Replace Wisconsin with the State of your Choice

Just replace Wisconsin with the name of a State of your choice, the message still holds true.

Cathy

Bankruptcy, not a Bailout

I received the following piece via email from Dick Morris. I totally agree with him. Outrageous pensions to government union employees should have never been promised in the first place they were irresponsible and unsustainable.

Quote of the Day -"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later "you run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

TO SAVE THE STATES: LET 'EM DECLARE BANKRUPTCY
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published in the New York Post on January 12, 2011

Facing huge budget difficulties, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been showing other states how to survive -- namely, by taking on the government-employee unions.

Christie's battles with the teachers unions over the past year have produced countless YouTube hits. And last month, he got a law passed to limit wage hikes from labor arbitrations between the state and public-employee unions to an average 2 percent annual increase.

As New Jersey, New York, California and Illinois -- the four with the highest insurance premiums on their bonds -- face life without a compliant Congress to approve their pleas for more cash, they'll increasingly have to follow Christie's example and rein in their unions.

As Margaret Thatcher famously said, the problem with socialism is that sooner or later "you run out of other people's money."



When the states come calling, the House must say, "No." More, it's time to amend the federal bankruptcy laws to create a procedure for state bankruptcies -- allowing states to abrogate their municipal-union contracts from the school-board level on up.

States, in bankruptcy court, should be able to reorganize their finances so as to put themselves back on a stable footing.

Initially, municipal-bond buyers will protest the lack of federal assistance and may even deny states and localities access to the bond market at any interest rate. But once the states reorganize, they should be able to proceed normally -- just as New York City did after its financial meltdown in the '70s.

Such reorganizations needn't require any ongoing federal involvement. The procedure would let the states help themselves, giving governors and legislatures a third way out of their financial mess. Raise taxes, cut spending or . . . alter union contracts. Each state would face the choice of whether to wallow in overspending or take steps to correct it.

Initially, Democrats will oppose the idea of state bankruptcies. But when House Republicans make clear that no more aid will be forthcoming and that the stimulus spigot is turned off, at least some Democrats will realize this is their best option.

Then, fiscal necessity will have achieved what so many of us want -- a return of true local government.

No more will schools be run for the teachers and by the teachers -- nor will such unions as the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees dominate state legislatures. School choice, charter schools and even voucher programs will have a chance to flourish.

Some fear the US Constitution prevents federal law from extending Chapter 9 to permit state bankruptcies, because it would violate state sovereignty. Yet Chapter 9 is voluntary, so states would remain sovereign -- with merely the option of subjecting themselves to Chapter 9 constraints.

Giving insolvent states the power to break their union contracts would alter dramatically the balance of political power all across the nation. No longer would municipal unions have the financial ability to underwrite the Democratic Party. Gone from our politics would be $200 million that the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, SEIU and AFSCME together spent on political action in the last election cycle.

Government would be returned to the people.

The Ruling Class

We are ruled by an oligarchy not only at a federal level but at the state level and city level as well. Schools are run by an elite class who can not relate to the struggles of those who pay their salaries. The compensation, vacation and benefit packages of said groups are unsustainable and out of control.

The following piece appears on American Thinker.com.

“For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.”
Karl Marx quotes (German political Philosopher and revolutionary, 1818-1883)

Similar Quotes.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.



The government ruling class by the numbers
K.E. Campbell


The ruling class continues to live high on the hog at the expense of the rest of the country -- staggering national debt, 10th Amendment and Great Recession be damned. The figures that follow are more consistent with an aristocracy, monarchy or plutocracy than our constitutional republic.

Home prices

According to the Washington Post, the Washington DC area experienced "the highest year-over-year home price gains in the nation this fall, as real estate values slumped in nearly every other metropolitan area." The article cited Standard & Poor's latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released last week. From October 2009 to October 2010, home prices dropped in 16 of the 20 metro areas studied. Of the four cities with increases, home prices in the DC area rose most: 3.7%.



