important transparency initiatives.

Specifically, the plan would continue several years of cuts to House operations and the Government Accountability Office that have diminished the capacity of both bodies.

The GAO exists to help Congress fulfill one of its most important functions,
overseeing and improving the accountability and efficiency of the federal government, and pays for itself many times over through the cost savings that it identifies every year. Unfortunately, Since major budget cuts began three years ago the GAO has lost more than 14% of its staff and seen its ranks fall to the lowest staffing level since 1935. The GAO cannot continue to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government and help to save taxpayers billions of dollars every year if its budget keeps shrinking.

Meanwhile, the House has cut individual office budgets by more than 17% over the past few years, reducing Representatives' ability to understand and enact complex policy, communicate openly and efficiently with constituents, perform oversight, and do the job of governing that they were elected to do. Unfortunately, Congressional staffs have been shrinking since the late 1970's. These cuts will most likely accelerate that trend and further diminish Congress' policy expertise and ability to conduct oversight.

Finally, limited budgets could make it harder for Congress to move forward with important transparency reforms, including opening Congressional Research Service reports and reports from the Executive branch to Congress to the public.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up their Legislative Branch funding bill on Thursday. Hopefully they will push for funding necessary to ensure that Congress and its support agencies can do their jobs effectively.


_____________________________________________

The same forces dismantling public justice for citizens in poor communities is that dismantling oversight and accountability in government and corporations.  The idea is that chaos and unaccountability allows the few in the autocracy to control everyone else----and that is what people in third world nations
live with every day.  When my friends dread having to find a contractor to do simple work because everyone is fleecing consumers---the middle-class are losing  rights as the people in poor communities enduring 'stop and frisk', home invasions, zero tolerance, and now youth curfews......loss of citizenship.

EVERYONE NEEDS TO WAKE UP TO THE CULTURE OF CRIMINALITY WE HAVE IN GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATIONS.


Below you see the political culture of neo-liberals and neo-cons.....O'Malley is the mirror of Cuomo and both are raging Wall Street neo-liberals----Clinton's farm team.  If you have leadership in government openly committing fraud as you do today---you have no
Rule of Law being enforced anywhere.


I went to the Baltimore Comptroller's office for FOIA request on a statement made by Mayor Rawlings-Blake during a Board of Estimates meeting.  The mayor's lawyer Nilson was there and stated out loud that the FOIA would be used against the people included in a lawsuit to which the BOA employee stated.....well, we can lose that information.  This is so pervasive that a lawyer feels no problem with suggesting that information disappear.
  You can just see how this behavior is mirrored in the Baltimore City Police Department.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONDUCT!  PROVE IT!


Wednesday, Jul 23, 2014 09:30 AM EST  Salon


Report: Andrew Cuomo under federal investigation for allegedly thwarting ethics inquiries

The governor of New York and possible future presidential candidate may have tried to shield his donors Elias Isquith

According to a new bombshell report in the New York Times, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, widely expected to coast to reelection this fall and long rumored to have presidential ambitions, is under federal investigation for allegedly trying to thwart his own anti-corruption commission after it began looking at his political allies.......


Why Is the Cuomo Administration Automatically Deleting State Employees' Emails?

Wednesday, 13 August 2014 10:23 By Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica | Report

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Photo: Diana Robinson / Flickr)New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration — which the governor pledged would be the most transparent in state history -- has quietly adopted policies that allow it to purge the emails of tens of thousands of state employees, cutting off a key avenue for understanding and investigating state government.

Last year, the state started deleting any emails more than 90 days old that users hadn't specifically saved — a much more aggressive stance than many other states. The policy shift was first reported by the Albany Times Union.

A previously unpublished memo outlining the policy raises new questions about the state's stated rationale for its deletions policy. What's more, the rules on which emails must be retained are bewilderingly complex – they fill 118 pages – leading to further concern that emails may not be saved at all.

"If you're aggressively destroying your email, it looks like you're trying to hide something," said Benjamin Wright, a Dallas lawyer who has advised companies and government agencies on records retention.

ProPublica obtained the memo through a public records request.

In the June 18, 2013, memo, Karen Geduldig, the general counsel of the state's Office of Information Technology Services, described New York's decision to automatically delete emails as a way to cut down on the state's "enormous amount of email data."

But the state implemented the policy as part of a move to Microsoft's Office 365 email system, which offers 50 gigabytes of space per email user — enough to store hundreds of thousands or even millions of emails for each state worker. The state's version of Office 365 also offers unlimited email archiving.

The Office of Information and Technology Services declined to comment on the record. An official in the office said even though the state can store large quantities of email, it can still be difficult to manage.

"Just because you have a big house doesn't mean you have to shove stuff in it," the official said.

Geduldig's memo also pointed out that some federal government agencies and corporations automatically purge employees' email. "Such a system will aid the State in improving its email management," Geduldig wrote.

But many states take a different tack.

Florida, for instance, requires state employees to keep routine administrative correspondence for at least three years, and emails dealing with policy development for at least five years. Connecticut requires employees to keep routine emails for at least two years. Washington State requires workers to keep emails dealing with public business for two years, and emails to and from top officials for four years. Those states also do not automatically delete email.

"It shouldn't be an automatic process," said Russell Wood, the records manager for the Washington State Archives. "There should be some point of review in there."

Emails that qualify as "records" are supposed to be preserved under New York's policy. But determining which emails qualify and which don't — a task left up to individual state employees — can be mind-numbingly complicated.

The state's rules include 215 different categories of records — including two separate categories dealing with office supplies.

"We don't think it's plausible at all that agency personnel are going to meticulously follow" those rules, said John Kaehny, the executive director of the good-government group Reinvent Albany. If the rules for preservation aren't followed, emails will be purged by default.

The length of time emails are required to be kept varies by category. Any emails related to "human rights training," for instance, must be kept for six years. Emails concerning "agency fiscal management" must be kept for three years. Emails about "the development of internal administrative policies and procedures" must be kept for a year, but emails "used to support administrative analysis, planning and development of procedures" can be deleted as soon as they're "obsolete," according to the rules.

The governor's office has its own rules detailing which emails must be saved, with 55 categories, from emails of weekly reports to emails "related to Native-American affairs." Anything that doesn't fall into one of the categories "should be deleted" once they've been opened, the governor's office advises.

There is no internal or external watchdog to make sure the rules are being followed, Kaehny said.

The state also doesn't have a standardized system for preserving emails that do have to be saved, according to the Office of Information Technology Services official. State workers can save their emails by printing them out, pasting them into Microsoft Word documents or placing them in a special folder in the email program itself.

"Everyone does it differently, and some people are still learning how to do it," the official said.

Emails related to potential litigation and freedom of information requests are not supposed to be deleted under New York State's policy. But Karl Olson, a San Francisco lawyer who has represented news outlets including the Los Angeles Times in freedom of information lawsuits, said that deleting emails after such a short period of time might mean they're gone by the time reporters need to request them.

"It may take a while for evidence of misconduct to bubble to the surface," Olson said.

Emily Grannis, a fellow with the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said New York's automatic deletion policy "strikes me as inconsistent with the goals of [freedom of information] laws, and to have such a short timeframe is particularly troubling."

Government agencies often adopt deletion policies to help protect themselves from potential lawsuits and freedom of information requests, said Mark Diamond, the chief executive of Contoural, a records management consulting firm. Getting rid of emails after 90 days, though, risks deleting correspondence that employees might need down the road. "I don't think it's a well thought-out strategy," he said.

Cuomo's aides have also developed a reputation for using their personal email accounts to conduct state business — a move that can make it more difficult to seek the emails under the state's freedom of information law. The Cuomo administration has denied that it does so, but a ProPublica reporter and others have, in fact, received such emails from officials.

New York isn't the only state that destroys unsaved email after 90 days.

California's governor's office, for instance, has automatically deleted employees' sent and received email after 90 days for more than a decade. But the office also requires employees to save far more than in New York, including official correspondence, memos, scheduling requests and other documents.







0 Comments

August 14th, 2014

8/14/2014

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WE CAN REVERSE ALL OF THESE POLICIES EASY PEASY BY SIMPLY VOTING FOR POLS THAT SHOUT OUT AGAINST GLOBAL CORPORATIONS DRIVING MARYLAND'S ECONOMY AND FOR REBUILDING RULE OF LAW


I have been speaking with and handing my research to Baltimore police officers for a few months now making sure they understand that Johns Hopkins has told City Hall and the Chief of Police Batts to move towards privatization of Baltimore police and fire departments.  Since the economic collapse Baltimore has seen an explosion of fraud and corruption that is taking a billion dollars a year from city coffers and we cannot afford to support public sector employees as middle-class when all the money is being sent to corporate fraud and subsidy.  The public union-busting by neo-liberals and neo-cons in Baltimore and Maryland-----those neo-liberals O'Malley/Brown and the Maryland Assembly with the neo-cons Rawlings-Blake and the Baltimore City Hall are now getting rid of our public police and fire.  Remember, Clinton, Bush, Obama have almost finished privatizing the US military.....the manufactured sequestration cuts for the military were all about getting rid of public military and their benefits so now these global corporate pols are doing the same at the state and local level.  When you are bringing a formerly first world nation to third world status you must have all security working for corporations and not loyal to the public as public sector employees say Johns Hopkins.


Baltimore Chief of Police Batts was brought to Baltimore to do just that.  The Hopkins-owed SAIC surveillance and security systems Batts installed in Oakland, California are now being installed in Baltimore.  Batts is paid a salary that looks like the corporate executive he is.  The Baltimore Police have been battered with wage and benefit cuts and changes in shifts and hours that have Baltimore police one of the worst work environments and pay in the state and that doesn't even include the crime and violence and chronic intra-departmental problems.  If one didn't know better it almost seems like they are trying to get Baltimore police officers with tenure and pensions to leave the city!  Talking with officers that is indeed what is happening.  Police officers with ten years invested in pensions are leaving because of the hostile environment brought by Hopkins and their pols at City Hall.  The more stress on the police the more stress on the job.  Baltimore City is a tinderbox as citizens are tired of crime and violence and the police ignoring civil rights and liberties in the communities.  All of this is caused by the public policy written at Johns Hopkins and played out in City Hall.  Deliberately high unemployment and a stagnant economy is impoverishing people and the police department is headed by a chief known for abuse inside and outside of the department.  Remember, injustice necessitates chaos and that is what neo-liberals and neo-cons are allowing to happen under the guise of budget cuts and small government.

The Baltimore Police Department has sent representatives to Europe to contract with an International Security Corporation to send private security workers to Baltimore to replace existing public forces.  The fire department will go next.  The citizens already have trouble with police acting outside of the Constitution and when International security forces come----they will be working under Trans Pacific Trade Pact-----which replaces the US Constitution say the neo-liberals and neo-cons. 

ONLY THE TRANS PACIFIC TRADE PACT IS ILLEGAL AND A COUP AGAINST THE US CONSTITUTION SO ANY ATTEMPTS TO INSTALL TPP CAN BE REVERSED AS ILLEGAL.



What does life under International Security forces look like?  Well-----third world.


State Police, or Police State? --Nathan

Eleven facts about police militarization:
1. It harms, and sometimes kills, innocent people.
2. Children are impacted.
3. The use of SWAT teams is often unnecessary.
4. The “war on terror” is fueling militarization.
5. It’s a boon to contractor profits.
6. Border militarization and police militarization go hand in hand.
7. Police are cracking down on dissent.
8. Asset forfeitures are funding police militarization.
9. Dubious informants are used for raids.
10. There’s been little debate or oversight.
11. Communities of color bear the brunt.

http://billmoyers.com/2014/08/13/not-just-ferguson-11-eye-opening-facts-about-americas-militarized-police-forces/


_____________________________________________

A police representative going to Europe to talk International Security contracting for the Baltimore City Police force would no doubt find an organization like the one below.  This is a US global corporation that does much of its work overseas but we see these operations moving into Western nations under the guise of 'terrorism'.  The threat of 'terrorism' falls squarely with dissent and protest---crime and violence by American citizens.  As 70% of Americans fall into poverty from the massive corporate frauds and the deliberate global corporate stagnation of our domestic economy-----and with that 70% growing to 80% and more----this third world society will see people WAKING UP and this is the structure O'Malley and the Maryland Assembly and Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore City Hall are building.  It is of course coming to your neck of the woods as well!

As important as a militarized government structure is we need to think as well how much taxpayer money is being spent on all of this Stalin-like security buildup.  The article below states that so much taxpayer money was funneled
to SAIC to create this Hopkins corporation that much of what all taxpayers paid in taxes for years went into building this surveillance structure unrolling in cities like Oakland, Calif, NYC, and Baltimore, Maryland.


You can see the job categories to see this organization will take over all public security duties as a global corporation.  Our Bank of America in Charles Village Baltimore already has contracted International Security outside their bank branch.

ISIO - INTERNATIONAL SECURITY INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION
Security Case S
tudies and
Applications


Belong to the most formidable International NETWORK for Security Professionals

ISIO Demographics

Reach
increases world-wide. Security Directors, Managers, General Managers, Trainers, Staff in all sectors, namely, Military and Defence, Buildings, Mall and Security, Law Enforcement, Prisons, Investigators, Assessors, Consultants and Advisors for Ports and Cargo, Hotel and Casino Security landside and on ships. Location (289071)United States, (89152)United Kingdom, (38194)India (34709)Canada, (31546)South Africa


The Focused Security Professional, is able to identify companies that have experience in providing security solutions for [Their] region of interest.

* Bank Security

* Border Security

* Building Security

* Business and Commercial Security

* Cargo Security

* City Security

* Control Station Security

* Event Security

* Homeland Security

* Hospital Security

* Hotel, Casino & Landmark Security

* Military and Defense Security

* Industrial Security

* Law Enforcement Security

* Oil and Refinery Security

* Port Security

* Prison Security

* Rail/Tunnel and Subway Security

* Retail and Store Security

* School Security


PROVIDING INTERNATIONAL SOLUTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES. ISIO Global is a boutique, international solutions provider headquartered in the U.S. with operations in North and South America, Africa and Asia. The ISIO Global team of Principals and associates is comprised of a unique and diverse set of professionals with backgrounds in government security, intelligence, logistics, political strategy, energy, finance, international trade, risk management, and the military.

ISIO Global provides comprehensive custom-tailored solutions to meet our clients’ needs. Our client list includes countries, presidents and other high ranking officials from both the private sector and the military, high net worth individuals, and Fortune 100 companies. Through our vast international experience and contacts, ISIO Global is uniquely positioned to quickly and efficiently design and implement comprehensive solutions for the most pressing problems and exciting opportunities around the globe.

______________________________________________
You can see how neo-con SAIC and Hopkins is with this connection to Bush/Cheney and Halliburton----the biggest fraudsters in the world.  The reason I speak now about what most people who study this knows is that this is what will be brought to Baltimore -----and has been in the works for a while-----and it is completely ineffective, corrupt, and will work with no transparency or with any regard to Rule of Law.  If you think Baltimore Police Department is lacking transparency or attention to Constitutional policing wait until this ISIO/SAIC consortium comes our way.

THAT'S A NEO-LIBERAL AND NEO-CON FOR YOU----THIRD WORLD SOCIETY
. 

STOP VOTING FOR THEM.  REMEMBER, IN MARYLAND WE HAVE LABOR AND JUSTICE LEADERS BACKING THESE NEO-LIBERALS EVERY ELECTION.  VOTE FOR BROWN OR GANSLER SAY BALTIMORE MINISTERS AND MARYLAND LABOR UNION LEADERS----WELL, THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE PUSHING ON THE CITIZENS OF MARYLAND.



This is an attempt to make a blog in which I comment on scientific issues.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Who or what is SAIC? Vanity Fair has a quite interesting article about SAIC, a company I had never heard about before.

Washington's $8 Billion Shadow
Mega-contractors such as Halliburton and Bechtel supply the government with brawn. But the biggest, most powerful of the "body shops"—SAIC, which employs 44,000 people and took in $8 billion last year—sells brainpower, including a lot of the "expertise" behind the Iraq war.
The article goes on to describe SAIC, and their less than stellar record. The article also touches on why such companies exist.
It is a simple fact of life these days that, owing to a deliberate decision to downsize government, Washington can operate only by paying private companies to perform a wide range of functions. To get some idea of the scale: contractors absorb the taxes paid by everyone in America with incomes under $100,000. In other words, more than 90 percent of all taxpayers might as well remit everything they owe directly to SAIC or some other contractor rather than to the IRS.
This is hardly a new trend. In his 1980 book, Fat City, Donald Lambro describes much the same going on. It goes without saying that this is not a cost effective way of running things, and that it creates problems with oversight and conflict of interest, as the article also explains.
In Washington these companies go by the generic name "body shops"—they supply flesh-and-blood human beings to do the specialized work that government agencies no longer can. Often they do this work outside the public eye, and with little official oversight—even if it involves the most sensitive matters of national security.

[....]

SAIC's relative anonymity has allowed large numbers of its executives to circulate freely between the company and the dozen or so government agencies it cares about. William B. Black Jr., who retired from the N.S.A. in 1997 after a 38-year career to become a vice president at SAIC, returned to the N.S.A. in 2000. Two years later the agency awarded the Trailblazer contract to SAIC.
I highly recommend the article - go read it, and see what the US taxpayers' money is really used on.


__________________________________________

SAIC is Johns Hopkins and represents billions of taxpayer dollars sent to Hopkins in development funding and as you see below-----it operates world-wide just as Baltimore Board of Estimates operates here in Baltimore.  The corruption in cost overruns and bid-rigging is breath-taking and you see the same ethics permeates all of what these Ivy League Universities are involved. 

SAIC is the spying network behind the NSA that Snowden exposed to the world and it is in the consortium of security and surveillance groups that operate as ISIO above.  ISIO would be an example of what the police privatization in Baltimore would look like.  For decades SAIC and ISIO have operated in developing worlds but they are now moving into Western countries to control dissent of Americans et al to being taken third world.


Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin have worked hard to send Federal funds to build these kinds of systems through Hopkins.  HOW TOTALITARIAN OF THEM!


The article states that despite the known corruption in SAIC that Bloomberg of NYC handed a multi-million contract to the same and the reporter wonders why give business to a known criminal element-----WELL, HOPKINS IS BLOOMBERG.

'SO INEFFECTIVE'-----DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE GOVERNMENT IN MARYLAND AND BALTIMORE???


Just How Corrupt is SAIC?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at 7:23PM
David Callahan The latest revelation in the CityTime corruption case offers yet more evidence that the Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, may have an unethical organizational culture. SAIC is one of the largest and most well-connected government contracting firms in the country, with 45,000 employees worldwide. It's incompetence in handling the CityTime contract, with hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns, appears to be part of a pattern -- with other clients, like the FBI, reporting similar experiences.

But now comes evidence of something darker. According to a files unearthed by New York City Controller John Liu, SAIC tried to exert improper influence over the top city official monitoring its work. Juan Gonzalez, the New York Daily News reporter who has been on top of this story all along describes the new revelations about SAIC:

On Jan. 28, 2002, Richard Valcich, then the director of the Office of Payroll Administration, wrote a one-page note to William Russell, a senior vice president for Virginia-based Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC).

"I appreciated meeting with you to discuss SAIC issues that are pending with the Office of Payroll Administration," Valcich wrote. He then apologized to Russell "if I seemed rude and abruptly shortened your discussion on a future post city-employment position with SAIC."

"[I]t is inappropriate to discuss any post employment with a company that I do business," Valcich warned him.

Valcich went on to say that he was "flattered you would consider me for such a position with SAIC but there are restrictions due to the city's conflicts of interest rules."

Such restrictions include a lifetime ban against working on the same "matter" that a city employee handled while in government. 

Wow. Of course, those familiar with how big contractors and lobbyists corrupt government officials will not find any of this surprising. There is a long history of companies using offers of lucrative jobs to exert improper influence. These deals are simple and often hard to scrutinize: Do our bidding now, companies say, and we'll give you a job paying a million dollars a year (or whatever) down the road. A big focus of ethics reform in recent decades has been to crack down on "revolving door" enticements.

SAIC's tactic in this episode raises questions about its corrupt dealing around other contracts. Stay tuned for more on that topic. 

Gonzalez's latest article on the subject of SAIC includes a kicker near the end: 

Amazingly, despite years of red flags on the CityTime project, the Bloomberg administration confirmed yesterday it recently awarded a new $40 million contract to SAIC.

So what is it about Michael Bloomberg and SAIC?
Why is a mayor so famously focused on efficiency so forgiving to a contractor that is so ineffective? That is a question that deserves closer attention. 

 
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August 13th, 2014

8/13/2014

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Do you hear your labor and justice leaders shouting out against this?  NO, they are backing the neo-liberals who are embracing Trans Pacific Trade Pact pretending it will create jobs.  Well, you will be working as a third world Chinese sweat shop employee with these neo-liberals.

