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April 21st, 2014

4/21/2014

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RAISE YOUR HANDS IF YOU UNDERSTAND THAT STARVING PEOPLE OF THE ABILITY TO EARN A LIVING IS A TOOL OF AUTOCRACY.  IF THE ONLY JOB PEOPLE CAN HAVE IS PRIVATIZING PUBLIC SCHOOLS----WHETHER AS CHARTER SCHOOL OWNERS OR TEACH FOR AMERICA COLLEGE GRADS-----THE PEOPLE MOST VICTIMIZED BECOME THE PEOPLE PUSHING THE AUTOCRATIC POLICIES.  THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES AND IT IS WHY TEACHERS ARE FEELING UNABLE TO SHOUT OUT IN MANY PLACES LIKE MARYLAND!


STOP ALLOWING A NEO-LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PARTY CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES-----RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE IN ALL PRIMARIES!

As I showed with my blog on higher education in Maryland the structures created for privatizing our public universities have lowered the standards of education for most.  The same is happening in Maryland with the K-12 schools and much of this has to do with Race to the Top policies.  Baltimore's achievement has dropped to such a low status as it seeks to dismantle public education and all that is equal access and opportunity that long-term teachers in schools are starting to shout out about this attack on democratic education in America.

As I said, Maryland has no public media or public universities producing data to support this but we can look across the nation where real data is collected to see how things are working.  The article below shows how Wall Street and Bloomberg is working hard to skew all data for charters and successes that are not real.  Remember, the plan is simply to get these private charters to look like they are doing good so as to expand them.....and then they will be defunded and left to become the same as for-profit higher education.

We need to take a look at what institutions and politicians are supporting these privatization structures and give them the boot!  Stop allowing policy to be captured by Wall Street pols and private non-profits supporting them!


Baltimore residents will see the parallel to NYC and privatization-----the public education money being sent to these schools is completely wasted as money moves to administration and what will be profit.  No quality to be found.  If you are supporting charters because you want to use them for gentrification and/or segregation-----IT WILL COME BACK TO BITE YOU AS WALL STREET EXPECTS TO TAKE ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS----


Charter Schools: A UFT Research Report

Feb. 4, 2014
5:00 pm
by UFT Research Staff


As charter school proponents go to Albany this week to plead their case, let’s examine the realities behind their claims of stretched resources, unique student demand and stellar academic results.

How poor are charter schools?

While charters maintain they have very thin budgets, and some smaller charters in fact operate close to the margin, others are extremely well-funded.

A review of the most recently available public documents showed that as of 2011-12, the schools in six of the city’s most prominent charter chains had a total of more than $65 million in net assets, including nearly $16 million for the charters which are part of the Uncommon Schools Network and more than $13 million for the Success Academy Network.

What’s more, this supposed poverty doesn’t prevent some charters from paying very large salaries to their executives, as the Daily News recently reported.  The two Harlem Village Academies run by Deborah Kenny pay her a total of half a million dollars a year;  Eva Moskowitz of Success Academies reported a salary only a few thousand less, while David Levin of KIPP got just under $400,000.  All these salaries are dramatically more than those of the city’s mayor and chancellor, who supervise roughly 1,700 schools.

Charters’ opaque bookkeeping methods make it difficult to figure out how much many schools spend on their vendors, but tax filings by the Success Academy schools suggest that management fees charged by that network totaled $3.5 million of their schools’ per-pupil funds in 2011-12. In 2013, the Success Network requested and received a raise in management fees to 15 percent of the per-pupil funding it receives from the state and city.

The total amount of management fees charged by just four of the city’s charter chains in 2011-12 — Success, Uncommon, Achievement First, and KIPP — was over $12 million.  (see table below)

Charter Chain Financial Data, 2011-12

 


Network Name Number of NYC Schools with Audits Total Net Assets of Schools Total Management Fees Top Executive Compensation 2010-11

Achievement First 2

$3,585,931

$2,363,205

$224,200

Success Charter Network 4


$13,563,661

$3,516,362

$475,244

Uncommon Schools 7


$16,820,767

$5,054,626

$252,941

KIPP 1

$1,911,010

$1,089,475

$395,350

Village Academies Network 2

$3,236,767

Not Listed on Audit $499,146

Icahn Charters 4


$26,110,338

$2,236

$280,323

Total 20

$65,228,474

$12,023,668

$2,127,204

All of these figures are based on the schools’ own filings; the lack of publicly available audits for many other chains limits information about what other networks are charging.  Meanwhile, charter proponents led by Success Academy have launched a court fight to prevent an independent expert — the State Comptroller — from auditing charters’ and charter management companies’ books.

A study based on 2010-11 by the city’s Independent Budget Office calculated that as of 2009-10, co-locating a charter school in a public school building in effect gave the charter about $650 per student more in public funding than district schools spend. Their calculations were based on earlier, lower levels of charter per-pupil funding, however; at current rates, that disparity may now be over $2,000 per student.

Charters also get foundation grants — including from right-wing organizations like the Walton Family Foundation, which has given more than $1 million to Achievement First in recent years. In addition, a look at official filings by many charters — in particular the Success Academy network — show that the schools or chains have boards dominated by hedge funders and other financial interests whose contributions could theoretically absorb any reasonable rent charged for public school space; at a gala in 2013, for example, the Success Network raised more than $7 million in one evening.

How unique are charter waiting lists?

Charters make much of the length of their student waiting lists.  But the reality of New York City schools is that tens of thousands of students at all levels end up on waiting lists or completely frozen out of the schools they would like to attend.

More than half of the city’s nearly 64,000 eighth graders did not get into their first choice for high school last year and 7,200 — more than 10 percent of the total — did not get into a single school they applied to.  Approximately 20,000 students who take the test each year for the specialized high schools do not get into one of these schools.

The same is true for thousands of elementary school students who apply for slots in competitive middle schools, and for thousands more families who cannot find space in gifted programs or whose kids end up waitlisted for kindergarten in their neighborhood schools.

Students can and do get off waiting lists in district schools, which generally backfill empty spaces in higher grades if and when students transfer out; most charters, in contrast, almost never accept transfer students off their “waitlists” beyond their early grades.

Does admission to a charter guarantee academic success?

Student scores plummeted across the city last year when the state introduced new tests based on the Common Core standards. But in reading, charters schools as a whole scored under the citywide average (26.4 citywide average, charters 25.1).

Even highly touted charters had classes with significant problems.  Democracy Prep’s Harlem charter had fewer than 4 percent of 6th-graders proficient in reading and fewer than 12 percent passing math.  Fewer than 12 percent of 5th-graders at KIPP Star College Prep were proficient in math and just 16 percent passed the reading test, while 11 percent of their 7th-graders scored proficient in language arts and 14 percent in math.

These results come despite the fact that, as a group, charter schools serve a smaller proportion of the city’s neediest students, including special ed and English language learners.  A 2012 report by the charters’ own association —  the New York City Charter School Center — showed that on average, charter schools had only 6 percent English language learners, compared with 15 percent in district schools.

A recent IBO study showed that an astonishing 80 percent of special education students who start in charter schools in kindergarten are gone by the third grade.

Student attrition is a particular issue for the Success network, whose schools tend to have far higher student suspension rates than their neighborhood schools; they also see their class cohorts shrink as many poor-performing students leave or are counseled out and not replaced.

How can we level the playing field?

If charter schools are serious about playing an important role in New York City education, they should take four immediate steps to level the playing field between them and district schools, as outlined by UFT President Michael Mulgrew below in an article reprinted from the New York Daily News:

For the past 12 years, the Bloomberg administration has singled out charter schools for special treatment, a strategy that embittered many ordinary New York City public school parents and children. Here are four steps charter schools should take now to end that divisive relationship:

Serve the neediest kids

State law requires that charters serve the same percentage of poor and special-needs children, along with English-language learners, as their local district schools do. Unfortunately, many charter schools ignore this requirement. Meanwhile, parents complain that special-needs children and students who struggle academically have been “counseled out” of charters, most of them ending up in local district schools while the charters hold onto students with better scores. A recent report by the city’s Independent Budget Office found that a shocking 80% of special-needs kids who enroll in city charter schools as kindergartners leave their schools by the third grade.

Be good neighbors

The Bloomberg administration often shoehorned charters into public schools. Because some charters didn’t want their children interacting with public school kids, gymnasiums and cafeterias would be limited to charter students at certain hours. Worst of all, students in dilapidated classrooms with outmoded equipment and few supplies watched with envy as the incoming charters spent small fortunes on renovations, paint jobs, new desks and equipment, books and supplies. If they want to be good neighbors, charters should share the wealth — and make sure all students sharing one school building have the same opportunities and environment.

Open their books

If charter operators truly want a new start, they need to abandon the lawsuit they have filed against the state controller seeking to block his ability to audit their books. Parents and taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going.

Stop treating children as profit centers

Charters receive taxpayer dollars. In addition, many get donations from major hedge funders, have millions of dollars in bank accounts and pay their chief executives — who typically oversee a small group of schools — as much as half a million dollars a year, along with lavish benefits. Charters with such resources need to pay rent, as Mayor de Blasio has suggested. And charters should set realistic salary caps for their executives and appropriate limits on payments to consultants.



_________________________________________

You will notice the article coming from UFT in NYC addresses what is the democratic state of New York.  Governor Cuomo and neo-liberals in the New York state legislature are pushing the dismantling of public education as hard as the republicans and pulling the same tax policy bait and switch as we say with Reagan.....soak the middle/working class with taxation and then claim the tax reform that gives the rich the breaks is about helping middle-class families!

REAGAN/CLINTON GAVE CORPORATIONS/RICH THE BIGGEST TAX BREAK IN HISTORY WHILE DOUBLING-DOWN ON TAXATION ON THE MIDDLE-WORKING CLASS.  NEO-LIBERALS ARE NOW DOING IT AGAIN.

Maryland is ground zero for these voucher/private schools getting public funding policies.  I am telling these religious schools that seek support with public money------LOSING OUR DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION SYSTEM WILL NOT BODE WELL FOR YOUR MEMBERSHIP!  In an America currently controlled by global corporations-----totalitarianism does not end well for anyone!

We also see the private donation taking over paying taxes and the loss of tax revenue from writing-off these 'donations'.  The US had the strongest public education system in the world when corporations and the rich were good citizens paying their fair share of taxes.  WE WANT THEM PAYING TAXES AND NOT 'DONATING' TO OUR SCHOOLS!

I am listening as here in Baltimore one school gets air conditioning because of private donations while the others are allowed to operate in the worst of conditions.  It is public funding of schools that allow for equal opportunity and access.

Hurt schools, help rich people


Mar. 27, 2014
2:56 pm
by UFT Editorial Staff


[This editorial originally appeared in the March 27 issue of the New York Teacher.]

A new proposal making its way through the state Legislature is a thinly veiled voucher program that would use taxpayer money to fund religious and other private schools in New York City and across the state.

The proposal, already approved by the state Senate and included in its budget bill, threatens the future funding of public education and must be kept out of the final state budget.


It is misleadingly called the education investment tax credit. It would be more accurate to call it the plan to divest public education and further enrich wealthy donors to private schools.

The program would grant individuals tax credits of up to $1 million for donations to scholarship funds for religious or other private schools.

In other words, money that would go into state coffers to fund public education, affordable housing or infrastructure improvements would instead go into the bank accounts of wealthy people who donate to private scholarship funds.

And the scholarships themselves would benefit children of well-off families, with a generous household income limit of $550,000.


The tax credits would also be available for donors to public schools. But don’t let that fool you. Public schools were added to make the tax credit more widely palatable. This bill would allow wealthy donors to pick which public schools they want to support and which not.

In a cynical attempt by the bill’s writers to win over public school educators and their supporters, teachers would also get a tax credit of at least $100 for buying supplies.

Although the state Senate has passed the bill, which was sponsored by state Sen. Marty Golden, the Assembly leadership, to its credit, is showing less enthusiasm.

But the tax credit proposal has momentum. It is particularly alarming that 17 labor unions, most of them representing uniformed public employees, back the bill on the grounds that it would benefit their members, presumably because many of them send their children to parochial schools.

Have middle-class and working New Yorkers who choose to send their children to private school forgotten the importance of a well-funded public education system?


This proposed massive tax giveaway would hurt working people by increasing the already staggering wealth inequality in New York. By draining money that we need for our public schools, state universities, highways and other vital services, it would threaten the economic future of our state.


_______________________________________________

Chicago is the home of Rahm Emanuel and Arne Duncan------Obama's education-privatization team working for Wall Street.  What Rahm is doing in Chicago is happening in Maryland and especially Baltimore.  The difference is that Chicago, as with New York, has strong labor and justice advocate system.  Maryland and Baltimore has none.  Where Baltimore has organizations supposedly tasked with protecting civil rights and civil liberties working with these privatizers----- across the country parent and teacher groups are successfully fighting off this attack on public education.

Wall Street calculated that hitting underserved communities with this privatization scheme would allow them to create the structure for privatizing all public schools.  As we see in Baltimore it is the opportunity to own a business that drives people of color to play with Wall Street.  These small business charter school owners need to take a look at what happens when Wall Street simply steps in to take those businesses----as is happening today with Baltimore Minority Contractors.

STOP SUPPORTING THE DISMANTLING OF THE BEST PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE WORLD!





Chicago Teachers Union Advocates for Comprehensive Charter Reform in Illinois


For Immediate Release: April 07, 2014
Contact: Stephanie Gadlin - stephaniegadlin@ctulocal1.com/312-329-6250 CHICAGO –


The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has been a vocal critic of Illinois charter operations which compete with neighborhood schools for critical resources and often cherry-picks students based on test scores.  The law that sanctions the privately held, publicly funded charters is deeply flawed and in the wake of the UNO scandal the union and taxpayers have continued to lobby lawmakers to do something about it.

Thus, CTU, along with a number of education advocates, parents and others, currently backs several pieces of legislation under consideration in Springfield that will bring significant reforms to unstable charter movement in Illinois, including a bill calling for the elimination of the Illinois State Charter School Commission.

“Tax payers are demanding more accountability from charter operators; they want to know whether the money going to these schools is actually being spent on educating students,” said CTU President Karen Lewis, NBCT. “With all of this talk of school choice there is surprisingly little information about their students’ rates of graduation, drop out or push out from these organizations. The law as its currently written totally undermines the authority of the Illinois State Board of Education and gives it to a shadow commission with little to no oversight. This is unacceptable in the nation’s third largest school district.”

Charter operations not only lack accountability but with little to no innovation in pedagogy they also fail to outperform CPS’s traditional schools, according to research.  Another crucial and little-known element of charter proliferation is the large financial windfall that can flow toward investors such as billionaire political hopeful Bruce Rauner.  The would-be governor has given about $2.5 million to Noble Street, which has 8,850 students, 98 percent of whom are minorities and 89 percent who come from low-income families. A campus bears his name. His family foundation has also given about $4 million to other organizations that operate or support charter schools.

A vocal opponent of public education and unionized teachers, Rauner once floated a scheme that would call for the transferring of public wealth and resources to private hands throughout extreme leverage (debt) similar to financial structures that led to the Great Recession in 2008. In 2010, he instigated a plan that would raise $200 million in equity, borrow $600 million and purchase 100 CPS schools that the investor group would then lease to charter operators. In such a plan, the investor group would reap two benefits: First, they would receive steady streams of revenue from the leases, and second, they could claim tax credits from depreciation on the buildings.  In short, the public would ultimately pay to lease back its own buildings.

Such schemes have made charter proliferation big business in Illinois. While CPS cited budgetary reasons for closing and consolidating scores of neighborhood schools, their own charter proliferation policies have caused unnecessary expenditures.  Here is a look at current legislation pending in the General Assembly of which the CTU supports:

1. SB2627/HB3754: Eliminates the Illinois State Charter School Commission



What this bill does:  Seeks to eliminate the Illinois State Charter School Commission and return its functions to the State Board of Education (ISBE).

Rationale: The State Charter School Commission (SCSC) is an initiative of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to promote the expansion of charter schools, especially in suburban areas where there is little support for charters. The SCSC eliminates local control of schools by providing a second application round for charter schools. Charters whose applications are denied by the local school board can appeal to the SCSC for approval. Two Chicago charter schools linked to the Turkish Gulen movement were approved in this manner, and a Sun-Times investigation found that these schools had significant conflicts of interest regarding contracts and expansion.

2. SB2779/HB4237: Diminishes authority of State Charter School Commission by mandating a referendum



What this bill does: Would require a voter referendum for any charter approved by ISBE or the State Charter Commission. The municipal election would take place in the district where the charter would be approved.

Rationale: The bill provides for voter approval for charter schools that have been approved over the wishes of the local school board. It is an additional mechanism to return control over district policy to local school boards.

3. HB 6005/SB 3030: Charter School Accountability Act

What this bill does:  Requires the charter school authorizer to host charter school lotteries (rather than the school)

· Provides that a charter school waiting list must be centrally administered by the authorizer

· Prohibits a charter school from creating any admissions process subsequent to a lottery

· Requires the authorizer to inform the next parent or guardian on the waiting list in the event that a student transfers from a charter school

· Prohibits future charter schools from contracting with for-profit EMO/CMOs

· Mandates that the physical property of the charter school is owned by charter not EMO/CMO

· Forbids an employee to be employed by both a EMO/CMO and charter school

· Mandates that charters pay pro-rated portion of funding for student who leaves to the new school district

· Prohibits charter schools from spending public funds on marketing

· Charter is subject to an audit by auditor general administrative costs are 20% greater than those of the host district

· Requires a charter assessment report every 5 years

· Includes funding limits if charters are not in compliance with reporting regulations

· Creates a compensation cap for charter school CEOs—compensation cannot be greater than 80% of the compensation of the school district superintendent

· Creates a compensation cap for charter school principals—compensation cannot be greater than 10% more than the average compensation of principals in the district

Rationale: The UNO charter school scandal identified important weaknesses in the current law that have yet to be remedied and provide opportunities for future abuse. These reasonable regulations ensure a level governance playing field between charters and traditional public schools.

4. SB 3303: Limits charter expansion in areas where public schools have been closed



What this bill does:   Provides that no charter can be granted within the same zip code, or neighboring zip code, in which a public school was closed within 10 school years.

· Provides that no charter must be granted unless the General Assembly has appropriated transition impact aid for the school district where the charter school is to be located.

· Provides that CPS designate attendance boundaries for Chicago charter schools.

Rationale: In the wake of the largest mass school closure in US history and the subsequent approval of 18 new charter schools, this law would provide crucial limits on future charter school openings by ensuring that any new campuses opened only where needed and when resources are available.

5. HB3745: Requires all charter high schools to establish vocational academies



What this bill does: Requires all alternative schools and charter high schools to establish vocational academies for students in grades 10-12.

Rationale: True career readiness requires access to experiential job training that only vocational education can provide.

6. HB4655/SB3004: Applies sections of the School Code that pertain to student discipline policies to charter schools



What this bill does: Amends the school code as it pertains to school discipline policies, and seeks to apply sections of the school code disciplinary policy to charter schools. The bill seeks to redefine what school behavior rises to the level of expulsion or suspension, sets limitations on out-of-school suspensions, in-school arrests, and requires behavioral support services and alternative educational services to be provided to certain students. The bill also provides that a student may not be issued a monetary fine or fee as a disciplinary consequence.

Rationale: Charter schools should be held to the same discipline standards as traditional public schools. Fines and harshly punitive discipline measures have resulted in an expulsion rate in Chicago charters that is 12 times the expulsion rate in public schools. These discipline actions have a disproportionate racial impact, as Latino and especially Black students are subject to such discipline at far greater rates than white students.

7. HB4527: Mandates charter school compliance with state and federal SPED and ELL laws



What this bill does: Requires charter schools to comply with all federal and state laws and rules applicable to public schools that pertain to special education and the instruction of English language learners.

8. HB 5328: Mandates Chicago charter schools be administered by a local school council



What this bill does: Requires a school that is initially placed on academic watch status after a fourth annual calculation or that remains on academic watch status after a fifth annual calculation to be approved by the school board and by the school's local school council, if applicable.

Rationale: Parents and community members should have a role in the governance of institutions that receive public money and claim to be public schools. This bill ensures that parents have meaningful roles in charter school operations.

9. HB 5887: Creates restrictions on virtual school options for students



What this bill does: Provides that the State Charter School Commission must require Commission-authorized virtual charter schools to (1) ensure student access to teachers and report to the local school board or boards information regarding teacher accessibility, the teacher/student ratio, and the amount of teacher/student contact time; (2) provide opportunities for peer interaction and collaboration; and (3) adopt protocols to prevent bullying or other inappropriate online behavior. Sets forth requirements and limitations that the Commission must impose with regard to entities proposing virtual charter schools.

· With respect to Commission-authorized virtual charter schools, requires the Commission to limit the withholding of State funds from a school district in proportion to the per pupil expenditure used for building maintenance, classroom supplies, transportation, safety and security, and other costs unique to brick-and-mortar schools.

· With respect to all Commission-authorized charter schools, provides that the Commission must require that proof of continuing enrollment and attendance be submitted quarterly, with prorated refunds to the school district upon withdrawal of students from the charter school.

10. HB4591: Requires funding to follow charter students who transfer to district schools


What this bill does: Provides that if a charter school dismisses a student from the charter school after receiving a quarterly payment from the school district, the charter school must return to the school district on a pro rata basis, for the time the student is not enrolled at the charter school.

Rationale: Because of high dismissal rates, charters are able to keep funds for students they no longer educate. Such funding should follow the student if that student transfers from a charter to another charter school or to a public school.


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Common Core was written by corporations and developed during the Bush Administration.  It is simply an attempt by global corporations to capture all information and Race to the Top captures how it is distributed.  We do not need standardization of STEM------STEM is nothing but facts.  We do not need standardization of liberal arts/humanities because the US is a democracy embracing pluralities-----ALLOWING OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM TO BE FUSED WITH DIFFERING OPINIONS IS WHAT MAKES A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY.

The neo-cons and neo-liberals working to make the US an autocratic nation play the republican voters off the labor and justice democrats with these policies.  Republican voters are fighting it because it will take control of what is taught in the classroom but they do not understand that it is their neo-cons that are pushing it.  Labor and justice democrats are being sold that this will raise achievement and get rid of those 'anti-evolution' nuts. 

STOP ALLOWING NEO-CONS AND NEO-LIBERALS KILL PUBLIC EDUCATION.  THIS COMMON CORE POLICY IS BAD FOR EVERYONE.

So, as labor and justice fight the Race to the Top testing and evaluation----charters and Teach for America------the republicans are fighting Common Core AND THEY BOTH NEED TO BE FIGHTING BOTH POLICIES!  Do not allow a need to segregate schools produce the conditions to take away your communities ability to control your own schools.  Don't allow decades of defunding public schools and dismantling education policy with rigor and accountability sell you on the need for privatized schools to get good education.

DEMAND STRONG PUBLIC SCHOOLS WORKING TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT THOUGHT, LEADERSHIP, AND DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES!



Below you see again that a Wall Street privatization scheme uses the propaganda of 'raising the underserved' just as they used Affordable Care Act as 'raising access to health care for the poor'.  In both cases it has actually done the opposite.  As we see in this article Common Core fails to address the largest problems for the underserved students and it is bringing down the rigor and standards for middle-class students.  Achievement is in decline even as pols skew the data to make it sound as if things are going great.  Maryland is the greatest example of skewing data in the country!

IT IS NOT ABOUT FLAWED IMPLEMENTATION-----IT IS ABOUT ALLOWING WALL STREET TO HAVE OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION AS IT IS TAKING OUR PUBLIC HEALTH!


The Answer Sheet: The Myth of Common Core Equity



Carol C. Burris, Valerie Strauss, Alan A. Aja March 11, 2014
(freepik.com)

The Common Core State Standards were originally promoted as a way of raising academic standards for all children around the country. But is the initiative really about equitable outcomes? Here’s a post that takes on that question, by award-winning New York Principal Carol Burris and Alan A. Aja, assistant  professor and deputy chair in the Department of Puerto Rican & Latino Studies at Brooklyn College (City University of New York). In 2012, he was a recipient of a Whiting Fellowship Award for Excellence in Teaching. Burris has been writing about the flawed Core implementation in New York on this blog.