From September 2010 to October 2010, home prices declined in all of the 20 markets tracked. Still, the nation's capital region enjoyed a relative advantage, tying Las Vegas for the lowest month-over-month decline, -0.2%.

Unemployment rates

In late November 2010, Forbes reported that the DC area "boasts a better than average unemployment rate of 5.9%, far below the September's 9.2% national average." That's a 44% difference. The Washington area unemployment rate, according to the Post, "has consistently remained roughly three percentage points below the national average throughout the downturn in the economy."

Income

According to Forbes, the Washington DC area was "the place with the highest median family income" in 2009. Residents there realized a 0.7% increase, on average, in household income in 2009, despite the fact that "median family incomes across the country decreased dramatically from 2008 to 2009."

According to another Forbes ranking, three of the top five, six of the top ten, and 11 of the top 25 "richest" counties in U.S. are in the Washington DC area. The top three counties on the list -- Loudoun, Fairfax, and Howard -- are all in the DC area. The rankings are based on 2008 median household income data from the Census Bureau.

The Cato Institute analyzed data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and concluded that "in 2009, the average wage for 1.95 million federal civilian workers was $81,258, which compared to an average $50,462 for the nation's 101 million private sector workers (measured in full-time equivalents)." The disparity is even greater when benefits are considered. According to Cato, "federal worker compensation averaged a whopping $123,049, which was more than double the private sector average of $61,051" in 2009.

Until the beast that is the federal government is starved or at least put on a crash diet, the swine will continue to dine finely at our expense.

You Gotta Love Unions - Union Scandals

Yesterday I had to listening to the ramblings of an old man talk (with age does not always come wisdom) about how good unions were for workers. I wonder how the union workers who paid dues feel about their union dollars being used in this matter. Was this the hope and change voters hoped for when electing a Union loving President?

The following piece appeared on the Examiner.com.
Be sure to visit the Examiner.com to read the links associated with the below story.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Top ten most outrageous union scandals
June 20, Conservative ExaminerRobert Moon

Under President "Change," out-of-control union abuses and corruption have exploded onto the scene across the country. Below are the top ten most egregious cases, as documented by the New York Post, the National Legal and Policy Center and the New York Daily News.

Only one was from before our bought-and-paid-for union puppet-in-chief took office and began immediately dumping truckloads of endless borrowed tax dollars into union coffers (as I noted here).

10. Feb. 11, 2010: Anthony Rumore, ex-president of Scarsdale's Teamsters Local 812, pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements related to extorting free labor out of his membership.

9. Aug. 5, 2009: Michael Forde, ex-head of the city's District Council of Carpenters, was hit with a 29-count indictment for taking bribes from members -- in exchange for allowing them to avoid mandatory contributions to their pension funds. Forde beat similar charges several years before.



8. Jan., 2008: Salvatore Battaglia, President of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 1181, pleaded guilty to taking payoffs and said several school bus company owners have made regular payments to his union for decades.

7. April 21, 2010: Wayne Mitchell, ex-president of Communications Workers of America Local 14170 (representing mail room workers), pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to embezzling $200,000.

6. April 23, 2010: Mitchell's immediate successor, Larry DeAngelis, pleaded guilty to stealing $60,000 from the union.

5. May 11, 2010: Peter Thomassen, assistant supervisor of the above-mentioned carpenters union, resigned after a report showed huge amounts of spending on lavish parties, junkets and steak dinners. An indictment is expected.

4. Last May, ex-Central Labor Council boss and former Queens Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin was sentenced to 10 years for embezzlement -- including from the electricians union he once ran.

3. Feb. 16, 2010: Thomas Pokrywczynski, former secretary-treasurer of Buffalo-area Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1342, pleaded guilty in federal court to theft of $254,000 in union funds.

2. June, 2010: Daniel Hughes, former head of the Field Supervisor Association representing Port Authority workers, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to looting $300,000 in members' dues over five years.

1. Feb. 17, 2010: Melissa King, former benefits administrator of the "Sandhogs" tunnel-digging union, was indicted for embezzling some $40 million from three benefit funds she oversaw.