Below I show the local effect of PERESTROIKA of American citizen's assets by global corporations.  I have spoken before about the goal of privatization of public water.  We see the effect in Detroit, a city gutted with fraud and corruption just as in Baltimore.  The American people have paid loads of taxes over a few decades that would have rebuilt state and city infrastructure if that revenue was not being looted by Baltimore Development Corporation and Hopkins to expand global interests.  Now, they want to raise public water bills over double the amount to pay again for rebuilding infrastructure and guess what----the same Johns Hopkins is there to pocket the profits from this public work as VEOLA ENVIRONMENT.  Remember, these Ivy League universities made their billions in endowment profits from the subprime mortgage fraud and AIG investment firm that was spun to become HighStar.  So, all of that profit was based on fraud.  They used that money made from fraud to by VEOLA ENVIRONMENT from the French global corporation.  These same Ivy League universities like Hopkins are now pushing Baltimore City Hall to privatize public transportation to French Veola and privatize public water and waste to HighStar VEOLA ENVIRONMENT.  So, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, et al of the Ivy League are using those endowment funds to privatize public water and waste all over the world.  At the same time they are buying all fertile land and fresh water sources around the world at the same time contaminating US and world aquifers with fracking.....as in Maryland with the Marcellus Aquifer.


I am writing today after coming from the center of fraud and corruption----Baltimore City Hall and the Board of Estimates meeting.  I attended today because they are handing contracts to private corporations for public water service that everyone knows is only steps towards water privatization.  There is Jack Young and Mr. Black for Rawlings-Blake and Comptroller Pratt ready to vote for privatization of Baltimore city public water and waste.  All working for the most neo-conservative institution in the world----Johns Hopkins while running as Democrats.

PRIVATIZING PUBLIC WATER----HOW NEO-CONSERVATIVE OF THEM!!!!!


Jack Young as head of the Board of Estimates has worked hard to make sure public interruptions do not occur during meetings by placing a police officer to escort citizens out if they try to speak.  You know, the public is not allowed to speak about public policy in public in Maryland and especially in Baltimore.  So, instead of speaking during the Board of Estimates meetings on camera for all to see, people like Cindy Walsh must speak to the room before the meeting starts.  Only today, when I explained to all in the room what the goal of this privatization is and how Johns Hopkins is involved-----Jack Young called the police to drag me out BEFORE THE MEETING EVEN STARTED.  He works so hard to make sure no one knows what is happening that he was prepared to throw me out for just speaking in the City Hall room.  I of course reminded him that the meeting had not started and he could not throw me out of the room -----he immediately called the meeting to order.

YOU KNOW WHO LEADS IN PRIVATIZATION OF ALL THAT IS PUBLIC?  O'MALLEY/ANTHONY BROWN.  YOU KNOW WHO BACKED BROWN DURING THE ELECTION FOR GOVERNOR?  LABOR UNION LEADERS.  KNOW WHO WAS THERE TO PROTEST PRIVATIZED WATER----LABOR UNIONS.  ASK FRED MASON OF MARYLAND AFL-CIO WHY HE BACKS NEO-LIBERALS DOING ALL THIS DAMAGE?

We need labor union leaders working for their membership's interests when they support candidates.  You cannot support the neo-liberals installing these policies and then pretend to fight against them.  Union members and labor and justice need to see how VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY BAD THESE PRIVATIZATION POLICIES ARE FOR EVERYONE!

IT TAKES A SOCIOPATH TO PLAN THESE KINDS OF CORPORATE POLICIES AND THE POLS HIRED TO PUSH THESE GOALS INTO PLACE ARE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS.
ALL OF MARYLAND POLS ARE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS.


Don't privatize Baltimore water
[Letter]June 23, 2014

The presence of the private water industry at this week's United States Conference of Mayors meeting threatens public health and democracy in Baltimore.

Time and time again, experiences in other cities that have privatized their water systems have demonstrated that privatization fails to provide secure and equitable water access to residents. The industry's strategy of placing profits over the human right to water is reprehensible and undermines the democratic system.

As a voter and someone who calls Baltimore my home, I strongly urge Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to take a stand at the USCM and keep the private water industry out of our city.

Jacob Fishman, Baltimore


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Did you know that it is Johns Hopkins who is a major shareholder in Veola Environment through HighStar Investment firm that is pushing the privatization of public water and waste?  Did you know that Veola Environment and HighStar have Ivy League endowments in the other cities pushing the privatization of public water----like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Berkeley.  Privatization of public assets to maximize profits for these endowments.

Did you know the goal is to privatize water, end public subsidy of water as water rates rise, use SMART METERS to ration water to what the every growing impoverished public can afford all to maximize profits for Johns Hopkins endowment? 

You must be listening or reading Maryland media -----they make sure you do not know----especially Marc Steiner.

VEOLA ENVIRONMENT is a global corporation bought from the French global corporation VEOLA of transportation fame.  The one known for slave conditions for their workforce all over the world.  VEOLA ENVIRONMENT is working all over the world to privatize the world's public water and waste and in nations having the pleasure of a few decades of their presence water rationing with SMART METERS has been in what followed.  Now, Wall Street and Ivy League endowments want to bring it to America since they are taking the US to third world levels.  That Trans Pacific Trade Pact may not be in place in the US but Maryland and neo-liberals in Congress are preparing for it.



I wonder if an interview with Hopkins staff will let people know what the goal is and who is behind it?


Water Privatization in Baltimore

08/12/14 Marc Steiner
August 11, 2014 –

Segment 3 We turn to the topic of the possibility of water privatization in Baltimore, with: Lauren DeRusha, National Campaign Organizer of Corporate Accountability International; and Dr. Lester Spence, Center for Emerging Media Scholar-in-Residence and Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University.




The Dangerous Return of Water Privatization

Community waters systems have sustainably provided safe drinking water for generations but corporations are now using local fiscal crises to push for water privatization. By Maude Barlow and Wenonah Hauter, from Sojourners
January/February 2014
  Utne


It’s time for an integrated, holistic national water policy, including the establishment of a federal water trust fund. Instead we face the cannibalization of our public utilities by private corporations.

The United States has one of the best public water supply systems in the world. More than 250 million people count on local governments to provide safe drinking water. Over the last 40 years, federal, state, and municipal governments have worked together to improve and protect water resources. The Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act have kept the U.S. on target for preserving rivers, lakes, watersheds, wetlands, natural aquifers, and other sources of fresh water.

Great strides have been made in managing waste water and storm water. More than 90 percent of community water systems in 2012 met all federal health standards. Public water utilities have been a tremendously successful model for the U.S. and continue to keep drinking water safe, accessible, and affordable for all Americans.

It hasn’t always been this way.

During the 1800s, private companies controlled the water systems of several large U.S. cities—to dire effect. Because the companies were more interested in making a profit than providing good service, many poor residents lacked access to water. As a result, cholera outbreaks were common in poor neighborhoods; water pressure was sometimes too low to stop fires, which destroyed both homes and businesses.


By the turn of the 20th century, city governments, including Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, and New York City, had taken over drinking water provision from private companies. The goal of government was to improve service, reduce waterborne diseases, and increase water pressure to better fight fires. New York City, for example, assumed control of its drinking water services from the bank and holding company called the Manhattan Company, the predecessor of JPMorgan Chase, after an outbreak of cholera killed 3,500 people and a devastating fire caused extensive property damage.

These cities learned the hard way just how important public water provision is for human and environmental health. The shift to a public utility system, responsive to community needs, allowed local public control of water and sewer services. Public utilities helped local governments manage water resources, growth, and development, and ensured that safe and reliable services were available to all.

Now, just past the turn of the 21st century, our national water framework needs rethinking with climate change and sustainability in mind. It’s time for an integrated, holistic national water policy, including the establishment of a federal water trust fund. Instead we face the cannibalization of our public utilities by private corporations.

Despite our success over the last 100 years, public water utilities face daunting challenges in the days ahead:

1. Water systems nationwide are aging and wearing out. Last summer more than 150,000 residents in the greater Washington, D.C. region faced the specter of being without water for days because of a stuck valve on a major water main. Delayed maintenance on the valve due to funding cuts led to the crisis.

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Ivy League university endowments were heavily invested in the subprime mortgage loans knowing they were fraudulent and would bring down the economy.  They took the profit made from those fraudulent loans and started buying land overseas with the intent of cornering the next market----privatized public works like transportation and water and waste.  They starved governments with massive frauds and corruptions just to pretend we now have to hand all that is public over to the same institutions creating and profiting from the frauds.


I'm picking on Ivy League universities today but there are plenty of other bad guys profiting from these policies.  Look how rich Ben Cardin and Nancy Pelosi are getting from Insider Trading for example!  Those Clinton neo-liberals who voted for global corporations and markets have worked two decades to advance these policies.  IT'S THE REPUBLICANS THEY SAY-----

WELL, MARYLAND IS ONE BIG NEO-LIBERAL STATE SO IT'S BOTH NEO-CONS AND NEO-LIBERALS.




US universities in Africa 'land grab' Institutions including Harvard and Vanderbilt reportedly use hedge funds to buy land in deals that may force farmers out
  • John Vidal and Claire Provost
  • The Guardian, Wednesday 8 June 2011 15.18 EDT


US universities are reportedly using endowment funds to make deals that may force thousands from their land in Africa. Photograph: Boston Globe via Getty Images Harvard and other major American universities are working through British hedge funds and European financial speculators to buy or lease vast areas of African farmland in deals, some of which may force many thousands of people off their land, according to a new study.

Researchers say foreign investors are profiting from "land grabs" that often fail to deliver the promised benefits of jobs and economic development, and can lead to environmental and social problems in the poorest countries in the world.


The new report on land acquisitions in seven African countries suggests that Harvard, Vanderbilt and many other US colleges with large endowment funds have invested heavily in African land in the past few years. Much of the money is said to be channelled through London-based Emergent asset management, which runs one of Africa's largest land acquisition funds, run by former JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs currency dealers.

Researchers at the California-based Oakland Institute think that Emergent's clients in the US may have invested up to $500m in some of the most fertile land in the expectation of making 25% returns.

Emergent said the deals were handled responsibly. "Yes, university endowment funds and pension funds are long-term investors," a spokesman said. "We are investing in African agriculture and setting up businesses and employing people. We are doing it in a responsible way … The amounts are large. They can be hundreds of millions of dollars. This is not landgrabbing. We want to make the land more valuable. Being big makes an impact, economies of scale can be more productive."

Chinese and Middle Eastern firms have previously been identified as "grabbing" large tracts of land in developing countries to grow cheap food for home populations, but western funds are behind many of the biggest deals, says the Oakland institute, an advocacy research group.

The company that manages Harvard's investment funds declined to comment. "It is Harvard management company policy not to discuss investments or investment strategy and therefore I cannot confirm the report," said a spokesman. Vanderbilt also declined to comment.

Oakland said investors overstated the benefits of the deals for the communities involved. "Companies have been able to create complex layers of companies and subsidiaries to avert the gaze of weak regulatory authorities. Analysis of the contracts reveal that many of the deals will provide few jobs and will force many thousands of people off the land," said Anuradha Mittal, Oakland's director.

In Tanzania, the memorandum of understanding between the local government and US-based farm development corporation AgriSol Energy, which is working with Iowa University, stipulates that the two main locations – Katumba and Mishamo – for their project are refugee settlements holding as many as 162,000 people that will have to be closed before the $700m project can start.
The refugees have been farming this land for 40 years.

In Ethiopia, a process of "villagisation" by the government is moving tens of thousands of people from traditional lands into new centres while big land deals are being struck with international companies.

The largest land deal in South Sudan, where as much as 9% of the land is said by Norwegian analysts to have been bought in the last few years, was negotiated between a Texas-based firm, Nile Trading and Development and a local co-operative run by absent chiefs. The 49-year lease of 400,000 hectares of central Equatoria for around $25,000 (£15,000) allows the company to exploit all natural resources including oil and timber. The company, headed by former US Ambassador Howard Eugene Douglas, says it intends to apply for UN-backed carbon credits that could provide it with millions of pounds a year in revenues.

In Mozambique, where up to 7m hectares of land is potentially available for investors, western hedge funds are said in the report to be working with South Africans businesses to buy vast tracts of forest and farmland for investors in Europe and the US. The contracts show the government will waive taxes for up to 25 years, but few jobs will be created.

"No one should believe that these investors are there to feed starving Africans, create jobs or improve food security," said Obang Metho of Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia. "These agreements – many of which could be in place for 99 years – do not mean progress for local people and will not lead to food in their stomachs. These deals lead only to dollars in the pockets of corrupt leaders and foreign investors."

"The scale of the land deals being struck is shocking", said Mittal. "The conversion of African small farms and forests into a natural-asset-based, high-return investment strategy can drive up food prices and increase the risks of climate change.

Research by the World Bank and others suggests that nearly 60m hectares – an area the size of France – has been bought or leased by foreign companies in Africa in the past three years.

"Most of these deals are characterised by a lack of transparency, despite the profound implications posed by the consolidation of control over global food markets and agricultural resources by financial firms," says the report.


"We have seen cases of speculators taking over agricultural land while small farmers, viewed as squatters, are forcibly removed with no compensation," said Frederic Mousseau, policy director at Oakland, said: "This is creating insecurity in the global food system that could be a much bigger threat to global security than terrorism. More than one billion people around the world are living with hunger. The majority of the world's poor still depend on small farms for their livelihoods, and speculators are taking these away while promising progress that never happens."

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Why is Harper Selling Canada's Fresh Water Supply to French Companies?


Posted: 10/18/2013 12:35 pm EDT Updated: 01/23/2014 6:58 pm EST   Huffington Post


Prime Minister Harper has just signed the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and Canadians who care about our freshwater heritage should be deeply concerned for three reasons.

First, the massive increase in beef and pork exports that have been negotiated will put a terrible strain on our water supplies. Beef producers can now export close to 70,000 tonnes of beef to Europe and an undisclosed but higher amount of pork. Meat production is highly water intensive. It takes over 15 million litres of water to produce one tonne of beef, for example.

Already Alberta's dwindling water supplies are over-taxed by a beef industry that is rapidly expanding and expected to double its water footprint by 2025, according to an assessment done before this deal was signed. Intensive hog operations in Manitoba are killing Lake Winnipeg, their waste creating nutrient overload that covers over half the lake in blue green algae. To protect our precious watersheds, what we need is more sustainable and local food production, not massive new trade deals that will strain our water sources beyond their capacity.

Second, this deal will give French companies Suez and Veolia, the two biggest private water operations in the world, access to run our water services for profit. Under a recent edict, the Harper government has tied federal funding of municipal water infrastructure construction or upgrading to privatization of water services. Cash-strapped municipalities can only access federal funds if they adopt a public-private partnership model, and several cities have recently put their water or wastewater services contracts up for private bids. If Suez or Veolia are successful in bidding for these contracts (and under the new deal, local governments cannot favour local bidders) and a future city council decides it wants to move back to a public system, as municipalities are doing all over the world, these corporations will be able to sue for huge compensation. Private water operators charge far higher rates than public operators and cut corners when it comes to source protection. Privatization of water services violates the essential principle that Canada's water is a public trust.

The same "investor-state" clause contained in the Canada-EU deal poses the third threat to Canada's water. The rules essentially say that if a government introduces new environmental, health or safety rules that were not in place when the foreign corporation made its investment, it has the right to compensation, which a domestic corporation does not have. For instance, an American energy company is suing Canada for $250 million in damages using a similar NAFTA rule because Quebec decided to protect its water by placing a moratorium on fracking. Moreover, transnational corporations are now claiming ownership of the actual water they require in their operations. Another American company successfully sued Ottawa for $130 million for the "water rights"; it left behind when it abandoned its pulp and paper operations in Newfoundland, leaving workers without jobs or pensions. The new deal with Europe will give large European corporations similar rights, further eroding the ability of governments to protect our fragile watersheds and ecosystems.

The Harper government has gutted every regulation and law we had in place to protect our freshwater supplies. Now this deregulation is locked in as corporations from Europe as well as the U.S. can soon claim to have invested in an environment without water protection rules and sue any future government that tries to undo the damage.

On a planet running out of clean accessible water, this is a really stupid way to treat our water.




________________________________________________


The same investment firms pushing to privatize public water and waste are behind these fracking industry expansions.  Exporting natural gas places fracking in the US and around Maryland on steroids as profits rise and that means more and more fresh water sources will disappear.  NO WORRIES.  VEOLA ENVIRONMENT will sell you water from overseas and if you cannot afford the price----they will use SMART METERS to ration what you can pay.

THAT JOHNS HOPKINS----LYING, CHEATING, AND STEALING THEIR WAY TO PROFITS AND THEN USING THEM FOR EVIL-----



Fracking Spreads Worldwide

By Nidaa Bakhsh and Brian Swint November 14, 2013


Bloomberg Financial

The hydraulic fracturing of shale in search of oil and gas has hardly started outside the U.S., but that’s changing. A record 400 shale wells may be drilled beyond U.S. borders in 2014, with most of the activity in China and Russia, according to energy consultants Wood Mackenzie. (In contrast, thousands of shale wells will be drilled in the U.S. next year.) The number of rigs used onshore in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region has increased 10 percent over the past year, data compiled by oil services company Baker Hughes (BHI) show. Most of those rigs are meant for shale. “It’s likely there will be a revolution,” says Maria van der Hoeven, executive director at the Paris-based International Energy Agency. “But not everywhere at the same time. And you just can’t copy the U.S. experience.”

Fracking in the U.K. will start next year, after the government lifted an 18-month moratorium imposed when a fracking company found it had accidentally caused earthquakes. Two utilities—Centrica (CNA:LN) of Britain and GDF Suez (GSZ:FP) of France—have bought stakes in British drilling licenses to help bankroll the drillers and win a cut of any profit.



The shale boom has moved the U.S. closer to energy independence, added jobs, helped revive manufacturing, and lowered gas bills. Yet the conditions that fostered the U.S.’s success don’t exist elsewhere. In some countries, landowners don’t own the oil and gas in the ground: The state retains all mineral rights. Or a country may levy much heavier taxes on oil and gas profits.

Story: U.S. Shale-Oil Boom May Not Last as Fracking Wells Lack Staying Power Once they start drilling and fracking, though, countries such as China, Argentina, and Russia could experience new oil and gas booms. China has the largest shale gas reserves, estimated to be the equivalent of 212 billion barrels of oil. In shale oil, Russia tops the list with about 75 billion barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says. Australia, Poland, and Algeria all have big reserves.

Fracking activity outside the U.S. is likely to be good for the big oil players. Royal Dutch Shell (RDS/A) teamed up with China National Petroleum Corp. this year to explore in Sichuan, the province that accounts for 40 percent of China’s shale reserves. Hess (HES) is exploring with CNPC in the western Xinjiang region. YPF (YPF), the Argentine oil company, has joined with Chevron (CVX) to tap deposits in Argentina’s vast Vaca Muerta formation. Says Edward Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup (C): “Within three to five years, there should be exponential growth in drilling as there was in the U.S.”


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As I stated with health care and the deliberate building of a perfect storm for antibiotic resistance and world health epidemics we see the same characters------Wall Street, Ivy League universities like Hopkins, and their neo-liberal and neo-con pols working to break our public health and environmental protections to profit from selling what will become a scarce resource.  Not to mention how large populations unable to obtain fresh water are easily managed when made desperate.

This is what Maryland Assembly and O'Malley/Brown and in Baltimore, Baltimore City Council and Maryland Rawlings-Blake are working toward.  They are neo-liberals and neo-cons who do not care about anything but maximizing corporate profits.


SIMPLY REVERSE ALL OF THIS BY VOTING THESE POLS OUT OF OFFICE AND REBUILD RULE OF LAW AND PUBLIC JUSTICE------AND REBUILD A DOMESTIC ECONOMY WITH SMALL AND REGIONAL BUSINESS WHILE KEEPING GLOBAL CORPORATIONS AT BAY IN MARYLAND.

Contaminated freshwater systems caused by ‘fracking’

Friday, April 4, 2014 13:52

Fracking fluids from oil and gas extraction is contaminating our freshwater systems. http://www.blissful-wisdom.com/contaminated-freshwater-systems-caused-by-fracking.html

A local resident recently wrote about the monetary significance of hydrocarbon extraction and exportation.  What many advocates of the oil-dependence industry seem to ignore completely is the short-sighted and toxic process with which ‘unconventional oil and gas sources’ are being extracted. This process is known as ‘induced hydraulic fracturing’, or ‘fracking’ (for short).

There is growing peer-reviewed scientific evidence of the harmful effects of shale gas development.  ‘Pro-fracking’ opinions focus on the big bucks and ignore the detrimental effects on our limited, freshwater systems.


There are a million well sites in North America which have used fracking.  A horizontal well in a shale formation can use between 7.5 million to 19 million litres of water.  That water used for extraction in gas shale ‘plays’ becomes toxic by the addition of: water‐based fracturing fluids mixed with friction‐reducing additives; biocides to prevent microorganism growth and to reduce biofouling of the fractures; oxygen scavengers and other stabilizers to prevent corrosion of metal pipes; and acids that are used to remove drilling mud.   80 % of this fracking fluid comes back to the surface and 20 % stays in the shale excavation ‘play’. This fracking fluid is highly toxic and contaminates local well-water, rivers, and underground water systems. 

This is the part which outweighs the financial benefits of present ‘fracking’ and non-conventional oil extraction methods. Our North American water reserves are limited.  Toxifying our limited water resources is insanity to say the least.  No amount of remuneration can justify contaminating underground water beds and surface-water courses for coming generations.

As of 2012, 2.5 million hydraulic fracturing jobs have been performed on oil and gas wells worldwide!