Burris, principal of South Side High School, has been chronicling the flawed implementation of school reform and the Common Core State Standards across the state for some time (here, and here and here and here, for example). She was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010, tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She is the co-author of the New York Principals letter of concern regarding the evaluation of teachers by student test scores. It has been signed by thousands of principals teachers, parents, professors, administrators and citizens. You can read the letter by clicking here.  Her new book is “On The Same Track: How Schools Can Join the Twenty-First-Century Struggle Against Resegregation.”

By Carol Burris and Alan A. Aja

When the Common Core curriculum was promoted in 2009, its creators said unequivocally that principles of equity would be at the center of its eventual implementation. After all, the Bush administration’s test-happy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandate failed to close the “achievement gap” between whites and minorities. Then the Obama administration inaugurated a A Race to the Top contest among states and districts for federal funds and supported a new set of higher standards for all states intended to ensure college and career readiness for all students, with specific concern for our most under-served and disadvantaged.

On the surface, this seemed like a telling moment in a so-called post-racial, color-blind era, one where racism and institutionalized discrimination are viewed less and less as predictors of life chances. At last it appeared that policymakers were acknowledging the disparate effects of previous federal education policy toward marginalized communities, recommending instead to “raise the standards” through a rich curriculum and equitable teaching practices states could voluntarily adopt.

Five years and 47 states later, Race to the Top reforms are doing anything but to the communities that have been under-served. A barrage of news reports from states across the country underscore the growing discontent by students, parents, unions and legislators over the initial rollout of the Common Core, with a range of grievances from poorly constructed and confusing texts/materials, excessive testing preparation and concerns of children’s data-based privacy and security. But lost amidst the protests, town halls, so-called “delays” and potential “moratoriums” is the issue of equity all over again, making us wonder if “achievement gaps” were truly a primary concern of the Common Core architects at all.


In New York for example, one of the first states to roll out the new curriculum, scores from Common Core tests dropped like a stone—and the achievement gaps dramatically widened. In 2012, prior to the Core’s implementation, the state reported a 12-point black/white achievement gap between average third-grade English Language Arts scores, and a 14-point gap in eighth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) scores.  A year later enter the Common Core-aligned tests: the respective gaps grew to 19 and 25 points respectively (for Latino students the eighth grade ELA gap grew from 3 to 22 points). The same expansion of the gap occurred in math as well. In 2012, there was an 8-point gap between black/white third-grade math scores and a 13-point gap between eighth-grade math scores. In 2013, the respective gaps from the Common Core tests expanded to 14 and 18 points.

The problem however, is more than just a gap in average scores. Using another indicator, the percentage of black students who scored “Below Standard” in third-grade English Language Arts tests rose from 15.5 percent to a shocking 50 percent post-Common Core implementation. In seventh-grade math, black students labeled “Below Standard” jumped from 16.5 percent to a staggering 70 percent. Students with disabilities of all backgrounds saw their scores plummet– 75 percent of students with disabilities scored “Below Standard” on the Grade 5 ELA Common Core tests and 78 percent scored “Below Standard” on the 7th grade math test.  Also, 84 percent of English Language learners score “Below Standard” on the ELA test while 78 percent scored the same on the 7th grade math exam.

When a student scores in the Below Standard category of 1, there is a good chance that her or his answers were mere guesses, or that the test was so difficult, they simply gave up.  How do such tests help nine year olds who are struggling to learn English, or poor students starting school without the advantages of pre-school and the enriched experiences that affluence brings?  How do we advance the cause of equity by giving them the message: You are “below standard” and not on the road to be ready for college?

Rather than heeding the warning that something is very wrong, New York’s Board of Regents adds the highest of stakes for students—their very ability to graduate high school.  In February, the New York State Board of Regents established the college-ready scores that students will need for graduation, beginning with the class that enters high school in four years. These scores, which up until now have been known as “aspirational” measures, have been reported by the state in the aggregate and by sub-group for the past several years. If these scores were used last year, the New York four-year graduation rate would have plummeted to 35 percent. This low rate masks even worse outcomes for students with disabilities (5 percent), as well as black (12 percent), Latino (16 percent) and English Language learners (7 percent). New York Education Commissioner John King even told reporters that he was disappointed that the scores were not phased in sooner because the delay means more students would leave high school “unprepared.” He need not worry. With his preferred cut scores, most students—especially students of color, poverty and disability–will not leave high school at all.

We need not wait until graduation, however, for our most vulnerable students to feel the consequences. The designers and supporters of the Common Core never considered how the test outcomes would affect the school opportunities of disadvantaged students within the context of the competitive design of the American public education system.

For instance, in many school districts state tests are used to make decisions about promotion as well to assign students into “honors,” “enrichment,” and other “accelerated” programs. State scores are used as well for admissions to competitive middle schools and high schools. Given the disturbing evidence that the score gap has widened, if these scores are used for these purposes, many of our students of color, poverty, disability and our English language learners will have doors of opportunity shut as they compete using these very scores. This, in our opinion, is a discriminatory practice.

Research has already established that holding back students unnecessarily can have detrimental impacts down the road, and that by design and impact high-stakes testing disadvantages English language learners, special education, minority and low-income children. The research of Claude Steele, Joshua Aronson, and Aaron Spencer demonstrates that outcomes on high-stakes standardized tests underestimate the achievement and college readiness of children stigmatized as cognitively inferior by stereotype, while exaggerating the scores for individuals from groups whom society deems cognitively superior. Needless to say, we are baffled as to why education reformers continue to deny the evidence that standardized tests are invalid measurements of learning, and would instead “up the ante”’ with Common Core testing.

In the meantime, the Common Core aligned-tests will be used to justify the continuance of market-based education reforms.
This means firing teachers and principals based on test scores, closing urban schools with higher low-income populations and the proliferation of charters as punishment (which ironically scored worse in language arts and the same in math as New York City public schools in the latest round of Common Core-aligned tests).
These strategies, straight from what economist Naomi Klein calls the “shock doctrine” school of economics, lead to further gutting and pseudo-privatization of the most necessary of our public goods, while continuing the false narratives that teachers and their unions are the problem or that racism, poverty and inequitable resource distribution are merely excuses.

In the coming months and years ahead, the debate will continue over the role and efficacy of the Common Core. In some states and localities, that conversation will focus on local control and federal intrusion, while in others it will concern the dubious marriage between business and government.  Some will debate simply how to delay implementation, as though the reforms themselves are not the problem.  They will ignore the evidence that is right before their eyes.

It is time for those who fight for equity to question the very assumptions of reform. If a goal of public education is to expand the life chances of all students, why are we pursuing punitive policies and practices that push the opportunities of our most vulnerable students even further behind?







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January 31st, 2014

1/31/2014

0 Comments

 
Regarding Immigration Reform, TPP, and Maryland's real unemployment:

WATCHING OBAMA/O'MALLEY ONE CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE CORPORATE STRINGS PULLING HIS MOUTH UP AND DOWN!  THIS IS SERIOUS FOLKS----NEO-LIBERALS RIGHT HERE IN MARYLAND ARE PUSHING THIS AS HARD AS THEY CAN AND JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS HEADED BY PEOPLE WANTING TO MAKE A BUCK ARE LEADING IMMIGRANTS AND JUSTICE TO SUPPORT THIS AS A SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUE!

One thing you can bet on when you listen to main stream media and NPR/APM is news that has no basis in fact.  As they are shouting the unemployment is 6.1% here in Maryland it is really 36%......far higher than at the time of the crash.  So, why are national and local news deliberately deceiving the public?  First, people would be out in the street protesting as in other Western countries that still have free press.....second, the entire premise of Immigration Reform tied to TPP is that employment figures must be low enough for corporations to bring in immigrant/green card labor.  SEE WHY MARYLAND MUST MAKE ITS 36% UNEMPLOYMENT LOOKS LIKE 6.1%?  If you look at national advertizements you will see this figure used for unemployment in Baltimore if you can believe it!  So, as with all stats released by Maryland state or Baltimore City.....there is no basis of truth in the figures.  This happens because neo-liberals and republicans have dismantled all of public agencies tasked with oversight and producing this data.  WE FIX IT BY RUNNING LABOR AND JUSTICE IN ALL PRIMARIES AND REPLACING THESE NEO-LIBERALS.....ALL POLS IN MARYLAND ARE NEO-LIBERALS!



This is great....it shows Maryland with a long-term unemployed at 36% as they shout out that unemployment in Maryland is at 6.1%. Keep in mind that Congress passed an extension of unemployment insurance with a 6.7% level of exclusion for states falling under that level. Maryland immediately feel below that 6.7% and as a result.....all those who would have gotten longer unemployment dropped off the rolls....ergo...the 6.1%.

Keep in mind that with long-term unemployed and part time workers over 40% of Americans are income distressed and neo-liberals like it that way!!!! Desperate workers maximizes corporate profits!  Take a look at the interactive map/graph in this article below to see how each state in America has the highest unemployment in Western world.  YOU HEAR NPR SHOUT OUT THAT SPAIN HAS THE HIGHEST AT 25%.....MARYLAND HAS SPAIN BEAT AND NEO-LIBERAL STATES HAVE HIGHER UNEMPLOYMENT BECAUSE THAT'S THE WAY NEO-LIBERALS ROLL!


Long-Term Unemployment Is at Record Levels in Virtually Every State

www.epi.org

During last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama stressed the urgency of reinstating the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program for long-term unemployed workers, which, in an unprecedented move, Congress allowed to expire last month. This federal program typically provided a maximum of 28 weeks of additional benefits to workers who lost a job, through no fault of their own, and had exhausted their regular state benefits but were still unable to find work. With the program’s expiration, more than 1.5 million jobless workers have already stopped receiving aid and more than 2 million more will exhaust their benefits by the end of this year.

Laid-off workers will now lose any support after only six months, the maximum duration of unemployment insurance benefits in most states. The map below shows the share of the unemployed who have been jobless for six months or more in each state. There are 28 states, plus the District of Columbia, where more than a third of the unemployed have been jobless for six months or more. In New Jersey (46.6 percent), the District of Columbia (46.6 percent), and Florida (46.2 percent), nearly half of the unemployed are long-term unemployed.

With long-term unemployment still at record levels, Congress’ failure to renew this program is shocking; long-term unemployment benefits have never been cut off before with long-term unemployment so high. The highest the national long-term unemployment share ever reached prior to the Great Recession was 26 percent in June of 1983. Currently, there are 41 states (plus the District of Columbia) with long-term unemployment shares above 26 percent.

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How is the Immigration Reform and TPP attached to employment figures?  Let's remember what the neo-liberal Senate and republicans have as their main goal with this market-based Immigration bill sold as a help for Hispanic undocumented workers.
First there is the law enforcement element of Immigration Reform that has US prisons now filled with undocumented workers....Obama as a neo-liberal has placed imprisonment on steroids......think about California being the incarceration capital of the world.....neo-liberals.  The border enforcement along with countries like Peru will join Mexico knowing the same massive displacement of its citizens will happen again as global corporations come into these countries and send the citizens packing as described in the article below.  So, the Immigration Bill works to stop what will be a rush to the US border for jobs as it takes these immigrants now in the US and places them on restrictions that will indenture them for life or until they fail to meet the terms are are deported.

The Pathway to Citizenship is like the Trail of Tears for the native Americans.  It says you must remain continually employed for years......think how abusive workplaces are now and then think what will happen when employers know these immigrants will not be able to quit.  When they do.....these employers report them to authorities and the immigrant is deported.  When talking to the Super Shuttle workers in Maryland who are shouting they are indentured and enslaved by contracts that allow them no money.....their words were.....'we will lose our jobs and be deported but we cannot live like this'.  THIS IS MARYLAND AND THIS IS NOW!  IMMIGRATION REFORM SIMPLY PUTS THIS INTO LAW.  

PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP INDENTURES IMMIGRANTS AND MAKE DEPORTATION A STRONGER LIKELIHOOD.

This is all important because TPP is all about bringing immigrants just like these Maryland immigrants from Africa to America and tying them to just the same contracts that they too will not be able to tolerate.  So, they will work a while, discover they are enslaved in America and want to leave but have no way to disengage from these contracts.  With the US having suspended Rule of Law, these workers will not have the US Federal Justice/Maryland Attorney General protecting them.  So, how will immigrants be able to pay back taxes and current taxes and all these Pathway requirements as indentured servants?  Add to that stolen wages and illegal independent contractor status for those lucky enough to avoid endenturement....THE ANSWER IS THEY WILL NOT.  THEY WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO ACCUMULATE ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY THEIR WAY TO CITIZENSHIP.....WHICH IS THE POINT OF TPP.

The 1% say we'll take bring a few immigrants into our ranks to lord over the bulk of workers as they do now in Maryland.....as slavery always has.......but most immigrants will be trapped in the same indenturement as now exists in third world countries.  THIS IS WHAT IMMIGRATION REFORM IS ALL ABOUT.  

The second piece of Immigration Reform is the high-skilled labor end where TPP has high-skilled labor come to the US and if they are working for a global corporation....which most skilled businesses are these days....the employer will be able to hire them under terms of the country to which the corporation is attached if following US law causes lost profit.....which it always does.  So, John Hopkins partners with an Indian health corporation which then comes to the US as a global corporations hiring health care workers and those workers would be brought from India and work under Indian law.  So, this will not be a win for those immigrants workers being brought thinking they will be apart of the American Dream....unless they are the few selected to higher positions.....they will toil here as they did in India.

Why is this bad for domestic workers just as it is immigrant workers?  IF YOU ARE A DOMESTIC WORKER NEEDING A JOB....YOU WILL AGREE TO WORK FOR THE TERMS THE IMMIGRANTS DO OR YOU WILL NOT HAVE A JOB.  So, the foreign corporation comes to your town with manufacturing jobs, brings immigrant workers to fill many jobs and offers some to the locals if they work for the same as the immigrants.  This will go for the high-skilled jobs as well.  

IT NEGATES ALL OF US LAW BY MAKING GLOBAL CORPORATIONS EXEMPT FROM ALL US LAW WHICH IS ILLEGAL AND A COUP AGAINST THE US CONSTITUTION.


'Domestic workers don't have to work there if they don't like the conditions say neo-liberals'.  See why unemployment has been left so high?


PATH TO CITIZENSHIP

—The estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally could obtain "registered provisional immigrant status" six months after enactment of the bill as long as:

(1) The Homeland Security Department has developed border security and fencing plans.

(2) They arrived in the U.S. prior to Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence since then.

(3) They do not have a felony conviction or three or more misdemeanors.

(4) They pay a $500 fine.

—People in provisional legal status could work and travel in the U.S. but would not be eligible for federal benefits.

—The provisional legal status lasts six years and is renewable for another $500.

—People deported for noncriminal reasons can apply to re-enter in provisional status if they have a spouse or child who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, or if they had been brought to the U.S. as a child.

—After 10 years in provisional status, immigrants can seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they are up-to-date on taxes and pay a $1,000 fine, have maintained continuous physical presence in the U.S., meet work requirements, and learn English. Also the border triggers must have been met, and all people waiting to immigrate through the legal system as of date of enactment of the legislation must have been dealt with.

—People brought to the country as youths would be able to get green cards in five years, and citizenship immediately thereafter.
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Sign on to this letter calling for border justice and fair trade


This letter explains the relationship between ‘free’ trade agreements and militarization of the border. The struggle for immigrant rights includes opening borders, not locking them down, and creating fair trade for people and the planet, not corporate trade for profit with impunity. Please consider signing on to this letter (fill out the form below). Then also share this letter with individuals and organizations in your community that work for immigrant rights or that also might be willing to sign on, and encourage them to add their names. We can stop the TPP! The first step is to educate more people about the effects the TPP will have on our communities. Then together, we will flush the TPP.

July, 2013

Stopping the TPP is  Immigrant Rights

We write this letter out of concern regarding a looming humanitarian crisis. The prospect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) along with a surge in border militarization will leave in its wake a trail of displacement and death. The TPP will continue destroying rural economies and uprooting workers in Mexico and elsewhere. More border militarization and criminalization will leave yet more bodies of the undocumented and their families abandoned and lifeless in the desert. We call on fair trade and immigrant rights activists to join together to stop the TPP and to demand real, just immigration reform.

Over 6,000 undocumented workers and their family members have died crossing the US-Mexico border since 1994, the year that the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed. It was also when construction of the border wall began. NAFTA led to a 60% increase in migration across the Southern border–a forced migration of people desperately looking for jobs to feed their families. Because of border militarization the undocumented generally enter the US via its most sparsely populated and harshest desert terrains to avoid apprehension. Those who don’t make it die from dysentery, dehydration and exposure.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been called “NAFTA on Steroids”. If it passes, it will be the largest FTA in the world, including not only Mexico, the United States and Canada, but also Peru, Chile, Vietnam, Brunei, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore. The Obama administration is asking for “Fast Track” authority to negotiate the TPP. Fast Track would enable the President to circumvent Congress’ constitutional power to establish the parameters of US trade policy. It allows the President to sign an agreement before a Congressional vote, which must take place within 90 days of the signature and which prohibits the addition of amendments.

Immigration reform legislation is also moving forward. The proposed reform includes a “border surge” of militarization and related benchmarks that must go into effect before road to citizenship provisions kick in. This surge would include between $30 and $50 billion for “security”, including the construction of 350 to 700 more miles of the border wall. The number of agents on the border would be doubled to 40,000. The US-Mexico border would become one of the most militarized borders in the world.

It is no coincidence that the year 1994 saw not only passage of NAFTA, but the beginning of border wall construction. And it is no coincidence that the border surge is being considered at the same time the TPP is being negotiated. Also closely related is the proliferation of private prisons, especially immigration detention centers. Militarized borders and new prisons help manage social disruptions as well as political dissent resulting from FTAs. Criminalization of the undocumented creates a sub-class of workers denied basic labor rights while forced to work long hours for low wages. The ones who benefit are transnational corporations and agribusinesses.

If things were already bad under NAFTA and the current level of border militarization, a border surge and the TPP will make them worse. When NAFTA went into effect, Mexico was importing 30,000 tons of pork. By 2010, that had gone up to 811,000 tons. Mexico lost 4,000 hog farms and 20,000 farm jobs as a result. If we include indirect jobs dependent on the pork industry, as many as 120,000 jobs were lost. Likewise, corn imports rose from 2 million tons in 1992 to 10.3 million tons in 2008 and the cost of corn tortillas rose by 50%. This scenario was repeated in different sectors, such as wheat and sorghum production. By 2006, NAFTA had forced two million Mexicans out of farm work and some 28,000 small and medium sized businesses had been eliminated. Wages in maquiladora zones along the border had been driven down by 25%. A 2005 study for the Mexican government by the World Bank showed that rural poverty had risen from 35% between 1992 and 1994, to 55% between 1996 and 1998. By 2010, 53 million Mexicans were living in poverty, or half the population, and 20%, mostly in rural areas, lived in extreme poverty.

The TPP is being negotiated in secrecy. Only a few insistent Congress persons have seen it. However, some 600 corporate lobbyists have read the text and made comments on it. What few details have been leaked to the public reveal a document that guards the interests of big corporations even more than NAFTA, which at least includes a provision allowing countries to withdraw with only six months notice. Investor-State provisions will be strengthened letting foreign corporations sue a government over policies that provide environmental and community protection but curb private profits. Suits would be decided by a special court comprised from a rotating pool of corporate lawyers.

What will it mean if passage of the TPP is coupled with a border surge? We have already seen significant growth in border militarization. Whether it be because of this, or because the US is recovering from its own economic crisis, apprehensions by the border patrol have dropped by 50% since 2008. But at the same time, deaths in the desert of border crossers has risen by 27%. The National Foundation for American Policy has found that an undocumented immigrant is eight times more likely to die crossing the border today than ten years ago. With the TPP and a border surge, deaths will increase.

The fight to defeat the TPP is advocacy for immigrant rights, or better put, for the rights of Mexican and other workers and farming families to not be forcibly displaced. One of the central rights of any potential immigrant is the choice whether or not to migrate. Even more central is the right not to die crossing the desert in search of jobs. We must tell Congress: End border militarization, deny fast track authority and reject the TPP. What we need, what we require, is fair trade, not free trade, and border justice, not militarization and criminalization.


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The reason WYPR and Basu keep telling you the unemployment rate is 6.1% instead of 36% has to do with the Immigration Bill and the rates needed before green card workers take jobs.  Can you imagine 180,000 foreign high-skilled workers coming to the US each year when the US has STEM grads unemployed in great numbers?  It will flood the work force.  Not only are high-skilled workers coming.....but all that 'innovation' money that Maryland shouts is creating jobs but is used for marketing Maryland to these prospective foreign workers.....can be given to foreign immigrants to start new companies.  THESE GOES ALL THE MONEY FOR DOMESTIC CITIZENS WANTING TO SIMPLY BUILD A SMALL BUSINESS!

The good news is that all the figures are a lie and  TPP is illegal and a COUP against the American people and can be made NULL AND VOID with Rule of Law.  Neo-liberals cannot simply fail to enforce US law because a foreign treaty was signed....the point is that it was illegal for the US Trade Rep to sign this deal!




'The cap could go as high as 180,000 a year depending on demand and unemployment rate'.



HIGH-SKILLED WORKERS

—The cap on the H-1B visa program for high-skilled workers would be immediately raised from 65,000 a year to 110,000 a year, with 25,000 more set aside for people with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or math from a U.S. school. The cap could go as high as 180,000 a year depending on demand and unemployment rate.

—New protections would crack down on companies that use H-1B visas to train workers in the U.S. only to ship them back overseas.

—Immigrants with certain extraordinary abilities, such as professors and researchers, multinational executives and athletes, would be exempted from green-card limits.

—A startup visa would be made available to foreign entrepreneurs seeking to come to the U.S. to start a company.

—A new merit visa, capped at 250,000 a year, would award points to prospective immigrants based on their education, employment, length of residence in the U.S. and other considerations. Those with the most points would earn the visas.

—The bill would eliminate the government's Diversity Visa Lottery Program, which randomly awards 55,000 visas to immigrants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, so that more visas can be awarded for employment and merit ties.


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Below you see the good points for the low-skilled workers given by the Tea Party.  These republicans are right....it is devastating to all domestic workers, but low-skilled especially.  Now, a republican has always been ready to enslave workers.......they want to get rid of the minimum wage for goodness sake, so they are simply playing good cop on an issue they really , really, want.

The national ID for immigrants will be the republican way of holding these workers in indenturement and deport anyone breaking these harsh rules.  You notice that nowhere are corporations going to be held accountable to breaking these laws as Rule of Law has been suspended.




LETTER WARNS: IMMIGRATION BILL WILL COLLAPSE MIDDLE CLASS AND INCREASE UNEMPLOYMENT, POVERTY

Posted by tomfernandez28 on January 9, 2014


LETTER WARNS: IMMIGRATION BILL WILL COLLAPSE MIDDLE CLASS AND INCREASE UNEMPLOYMENT, POVERTY

A group of House Republicans has written a letter to Barack Obama to warn that the immigration bill he supports will have an adverse effect on American workers. The immigration bill will, the letter writers say, lead to an increase in unemployment and poverty, help collapse the middle class, and decrease wages for American citizens.

“[W]e reject your call for the House to get an immigration bill to your desk that would permanently displace American workers,” the House Republicans write. “The Senate immigration bill, which the White House helped craft and which you personally endorse, would double the number of guest workers brought into this country at a time of crippling joblessness and falling incomes. On top of that, the Senate immigration bill would also add millions more permanent immigrant workers through green cards – handing out permanent residency to more than 30 million immigrants over the next decade. This represents a tripling of the normal green card rate.

CBO confirms that these immigrants will be mostly lower-skilled, and that wages for American citizens would fall while American unemployment would rise. Per-capita GNP would sink as well.

According to research from Harvard Professor Dr. George Borjas, low-skilled immigration has, between the years 1980 and 2000, resulted in nearly an 8% wage reduction for US-born workers without a high school degree. Rapidly expanding unskilled immigration – at time when factory work and blue collar jobs are disappearing – would represent the final economic blow for millions of workers who have been struggling to gain an economic foothold.

This group of House Republicans, who say that are writing the president “on behalf of the 21 million Americans who can’t find a full-time job” and “on behalf of the 90 million Americans over 16 – including early retirees, college grads living at home, and those living on welfare – who are not part of our nation’s workforce,” warn that things will get worse if this immigration bill becomes law.

“According to research from Harvard Professor Dr. George Borjas, low-skilled immigration has, between the years 1980 and 2000, resulted in nearly an 8% wage reduction for US-born workers without a high school degree. Rapidly expanding unskilled immigration – at time when factory work and blue collar jobs are disappearing – would represent the final economic blow for millions of workers who have been struggling to gain an economic foothold,” the letter writers say.