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Pension Tsunami is Starting to Hit

Jim and I have been saying for years that pensions are bankrupting the States, you know the problem must be completely out of hand if the New York Times is reporting the crisis. These pensions were unsustainable from the getgo and should have never been negoiated in the first place. One way to solve both the public pension problem and the social security problem at once is to transfer all public pensions funds to social security and have everyone recieve social security. Be sure to visit the New York Times for links associated with the story.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

PAYBACK TIME
In Budget Crisis, States Take Aim at Pension Costs
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
Published: June 19, 2010


Many states are acknowledging this year that they have promised pensions they cannot afford and are cutting once-sacrosanct benefits, to appease taxpayers and attack budget deficits.
Enlarge This Image

Seth Perlman/Associated Press
Gov. Pat Quinn said an overhaul would save Illinois’s pension system $300 million in its first year. But the fund is weakened.
Payback Time

Untouchable Benefits

Articles in this series are examining the consequences of, and efforts to deal with, growing public and private debts.
Previous Articles in the Series »
Illinois raised its retirement age to 67, the highest of any state, and capped public pensions at $106,800 a year. Arizona, New York, Missouri and Mississippi will make people work more years to earn pensions. Virginia is requiring employees to pay into the state pension fund for the first time. New Jersey will not give anyone pension credit unless they work at least 32 hours a week.

“We can’t afford to deny reality or delay action any longer,” said Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois, adding that his state’s pension cuts, enacted in March, will save some $300 million in the first year alone.

But there is a catch: Nearly all of the cuts so far apply only to workers not yet hired. Though heralded as breakthrough reforms by state officials, the cuts phase in so slowly they are unlikely to save the weakest funds and keep them from running out of money. Some new rules may even hasten the demise of the funds they were meant to protect.

Lawmakers wanted to avoid legal battles or fights with unions, whose members can be influential voters. So they are allowing most public workers across the country to keep building up their pensions at the same rate as ever. The tens of thousands of workers now on Illinois’s payrolls, for instance, will still get to retire at 60 — and some will as young as 55.

One striking exception is Colorado, which has imposed cuts on its current workers, not just future hires, and even on people who have already retired. The retirees have sued to block the reduction.

Other states with shrinking funds and deep fiscal distress may be pushed in this direction and tempted to follow Colorado’s example in the coming years. Though most state officials believe they are legally bound to shield current workers from pension cuts, a Colorado victory could embolden them to be more aggressive.



Colorado pruned a 3.5 percent annual pension increase to 2 percent, concluding that was the fastest way to revive its pension fund, which was projected to run out of money by 2029. The cut may sound small, but it produces big results because it goes into effect immediately. State plans vary widely, but many have other costly features, like subsidized early-retirement benefits, which could likewise be trimmed for existing workers.

Despite its pension reform, Illinois is still in deep trouble. That vaunted $300 million in immediate savings? The state produced it by giving itself credit now for the much smaller checks it will send retirees many years in the future — people who must first be hired and then, for full benefits, work until age 67.

By recognizing those far-off savings right away, Illinois is letting itself put less money into its pension fund now, starting with $300 million this year.

That saves the state money, but it also weakens the pension fund, actually a family of funds, raising the risk of a collapse long before the real savings start to materialize.

“We’re within a few years of having some of the pension funds run out of money,” said R. Eden Martin, president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a business group that has been warning of a “financial implosion” for several years. “Funding for the schools is going to be cut radically. Funding for Medicaid. As these things all mount up, there’s going to be a lot of outrage.”

Joshua D. Rauh, an associate professor of finance at Northwestern University who studies public pension funds, predicts that at the current rate, Illinois’s pension system could run out of money by 2018. He believes the funds of other troubled states — including New Jersey, Indiana and Connecticut — are also on track to run out of money in less than a decade, unless they make meaningful changes.