Do an internet search on the topic of ‘fracking’ and why it is so controversial. Be wary of industry-backed politicians who would smooth over the environmental collateral damage left from ‘fracking’ practices.

  Water well testing must take place both prior to and after seismic testing operations
If a well-owner does not test and show healthy conditions were present prior to nearby  ‘fracking’, then there is no possibility of claiming damages when contamination does eventually occur.

For the last hundred years, water rights belong to the owner of the land.  Tough luck for  those landowners and city-dwellers downstream, since liability favors industry not local taxpayers.  High cancer rates and damaging side-effects to human and animal life occur where tailing ponds and fracking fluid has escaped into underground and above-ground waterways. 

How can we not seriously demand alternatives to oil/gas addiction and its collateral damage?  There is money to be made and jobs to be had, but it requires focusing on developing those alternatives.  Industry is not going to encourage that shift.  Politicians serve industry and corporate interests, not the long-term health of the nation.  And once again…fresh, drinkable water is becoming threatened by ‘fracking’ practices.


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July 28th, 2014

7/28/2014

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THERE GOES ANOTHER PUBLIC ASSET-----PUBLIC PARKING.  RATHER THAN SERVE THE PUBLIC WITH AFFORDABLE PRICES BALTIMORE HANDS PARKING TO PREDATORY CORPORATIONS SO THEY CAN SOAK THE CITIZENS.



I was listening to people speak of how much money Johns Hopkins has and I ask myself-----does Hopkins really have that money or does most of it belong to the taxpayer and public?  The answer of course is that Hopkins is a publicly-owned entity with a small private college attached.  The reason Hopkins has the appearance of money is all of the fraud and corruption the last few decades that in the Baltimore and Maryland region moved to Baltimore Development and Johns Hopkins.  They are the local Visigoths who raided the US Treasury and US citizen's pockets.  Simply reinstating Rule of Law moves much of that money back.  Remember, the Ivy League schools and Wall Street did to the US what Gorbachev and Yelsin did to Russians-----PERESTROIKA moved all of the Russian people's wealth to connected families then called the Oligarchs.  All of those decades of hard work and investment by the Russian people was simply auctioned off and privatized.  This is what Wall Street and the Ivy League schools are doing in the US and it is why they have endowments in the billions of dollars with off-shore investments all over the world.  They are not universities----they are corporations that fleeced government coffers and people's pockets.  Baltimore City Hall has become so predatory on behalf of Johns Hopkins that they are sending out inflated water bills and passing laws to allow secure of people's homes simply because they owe a few hundred dollars in taxes and their cars for simply owing a few parking tickets.  Preying on the working class to take every last home owned is the goal.  These policies are now expanding to the middle-class who are struggling with this deliberate stagnation and high unemployment.

WHEN NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS ALLOW POLICY THAT HAS ALL PUBLIC REVENUE GO TO CORPORATE TAX BREAKS AND SUBSIDY AND ALLOW MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION----THEY ARE TAKING YOU TO A THIRD WORLD STATUS.  THIS IS MARYLAND TODAY.

The latest move towards PERESTOIKA comes with Baltimore City Parking.  The city agency was handed to global corporations in a public private partnership a few decades ago and is now ranked as one of the agencies with the most fraud and corruption.  THE BALTIMORE PARKING AUTHORITY is simply a corporation that pays no taxes and allows the taxpayers to pay all operations and maintenance as with all public private partnerships. There is not one community in city center that is not metered or permitted so if you want to do business in these areas you have to park in one of these city lots which as privatized have become increasingly expensive.  Around the Inner Harbor and Enterprise Zone areas you can pay $25 to $40 a day to come and enjoy the waterfront.  When parking facilities are public-----the idea is to give people a convenient and affordable place to park that brings the city revenue to fill its coffers.  See the difference?


MAYOR RAWLINGS BLAKE PLANS TO SELL 4 PARKING DECKS IN DOWNTOWN FOR $40 MILLION SAY THE HEADLINES.

There is almost no publicly owned space in downtown Baltimore and these properties are in high value development zones so $40 million is a steal.  So, instead of that money coming into our government coffers it will now go to private global corporate profit and you can bet that $8-10 a day parking will soar.  Less affordable parking in downtown Baltimore.  At the same time the downtown area businesses are getting no consumer traffic and are struggling to stay in business----don't worry, City Hall will give more public money to keep you in business.  It couldn't be that no one wants to pay so much to come down town and the threats of parking employees standing at the wait to ticket you the minute that meter expires?

PEOPLE ARE NOT COMING DOWNTOWN BECAUSE THE ENTIRE ENVIRONMENT IS PREDATORY.

Oh, it's those roaming bands of youth they say.  NO, IT'S THE PREDATORY PUBLIC POLICY THAT FINES, FEES, AND TAXES THE PUBLIC TO DEATH BECAUSE ALL PUBLIC REVENUE IS BEING redirected to global corporations.



Mayor Rawlings-Blake Wants To Sell Garages For Revenue


July 27, 2014 8:04 AM BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake plans to announce a proposal to sell four city-owned parking garages to generate cash for urgent priorities and infrastructure.

The mayor’s office says Rawlings-Blake will announce her plans Monday to introduce new legislation to sell the parking garages to generate $40 million to $60 million. The proceeds would be used for urgent priorities, such as eliminating blight, without adding to the city’s debt.

Also on Monday, Rawlings-Blake and members of the City Council will help open the city’s first new recreation center built in 10 years. The Morrell Park Community Center features a gymnasium, fitness room and outdoor green space.

It’s the first recreation center to be built from the ground since a 2010 taskforce recommended a transformation of the city’s aging recreation centers.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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Now, for what will $40 million pay?  Well, it would take $40 million to partially pay for the $100 million in Exelon Corporation tax break that was given for no reason at all------a pay-to-play.  Then, there is the few hundred million each year of taxpayer money subsidizing the Hilton that was never needed and will never turn a profit especially since we are heading towards a bond market crash and recession for years.  So, Rawlings-Blake is handing public assets for dirt cheap to pay for bad policy and fraud and corruption.  It's revenue  neutral to empty government coffers with corporate tax breaks and subsidy while handing all that is public to these same entities.  Let's look at the history of the Baltimore Parking Authority:

Meet the Parking Authority------BOOTED FOR FAILING TO PAY 3 PARKING TICKETS----FORGET YOU ARE HAVING TO GO TO COURT TO CONTEST MANY OF THOSE TICKETS OR SIMPLY GETTING THEM TOO FAST TO PAY.


Neo-liberals will try hard to make it sound as if these partnerships are with a local or regional corporation but as you see below all of the ones tied to Baltimore Parking Authority are national and global corporations.  Why do we want our local economy tied with corporations that take the profits out of the city and state?  This is why our government coffers are starved and it is deliberate global market policy.  If a French corporation comes to the US ---then a US corporation goes to France----both undermining labor and justice.  Partnered with the city they pay no taxes.


LAZ Parking’s success was founded on childhood friendships that grew into a nationwide customer oriented parking service.

Republic Parking System is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The company operates over 690 parking facilities in 87 US cities.[1]


PMS
PMS - Parking Management Services SA Votre spécialiste dans la conception, réalisation et gestion de parkings !
  • Markets Served Atlanta • Charlotte • Chattanooga • Dallas/Fort Worth • Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood • Houston Indianapolis • Jacksonville • Kansas City • Miami New Orleans • New York • Orlando/Walt Disney World • Richmond • Scottsdale • Tampa

Inside City Hall: Parking garage operators get no-bid extensions A range of management fees charged to the Parking Authority.

Mark Reutter June 29, 2012 at 4:12 pm

In a little-noticed item approved without comment on Wednesday, the Board of Estimates signed off on no-bid extensions of management contracts to run some of the city’s main parking garages.

The deal, requested by the Parking Authority for Baltimore City, obliges the quasi-public agency to pay $3.57 million in management fees to four operators, led by the ubiquitous PMS Parking group headed by Amsale Geletu, a certified woman-owned business.

PMS, Landmark Parking, LAZ Parking Mid-Atlantic and Republic Parking Systems were awarded the management contracts some 15 months ago.

The contracts were set to expire tomorrow (June 30), but the parking agency blew the deadline for writing up new agreements. Hence, the old contracts will stay in effect until December 31, 2013.

The Penn Station Garage boasts the highest management fee per space under a contract approved by the Board of Estimates. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

All this was explained in the unique nomenclature of the Board of Estimates agenda: “. . . efforts [to write the new agreements] have been delayed due to the Parking Authority experiencing significant disruption in the personnel charged with oversight and administration of this and other management agreements, and the procurement of new management agreements.”

As a result, “This amendment to the original agreement provides additional funding to pay for anticipated operating expenses and compensates the organization during the extended term upon the original compensation structure.”

Costs Vary Among Garages


The breakdowns of the individual parking contracts provide some interesting reading. Take the cost of security over the 18-month extension period.

Republic Parking will be paid $211,000 for providing security at the Lexington Market parking garage. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

It ranges from a low of $4,000 for the Fleet and Eden Garage in Fells Point to a high of $211,000 for the Market Center Garage serving Lexington Market.

The charges for maintenance also vary widely.

PMS will maintain and repair the 376-space Franklin Street Garage for $275,888 under the extended agreement.

Landmark, on the other hand, is authorized to bill the city 2½ times that amount ($670,000) for the somewhat larger (525 space) Penn Station Garage.

Even with its high security costs, Market Center is not the costliest municipal garage under private management.

That honor goes to the Penn Station Garage used chiefly by Amtrak and MARC customers. The management fee over the next 18 months amounts to $1,533 per parking space.

Quasi-Public

The Parking Authority is one of those quasi-public governmental entities – others include the Baltimore Development Corp. and Baltimore Hotel Corp., owner of Hilton Baltimore – whose stated mission is “to enhance Baltimore City’s position in planning, development, management and operations of its parking institution.”

Its budget is not part of the annual city budget approved by the City Council. Its five-member board consists of four people appointed by the mayor and one by the City Council president. The direct link to the mayor is through Director of Finance Harry E. Black, who sits on the board.

In addition to administering 17 municipal garages and 23 surface lots, the Parking Authority operates the residential parking permit program.
_______________________________

Here is a breakdown of the fees to be charged for the extended contracts:

Caroline St. Garage, 325 spaces, operator PMS, management fee: $350,027, or $1,077 per space.

Little Italy Garage, 399 spaces, operator PMS, management fee: $387,363, or $971 per space.

St. Paul Place Garage, 500 spaces, operator PMS and LAZ Parking Mid-Atlantic, management fee: $533,668, or $1,067 per space.

Franklin St. Garage, 376 spaces, operators PMS and LAZ Parking Mid-Atlantic, management fee: $331,888, or $883 per space.

Market Center Garage, 606 spaces, operator Republic Parking Systems, management fee: $651,791, or $1,076 per space.

Penn Station Garage, 525 spaces, operator Landmark Parking,  management fee: $804,933, or $1,533 per space.

Fleet and Eden Garage, 815 spaces, operator, Landmark Parking, management fee: $507,273, or $622 per space.

___________________________________________


contesting baltimore city parking tickets?

09/17/07 at 1:36pm   after leaving my apartment this morning i found a $52 dollar parking ticket on my car, for apparently "parking in an unmarked crosswalk".  this is totally bullshit, imo, as there is no signage, crosswalk, or handicap accessible curb where my car was parked.  i'm planning to write a letter to contest the ticket, and was wondering if anyone out there has done this ... and to what effect.  did it get your ticket dropped?  did you still have to go to court to contest the ticket after submitting the letter?

There was an article a few years ago that had the City of Baltimore doing national searches to find people owing the city parking tickets.  As you see below, a $25 fine can become thousands of dollars in fees and your car can be impounded and sold.  Now, people should simply pay a parking ticket but to have a system in place that creates such a financial burden on citizens for minor offenses is predatory.  Towing fees of $400 on cars booted for 3 outstanding parking tickets has the City Impound flush with cars and they are making profits from working class citizens not able to pay.  Meanwhile, a corporation leaves Baltimore owing millions of dollars in water bills......probably never paid.

Combine the high parking meter fees, the ever higher parking garage fees, and the parking employees being right there when your meter time ends-----and you have a reason for not going downtown in Baltimore.


Four parking tickets on state vehicles cost taxpayers $2,263 Tickets go unpaid, and penalties grow


By Scott Calvert, The Baltimore Sun 9:33 a.m. EDT, June 8, 2012

Five years ago, a Ford Windstar assigned to the state Department of Juvenile Services got a $42 parking ticket in downtown Baltimore. The ticket was not paid on time. And in the weeks, months and years that followed, the penalties grew and grew and grew.

A week after The Baltimore Sun inquired to state budget officials on April 20, the agency finally ponied up. The tab: $970.

It was one of four unpaid Baltimore City parking citations the agency belatedly paid. Due to the delays, tickets amounting to $178 wound up costing state taxpayers a cool $2,263.



___________________________________________

Baltimore City is so starved of money from all of the corporate tax breaks, tax evasion, and fraud that it simply must take away free parking for the disabled.  Dismantling the public sector support for the disabled and creating tiered funding with special needs at the lowest level-----  can you imagine denying the disabled the pleasure of being soaked with parking fines, fees, and taxes to support corporate profit!  We are doing it to stop the theft of placards they say-----can the police not run a license check to see if a car is registered for disability?  Easy Peasy.  People are being pushed to use these tactics because it is too expense for many people to park.  If your business is with City Hall ----you will be there for hours; phone resolutions are deliberately hard to get.-----no, Baltimore and Johns Hopkins uses public policy to push the disabled out of Baltimore.  DEMOCRATS DO NOT DO THAT----NEO-CONS DO!  Why are Baltimore pols running as Democrats when they are neo-conservatives?

Take public transit you say-----sorry, it has been so defunded and funds diverted from public transit that the quality equals that of Central American bus service.  If you are not downtown-----it takes you hours to travel the shortest distance.  Can you imagine being disabled trying to wait for a dysfunctional public transit.


DISABILITY ACT AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY------NOT IN MARYLAND THEY SAY!  WE ARE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS WORKING TO SEND ALL MONEY TO THE RICH AFTER ALL!



Mayor Rawlings-Blake Announces Changes to City Parking to Address Misuse of Disability


Tags Wednesday Jul 9th, 2014

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

Mayor,

Baltimore City

250 City Hall - Baltimore Maryland 21202

(410) 396-3835 - Fax: (410) 576-9425

Better Schools. Safer Streets. Stronger Neighborhoods.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT

Caron A. Brace

(443) 853-0957

caron.brace@baltimorecity.gov

Project SPACE Improves Access for Drivers with Disabilities; Aims to Increase Available Parking, Stop Theft, Abuse of Disability Placards BALTIMORE, Md. (July 9, 2014)—Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was joined by the Parking Authority of Baltimore City, the Mayor's Commission on Disabilities, the Downtown Partnership, and members of the disability community to announce Project SPACE, an initiative that aims to eliminate the abuse of disability placards, create more accessible parking for people with disabilities, and increase the general availability of on-street parking Downtown.

Project SPACE will require all drivers who utilize on-street parking in the downtown business district to pay the parking meter—even if a disability placard or tag is displayed. The cost and time limitations for on-street parking will be the same regardless of whether the driver is displaying a disability placard/tags.

"As we near the 24th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act, we want to offer greater freedom of access for those with disabilities and their families," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. "Baltimore should be accessible for everyone who wishes to enjoy the many attractions that are part of what makes our city a great place to live, work, and play. In addition to combatting the abuse of disability placards, Project SPACE, will ultimately create more parking spaces for everyone."

As part of Project SPACE, approximately 200 on-street parking spaces with highly accessible, ADA compliant single-space meters have been reserved for vehicles displaying a disability placard or tags. Additionally, all EZ Park meters throughout the Central Business District have been retrofitted to meet new ADA standards, making them even more accessible for people with disabilities. To meet state requirements, the time limit for all on-street parking spaces within areas affected by Project SPACE will increase to four hours.

Project SPACE is part of the solution to a major, ongoing parking problem in Baltimore City. Current policy allows individuals displaying a disability placard or license plates to park in metered on-street parking spaces free of charge. This often results in illegal use by motorists parking for long periods of time, and promotes theft of disability placards—which are now the number one item stolen out of vehicles. By removing the financial incentive to abuse a disability placard and requiring all drivers to pay for parking, Project SPACE aims to prevent placard theft and increase the number of available parking spaces for all drivers.

"We have performed a number of parking studies that have shown that, in certain city blocks, vehicles displaying disability placards often take up 100 percent of on-street spaces and remain parked there all day," said Peter Little, executive director of the Parking Authority of Baltimore City. "Stricter enforcement will create more parking turnover and increase the number of available parking spaces as abusers seek less expensive parking options off street."

While Project SPACE is launching in the Central Business District—an area defined as the streets bounded by Franklin Street on the north, President Street on the east, Key Highway on the south, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard on the west—the program will eventually expand to Fells Point, Harbor East, Federal Hill, Mount Vernon, and beyond.

"We work to promote equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities, including making sure people with disabilities have adequate access to accessible parking options in Baltimore City," said Dr. Nollie Wood, Jr., executive director of the Mayor's Commission on Disabilities. "The Mayor's Commission on Disabilities supports Project SPACE, because it helps accomplish our overall goal. We're looking for equal opportunity—not cheaper services."

For more information on Project SPACE, please visit www.MoreSpace4All.com. Project SPACE is also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MoreSpace4All and on Twitter and Instagram at @MoreSpace4All.

About the Parking Authority of Baltimore City Parking Authority of Baltimore City (PABC) is a "quasi" governmental agency of Baltimore City and a registered 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to find, or create, and implement parking solutions for Baltimore City and to be the resource on all things "parking" in Baltimore. PABC oversees the management of 17 parking garages, numerous lots, over 800 EZ Park Meters, over 1,500 reserved residential handicap parking spaces, and 46 residential permit parking areas.

About the Mayor's Commission on Disabilities The Mayor's Commission on Disabilities was created by City of Baltimore Ordinance #93-237 to promote equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities. The Commission assists the City in assessing the accessibility of City facilities, programs, and services for citizens with disabilities; providing information and education programs to city government, businesses, and industries concerning issues relevant to citizens with disabilities; and complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).





____________________________________________________


Speed cameras as predator as the entire system is a failure ticketing massive numbers of people for no reason----sound familiar.  It took constant media shaming and wide-spread citizen outcry to stop the fraud and theft of public money.  So, you never know when you come to Baltimore if you are going to be fleeced by parking meters or speed cameras and then save a lot of time to fight it. 

PAY THE FINE THEY SAY----WE HAVE CORPORATE FRAUD, TAX EVASION, AND TAX BREAKS TO PAY FOR.


Add to that public policy that deliberately keeps unemployment in Baltimore high and you have no working economy.  Remember, the global corporations like Johns Hopkins do not want a thriving domestic economy----all the money is being made overseas.  It is deliberate policy meant to keep domestic citizens impoverished while all the revenue generated maximizes profits.  If you are not impoverished now---you and/or your children or grandchildren will be.  Think how these policies will get worse over time.

WE SIMPLY NEED A PUBLIC SECTOR PROVIDING OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.  PUBLIC ASSETS DO NOT COST THE TAXPAYER----THEY BRING REVENUE TO GOVERNMENT COFFERS.




Maryland Speed Camera Fraud

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Tony McConkey

It is a violation of the public trust to continue to collect revenue from speed cameras that are inaccurate.  Baltimore City and other local governments should immediately issues refunds when a citation is false, and government has a duty to be proactive and to verify all cameras are working correctly.




Citation Payment Information
  • If your vehicle is currently booted or immobilized do NOT pay here. Instead, please call the Boot Release Line at 1-877-810-7907 to speak to an operator 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. (Call this number only for booted or immobilized cars.) If you pay on this website for a booted or immobilized vehicle, your car’s release will be delayed and it may be towed
  • Citations for most parking, red light, and speed camera violations are available for payment on this website the next business day. (Hand-written citations may take more than 1 month.)
  • Payments may not appear on this website for 3 business days. Payments take 1 to 3 business days to post, and this website reflects only posted payments. Unposted payments are not reflected on this website, which also may not reflect the $25 registration flag fee. Please call 410-396-4080 Monday–Friday (except holidays) 8:00am–4:30pm to verify your payment or confirm the amount due.
  • If you have 3 or more unpaid tickets more than 30 days old, your car may be immobilized or impounded.
  • Red Light and Speed Camera Citations with a violation date on or before December 31, 2012 are available at www.public.cite-web.com(External Link) (External Link). Enter your citation’s violation code and PIN number.
  • Red Light and Speed Camera Citations with a violation date on or after January 1, 2013 are available at www.ip360BaltCity.com (External Link). Enter your citation’s violation code and PIN number.
  • The CIty of Baltimore no longer faxes VR119 release forms to the Department of Motor Vehicles. All requests will be mailed within 2 to 3 business days.
Baltimore City provides online access to the public information maintained in its records. While the city has confidence in the accuracy of these records, Baltimore City makes no warranties, expressed or implied, regarding the information.

_____________________________________________
SEE WHAT O'MALLEY AND MARYLAND ASSEMBLY AND RAWLINGS-BLAKE AND BALTIMORE CITY HALL ARE UP TO! 