And it concludes: “Job number one for Congress should be to reduce the unemployment rolls, get families and communities out of poverty and government dependency, rebuild our deteriorating communities and collapsing middle class, and increase wages for American citizens. Your immigration proposals do the exact opposite on every count.”

The letter has been signed by 16 Republican members of Congress: Mo Brooks of Alabama, Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, Kerry Bentivolio of Missouri, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Phil Gingrey of Georgia, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, John Fleming of Louisiana, Steve King of Iowa, Ted Yoho of Florida, Joe Wilson of South Carolina, Steve Stockman of Texas, Lamar Smith also of Texas, Steven Palazzo of Mississippi, Mike Rogers of Alabama, and Jeff Duncan of South Carolina.

Here’s the entire letter, which is dated today:

Dear Mr. President:

We write to you today on behalf of the 21 million Americans who can’t find a full-time job. We write to you on behalf of the 6 million young Americans who are neither working nor in school. We write on behalf of the countless American workers whose wages today are lower than they were more than a decade ago. We write on behalf of the 90 million Americans over 16 – including early retirees, college grads living at home, and those living on welfare – who are not part of our nation’s workforce.

That is why we reject your call for the House to get an immigration bill to your desk that would permanently displace American workers. The Senate immigration bill, which the White House helped craft and which you personally endorse, would double the number of guest workers brought into this country at a time of crippling joblessness and falling incomes. On top of that, the Senate immigration bill would also add millions more permanent immigrant workers through green cards – handing out permanent residency to more than 30 million immigrants over the next decade. This represents a tripling of the normal green card rate.
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January 29th, 2014

1/29/2014

0 Comments

 
FOLKS, IF YOU DO NOT HERE YOUR INCUMBENT POL SHOUTING LOUDLY AND STRONGLY AGAINST ALL THESE POLICIES AND TPP-------THEY ARE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEED TO GO!  RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE IN ALL PRIMARIES!

I want to take today through Friday to talk about why Obama and Congress are now ready to focus on domestic issues and why his mantra of helping the middle-class and poor is ridiculous......all the items on the Congressional agenda are tied to TPP and they intend to pass TPP in the near future.

The good news for US citizens is that TPP is illegal and a COUP against the US Constitution and American people and we can simply declare it NULL AND VOID when we reinstate Rule of Law. 

I'm starting with the environmental issues in Obama's speech and TPP because we have a corporate 'public' media outlet....WYPR with commentators who pretend to lament issues that they really support.


You may have seen the Huffington Post article on TPP and the environment but continue down to see how Maryland is one big TPP sesspool thanks to your neo-liberal!

ALL THE CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR ARE NEO-LIBERALS AND WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH THE TPP AGENDA!


In Maryland, labor and justice simply backs the worst of TPP neo-liberals even as they intend to make labor and justice just like Chinese workers and citizens.  WHY ARE THEY NOT RUNNING LABOR AND JUSTICE CANDIDATES IN ALL PRIMARIES!!!!!??????


Regarding Obama's domestic agenda that all involves passing TPP:

Basu's shout out for attention to global warming is a HOOT isn't it!  The US is the number one exporting now of all the raw materials that hasten global warming and Basu supports every one as this makes the rich richer in the US while it kills our environment.  TPP makes sure that all those silly US environmental laws won't get in the way of corporate profit and that is why we have XL Pipeline preparing to export the worst methane and carbon emitter TAR SAND OIL.  Basu is for building this pipeline....it creates jobs you know as he is in building a natural gas export right here in Maryland.  Fracking is a great methane/carbon emitter.  The US exports coal and raw timber all of which are great carbon emitters so all this talk of global warming by neo-liberals is only to sell windmill funding to make another source of profit for Wall Street investment firms.  YOU CANNOT BE A NET EXPORTER OF ALL THE MATERIALS CREATING CARBON AND METHANE EMISSIONS AND SAY YOU ARE AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING FOR GOODNESS SAKE.   All of Maryland pols are backing the natural gas terminal that will place fracking on steroids.

 NEO-LIBERALS WILL VOTE ON A TPP BILL THAT KILLS ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT AND THAT IS WHY WE HAVE SUCH A HIGH LEVEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION TODAY....OBAMA AND CONGRESSIONAL NEO-LIBERALS ARE ALLOWING FREE TRADE OF ALL OF US NATURAL RESOURCES.


You wouldn't know that Obama's entire agenda surrounds the legislation needed to pass the TPP and we all know that has nothing to do with making a strong middle-class and helping the poor.  Remember, there is no wealth inequality because tens of trillions of dollar in corporate fraud still needs to come back.

The reason we had a do-nothing Congress is that these few years your neo-liberal has been working on behalf of their state's global corporations in writing TPP and now that Obama's Trade Rep signed the TPP agreement Congress is ready to go full court passing all the domestic bills that are written just for TPP.

ALL OF MARYLAND POLS ARE NEO-LIBERALS!!!!!

Let's look at each one to remember how they are attached to TPP and how they kill American workers and families.  THESE ARE EVIL DUDES YOU ARE ELECTING AND RE-ELECTING FOLKS!

So why are corporate NPR/APM and WYPR not connecting these TPP/environment dots?  More important, why are Maryland's environmental groups and 'progressive' action groups not sounding the alarm?  Maryland Progressives give Maryland Assembly strong marks on environment without ever shouting that TPP will knock the socks off of anything local.  Building windmills off of Maryland coast while exporting natural gas.....REALLY?


Let's look closer at what this environmental catastrophe means to labor and justice.  First, look at the Incinerator project everyone is fighting here in the Baltimore area.  Why would you build something like this with all kinds of 'green language' when we all know it is bad news for health and climate?  THE INCINERATOR IS PART OF A GLOBAL CORPORATION THAT RUNS THESE AROUND THE WORLD -------VEOLA ENVIRONOMENT OWNED BY JOHNS HOPKINS.

Remember, VEOLA is a global corporation and is TPP is passed we will not have all those air quality standards met as all this hampers corporate profit!!!!!




 WikiLeaks Exposes What Obama's Secret Trade Deal Would Do To The Environment


Posted: 01/15/2014 12:22 pm EST  |  Updated: 01/25/2014 4:01 pm EST


WASHINGTON -- WikiLeaks published a leaked draft of the environment chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Wednesday, and environmental groups are lining up to take a swing.

The leaked documents come from a meeting of the trade deal's chief negotiators held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Nov. 19 to 24, 2013. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes 12 countries –- the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei –- and would govern a number of international environmental and trade issues.

The draft indicates the pact will include a number of promises on the environment, but will lack strong enforcement tools. "When compared against other TPP chapters, the Environment Chapter is noteworthy for its absence of mandated clauses or meaningful enforcement measures," wrote WikiLeaks in its release. The chapter is intended to deal with issues like overfishing, trade of wood products, wildlife crime, and illegal logging. But most of the measures in the chapter are voluntary, rather than binding, and do not include penalties or criminal sanctions for violations. Compliance is largely left to the respective countries.

Enviros offered similar criticism. "The lack of fully-enforceable environmental safeguards means negotiators are allowing a unique opportunity to protect wildlife and support legal sustainable trade of renewable resources to slip through their fingers,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund, in a statement.

The leaked document from November is only a draft, but if the trade pact's final environmental chapter looks like it, it would make the Obama administration's environmental trade record "worse than George W. Bush’s," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “This draft chapter falls flat on every single one of our issues -- oceans, fish, wildlife, and forest protections -- and in fact, rolls back on the progress made in past free trade pacts.”

According to a report from the chairs of the TPP Environmental Working Group drafting the chapter, also released by WikiLeaks, there remains significant disagreement among the parties on many of the pact's provisions. The chairs wrote that Vietnam, Peru and Malaysia object to a provision calling for countries to "rationalize and phase out" fossil fuel subsidies "that encourage wasteful consumption." They also noted that the United States and Australia object to the climate change portion of the pact as it is written.

Negotiation of the pact has been underway since 2010, but all discussions take place entirely outside of public view. The Obama administration has already received backlash for leaked portions of the pact that indicate it would grant greater rights to corporations to challenge national laws in private courts.

Efforts to fast-track the trade deal met resistance from Democrats in Congress this week.


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VEOLA ENVIRONMENT IS OWNED BY HIGHSTAR WITH JOHNS HOPKINS AS ITS MAJOR SHAREHOLDER AND THIS IS WHY O'MALLEY AND RAWLINGS-BLAKE ARE PUSHING THESE PLANTS IN MARYLAND.  

It has nothing to do with greening or environmentalism.....it simply moves all public waste and recycling to this Hopkins' owned business VEOLA.  As this happens, communities around it will see all kinds of health effects and the air quality already bad in Maryland will get worse------THAT'S A DOUBLE WIN FOR JOHNS HOPKINS AS ASTHMA IS THE NUMBER ONE HEALTH PROFIT FOR MARYLAND HOSPITALS!!!!

Just imagine how likely having a global health corporation like Hopkins owning and running the disposal of medical waste.....their major expense.  Remember, in China there are no environmental laws and that is why all kinds of hazardous dumping and leeching has made China an industrial dump.


This policy is not only disgusting......but O'Malley and Rawlings-Blake and your Maryland Assembly and Baltimore City Hall neo-liberals are tying the funding of public schools to this Johns Hopkins business that kills the environment.  If you look at who supports these incinerators--------Baltimore museums and many Maryland public school districts.  The public sector tied to yet another corporation.




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    A full-range incineration system that includes both rotary kilns and fixed-hearth incineration technology for the ultimate in flexibility for handling your most difficult hazardous wastes
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Keep in mind Maryland's Governor O'Malley led the way for exporting natural gas while leading the Governor's Association because, of course, O'Malley is a raging Wall Street pol.  Mike Miller has said this will happen as as all Maryland neo-liberals keep voting him as leader.....they will vote for it as well.

The infrastructure funding bill by Congress and by Maryland Assembly would fund the construction of this project.  That is why they want this BOLIS OF MONEY as Clinton investment banker turned pol Dulaney moves forward.


ISN'T IT AMAZING THAT YOU NEVER HEAR ANY OF THIS FROM MARYLAND MEDIA OR WYPR AND MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS ARE MOSTLY SILENT TO SOMETHING THAT WILL HAVE DEVASTATING ENVIRONMENTAL AFFECTS ON THE STATE???

I want to add that it is Frosh that heads the judiciary committee that vets judicial appointments and if you liked Maryland's court decision that MERS was not criminal.....you can expect that Frosh placed  pro-global corporates judges in Maryland courts.  See why we do not want Frosh as Maryland Attorney General?  Wonder why Maryland labor groups are backing him?


Court Considers Natural Gas Exports From MD Terminal  

Mon, 01/13/2014 - 11:02am
MAX EHRENFREUND, The Washington Post  

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The future of a massive, controversial construction project on the Chesapeake Bay for exporting natural gas could depend on one poorly written sentence.

Attorneys for the Sierra Club were in court last week fighting the $3.8 billion proposal by Dominion Resources to renovate its terminal in Calvert County so the facility could send domestic gas overseas. The case — which turns on several words in a contract first signed in 1972 and rewritten over the years — is pending in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

Labor and business leaders argue that construction would bring a huge influx of capital to a state still recovering from the financial crisis. But environmentalists say that the project would worsen global warming, and residents are concerned about the effects on traffic and property values in the sleepy coastal community of Lusby about 60 miles southeast of the District.

"We are all following it really closely," Kelly Canavan, president of a local community organization, said of the dispute between the Sierra Club and Dominion.

Canavan's group, the Accokeek, Mattawoman, Piscataway Creeks Communities Council, opposes Dominion's plans. She said the court case "is one of the strongest possibilities for actually stopping the project."

The case also demonstrates how radically the global energy economy can change in just a few years.

Dominion's Cove Point terminal, which began operating in 1978, was built to receive imported natural gas. But recently, few tankers have come through as the new drilling techniques commonly known as "fracking" have produced an unexpected glut of domestic shale gas.

Dominion now proposes to use Cove Point for export instead of import. But natural gas must be cooled into a liquid before it is loaded onto a tanker. Dominion will have to build cooling facilities at Cove Point — a project that would require three years and thousands of workers.

Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club — which aims to decrease the country's reliance on naturalgas — worry that allowing the exports would encourage domestic drilling, damage the ecology of the bay and ultimately hasten climate change.

Whether the project proceeds could depend on how the court interprets the contract, which curtails how the site can be used. The facility's original owner, Columbia Gas, initially signed the agreement with the Sierra Club and another environmental group. Relations between business and the environmental movement were friendlier then than they are today, and Columbia wanted to avoid a legal dispute.

Sierra argues that the most recent version of that agreement, which Dominion signed in 2005, a few years after acquiring the property, precludes the company from exporting natural gas from Cove Point by sea.

The agreement provides that Dominion can use the site for "receipt by tanker and the receipt or delivery bypipeline" of natural gas in its various forms.

According to the environmental group's lawyers, that phrase means that Cove Point can receive shipments of natural gas by sea or overland via pipeline, and that it can deliver gas to domestic customers, also viapipeline. Delivering gas to outgoing vessels is not permitted, they argue.

A lower court ruled against the Sierra Club last year. Circuit Judge James Salmon agreed with Dominion that the facility could make a "delivery by pipeline" to the pier where deep-water tankers dock.

The offshore pier, just over a mile from the coast, is indeed connected to land by an insulated pipeline along the bottom of the bay.

The Sierra Club appealed the decision.

The parties to the contract in 2005 did not anticipate that Dominion would ever need to export natural gas. During arguments Wednesday, appeals court judges questioned attorneys for both sides on economic and technological aspects of shipping gas at that time, trying to reconstruct a world that already seems far in the past.

Dominion has signed contracts with importers in India and Japan, who agreed to buy capacity at Cove Point for 20 years. The company asked the court to rule quickly on the case, citing the volatility of the global market for fossil fuels.

For those who live near the facility, the debate about Cove Point is much more than a disagreement over the meaning of "receipt or delivery."

Carolyn Hart, president of the Calvert County Chamber of Commerce, said her group's members are eager for the jobs and people they expect construction to bring to the area. "I can tell you, we're waiting," she said. Hart lives a quarter of a mile from the terminal, and she and her husband own a nearby wine shop.

Dominion said they are among many people who think the project will benefit the community. "The support for this kind of a project is extremely broad and very deep," said Chet Wade, a spokesman for Dominion.

Others worry about the risk of an industrial accident.

"We feel like Dominion is transferring environmental and health risks to their neighbors, and we're not getting compensated," said Sue Allison, who can see Cove Point's storage tanks from her kitchen window and made the trip to the courthouse in Annapolis to demonstrate her opposition to the project.

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Do you know that selling the coal fire- power plants with the deal with Exelon is an environmental greenhouse disaster and your Maryland Assembly pol voted for this merger deal that could have required these power plants be shut down?  O'Malley handed them to Exelon who simply handed them to a connected figure and Maryland still has coal-fired power plants all by a governor who Maryland press labels a friend of the environment!!!!

I NEVER HEAR BASU TELLING US ALL THIS AS HE LAMENTS GREENHOUSE GAS LEVELS AND GLOBAL WARMING.....HE WILL SHOUT OUT TO BUILD WINDMILLS, BECAUSE THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH ALL THIS OTHER BAD ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN MARYLAND!

Know where the windmills will be built?  I know, Maryland pols said this was a job creator.....yet, very few Maryland workers  will be involved.  IT'S ABOUT CHANNELLING FEDERAL AND STATE FUNDING TO CAMPAIGN DONORS YOU KNOW!

Look below to see yet another foreign global corporation coming into the US to build manufacturing.  Remember, TPP gives global corporations a pass on all US labor and justice laws if it cuts into profits.......TPP will allow Siemens to bring workers from around the world to work in Kansas and if Kansas citizens want a job.....they will work for the same third world wages these immigrants get...... THIS IS WHAT GREEN TECHNOLOGY BUSINESSES BRING TO THE US.....AND YOUR FEDERAL AND STATE TAX MONEY WILL SUBSIDIZE THE BUILDING OF THESE PLANTS BECAUSE.....AFTER ALL.....THEY CREATE JOBS!

See why WYPR does not connect the dots......see why public media was taken corporate?



Siemens will Build Wind Turbine Production Facility in the U.S.
05.05.2009 · Posted in Wind Energy

 
Additional capital investment in green technologies – 400 new jobs to be created

Erlangen, Germany, May 05, 2009

Siemens intends to build a new production facility for wind turbines in the state of Kansas. Initially, 400 new jobs are expected to be created in the new wind turbine production facility in Hutchinson, Kansas. When production begins at this facility, Siemens will be able to even more effectively meet the strong demand for wind turbine equipment in North and South America in the future.

75px Siemens AG logo.svg Siemens will Build Wind Turbine Production Facility in the U.S.“The United States already is and will continue to be one of the world’s fastest growing wind energy markets. We are thus intensifying our commitment to this green technology to further expand our leading global position in this field,” stated Peter Löscher, CEO of Siemens AG. “We are already the leading green infrastructure giant. And by making these investments, we will become even greener.” With revenues totaling EUR19 billion in fiscal year 2008, Siemens now has the world’s largest portfolio of environmental technologies.

Construction of the 300,000-square-foot nacelle production facility is scheduled to begin in August 2009. A nacelle is mounted on top of the tower and supports the rotor. It houses a wind turbine’s major components for electric power generation, including the gearbox, the drive train and the control electronics.

The nacelles to be produced in Kansas will weigh 90 tons and the first nacelle is expected to be shipped in December 2010. All nacelles produced in Hutchinson will be used in the company’s reliable 2.3-MW wind turbine product family. Initially, the factory’s planned annual output is approximately 650 nacelles – or 1,500 megawatts (MW).

“Just two years ago we opened a rotor blade manufacturing facility in Fort Madison, Iowa. By expanding our investment in Kansas, we are strengthening our presence in the U.S. and, at the same time, we are increasing the proximity to our U.S. customers. This new location will enable us to serve them more rapidly and cost-effectively,” said René Umlauft, CEO of Siemens Energy’s Renewable Energy Division.

Hutchinson is near the geographic center of the continental United States and offers a viable workforce and excellent transportation logistics. The factory will include direct loading onto rail, which will provide easy access to project locations throughout the Unites States and Canada. Shipments can also be made utilizing the barge facilities at the port of Catoosa, located 250 miles from the plant. Kansas also has excellent wind conditions. In terms of wind energy potential, this centrally located state ranks third in the U.S.

Since entering the wind industry in 2004, Siemens has greatly expanded its worldwide manufacturing network. In addition to opening and consequently expanding the wind turbine blade manufacturing facilities in Fort Madison, Iowa, USA, and Engesvang, Denmark, the Danish facilities in Brande and Aalborg have been expanded and a new R&D center in Boulder, USA, was established. Siemens’ global wind power business has grown from approximately 800 employees in 2004 to more than 5,500 today, which equals an increase of approximately 650 percent.

Wind power is an important feature of Siemens’ environmental portfolio. In 2008, revenue from the products and solutions of Siemens’ environmental portfolio was nearly EUR19 billion, which is equivalent to around a quarter of Siemens’ total revenue.
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November 07th, 2013

11/7/2013

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I REVISIT THE ISSUE OF PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC WATER AND WASTE AND SMART METERS FOR ENERGY WITH BGE ----IT IS CRITICAL THIS NOT HAPPEN AND NO ONE IS SHOUTING!

Across the nation these investment firms that are now rich from the massive corporate frauds of last decade are now being handed all of public assets and services.  In Baltimore, it is Johns Hopkins that has stakes in all of what is transpiring with public assets from Port to public water and waste.  What we see here today is a partner in this goal......Intron is a global corporation with Smart Meters and tracking resources while VEOLA is a global Water and Waste corporation with the same goals.  Baltimore made VEOLA transfer ownership of its Water and Waste to its corporate holdings in HighStar while allowing VEOLA to have all of MD public transportation.  IT IS A FEEDING FRENZY FOR PUBLIC ASSETS AND NEO-LIBERALS ARE LEADING IT.  NO ONE IS SHOUTING PEOPLE!

We have unions backing these neo-liberals doing this no doubt just for the present job but it will hurt all in the long term!





Regarding the Smart Meter Baltimore Board of Estimates debacle:

Did you know that VEOLA Water and Waste is seeking to privatize our public water and waste systems and Johns Hopkins is a major shareholder in VEOLA water? Did you know that Smart Meters have as their main intent to ration energy and water according to what people can afford to pay as sending BGE to Exelon and now building our public water with national VEOLA WATER will have yet more public commodities tied to Wall Street speculation and manipulation for profits----just like gas at the pump? SEEMS THESE ARE IMPORTANT ISSUES THAT NO ONE IS HEARING ABOUT FROM MARYLAND/BALTIMORE MEDIA!



We are seeing all over the world where Smart Meters are used to force energy and water conservation and used especially to maximize profit by limiting access to energy and water if you cannot afford to pay the ever increasing rates!

Power rationing ruling alarms consumer groups

Posted on December 8, 2011

by Stop Smart Meters Australia


CONSUMER groups are concerned that a ruling to allow power companies to ration their supply to households could leave some people high and dry.

A final ruling by the Essential Services Commission this week opens the way for power companies to temporarily interrupt the power to households that choose to take part in customer trials using supply control features on smart meters.

The ruling specifies that the supply controls could be used only for ”non-credit management” purposes.

But consumer groups, including the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) and the Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC), say energy retailers have no other reason to ration energy supply than to control the level of debt and ensure struggling households pay their bills.

Under the ruling, power companies could cut off electricity briefly to remind customers paying a lower rate for a capped amount of electricity, that they are using more energy than they had agreed to.

”We do not believe there is any reason for retailers to offer such products except for credit management purposes, whether this is explicit or not,” VCOSS has stated.

Janine Rayner, of CALC, says there are ”fairer and more balanced ways” for consumers to manage their energy use and debt.


These include flexible payment options, bill smoothing, hardship programs and energy efficiency audits, rather than ”taking the onus on themselves to self-manage and self-disconnect”.

This week’s ruling will also allow energy companies to turn off individual appliances


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Below is an article that addresses what we all know will be the result of these Smart Meters-----it moves the cost higher for consumers at the same time the costs of energy and water soar because they are being privatized and made a commodity.

Below you see a series of articles by the Brew.  Mark always does a good job collecting the data but will not state future goals.....WE NEED PEOPLE SHOUTING THAT THIS CAPTURE OF ALL PUBLIC COMMODITIES IS VERY, VERY, VERY VERY BAD!!!


'The high-tech, high-cost meters are great for detecting minute flows of water. But other cities have found they are subject to frustrating computer glitches'.

“One of the most outrageous things is that if you wanted to challenge your water bill, you have to pay the city $180 to have your automated meter checked by a human being,” de Blasio said. The high-tech system presented a “classic’Catch-22″ where customers were forced to choose between a high water bill or an equally high price to appeal.


Smart meters will drive up customer bills, but not necessarily cut down on billing errors The high-tech, high-cost meters are great for detecting minute flows of water. But other cities have found they are subject to frustrating computer glitches.

Mark Reutter October 28, 2013 at 7:37 am

The Baltimore Brew

By measuring every last drop of water coming into a household, this smart meter manufacturer promises water utilities with plenty of fresh revenue.

Photo by: Sensus Metering Systems

When Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says smart water meters will yield “more accurate” bills for customers long frustrated by water billing errors, what’s left unsaid is that the new meters will also increase residential water bills.

The new meters will employ technology that better records low-flow water usage by households, a key to charging more per customer. “By measuring every single drip every time” with smart meters, one manufacturer brags, a water utility can increase its revenues even when rates remain the same.

According to Dynis LLC – the front runner of the yet-unannounced meter award despite a bid $100 million more than its competitor – its Sensus iPERL meters are calibrated to measure as little as 1/32 gallon per minute of flow, a rate eight times lower that the typical mechanical water meter.

Dynis says this attribute will allow measurement of low-flow usage to increase “by 10 percent, at a minimum,” adding $22.98 a year to an average user’s bill at the current water rate. Over the 20-year life expectancy of the meters, Dynis promises the city $160 million in added revenues.

The group’s figures are based on the current water rate. Given the sharp rate increases enacted in July by the Board of Estimates, a typical city customer will pay closer to $40 a year when the new meters go into full operation in 2018 – and the city will gain an equivalent jump in revenues.

Sticker Shock

Another factor likely to cause “sticker shock” to homeowners is that when old meters malfunction, they tend to “slow down” – or under record the true flow of water. Very rarely do meters speed up. In cities where smart meters have been installed, consumers often find immediate spikes in their bills.