If a state pension fund ran out of money, the state would be legally bound to make good on retirees’ benefits. But paying public pensions straight out of general revenue would be ruinous. In Illinois’s case, it would consume about half the state’s cash every year, bringing other vital state services to a standstill.

Mr. Rauh said he thinks any state caught in that trap would have little choice but to seek a federal bailout. Bigger pension contributions and higher taxes can go only so far.

Many state officials, hoping for a huge recovery in the markets, say that such projections are too pessimistic, and that cutting benefits for future workers must suffice, given laws and provisions in state constitutions that make membership in a state pension fund a contractual relationship that cannot be breached.

Lawyers, though, are raising the possibility that those laws are being misinterpreted.

“It makes no sense to suggest that an employee who works for the state for a single day has acquired a right to have future pension benefits calculated for the next 20 to 40 years under whatever method was in effect on that single first day of service,” states a legal memorandum prepared for the Commercial Club of Chicago, which is concerned that a public pension collapse would badly damage the city’s business climate.

The club’s members include senior executives of big companies, like Boeing, Aon, Kraft, Motorola and I.B.M., that have frozen pensions or slowed the rates at which their workers build up benefits.

Some of those cuts set off titanic battles. The most famous was at I.B.M., which changed its pension plan just when many of its older workers were about to earn sharply higher retirement benefits. Aggrieved workers sued, but after a long battle, a federal appellate court found that the cuts were legal.

“An employer is free to move from one legal plan to another legal plan, provided that it does not diminish vested interests,” or the benefits workers have already earned, wrote Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. He did not distinguish between corporate employers and states.

Colorado is basing its legal defense, in part, on a 1961 state supreme court ruling that said pension cuts for current workers were allowed if “actuarially necessary,” and will argue that it applies to retirees as well. Other states may not have such legal tools.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone a different route, bargaining with the 12 unions that represent public employees. Last week four of them agreed to let the state cut its own contributions by requiring current workers to pay sharply more for the same pensions. The workers will contribute 10 percent of their pay, in some cases double the previous rate, to the state pension fund. Some other states are raising employee contributions as well, though less sharply.

In New Jersey, the administration of Gov. Christopher J. Christie recently imposed pension cuts on future hires, but has been quietly looking into whether it could also reduce the benefits that current employees expect to accumulate in the coming years.

“Can they change the benefit formula going forward? Sure. It’s not etched in stone,” said Edward Thomson III, an actuary and trustee of the New Jersey pension system who was asked to offer an opinion on whether New Jersey could adopt the federal pension law — the one that covers companies — as its governing statute.

A state assemblyman, Declan J. O’Scanlon Jr., recently introduced a bill to ratchet back a 9 percent pension increase that the state gave most workers in 2001.

“I think this will pass constitutional muster,” Mr. O’Scanlon said. “Otherwise, I fear the whole system will fall apart. Nine years — we’re out of money.”


Amy Schoenfeld contributed reporting.

Unsustainable Debt - Today's Soapbox Rant.

Brace yourself folks it is going to be a bumpy ride "AMERICA'S NATIONAL DEBTTOPS $13,000,000,000,000; DEBT PER TAXPAYER - $117,975;US DEBT TO GDP RATIO - 90.3%" Cloward and Piven and all the other communist pigs must be jumping for joy. Those of you on public pensions look out and taxpayers too. In the end only one will win and it is going to be messy until this is resolved.

Jim and I have been saying for over 7 years these pensions were going to bankrupt the States and boy did they just call us names and liars. Sadly Jim and I were right. It's a spending problem not a funding problem. If these people were not so damned greedy and they were fiscally responsible this whole mess would have never happened. This was all done without character and integrity, it was a bunch of foxes running the hen house. Ignorance just does not cut it in my book.

Quote of the Day - "I place economy among the first and important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our choice between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy." T. Jefferson


Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left an exercise for my readers.

Blaming the Unions does not Cut it Anymore

You can not blame the unions without blaming the teachers. Year after year they supported the union and approved unsustainable contracts. If you are a teacher who can't see that the system is unsustainable you do not have the capability of actually educating children and clearly that can be seeing by the output and results in public schools.