THIS IS WHY MARYLAND AND BALTIMORE PARKING AUTHORITY IS SO PREDATORY AND INCREASINGLY PROFITEERING----THE MORE MONEY GENERATED THE MORE MONEY MOVED TO WALL STREET THROUGH BONDS PURCHASE.  TAKES THAT MONEY RIGHT OUT OF GENERAL FUNDS TO BE USED BY EVERYONE AND DIRECTS IT TO INVESTMENT FIRMS AND DEVELOPERS.

This is what I mean about hiding Maryland debt. Maryland looks like it has less debt because of these credit leverages.  Don't think only neo-liberals are doing this----this is actually a Republican policy that has gone neo-con/neo-liberal as global corporations are getting all the money.   There is not a public revenue maker in Maryland that is not leveraged to credit bonds and here we have our parking agencies tied to Moody's.  This speaks of the Maryland Parking Authority but Baltimore Parking Authority is doing the same.  When every revenue source in a state is mortgage with credit bonds as is Maryland, when these economics crashes happen defaults occur and taxpayers lose hundreds of millions of dollars----which is the plan.  There deals not only feed Wall Street----the private corporations partnered with public parking are stealing right and left and profiteering on the backs of Maryland citizens......and this is super-sized in Baltimore.


Please think about what these neo-liberals and neo-cons are building with this money------restaurants, retail stores, financial businesses.  None of this builds a strong, healthy economy.  It is what exists in third world countries....tourism economy.  Think how many small businesses could be started with the money tied up in these bonds.  Remember, a bond market crash is coming very soon.  Even the Maryland and Baltimore Parking Authority is mortgaged.

Related Issuers
Maryland Transportation Authority


  Rating Action: Moody's affirms the A2 on Maryland Transportation Authority's Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Parking Revenue Refunding Bonds Series 2012A and B; The outlook is stable Global Credit Research - 25 Mar 2014 Approximately $182.02 million of debt outstanding affected New York, March 25, 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service has affirmed the A2 rating on the Maryland Transportation Authority's (MDTA) Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) Parking Revenue Refunding Bonds Series 2012A and B. The outlook is stable.



RATINGS RATIONALE

The A2 rating on the parking revenue bonds reflects the strong coverage provided by a pledge of the net parking revenues of all parking facilities operated by the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA), notwithstanding downturns in passenger enplanements at BWI in the last couple of years. While the pledge of only parking revenues presents a relatively narrow revenue stream, the parking facilities are essential to the airport operations, given the lack of convenient alternatives to reach BWI and the long established customer trends for parking at the airport. The A2 rating also reflects the strong demand for passenger travel in a large, affluent service area, and strong debt service coverage levels.



The parking revenue bonds were issued by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) on behalf of the MAA which operates BWI. The MDTA has entered into leases with the MAA, which obligates the MAA to remit parking revenues for the repayment of the debt.




STRENGTHS

* Service area contains some of the wealthiest counties in the US as well as a premium tourist destination in Washington, D.C.

*BWI remains a strong origination & destination (O&D) market which drives parking revenues; Southwest Airlines is the largest carrier at the airport with 71.4% of enplanements as of FY 2013

*Total enplanements have been on a mostly positive trajectory since FY 2010

* Airport operates efficiently, with airline costs per enplanement lower than regional competitors Reagan National Airport and Washington-Dulles International Airport (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, A1/Stable). Low cost per enplanement is helped by the airport's absence of general aviation debt.

*Debt service coverage ratios (DSCR) have remained stable and are estimated to be maintained at similar levels in the next year

*There is no additional debt expected to be supported by parking revenues.



CHALLENGES

*Market strength could be challenged by possible cuts in federal government spending given the concentration of federal jobs in the immediate region.

* Significant regional competition from other Washington area airports.

* Highly concentrated airline market share, with the combined Southwest/AirTran airline accounting for over 70% of enplanements in FY 2013

*Off-airport parking lots could pose a competitive threat to transaction growth at certain MAA parking facilities, such as the express and long-term parking lots.

* Reliance on dedicated and more restricted parking revenue streams which tend to decline more steeply than airport enplanements and lag in recovery

*Declining O&D passenger base as a result of Southwest increasing use of BWI as a connector negatively affects highly sensitive and narrow dedicated streams of parking revenues



Outlook

The stable outlook is based on expectations that enplanement and O&D passenger base will remain around current levels, supporting DSCRs at similar levels. The outlook also anticipates the successful renewal of the parking agreement for another 5-year term.



What could change the rating--UP

The rating is well placed in its category given the narrow nature of the revenue flow to cover debt service payments. Nonetheless, a marked improvement in revenues due to a sustainable positive change in the fundamental strength of the O&D enplanement base at BWI Marshall could exert positive ratings pressure.



What could change the rating--DOWN

Strong DSCR is key to the current rating level. Hence, a weakening of revenues over more than one year period that reduces financial margins could place some negative pressure on the rating.




The principal methodology used in this rating was Generic Project Finance Methodology published in December 2010. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.



REGULATORY DISCLOSURES



For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.



Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating review.



Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued the rating.

Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.

Jennifer Meihuy Chang
Analyst
Public Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653


Chee Mee Hu
MD - Project Finance
Public Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653


Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653

0 Comments

June 25th, 2014

6/25/2014

0 Comments

 
As you will see below Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland received 6,500 votes or 1% of the democratic vote. Antony Brown supposedly won this race with only 12% of registered democratic voters. My campaign with just a little media coverage---with access to major venue coverage----would have easily won.


I want to thank those of you having voted for me.  It is not in vain as I take this election result to court these votes prove I had support and was active in this race.  As you see with today's post.....the entire Maryland election process is corrupt and the election rigging willful and deliberate.  I should have no problem with winning in court, but if corruption extends to this Maryland Circuit Court----I will appeal.  Meanwhile, I am preparing to file in Federal Court the case against the organizations committing these election violations and the primary candidates that participated knowing my campaign was being illegally excluded.


Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland has proven that with the final vote showing the supposed winner Anthony Brown at 12% of registered democratic voters to Cindy Walsh’s 1%-----I could have easily won this election with just a moderate media exposure and participation in the forums and debates that should have included me.  I could have easily won with a platform of ending corporate fraud and government corruption and holding global corporations at bay while building an domestic economy in Maryland driven by small and regional businesses.  It is this platform that motivated the exclusion from this primary race.

St. Mary’s College performs what looks to be the most academic and reliable polling in the State of Maryland yet it too uses methods that diminish accuracy like automated calling and small cohorts for extremely low polling figures.  As you can see below, St. Mary’s does not post its polling model even as it says the information is coming so we do not know how they randomized, what the protocol for failed calling attempts was, etc.  The other polling agencies like Gonzalez, Sun, Washington Post use models that make polling data irrelevant.  The percentages that make it to media for each candidate always include those methods with higher margin of error and ‘likely’ voter cohorts.  Again, it is not cost or time that figures into these choices of polling methods because a handful of people working just a few hours can call 1,000 voters.  It is a willful and deliberate attempt to use polling data to manipulate the election process.


 

Welcome To INSIGHTS

 

The Maryland Poll or MPoll, our Blog INSIGHTS, and Hosted Blogs

Professor Susan Grogan

April’s MPoll results are in!

 Download Graphs of the MPOll‘s Results.

You are on the Welcome (Home) Page of INSIGHTS, The Maryland Poll’s  blog.   The Maryland Poll , a.k.a. the MPoll, was conceived from two years of research toward starting a public opinion polling research center within St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s Political Science Department.  My professional reasons were to develop a pedagogical model incorporating more technology and involving more public service in my political science classes as well as steering my own professional career in that direction.  (Personal reasons may have included a knee-jerk response to certain members in the House of the US Congress who absurdly continue to insist that ‘we don’t do science in political science.‘)

Much of our activity will involve gathering together public opinion data  from polls conducted within and about Maryland.  We will also conduct our own MPolls.  We conducted our first poll from April 10 – 13 and the results were published April 18, 2014.  Polls are planned for the fall semester during the Maryland 2014 Gubernatorial Election.

Thus, the project is multidimensional.  As mentioned, the MPoll will conduct polls.  INSIGHTS, MPoll’s blog, will gather polling data and will provide straightforward commentary as nonpartisan as is possible.  As another aspect of our public service mission, INSIGHTS will also publish background information on polling and how to interpret polling data.  The idea is that, in addition to professional commentary, INSIGHTS will offer the necessary background the layperson would need to analyze polling data.

We could say that commenting provides another useful measure of public opinion.  INSIGHTS as well as Hosted Blogs are open for comments that further the discussion by presenting a more diverse range of opinions and ideas about public opinion and political goings-on that affect or attempt to influence the opinions of persons residing in or near Maryland.  Most often, the primary demographic of concern will be eligible voters.

All comments will be moderated.  Not all comments will be accepted.  In most cases, it likely will be that we are too overwhelmed at the moment to respond but we also hope to maintain a reasonable level of decorum.

 

About Candidates v. Polls

Coming soon.  We should have content up by the end of January on most of this site.

Thank you for your patience.

About Interpreting Polls Coming soon.  We should have content up soon on most of this site.

Thank you for your patience.

About Polling Techniques Coming soon.  We should have content up soon on most of this site.

Thank you for your patience.


As I show elsewhere in the evidence provided, the various polls greatly exaggerated the candidates favored to win.  When the public is shown these irrelevant stats it creates the apathy for voting for a candidate they would actually want.  Psychologically, it is known that voters tend to follow the front-runner and this is why the exaggerated figures for Brown, Gansler, and Mizeur were created with manipulated polling standards like margin of error and selected polling groups of ‘likely’ voters.  Can you imagine when voter turnout hits 10-20% how small and homogenous that polling pool of likely voters become?  Why would polls include all republican candidates even as they barely polled and not all of the democratic candidates?

The media identified the apathy of voters as ‘not caring’ but we know the apathy is from an inability to exact change to a system voters know is rigged.


 

Undecided voters dominate in new gubernatorial poll

April 23, 2014|By Michael Dresser  Baltimore Sun

 

The poll strongly tracks previous surveys of the race and shows little sign that any candidate is gaining significant ground. For instance, a poll released by The Baltimore Sun in February showed Brown with 35 percent, Gansler with 14 percent and Mizeur with 10 percent.  On the Republican side Hogan polled at 13 percent and Craig at 7 percent.

The methodologies of the two polls were significantly different. Unlike the St. Mary’s poll, The Sun's poll used live callers and concentrated on 500 likely voters rather than all registered voters. The college’s automated poll surveyed 954 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3.17 percentage points.


 

Look at this media representation of the Maryland democratic primary race for governor.  The polling numbers are so skewed it is a mockery of the election process.  Again, the use of likely voters, a subset so small as to be useless in attaining actual polling data.  Is it illegal for media and polling agencies to deliberately skew these polling data in a way that willfully and deliberately damages the campaign of other candidates?  Yes, it is.  It is also illegal for organizations participating in these election events to use these polling data everyone knows are skewed.  I can assure this court, Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland gave the larger venues participating in this primary election this information on polling as the primary progressed.  Allowing these polls saying Brown was polling at 46% of likely voters right before the primary election and ending with 12%  of registered democratic voters -----this is a crime.  It takes away all voter enthusiasm to participate and tells prospective candidates and those like me that this system is so corrupt you will not have a chance.  There is no way the Maryland Election Board does not have staff with enough knowledge on polling methodology to know these polls were willfully and deliberately misleading the Maryland voters and skewing the primary election.  As you will see below Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland received 6,500 votes or 1% of the democratic vote. Antony Brown supposedly won this race with only 12% of registered democratic voters. My campaign with just a littlemedia coverage---with access to major venue coverage----would have easily won.

 

 

Maryland Politics

Lt. Gov. Brown holds commanding lead over Democratic rivals in Maryland governor’s race

  •  
  •  

From left, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Montgomery) and Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, the Democratic candidates for governor of Maryland. (Matt Mcclain/AP)

By John Wagner and Peyton M. Craighill June 10   Washington Post

Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown holds a commanding lead over his Democratic rivals for governor, according to a new Washington Post poll, two weeks before a primary election that most voters are not following closely and that is likely to attract a low turnout.

Though nearly half of likely voters say they could still change their minds, the poll found backing for Brown across a broad demographic range — and deep support among fellow African Americans — and showed that Brown voters are firmer in their allegiance than those siding with the other candidates. With scant evidence that attacks on Brown’s management skills, particularly his handling of the state’s health insurance exchange, have damaged him, the poll shows no obvious path to victory for the other Democratic hopefuls in the June 24 primary.

Statewide, 46 percent of likely Democratic voters support Brown, while 23 percent back Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and 16 percent support Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Montgomery), according to the poll.

Analysts said Brown’s lead is formidable in the race, in which early voting starts Thursday.

“Absent a gigantic mistake from the Brown campaign, this is probably over,” said Donald F. Norris, chairman of the public policy department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. “I think the only strategy left for a candidate in Gansler’s situation is to attack, attack, attack, and that’s likely to backfire.”



If Gansler is too aggressive, Norris reasoned, he could strike voters as desperate and wind up driving voters to Mizeur as an alternative.

 

 

Here's the breakdown of votes in the primary as of 2:26 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Maryland Board of Elections, with 1982 of 1988 precincts reporting:

Republican
Larry Hogan/Boyd Rutherford: 43.01 percent
David Craig/Jeannie Haddaway: 29.12 percent
Charles Lollar/Ken Timmerman: 15.51 percent
Ronald George/Shelley Aloi: 12.36 percent

Democrat
Anthony Brown/Ken Ulman: 51.29 percent
Doug Gansler/Jolene Ivey: 24.23 percent
Heather Mizeur/Delman Coates: 21.71 percent
Cindy Walsh/Mary Elizabeth Wingate-Pennacchia: 1.4 percent
Charles Smith/Clarence Tucker: 0.72 percent
Ralph Jaffe/Freda Jaffe: 0.65 percent




The following results are from early voting (June 12 to 19), as reported by the Maryland Board of Elections.

Democrat
Anthony Brown/Ken Ulman: 57.71 percent
Doug Gansler/Jolene Ivey: 20.82 percent
Heather Mizeur/Delman Coates: 19.4 percent
Cindy Walsh/Mary Elizabeth Wingate-Pennacchia: 1.05 percent
Ralph Jaffe/Freda Jaffe: 0.51 percent
Charles Smith/Clarence Tucker: 0.51 percent

Republican
Larry Hogan/Boyd Rutherford: 42.79 percent
David Craig/Jeannie Haddaway: 31.95 percent

Charles Lollar/Ken Timmerman: 13.74 percent
Ronald George/Shelley Aloi: 11.53 percent


If you look at all of the election result coverage it almost always refers to the percentage won of votes casted and not percentage of total registered voters.  You see below the extremely low percentage of registered voters who actually voted.  As the group at St. Mary’s College stated in the article on polling…..the problem is the failure to educate the voters.  This speaks to the inclusion of all candidates and platforms and it speaks to the election venues available to the citizens of Maryland.  The fact that there is not a Maryland State election platform that allows all candidates access to forums and debates all over the state shows the capture of this election system.  The fact that organizations tasked with the mission of free and fair election oversight, like the Maryland League of Women Voters, use the same arbitrary polling guidelines and front-runner status and openly work to make sure a candidate with a certain platform does not have videotaped exposure on its website shows a captured election system.  When the University of Maryland is telling me it uses a 15% polling threshold and Maryland Public Television and Maryland League of Women Voters uses 10% and they all are allowing all republican candidates mostly polling lower than these thresholds in all forum events while excluding democratic candidates because of platform-----you have a captured election system.  As I pointed out, the private non-profits that are taking over this duty all express prejudice and as I have proven, do it in ways that are illegal and violate election law.  The law states that the voters have the right to go to the polls with freedom and intellect to participate as an educated electorate.  Denying viable candidates the right to exposure and access to major forums and debates whether on media or tied to a 501c3 event willfully and deliberately damages a candidate’s campaign and works to keep people from this ballot intellect.

I ask that you look as well at the final percentages of registered voters for each candidate to see how this actual count compares with the polling numbers given to us all through the governor’s race.  Don’t forget that we just came through the most media campaign advertisement blitz of the primary election period so these percentages would be a peak.  You will notice that these percentages are closer to the St Mary’s poll in April where most of the candidates barely broke 10% and many were around 5%.  These are the polling numbers used by major venues to exclude Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland and the arbitrary nature is obvious.  I would say that it is obvious as well that some polling agencies provided polling numbers that were so inflated and unreal as to set the stage for some candidates being labelled front-runners and meeting guidelines.  Again, this kind of polling is so irrelevant and excludes candidates who are relegated to the ‘undecided’ and ‘other’ category that it fails to meet the Supreme Court ruling about identifying candidates as viable or strongly supported by the public.

 

2014 Primary Election Results - Maryland Governor

UPDATED 2:22 PM EDT Jun 23, 2014

 

Governor - Dem Primary

June 25, 2014 - 08:26AM ET

Maryland - 2033 of 2033 Precincts Reporting - 100%

 
Name    Party   Votes     Vote %



Brown, Anthony   Dem  235,974   51%
Gansler, Douglas  Dem  111,444   24%
Mizeur, Heather Dem  99,84  22%
Walsh, Cindy  Dem  6,441   1%
Smith, Charles  Dem  3,296  1%
Jaffe, Ralph    Dem   2,995  1%



Governor - GOP Primary

June 25, 2014 - 08:26AM ET

Maryland - 2033 of 2033 Precincts Reporting - 100%

 
Name  Party  Votes   Vote %



Hogan, Larry    GOP   89,100  43%
Craig, David   GOP   60,357   29%
Lollar, Charles  GOP    32,155  16%
George, Ron  GOP    25,613    12%


Read more: http://www.wbaltv.com/politics/2014-primary-election-results-maryland-governor/26550226#ixzz35eavyG7j



Brown ---------236,000 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =  12% of the vote

Gansler ------- 111,500 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =  6% of the vote

Mizeur -------  100,000 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =   5% of the vote     

Walsh -------  6,500 of 2,000,000 registered democratic voters =  1% of the vote

 

23% of registered democrats voted

 

 

 

Hogan ------  89,000 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =  9% of the vote

Craig ------- 60,500 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =  6% of the vote

Lollar ------ 32,000 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =  3% of the vote

George ----- 26,000 of 1,000,000 registered republican voters =   3% of the vote

 

21% of registered republicans voted.


 

Please look at these final election results with the actual percentage of registered voters per candidate to see the 12% of voters for Brown to see these figures have been super-sized from the start.  There is no reasonable explanation that after the last few weeks of concentrated campaign advertisement and after several months of media saturation of this one candidate that he only garners 12% of registered democratic voters ----other than democratic voters did not want this candidate that is now declared primary winner with 12% of the voters.  Meanwhile, Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland is not far behind with 1% of the vote and completely censured in the media and major forum and debate venues.

The expedited nature of this election process denies me the ability to subpoena all of these polling tools to verify the voracity of methods.  I would as well have used the subpoena to have an official set of guidelines for forums and debates from the institutions I have quoted.  I feel confident because of the irrelevant methods we do see and the extreme inflation of the polls to the reality of the election that I have proven the invalidity of polling as a method of exclusion and identifying a candidate as viable, a front-runner, or having strong public support.  Everyone in this primary race knew these polling figures and methods allowed this inflation of percentages as did the organizations using polling to exclude arbitrarily.  As the final results show only one candidate meets the 10% polling requirement of Maryland Public Television and Maryland League of Women Voters and none meet the polling requirement of University of Maryland’s 15% polling.  If this court allows these polling agencies to arbitrarily inflate results to effect the conduct of these elections, the election process in Maryland will remain corrupt and disillusioned voters left with no government agency protecting free and fair elections.

The court must recognize the systemic fraud and corruption in this democratic primary system at all levels of operation and rule this primary election result invalid and recognize that replicating the primary with the system without reform would be impossible.  I will be requesting in my Federal Court lawsuit against the defendants listed that the Federal government place an oversight decree on Maryland Elections Board and the Maryland Democratic Party and monitor the behavior of elections in the state over several election periods until all entities involved in the election process understand and develop good standards of operation while participating in elections.  The candidates in the democratic primary are all guilty of Federal election law and as such will be tried under felony indictment.  This should give this Maryland Circuit Court further reason to declare this democratic primary void with no second primary.

Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland did all that was possible to identify, report, mitigate, and seek resolution to the violations listed in this complaint.  I should not be denied my place in this election for governor.  Since I had the ability in February 2014 to register as a general election candidate for governor with the Green Party, I request that this be allowed now by suspending this one time the requirement to file for this general election status by February 2104.  I request the court assess financial penalty to those government agencies assigned to protect elections and my rights as a candidate to include candidate filing fees for myself and my Lt Governor and for the costs of electioneering over the course of several months.