On the other hand, whether the new technology will produce bills that are less prone to error is open to question.

Currently, meter readers (the city employs 39 of them) go house by house, open the meter lid and read the dial. The readings are then recorded on a hand-held device. When asked about inaccurate water bills, Mayor Rawlings-Blake laid blame on the reading of the old meters.

“Once the meter read gets to the billing department, the process is smooth, so now it is making sure that the meter reading is accurate. That’s why we’re focused on and moving forward with trying to get more accurate meters across the city . . . [because] so many of these meters are so old,” the mayor said at a press availability last Wednesday.
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FULL COVERAGE IN THE BREW:

Politically-wired firm wants $100 million more for city contract than competitor (10/9/13)
Mayor tightlipped about Dynis contract (10/9/13)
Rejected company had lowest bid for city’s water meters (10/10/13)
Finances of firm seeking $185M water meter contract appear shaky (10/11/13)
Mayor issues statement on water meter contract and Dynis (10/11/13)
Totaling up the costs of “smart” water meters (10/18/13)
Team that got $107 million for Harbor Pt. is now pushing the Dynis water meter bid (10/24/13)
______________________________________

The smart meter will use a radio transmitter attached to the meter to send signals to a collection unit or cell tower, which will transmit the information to a central office. Software will then read the data and store it in a new Meter Data Management System (MDMS).

Glitches Around the Country

The city is calling on hourly meter readings for all meters across the city – or 9.8 million reads per day. These readings will be stored for seven years and made available to city personnel and consumers (who will need to purchase software to fully access the information).

Critically, though, the MDMS data will have to interface with the Finance Department’s billing system in order to generate bills. The merging of the new technology to a “legacy” billing system frequently results in erroneous billings.

Baltimore has 201,000 meter customers, with another 203,000 in the county. City meters are serviced at this shop in West Baltimore. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

The Rawlings-Blake administration says that a new billing system will be installed by the time the smart meters are operating.

But detailed planning has not yet gotten underway and money could run short, leaving the city with a hybrid system subject to computer errors.

Just such glitches plagued the installation of 800,000 smart meters in New York two years ago.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio received hundreds of complaints from consumers. He issued a report that ripped into what he called a too-hasty rollout of the system and the difficulties faced by customers seeking redress to what they considered to be inaccurate bills.

“One of the most outrageous things is that if you wanted to challenge your water bill, you have to pay the city $180 to have your automated meter checked by a human being,” de Blasio said. The high-tech system presented a “classic’Catch-22″ where customers were forced to choose between a high water bill or an equally high price to appeal.

“Proof of Concept” After Contract Award

In the meter contract under review by the Rawlings-Blake administration – there are two bids, by Dynis for $185 million, and by Itron for $84 million – there is little leeway for technical errors. Unlike some major contracts, the city has not run a pilot program to evaluate the feasibility of smart meters.

Instead, the winning bidder is required to undertake a “proof of concept” test as its first order of business. The contract calls for the vendor (either Dynis or Itron) to install 5,000 meters and transmitters in downtown Baltimore, and another 5,000 meters in Bowleys Quarter in Baltimore County.

If 100% of the readings from the new meters are “successfully passed” to the city’s billing system over a 30-day test period, the city will authorize the smart meter project to proceed.

The timeline for the new meters is as follows: completion of the “proof of concept” 12 months after the contract is awarded; “substantial completion” of the city sector of the program by April 1, 2016; “substantial completion” of the county sector by April 1, 2017; and final installation and operation of smart meters by January 1, 2018.


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The reason Itron got the bid is that it is a global corporation working to privatize public water and waste all around the world-----along with VEOLA WATER AND WASTE....they are a team! So, as DYNIS is just as bad as Itron.....local bad lost out to global bad. DYNIS did make two great statements at the Board of Estimates meeting:

Itron has has problems with getting these systems up and running in cities choosing them for awards. Systems failed (think speed ticket cameras in Baltimore). Remember, these corporations CENTERED ON PUBLIC WORKS AS THE NEXT MARKET BUBBLE at the time of economic collapse because starving the government was going to 'force' public assets and services into the hands of these private corporations. THAT IS WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT.....STARVE GOVERNMENT COFFERS WITH MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD AND TAX EVASION AND THEN PRETEND EVERYTHING PUBLIC NEEDS TO BE PRIVATIZED!!!

Do we really want a global corporation running Smart Meters and our public water and waste like Exelon and Fracking operates energy? I think we are going back to hiring enough public employees to walk around a read our public water meters thank you very much!!!!

DOES EVERYONE GET THE THEME HERE???? MAXIMIZING CORPORATE PROFITS!




From Itron's webpage:


City of Baltimore Awards Contract to Itron for Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Water Meter System Installation Project
Nov 7, 2013

Itron Announces Third Quarter 2013 Financial Results

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Oct. 30, 2013 — Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced today financial results for its third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2013. Highlights include:

Quarterly and nine month revenues of $495 million and $1.4 billion;


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Texas utilities admit billing errors with SmartMeters

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
michael finney


Two major utilities in Texas have confirmed that some customers received inaccurate and sometimes inflated bills after turning to SmartMeters to measure their energy usage. PG&E is under fire for its program to install SmartMeters in Northern California. 7 On Your Side has been following the debate since last year.

Hundreds of consumers have blamed SmartMeters for overcharges and sudden spikes in their bills. Consumer advocates say the billing problems that occurred in Texas should be a lesson learned in California.

More than five million SmartMeters will be installed in Texas by the year 2012. It is the second-largest rollout in the country -- second only to California's. In both states, hundreds of consumers have filed formal complaints about SmartMeters with their public utilities commissions; at least 600 in California and up to 800 in Texas.

But unlike PG&E, the utilities in Texas have actually admitted to billing errors. "It's a software glitch," says Floyd LeBlanc with Centerpoint. "We found the software glitch and corrected it."

Centerpoint blames a communication error in the software for sending the meter readings for 5,200 customers back to the utility incorrectly; 3,500 of those were overbilled. Another Texas utility has also acknowledged problems. Oncor says it under-billed 2,000 consumers when the communication software it used failed to sync up with the device.

"We're now measuring data every interval, which may be an hour or every 15 minutes. So, there's more data being transferred and there's more opportunities where an error can occur," says Matt Wakefield with the industry funded non-profit The Electric Power Research Institute.

The institute says industry standards call for SmartMeters to have an error rate of one-half of 1 percent and its testing shows that SmartMeters meet that standard. PG&E is just now beginning to acknowledge the possibility of even minor problems in its SmartMeter installation program.

In January 2010, Paul Moreno with PG&E said, "In every situation, the meters have been shown to be accurate."

In March 2010, David Eisenhauer with PG&E said, "With any rollout of this magnitude, you can expect to run into some issues and that's what's going on."

This week, Eisenhauer said, "There were, on a handful of occasions, the meters were not transmitting any information. When that happens, we immediately work to correct it."

PG&E says no bills have been impacted. Both Oncor and Centerpoint use communication software from IBM. PG&E uses a different company called Silver Springs Network of Redwood City.

"There's a number of differences. They're using different equipment, different technology, different communication devices," Eisenhauer explained.

The admission of billing errors in Texas came from monthly reports from the utilities required by the PUC of Texas.

The California PUC has made no such requirement of PG&E, and PG&E has thus far refused to conduct side-by-side testing of SmartMeters with the old meters. That is something Oncor in Texas has voluntarily done.

"We chose people who weren't necessarily happy with us and didn't trust the data they were getting from those new meters," says Chris Schein with Oncor. "So therefore, our biggest skeptics then become our testers."

The PUC in California has now hired the Structure Group to conduct an independent investigation into SmartMeters. The PUC says side-by-side tests will be part of that investigation. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) is now calling for citizen oversight of that investigation.


"TURN is very concerned about the Structure Group because of the fact that they have been a consultant to PG&E from 2002 to 2008," says TURN spokesman Mark Toney. "What that means, is they have a vested interest making sure that the SmartMeters are exonerated."


TURN says the findings of billing errors in Texas are yet another reason why the California PUC should impose a moratorium on SmartMeter installations until an investigation is completed.


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For those in Baltimore dealing with the faulty speed cameras you saw how the city ignored the problem and defended the camera and corporation behind them until it was so pervasive and public they could not do it anymore.  It took media declaring a problem and national non-profits coming in to declare a problem to get the city to stop ----because the city is the corporation behind the profits made from this revenue collection.  That will happen with these meters.

Baltimore today has estimated water bills that are hundreds and thousands of dollars too high and a citizen has to quit their job and devote all their time to fighting City Hall to get those illegally declared water bills money back.  Why do you pay them if they are wrong?  BECAUSE THE CITY SENDS YOU A NOTICE THAT THEY ARE GOING TO SEIZE YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DO NOT PAY THE BAD WATER BILL! 

It will be worse with a private corporation behind these errors and with no way to get satisfaction from a public agency!


Commission to investigate PG&E 'smart meters'
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 Tags:PG&E, 7 on your side, michael finney

  SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An independent investigation will be launched soon into whether new so-called "smart meters" being installed by PG&E are leading to inaccurate higher readings and inflated bills.

By 2012, PG&E expects to have installed smart meters for every one of its 10 million customers. The new meters are just beginning to be put in here in the Bay Area and already complaints are starting to come in

Gary Damiano of Belmont knows one thing. His PG&E bills have been higher since his smart meter was installed in July.


"There was no change in any of our usage at home. We didn't add any major appliances. We didn't have anybody additionally living at home," he explains. "So, the only change that we could see was the installation of the smart meter." Smart meters allow utilities to get an hour-by-hour reading of a customer's energy usage. Under the old meters, PG&E would get one reading for the entire month. The utility says the new smart meters allow them to offer customers both money and energy saving options.

"Consumers can stay on the rates they enjoy now or they can opt for rate programs that encourage them to save energy during peak periods by giving them a reward for their usage during off peak periods," says PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno.

However, at least 450 PG&E customers have filed formal complaints with the State Public Utilities Commission since July. They argue that smart meters have lead to higher bills.

Mark Toney is Executive Director of the Utility Reform Network in San Francisco. He says, "PG&E ought to be ordered to have a moratorium on installing these meters until we get down to figuring out the root of the problem."

The utility has investigated all the complaints and insists the smart meters are accurate. They say there are other reasons for the higher bills.


"There's no link between the smart meter performance and higher bills. What customers have experienced is the rate increases that occurred since they received their smart meter," Moreno says.

A 7 on Your Side analysis found that Damiano's energy usage went up 30 percent since his smart meter was installed in late July. PG&E points out Damiano's energy usage also went up significantly during the same months the year before his smart meter was installed. The utility found in 100 percent of cases it investigated, its smart meters were accurate.

"My goodness. 100 percent? 100 percent?" Toney asks. "People are, customers are 100 percent wrong and PG&E is 100 percent correct?"

Both Toney and Damiano support a third-party investigation of smart meters, and that is what is going to happen. The California Public Utilities Commission will soon announce the hiring of an independent investigator to review the matter.

"We need to make sure that what the utilities are using to base their bills on are accurate," says CPUC Chief of Staff Carol Brown.

The investigator will look at everything from the smart meter to the module that enables PG&E to read the meters remotely. The communication module is made by Silver Spring Networks, a company based in Redwood City that specializes in energy efficiency. The module shoots the information from smart meters to access points throughout PG&E's service area, and then back to PG&E. Silver Spring says the system is 100 percent accurate.

"We've checked in every way that we know how, with every device being monitored constantly over the network, to make sure it's working accurately," says Silver Spring Vice President Eric Dresselhuys.

Damiano continues to search for ways to reduce his energy costs. He agreed to an energy audit from PG&E. They looked at everything from his entertainment center, to heating and air conditioning, to his kitchen appliances.

"It will help him reduce his energy consumption, but what it will also do is identify where the energy that is consumed is going," says Jeff Smith with PG&E.

The information gathered by walking around the house is used to fill out an on line form. The audit identified areas where Damiano could save energy including reducing his thermostat to 55 degrees when asleep, replacing his old refrigerator, and controlling air leakage.

Damiano is glad he did it.

"It still doesn't explain why our energy bill spiked in September. At least we have a better way of dealing with it right now," he says.

ABC7 will continue to follow the investigation into the smart meters.


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Think your city is the only one that dismissed most of public works employees and then just haphazardly used estimated figures for billing? It happened all over as they prepared for privatization. They think we will be thankful just to have a correct bill. WE WERE HAPPY WHEN WE HAD METER-READERS FULLY STAFFED AND PAID A DECENT WAGE WITH BENEFITS. We do not need this automation and it will lead to rationing as rates climb and subsidies disappear!


Smart Meters Mean an End to Estimated Bills British Gas customers can now look forward to more accurate bills as energy consumption is measured in real time with smart meters

Press Release: British Gas – Mon, Jun 18, 2012 4:00 AM EDT

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire -06/18/12)-

The provision of energy through smart meters will put customers in control of their energy consumption, and allow them to monitor their usage throughout the day. The smart meter accurately records consumption in real time, and sends this information to the company for billing, meaning that customers will only ever pay for the energy they have actually used. Customers will no longer have to submit a reading or arrange for the meter to be read by a company representative, and there will no longer be such a thing as an estimated bill.

A British Gas smart meter can also help customers to reduce their utility bills by showing them how much energy they are using on a daily basis. As patterns of usage are identified, and it becomes clear which appliances or habits are responsible for the highest levels of energy consumption, customers will be able to make the adjustments necessary to reduce their usage.

For example, an energy smart meter will clearly show how much energy consumption is reduced by taking a shower, rather than a bath, or by turning down the thermostat on the central heating by a couple of degrees. Making the switch to energy efficient lighting will also have a big impact on bills and consumption, and this is something that will be very obvious once a smart meter has been installed.

The introduction of smart meters by British Gas is part of the company's drive to promote smarter living, and help customers understand how even the smallest changes can add up to a big difference in their energy usage. It's estimated that once a smart meter has been installed, customers could save around 10% on their bills over the course of a year.



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September 27th, 2013

9/27/2013

0 Comments

 
REMEMBER, THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTH COST IS MASSIVE HEALTH INDUSTRY FRAUD AND PROFITEERING.....IT IS NOT WITH PEOPLE'S ABILITY TO PAY.  MEDICARE AND MEDICAID HAVING LOST 1/2 OF OF FUNDS SPENT TO FRAUD EACH YEAR-------TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS COMING BACK TO ENTITLEMENTS ALONE!



ALL OF MARYLAND'S NEO-LIBERALS ARE PUSHING THIS AND THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF PROFIT-MAKING WILL BE FELT THE MOST IN A CORPORATE MARYLAND.

WE NEED TO VOTE OUT NEO-LIBERALS-----RUN LABOR AND JUSTICE TO REVERSE THIS MESS AND TO GIVE UNIVERSAL CARE FOR ALL-----it is easy-peasy!



The entire public health sector is being privatized into private non-profits that will hide all of what is happening with public health money......Medicare and Medicaid and public grants.  Private non-profits do not provide oversight and we already know there is rampant abuse of patients and fraud throughout the health care system with these reforms. LOW COST SIMPLY MEANS LESS ACCESS TO CARE AND LESS CHOICE IN DOCTORS.

Below you see how this 'health market' is shaking out with Wall Street expecting huge profits as public money hits health businesses giving less care and quality-----AND HIGH PROFITS!  What can be better than having people paying for premiums and not be able to afford to access care?  Much of this will be public money that could have gone to a simply expansion of an improved UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE!



Here we go......Illinois, like Maryland is now a raging corporate neo-liberal state....see why we had Obama in the 2008 election disguised as a progressive?---and all neo-liberal states are dismantling public health by privatizing to private non-profits controlled by the wealthy in each area.  When public health is made into private non-profits there is no public oversight and no transparency.  This is necessary when most people will be denied health access and all kinds of fraud and corruption hit the health industry harder than in the past....if losing more than 1/2 of health spending now can get worse.

Take a look at this video.....


"A Dismantling Of The Human Services System"

From today's Sun-Times piece on the looming state budget cuts:

In some cases, [human service providers] have been told to expect a 50 percent reduction in dollars from Springfield. "It really is a dismantling of the human services safety network right now in Illinois," said Tony Paulauski, executive director of ARC of Illinois, an advocacy group for the disabled.

Gov. Quinn's press conference is still happening as I write this, but it appears that the Department of Human Services budget is facing a reduction of about 20 percent -- on top of the comparable cuts included in last year's budget.  Check back later for a more details as we pick apart the Quinn administration's plan.

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AS WE SEE HERE...QUALITY OF CARE IS FALLING AND REGULATORS AND OVERSIGHT ARE BEING DISBANDED......THIS IS NOT WHAT A FIRST WORLD HEALTH SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE!  Everyone in Baltimore knows how Baltimore Board of Estimates does its competitive bidding!


Critics Question Medicare's Competitive Bidding Program, Set to Begin Saturday
Written by Rachel Fields | December 28, 2010


 As Medicare's Competitive Bidding Program gears up for its Saturday launch, critics renew their warnings that the program will put patients in jeopardy, according to a Press-Enterprise report.

CMS will implement the program in nine metropolitan statistical areas during its first round. CMS hopes that these areas will start to see savings of up to 30 percent on certain durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies beginning Jan. 1.

The government says the process is a necessary change to a program marked by wasteful spending and fraud, according to the report. But critics say the program will close businesses or force suppliers to cut staff, and that Medicare and Medicaid have cut rates so low that winning bidders can't afford to provide the services they promised. Critics fear patients will ultimately suffer when contracts are awarded to financially unstable business who cannot meet patient needs.

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At a time when nurses are taking on doctor's duties in these health systems and health care is filling with foreign workers being sent to low-income and elderly care.....they are removing all of the regulators and oversight that held health care providers and staff accountable.


Dissolution of California Board of Registered Nursing Raises Patient Safety Concerns
Written by Jaimie Oh | February 01, 2012

Critics are speaking out after an October veto by Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown led to the formal dissolution of the state's Board of Registered Nursing, which went into effect this year, according to a California Watch report.

The nursing board, which has been in existence for more than 100 years, investigated complaints against nurses and also processed applications for new nurses. Gov. Brown vetoed a bill that would have extended the nursing board's existence until 2016, citing the proposal "would dramatically expand pension benefits for […] board investigators" and makes "no sense fiscally and flies in the face of much needed pension reform," according to a statement.


As a result of the veto, the state's Department of Consumer Affairs was granted authority to oversee the dissolved board's everyday operations. The move has sparked criticism from former members of the nursing board, including the former president Jeannine Graves. Ms. Graves argues the board's disbanding is a disservice to the public as well as nurses, who are entitled to due process if they are accused of any misconduct.

Another former public member of the board, Richard Rice, who served as a former senior adviser to then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also criticized the board's dissolution. He argued the move put a stop to the board's ongoing policy work, including more robust legislation that would require nursing schools to teach clinical and classroom skills, according to the report.

However, state government officials said although the board has been dissolved, its work is still being done.

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In Maryland, hospitals have at their entrance that if you are brought in and do not have the right insurance.....they will stabilize you and ship you out.  What we are seeing all across the country is patient dumping,......ALL DONE FOR HEALTH INSTITUTION PROFIT! 

THIS WILL GET UGLY FOLKS!


Vanderbilt University Medical Center Faces Allegations of Patient Dumping
Written by Molly Gamble | September 25, 2013

  Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center is facing claims of patient dumping after it allegedly discharged an uninsured patient prematurely, according to a Tennessean report.

A lawsuit working its way through Nashville's circuit court claims VUMC discharged a patient two weeks after he underwent surgeries that saved his legs, which were injured in a motorcycle accident.

The patient, Patrick Miller, was sent Nov. 5, 2010, but returned to VUMC two days later "with an infection so severe that his right leg had to be amputated above the knee," according to the report.

The suit claims VUMC engaged in patient dumping, or prematurely discharging Mr. Miller in light of his uninsured status for economic reasons, according to the report.

VUMC spokesperson John Howser told The Tennessean the hospital consistently runs at or near patient capacity and that VUMC provides more than $370 million a year in uncompensated care, according to the report.

Vanderbilt lawyers have denied deficient care for Mr. Miller or patient dumping, and they have asked for the case to be dismissed. Lawyers also said Mr. Miller's surgery was "very complex" due to the severity of his injuries, according to the report.

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We all know how predatory corporations are now----profit-driven health care will be ruthless and people will die!

ASC's are small offices that are allowed to perform minor surgeries that have been done in hospitals.  They are pressured to do the work as cheap as possible because quantity is necessary for profit!  WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL RESULT?

HEALTH CARE REFORM IS ALL ABOUT MAKING HEALTH INSTITUTIONS MOST PROFITABLE....SENDING ALL THE COSTLY PATIENTS TO THESE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS NEEDING SHORTCUTS TO STAY PROFITABLE?  REALLY?



Moody's: ASCs to Benefit From Declining Hospital Inpatient Surgeries

Written by Bob Herman  September 24, 2013

  As hospitals continue to record stagnant or falling inpatient surgery procedures, ambulatory surgery centers will see their volumes increase, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service.

Patient utilization in hospitals, especially for elective surgeries, has decreased significantly over the past five years for several reasons. Millions of Americans lost health insurance due to rising unemployment, and those with insurance have been forced to pay more of their healthcare costs through high-deductible health plans.

In addition, private payers, Medicare and Medicaid have been looking for ways to reduce their own costs, and consequently, they have turned to lower-cost ASCs for surgeries. On average, ASCs are reimbursed 57 percent of hospital rates for similar procedures.

Moody's found that from 2007 through 2012, hospital same-facility inpatient surgery cases dropped 0.22 percent per year, on average. At ASCs, same-facility inpatient surgery cases grew between 0.5 percent and 1 percent.

Moody's analysts said the 5,000-plus ASCs in the United States will continue to record growth in surgery cases this year and more years going forward. In particular, the large for-profit ASC companies like AmSurg, Symbion, Surgical Care Affiliates, Surgery Partners and United Surgical Partners International — which together own 14 percent of the ASC market — will fare the best because they can leverage economies of scale and attract more physician joint ventures, which could provide a "steady supply of patient referrals," according to the report.


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This is what we have been shouting for two years now.....the costs are low because you won't be able to access.  So, you will pay a premium for insurance and then not be able to access anything other than preventative care.

REMEMBER, BABY BOOMERS PAID INCOME AND PAYROLL TAXES FOR DECADES ALL USED TO FUND MEDICAL ADVANCES WE HAVE TODAY.....WE PREPAID HEALTH ACCESS!



Lower Health Insurance Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices

By ROBERT PEAR Published: September 22, 2013


WASHINGTON — Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers.

From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans.

When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To hold down costs, insurers say, they have created smaller networks of doctors and hospitals than are typically found in commercial insurance. And those health care providers will, in many cases, be paid less than what they have been receiving from commercial insurers.

Some consumer advocates and health care providers are increasingly concerned. Decades of experience with Medicaid, the program for low-income people, show that having an insurance card does not guarantee access to specialists or other providers.

Consumers should be prepared for “much tighter, narrower networks” of doctors and hospitals, said Adam M. Linker, a health policy analyst at the North Carolina Justice Center, a statewide advocacy group.

“That can be positive for consumers if it holds down premiums and drives people to higher-quality providers,” Mr. Linker said. “But there is also a risk because, under some health plans, consumers can end up with astronomical costs if they go to providers outside the network.”

Insurers say that with a smaller array of doctors and hospitals, they can offer lower-cost policies and have more control over the quality of health care providers. They also say that having insurance with a limited network of providers is better than having no coverage at all.

Cigna illustrates the strategy of many insurers. It intends to participate next year in the insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and Texas.

“The networks will be narrower than the networks typically offered to large groups of employees in the commercial market,” said Joseph Mondy, a spokesman for Cigna.

The current concerns echo some of the criticism that sank the Clinton administration’s plan for universal coverage in 1993-94. Republicans said the Clinton proposals threatened to limit patients’ options, their access to care and their choice of doctors. THEY ARE RIGHT!

At the same time, House Republicans are continuing to attack the new health law and are threatening to hold up a spending bill unless money is taken away from the health care program.

In a new study, the Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consulting company, says that “insurers passed over major medical centers” when selecting providers in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, among other states.

“Doing so enables health plans to offer lower premiums,” the study said. “But the use of narrow networks may also lead to higher out-of-pocket expenses, especially if a patient has a complex medical problem that’s being treated at a hospital that has been excluded from their health plan.”