The following piece appeared in the Daily Herald. Be sure to visit the Daily Herald website to view the comments.

Quote of the Day - " 'I believe what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way. "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the charts crazy." Steve Jobs

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left an exercise for my readers.



Teachers, public grow farther apart

If all the hardworking teachers were to speak out against the damage their unions and those who abuse their tenured positions have done to the integrity of the teaching profession, there would be more support from the public.

However, taking a paid day off to go to Springfield and demand that our property taxes be raised to supply more money while claiming "it's for the children" is doing nothing to encourage this support.

These dealings drive a wedge between the public and educators even deeper and it doesn't seem like anyone but the taxpayers care. It's unfortunate that the actions of some are creating this negative perception that includes nearly everyone in education.

The teachers, their union and the D211 school board know this and are doing absolutely nothing to change it. In fact, the D211 school board views the property tax payers as "complainers".



Until this "what's for me" ideology changes, teachers, unions and school boards will be viewed by the public as greedy, selfish entities. In addition, teachers, unions and school boards are seen as being counterproductive to their cause by utilizing these self-serving tactics. They are behaving as though their profession is nothing short of saintly.

The teachers union's funding of a board member's campaign is an irresponsible act on the part of that board member. The reasoning behind this statement is obvious.

Let's all try to work together to bring this situation back in balance. Right now the school board's methods of negotiating labor costs with the union have gotten out of control and do not reflect economic reality.

John Parker

Schaumburg

Bankruptcy? Say it is not so.

We did not see this coming, NOT! The following piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Be sure to visit the Wall Street Journal to see the picture associated with the story.

Jim and I have been reporting that States will bankrupt themselves if they do not control spending at least since 2005. If you are a company or work for a company making their living off the taxpayer teat there is a chance you won't get paid. Easy money is a suckers bet.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left an exercise for my readers.


Illinois Budget Woes Come to a Boil

By AMY MERRICK

Illinois lawmakers were in disarray Thursday as they groped for stopgap measures to address a $13 billion deficit equaling nearly half of the state's general-fund revenue.

The state faces one of the nation's worst budget crises, spilled over in part from the broader national economic crunch, and its current bond ratings lag only California's. But the confusion in the legislature indicates that serious steps to fix state finances won't be taken until after the November elections—if then.


Most states have addressed or still face gaps in their budgets totaling $196 billion for fiscal year 2010, while tax revenue declined in the final quarter of 2009 in 39 of the states for which data is available.

Illinois lawmakers have little appetite for drastic spending cuts. An income-tax increase proposed by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is going nowhere. Even temporary steps, such as borrowing to make pension payments, have stalled. Illinois is months late on many of its bills and has no plan for catching up.

The legislature may push the problem to the governor's office by granting Mr. Quinn emergency budget powers and adjourning Friday, about three weeks earlier than usual. A bill under consideration in the state House would give Mr. Quinn greater leeway to shift money among state funds and to require agencies to set aside part of their budgets now in case of future cuts.

A state House committee on Thursday passed a cigarette-tax increase that would generate $320 million by raising the state tax from 98 cents a pack to $1.98 a pack over two years. The House also is considering authorizing a sale of expected tobacco-settlement funds, which could bring in $1.2 billion, said State Sen. Donne Trotter, a Democrat.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross called the tobacco-settlement plan "a gimmick" and said he and other Republicans oppose borrowing the pension payment. "We are having the same conversations today that we had a year ago about the need for reform," he said.

Regardless of its final form, the budget will leave the state borrowing for short-term operations and postponing its bills.

"We are lucky in that we still can borrow," Mr. Trotter said, noting that lawmakers responded to rating-agency concerns last month by reducing pension benefits and lifting the retirement age for new state employees to 67 from 60. Lawmakers also are weighing the idea of postponing pension payments for the first half of the fiscal year until January, Mr. Trotter said.