 

Polls Potential Democratic primary match-ups [hide]Primary trial heats for 2014 gubernatorial race

Poll

Anthony Brown

Doug Gansler

Heather Mizeur

Undecided

Margin of Error

Sample Size



Brown-Ulman Internal Poll conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang
(September 11-15, 2013)

43%

21%

5%

31%

+/-4.0

608


Gonzales Research/Marketing Strategies Poll
(October 1-14, 2013)

41%

21%

5%

33%

+/--

403



Baltimore Sun Poll
(February 8-12, 2014)

35%

14%

10%

40%

+/-4.4

500



Washington Post Poll
(February 13-16, 2014)

32%

15%

9%

39%

+/-3.5

1,002



The Maryland Poll
(April 10-13, 2014)

27%

11%

8%

54%

+/-3.17

954



WPA Opinion Research
(May 6-7,2014)

34%

20%

7%

40%

+/-4.9

400










AVERAGES

35.33%

17%

7.33%

39.5%

+/-1.86

644.5

Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org






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April 01st, 2014

4/1/2014

0 Comments

 
MARYLAND IS HANDING ALL THAT IS PUBLIC TO PRIVATE HANDS AS ALL PUBLIC SECTOR OVERSIGHT AND REGULATIONS AND ALL PUBLIC JUSTICE IS ELIMINATED.  AFTER ALL----TRANS PACIFIC TRADE PACT---TPP ----IS ALL ABOUT ENDING US SOVEREIGNTY AND HAVING GLOBAL CORPORATIONS WRITE LAWS AND PROVIDE THE OVERSIGHT THEY WANT.

THIS IS MUNICIPAL DEBT FRAUD AS ALL INVOLVED KNOW THE US ECONOMY IS READY TO IMPLODE FROM MUNICIPAL AND SOVEREIGN DEBT EXTREME LEVERAGING.

Public private partnerships are the neo-liberal way of privatizing all that is public while making the public pay for all the cost of corporate operation.  While republicans call it socialist to hide the fact that it is naked capitalism, neo-liberal pols like O'Malley and Rawlings-Blake pretend its all about job creation and development.  From waterfront property to public parks, to school playgrounds and public community centers and health care----all of it is disappearing under the auspices of public-private partnership.

I asked a minister who attended a protest in Annapolis where the nearest public library was......we were at the State Capital.  She had to take a minute to think about where the nearest public space in Annapolis not a government building would be-----ALL THE WAY OUT WEST STREET AT THE CITY'S BORDER.

People need to WAKE UP because neo-liberals and neo-cons are working together to end all existence of public space.  As when the USSR was taken private during PERESTROIKA with all of its publicly owned spaces and businesses handed to a few private Oligarchs in this new Russia-----

THIS PRIVATIZATION OF ALL THAT IS PUBLIC BY NEO-LIBERALS IN THE MARYLAND ASSEMBLY AND CITY HALL IS THE SAME AS THIS RUSSIAN PERESTROIKA.

They are taking public land and setting private businesses on this land all so these businesses will not pay property tax.  That private business sitting on that land will control that property.  Baltimore and Maryland is ground zero for this PERESTROIKA of the 1% as fraud and corruption goes wild and a free-for-all with public assets has Wall Street investment firms already owing the citizens of Maryland hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud-----taking all of our wealth a second time around.

Heather Mizeur said in an forum for Governor of Maryland that in order to create jobs trades-people should give up some of their pensions in order to fund school building.  This is the same labor/union busting in these deals.  CAN YOU IMAGINE A CANDIDATE RUNNING AS A PROGRESSIVE WANTING A WORKING CLASS PERSON TO GIVE UP PENSION MONEY TO BUILD AND BE SILENT ON CORPORATE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION?  That is because Heather Mizeur is not a progressive ------she is a corporate poser who will do the same as O'Malley, Brown, and Gansler in handing all wealth to the top!


STOP ELECTING THESE SAME NEO-LIBERALS WHO ARE KILLING OUR DEMOCRACY!

Below you see articles showing this growing wealth divide as all costs of doing business for global corporations are now being thrust on the public.  We start with Dan Rodricks who works for these developers but does make a good point every now and then.

***************************************

Dan makes a good point in shouting that the Trusts meant to build MD's environmental strengths are gutted and underfunded seeming more of a shell operation than money designated for a specific use. Think Transportation/Innovation Trusts. What we don't hear from MD media enough is the outing of O'Malley and MD pols for progressive posing; pretending to support issues that are environmental or labor and justice and then ignoring them if they are passed. MD media has given the world's worst environmentalist headlines for his national campaign meant to sell him as an environmentalist and none of it is true as this one example shows.

US media was free press until a decade or so and had as a mission to hold power accountable and now they work hard providing the headlines and the campaign snippets to hide the facts. The truth with open space is that in Baltimore all public property is being handed to private developers right and left and all areas designated as public are really private campuses built with public money. The entire Inner Harbor is now privately owned with the public designated for costs.

Then take the scam of preserving farms with estate tax reduction where the rich pretend to have a working farm to have huge estates that could be 10 real working farms. MD is far from sustainable or environmental because it has no democratic party.



Marylanders need to speak up for open space A program designed to save trees and farms under constant legislative attack


Gunpowder Falls State Park (Sun photo by Dan Rodricks / April 1, 2014)

Dan Rodricks 5:00 a.m. EDT, April 1, 2014  Baltimore Sun

When I have a hard time understanding government spending — the construction and tinkering that goes into, say, Maryland's multibillion-dollar annual budget — I just imagine the whole thing as a kitchen-table conversation with members of a household declaring and negotiating priorities. (Pardon the time-worn metaphor, but it works for me.)

After we cover the big-ticket items (health, education, roads, public safety, the mandatory areas of spending), we get around to the other pieces of the budget that need to be maintained — public employee pensions, for instance — and arguments break out about obligations, fiscal discipline and not "kicking the can down the road." It can get rough, even ugly.

But after the dust settles and everyone's exhausted, someone at the far end of the table, who has waited her turn to speak, reminds us about a certain obligation: One half of one percent of all transfer taxes paid at real estate closings must be set aside for protection of land against future development; that's state law.

In Maryland, it's called Program Open Space. It was established in 1969 with bipartisan support, and for good reason: The legislators of that time saw massive development coming to the state's suburbs, and they wanted to preserve farms and acquire land for public parks and playgrounds to keep things in balance — Maryland as "the land of pleasant living" even as it became a huge bedroom for Washington and Baltimore.

With white flight from the cities, the construction of the interstate highway system and two beltways, environmentalists and lawmakers saw Maryland's potential to become an utter mess as population grew and development spread.

Forty-five years along, we pride ourselves on being a state that still boasts postcard vistas from the Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake to the mountains of Garrett County, with a lot of nice spots in between.

The $2 billion that went into Program Open Space has a lot to do with that. It's a smart program, a legacy of Maryland's progressive approach to conservation, built on a simple idea:

Take a tiny piece of the revenue from each real estate transaction and fund a program to save open space — buy development rights from Maryland's family farmers so they can keep farming, acquire land for state parks, and send money to Baltimore and our smaller cities and the counties so they can build playgrounds, bike trails and lacrosse and soccer fields.

The logic is beautiful.

Because Program Open Space is tied to real estate transactions — only 0.5 percent of transfer taxes go into the fund — it tracks with the economy. If development and house sales slow, so does Program Open Space. In better times, when there's more action in commercial and residential real estate, more money goes into land preservation.

But the wise lawmakers who established the program are gone, and their political descendants have raided the fund countless times — to the tune of about $1.5 billion, according to calculations by the nonprofit Partners for Open Space — and they did this most famously during the savings-and-loan mess of the mid-1980s.

Annapolis has scoffed repeatedly at the spirit of the law that established Program Open Space with little worry about political fallout.

That last part is what gets me. That's why I'm writing about this today. The muldoons in Annapolis are messing with Program Open Space again. In his new budget, Gov. Martin O'Malley designates no cash for the program, using instead a more complicated system of bonds to finance specific projects, while some in the General Assembly want to cap the fund at $100 million. (Yeah, baby, time to rein in all that wild spending going on for open space!)

In the program's original form, there was never supposed to be a cap; Porogram Open Space was supposed to try and balance land gobbled up for development with land conserved for farms, forests and local parks and playing fields, all through a tiny fraction of the revenue from each real estate transaction.

Partners for Open Space says there are 150 Maryland farm families lined up for the state's agricultural preservation program, but not enough money to handle the demand because of Annapolis's constant raiding of Program Open Space.

Doing a budget — in a household or for the entire state — requires many skills, discipline and adherence to principles, including respect for an established rule.

In this case, here's the rule: We will devote 0.5 percent to a fund to acquire land, and it will be tied to income from a specific source; we won't be obligated to put any additional money into that fund but, at the same time, we won't raid it for the general budget, either.

In violating the spirit of Program Open Space, Annapolis counts on Marylanders not caring enough about grass and trees to bother them with phone calls and emails. And if that happens, then in time maybe they'll think it's OK to just end the program altogether.

We can't let that happen. We need to take a stand for open space, and now.


_______________________________________
In Baltimore, city buses and fire department engines are being covered with corporate advertisement because when corporations pay no taxes the public coffers are empty.  So, all across the city public parks and athletic courts are left in disrepair or closed because UnderArmour is allowed to get tax breaks.  Yet, public work is outsourced to allow UnderArmour to 'donate' money to repair a park for 'free' courtesy permanent corporate advertising.

So, no public employees maintaining parks and recreation and the city's public spaces littered with corporate tags all paying for corporate operations with a dash of tax relief to maximize profits------


THAT'S A NEO-LIBERAL/NEO CON FOR YOU----ALWAYS WORKING TO HAVE THE PUBLIC PAY TO MAXIMIZE PROFIT!

Jul 13, 2011, 2:33pm EDT Updated: Jul 28, 2011, 7:08am EDT

Under Armour to renovate Federal Hill court


 Scott Dance, Staff Baltimore has hired Under Armour Inc. to renovate a basketball court at Federal Hill Park at no cost — other than some brand advertising.

The Tide Point-based sportswear maker has agreed to replace the chain-link fence around the court and install a new playing surface, goals and goal posts. The city is not paying Under Armour for the work, but is allowing it to include its logo on the court surface. The city Board of Estimates approved the deal Wednesday morning.

It’s not the first time Under Armor has emblazoned its logo on city property. The city and company caught flak from residents in April 2010 for an Under Armour ad painted on the grass of Federal Hill Park, facing the Inner Harbor with the company’s logo and slogan “Protect this house”. Under Armour also has its logo on a baseball field in Locust Point, near its headquarters. That field is not city-owned, according to City Councilman Bill Cole.


____________________________________________
O'Malley and neo-liberals and neo-cons are working hard to hand all of Maryland's public land to private gain and as we see below, a great big State Center complex is now giving businesses an opportunity to operate without paying property tax because after all its public land.  So, instead of rehabbing this building for the much needed rebuilding of public oversight and regulation and hiring thousands of public employees to do this, O'Malley is taking this public space private subsidizing costs of taxes and maintenance for what is almost always global corporate chain stores.

The jobs created are poverty while the state public jobs that are middle-class are slowly eliminated because after all-----Trans Pacific Trade Pact gives Global Corporate Tribunals and legal teams all the functions of today's public sector.
  Keep in mind that another public-private partnership with O'Malley is the Hilton Hotel now having the public subsidize corporate loses, no tax revenue coming in, and employees fleeced of money and paid poverty wages.  City Hall sold that project just as they are selling this State Center project that will end up the same.  This State Center has been left to deteriorate and the thousands of state employees earning strong wages have be culled as all oversight and regulation has been eliminated in Maryland.

IT IS ALL PUBLIC MALFEASANCE AS IT HAS NO INTENT TO OPERATE IN THE PUBLIC GOOD.


GET RID OF ALL PUBLIC SPACE BY HANDING THEM TO PRIVATE CORPORATIONS SAY NEO-LIBERALS LIKE O'MALLEY!  PUBLIC HOUSING REAL ESTATE BECOMING A PUBLIC PARK OR PUBLIC COMMUNITY CENTER?  NOT ON MY WATCH----IT WILL BE PUBLIC LAND USED FOR AN AFFLUENT PRIVATE HIGH-RISE!


THIS IS THE UGLIEST, BRUTAL, MOST OBSCENE ABUSE OF PUBLIC TRUST I HAVE EVER SEEN.

Governor O'Malley Unveils Plans for First Phase of State Center Redevelopment Phase One of redevelopment to create new office and retail near transit hub and support 1,200 construction jobs and attract another 800 permanent jobs in the heart of Baltimore City


BALTIMORE, MD (July 27, 2010) –

Joined by local officials, construction workers, community leaders and others today, Governor Martin O’Malley announced plans for the first phase of the landmark State Center redevelopment project in the heart of Baltimore City.  Pending Board of Public Works approval tomorrow, the State will lease 500,000 square feet of newly developed office space in the first of two new buildings to be built on the 28-acre site by a state-selected private development team.  The five-phase, 15-year redevelopment is the culmination of six years of planning, and is expected to bring nearly 10,000 jobs during the construction phase and more than 5,400 permanent, private-sector jobs to the heart of Baltimore City when the project is complete, in addition to more than 4,800 indirect and induced jobs upon the project’s completion.

“This is the beginning of an ambitious public-private partnership that will transform a stagnant, government office complex into a vibrant, walkable, ‘green space’ that will link nine surrounding communities, revitalize a key part of Baltimore City, and bring thousands of private-sector jobs to the heart of Baltimore,” said Governor O’Malley.  “The state commitment to lease office space opens the door for the development team to seek the private funding necessary to build the project, a project that will assist Maryland’s economic recovery by supporting jobs and attracting new business to the area with work beginning this fall.”

The entire State Center redevelopment, a five-phase, 15-year plan, will create 9,403 jobs during construction and 5,439 permanent, private-sector jobs when the project is complete.  An additional 4,862 indirect and induced jobs will be added upon the project’s completion.

“The O’Malley-Brown administration has been focused like a laser on job creation in Baltimore and throughout Maryland,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. “The State Center redevelopment is a tremendous opportunity for Baltimore, providing more job opportunities and new investment.  The City of Baltimore will continue to work in strong partnership with the State to move this exciting project forward.”

The State Center redevelopment transforms an out-dated, 28-acre concrete complex valued at $1.8 million into multi-million dollar retail, commercial and residential transportation oriented development where the State is projected to be $144 million in the black by year 20.  This is made possible by the use of the public private partnership which includes a projected $28 million in parking revenue, $30 million in ground rents and shared profits, and $160 million in new state taxes over the first 20 years of the project.

Phase One of State Center Redevelopment

The $215 million Phase One development at State Center will include two new office buildings and a parking garage.  In addition to the 500,000 square feet of office space, the two buildings combined will include 70,000 square feet of street-level retail space, including a grocery store that the has been a priority for the surrounding communities for years.  In addition to the 1,200 jobs supported by construction of Phase One, the project, when complete, will attract another 800 permanent jobs to the State Center site. 


Over the next 20 years the first phase of the State Center redevelopment will generate more than $200 million in state and city taxes and another $30 million in lease payments to the State of Maryland.  Phase One will Support 1,200 construction jobs and attract 800 permanent, private-sector direct jobs. 


Phase One will construction two office buildings and a parking garage where a parking lot currently sits, creating 500,000 square feet of office space and 70,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store.

“This milestone follows three years of intensive planning, research and community involvement,” said Caroline Moore, Chief Executive Officer of Ekistics, LLC and the managing member of the private development team.  “We have worked hand-in-hand with citizens and both state and city government to develop a concept that meets the various needs of the community and we have done it in award-winning fashion.”

Currently, State Center is home to four state government office buildings and 3,500 state employees, the largest concentration of state employees in Maryland.  However, the layout of the existing complex hinders the ability of residents to move between the nine surrounding communities.  The redevelopment of State Center will create a more pedestrian friendly environment, consolidating 14 state agencies and more than 3,500 state employees, in addition to employees and customers of added retail and commercial space, in a complex sits at the intersection of six different public transportation systems.

In May 2010, the overall $1.5 billion State Center redevelopment project received a Charter Award from the Congress on New Urbanism as one of the seven best urban smart growth projects in the world.  The 28-acre State Center site will be redeveloped in five phases over fifteen years converting the property from an underutilized government owned and operated office campus into a mix of privately owned and operated office, retail and mixed income residential units, forming a green, walkable community adjacent to Metro, Light Rail and MARC transit stations.

The State Center redevelopment project is a transit oriented development that reflects the goals of Governor O’Malley’s Smart, Green and Growing initiative.  Introduced in October 2008, the Smart, Green & Growing initiative was created to strengthen the state’s leadership role in fostering smarter, more sustainable growth and inspire action among all Marylanders to achieve a more sustainable future. The initiative brings together state agencies, local governments, businesses and citizens to create more livable communities, improve transportation options, reduce the state’s carbon footprint, support resource based industry, invest in green technologies, preserve valuable resource lands and restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

State Center is the second major public-private partnership to move forward under Governor O’Malley in the past year.  In November 2009, the State agreed to lease operation of Seagirt Marine terminal at the Port of Baltimore to Ports America Chesapeake.  The State maintains ownership of Seagirt while day to day operations and capital investments are now the responsibility of Ports America Chesapeake.  As part of the agreement, Ports America Chesapeake is now constructing a new 50-foot berth at Seagirt using private funds.  The new berth is critical to the future success of the Port of Baltimore as an expansion of the Panama Canal will bring larger ships to the US East Coast when completed in 2014.  In total, the Seagirt agreement will support 5,700 jobs.




________________________________________
Baltimore is a city of crumbling infrastructure and schools closing because of decades of neglect in maintenance but we do have a Wall Street copy at Harbor East complete with plated sidewalk fixtures and a billion-dollar East Baltimore Hopkins Corporation campus all heavily funded with public money.

Public docks, public Port of Baltimore, and public land surrounding the harbor are all falling to public private partnerships that have the public paying for and maintaining infrastructure built for these corporate office campuses.  As this article shows, the money put forward in these developments offer little value to the city and as has happened in other cities-----like Detroit-----these development schemes based on global corporate businesses fall flat in all ways.

  • The mayor is quoted below promoting what everyone knows is not true about these developments---new jobs, new tax revenue---new amenities.

The entire development process is designed so that little tax revenue is paid and if it is the tax stays right around this development.  The jobs are abusive and poverty with government watchdogs saying that the Inner Harbor has lost over 100,000 jobs in these few decades along with all small business vendors pushed out of business to make way for global corporations that make all American cities look the same.  Tourists come to Baltimore to see the same businesses they have in their cities?  I THINK NOT. 

The comparison of Baltimore to Detroit is valid.  Building debt until the city goes bankrupt is a business model for Wall Street.


Harbor Point: Do we really need $80 million in bells and whistles? Opinion: The East Baltimore project is front-loaded with city-funded projects that needn't be started now.

Gerald Neily June 7, 2013 at 10:20 am

Artist’s rendering of Harbor Point, a $1 billion project that’s due to receive a hefty city subsidy.

Photo by: City of Baltimore


The press release issued this week by the Rawlings-Blake administration to justify its $107 million financing plan for Harbor Point presses all the usual buttons: “Like the Inner Harbor revitalization effort of 30 years ago, the Harbor Point project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to grow Baltimore by attracting new jobs, new residents, new tax revenue, and new public amenities.”

But Harbor Point is nothing like the Inner Harbor. The latter was a gaping hole of abandoned piers and obsolete factories that needed to be filled, while Harbor Point is extraordinarily isolated from the rest of the city.

The press release promises “blight elimination.” But there is no blight to eliminate at this former site of a chromium-processing factory.

Harbor Point is literally a blank canvas, covered by an asphalt cap to contain buried factory wastes. Unlike most of Baltimore, everything at this 28-acre site is under control – and unoccupied by people or roadways or infrastructure that need to be cleared away.

Which means we don’t have to spend public money on its redevelopment until we’re good and ready.


Direct Public Money to Real Needs

Let me explain: only a relatively small amount of the proposed public financing is going for traditional infrastructure.


The mayor proposes just $23 million in TIF (tax increment) bonds for sidewalks, utilities and a bridge connecting Harbor Point with Harbor East, but well over half ($59 million) for five parks.

Parks are nice (though one wonders how many non-Harbor Point residents and office workers will use them). Let’s, though, build them when development justifies them.

Another $21 million is for the waterfront promenade. The press release misstates that the “promenade will connect Fells Point with Harbor East.” Wrong. The best pedestrian connection between those places already exists along Lancaster and/or Caroline Street.

Michael Beatty (left) listens to Mayor Rawlings-Blake extol his project at press conference yesterday. The conference was held on the cleared site, with the Harbor East skylight as a backdrop. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

The Harbor Point promenade will be a free-standing amenity that should be built when conditions warrant – not to fulfill some kind of perceived pedestrian demand or to add value for high-rent private office buildings.


Let’s Not Get Ahead of Development

So $80 million of the $107 million spending can be triggered by real-time reality, starting with the completion of the Exelon Tower, which the energy giant has committed itself to leasing regardless of what the city spends on parks and promenades.

The developer, Michael Beatty and his longtime financial benefactor, John Paterakis, are gambling on public subsidies to fill the gap between their ambitions and market reality.

Another rendering of the proposed development, biggest in Baltimore history. (Harbor Point Development)


The same game was played at their previous project, Harbor East, when the city allowed itself to pay for public improvements far ahead of  development (as well as subsidize with tax breaks the development itself).

The Harbor East promenade was torn up for the Four Seasons complex, and the walkway still hasn’t been rebuilt right.

On the other hand,  Morgan Stanley is currently occupying the Thames Street Wharf building – the only part of Harbor Point that’s been completed – without any public complaints about the lack of surrounding amenities.