In California, the statewide Blue Shield plan has developed a network specifically for consumers shopping in the insurance exchange.

Juan Carlos Davila, an executive vice president of Blue Shield of California, said the network for its exchange plans had 30,000 doctors, or 53 percent of the 57,000 doctors in its broadest commercial network, and 235 hospitals, or 78 percent of the 302 hospitals in its broadest network.

Mr. Davila said the new network did not include the five medical centers of the University of California or the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center near Beverly Hills.

“We expect to have the broadest and deepest network of any plan in California,” Mr. Davila said. “But not many folks who are uninsured or near the poverty line live in wealthy communities like Beverly Hills.”

Daniel R. Hawkins Jr., a senior vice president of the National Association of Community Health Centers, which represents 9,000 clinics around the country, said: “We serve the very population that will gain coverage — low-income, working class uninsured people. But insurers have shown little interest in including us in their provider networks.”

Dr. Bruce Siegel, the president of America’s Essential Hospitals, formerly known as the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, said insurers were telling his members: “We don’t want you in our network. We are worried about having your patients, who are sick and have complicated conditions.”

In some cases, Dr. Siegel said, “health plans will cover only selected services at our hospitals, like trauma care, or they offer rock-bottom payment rates.”

In New Hampshire, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a unit of WellPoint, one of the nation’s largest insurers, has touched off a furor by excluding 10 of the state’s 26 hospitals from the health plans that it will sell through the insurance exchange.

Christopher R. Dugan, a spokesman for Anthem, said that premiums for this “select provider network” were about 25 percent lower than they would have been for a product using a broad network of doctors and hospitals.

Anthem is the only commercial carrier offering health plans in the New Hampshire exchange.

Peter L. Gosline, the chief executive of Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, N.H., said his hospital had been excluded from the network without any discussions or negotiations.

“Many consumers will have to drive 30 minutes to an hour to reach other doctors and hospitals,” Mr. Gosline said. “It’s very inconvenient for patients, and at times it’s a hardship.”


State Senator Andy Sanborn, a Republican who is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said, “The people of New Hampshire are really upset about this.”

Many physician groups in New Hampshire are owned by hospitals, so when an insurer excludes a hospital from its network, it often excludes the doctors as well.

David Sandor, a vice president of the Health Care Service Corporation, which offers Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, said: “In the health insurance exchange, most individuals will be making choices based on costs. Our exchange products will have smaller provider networks that cost less than bigger plans with a larger selection of doctors and hospitals.”

Premiums will vary across the country, but federal officials said that consumers in many states would be able to buy insurance on the exchange for less than $300 a month — and less than $100 a month per person after taking account of federal subsidies.

“Competition and consumer choice are actually making insurance affordable,” Mr. Obama said recently.

Many insurers are cutting costs by slicing doctors’ fees.


Dr. Barbara L. McAneny, a cancer specialist in Albuquerque, said that insurers in the New Mexico exchange were generally paying doctors at Medicare levels, which she said were “often below our cost of doing business, and definitely below commercial rates.”


Outsiders might expect insurance companies to expand their networks to treat additional patients next year. But many insurers see advantages in narrow networks, saying they can steer patients to less expensive doctors and hospitals that provide high-quality care.

Even though insurers will be forbidden to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, they could subtly discourage the enrollment of sicker patients by limiting the size of their provider networks.

“If a health plan has a narrow network that excludes many doctors, that may shoo away patients with expensive pre-existing conditions who have established relationships with doctors,” said Mark E. Rust, the chairman of the national health care practice at Barnes & Thornburg, a law firm. “Some insurers do not want those patients who, for medical reasons, require a broad network of providers.”




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September 26th, 2013

9/26/2013

0 Comments

 
ALL OF MARYLAND DEMS ARE NEO-LIBERAL.....ALL THE CURRENT CANDIDATES FOR NEXT ELECTION ARE NEO-LIBERALS....

WHERE ARE THE LABOR AND JUSTICE CANDIDATES IN MARYLAND ELECTIONS!



The goal of education reform corporatizes US universities and K-12. The 1% think they are going to make emigrants of our children and grandchildren by keeping unemployment high and government debt out of site with one economic crash after the other. Remember, when empire-building in the UK in the 1800s families lived abroad all their lives working for the crown! This is where neo-liberals want to take the US and starving education in order to state the need for revenue-raising is leading to this. So, here we have NYU....with Wall Street and Manhattan right around the corner expanding overseas to attract the Best of the Best to bring to the US. They cannot fund student aid domestically, but allow corporations not paying taxes in the US to fund scholarships abroad giving families little options for higher ed. THIS IS DELIBERATE AS THEY WANT TO MAKE US EMIGRATE FOR JOBS.

THIS IS WHAT O'MALLEY IS DOING IN MARYLAND AS WELL. CUOMO AND O'MALLEY ARE NEO-LIBERALS.


Budget shortfalls at all levels of government are created by massive corporate fraud and the solution is reinstating Rule of Law and recovering all that fraud to government coffers making funding of education easy! STOP ALLOWING NEO-LIBERAL DNC CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES....RUN LABOR AND JUSTICE IN ALL ELECTIONS TO STOP THIS INSANITY!


Remember, a thriving first world democracy that was the US in the 1950-1970s worked because corporations were held accountable and workers earned strong wages and had benefits.....making them able to consume and fuel the economy.  We need to downsize these global corporations by simply reinstating Rule of Law bringing back corporate fraud and laws giving higher wages and Universal Health Care to free worker's money for consumption. 

THE 1% WANT TO KEEP DOMESTIC WORKERS IMPOVERISHED AND EARN ALL THEIR PROFITS OFF OF CONSUMPTION ABROAD.


For Some NYU Students, A Sweet Deal To Study ... In Shanghai

by September 25, 2013 3:10 PM 7 min 49 sec


New York University in Shanghai is the first Sino-U.S. joint university. Here, a student speaks with an NYU staffer on Aug. 11.

Liu Xiaojing/Xinhua /Landov First-year college student Stephanie Ulan, from Queens, N.Y., had her sights set on New York University, in the heart of Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

She got her wish — sort of.

At first, the school offered her a generous scholarship but told her and her father they'd still have to take out big loans.

"My father is 62 years old," says Ulan, who plans to major in international relations. "There was a big scene and he flipped out and he was, like, 'I can't do that.' "

“ A scholarship that's worth about $228,000. How can you turn that down?

- Ron Ulan, father of a first-year American student at NYU Shanghai

Then, NYU made her a better offer — but only if she attended NYU's new Shanghai campus, where she'd applied as an afterthought by clicking a box on an application. The deal: tuition, room, board and even reimbursement for her plane ticket to Shanghai.

"I was a little bit flabbergasted," says Ron Ulan, Stephanie's dad, who works as a computer programmer with the New York City Police Department.

Ron, who says he lives check to check, calculated the savings over four years.

"A scholarship that's worth about $228,000," he says. "How can you turn that down?"

And ultimately, that's how Stephanie Ulan found herself among the students at this month, when classes opened at the first Chinese-American, joint-venture university.

The NYU Shanghai campus aspires to educate a new generation of students who can speak English and Mandarin and navigate U.S. and Chinese culture.

For Students, A Variety Of Perks


For many first-year students like Ulan who are willing to take the plunge, there is an added benefit: huge tuition breaks.

Stephanie Ulan, an 18-year-old from Queens, N.Y., wanted to go to New York University in Manhattan. But after the school offered her free tuition at its Shanghai campus, she headed for China.

Frank Langfitt/NPR Although money was a big factor in her decision, Ulan says she's glad she came to China, because she's stretching herself in ways she never would have back home. While her friends at American universities talk about partying every night, Ulan says she's often focused on more basic needs.

"I need to find someone who speaks Chinese, because I want to eat lunch today," says Ulan, 18, who adds that she's determined to learn the language.

Ulan wasn't the only U.S. student at the campus to get financial aid. Half a dozen others with whom NPR spoke said they got either huge discounts or free tuition.

Why is NYU Shanghai being so generous?

Ron Ulan thinks it's because the school wants to attract quality students to a new program. Jeff Lehman, the vice chancellor of NYU Shanghai and the former president of Cornell, puts it a bit differently. He says the school was able to offer huge scholarships with the help of private donors, including Chinese interested in reforming the country's education system.

"We've benefited from tremendous philanthropic support," says Lehman, speaking from his office on the leafy campus of East China Normal University, NYU's joint-venture partner in Shanghai. "As we prove ourselves, I very much hope that kind of support will translate into the creation of a great endowment."

The inaugural class of 300 is nearly split between Chinese and international students, including 90 from the U.S. Every foreign student rooms with one from China.

The attraction for Chinese students is getting a Western education without leaving home or draining their parents' bank accounts. The Shanghai government pays roughly two-thirds of their $45,000 annual tuition bill.

Yang Xiran, who grew up in southwestern China's Sichuan province, says she came to NYU Shanghai to get away from the country's rote style of learning and to engage with professors.

The university is currently located on the leafy campus of East China Normal University. Next year, NYU Shanghai will move to a 15-story building in the city's financial district.

Frank Langfitt/NPR "[At NYU] the teachers want you to be involved in the class more," she says. "They want you to ask, 'Why?' In my high school, the teacher just kept talking."

Cai Xingyang, from neighboring Jiangsu province, finds the classrooms at NYU Shanghai much freer than traditional Chinese ones.

In the first week, students discussed politically sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. When Cai tried to address the subject in a presentation in her Chinese high school, her teacher stopped her and told her to never bring it up again. Cai did get to make a presentation to her high school class, but she had to change the topic to something less controversial: food.

One thing Cai finds challenging is the language. All classes at NYU Shanghai are taught in English.

"Sometimes, I just can't understand all the things my classmates and professors said and I do practice listening every day," says Cai, who estimated her comprehension at about 70 percent.

Some faculty back in New York worry that NYU — which also has a campus in — has , straining resources. Rebecca Karl, a faculty senator and China scholar, says that as professors head overseas to staff other campuses, NYU New York suffers.

"In the senate committees I'm in, the complaints have been persistent about Abu Dhabi," she says, "particularly from such places as the Economics Department, which has had trouble finding people to teach the large intro courses here in New York because their professors are going abroad."

Lehman says Shanghai has minimal impact on New York. Of the 50 faculty this year, he says, only 15 are from the Manhattan campus and only three of them are in Shanghai for the entire year.

Shanghai, NYU Stand To Gain

Richard Vedder, who runs the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington think tank, says schools like NYU face some big challenges these days. He says with students balking at high tuition and endowment growth slow, schools like NYU are looking to other countries.

"I think there's a financial motive," he says. "They want to have a top, national reputation — and they do have a good reputation — but they don't have the resources or the historical prestige that the Harvards have."

So, Vedder says, schools like NYU have to look overseas "to expand [their] franchise and also to make some money."

What does Shanghai stand to gain from the partnership?

For one thing: prestige.

NYU is widely respected. Shanghai's Pudong district government is giving the school rent-free use of a 15-story building — estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars — in China's Wall Street, Lujiazui.

Yu Lizhong, chancellor of NYU Shanghai, says the school will help the image of Lujiazui, which, despite its towering architecture, has yet to become the hub city planners envisioned.

Yu, who also served as president of East China Normal University, says the partnership with NYU can help improve and reform China's oft-criticized educational system.

In fact, he says, it's already happening. When prospective students used to interview at East China Normal, they would sit and wait with nothing to eat or drink. After watching NYU's more gracious approach, Yu says East China Normal — known as ECNU — changed.

"Now, ECNU also prepares some tea, coffee, and some dessert for the student, to make them comfortable, to [feel] respected," Yu says.

That may sound small, but it's meaningful change. In China's hierarchical education system, a prospective student is seen as a supplicant, not a consumer.

Of course, NYU Shanghai has far bigger goals. They include building an undergraduate student body of 2,000 and developing a sustainable way to fund the fledgling school.


_______________________________________________
See why Americans can't afford universities? The professors and Deans are now Executives and CEOs.

PLEASE VOTE NEO-LIBERALS OUT SO WE CAN REVERSE THESE CORPORATIZATION POLICIES!


NYU Gives Loans for Executives' Vacation Homes

June 18, 2013  Inside Higher Ed
New York University is breaking new ground in compensation for higher ed executives and star faculty members by providing loans for vacation homes, The New York Times reported. President John Sexton received $1 million in loans for a home on Fire Island, while others have received assistance to buy second homes in other prime vacation areas. The article notes that many colleges provide homes for presidents, and some institutions in places like New York City -- where housing is expensive -- provide housing assistance for many others. But the article says that help for second homes is "all but unheard-of in higher education."

John Beckman, a university spokesman, told the Times: "The purpose of our loan programs goes right to the heart of several decades of sustained and successful effort at NYU: to transform NYU from a regional university into a world-class research residential university." The loans help attract and retain talent, he said.

Among the critics of the practice quoted in the article was Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, a former president of George Washington University who has been a defender of high salaries and benefits for higher education leaders. "That’s getting to be a little too sexy even for me, and I have a good sense of humor about these things," he said. "I don’t think that’s prudent. I don’t mind paying someone a robust salary, but I think you have to be able to pass a red-face test."


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If you look at the expenses US universities have today much of it involves marketing, recruiting, and building unneeded student activities ALL TO RECRUIT FOREIGN STUDENTS.  All of this expense is at the expense of student financial aid and grants for domestic students.  THIS IS WHAT O'MALLEY HAS DONE TO MARYLAND SCHOOLS AND WHAT ALL OF THE CURRENT CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR WILL DO AS WELL.

Education reform is about handing public education over to corporations and our universities are far along in that regard.  Maryland's #1 ranking in Education Week.....a school privatizing group with Bill Gates....is for just this.  This is also what the market-based Immigration reform is all about...a pathway to bringing more and more immigrants who will take top leadership positions in business and do it more cheaply than a US grad.  The expectation is that US students/grads will go overseas to school and work if they want a degree and job.

OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY?  REALLY?

Talk Turns to Agents
September 20, 2013 By Elizabeth Redden


TORONTO – Two years ago, a proposed change to National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) policy on the use of commissioned agents in international student recruitment was a subject of intense debate. A session on this subject at NACAC’s annual conference on Thursday was, however, notable largely for the lack of drama.

There were references to bad practices and predatory behaviors, but for the most part the discussion centered around questions of a technical nature – questions regarding clarification on language and the like – and of first steps for institutions that choose to engage commissioned agents internationally if and when NACAC lifts its long-standing ban on the practice. 

The NACAC Assembly will vote on Saturday as to whether to do just that, in the culmination of what’s been a more than two-year-long process. In 2011, NACAC proposed a revision to its Statement of Principles of Good Practice clarifying that the association’s ban on incentive-based recruitment, which U.S. law bars in the case of domestic students, applies in overseas contexts as well. After being flooded with comments, however – more than 300 of them – NACAC formed a Commission on International Student Recruitment, which this past summer issued a report recommending that the association allow, but discourage, the use of commissioned agents in international recruitment, and that it hold universities that do choose to use agents to high standards around issues of accountability, integrity, and transparency. At the same time the commission recommended continuing NACAC's mandatory ban on the use of incentive-based compensation in domestic student recruitment.  OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY?  REALLY?

It's hard to say with certainty what the muted atmosphere surrounding Thursday's discussion of the commission's recommendations foretells for Saturday's vote, but Inside Higher Ed's own surveys, conducted this year by Gallup, have documented a shift in attitudes toward this topic. In 2011, the majority of admissions directors (65 percent) backed NACAC's then-draft policy banning the use of commissioned agents in international recruiting, while this year the majority (58 percent) support the new draft policy permitting the practice. No doubt helping to bring about the change in views is the fact that a growing number of U.S. universities -- NACAC members -- are now openly using agents: the proposed policy is thus in some ways catching up with the practice.

Fifteen of the 28 members of the commission were on hand to discuss the recommendations and answer questions on Thursday. Throughout the session they straddled the line they drew in the report, reiterating that it is possible to responsibly and ethically work with commissioned agents, while warning of the dangers involved in doing so. Although members of the commission did not reach consensus on whether per-capita compensation of agents is to blame for abuses such as misrepresentations by agents to students and institutions, the majority of members believed that the practice "tends to compound the likelihood of such problems occurring."

"There's no question that the issue of protecting students was foremost in everyone's mind," said Mark Sklarow, chief executive officer of the Independent Educational Consultants Association.  "The important task for us was [determining] is there something inherent to incentivized compensation that makes it impossible? I think if you look at the recommendations, #2 says that it's not best practice to do this. You've got to give serious thought to doing it, because there are difficulties and you've got to approach it the right way. And I hope people take that item #2 very seriously. You should not enter into this until you're sure that you're protecting the best interests of students. That's gotta be first."

"I just want to make sure we know where we've been and where we're going," said Jim Miller, a former NACAC president and retired admissions director at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. During the commission's deliberations, he said, members learned that "there were folks dealing with agents well and that there were real problems with some agent behavior and relationships that led us to go from a complete ban, which had been the case, to saying, 'OK, there are some ways you can do this, it's fraught with challenges, but if you do it with transparency and accountability, we are comfortable that it's an allowable practice.' So we've moved from no one can, to you can if you do it responsibly."

"If this passes the Assembly on Saturday we will go from a ban to an allowance with those provisions, and then we can work out the details," Miller continued. "If we don't get it through the Assembly on Saturday, then we've got the ban."


Among the details that came up during the session was how the language of "domestic" and "international" students included in the commission's recommendations applies to NACAC member institutions based outside the U.S.  Members of the commission acknowledged that they did not address this issue specifically in their report, but said that the association's newly formed International Advisory Committee will be continuing to tackle questions such as these in the year ahead. 

"This is the first step of many," said Douglas L. Christiansen, the vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions at Vanderbilt University.



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Below you see that a majority of people are shouting out against this education reform....from all walks of life.  Do not allow states like Maryland that have captured media not letting its citizens know that most do not support this reform keep you from shouting out and holding politicians accountable.

NEO-LIBERALS ARE VOTING FOR THESE BAD EDUCATION POLICIES.  REMEMBER, WE DO NOT NEED TO DO IT FOR THE FUNDING.....WE HAVE MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD YET RECOVERED THAT WILL FUND ALL!

This goes for K-college!

June 18, 2013 Special Edition TOP STORY Thousands Sign New Education Declaration Calling For New School Policies

Jeff Bryant Sign the Education Declaration


A Declaration With Broad Support

Released last week by the Education Opportunity Network, in conjunction with the Opportunity to Learn Campaign and the Institute for America’s Future, the Declaration received widespread attention from national and local outlets.

Reporting from her blog at The Washington Post, Valerie Strauss wrote, “The document offers a progressive approach to school reform that includes ensuring that teachers are properly trained and respected, that opportunities to learn for all students are paramount and that  learning must be ‘engaging and relevant.’”

The Chicago grassroots parent activist group PURE said the Declaration “demonstrates that the message of true education progressives is becoming clearer and more unified.”

At the progressive blog site Daily Kos, long-time classroom teacher Kenneth Bernstein wrote, “Increasingly people are coming together to oppose what has been the thrust of educational policy, and to try to reclaim and reinvigorate public education.” Bernstein called the Declaration “an important step in that direction.”

From the website of the Tucson Citizen, local blogger called the Declaration “an answer to the conservative ‘education reform’ movement,” and the document “signals the growing strength of progressive educators at a time when the public is growing skeptical of the endless high-stakes testing.”

At The Huffington Post, Richard Eskow said the Declaration was an answer to “the Wall Street crowd” that “wants us to think of education in terms of means – which usually means finding ways to spend less – rather than ends.  But when it comes to education, the ‘ends’ are our children.”

Eskow, who is affiliated with one of the sponsors of the Declaration, noted, “A lot of well-intentioned people get taken in by cynical agendas like this, especially when the other side isn’t being heard. That’s where the “Declaration” comes in. It says that ‘Education is a public good.’ A public good is something that is, or should be, available to all without exception, like clean air, drinkable water, and the national defense.”

Eskow’s words resonated throughout the progressive blogosphere as his post was quickly picked up by the websites Nation of Change and Truthout.

Despite the waning of the school year, the Declaration comes at an opportune time.

America’s Education Spring Rolls On

As The Nation’s John Nichols recently said on MSNBC, what is transpiring in the nation’s public schools “is a mess.”

Huge rallies protesting governance of public schools have taken place in the state capitals of New York and North Carolina.

In Michigan, supporters of public education will rally on June 19 to “reject the corporate, profit-motivated takeover of public schools, massive school closures, and meaningless high-stakes testing.”

In Pennsylvania, a rally is in the works at that state’s capital to protest massive education cuts, including a “Doomsday Budget” in Philadelphia that prompted layoffs of nearly 4,000 school staff.

The fight for public education is flaring in rural areas as well – at least in Tennessee, where families and students are fighting school cuts and consolidations.

And in Texas, a parent-led movement against out-of-control standardized testing came to a head last week when governor Rick Perry signed a bill reducing the amount of testing.

These protests against education mandates are not going away. At the website for The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, there is a running timeline with the latest news on the movement, and new links are added every week.

A Positive Way Forward

The Education Declaration to Rebuild America comes at a time when lawmakers in Washington, D.C. continue to fret over education legislation – the rewriting of No Child Left Behind – that will likely go nowhere and please no one.

Writing at The National Journal, Kevin Welner – the director of the National Education Policy Center and a signatory of the Declaration, wrote, “Perhaps our senators haven’t yet noticed, but their constituents don’t much care for No Child Left Behind. Perhaps they haven’t noticed all the protests against excessive testing and school closings.”

Noting that the Declaration he signed had “in just one day … garnered more than 10,000 signatures,” Welner concluded, “Let’s hope that during the summer recess [the senators] have a chance to speak with parents, students and teachers – people who will ask the fundamental question: Why continue failed policies?”

There is a more positive way forward. Sign the Education Declaration to Rebuild America and help advance that.


Sign the Declaration Yes, I’m committed to providing our children the education they deserve.
I’m signing the Education Declaration to Rebuild America.


For too long, our policymakers have engaged the nation’s schoolchildren in a grand experiment, with frequent testing, incentive programs and top-down mandates that promised much but delivered little.

Today, leading academics, policymakers and educators have come together to demand an education spring embodied in An Education Declaration to Rebuild America.

This declaration (below) represents a strong critique of our nation’s current course on education – and an outline of a positive new direction focused on opportunities and supports for students. Add your name and forward this to friends so that we can grow this movement for real education reform based on what America needs and our children deserve.

Click here to add your name


PLEASE REVIEW THIS LIST OF GOOD OBJECTIVES AND THINK TO YOURSELF.....IS THE EDUCATION PROGRAM IN MY SCHOOL MEETING THE OBJECTIVES BELOW?


An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

Americans have long looked to our public schools to provide opportunities for individual advancement, promote social mobility and share democratic values. We have built great universities, helped bring children out of factories and into classrooms, held open the college door for returning veterans, fought racial segregation and struggled to support and empower students with special needs. We believe good schools are essential to democracy and prosperity — and that it is our collective responsibility to educate all children, not just a fortunate few.

Over the past three decades, however, we have witnessed a betrayal of those ideals. Following the 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, policymakers on all sides have pursued an education agenda that imposes top-down standards and punitive high-stakes testing while ignoring the supports students need to thrive and achieve. This approach – along with years of drastic financial cutbacks — are turning public schools into uncreative, joyless institutions. Educators are being stripped of their dignity and autonomy, leading many to leave the profession. Neighborhood schools are being closed for arbitrary reasons. Parent and community voices are being shut out of the debate. And children, most importantly, are being systemically deprived of opportunities to learn.

As a nation we have failed to rectify glaring inequities in access to educational opportunities and resources. By focusing solely on the achievement gap, we have neglected the opportunity gap that creates it, and have allowed the resegregation of our schools and communities by class and race. The inevitable result, highlighted in the Federal Equity and Excellence Commission’s recent report, For Each and Every Child, is an inequitable system that hits disadvantaged students, families, and communities the hardest.

A new approach is needed to improve our nation's economic trajectory, strengthen our democracy, and avoid an even more stratified and segregated society. To rebuild America, we need a vision for 21st-century education based on seven principles:

  • All students have a right to learn. Opportunities to learn should not depend on zip code or a parent's abilities to work the system. Our education system must address the needs of all children, regardless of how badly they are damaged by poverty and neglect in their early years. We must invest in research-proven interventions and supports that start before kindergarten and support every child's aspirations for college or career.