Illinois's problems are an exaggerated version of dynamics playing out across the U.S. All states except Vermont have at least a limited requirement to balance their budgets. In practice, many states rely on one-time revenue windfalls or short-term borrowing to scrape from one fiscal year to the next.

State budgets typically lag the national economy by several years, and the recession has decimated income-tax and sales-tax revenue. Lawmakers often don't want to aggravate voters by raising taxes during an election year.

But legislatures find cutting expenses politically difficult, too. State budgets are dominated by education and health care programs that many voters cherish.

As a result, Illinois, along with other states, routinely has postponed paying its bills, shortchanged pension plans and spent more than it collects in revenue.

It's possible lawmakers will keep working on the budget until they are required to adjourn at the end of the month. Rikeesha Phelon, a spokeswoman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, said Friday's deadline was "just a goal."

Mr. Quinn presented a budget in March that would still leave the state with a $10.6 billion deficit. His plan projected a deficit of $4.7 billion for the coming fiscal year beginning July 1—which he planned to cover through borrowing—and a $5.9 billion deficit carried over from the current budget.

The governor also proposed cutting expenses by $1.5 billion and raising the state income tax 1.5 percentage points, to 4.5% from 3%. He said the tax hike would be used to avert tens of thousands of teacher layoffs. A different proposal to raise income-tax rates passed the state Senate last year but has stalled in the House.

Any hopes that the national economic recovery would help the budget discussions were dashed this week when Illinois disclosed that revenue for April —when most citizens pay taxes—fell more than 15% from the same month a year ago, or $501 million, in part because of a $345 million drop in federal aid. Gross personal income-tax receipts, a major revenue source, dropped $103 million, or 8.1%.

Many states are likely to report similar disappointments. California officials said this week that April personal income tax-collections lagged projections by 30%. Federal estimates don't bode well for states, either.

As of April 30, federal non-withheld income taxes for April fell 17.6% from the same month a year earlier, said a report Tuesday from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York.

Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes said in his April report that the state's cash position for the quarter ending June 30 "looks exceedingly difficult." By June 10, Illinois must repay $1.75 billion, plus interest, in short-term borrowing.

Meanwhile, the state still owes billions of dollars to hospitals, universities, social-service providers and others. Mr. Hynes said the state's backlog of unpaid bills probably will exceed $5.5 billion at the end of June.

"Eventually, many providers of essential state services may be unable to continue their operations at current levels, and those vulnerable segments of the population to whom they provide services will suffer the consequences," he wrote.

Write to Amy Merrick at amy.merrick@wsj.com

Saturday Night Live does a skit on public employee benefits

California Pension Reform posted Saturday Night Live's skit on public employees benefits. I laughed so loud watching it because it is so true. To view the video visit California Pension Reform.com.

Cathy
Spelling errors, grammar errors, misuse of homonyms and typos are left an exercise for my readers.

Barreling Towards the Same Fate

The following piece appeared on the Financial Times website.

We are barreling down the same path of destruction unless we change how our public employees including teachers are paid, when they retire and how their pensions are calculated. Decent teachers and public employees with a good sense of character must educate their fellow members and encourage reform now before it is too late.

Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.


Greece agrees €24bn austerity package
By Kerin Hope in Athens
Published: April 29 2010 22:06 | Last updated: April 30 2010 08:10
Greece has agreed the outline of a €24bn austerity package, including a three-year wage freeze for public sector workers, in return for a multibillion-euro loan from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund, according to people familiar with the talks.

Final details of the measures, which were intended to slash the budget deficit by 10-11 percentage points of gross domestic product over the next three years, were still being worked out, a senior government official said.

Negotiations with officials from the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank are due to be completed at the weekend and the measures will be presented for approval by the Greek parliament next week.

The package also includes an increase in value-added tax, the second this year. “Discussions are still taking place on which of the three [VAT] tiers will be increased,” said the official.



Greek bond and stock markets soared on Thursday in what has been a roller-coaster ride for investors this week.