Grand Plans Foiled Before


The city’s experience with the Harbor View development in South Baltimore is a perfect illustration of the problem of “front-loading” public assets onto private projects.

Back in the 1980s, Richard Swirnow planned a whole wall of high-rise residential buildings along Key Highway, which was approved by the city over the objections of a mostly enraged community.

Only one was actually built. The high-end waterfront residential market became oversaturated and the rest of the site was slowly built-out as townhouses.


With Harbor Point, the stakes would be much higher. The mayor’s press release summarizes a jigsaw puzzle of financial considerations with a bottom line of dubious accounting legitimacy: “average new City revenue per year (30 years), $19,623,928.”

This metric sweeps away the city’s recent history of development projects that have failed to meet their hype with a single word: “average.”

Another Detroit?

Perhaps the most comparable development plan to Harbor Point is Renaissance Center in Detroit. It, too, was hyped as Detroit’s savior, but was really just a massive isolated urban ego-trip that sapped all the city’s high-end development demand.

Detroit’s showcase Renaissance Center has unintended consequences for Motor City’s old downtown.

RenCen’s chronic vacancy eventually compelled General Motors to move its corporate headquarters there on its road to eventual bankruptcy and government bailout.

Harbor Point is better designed but equally isolated, with far poorer access and a far greater infrastructure budget.

RenCen took advantage of Detroit’s once powerful corporate sector – and then helped destroy that sector.

Aren’t There Higher Priorities?


Baltimore should be in no hurry to complete the promenade or stamp out alleged Harbor Point “blight.”

Instead, the mainstream development market should be encouraged to build up the Central Avenue corridor to Old Town, or to fill up vacant and underutilized downtown office buildings, or to turn around areas that are truly blighted like Westport and Poppleton.

There are plenty of needy neighborhoods and stalled projects that the mayor should address before throwing public money at what she described yesterday as one of the best real estate locations on the East Coast.

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March 13th, 2014

3/13/2014

0 Comments

 
DO YOU HEAR YOUR POLITICIAN SHOUTING OUT AGAINST PRIVATE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS IN PUBLIC POLICY-WRITING?  NOT WHEN NEO-LIBERALS HAVE CORPORATIONS WRITING ALL OF PUBLIC POLICY!  THIS IS THE #2 ISSUE FOR DEMOCRATIC LABOR AND JUSTICE FOLLOWING REINSTATING RULE OF LAW!



RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU UNDERSTAND THAT INTRODUCING COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS AT THE SAME TIME EMBRACING NEO-LIBERALISM WOULD LEAD TO ALL LAWS WRITTEN FOR THE BENEFIT OF PROFIT OVER PUBLIC INTEREST------
EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS THAT!



The democratic party platform states the opposite as regards policy stance.  So, having neo-liberals in control of the democratic party is counter to the very platform on which they run.




'In social cost benefit analysis, not only profit but also other effects like how will it affect life of others are considered. Whereas, in private cost benefit analysis, the focus of the analysis is on maximizing profits'.


Importance of Social Cost Benefit Analysis


Social cost benefit analysis is a process in which the social impact of a project or a policy is assessed and evaluated by the government before approving a project contract.
Social cost benefit analysis is a part of calculating the merits of a project or a government policy. As the name suggests, social cost-benefit analysis of anything is associated with its social impact. This means that how a project or a policy will affect people is analyzed. Only after calculating the opportunity cost of a project, it is approved.

The scope of social cost benefits can be applied to public investment and also to private investment. In case of public investment, it plays a major role in the economic development of a developing country. And, in case of private investments social cost benefit analysis is important as investments are to be sanctioned and are monitored by the government. There are two aspects of calculating the cost benefit analysis of any project. One is the private cost-benefit analysis and the other is social cost-benefit analysis. Though, social cost-benefit analysis is usually undertaken by the government.

Social cost is often in contrast with private cost. Major differences between social cost benefit analysis and private cost benefit analysis are as follows:

1. In social cost benefit analysis, not only profit but also other effects like how will it affect life of others are considered. Whereas, in private cost benefit analysis, the focus of the analysis is on maximizing profits.

2. For calculating social cost benefit, market prices for the factors to be considered cannot exist. Therefore, market price is not the main factor taken into consideration while calculating social cost benefit. Whereas, for private cost benefit analysis market price forms the base of the analysis and the key factor that determines if a project is viable.

Social Cost = Negative Impact
Social Benefit = Positive Impact

Social cost benefit analysis has been introduced to develop systematic ways of analyzing cost and benefits of factors which do not have market prices, like effect on environment and traffic. Social cost-benefit calculates non-monetized benefits/ losses. It is normally used for large fund projects like constructing a dam, a road. Such projects have higher social cost-benefits and also affects the price level to an extent.

Example: If a bridge is to be constructed then how much will it benefit the people who live in that particular area, is to be analyzed. Therefore, how many people are willing to use the bridge, how much traffic will be reduced and what is the increase in cost of traveling, will have to be assessed as a whole to come to a conclusion. Suppose, if people are not willing to use the bridge if the cost of traveling from the bridge is $5 and if $7 has to be charged per vehicle to make this project feasible, then the government may consider dropping the project out.

On the other hand, if people are willing to travel using the bridge, being indifferent to the toll price-difference of $2, and the traffic is reduced by a good amount, then the government will sanction the project. Therefore, it is beneficial to take up a project if its total benefits (B) are more than its total costs (C).

It can be put up as, a project should be undertaken if, B/C > 1 or even when B=C. That is, when the cost-benefit ratio exceeds unity or when benefit derived and the cost of the project is equal. Before sanctioning a project, cost and benefit of alternative projects are assessed too. For example, the opportunity cost of setting up a hospital instead of a school.

Importance of Social Cost Benefit Analysis

The importance has been explained with the help of the following factors that affect the general masses as a whole.

Market Failure
Market failure when a big project is not affecting everyone but only a few. A private firm would only look at profitability and related market prices to take up a deal but the government has to look at other factors. To determine the social cost in case of market failure and when market prices are unable to define them. These social costs are known as shadow prices.

Savings & Investment
Impact of the project on general savings and investment level. A project that induces more savings are investment in an economy and not the other way round.

Distribution & Redistribution of Income
The project should not lead to accumulating income in the hands of a few but, it should equally distribute the income.

Employment and Standard of Living
How a project affects employment and standard of living will be taken into account as well. The deal should lead to increase in employment and standard of living.

Externalities
Externalities are impacts of a project which can be both harmful and beneficial. Therefore, both the effects are to be assessed before sanctioning a deal. Positive-externalities could be in the form improvement in technology and negative-externalities could be in the form of increase in pollution and destruction of ecology.

Taxes and Subsidies
In a general cost benefit calculation, taxes and subsidies are considered as expenses and income respectively. Though in case of social-cost benefit analysis, taxes and subsidies are considered as transfer payments.

Social cost benefit analysis enables the government to take up new developments which will benefit everyone and not just a few. Also, it helps in bringing about an overall development in an economy and can help make decisions that will increase employment, investments, saving and consumption, thus, improving the economic activities in an economy.
Read more at Buzzle:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importance-of-social-cost-benefit-analysis.html

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Consider that the same time Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of government policy-making was coming to the forefront in the Reagan/Clinton years, so too was neo-liberalism.  So, you have the political philosophy of limited regulation and global expansion tied to Cost Benefit Analysis and you see that the social costs and benefits are out of the door.  Social Benefit Analysis cuts into profit-maximization and will not be apart of neo-liberal public policy.

This is why we have a nation in the state it is today.  Criminal, corrupt, predatory in its push to enrich a few and control the social damage.

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS (CBA) IS NOT A BAD TOOL.  WE NEED TO CONSIDER WHETHER POLICY IS EFFECTIVE.  IT IS A BAD TOOL WHEN THE POLS USING IT ARE ONLY LOOKING AT HOW PUBLIC POLICY CAN ENHANCE WEALTH AND PROFIT.


Think about the state of Mexico's society today to see where neglecting the costs to society over the benefits to profit will take the US if Trans Pacific Trade Pact (TPP) is enacted.  TPP does to the US what NAFTA did to Mexico.  While Americans suffered under NAFTA, TPP will take the US to third world standards as all US law protecting the public will be eliminated.

Mexican farmers were left with no livelihood and turned to drug dealing; US manufacturing created sweat shops that impoverished people; the environment was destroyed and food distribution systems distorted.  Rule of Law disappeared as corporate fraud and government corruption infused
the Mexican society-----SOUND FAMILIAR????

THAT'S NEO-LIBERALS FOR YOU----WEALTH AND PROFIT OVER PUBLIC INTEREST!  SHAKE THE NEO-LIBERAL BUGS FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BY RUNNING AND VOTING FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE IN ALL PRIMARIES!



Disadvantages of NAFTA

By Kimberly Amadeo




U.S. Wages Were Suppressed:

Not all companies in these industries moved to Mexico. The ones that used the threat of moving during union organizing drives. When it became a choice between joining the union or losing the factory, workers chose the factory. Without union support, the workers had little bargaining power. This suppressed wage growth. Between 1993 and 1995, 50% of all companies in the industries that were moving to Mexico used the threat of closing the factory. By 1999, that rate had grown to 65%.

Mexico's Farmers Were Put Out of Business:

Thanks to NAFTA, Mexico lost 1.3 million farm jobs. The 2002 Farm Bill subsidized U.S. agribusiness by as much as 40% of net farm income. When NAFTA removed tariffs, corn and other grains were exported to Mexico below cost. Rural Mexican farmers could not compete. At the same time, Mexico reduced its subsidies to farmers from 33.2% of total farm income in 1990 to 13.2% in 2001. Most of those subsidies went to Mexico's large farms, anyway.(Source: International Forum on Globalization, Exposing the Myth of Free Trade, February 25, 2003; The Economist, Tariffs and Tortillas, January 24, 2008)

Maquiladora Workers Were Exploited:

NAFTA expanded the maquiladora program, in which U.S.-owned companies employed Mexican workers near the border to cheaply assemble products for export to the U.S. This grew to 30% of Mexico's labor force. These workers have "no labor rights or health protections, workdays stretch out 12 hours or more, and if you are a woman, you could be forced to take a pregnancy test when applying for a job," according to Continental Social Alliance. (Source: Worldpress.org, Lessons of NAFTA, April 20, 2001)

Mexico's Environment Deteriorated:

In response to NAFTA competitive pressure, Mexico agribusiness used more fertilizers and other chemicals, costing $36 billion per year in pollution. Rural farmers expanded into more marginal land, resulting in deforestation at a rate of 630,000 hectares per year. (Source: Carnegie Endowment, NAFTA's Promise and Reality, 2004)

NAFTA Called for Free Access for Mexican Trucks:

Another agreement within NAFTA has not been implemented. NAFTA would have allowed trucks from Mexico to travel within the United States beyond the current 20-mile commercial zone limit. A demonstration project by the Department of Transportation (DoT) was set up to review the practicality of this. In 2008, the House of Representatives terminated this project, and prohibited the DoT from allowing this provision of NAFTA to ever be implemented without Congressional approval.Congress was concerned that Mexican trucks would have presented a road hazard. They are not subject to the same safety standards as U.S. trucks. In addition, this portion of NAFTA was opposed by the U.S. truckers' organizations and companies, who would have lost business. Currently, Mexican trucks must stop at the 20-mile limit and have their goods transferred to U.S. trucks.

There was also a question of reciprocity. The NAFTA agreement would also have allowed unlimited access for U.S. trucks throughout Mexico. A similar agreement works well between the other NAFTA partner, Canada. However, U.S. trucks are larger and carry heavier loads. This violates size and weight restrictions imposed by the Mexican government. (Article updated August 26, 2013)


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When we listen to neo-liberals speak of the high costs of health care, they are not talking about costs for the public, they are talking about costs for corporations.  Cost Benefit Analysis would look at how health corporations can maximize profits while limiting the costs to public programs because government revenue will continually decline as corporations and the rich pay no taxes. This is why, given that the costs of US health care are driven by health industry fraud and profiteering, the ACA focuses on ending corporate health plan costs and gutting entitlement spending and actually increase the conditions for fraud and profiteering. People are seeing that none of these health policies are written in the public interest.

THAT'S PRIVATE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR YOU!


Below you see the private CBA reasoning behind ACA.....the coming baby boomer health needs would tap the Trusts that are now empty with no plans to replenish with corporate taxation/fraud recovery.  This is the demographic shift.  Inflation in health care has been allowed to reach triple digits and ACA does not address this, but recognizes corporations will not pay for this hyper-inflation in the health industry.  You see corporations paying for 1/2 of health expenditures via wage and benefit packages.  Workers gave up wage increases in exchange for these health plans. Private CBA won't have this.  Placing health technology as the next global market strategy means costs/profiteering rise and access becomes even more limited.

Then you look at the local social benefit analysis and you see all of the social CBA is eliminated by the private CBA.

'At a local level, health care spending growth is more likely to be viewed as beneficial.  It creates health care jobs, increases wages for health care workers, expands local tax revenues, and increases demand for related goods and services'.



Effects of Health Care Spending on the U.S. Economy

This report is available on the Internet at:

http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/costgrowth



Introduction In recent years, considerable attention has focused on aggregate health care spending increases. Emphasis has been given to identifying and examining the factors that have contributed to spending growth, and proposing policy solutions to reduce spending growth. Factors that contribute to spending growth encompass changes in health care utilization, population demographics, price inflation, and advances in medical technology.[1]

This background paper focuses on a somewhat broader topic—how health care spending impacts the economy of the United States.  The relationship between health care spending growth and the U.S. economy is inherently complex and multidimensional.

At an aggregate level, economists have cautioned that rising health care spending could lower economic growth and employment.[2]. A December 2004 survey of CEOs found that employee health care costs are the foremost cost concern in the minds of America’s business leaders (Figure 1).[3]  Further, rising health care spending has a significant impact on the federal budget.[4] Many employers are seeking to limit their exposure to rising health care costs by requiring their employees to increase their contributions or by providing different forms of coverage, potentially reducing household available income finances as more costs are shifted from employers to employees.

Some economists note that rising health care spending has important benefits, often outweighing the increased costs.[5] When adjusted for improvements in quality, these economists found that the cost of medical care is in fact in decreasing. In this view, increased health care spending improves increases access to new technologies — providing both new options of treatment (substitution) and treatment for a greater number of individuals (expansion).

“Technology often leads to more spending, but outcomes improve by even more.” [6] At a local level, health care spending growth is more likely to be viewed as beneficial.  It creates health care jobs, increases wages for health care workers, expands local tax revenues, and increases demand for related goods and services.



Source:  Business Roundtable December 2004 CEO Survey.

The remainder of this paper is organized into five sections.  The next section contains a brief overview of trends in health care spending.  This is followed by four sections that contain discussions of the impacts of health care spending on 1) the overall economy, 2) employers, 3) employees, and 4) households.


Trends in Health Care Spending Total Spending In the latest year for which data is available (2003) total national spending on health rose to $1.7 trillion, or $5,670 per person (Table 1). By 2013, national health expenditures are projected to reach $3.4 trillion, or $10,709 per person. As a share of GDP, health spending is projected to reach 18.4 percent by 2013, up from its 2003 level of 15.3 percent.



Table 1.
National Health Expenditures
  1960 1985 2003 Total $27 billion $427 billion $1,678.9 billion Per capita $143 $1,765 $5,670 Share of GDP 5.1% 10.1% 15.3% Source:  National Health Expenditures, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis; and U.S. Bureau of the Census. Spending on outpatient hospital services and prescription drugs continued to outpace the rate of growth in overall health care spending as services move out of the hospital and into ambulatory settings. Since 1998, health care spending has increased at faster rate of growth than has gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, and population.[7]



Data Source: National Health Expenditures 2002.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. NHE Tables.


Although the recently passed Medicare prescription drug benefit is not expected to have a large impact on overall national health spending, it is expected to cause sizable shifts in payment sources.[8] These shifts include from individuals and private payers to Medicare and from Medicaid to Medicare.


Sectoral Spending

In 2003, the private sector accounted for over half of national health expenditures, with private health insurance contributing the largest share ($600.6 billion or 36 percent) (Figure 3). Individual out-of-pocket payments, part of private sector spending, accounted for $230.5 billion (or 14 percent of expenditures) in 2003.


______________________________________
Below you see how social benefit loses every time with private CBA.  What is the CBA of global warming?  Look to the UK and its cap and trade enactment and you see the entire program is engulfed in fraud and corruption---neo-liberalism will not allow any social CBA


GET RID OF NEO-LIBERALS SO WE CAN GET BACK TO SOCIAL COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS!

Waxman-Markey Cost-Benefit Analysis



by Jim Manzi

05/19/09

Filed under:Climate Change

Costs vs. Benefits of Waxman-Markey

Let’s start with the costs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done the first cost estimate for Waxman-Markey. It finds (page 17) that by 2020 Waxman-Markey would cause a typical U.S. household to consume about $160 less per year than it otherwise would, and about $1,100 less per year by 2050 (before any potential benefits from avoiding warming). That doesn’t sound like the end of the world, but this cost estimate is based on a number of assumptions that seem pretty unrealistic, to put it mildly.

First, it assumes that every dollar collected by selling the right to emit carbon dioxide will be returned to taxpayers through rebates or lowered taxes. Waxman-Markey establishes this intention but doesn’t (as of the time I’m writing this) describe how it would be achieved, which reflects the political difficulty of achieving it. Second, it assumes no costs for enforcement and other compliance measures, which would be awfully nice. Third, it assumes that large numbers of foreign offsets will be available for purchase; without these, costs would be far higher. Fourth, it assumes that the rest of the world will begin similar carbon-reduction programs. Lack of such foreign action would either increase U.S. costs or risk a trade war if we tried to compensate for lack of international cooperation with targeted tariffs. Fifth, it assumes that there will be no exemptions or other side deals—that is, no economic drag created by the kind of complexity that has attached to every large, long-term revenue-collection program in history. And so on.

The EPA forecast is something like an estimate of the pure loss in economic productivity from replacing some fossil fuels with less economically efficient fuels or conservation in a laboratory setting; in the real world, expected costs are far above 0.8 percent of economic consumption by 2050. The EPA does not forecast costs beyond 2050.

Remember that the U.S. should not expect any net economic damage from global warming before 2100. That is, the bill’s benefits would accrue to U.S. consumers—who are also bearing its costs—sometime in the next century. The EPA underestimate has costs rising from zero to 0.8 percent of consumption between now and 2050, and offers no projection beyond that year; but to what level would costs rise over the more than 50 years between 2050 and the point in 22nd century when we might actually expect some net economic losses from global warming? The answer is likely to be much higher.

Now consider the benefits. Climatologist Chip Knappenberger has applied standard climate models to project that, under the scenario for global economic and population growth referenced above (A1B), Waxman-Markey’s emissions reductions would have the net effect of lowering global temperatures by about 0.1°C by 2100. Remember that the estimated cost of a 4°C increase in temperature (40 times this amount) is about 3 percent of global economic output. Assume for the moment that global warming has the same impact on the U.S. as a percentage of GDP as it does on the world as a whole (an assumption that almost certainly exaggerates the impact on the U.S.). A crude estimate of the U.S. economic costs that Waxman-Markey would avoid sometime later than 2100 would then be about one-fortieth of 3 percent, or about 0.08 percent of economic output. This number is one-tenth of 0.8 percent, the EPA’s estimate of consumption loss from Waxman-Markey by 2050. To repeat: The costs would be more than ten times the benefits, even under extremely unrealistic assumptions of low costs and high benefits. More realistic assumptions would make for a comparison far less favorable to the bill.

I’ve had to rely on informal studies and back-of-envelope calculations to do this cost/benefit analysis. Why haven’t advocates and sponsors of the proposal done their own? Why are they urging Congress to make an incredible commitment of resources without even cursory analysis of the net economic consequences? The answer should be obvious: This is a terrible deal for American taxpayers.

Two Potential Objections

One potential objection to my analysis is that the bill is part of a global drive for all countries to reduce emissions, and that the U.S. needs to “show leadership.” By this logic, we should ascribe much larger benefits to the Waxman-Markey bill—specifically, the benefits to American consumers of the whole world’s engaging in similar programs. There are two obvious problems with this argument, however. First, ascribing all of the benefits of a global deal to reduce emissions to a specific bill that does not create such a commitment on the part of any other countries is loading the dice. The benefit we should ascribe to the bill is rather that of an increase in the odds of such a global deal. But would Waxman-Markey actually increase them, or would it decrease them instead? Whenever one nation sacrifices economic growth in order to reduce emissions, the whole world can expect to benefit, because future temperature should decrease for the entire globe. Every nation’s incentive, therefore, is to free ride on everybody else. Our most obvious leverage with other emitting nations would be to offer to reduce our emissions if they reduced theirs. Giving up this leverage and hoping that our unilateral reductions would put moral pressure on China, Russia, Brazil, and similar countries to reduce their emissions reveals a touchingly sunny view of human nature, but it strikes me as a poor negotiating strategy. Second and more fundamentally, even if the whole world were to enact similar restraints on emissions, the cost / benefit economics would still not be compelling, for the reasons outlined at the beginning of this post.