  • Public education is a public good. Public education should never be undermined by private control, deregulation and profiteering. Keeping our schools public is the only way we can ensure that each and every student receives a quality education. School systems must function as democratic institutions responsive to students, teachers, parents and communities.

  • Investments in education must be equitable and sufficient. Funding is necessary for all the things associated with an excellent education: safe buildings, quality teachers, reasonable class sizes, and early learning opportunities. Yet, as we've “raised the bar” for achievement, we've cut the resources children and schools need to reach it. We must reverse this trend and spend more money on education and distribute those funds more equitably.

  • Learning must be engaging and relevant. Learning should be a dynamic experience through connections to real world problems and to students' own life experiences and cultural backgrounds. High-stakes testing narrows the curriculum and hinders creativity.

  • Teachers are professionals. The working conditions of teachers are the learning conditions of students. When we judge teachers solely on a barrage of high-stakes standardized tests, we limit their ability to reach and connect with their students. We must elevate educators’ autonomy and support their efforts to reach every student.

  • Discipline policies should keep students in schools. Students need to be in school in order to learn. We must cease ineffective and discriminatory discipline practices that push children down the school-to-prison pipeline. Schools must use fair discipline policies that keep classrooms safe and all students learning.

  • National responsibility should complement local control. Education is largely the domain of states and school districts, but in far too many states there are gross inequities in how funding is distributed to schools that serve low-income and minority students. In these cases, the federal government has a responsibility to ensure there is equitable funding and enforce the civil right to a quality education for all students.


Principles are only as good as the policies that put them into action. The current policy agenda dominated by standards-based, test-driven reform is clearly insufficient. What's needed is a supports-based reform agenda that provides every student with the opportunities and resources needed to achieve high standards and succeed, focused on these seven areas:

  1. Early Education and Grade Level Reading: Guaranteed access to high quality early education for all, including full-day kindergarten and universal access to pre-K services, to help ensure students can read at grade level.

  2. Equitable Funding and Resources: Fair and sufficient school funding freed from over-reliance on locally targeted property taxes, so those who face the toughest hurdles receive the greatest resources. Investments are also needed in out-of-school factors affecting students, such as supports for nutrition and health services, public libraries, after school and summer programs, and adult remedial education — along with better data systems and technology.

  3. Student-Centered Supports: Personalized plans or approaches that provide students with the academic, social, and health supports they need for expanded and deeper learning time.

  4. Teaching Quality: Recruitment, training, and retention of well-prepared, well-resourced, and effective educators and school leaders, who can provide extended learning time and deeper learning approaches, and are empowered to collaborate with and learn from their colleagues.

  5. Better Assessments: High-quality diagnostic assessments that go beyond test-driven mandates and help teachers strengthen the classroom experience for each student.

  6. Effective Discipline: An end to ineffective and discriminatory discipline practices, including inappropriate out-of-school suspensions, replaced with policies and supports that keep all students in quality educational settings.

  7. Meaningful Engagement: Parent and community engagement in determining the policies of schools and the delivery of education services to students.


As a nation, we're failing to provide the basics our children need for an opportunity to learn. Instead, we have substituted a punitive high-stakes testing regime that seeks to force progress on the cheap. But there is no shortcut to success. We must change course before we further undermine schools and drive away the teachers our children need.

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.





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September 25th, 2013

9/25/2013

0 Comments

 
STOP ALLOWING ALL OF YOUR PUBLIC ASSETS BE STOLEN BY NEO-LIBERALS WORKING WITH CORPORATE INTERESTS TO HAND ALL THAT IS PUBLIC OVER TO CORPORATE PROFITS!  FROM SCHOOLS TO PENSIONS; FROM WATER AND SEWER TO TRANSPORTATION....

ALL MARYLAND AND BALTIMORE POLS ARE NEO-LIBERALS, NOT DEMOCRATS!



Below you see the financial industry just as strong and predatory as always.  Absolutely nothing has been done to reign them in and they have super-sized their wealth while tens of trillions of dollars in corporate fraud are left to be recovered.

Moody's and S & P are two stock rating agencies that were ground zero for the massive subprime mortgage fraud.  They and MERS allowed the hundreds of millions of subprime loans be laundered through Wall Street and delivered all over the world.  We were supposed to see change in how stocks are assessed because, as anyone would know.....the entity being assessed can easily pay off the assessor.  NOTHING HAPPENED AND NOW MOODY'S IS TELLING YOUR POLITICIAN THAT THE PUBLIC PENSIONS THAT LOST 1/2 THEIR VALUE BECAUSE OF FRAUD NOW NEED TO BE CUT AGAIN.

Remember, it was City and State Comptrollers who sent public pensions into the stock market out of the safety of bonds in 2007......just so they could be used to buoy big banks.  That is why so many are now attached to Citigroup and Bank of America....the two banks most involved in the subprime  mortgage fraud.  THIS WAS PUBLIC MALFEASANCE AND HAS YET TO HAVE UNIONS/PUBLIC JUSTICE TAKING THIS TO COURT TO RECOVER LOSSES.

Comptrollers sent these pensions and the rating agencies provided the fraudulent high ratings.  MOODY'S SHOULD HAVE ITS ASSETS SEIZED AND GIVEN TO PENSION FUNDS TO RECOVER THE 1/2 OF VALUE LOST.  If your politicians are not shouting for this justice.....they are neo-liberals and need to go!

THERE IS NO STATUTES OF LIMITATION WHEN A GOVERNMENT SUSPENDS RULE OF LAW.....WE HAVE TIME TO DO THIS!

The damages from massive financial fraud of tens of billions of dollars?  $22 trillion.  WALL STREET OWES AMERICANS LOTS OF TRILLIONS!

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  JUST FOR DAMAGES
  • 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
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What?  Moody's does not recommend recovering massive fraud to bring pensions back to the black!  Rather, they are telling your pol to cut pensions more to make up for the losses from corporate fraud!


Moody's Proposes Making Pension Liabilities a Bigger Factor in Bond Ratings Posted

By Liz Farmer | September 19, 2013


States and localities with big pension liabilities could see changes to their overall bond rating if new rules proposed this summer by Moody’s Investor Service are adopted.

Moody’s is proposing giving more weight to pension liabilities and other long-term debts in its overall scorecards for rating general obligation (GO) bonds. The agency would increase the weight to 20 percent from 10 percent and decrease the weight for economic strength to 30 percent from 40 percent. Weights for governance and management (20 percent) and financial strength (30 percent) -- the other two factors in the way Moody’s scores its GO ratings -- would stay the same. The step by Moody’s is just the latest in what has become a marathon of changes by various organizations in recent years that aim to place a bigger emphasis on pensions’ effect on fiscal health.

Interested parties and stakeholders have until Oct. 14 to submit comments to Moody’s.


In its methodology paper, Moody’s noted that debt burden trends are an indicator of a population’s capacity to absorb additional obligations. In the event that a local government’s capital needs are great, this may foretell future financial distress. Thus, a bigger weight should be given to such burdens when considering an overall GO rating. Moody’s said in a release that it chose to reduce the weight on economic health because it recognizes that some local governments are either unwilling or unable to capitalize on the strength of their local economies (i.e., a city may not be able to raise taxes because of anti-tax sentiment).

But municipalities with a large unfunded liability may not necessarily see their rating automatically fall under the new rules, Moody’s said. “We recognize that funding levels naturally will rise and fall as retiree activity diverges from actuarial assumptions, as benefits change, or as investment returns fluctuate. In the case of an unfunded pension liability, Moody’s will examine the reason that it has arisen and the entity’s ability and willingness to address it over a reasonable period of time, which is broadly defined to encompass the working life of the beneficiaries so that liabilities are not passed onto a succeeding generation."

Want more finance news? Click here.

Only if such an analysis showed a pattern of underfunding annual pension contribution requirements, would a large unfunded liability “be viewed as a negative credit factor because it is a claim on resources that reduces financial flexibility,” Moody’s said.

Moody’s maintains GO ratings or issuer ratings for approximately 8,200 local governments: 2,960 cities, 864 counties and 3,362 school districts.

The methodology change, if kept intact, should bring more attention to dangerous unfunded liabilities earlier on in a municipality’s downward spiral and potentially help retirees, said Frank Shafroth, director of George Mason University’s Center for State and Local Government Leadership. He pointed to cities that have declared bankruptcy like Central Falls, R.I., where retirees had to give up half their pension income, and Detroit, where Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has said pension cuts will be part of the restricting plan, and said that retirees have far less leverage in bankruptcy than out of it. If cities have more consequences for bad pension finance local officials may be more inclined to right the ship while it’s still feasible.

“We all have a human responsibility to protect these people,” Shafroth said.
  HE SAID AFTER MASSIVE FRAUD TAKES 1/2 OF PENSION VALUES IN 2008!

The methodology proposal comes after a change Moody’s made earlier this year to the way it calculates pension liabilities. In April, Moody’s announced it would adjust pension debt using a long term bond index rate, a discount rate that would likely result in rates of return smaller than the 7 to 8 percent assumption over 30 years that most governments use in calculating their pension liabilities. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has also taken steps that have the effect of highlighting unfunded liabilities previously hidden in government financial reports. Beginning this year, net pension obligations must now be included as a liability on governments’ balance sheets. Governments should also use what GASB considers a more reasonable discount rate – one that more accurately reflects the current rate of return (generally between 3 and 6 percent for most funds) rather than the higher, historic rate of return.
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Remember, I have been telling you for two years there is an economic crash coming that will be bigger than 2008 and it will be the bond bubble? THAT IS WHY YOUR NEO-LIBERAL HAS USED CREDIT BONDS AND TIFs .......TO BREAK THE PUBLIC BUDGETS!

So, in Baltimore we have to go to court to stop a $1 billion school building fund that will cause massive harm to the public schools in the city and cost residents billions in higher interest rates than is being sold to the public now.  THIS IS PUBLIC MALFEASANCE I TOLD THE CITY SOLICITOR......

YES, HE SAID, IT IS!
What happens when this bond deal happens after a massive economic collapse?  The state/city defaults on its share of the funding.....the investors simply by a CDS for the bonds that will crash....and interest rates will climb from near 0 to 2-3%.  That represents billions of dollars in financing only.  Remember, it was O'Malley's claim to fame that he tied the city and state with billions of dollars through Wall Street financial instruments during the financial frauds of the 2000s....this is a new decade.

Stocks are about to plunge, Wells Fargo warns
By Alex Rosenberg | CNBC – Fri, Sep 20, 2013 7:24 AM EDT

Gina Martin Adams is sticking to her guns.

The Wells Fargo strategist has been bearish on stocks all year, even as she watched the S&P 500 (^GSPC) add 21 percent. And on Thursday's " Futures Now ," Adams reiterated her call that the index would close out the year at 1,440.

"Our target is based on fundamentals," Adams insisted. "We're basing our target on typical valuation measures, given the level of interest rates and also on earnings forecasts. And that's why our target is relatively low."

In fact, "low" is somewhat of an understatement. Adams' target implies that the market will drop 16 percent in little more than three months, erasing everything that stocks gained after the year's first day of trading. This makes her one of the lone bears on the Street.


So what could produce such a dismal fourth quarter for stocks? First of all, Adams is highly skeptical about the rally that the market has enjoyed thus far.

"It's all about emotion at this point. The entirety of the S&P 500's increase this year has come via the multiple," Adams said. "It's been simply through the amount that investors are willing to bid up the value of the future earnings stream."

Indeed, the S&P 500's price-earnings multiple has risen from 17 on Jan. 1 to nearly 20. That means the market has largely been rising due to investors' willingness to pay more for those earnings.

Adams goes on to argue that the recent rise in Treasury yields could put an end to this inclination.

"The multiple is one of the most valuable components" of the rally, and "typical drivers of the multiple are interest rates." So despite the fact that yields have cooled off recently, "simply the fact that we moved from 1.6 [percent] on the 10-year Treasury rate to now the 2.7 [percent] range is a potential tremendous shock over the next six months," Adams contended.

Adams believes that stocks haven't yet digested the rate rally. "Stocks tend to follow rates over time," she said. "Typically, when you get a 100 basis point [or 1 percent] move in Treasury rates, you get a contraction on the P/E multiple on stocks of about a full turn. That, by itself, implies you get something of a 10-percent-plus correction in stocks."

And while the Fed's decision that it wouldn't slow its rate of asset purchases has driven the market to yet another all-time high this week, Adams doesn't believe the surprising announcement will ultimately make a difference.

"Unless bonds can actually rally substantially with the so-called Fed bid, and the Fed is able to manipulate yields significantly lower, the damage has been done, and I think the cat is quite frankly out of the bag."

Couple the rise in rates with slow earnings growth, and Adams believes the market is in for a very tricky fall.

"We're going to have to face the music come October," she said.

____________________________________________________

Below you see a package that any raging corporate politician would love.....what wonderful movement of public schools into private hands!   Aren't they clever!  It is true they have made an absolute mess of our schools.,...school choice and Teach for America does that.  BUT THESE AMBITIOUS POLS WANT TO HAND OUR SCHOOL BUILDINGS OVER TO WALL STREET BECAUSE THE GOAL IS TO MAKE EACH SCHOOL A PRIVATE BUSINESS!  What better way than to load the schools with tons of debt just as the economy is ready to crash!

HOW FULL OF MALFEASANCE AND FRAUD!


Remember, we can rebuild all schools in Baltimore and more by simply recovering billions in financial fraud still owed Baltimore by Wall Street.  These pols say....NO...WE PREFER TO HAND BILLIONS MORE OF DEBT AND INTEREST RATE PAYMENTS TO WALL STREET PROFITS!


Rebuilding schools, rebuilding BaltimoreThousands are choosing city life; if we build better schools, they will stay

February 04, 2013|By Tom Wilcox, Wes Moore and Tom Bozzuto

Over the last 10 years leaders from the private, public and nonprofit sectors have begun to transform Baltimore's approach to its future. Traditional public subsidies have given way to strategic investments and tough decisions, using market-based techniques to reform our schools, rebuild our population, and make our neighborhoods safe, clean, green and vibrant.

Now, the General Assembly must do its part to strengthen the city's future by passing legislation to reshape how the city makes improvements to its public school buildings. The city's plan is straightforward and achievable: act aggressively now to build or rebuild our school buildings and give every child in the city a welcoming school environment that will help engage them in learning.

It is a proposal that will help kids, create a stronger school system, bolster the city's prospects for growth and benefit the entire state.

Legislators must be reminded that Baltimore has already taken many hard steps to improve its educational system. A "choice" system gives middle and high school students the opportunity to "vote with their feet," with dollars following those students to the best-performing schools. A union contract sets a national standard for holding teachers and principals accountable for their students' performance. And focused initiatives have increased the high school graduation rate and the number of preschoolers who are "ready for school." And schools that fail to meet increasingly rigorous standards are being closed.

These steps and more show that our civic and private leaders are serious about creating great schools that will change the trajectory of inner-city youth while attracting the middle class families necessary to any city's success.

Now, the focus is on providing a physical environment in Baltimore schools comparable to that in schools across Maryland. The legislative proposal to revamp the school system's capital process would lead to major and accelerated improvements in our school buildings, benefiting kids, teachers, staff and families.

The school system has done its homework, commissioning a study that put a price tag on infrastructure needs in every school building in Baltimore, and it has developed a plan that would shutter buildings, cut or merge programs, and renovate or rebuild 136 buildings.

The city schools bond financing plan to rebuild its inadequate infrastructure may be the best opportunity that Baltimore has had in a generation to cement its revitalization. Under the plan, an independent entity would be created to borrow significant funding through a bond issue to jump-start much-needed capital improvements, and use state and local funding to repay the bonds. It's important to note that the plan requires no extra money from the state, just a commitment to stand by current annual commitments. The timing is perfect. Interest rates are low; construction costs are manageable.

This effort in the General Assembly must be viewed not simply as a bricks-and-mortar educational initiative. Rather, it is part of a comprehensive effort to push for major changes that can move Baltimore forward and restore the city's role as an economic engine for Maryland.

The signs of momentum are apparent, whether it's ongoing downtown development, the bustling rental market driven by young professionals' interest in city life, or the emerging high-tech economy fueled by robust educational, medical and federal institutions. Across the city, private sector initiatives such as Healthy Neighborhoods Inc. are reestablishing "middle neighborhoods" that have wonderful assets but need a boost to continue to strengthen.

The bottom line is that thousands are choosing city life. If we can improve the schools they will stay. These young people can, by themselves, fulfill Mayor Rawlings-Blake's modest goal of attracting or developing 10,000 new taxpaying citizens.

The nonprofit Teach For America already pledged to fulfill 10 percent of the mayor's goal by helping their teachers engage in neighborhood leadership opportunities as they develop lasting ties with our city.

Such commitments from the nonprofit sector must be met by similarly ambitious initiatives from the public sector that enhance city life and build a business-friendly environment.

We have pressing goals: reducing crime, building a better transportation infrastructure that supports employment opportunities, and fostering an energetic business environment. But perhaps overriding them all is the need for a strong school system that will attract new families and new employers.

There is more hard work ahead to capitalize on the educational progress already achieved, but we can take a major step forward right now by changing how we build our schools.

A quarter century ago, state leaders overcame a host of issues to finance and build not one but two stadiums, leading to the winning seasons we now celebrate. Surely we can come together now to give our youth and our city and state the future they deserve.

Tom Wilcox is President of the Baltimore Community Foundation. Wes Moore is a best-selling author and host on the OWN television network. Tom Bozzuto is Chairman and CEO of the Bozzuto Group. All are trustees of the Baltimore Community Foundation.






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September 24th, 2013

9/24/2013

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Baltimore and Maryland teacher's unions should be front and center in organizing town halls on all these education policies.  Common Core and Race to the Top need to be included in these teacher's union public forums!


Do any Maryland residents know that this important process is happening regarding education? Who will be the one's that comment?



CODE OF MARYLAND REGULATIONS
TITLE 13A
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT


In accordance with State Government Article, §§10-130—10-139, Annotated Code of Maryland, the Maryland State Department of Education is currently reviewing and evaluating the follow chapters of COMAR Title 13A:

Subtitle 01 STATE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 13A.01.01 State Board of Education 13A.01.02 State Superintendent of Schools 13A.01.03 State Department of Education 13A.01.04 Public School Standards 13A.01.05 Appeals to the State Board of Education
Subtitle 02 LOCAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 13A.02.01 Local Boards of Education 13A.02.03 Local Administrative and Supervisory Staff 13A.02.04 Tobacco-Free School Environment 13A.02.05 Maintenance of Effort 13A.02.06 General Financial Aid to Local School Systems 13A.02.07 Annual Audits of Financial Statements and Federal Awards 13A.02.08 Recognition of Employee Organizations 13A.02.09 Closing of Schools
Subtitle 03 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS 13A.03.01 Standards for Kindergarten Programs 13A.03.02 Graduation Requirements for Public High Schools in Maryland 13A.03.04 Test Administration and Data-Reporting Policies and Procedures 13A.03.05 Administration of Home and Hospital Teaching for Students
Subtitle 04 SPECIFIC SUBJECTS 13A.04.01 Programs in Technology Education 13A.04.02 Secondary School Career and Technology Education 13A.04.03 Driver Education Programs 13A.04.04 Religious Education 13A.04.05 Education That is Multicultural 13A.04.08 Program in Social Studies 13A.04.09 Program in Science 13A.04.10 Program of Instruction in the World of Work Competencies 13A.04.12 Program in Mathematics 13A.04.13 Program in Physical Education 13A.04.14 Program in English Language Arts 13A.04.16 Programs in Fine Arts
13A.04.19
Program in Cosmetology 13A.04.20 Program for Barbers
Subtitle 05 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS 13A.05.01 Provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education 13A.05.02 Administration of Services for Students with Disabilities 13A.05.03 Programs of Adult Education 13A.05.04 Programs for Library Media Services 13A.05.05 Programs of Pupil Services 13A.05.06 Programs for Migrant Education 13A.05.07 Programs for Non-English and Limited-English Proficient Students 13A.05.08 Approved Paid Work-Based Learning Programs 13A.05.09 Programs for Homeless Children 13A.05.10 Automated External Defibrillator Program in High Schools
Subtitle 06 SUPPORTING PROGRAMS 13A.06.01 Programs for Food and Nutrition 13A.06.02 Prekindergarten Programs 13A.06.05 School Supplies and Equipment 13A.06.06 Safety Equipment 13A.06.07 Student Transportation
Pursuant to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) Work Plan submitted to and approved by the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review, MSDE will evaluate the need to retain, amend, or repeal any provisions of these regulations based on whether they:
• Continue to be necessary for the public interest?
• Continue to be supported by statutory authority and judicial opinion?
• Are obsolete or other appropriate for amendment or repeal?
• Are effective in accomplishing their intended purpose?

The Maryland State Department of Education would like to provide interested parties with an opportunity to participate in the review and evaluation process by submitting comments on these regulations. The comments may address any concerns about the regulations. If the comments include suggested changes to the regulations, please be as specific as possible and provide language for the suggested changes.

Comments should be directed to Anthony L. South, Executive Director, Office of the State Board of Education, 200 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201-2595, by fax to 410-333-6033, or by e-mail to StateBoard@msde.state.md.us. Comments must be received by January 31, 2014.


__________________
The only way this made national news was that a private individual at the meeting used her own video camera to film this incident and then released it to national press.  All of the local media present would have and some still are silent and would never have released this much information.

WE MUST DEMAND FREE MEDIA AND OPEN PUBLIC FORUMS IN ORDER TO RETURN TO A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY!




Robert Small, Maryland Parent, Arrested At School Meeting After Questioning Common Core (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post  |  By Hunter Stuart Posted: 09/23/2013 2:39 pm EDT  |  Updated: 09/23/2013 3:09 pm EDT

A Maryland parent was thrown out of a school meeting and arrested after questioning a new state-led education standards initiative. He has been charged with assaulting a police officer and disrupting a school function and could go to jail for 10 years if convicted. Amateur video of the incident has gone viral online over the past few days.

"I want to know how many parents here are aware that the goal of Common Core standards isn't to prepare our children for full-fledged universities, it's to prepare them for community college," 46-year-old parent Robert Small shouted Thursday night during a school meeting between parents, teachers and administrators that was held by the Maryland State Department of Education in Towson, a suburb of Baltimore.

His interjection was greeted with applause.

Small, who has two kids in the area's public schools, went on to briefly explain his opposition to the Common Core, an education initiative incentivized by the federal government and designed to "establish a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade [students]," according to the initiative's official website.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer moonlighting as a security guard arrived to escort Small from the meeting. When Small didn't immediately follow the officer, the officer yanked him forcefully toward the aisle, prompting gasps from the audience.

"Parents, take control," Small says as he is led out of the room. As the officer pulls out handcuffs, Small can be heard saying, "I'm not an activist, I'm a parent. I have a right to speak."

The meeting, which was held in order to explain the Common Core to parents, according to The Baltimore Sun, was conducted in a format where school administrators selected pre-submitted questions from parents.

Small is charged with two misdemeanors: assaulting an officer and disrupting a school function, Baltimore County Police told The Huffington Post over the phone Monday.

Although Small does not appear to be touching the officer in the video, the police report says he "continued to yell and pushed the officer" once the pair was out of view of the camera, Baltimore police spokesperson Elise Armacost told HuffPost. "That is the basis for the assault charge."

Small faces up to 10 years in jail for the assault charge alone.

When contacted by The Huffington Post, the Maryland State Department of Education declined to comment, saying the incident fell under the local police department's jurisdiction. The Baltimore County Department of Education did not respond to our request for comment.

________________________________________________


Cortly Witherspoon and Sharon Black arrested at City Hall Activists sought meeting with Rawlings-Blake about police brutality
Brew Editors August 6, 2012 at 10:49 pm

Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, outside Central Booking, after arrest at Baltimore City Hall.

Baltimore police arrested two longtime political activists today and charged them with trespassing after they tried unsuccessfully to deliver a letter – about the closing of recreation centers and fire stations and alleged police abuses – to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, president of the local chapter of the Southern Leadership Conference, and Sharon Black, an organizer with the Baltimore All Peoples Congress, had been leading an afternoon rally of about 75 people outside City Hall.

According to Baltimore photographer and videographer William Hughes, the two were arrested after they refused to leave City Hall:

“I was there for the whole rally, which began at 3 PM at the Shot Tower. Then, they marched to City Hall, past Police H/Q. I saw Sharon and CD, inside the City Hall. They were trying to get permission to go up the Mayor’s Office. They were allowed up to the office and met with a rep. I was back outside by then.”

Activist Sharon Black being escorted to Central Booking today after being arrested at City Hall for trespassing. (Photo by William Hughes)

The mayor declined to meet with them and they insisted, according to their phone messages to the crowd outside, on a personal meeting. When they refused to leave, they were arrested.

Organizers have been talking in recent weeks about the letter they planned to send to Rawlings-Blake demanding “an emergency meeting” to talk about police-involved shootings in Baltimore, among other issues.

Among the cases of alleged misconduct they cited today was that of David Yim, a disabled man shot by police in April, and Thomas Threatt, whose beating during an east Baltimore jobs protest was captured on video.

_____________________________________________

Maryland totally ignores Public meeting laws and as we see above want to eliminate even public comment at public forums.

Look at the law that gives a few hundred dollars in fine and public shaming.  These neo-liberals laugh at being outed at City Hall for illegal behavior so this is nothing.  Do you know that in Baltimore if you are late in paying 3 parking tickets the police will tow your car and fees will add up to hundreds of dollars?  Fines of over a thousand for standing up to shout out at a public meeting?

THIS IS BREAKING THE LAW......


Bill would toughen Maryland Open Meetings law enforcementMeasure would require fines, public shaming for improper meetings


April 13, 2013|By Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun

New laws passed by the Maryland General Assembly late last week would put stricter penalties and an element of public shaming behind the state's open-meetings laws.

State lawmakers said public officials have been able to flout the rules without significant consequences.

"It has no enforcement whatsoever," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the bill to toughen open-meetings laws. "This is the first bill that actually creates some enforcement."

Maryland's public officials are barred from conducting public business behind closed doors, but the penalties for doing so in the past have been a rarely levied fine and a written notice that Morhaim said was often ignored.

The bill came out of a series of hearings this summer, during which a committee of state lawmakers found that sometimes officials take a written advisory about violations from the Open Meetings Compliance Board and "just throw it away."

Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, said he is reviewing the bill.


The measure would increase fines for breaking the open-meetings law from $100 to $250. It would also require a public body to announce at its next meeting that the compliance board found it had broken the law. Each member of the group that violated the law would have to sign a statement acknowledging the misconduct.

Morhaim said he drafted the legislation before two Maryland institutions were separately accused last year of holding illegal meetings.

In one incident, the University System of Maryland's board signed off on the University of Maryland, College Park's move to the Big Ten Conference. In another, the Morgan State University Board of Regents voted to terminate the school president's contract — a decision it later reversed.

A Morgan spokesman has said school officials do not believe the vote violated the law. University System of Maryland officials acknowledged the breach but said that the group was "confused" and "overlooked" the law.

Those cases "drew a lot of attention to the fact that there are no teeth to our open-meetings laws," said Common Cause Maryland's executive director, Jennifer Bevan-Dangel.

Another bill passed by the legislature would require public officials to be trained on how to follow the open-meetings law.

That measure, introduced by Republican Del. Anthony O'Donnell, was praised by Common Cause and other watchdog groups.

"If citizens can't see the decisions that are made, they can't hold their elected officials accountable," Bevan-Dangel said. "And then voters can't make educated decisions at the polls if they don't know what their elected officials are doing."



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September 13th, 2013

9/13/2013

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THIS ELECTION SEASON WILL HAVE NEO-LIBERALS DRESSING CANDIDATES AS WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR AS NE-LIBERALS WORK TO KILL WAR ON POVERTY AND NEW DEAL PROGRAMS.  DO NOT VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE BECAUSE THEY ARE OF COLOR OR A WOMAN FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

We are seeing Elizabeth Warren marketed like nothing else yet she has openly stated she is a neo-liberal....she supports global markets.  Now, you will not tame global corporations and be rid of corporate rule with global markets so Warren looks to be an Obama in woman's clothing.

The worst thing that Bill and Hillary did was to end Welfare just as they planned to build global corporations taking jobs from the US and leaving high unemployment and low wages!  THEY ARE THE TWO MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAS BEEN THE DISMANTLING OF ALL GAINS FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN POVERTY!



As Marketplace/NPR stated loudly and strongly....this recovery for mainstreet has over 70% of jobs coming back as part time and almost all in hotel, restaurant, low-end health care.....all poverty jobs.  They also acknowledged that it is women who are taking most of these jobs and people of color still largely unemployed.  The War on Poverty and New Deal were responsible for bringing just these demographics into the middle-class as well as working class white men.  When neo-liberals starting with Bill and Hillary Clinton ended Welfare and broke Glass Steagall they did it knowing we would have global corporations and corporate rule that would seek to end New Deal and War on Poverty----which is what is happening.  Obama is a neo-liberal moving that goal forward.

STOP ALLOWING A NEO-LIBERAL DNC CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES!  IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THE CANDIDATE IS BLACK, BROWN, OR A WOMAN....THEY NEED TO BE LABOR AND JUSTICE!



Why are all the job growth industries low-wage?  The NEW ECONOMY means global corporations sending workers as immigrant labor all over the world.  We will all be traveling somewhere to work and staying in hotels and eating at restaurants while doing it.  THIS IS WHAT DISCONNECTS FAMILIES, WORKPLACE, AND POWER FOR CITIZENS AND THESE 1% KNOW THAT.  This is why labor and justice must FIGHT THE TPP and entrenchment of global policy.  They should not be trying to 'get along' because we will lose!

 5 Industries with the Fastest Job Growth

by Lexie Forman-Ortiz

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 195,000 jobs were added to the workforce in June 2013. Jobseekers can increase their chances of getting a job by looking in the industries with the most job growth. These 5 industries have created the most over the past month:


5. The financial services industry added 17,000 jobs last month.

Insurance agencies are looking for remarkable talent while banks and financial istitutions are adding more and more jobs everyday in a variety of positions like relationship management or loan officers.



4. Health care added 20,000 jobs to workforce in June.

This field is not limited to doctors and nurses but also ambulatory care, pharmacists, anyone promoting good health among the people.



3. The retail trade industry added 37,000 jobs last month. The wholesale trade industry continued with upward growth adding over 11,000 jobs, while most other new positions fell in the auto and building-goods sectors.

This is an indication people are shopping and someone needs to be providing the goods. Join the auto industry or look into exciting retail opportunities.



2. Employment in professional and business services rose by 53,000 in June. Over the past year this field has added over 600,000 jobs!

This industry has jobs that range far and wide from management positions, ranging from technical services to computer systems and everything in between.



1. The leisure and hospitality industry added 75,000 jobs in June and monthly job growth in this industry has averaged 55,000 so far in 2013 doubling last year’s growth.

If you’re a people person maybe you have a future in this line of work? Think jobs like front-desk supervisor at great hotel or maybe you’ve always had a passion for food and becoming a chef has always been something on your radar.



The American labor market performed strongly in June 2013.  While ADP reports numbers slightly different numbers than the BLS (188,000 jobs added in the month of June and a 39% increase since May) both sources show positive workforce trends. In addition to which industries are creating the most jobs, also check out the cities with the most job growth. Knowing what is in demand is half the battle.


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When you hear neo-liberals pretending to be all about families and the middle-class baby boomers know they are ignoring the fact that we have been there and done that.  New Deal and War on Poverty programs did just that,.,..lifted women, children, and people of color out of poverty and into the middle-class.  Neo-liberals starting with Bill and Hillary Clinton declared war on the War on Poverty and New Deal and ended all the progress made.  The Clintons ended Welfare at the same time they broke Glass Steagall and deregulated banks and entered free trade agreements to make global corporations and wealth inequity.  THIS IS WHAT KILLED ALL OF NEW DEAL AND WAR ON POVERTY GAINS!  So, when Obama or Hillary ....O'Malley or Rawlings-Blake use the mantra of families and jobs....

THEY ARE PEDDLING POVERTY AND EXPLOITATION AS WORKER AND JUSTICE PROTECTIONS ARE DISMANTLED!

The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty
SOURCE: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast

Michelle Ramirez picks her children up from day care; the single mother of two is struggling to make ends meet on her receptionists salary as day care and medical costs rise.

By Alexandra Cawthorne | October 8, 2008

Download the brief (pdf)

Women in America are more likely to be poor than men. Over half of the 37 million Americans living in poverty today are women. And women in America are further behind than women in other countries—the gap in poverty rates between men and women is wider in America than anywhere else in the Western world. Consider the following facts:

Poverty rates are higher for women than men. In 2007,13.8 percent of females were poor compared to 11.1 percent of men.

Women are poorer than men in all racial and ethnic groups. Recent data shows that 26.5 percent of African American women are poor compared to 22.3 percent of African American men; 23.6 percent of Hispanic women are poor compared to 19.6 percent of Hispanic men; 10.7 percent of Asian women are poor compared to 9.7 percent of Asian men; and 11.6 percent of white women are poor compared to 9.4 percent of white men.



Black and Latina women face particularly high rates of poverty. Over a quarter of black women and nearly a quarter of Latina women are poor. Black and Latina women are at least twice as likely as white women to be living in poverty.

Only a quarter of all adult women (age 18 and older) with incomes below the poverty line are single mothers. Over half of all poor adult women--54 percent—are single with no dependent children.



Elderly women are far more likely to be poor than elderly men. Thirteen percent of women over 75 years old are poor compared to 6 percent of men.

Poverty rates for males and females are the same throughout childhood, but increase for women during their childbearing years and again in old age. The poverty gap between women and men widens significantly between ages 18 and 24--20.6 percent of women are poor at that age, compared to 14.0 percent of men. The gap narrows, but never closes, throughout adult life, and it more than doubles during the elderly years.




Why Are More Women Living in Poverty? Women face a much greater risk of poverty for a number of inter-related reasons, including:

Women are paid less than men, even when they have the same qualifications and work the same hours. Women who work full time earn only 77 percent of what men make—a 22 percent gap in average annual wages. Discrimination, not lack of training or education, is largely the cause of the wage gap. Even with the same qualifications, women earn less than men. In 2007, full time, year round female workers aged 25 to 32 with a bachelor’s degree were paid 14 percent less than men.


A woman works as a waitress at a diner. Women are often tracked into “pink-collar” jobs that typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated.

Women are segregated into low paying occupations, and occupations dominated by women are low paid. Women are tracked into “pink-collar” jobs such as teaching, child care, nursing, cleaning, and waitressing, which typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated. In 2007, nearly half—43 percent—of the 29.6 million employed women in the United States were clustered in just 20 occupational categories, of which the average annual median earnings were $27,383.[1]

Women spend more time providing unpaid caregiving than men. Women are more likely than men to care for children and elderly or disabled family members. One study found that 69 percent of unpaid caregivers to older adults in the home are women. Because combining unpaid caregiving with paid work can be challenging, women are more likely to work part time or take time out of the workforce to care for family. Twenty-three percent of mothers are out of the workforce compared to just 1 percent of fathers.

Women are more likely to bear the costs of raising children. When parents are not living together, women are more likely to take on the economic costs of raising children. Eight in ten custodial parents are women, and custodial mothers are twice as likely to be poor as custodial fathers.

Pregnancy affects women’s work and educational opportunities more than men’s. The economic costs associated with pregnancy are more significant for women than for men. Unplanned and mistimed pregnancies in particular can result in the termination of education and keep women from getting and sustaining solid employment.

Domestic and sexual violence can push women into a cycle of poverty. Experiencing domestic or sexual violence can lead to job loss, poor health, and homelessness. It is estimated that victims of intimate partner violence collectively lose almost 8 million days of paid work each year because of the violence perpetrated against them by current or former husbands, boyfriends, or dates. Half of the cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness.

What can we do? The poverty gap between men and women is not inevitable. The gender wage gap has narrowed over the past 30 years as women have gained greater access to education, the labor market, and better paid jobs. Ending women’s poverty and providing better economic opportunities for all women will require specific policy actions to ensure that:

  • Women receive the pay they deserve and equal work conditions
  • Women have access to higher-paying jobs
  • Women in the workforce have affordable child and elder care, as well as access to quality flexible work and paid family leave
  • Women receive the support they need through expanded tax credits to help meet the costs of raising their families
  • Women receive the contraceptive services they need so that they can plan their families
  • Women receive the support and protection they need to leave violent situations while maintaining job and housing stability
Conclusion The best policy solutions to address women’s poverty must combine a range of decent employment opportunities with a network of social services that support healthy families, such as quality health care, child care, and housing support. Policy objectives must also recognize the multiple barriers to economic security women face based on their race, ethnicity, immigration status, sexuality, physical ability, and health status. These approaches must promote the equal social and economic status of all women by expanding their opportunities to balance work and family life.
____________________________________________


As people know one of the brutal facts about poverty is the abuse that comes with desperation. We know that across the US it was found that police departments ignored DNA testing for rape for decades and we know that women today are facing ever increasing violence and abuse as social safety nets are being dismantled. This is happening because neo-liberals have control of the democratic party and are working as hard as republicans to end War on Poverty and New Deal programs. When you ignore massive corporate fraud and cut spending that primarily hits these programs....those pols are knowingly placing women and children at the greatest risk.

STOP ALLOWING A NEO-LIBERAL DNC CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES...RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE!

DISMANTLING SOCIAL SAFETY NETS TO PROTECT MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE!

Rape of WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN America

F A C T S * A B O U T * V I O L E N C E
U.S. Statistics / Global / Links to Statistics
U.S. STATISTICS

Fact #1: 17.6 % of women in the United States have survived a completed or attempted rape. Of these, 21.6% were younger than age 12 when they were first raped, and 32.4% were between the ages of 12 and 17. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)

Fact #2: 64% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)

Fact #3: Only about half of domestic violence incidents are reported to police. African-American women are more likely than others to report their victimization to police Lawrence A. Greenfeld et al. (1998). (Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends. Bureau of Justice Statistics Factbook. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ #167237. Available from National Criminal Justice Reference Service.)

Fact #4: The FBI estimates that only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police. U.S. Justice Department statistics are even lower, with only 26% of all rapes or attempted rapes being reported to law enforcement officials.

Fact #5: In the National Violence Against Women Survey, approximately 25% of women and 8% of men said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date in their lifetimes. The survey estimates that more than 300,000 intimate partner rapes occur each year against women 18 and older. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)

Fact #6: The National College Women Sexual Victimization Study estimated that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 college women experience completed or attempted rape during their college years (Fisher 2000).

Fact #7: Men perpetrate the majority of violent acts against women (DeLahunta 1997).

Fact #8: Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted. (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) calculation based on 2000 National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)

Fact #9: One out of every six American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. (Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey, National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998)

Fact #10: Factoring in unreported rapes, about 5% - one out of twenty - of rapists will ever spend a day in jail. 19 out of 20 will walk free. (Probability statistics based on US Department of Justice Statistics)

Fact #11: Fewer than half (48%) of all rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police (DOJ 2001).

Fact #12: Sexual violence is associated with a host of short- and long-term problems, including physical injury and illness, psychological symptoms, economic costs, and death (National Research Council 1996).

Fact #13: Rape victims often experience anxiety, guilt, nervousness, phobias, substance abuse, sleep disturbances, depression, alienation, sexual dysfunction, and aggression. They often distrust others and replay the assault in their minds, and they are at increased risk of future victimization (DeLahunta 1997).

Fact #14: According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, more than 260,000 rapes or sexual assaults occurred in 2000; 246,180 of them occurred among females and 14,770, among males (Department of Justice 2001).

Fact #15: Sexual violence victims exhibit a variety of psychological symptoms that are similar to those of victims of other types of trauma, such as war and natural disaster (National Research Council 1996). A number of long-lasting symptoms and illnesses have been associated with sexual victimization including chronic pelvic pain; premenstrual syndrome; gastrointestinal disorders; and a variety of chronic pain disorders, including headache, back pain, and facial pain (Koss 1992).Between 4% and 30% of rape victims contract sexually transmitted diseases as a result of the victimization (Resnick 1997).

Fact #16: More than half of all rapes of women occur before age 18; 22% occur before age 12. (Full Report of the Prevalance, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)

Fact #17: In 2000, nearly 88,000 children in the United States experienced sexual abuse (ACF 2002).

Fact #18: About 81% of rape victims are white; 18% are black; 1% are of other races. (Violence Against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)

Fact #19: About half of all rape victims are in the lowest third of income distribution; half are in the upper two-thirds. (Violence against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)

Fact #20: According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), a national survey of high school students, 7.7% of students had been forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to. Female students (10%) were significantly more likely than male students (5%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse. Overall, black students (10%) were significantly more likely than white students (7%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse (CDC 2002).

Fact #21: Females ages 12 to 24 are at the greatest risk for experiencing a rape or sexual assault (DOJ 2001).

Fact #22: Almost two-thirds of all rapes are committed by someone who is known to the victim. 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger (— 38% of perpetrators were a friend or acquaintance of the victim, 28% were an intimate and 7% were another relative.) (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2005)

Fact #23: The costs of intimate partner violence against women exceed an estimated $5.8 billion. These costs include nearly $4.1 billion in the direct costs of medical care and mental health care and nearly $1.8 billion in the indirect costs of lost productivity and present value of lifetime earnings. (Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2003).

Fact #24: Domestic violence occurs in approximately 25-33% of same-sex relationships. (NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, October 1996.)

Fact #25: Boys who witness their fathers' violence are 10 times more likely to engage in spouse abuse in later adulthood than boys from non-violent homes. (Family Violence Interventions for the Justice System, 1993)

Fact #26: An estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States annually for sexual exploitation or forced labor. (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 2000)

Fact #27: Somewhere in America a woman is battered, usually by her intimate partner, every 15 seconds. (UN Study On The Status of Women, Year 2000)

Fact #28: A University of Pennsylvania research study found that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to low-income, inner-city Philadelphia women between the ages of 15 to 44 - more common than automobile accidents, mugging and rapes combined. In this study domestic violence included injuries caused by street crime.

Fact #29: Following the Supreme Court's decision in 2000 to strike down the civil-rights provision of the Federal Violence Against Women Act (ruling that only states could enact such legislation), only two states in the country (Illinois and California) have defined gender-based violence, such as rape and domestic violence, as sex discrimination, and created specific laws that survivors can use to sue their perpetrators in civil court. (Kaethe Morris Hoffer, 2004).

Fact #30: A study reported in the New York Times suggests that one in five adolescent girls become the victims of physical or sexual violence, or both, in a dating relationship.


(New York Times, 8/01/01)
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Child and Women Sex Trafficking Fastest Growing Crime - In America
By Derek Armstrong

In any month several news stories appear announcing yet another sentence in sex trafficking of a child. Not so often reported are the thousands of "unsolved" cases involving the fastest growing crime in America--human trafficking. Tasks forces such as Operation Guardian Angel, a unique undercover law enforcement investigation targeting the demand for child prostitutes, helps bring many to justice.

Too Many Cases

Some all-too common examples of recent stories:

  • A young women was smuggled from Mexico to New York only to become a sex slave and prisoner, forced to into prostitution with up to fifteen clients per day. When her own child died because her captors refused to seek treatment, the victim was forced to hide her child's remains by her abusers. Charged were Domingo Salazar and his wife Norma Mendez.
  • Antoinette Davis, charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse of her own child after surveillance film captured her accused accomplice Andrette McNeill, carrying Antoinette's own five-year-old daughter into a Sanford hotel, shortly before her body was found.

Staggering Numbers of VictimsThe numbers are staggering, even if they are hard to come by, given the "underground" nature of the crime. UNESCO's Trafficking Statistics Project described the issue: "When it comes to statistics, trafficking of girls and women is one of several highly emotive issues which seem to overwhelm critical faculties. Numbers take on a life of their own, gaining acceptance through repetition, often with little inquiry into their derivations."

UNICEF estimated the worldwide victims in women and children at 1.75 million, while the FBI is more modest in a 2001 estimate of 700,000 victims. Most widely quoted in various media reports is 1.2 million women and children, which is somewhere between these two extremes.

14,500 to 17,500 Trafficked Into USA Each Year

While the most often quoted number of "human trafficking victims" is 300,000 total in the USA, what is known more certainly is that the number of victims trafficked into the United States each year is 14,500 to 17,500 according to US State Department statistics (2005).

The average age of human trafficking exploitation in America is pegged at 12 to 14 for girls and 11 to 13 for boys. Internationally, the crime trends younger, with 12 year old child prostitutes considered "too old" in countries like Cambodia.

Abroad the issue might be appear to be worse-in Thailand, for example, at least 60% of child prostitutes were found to have HIV-yet of the 1.2 million estimated victims around the world, a disproportionate percentage are assumed to be American-based crimes.

Revenues generated from this horrifying crime is estimated at $9.5 billion dollars. The costs of doing "business" is ruined lives, children abused, and long-term damage done to the millions of victims. According to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), "A study of 207 women trafficked into prostitution in Europe found that the vast majority (95 percent) suffered physical and sexual abuse..." (Zimmerman et al 2006).

Human Trafficking in the USA

US Department of Justice estimated 200,000 American children were "at risk for trafficking into the sex industry" according to Attorney General John Ashcroftt in 2003. Most of these victims come from East Asia, estimated at about 7,000 victims by the Department of Justice, with up to 5,500 victims coming from by Europe and Latin America. Unlike many countries, the USA is proactive in combating the second fastest growing crime, hampered by the difficulty of prosecution.

Difficult to Prosecute

Human trafficking is often difficult to prosecute. According to Dorchen Leidholdt, Director for Families Center for Bettered Women's Legal Services, "Sex trafficking victims are often put into situations in which their very survival is contingent on their outward compliance with their traffickers' demands. Victims not infrequently have to pose smilingly for pornographic pictures, dance with customers, sign prostitution contracts, and even marry their traffickers, all of which is later used by defense counsel to prove that the victims were "willing prostitutes," not trafficking victims. If all that was required was to show proof of sex trafficking itself, not force, fraud, or coercion, such evidence would either be stricken as irrelevant or deemed probative of sex trafficking." Prosecutors are forced to prove coercion or force, often difficult with unwilling victims who are frightened they might themselves be charged.

Definition

The most common "definition" of human trafficking is less sensational than the crimes they actually attempt to depict. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) of 2000 describes the crime: "is the recruitment, smuggling,transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a human through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation i.e., prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage, or involuntary servitude."

Derek Armstrong is a journalist contributor to several TV news shows, magazines and newspapers. He has appeared as a reporter on HNN's Nancy Grace, the Larry King Show, MSNBC News, FOX News, Inside Edition, NBC's Dateline and the Dr. Phil Show. Armstrong is currently chief crime correspondent for Crime Report USA, and contributes to Films & Books Magazine, Advance Magazine, Canadian Money Magazine, Secure Net News, LINK World News Magazine, and EDI Weekly. Derek Armstrong is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).



__________________________________________________

We are seeing an explosion in sex trafficing of women in America.  First and foremost it is cause by the suspension of Rule of Law and dismantling of public justice systems....the same thing that has allowed tens of trillions of dollars to be sucked from our economy by corporate fraud.  THAT MONEY WOULD BE SUPPORTING ALL PUBLIC JUSTICE/SOCIAL JUSTICE AGENCIES AND PROGRAMS!  Neo-liberals like Obama and O'Malley are doing this!  The next factor is the ever increasing immigrant population that creates a sub-culture with no rights.  When your neo-liberal welcomes immigrants to the state and then offers them no protection from exploitation....they are working for wealth and profit.  What has happened is natural...men brought to America for work need female companionship.  This is what created the massive movement by gangs and cartels of women to America through these sex trafficing networks.  As that was happening, the poor in America looking for a way to survive now see drugs sales expanding to prostitution, and then of course sex trafficing.  When Bill and Hillary Clinton ended Welfare at the same time they created the 'moving jobs overseas' policies....free trade agreements with no protections for people...America now looks like Eastern Europe with depravity brought from extreme poverty.



Child and Women Sex Trafficking Fastest Growing Crime - In America
By Derek Armstrong

In any month several news stories appear announcing yet another sentence in sex trafficking of a child. Not so often reported are the thousands of "unsolved" cases involving the fastest growing crime in America--human trafficking. Tasks forces such as Operation Guardian Angel, a unique undercover law enforcement investigation targeting the demand for child prostitutes, helps bring many to justice.

Too Many Cases

Some all-too common examples of recent stories:

  • A young women was smuggled from Mexico to New York only to become a sex slave and prisoner, forced to into prostitution with up to fifteen clients per day. When her own child died because her captors refused to seek treatment, the victim was forced to hide her child's remains by her abusers. Charged were Domingo Salazar and his wife Norma Mendez.
  • Antoinette Davis, charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse of her own child after surveillance film captured her accused accomplice Andrette McNeill, carrying Antoinette's own five-year-old daughter into a Sanford hotel, shortly before her body was found.