A second and more serious potential objection to my analysis is that while Waxman-Markey may not create benefits if the projections I offered above turn out to be accurate, climate science is highly inexact, and the bill is an insurance policy against higher-than-expected costs. Now, climate and economics modelers aren’t idiots, so it’s not as though this hadn’t occurred to them. Competent modelers don’t assume only the most likely case, but build probability distributions for levels of warming and associated economic impacts (e.g., there is a 5 percent chance of 4.5°C warming, a 10 percent chance of 4.0°C warming, and so on). The economic calculations that compose, for example, the analysis by William Nordhaus that I cited earlier are executed in just this manner. So the possibility of “worse than expected” impacts means, more precisely, the possibility of “impacts worse than those derived from our current probability distribution.” That is, we are concerned here with the inherently unquantifiable possibility that our entire probability distribution is wrong.

This concept has been called, somewhat grandiosely, the “Precautionary Principle.” Once you get past all the table-pounding, this is the crux of the argument for emissions abatement. It is an emotionally appealing political position, as it easy to argue that we should reduce some consumption now to head off even a low-odds possibility of disaster. The most compelling version of this argument, by far, has been presented by Martin Weitzman. You can read my detailed response here (note that this was to a slightly earlier edition of the paper). The essence of my response is that in order to drive a decision, Weitzman must take his argument from the conceptual idea of a “fat-tailed distribution” of danger to a numerical estimate of risk. He recognizes that the logic of his argument entails this. In his article, he ends up having to do the kind of armchair climate science that has been the bane of the “global warming is all a hoax” set. He uses a couple of ice bore studies to develop his own probability distribution for potential warming that calls for a 1% chance of 22.6C or more of warming by 2100. To put this in perspective, a 22.6C increase in the earth’s temperature would mean that the average global year-round temperature would be the same as summertime Death Valley is today. If you could convince me that there was a reliably-quantified 1% chance of this happening, you wouldn’t need all of the mathematical formalism of Weitzman’s paper – I’d be the biggest emissions mitigation proponent on earth. The problem is that the IPCC has already built a distribution of potential temperature changes (see Figure 10.28, page 808) that looks nothing like this. If you don’t want to believe me, read Cass Sunstein’s book about why the Precautionary Principle, even in sophisticated form, is a very bad decision rule.

In the end, clarity about costs and benefits is the enemy of Waxman Markey. It is hard to get around the conclusion that it can not be justified rationally based on the avoidance of climate change damages.


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March 03rd, 2014

3/3/2014

0 Comments

 


CORPORATE FRAUD RECOVERY AND TPP ARE THE TWO TOP ISSUES IN THIS ELECTION RACE. IF YOUR POL IS NOT MAKING THAT FRONT AND CENTER....THEY ARE NEO-LIBERALS WORKING FOR WEALTH AND PROFIT-----LOOK BELOW AT BERNIE SANDERS SHOUTING FRAUD NEEDS TO BE RECOVERED!!!!


Regarding the continued error in the phrase 'wealth inequity':

Again Basu tries to inform listeners of regional economic prosperity while failing to speak of the economic balance that will come when massive corporate fraud of tens of trillions of dollars comes back to government coffers and individual's pockets.  Until that rebalancing occurs, we cannot know one region's economic health over another.  Now, it so happens that the areas listed by Basu are indeed the areas front and center in these massive frauds along with the national corporate headquarters around Washington DC.  

WE ARE TELLING PEOPLE REPORTING THAT THERE IS GREAT WEALTH INEQUITY THAT YOU DO NOT CLAIM A BANK ROBBER RICHER THAN THE BANK FROM WHICH HE STOLE THE MONEY.

If you listen to pundits or politically align media like neo-liberal MSNBC you will hear this mantra....WE HAVE TO REVERSE WEALTH INEQUITY and not once do they say IT'S RULE OF LAW THAT WILL DO IT! They are pretending we are back in the 1960s and simply need progressive policies as if the massive public wealth fraud never happened.  Robert Reich is a neo-liberal economist who was part of the Clinton Administration as Labor Secretary when all the policy creating this third world status of our country to gain hold.  Nafta and breaking Glass Steagall assured this massive wealth inequity and unaccountable global corporate rule would occur.  Neo-liberals like Clinton, Reich, and Obama work to see that wealth consolidation indeed occurs in any way possible...ergo, suspension of Rule of Law.

IF A POLITICIAN OR PUNDIT IS SHOUTING THERE IS WEALTH INEQUITY WITHOUT SHOUTING FOR JUSTICE FROM MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD-----WHICH WILL ITSELF REVERSE THIS WEALTH INEQUITY----THEY ARE WORKING FOR THOSE COMMITTING THE FRAUD.

We know of course that New York City is ground zero for the frauds and therefor little of the wealth they claim is actually theirs......it is our home equity, retirement, pensions, health care, and public assets.  WE OWN MUCH OF NYC WEALTH.  San Francisco has legitimate wealth with the TECH industry although they are evading taxes.  This area is ground zero for subprime mortgage, defense, and for-profit education industry frauds.  So, when all of that wealth is taken from San Francisco's economy....they will be ranked differently in wealth inequity.  Washington is of course ground zero for all of the Federal contract fraud in the trillions of dollars and with it are the headquarters of all of the global corporations fat with fraud.  When those fraudulent gains come back to the citizens and government coffers, that area will be ranked differently.  So, you can see that Basu's willingness to spout stats that have no basis in reality makes US media on par with the Romanian media in free press.  FREE PRESS HOLDS POWER ACCOUNTABLE....IT DOES NOT PROPAGATE PROPAGANDA.  If the people at the top think the American people are going to let the stealing of tens of trillions of dollars go------they are indeed out of touch!





Should the federal government being doing more to investigate fraud in the financial industry?  Bloomberg Poll

Yes - 93% (4385 votes)

No - 7% (322 votes)

Total Votes: 4,707 Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding





The assets of the big banks mostly belong to the public as bringing back fraud and recovering damages would make these global banks into the regional banks we need them to be.  There is not a bank executive known to play the most obvious roll in these massive frauds that is not back working in finance earning tons of money again.  THIS IS SUSPENSION OF RULE OF LAW AND WHEN A GOVERNMENT SUSPENDS RULE OF LAW, IT SUSPENDS STATUTES OF LIMITATION.

Below you see only an example of the costs of damages to the American people.....there are tens of trillions in actual corporate frauds yet to be recovered.  Imagine allowing rogue financial firms like Moody's and Standards and Poor (S & P)......tell government pension managers that pensions have to be cut because 1/2 their value was lost in financial fraud that has yet to be recovered.

 THIS IS THIRD WORLD AND SHOWS WE HAVE A KLEPTOCRACY IN PLACE AND WE NEED TO SHAKE THESE BUGS FROM THE RUG.  NEO-CONS AND NEO-LIBERALS ARE THE BUGS MOVING ALL WEALTH TO THESE GLOBAL CORPORATE COFFERS.


Now, we know as well that all that time writing the Financial Reform Bill and yet not implemented and enforced has the economy ready to collapse yet again.  We know as well that neo-liberals took over from the neo-cons the oversight of corporate writing of TPP.  TPP negates all of what the Financial Reform Bill does.  Do you really think your pol did not know that ending US sovereignty with all the US Constitutional protections of WE THE PEOPLE AND BILL OF RIGHTS would of course make the Financial Reform Bill null and void?  OF COURSE THEY KNEW AS THEY SPENT THE TIME SUSPENDING FRAUDULENT ACCOUNTABILITY.  We will act as though we are doing something as we ignore that no justice in massive fraud occurs.





Five years ago today, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.


Instantly and inevitably, the house of cards otherwise known as Wall Street collapsed.

But after getting bailed out by the American taxpayers, Wall Street is doing just fine.

The people of Main Street? Not so much.

Here are some numbers to think about this Sunday morning.

    Amount the crash cost the U.S. economy: $22 trillion

    How much everyone would get if that $22 trillion were divided equally among the U.S. populace: $69,478.88

    Assets of the four biggest banks in America — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wachovia/Wells Fargo — when they were “too big to fail” in 2008: $6.4 trillion

    Assets of those four banks today: $7.8 trillion

    Of the 63 former Lehman Brothers employees identified by a bankruptcy examiner as being aware of an accounting scheme Lehman used to mask its true finances, number who are employed in senior financial services positions today: 47

    Number of the 25 banks responsible for the bulk of risky subprime loans leading up to the crash that are back in the mortgage business: 25

    Chances that an American voter thinks that regulating financial products and services is “important” or “very important”: 9 in 10

____________________________________________



BERNIE SANDERS IS THE ONLY NATIONAL POL THAT SHOUTS OUT RECOVERING CORPORATE FRAUD IS A MUST.  WHETHER DEFENSE INDUSTRY FRAUD TO PROTECT VETERANS....WALL STREET FRAUD RECOVERY....OR THE FEDERAL RESERVE....GROUND ZERO FOR GREAT FRAUD-----

IF A POL IS NOT SHOUTING THIS---THEY ARE AIDING AND ABETTING.

See why saying there is wealth inequity in America before justice reverses much of this fraud is propaganda?




    
The Fed Audit

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. "As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," said Sanders. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."

Among the investigation's key findings is that the Fed unilaterally provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland, according to the GAO report. "No agency of the United States government should be allowed to bailout a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president," Sanders said.

The non-partisan, investigative arm of Congress also determined that the Fed lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for abuse.  In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans.

For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served on the New York Fed's board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed.  Moreover, JP Morgan Chase served as one of the clearing banks for the Fed's emergency lending programs.

In another disturbing finding, the GAO said that on Sept. 19, 2008, William Dudley, who is now the New York Fed president, was granted a waiver to let him keep investments in AIG and General Electric at the same time AIG and GE were given bailout funds.  One reason the Fed did not make Dudley sell his holdings, according to the audit, was that it might have created the appearance of a conflict of interest.

To Sanders, the conclusion is simple. "No one who works for a firm receiving direct financial assistance from the Fed should be allowed to sit on the Fed's board of directors or be employed by the Fed," he said.

The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans.

The Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of their emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo.  The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract worth $108.4 million to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.

A more detailed GAO investigation into potential conflicts of interest at the Fed is due on Oct. 18, but Sanders said one thing already is abundantly clear. "The Federal Reserve must be reformed to serve the needs of working families, not just CEOs on Wall Street."

To read the GAO report, click here.


_________________________________


Below is a good analysis of the problem in Europe which of course is the same as that in the US.  This analysis has a second value because it shows that the same model of throwing Europe into sovereign debt crisis is now being used by US neo-liberals for the next Bain's Capital gutting of wealth assets from the public sector.  Remember, it was Iceland that from the start simply allowed the banks to default from the fraud and their economy is well on its way to being healthy while the US and Europe are still held hostage by TROIKA and WALL STREET/FED.  American academics have the same analyses showing direct cause and effect....proof of conspiracy to defraud.  We have all the data needed to show all of this CDS policy was a planned conspiracy that can be easily tried in court and won.

WE NEED LABOR UNION LAWYERS TO START ACTING AS US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IN TAKING ALL OF THIS TO COURT AND DECRYING THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENTS SUSPENSION OF RULE OF LAW!


Anyone as nerdish as I am will like this research and analysis of how the same financial scheme brought to us with the subprime mortgage loan fraud with trillions of dollars of fraudulent loans insured with Credit Default Swaps by mainly one large insurance agency.....AIG all the time knowing these loans were toxic and all would collapse.  So, the Dodd Frank financial reform was to address this and of course nothing has been done and these same people are now thinking the subprime mortgage loan fraud was such a success as tens of trillions of dollars in fraud was left with the looters now think......let's do it again.

This time rather than the goal of capturing all of the nation's real estate holdings and consolidating land ownership to a few at the top.....this fraud has as its goal blowing up the public sector by super-sizing municipal debt and imploding the economy to make a crash that would create huge sovereign debt default.  You can do that only if you again use the Credit Default Swap insurance so that as everyone else loses all their wealth, you have this insurance that protects the very people imploding the economy.  None of this is legal as banks deliberately hid sovereign debt and municipal debt with financial instruments so more debt could be taken on.....ergo, the implosion we have in Europe in 2008.

This is important because the same thing is now happening in the US these few years of Obama's term as US state governors and mayors.....like O'Malley and Rawlings-Blake are doing to you and me what was done in the PIIGS nations in Europe.  Loading up municipal debt while insuring it all with Credit Default Swaps.  You know this is a plan as municipal bonds and public debt have never been allowed to use these CDS and now they are.  So, as governors and mayors load our government coffers with tons of debt tied to Wall Street financial instruments, the investment firms are protecting themselves from loss when the economic crash comes while the public sector.......MECU and the State of Maryland/City of Baltimore will default on their terms and lose most of the investment.

AGAIN, THIS IS ALL PUBLIC MALFEASANCE....IT IS ILLEGAL AND ALL TERMS CAN BE VACATED BECAUSE INVESTMENT FIRMS KNOW THIS IS ALL FRAUDULENT.

This article below is great and it is very long so I could not copy it here.......go to the webpage to see it in its entirety to see how these 1% are working to steal all that is public!


Analysis of European Sovereign Credit Default Swap during theSovereign Debt Crisis in Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain.
 byBerkay OrenA dissertation submitted in partial of theMSc Finance and InvestmentAtThe University of BrightonFaculty of Management and Information SciencesBrighton Business School(May 2013)


  Abstract

This thesis has represented the determinants of sovereign CDS spreads during currentsovereign debt crisis in periphery countries namely Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The period of analysis is between 4 March 2008 and 3 May 2012. After the demise of LehmanBrothers, the sovereign CDS market has attached significant attention and the credit marketshave been issue to an unprecedented re-pricing of credit risk. Moreover, Lehman Brothersdevastated investor confidence and decrease in the availability of credit. Massive assistanceof the banks was heightened public sector deficit. Thus it has led to high level sovereign debt.This means that the risk of default of sovereign became real in periphery countries. Thisthesis has been classified three phases. Firstly an analysis of credit default swaps and their use in the financial World. Secondly development of the European periphery economy on amacro level in Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Finally the statistical approach of ordinaryleast square is to be analysed. Main purpose of this thesis will identify sovereign creditdefault swaps associated with the current sovereign debt crisis.


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We want to remember that the reason Clinton and Bush targeted the low-income mortgage market for the subprime mortgage frauds was first, they wanted to consolidate real estate ownership and second they used the Federal assistance for these loans over and over again....this is where a large part of the fraud fleecing government coffers came.  They did it on purpose because they knew they would have someone in office that would suspend Rule of Law....if not Obama, Hillary, or Romney.  Sending low-income people to higher education and placing them in homes.....under programs filled with fraud was only cover for this massive fraud.  WE KNOW IF THE INTENT IS TO DO GOOD, YOU DO NOT ALLOW MASSIVE FRAUD OF THE PROGRAM TO OCCUR.  The same is happening today in the GREEN industry as a good program is riddled with fraud allowing 1/2 of the green spending to be defrauded.  

IF NO OVERSIGHT IS GIVEN AND NO JUSTICE IN PLACE....THE INTENT WAS INDEED TO DEFRAUD.

Below is a look at just the subprime mortgage fraud....we know that financial fraud was widespread and across corporate industries as well.  So, the few hundreds of billions of dollars collected in 'settlements' does nothing for tens of trillions of dollars in fraud.  THIS IS WHY ALL PUBLIC PROGRAMS, SERVICES, AND ASSETS ARE BEING HANDED TO PRIVATE ENTITIES UNDER THE GUISE OF STARVED GOVERNMENT BUDGETS.



Wall Street Bank Fraud Massive

Details
    Written by Dan McGookey

Share

The New York Times reported this week that Wall Street is now predicting that its Banks will be anteing up over $50 Billion in settlement payouts with the government and others as a result of their massive fraud perpetrated through the securitized lending system during the first eight years of this Century. Even this astounding number doesn't begin to tell the story of how widespread that fraud was, or the toll it took on this Country's economy, however.

Consider the fact that tens of trillions of dollars of wealth changed hands from Main Street to Wall Street in less than a decade through the vehicle known as securitized lending. That is the process whereby a mortgage loan is magically transformed into a stock certificate or security simply by bundling it with thousands of others and then selling "mortgage-backed certificates" (or stock) in that pool of loans. The problem was that the Wall Street Bankers were able to sell the stock in the loan pool at 10-20 times the face value of the loans. And the reason we say that tens of trillions of dollars shifted from Main Street to Wall Street by virtue of the corrupt securitized lending system is because it was city and state governments, retirement funds, insurance companies and the like who were the suckers buying up the absurdly over-priced stock. In other words, the money was stolen out of the wallets and purses of all Americans.

Even through the estimated amount of the penalties is tantamount to a slap on the wrist for the Banks, it at least serves to highlight the significance of Wall Street's corruption. And the news reports of that corruption will no doubt keep coming with increasing frequency as the depth of the fraud continues to be exposed. All we can hope for is that as that happens, our own Government's complicity in the scandal will be exposed as well.

Reverse Bank Robbery

The Wall Street Banksters obviously never read or simply didn't take heed of the following preaching of Socrates:

"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud."

Avoiding the Foreclosure Trap

As a homeowner struggling for mortgage relief with your bank, don't forget to be mindful of the following time-honored sage advice; "Forewarned is forearmed". Realize that the fraud involved with your mortgage didn't end after your loan's origination. Because foreclosure is a profitable business, there is a very good chance the fraud is continuing, along with your victimization.


Kate Eyster and Lauren McGookey contributed to this article.

Copyright 2014 Daniel L. McGookey


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Let's look at one other corporate fraud...this one tax fraud that is wide-spread and easy to find.  The IRS could  pay down much of the national debt itself by recovering corporate tax fraud yet we are told by neo-liberals those bad republicans are defunding the IRS.....indeed, it is being starved.  Yet, the financial settlements in the hundreds of billions requires that a percentage of all settlements go to rebuilding and strengthening fraud detection and prosecution......IT IS SELF-FUNDING.  So, all we need are state pols that shout loudly that none of this is happening----IT IS THE VOICE OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS THAT WOULD FORCE THESE CROOKS TO DO THE RIGHT THING.  IT IS THEIR SILENCE THAT IS DUPLICITOUS.  

IN MARYLAND, IT WAS ALL OF THE CURRENT POLS IN OFFICE THAT ALLOWED THIS MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD TO HAPPEN AND INDEED MUCH WEALTH INEQUITY IN MARYLAND IS A RESULT OF THIS FRAUD AND LACK OF JUSTICE!

Joe Biden's Delaware and Harry REid's Nevada are the two states with the most international business geared to off-shoring and hiding wealth.

THIS BILL WAS PASSED IN 2006 JUST AS THE DISMANTLING OF OVERSIGHT AND DEFUNDING WAS AT ITS HEIGHT.  REMEMEBER, THE RECOVERY OF FRAUD BY THE IRS SUPPORTS ALL THE OVERSIGHT AND ACTION NEEDED. THE IRS HAS PLENTY OF MONEY TO DO THE JOB WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL FUNDING.

Trillions in fraud here....tens of trillions there.....makes for tons of lost revenue to the economy from corporate fraud at Federal, state, and local level.  When people like Basu or Robert Reich speak of wealth inequity as needing legislation and not Rule of Law...THEY ARE WORKING FOR WEALTH AND PROFIT.





Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud and Transfer Price Schemes Are Two Forms of IRS Tax Fraud That Can Be the Basis Of An IRS Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit



 by Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Lawyer and Transfer Payment Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawyer Jason Coomer

Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud and Transfer Payment Tax Fraud are two forms of corporate tax fraud that are committed by large multinational corporations.  The IRS is offering rewards and protections for IRS whistleblowers and IRS informants that work through Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyers, Multinational Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyers, and Transfer Payment Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyers to identify tax fraud schemes that cost the United States millions of dollars.

Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, Multinational Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, and Transfer Payment Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, Jason S. Coomer, works with corporate tax fraud whistleblowers, illegal offshore account tax fraud whistleblowers, transfer payment tax fraud whistleblowers, and other corporate tax fraud whistleblowers to expose corporate tax fraud and other forms of tax fraud.  If you are the original source with special knowledge of tax fraud and are interested in learning more about a tax whistleblower lawsuit, please feel free to contact Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer and Transfer Payment Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer Jason Coomer via e-mail message.

Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Lawsuit, Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, IRS Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, Transfer Price Scheme Tax Fraud Lawsuit, IRS Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, & IRS Whistleblower Payment for Detection of Fraud Lawsuit Information

In 2006, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act that was signed into law included a whistleblower reward amendment that created mandatory reward language to the IRS to create a mandatory economic incentive to encourage tax fraud whistleblowers to step forward to help the government detect large scale fraudulent schemes.  By offering large potential rewards for reporting multimillion tax fraud schemes, the IRS has received hundreds of tax fraud tips from tax fraud informants regarding taxpayer fraud and massive violations of the tax code costing taxpayers Billions of dollars.  Many of the tips already received include fraud schemes of hundreds of millions and tens of millions of dollars.  It is estimated that this programs will result in hundreds of billions of dollars or even Trillions of dollars in tax fraud being detected.