Staggering Numbers of VictimsThe numbers are staggering, even if they are hard to come by, given the "underground" nature of the crime. UNESCO's Trafficking Statistics Project described the issue: "When it comes to statistics, trafficking of girls and women is one of several highly emotive issues which seem to overwhelm critical faculties. Numbers take on a life of their own, gaining acceptance through repetition, often with little inquiry into their derivations."

UNICEF estimated the worldwide victims in women and children at 1.75 million, while the FBI is more modest in a 2001 estimate of 700,000 victims. Most widely quoted in various media reports is 1.2 million women and children, which is somewhere between these two extremes.

14,500 to 17,500 Trafficked Into USA Each Year

While the most often quoted number of "human trafficking victims" is 300,000 total in the USA, what is known more certainly is that the number of victims trafficked into the United States each year is 14,500 to 17,500 according to US State Department statistics (2005).

The average age of human trafficking exploitation in America is pegged at 12 to 14 for girls and 11 to 13 for boys. Internationally, the crime trends younger, with 12 year old child prostitutes considered "too old" in countries like Cambodia.

Abroad the issue might be appear to be worse-in Thailand, for example, at least 60% of child prostitutes were found to have HIV-yet of the 1.2 million estimated victims around the world, a disproportionate percentage are assumed to be American-based crimes.

Revenues generated from this horrifying crime is estimated at $9.5 billion dollars. The costs of doing "business" is ruined lives, children abused, and long-term damage done to the millions of victims. According to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), "A study of 207 women trafficked into prostitution in Europe found that the vast majority (95 percent) suffered physical and sexual abuse..." (Zimmerman et al 2006).

Human Trafficking in the USA

US Department of Justice estimated 200,000 American children were "at risk for trafficking into the sex industry" according to Attorney General John Ashcroftt in 2003. Most of these victims come from East Asia, estimated at about 7,000 victims by the Department of Justice, with up to 5,500 victims coming from by Europe and Latin America. Unlike many countries, the USA is proactive in combating the second fastest growing crime, hampered by the difficulty of prosecution.

Difficult to Prosecute

Human trafficking is often difficult to prosecute. According to Dorchen Leidholdt, Director for Families Center for Bettered Women's Legal Services, "Sex trafficking victims are often put into situations in which their very survival is contingent on their outward compliance with their traffickers' demands. Victims not infrequently have to pose smilingly for pornographic pictures, dance with customers, sign prostitution contracts, and even marry their traffickers, all of which is later used by defense counsel to prove that the victims were "willing prostitutes," not trafficking victims. If all that was required was to show proof of sex trafficking itself, not force, fraud, or coercion, such evidence would either be stricken as irrelevant or deemed probative of sex trafficking." Prosecutors are forced to prove coercion or force, often difficult with unwilling victims who are frightened they might themselves be charged.

Definition

The most common "definition" of human trafficking is less sensational than the crimes they actually attempt to depict. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) of 2000 describes the crime: "is the recruitment, smuggling,transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a human through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation i.e., prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage, or involuntary servitude."

Derek Armstrong is a journalist contributor to several TV news shows, magazines and newspapers. He has appeared as a reporter on HNN's Nancy Grace, the Larry King Show, MSNBC News, FOX News, Inside Edition, NBC's Dateline and the Dr. Phil Show. Armstrong is currently chief crime correspondent for Crime Report USA, and contributes to Films & Books Magazine, Advance Magazine, Canadian Money Magazine, Secure Net News, LINK World News Magazine, and EDI Weekly. Derek Armstrong is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).


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September 12th, 2013

9/12/2013

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As you listen to all of the revisionism of the financial collapse in 2008 at the same time we are memorializing 9-11, take time to see how the two are tied to each other.  Jihadists attacked Wall Street because they see US markets as evil and dangerous.  Several years later we have the economic crash and see that Wall Street is evil and dangerous!

PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THESE NEO-LIBERALS TO REVISE WHAT HAPPENED AS THEY TRY TO SKIRT THE TRUTH AS TO HOW CRIMINAL THE US FINANCIAL SYSTEM IS AND HOW TENS OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FRAUD NEED TO COME BACK TO GOVERNMENT COFFERS AND INDIVIDUALS!



Regarding a revisionist look at the 2008 financial collapse:

I think anyone left listening to NPR/Marketplace on WYPR knows what was presented was propaganda and not journalism so I will just give snippets that show most of what was presented was untrue. We do want to thank public media journalists before the 2010 corporate takeover of public media for their professional and accurate journalism. We know they did so knowing their jobs may be in peril. Professionalism requires commitment to integrity and honesty and those journalists pre-2010 had just that!

In a Peabody Award winning program, NPR correspondents argued that a "Giant Pool of Money" (represented by $70 trillion in worldwide fixed income investments) sought higher yields than those offered by U.S. Treasury bonds early in the decade. This pool of money had roughly doubled in size from 2000 to 2007, yet the supply of relatively safe, income generating investments had not grown as fast. Investment banks on Wall Street answered this demand with products such as the mortgage-backed security and the collateralized debt obligation that were assigned safe ratings by the credit rating agencies.[59]

As we all know, this mortgage fraud was conceived at the same time Clinton and his Administrative team, Larry Summers and Robert Rubin were breaking the Glass Steagall wall and this fraud had as its goal the movement of massive amounts of wealth to the top earners through fraud. A goal was to clear the poor and working class from urban centers where Master Plans across the country set affluent development and blowing up the FHA with debt as Wall Street wanted control of all mortgage business.

For anyone not believing when this collapse happened that the entire massive fraud was not planned, there is no doubt today. As the current report on NPR pointed out.....every single bank had credit default swaps (insurance) for all of these mortgage investments with AIG. It is ironic that the 9-11 memory falls at the same time as the anniversary of the 2008 collapse. The jihadist attacked Wall Street for the very reasons that brought the economic collapse just years later!

Five years from the collapse we have the same conditions as existed then....no financial reform, 600 trillion dollars in derivative leverage......little capitalization and an economy ready to collapse this time with bond debt. Again, this collapse will be fueled by fraud as all of the municipal bond/sovereign debt that has happened these several years happened through public malfeasance in collusion with Wall Street just as with the pensions thrown into the stock market in 2007 as the market crashed. Loading municipalities with debt so the next economic collapse created by the bond bubble would move more public assets to the top earners. This is a second phase of wealth redistribution to the top. As everyone in Maryland knows, O'Malley and Rawlings-Blake have leveraged the state and city with so much bond debt that when this crash happens next year.....and it will be much bigger than the 2008 crash....there will be no Federal rescue. Don't worry for the banks.....they already have their credit default swaps for bond investments!

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE YET TO RECOVER TENS OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FINANCIAL FRAUD FROM THE PAST DECADE. REMEMBER, WHEN RULE OF LAW IS SUSPENDED....SO IS STATUTES OF LIMITATION.

Why do you think Maryland is still listed as the state still having mortgage foreclosures? We were ground zero for the mortgage fraud with MERS operating from the Washington beltway. Gansler gave what was the parking ticket settlement of $1 billion to the state fund so O'Malley could claim he balanced the budget (O'Malley used huge cuts in Medicaid to do the same----what a guy...he did that for families!) The money that should have gone to communities and people effected by the fraud went to developers to pad the cost of building new and affluent homes. Baltimore now has such high homelessness, crime, and poverty because in part  politicians have refused to demand justice for the citizens of Baltimore and Maryland. Almost nothing has been done to mitigate the damages of job loss and personal savings lost from the massive mortgage fraud in Maryland. We will bring the corporate fraud back as we rebuild the public justice system state by state!

Below you see some articles that completely negate the report just given by NPR/Marketplace. There have been no real stress tests....there is no real bank capitalization.....none of the financial reform has been enacted and most has been watered away.....the banks are as leveraged and bigger than before.....AND THEY ARE STILL COMMITTING FRAUD EVERY DAY WITH NO JUSTICE!



Class Dunce Passes Fed’s Stress Test Without a Sweat.

Bank Stress Tests Viewed As Fed Deception By Critics

Posted on March 19, 2012 in Bank Lending, Banking News

Every banker knows that public confidence in the banking industry is essential.

With the banking industry approaching a near meltdown last year, the Federal Reserve decided to conduct a series of “stress tests” on the country’s largest banks in order to restore confidence in the banking system. After reviewing the results of the stress tests, many critics now say that the tests were a deception by the Federal Reserve designed to deceive the public into believing that the banking system is sound when, in fact, it is not.

Gary Shilling, who remains bearish on housing and the economy, argues that the fundamentals for the banking industry remain weak in
Bank Stress Tests Don’t End The Pain.

The business climate for major banks around the world has changed remarkably in just four years. Decades ago, they set off on a huge leveraging spree. Then, starting in 2007, many institutions holding bad private and sovereign assets had to be bailed out by central banks and governments to prevent a collapse of the global financial system.

Even with help from the release of reserves for bad loans, U.S. banks’ return on equity was 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with 15 percent in the pre-crisis salad days. Return on assets, which skips leverage, is 0.76 percent, down from 1.4 percent.

Banks will also be faced with low returns on their basic business as slow economic growth, falling house prices, small returns on stocks, low interest rates and a flat yield curve persist in the remaining five to seven years of global deleveraging that I foresee. Consumer loans will be repaid on balance, and record nonfinancial corporate liquidity and slow economic growth will continue to curb borrowing and mergers-and- acquisitions activity. Then there are the huge counterparty risks on derivatives and potential large further write downs of troubled assets.


Do current prices reflect the continuing deleveraging of banks, persistent slow loan growth, further write-offs of bad real estate and other assets, compressed interest-rate margins, increased capital requirements and increasingly stringent regulation? I’m not convinced they do.  NO!

Jonathan Weil argues in a Bloomberg article that Fed testing of regulatory capital has no connection to reality when it comes to big banks surviving another financial crisis since banks that failed or needed huge bailouts during the crash of 2008 were classified at the time as “well capitalized” by regulators.  Weil goes on to describe the Fed stress tests as a “joke” when they tested Regions Financial Corp which still hasn’t paid back TARP money and has a negative tangible common equity of $525 million


_________________________________________________

1000x Systemic Leverage: $600 Trillion In Gross Derivatives "Backed" By $600 Billion In Collateral

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/24/2012 10:07 -0400

There is much debate whether when it comes to the total notional size of outstanding derivatives, it is the gross notional that matters (roughly $600 trillion), or the amount which takes out biletaral netting and other offsetting positions (much lower). We explained previously how gross is irrelevant... until it is, i.e. until there is a breach in the counterparty chain and suddenly all net becomes gross (as in the case of the Lehman bankruptcy), such as during a financial crisis, i.e., the only time when gross derivative exposure becomes material (er, by definition). But a bigger question is what is the actual collateral backing this gargantuan market which is about 10 times greater than the world's combined GDP, because as the "derivative" name implies all this exposure is backed on some dedicated, real assets, somewhere. Luckily, the IMF recently released a discussion note titled "Shadow Banking: Economics and Policy" where quietly hidden in one of the appendices it answers precisely this critical question.
The bottom line: $600 trillion in gross notional derivatives backed by a tiny $600 billion in real assets: a whopping 0.1% margin requirement! Surely nothing can possibly go wrong with this amount of unprecedented 1000x systemic leverage.
__________________________________________________


Keep in mind that US bank capital was as high as 70% before the Reagan/Clinton bank deregulation started and most financial experts wanted financial reform to have it restored to around 40%.  Neo-liberals moved it from what was 2% at the time of the 2008 crash to what you see below. I think these numbers are high. Needless to say.....this does nothing for bank health.

Bank capitalization means how much physical assets does a bank have to back loans and credit.  As we saw with the article above on the amount of leverage now....your neo-liberal and Obama found it hard to just raise the requirement to 9-10%.   This is what causes the need to bailout these banks....they  bet $600 trillion with just a few hundred billion of capital.

US Bank Capitalization

                                 2008       09         10         11          12
United States          9.3      10.9       11.1       11.2       11.3


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Giant Banks Now 30% Bigger than When Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Law Was Passed
Posted on April 17, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog

Size of Banks Killing Economy … But Giant Banks Have Only Gotten Bigger Since Financial “Reform” Enacted


For years, many high-level economists and financial experts have said that – unless we break up the giant banks – our economy will never recover, real reform will be blocked, and democracy and the rule of law will be corrupted.

So how did the government respond to the financial crisis which started in 2007?

Let the giant banks get even bigger.

As Bloomberg notes, the five banks that held assets equal to 43% of the US economy in 2007 before the financial crisis and the bank bailout now control assets that equal 56% of the US economy:

Two years after President Barack Obama vowed to eliminate the danger of financial institutions becoming “too big to fail,” the nation’s largest banks are bigger than they were before the credit crisis.



Five banks – JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — held $8.5 trillion in assets at the end of 2011, equal to 56 percent of the U.S. economy, according to the Federal Reserve.

Five years earlier, before the financial crisis, the largest banks’ assets amounted to 43 percent of U.S. output. The Big Five today are about twice as large as they were a decade ago relative to the economy, sparking concern that trouble at a major bank would rock the financial system and force the government to step in as it did during the 2008 crunch.

“Market participants believe that nothing has changed, that too-big-to-fail is fully intact,” said Gary Stern, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

That specter is eroding faith in Obama’s pledge that taxpayer-funded bailouts are a thing of the past. It is also exposing him to criticism from Federal Reserve officials, Republicans and Occupy Wall Street supporters, who see the concentration of bank power as a threat to economic stability.

***

The industry’s evolution defies the president’s January 2010 call to “prevent the further consolidation of our financial system.” Embracing new limits on banks’ trading operations, Obama said then that taxpayers wouldn’t be well “served by a financial system that comprises just a few massive firms.”

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, blames a “lack of leadership at Treasury and the White House” for the failure to fulfill that promise. “It’d be safer to break them up,” he said.

***

Regulatory burden could promote further industry consolidation, according to Wilbur Ross, chairman of WL Ross & Co., a private-equity firm.

“We think the little tiny banks, the 90-odd percent of banks that are under $1.5 billion in deposits, are pretty much an obsolete phenomenon,” he told Bloomberg Television on March 14. “We think they’ll all have to merge with each other, be acquired by bigger banks or something.”

***

In 2011, funding costs for banks with more than $10 billion in assets were about one-third less than for the smallest banks, according to the FDIC.

Some presidents of regional Federal Reserve banks have lambasted too big to fail. As Bloomberg notes:

In recent weeks, at least four current Fed presidents — Esther George of Kansas City, Charles Plosser of Philadelphia, Jeffrey Lacker of Richmond and Richard Fisher of Dallas — have voiced similar worries about the risk of a renewed crisis.

But the most powerful Fed bank – the New York Fed – and Bernanke’s Federal Open Market Committee, as well as Tim Geithner’s Treasury Department, have done everything possible to ensure that the the giant banks become too bigger to fail.



_____________________________________________

As those getting their news other than WYPR/NPR/Marketplace know.....the Fed policy and a bond bill written by Obama and neo-liberals in Congress is blowing up the bond market. THIS IS DELIBERATE....REMEMEBER, THE EUROPEAN DEBT IS SO BAD BECAUSE GOLDMAN SACHS AND DEUTSCHE BANK COLLUDED WITH FINANCIAL MINISTERS TO HIDE SOVEREIGN DEBT SO MORE AND MORE DEBT COULD BE TAKEN ON, JUST AS IS HAPPENING IN THE US TODAY!

Dennis Slothower – the financial analyst responsible for 2011's "Letter of the Year" according to MarketWatch.com - now warns...

Why Stocks Could Collapse...
Beginning as Soon as September 30th!

The Fed has propped up the equity markets for months...
but that could soon come to a disastrous end!

According to Marketwatch.com, Dennis Slothower is the guru behind “The investment letter that evaded the 2008 crash...(and) is now the top performer." -- Marketwatch.com, October 6, 2011

Right now, Dennis is issuing another dire warning.

His technical indicators suggest that the market manipulation we’ve seen over the last several months is about to come to an end.

And with very real threats to this artificially inflated market coming from a potential U.S. debt downgrade...for the possibility of a European collapse...and a sluggish U.S. economy - the bottom could fall out of the U.S. stock market at any time.

This correction could begin as soon as September 30th – so it’s important that you take action now to prepare yourself.

______________________________________________




Whiteout Press Independent News for independent thinkers and independent voters!

November 30, 2011  Special thanks to Bloomberg Marketplace for their detailed reporting.

$700 Billion Bank Bailout was Secretly $7 Trillion November 30, 2011. Washington.

In 2008, President Bush, Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke crafted a bank bailout program they termed TARP or the Toxic Asset Relief Program. It was created in the middle of the night, over a weekend, because if they didn’t act by Monday they said, there wouldn’t be an America anymore. With confusion and fear in his eyes, President Bush handed the reins of power to the former CEO of Goldman Sachs. And instead of limiting himself to the $700 billion Congress grudgingly approved, Hank Paulson printed $7 trillion dollars, funneled it through the Federal Reserve and handed it over to the world’s biggest banks with no strings attached and in total secrecy.

Hank Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO and architect of the bank bailouts

While watching Whiteout Press’ favorite morning business show, 'In Business with Margaret Brennan' on Bloomberg TV, the show was interrupted by a startling announcement. Bloomberg investigators had uncovered details that the most powerful men in Washington and New York were desperate to keep secret. In fact, Bloomberg had to sue the Federal government for access to the events of 2009 and 2010 regarding the US bank bailout. The Federal Reserve however, insisted all details of the largest bank bailout in the history of the world had to be kept completely secret from the American people.

The government fought releasing the secret details all the way the US Supreme Court. Earlier this year, Bloomberg won their lawsuit. Treasury and the FED weren’t going to surrender to the American people that easy however. The FED turned over 29,000 documents and details of 21,000 transactions made during the time period covered by TARP and the nation’s bank bailout. Attempting to handcuff Bloomberg investigators with an avalanche of documentation, imagine their surprise when Margaret Brennan’s show was interrupted yesterday with the unbelievable news that the bank bailout American’s were led to believe was only $700 billion, was actually $7.77 trillion. According to the NY Fed, the total amount of US currency in circulation in the entire world at the time was only $829 billion.

While the events are difficult to follow for anyone who’s not familiar with the strange way America’s banking and economic system works, not to mention all the government and Wall Street secrecy, here’s a novice’s view of what happened during the panicked early days of America’s economic collapse. When the $700 billion bank bailout authorized by Congress wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough to save banks like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Bank of America, Ben Bernanke and the FED opened up the nation’s discount borrowing window – to the tune of $7.77 trillion dollars.


Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) could do a much better job of explaining the almost criminal nature of the FED than this Whiteout Press author ever could. With his pledge to abolish the FED, Rep Paul might explain – imagine you Joe Citizen walk into your city hall and ask for a $10 billion dollar loan at zero percent interest. They give you, and only you, that loan because you’re ‘special’. You then loan that $10 billion out to others at 5, 10 or 20 percent yearly interest for things like homes, which are guaranteed by the taxpayers, so there’s no risk of nonpayment. When that $15 or $20 billion is paid back to you, you pay back the FED the original $10 billion and keep the rest.

Instead of loaning that $7.77 trillion to the American people as the American government intended, banks throughout the world took advantage of the US taxpayer and used that money to secretly cover massive losses the banks were suffering from their stupidly investing in their own worthless financial instruments – instruments the banks knew were worthless and doomed to fail. Like a modern day shell game, trillions of dollars floated from one banking institution to another, appearing to fill all balance sheet holes everywhere. Not all the banks used the money to fill holes however. Some used it to make massive profits.

The Bloomberg reporting revealed banks like Barclays, Banco Santander and BNP Parabas made a fortune on the US taxpayer program. Barclays turned their money into a $26.7 billion profit. Banco Santander profited $29.2 billion and BNP Parabas made $17.1 billion.

They weren’t alone. According to Bloomberg’s data, 97 different financial institutions around the globe turned their ‘discount window’ into profits during the two years of the financial crisis. The most suspicious part – the US government insisted on keeping every single transaction a secret. In one day alone at the end of 2008, the Federal Reserve gave out $1.2 trillion dollars to banks – the most on any day before or since.

For those who remember, Bank of America was accused of using its funds not to bailout underwater homeowners, but instead to purchase a bank in China. Bank of America made a profit of $14.2 billion using their ‘special’ discount borrowing privilege. Bank of America wasn’t the only player in the middle of the US financial collapse that made massive profits off the US taxpayer. Wells Fargo made $12.1 billion. JP Morgan made $13.8 billion, Goldman Sachs made $12.7 billion, American Express made $1.4 billion, Discover made $1.4 billion, US Bancorp profited $7.2 billion, HSBC made $11.6 billion, PNC Financial $1.4 billion, Lloyds made $9.6 billion and the list goes on and on.

Not all the banks that made massive profits off the US taxpayers during the peak of the financial crisis were well-known American brands. Foreign banks also made billions in profits, including the National Australia Bank, Bank of Toronto, Mitsubishi, Skandinavista, Chang Hwa, the Israel Discount Bank and dozens more.



Not all banks used the US taxpayers to make billions in extra profits. Some banks tried, and lost.

Among the banks that lost money on the secret loan program were Citigroup, losing $29.3 billion, Royal Bank of Scotland lost $45.3 billion, Credit Suisse lost $4.1 billion, Deutsche Bank lost $433 million, Fifth Third lost $1 billion, Wachovia lost $31.6 billion, Merrill Lynch lost $35.9 billion, Arab Banking lost $77 million, Allied Irish Banks lost $3.4 billion, Morgan Stanley lost $3 billion, Industrial Bank of Korea lost $559 million and the list goes on and on.

Readers can take their pick regarding which aspect of this story to be most angry about. Some will be outraged that for-profit banks are taking advantage of the US taxpayer and making billions in free money. Others will be angry that based on the above list, it appears the US taxpayer is also guaranteeing the profits of foreign banks all over the world. And some will be outraged by the fact that the entire story was kept secret from not only the American people, but also their representative in Congress and even officials at the FED.

Bloomberg asked one longtime critic of giant banks, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), to comment. “When you see the dollars the banks got, it’s hard to make the case these were successful institutions,” she says, “This is an issue that can unite the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. There are lawmakers in both parties who would change their votes now.”

Bloomberg also quotes other individuals who should have been aware of what was going on, but weren’t. Gary H. Stern, Minneapolis FED Chairman at the time, insists he, “wasn’t aware of the magnitude.” Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), member of the House Financial Services Committee, says, “TARP at least had some strings attached. With the Fed programs, there was nothing.”

Misleading Shareholders

With hindsight being 20/20, Bloomberg looked at some of the biggest emergency borrowers and compared their financial situation with the outlook and forecasts made by the bank’s CEO’s to their shareholders. One such example is Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America. On November 26, 2008 he informed shareholders that BofA was, “one of the strongest and most stable major banks in the world.” We’ll let you the reader decide - Bank of America owed the US government a staggering $86 billion on that day.


Another example is JP Morgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon. On March 26, 2010, he reassured his shareholders that JP Morgan didn’t need a bailout and only participated in the program in the beginning, “at the request of the Federal Reserve to help motivate others to use the system.” In reality, JP Morgan was still taking advantage of the emergency program and owed the US government $48 billion dollars more than a year after the program began.

As far as the American people go, the two Representatives of theirs in Congress that should have been made aware of what was going on, weren’t. Both the Republican and Democratic overseers of the massive bank bailout, Rep. Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), both confirmed to Bloomberg they were kept in the dark.

“We were aware emergency efforts were going on” Frank said, “We didn’t know the specifics.” Congressman Frank announced his retirement earlier this week. Rep. Judd Gregg simply responded, “We didn’t know the specifics.” Former Congressman Judd Gregg is now employed by Goldman Sachs.

What’s Changed

Most Americans couldn’t explain how banks function or how the bank bailout worked if their lives depended on it. But most assume the US taxpayer loaned billions to banks to save the industry and avoid economic collapse, rampant unemployment and a housing crash. But if one were to take a step back and look at the new landscape, a new picture emerges of what the bank bailout was really about. In the five years from before the crisis in 2006 to after the crisis in 2011, the six largest US banks increased their assets, or money and property they own, from $6.8 trillion dollars to $9.5 trillion.

Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher summed up the thoughts of many when he called that fact, “un-American”.




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    Cindy Walsh is a lifelong political activist and academic living in Baltimore, Maryland.

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