The economic incentives in the Tax Whistleblower Reward Programs are designed to encourage insider tax fraud informants and tax fraud whistleblowers with knowledge and evidence of large tax violations and tax fraud schemes to step forward and report the massive tax fraud.  The IRS is hoping that there will be several tax fraud whistleblowers and tax fraud informants that will help them detect and collect on an estimated $3 Trillion in illegal offshore accounts as well as several other tax-avoidance schemes that have been perpetrated by billionaires and millionaires as well as large corporations.

The IRS Whistleblower Reward Amendment requires the Internal Revenue Service to pay rewards to whistleblowers who exposed large scale tax fraud and taxpayer fraud including major tax underpayments, violations of the Internal Revenue Code, or other fraudulent schemes to unlawfully not pay taxes.  The IRS Whistleblower Reward Program is aimed at large multimillion dollar fraud schemes and tax violations in that the total amount of fraud or underpayment of taxes in dispute would have to exceed $2 millions.

The IRS will pay the tax fraud whistleblower or tax fraud informant if the information presented substantially contributes to the collection of money by the IRS.  As such, the tax fraud whistleblower should have inside knowledge of and documentation of the tax fraud to be successful.     

Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Lawyer, Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawyer, IRS Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawyer, Transfer Price Scheme Tax Fraud Lawyer, and IRS Whistleblower Reward Lawyer

Transfer pricing schemes involve the overpricing of imports and/or the underpricing of exports between related companies in different countries for the purpose of transferring profits or revenue out of the United States in order to evade taxes. The profits and revenue end up in a country that has a lower corporate tax rate than the US.  These fraudulent pricing schemes can be used both for stock manipulation and corporate tax fraud.  For more information on Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Actions, please go to the following: Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, IRS Tax Fraud Whistleblower Award Lawsuit, and Corporate Tax Fraud Lawsuit Information web page.

Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Lawsuit, Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, IRS Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, Transfer Price Scheme Tax Fraud Lawsuit, IRS Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, & IRS Whistleblower Payment for Detection of Fraud Lawsuit Information

To qualify for a whistleblower award under section 7623 (b), the information must:

    Relate to a tax noncompliance matter in which tax, penalties, interest, additions to tax and additional amounts in dispute exceed $2,000,000.00

    Relate to a taxpayer, and in the case of an individual taxpayer, one whose gross income exceeds $200,000.00 for at least one of the tax years in question

If the information meets the above criteria and substantially contributes to a decision by the IRS to take administrative or judicial action that results in the collection of tax, penalties, interest, additions in tax and additional amounts, then the IRS will pay an award of at least fifteen percent, but not more than thirty percent of what the IRS collects.  26 U.S.C. at 7623(b)(1).

The IRS has authority to reduce the award to ten percent if the claim is based upon specific allegations disclosed in certain public information (e.g. government audits) and determines that the whistleblower's information was not the original source of information.  Further, the IRS also has the authority to reduce the award or not give an award if the whistleblower planned and initiated the actions that led to the tax underpayment.

The IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, Whistleblower Recovery Program, and IRS Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Rewards

The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, signed into law on December 20, 2006 amended the Internal Revenue Code to provide rewards for turning in tax cheats including corporations and people that are committing tax fraud.  According to the IRS, the primary purpose behind the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 "was to provide incentives for people with knowledge of significant tax non-compliance to provide that information to the IRS."  The new program generally requires the IRS to pay rewards to whistleblowers if the information presented substantially contributes to the collection of money by the IRS.  The law created the IRS Whistleblower Office to receive, evaluate, and determine whether to pay the whistleblower an award.

The IRS has funded a robust IRS Whistleblower Program.  The new program focuses on large tax fraud and tax underpayment claims.  To qualify for the rewards, $2 million of taxes, penalties, and interest must be involved.  Individual taxpayers must have $200,000.00 of taxable income in any year.   The reward is from fifteen to thirty percent of the tax collected, depending upon the extent to which the whistleblower contributed to the additional collection.  If the IRS determines that the whistleblower's information was not the original source of information, but still contributes to the additional collection, the IRS can still award up to ten percent of the amount collected.

It is interesting to note that Congress passed the original tax whistleblower rewards law in March 1867 for people who reported tax crimes.  The law was enacted prior to a federal income tax, but was not effective because payment of the tax whistleblower reward was voluntary and no rewards were paid out until the rewards became mandatory through the 2006 amendment.

SEC Violation Whistleblower Lawyer, Financial Fraud Whistleblower Bounty Lawyer, SEC Whistleblower Incentive Program Lawyer, SEC Violation Lawyer, and Securities Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer

As a Financial Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer and Securities Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, Jason S. Coomer commonly works with other powerful financial fraud and securities fraud whistleblower lawyers to handle large Securities Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuits, Securities Fraud Bounty Actions, Commodity Fraud Bounty Claims, and other Financial Fraud Lawsuits.  He also works on Medicare Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuits , Defense Contractor Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuits, Stimulus Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuits, Government Contractor Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuits, and other government fraud whistleblower lawsuits.

Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Lawsuit, Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, IRS Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit, Transfer Price Scheme Tax Fraud Lawsuit, & IRS Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit Information
by Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Paid Informant Lawyer and Transfer Payment Tax Fraud Paid Informant Lawyer Jason Coomer

Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, Multinational Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, and Transfer Payment Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, Jason S. Coomer, works with corporate tax fraud whistleblowers, IRS tax fraud whistleblowers, and other tax fraud whistleblowers that are stepping up and blowing the whistle on IRS tax fraud, corporate tax fraud, IRS code violations, and other forms of tax fraud.  If you are the original source with special knowledge of tax fraud and are interested in learning more about a tax whistleblower lawsuit, please feel free to contact Illegal Offshore Account Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer and Transfer Payment Corporate Tax Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer Jason Coomer via e-mail message.



_________________________________


Much of the wealth Basu speaks is tied to the Washington and San Franscisco, NYC is from this massive corporate fraud.  it is not real wealth.  Keep in mind that the defense industry budget is one of the largest.  NSA can see all, yet they could not build accountability into these computer systems.  Luckily, WIKILEAKS had a download of defense industry contracting and is now being reviewed by investigative journalists and international justice organizations.


JUST RECOVERING CORPORATE FRAUD WOULD PAY DOWN GOVERNMENT DEBT AT ALL LEVELS AND MAKE ALL PUBLIC TRUSTS AND PENSIONS FLUSH WITH MONEY! DO YOU HEAR YOUR POLS SHOUTING THIS?


 Grand Theft Pentagon, Massive Waste and Fraud

Politics / US Military Nov 21, 2013 - 12:39 PM GMT

By: Stephen_Lendman

Politics

Longstanding Pentagon operations reflect a black hole of unaccountability. Reuters published a two-part report. In July, it discussed the Defense Department’s “payroll quagmire.”

It’s bureaucracy is stifling. It’s “unyielding,” said Reuters. Active duty and retired military personnel are routinely cheated. Pay errors are widespread.

Correcting “or just explaining them can test even the most persistent soldiers.” Weeks or months pass without resolution.

Some personnel are cheated on pay. Others are penalized for overpayments. Their earnings are “drastically cut” unfairly. Precise figures are impossible to calculate.

At issue is “the Defense Department’s jury-rigged network of mostly incompatible computer systems for payroll and accounting, many of them decades old, long obsolete, and unable to communicate with each other,” said Reuters.

“The Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) still uses a half-century-old computer language that is largely unable to communicate with the equally outmoded personnel management systems employed by each of the military services.”

A December 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed unaccountable accounting. No way exists to assure correct amounts are paid. Errors can’t be tracked.

________________________________

As neo-liberals now pretend that wealth inequity exists and not simply a failure of justice to occur in moving money back to government coffers and individual's pockets, WE THE PEOPLE MUST SHOUT LOUDLY THE TRUTH---THAT JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED!!!



Bill Black: How Elite Economic Hucksters Drive America’s Biggest Fraud Epidemics



Posted on June 6, 2013 by Yves Smith

This article is part of an ongoing AlterNet series, "The Age of Fraud."

What do you get when you throw together economic fraudsters, plutocrats and opportunistic criminals? A financial crisis, that’s what. If you look back over the massive frauds that have swept the country in recent decades, from the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s to the 2007-'08 financial crash, this deadly combination always appears.

A dangerous cycle begins when prominent economists pander to plutocrats and bought politicians, who reward them with top posts, where they promote the perverse economic policies that cause fraud epidemics. Crises develop, and millions of people are ripped off. Those who fight for truth are ignored or ruined. The criminals get wealthier, bolder and more politically powerful, and go on to hatch even more devastating cons.

The three most recent financial crises in U.S. history were driven by a special type of fraud called “control fraud” — cases where the officers who control what look like legitimate entities use them as “weapons” to commit crimes. Each time, Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, played a catastrophic role. First, his policies created the fraud-friendly (criminogenic) environment that produces epidemics of control fraud, then he failed to identify those epidemics and incipient crises, and finally, he failed to counter them.

At the heart of Greenspan’s failure lies an ethical void in the brand of economics that has dominated American universities and policy circles for the last several decades, a brand known as “free market fundamentalism” or the “neoclassical school.” (I call it “theoclassical economics” for its quasi-religious belief system.) Mainstream economists who follow this school assert a deeply flawed and controversial concept known as the “efficient market hypothesis,” which holds that financial markets magically regulate themselves (they automatically “self-correct”) and are thus immune to fraud. When an economist starts believing in that kind of fallacy, he is bound to become blind to reality. Let’s take a look at what blinded Greenspan:

    Greenspan knew that markets were “efficient” because the efficient market hypothesis is the foundational pillar underlying modern finance theory.
    Markets can’t be efficient if there is control fraud, so there must not be any.
    Wait, there are control frauds! Tens of thousands of them.
    Then control fraud must not really be harmful, or markets would not be efficient.
    Control fraud, therefore, must not be immoral. As crime boss Emilio Barzini put it in The Godfather, “It’s just business.”

As delusional and immoral as this “logic” chain is, many elite economists believe it. This warped perspective has spawned policies so perverse that they turn the world of finance into the optimal environment for criminals. The upshot is that most of our elite financial leaders and professionals have thrown integrity out the window, and we end up with recurrent, intensifying financial crises, de facto immunity for our most elite criminals, and the rise of crony capitalism. Let’s do a little time travel to see exactly how this plays out.

How to Stoke a Savings and Loan Fiasco

The Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, California was at the center of the famous crisis that rocked the financial world in the 1980s. A once prudently run company morphed into a casino when S&L associations became deregulated and started doing risky business with depositors’ money. Businessman, GOP darling, and anti-pornography crusader Charles Keating, ironically nicknamed “Mr. Clean,” took over Lincoln in 1984 and got the casino rolling. (It was a special kind of casino where the games were rigged – and not in favor of newlywed brides who were the subject of sexual extortion in Casablanca.) In a classic case of control fraud, Keating devoted himself to turning the company into a weapon of mass financial destruction and a source of wealth for his family. Keating’s “weapon of choice” for his frauds was accounting.

Keating went on a spree buying land, taking equity positions in real estate projects, and purchasing junk bonds. In 1985, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB), where I was the staffer leading the regulation efforts, grew alarmed at the new activities of savings associations like Lincoln. So we made a rule: S&Ls could not put more than 10 percent of company assets in "direct investments” – an activity that led to very large losses.

Alan Greenspan, chairman of an economic consulting firm at the time, urged us to permit Lincoln Savings to go full steam ahead. His memo supporting Lincoln’s application to make hundreds of millions of dollars in direct investments praised the company’s management (Keating) and claimed that Lincoln Savings “posed no foreseeable risk of loss.”

The FHLBB rejected Lincoln’s request to exceed the rule’s threshold because direct investments were a superb vehicle for accounting fraud – they made it easy to hide losses and to create fictional income. Nevertheless, Lincoln continued to violate the rule and created fictional (backdated) board consents with hundreds of forged signatures to make it appear that the investments were “grandfathered” under the rule. The hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful direct investments were used for fraudulent purposes by Lincoln Savings’ controlling officers and caused enormous losses – many of them to elderly citizens who were conned into buying the junk bonds of Lincoln Savings’ holding company. The massive losses on Lincoln’s illegal direct investments were a major reason those bonds were worthless.

Hoping to use his political clout to continue the fraud, Keating hired Greenspan to lobby the senators who eventually became the known as the “Keating Five.” I remember well when these senators intervened at Keating’s request to try to prevent me and my colleagues from taking an enforcement action (or conservatorship) that would have saved over a billion dollars. (I took the notes of that meeting, which led to the Senate ethics investigation of the Keating Five.) The cronyism was so thick in Washington that William Weld, then a top Department of Justice official and later the Republican governor of Massachusetts, actually tried to gin up a criminal investigation of the regulators rather than Keating at the request of Lincoln’s lawyers who had just left the DOJ! Eventually, Keating and many of the senior managers of Lincoln Savings were convicted of felonies and Lincoln Savings became the most expensive failure of the S&L debacle.

When you look back on this expensive fiasco, you see that the work of respected professional economists was frequently called upon to support the fraudulent activities. One of the ways Greenspan tried to advance Keating’s effort to have the courts strike down the direct investment rule was to use a study conducted by a less famous economist, George Benston, who showed that S&Ls that violated the direct investment rule earned higher profits than those who didn’t. So he recommended the rule be dropped. Small problem: In less than two years all 33 of the companies Benston studied had failed. Most were accounting control frauds in which executives cooked the books to show fictional profits.

Keating had a talent for obtaining endorsements from prominent economists. He got Daniel Fischel to conduct a study that purported to show that Lincoln Savings was the best S&L in America. Fischel invoked the efficient market hypothesis to opine that our examiners provided no useful information because the markets had already perfectly taken into account any information to which we had access.  In reality, of course, this was nonsense, and Lincoln Savings was the worst S&L in the country.

Economists who pander to plutocrats have a great advantage over scholars in other fields: There is no reputational penalty among your peers for being dead wrong. Benston got an endowed chair at Emory, Fischel was made dean of the Univerisity of Chicago’s Law School, and Greenspan was made Chairman of the Fed. Those who got control fraud right and fought the elite scams and their powerful political patrons – people like Edwin Gray, head of the FHLBB, and Joe Selby, head of supervision in Texas – saw their careers ended.

Consider what that perverse pattern indicates about how badly ethics have fallen in the both economics and government.

How to Create a Regulatory Black Hole

Alan Greenspan was Ayn Rand’s protégé, but he moved radically to the wacky side of Rand on the issue of financial fraud. And that, friends, is pretty wacky. Greenspan pushed the idea that preventing fraud was not a legitimate basis for regulation, and said so in a famous encounter with Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Brooksley Born. “I don’t think there is any need for a law against fraud,” Born recalls Greenspan telling her. Greenspan actually believed the market would sort itself out if any fraud occurred. Born knew she had a powerful foe on any regulation.

She was right. Greenspan, with the rabid support of the Rubin wing of the Clinton administration, along with Republican Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Phil Gramm, crushed Born’s effort to regulate credit default swaps (CDS). The plutocrats and their political allies deliberately created what’s known as a regulatory black hole – a place where elite criminals could commit their crimes under the cover of perpetual night.

Greenspan chose another Fed economist, Patrick Parkinson, to testify on behalf of the bill to create the regulatory black hole for these dangerous financial instruments. Parkinson offered the old line that efficient markets easily excluded fraud — otherwise, they wouldn’t be efficient markets! (Parkinson would later tell the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in 2011 that the “whole concept” of a related financial instrument known as an “ABS CDO” had been an “abomination”). Greenspan’s successor richly rewarded Parkinson for being stunningly wrong in his belief: Ben Bernanke appointed Parkinson — who had no experience as a supervisor or examiner — as the Fed’s head of supervision.

Lynn Turner, former chief accountant of the SEC, told me of Greenspan’s infamous question to his group of senior officials who met at the Fed in late 1998 or early 1999 (roughly the same time as Greenspan’s conversation with Born): "Why does it matter if the banks are allowed to fudge their numbers a little bit?" What’s wrong with a “little bit” of fraud?

Conservatives often support the “broken windows” theory of criminal activity, which asserts that you stop serious blue-collar crime by cracking down on minor offenses. Yet mysteriously, they never apply the concept to white-collar financial crimes by elites. The little-bit-of fraud-is-ok concept got made into law in the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which created the regulatory black hole for credit default swaps. That black hole was compounded by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under the leadership of Wendy Gramm, spouse of Senator Phil Gramm.

Enron’s fraudulent leaders were delighted to exploit that black hole, because they were engaged in a massive control fraud. They appointed Wendy Gramm to their board of directors and proceeded to use derivatives to manipulate prices and aid their cartel in driving electricity prices far higher on the Pacific Coast. In a bizarre irony, the massive increase in prices led to the defeat of California Governor Gray Davis (the leading opponent of the cartel) and his replacement by Governor Schwarzenegger – a man who was part of the group that met secretly with Enron’s leadership to try to defeat Davis’s efforts to get the federal regulators to kill the cartel.

How damaging was Greenspan’s dogmatic and delusional defense of elite financial frauds in the case of Enron? If you look closely, you can see that Enron brought together all the critical elements of a financial crisis: big-time accounting control fraud, derivatives, cartels, and the use of off-balance sheet scams to inflate income and hide real losses and leverage. On top of all that, many of the world’s largest banks aided Enron and its extremely creative CFO Andrew Fastow to create frauds. The Fed could have responded by adopting and enforcing mandates to end the criminal practices that were driving the epidemic, but it didn’t. Instead, Greenspan and other Fed economists championed Enron’s leadership and cited the company as proof that regulation was unnecessary to prevent control fraud. They were so extreme that they attacked their own senior supervisors for daring to criticize the banks’ role in aiding and abetting Enron’s activities.

Later, when risky derivatives activities and control frauds at large financial institutions were pushing us toward the catastrophic crash of 2007-2008, the Fed took no meaningful action based on the lessons learned from Enron. Greenspan and the senior leadership of the Fed had learned absolutely nothing, which shows how disabling economic dogma is to regulators – making them worse than simply useless. They become harmful, again attacking their supervisors for criticizing the banks’ fraudulent “liar’s” loans. When Bernanke placed Patrick Parkinson (an economist blind to fraud by elite banksters) in a supervisory role at the Fed, he sealed the fate of millions of Americans whose financial well-being would be sucked right into that regulatory black hole – and removed the ability of the accursed supervisors to criticize the largest banks.

How to Protect Predatory Lenders

Finally, we come to the mortgage meltdown of 2008, when the entire housing industry went into freefall. Central to this crisis is the story of the liar's loan — mortgage-industry slang for a mortgage that a lender gives without checking tax returns, employment history, or anything else that might reliably indicate that the borrower can make the payments.

The Fed, and only the Fed, had authority under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) to ban liar’s loans by all lenders. At a series of hearings mandated by Congress, dozens of witnesses representing home mortgage borrowers and state and local criminal investigators urged the Fed to do this. The testimony included a study that found a 90 percent incidence of fraud in liar’s loans.

What did Greenspan and Bernanke do? Exactly nothing. They consistently refused to act.

Greenspan went so far as to refuse pleas to send Fed examiners into bank holding company affiliates to find the facts and collect data on liar’s loans. Simultaneously, the Fed’s economists dismissed the warnings from progressives about fraudulent liar’s loans as “merely anecdotal.” In 2005, the desperate Fed regulators, blocked by Greenspan from sending in the examiners to get data from the banks, resorted to simply sending a letter to the largest banks requesting information. The Fed supervisor who received the banks’ response to that letter termed the data “very alarming.”

If you suspect that the banks would typically respond to such requests by understating their problem assets significantly, then you have the right instincts to be a financial regulator.

By 2003, loan quality was so bad that it could only be explained as the inevitable product of endemic accounting control fraud and it continued to collapse through 2007 until the bubble burst. By 2006, over two million fraudulent liar’s loans were originated annually. We know that it was overwhelmingly lenders and their agents who put the lies in liar’s loans. Liar’s loans make the perfect “natural experiment” because no governmental entity ever required a lender or a purchaser (and that includes Fannie and Freddie) to make or purchase a liar’s loan. Banks made, and purchased, trillions of dollars in liar’s loans because doing so lined the pockets of their controlling officers.

The Fed’s leadership, dominated by economists devoted to false theory, was enraged when the Fed’s supervisors presented evidence of endemic control fraud by the most elite lenders, particularly in the making of fraudulent liar’s loans. How dare the supervisors criticize our most reputable bank CEOs by showing that they were making hundreds of thousands through scams?

Bernanke finally acted under Congressional pressure on July 14, 2008 to ban liar’s loans. He cited evidence of endemic fraud available since early 2006 – evidence which would have been available way back in 2001 had Greenspan moved to require examiners to study liar’s loans. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, Bernanke delayed the ban for 18 months — one would not wish to inconvenience a fraudulent lender, after all.

We did not have to suffer this crisis. Economists who were not blinded by neoclassical theory, like George Akerlof (who won the Nobel Prize in 2001) and Christina Romer (adviser to President Obama from 2008-2010), had warned their colleagues about accounting control fraud and liar’s loans, as did criminologists and regulators like me. But Greenspan (and Timothy Geithner) refused to see the obvious truth.

Alan Greenspan had no excuse for assuming fraud out of existence, and his exceptionally immoral position on fraud and regulation proved catastrophic to America and much of the world. We cannot afford the price, measured in many trillions of dollars, over 10 million jobs, and endless suffering, of unethical economists.
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    Cindy Walsh is a lifelong political activist and academic living in Baltimore, Maryland.

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