Greek two-year bond yields, which have an inverse relationship with prices, fell more than 3 percentage points to 12.74 per cent, while the stock market rose 7.14 per cent as confidence grew after it was reported on Wednesday that the EU and IMF were preparing a €120bn loan to bail out Athens.

Greece faces exceptionally strict monitoring by the EU and IMF because of its poor record of implementing previous economic reform programmes.

A Greek official said an IMF team visited “spending” ministries to examine details of yearly outlays and pored over the national accounts at the finance ministry during the 10-day negotiations.

“It was a big IMF team, and they went over the budget with a fine-toothed comb,” the official said.

Efforts by Greek negotiators to delay timetables and dilute some public sector reforms made little headway, he said.

“Given the seriousness of the situation, there weren’t really any arguments to be made for further delays,” the official said.

George Papandreou, prime minister, was last week forced to activate the EU-IMF rescue package after three previous rounds of austerity measures failed to convince financial markets that Greece could bring its public finances under control.

On top of the wage freeze, public sector workers will lose their “13th and 14th month” salaries, paid at Christmas and Easter, and see further cuts in allowances.

Andreas Loverdos, social affairs minister, told the Financial Times that pensioners would also lose seasonal bonuses as part of an overhaul of the underfunded state pension system. The average retirement age would be raised from 53 at present to 67, he said.

“The timetable for the pension measures is still being debated, but there isn’t much room for manoeuvre – this is about saving the country from collapse,” Mr Loverdos said.

Greece’s swollen public sector, which employs about 13 per cent of the workforce, will be gradually reduced through a recruitment freeze, the abolition of short-term contracts and closures of hundreds of outdated state entities.

Mr Papandreou outlined the measures in meetings with employers’ associations and trade union leaders on Thursday.

Emerging from the prime minister’s office, Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of the private sector umbrella union GSEE, warned of confrontation ahead.

Structural measures aimed at boosting competitiveness include the opening of “closed-shop” professions – from truck-driving to employment agencies – and a fast-track privatisation programme.

Three-year reform programme
Two to three percentage points increase in value-added tax

Three-year public sector pay freeze; recruitment frozen

Abolition of ‘13th and 14th monthly salary’ for public sector workers; 5 per cent cut in allowances

No renewals for short-term public sector contracts

Closure of more than 800 out-dated state entities

Opening up of more than 60 ‘closed-shop’ professions

Overhaul of pension system: raising average retirement age to 67 for men and women; cutting state corporation pensions.

Privatisation: sales of state corporations; flotations on Athens stock exchange; sales and leasing of state-owned properties

Additional reporting by David Oakley in London

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

To see related stories go to the Financial Times website.

Wow from a College Newspaper

I was surprise to see this come from a College paper called the Collegian. The writer appears to be from the department of education. I wonder if he took heat for this article. Around of applause for this piece.

Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Unions protect bad teachers, not students

By: Shane Cronin | April 26, 2010 |

During the early 20th century, when working conditions were appalling, employers were ruthless and labor laws didn’t exist in
the United States, vulnerable workers formed unions to protect themselves.
Many unions, however, have outlived their usefulness. Today, they stifle innovation and bully or bribe legislators into getting their ways at enormous taxpayer cost. Teachers unions are a perfect example of this.

The teachers unions are possibly the biggest hurdle a student must overcome to receive a high school diploma. To meet every educational innovation is a union leader with a billy club. They are analogous to legalized mafia.

Across the country merit pay, school choice, policy reform and scholarships for low-income children were vigorously opposed by the unions. This keeps well-paid union higher-ups rich and low-income underperforming students poor.

Teachers usually don’t have a choice on whether or not to join the unions in their districts. This is why unions hate non-unionized charter schools: especially the successful ones.




Teachers unions in Massachusetts have fought tooth and nail to keep the charter school caps low. They fought to keep Teach for America out of Boston last year despite the program’s accomplishments. The union argued new educators shouldn’t be hired in a recession which threatened teacher layoffs.

Ostensibly that seems fair. But, my guess is even in the best economic climate the union would reject Teach for America.

Termination is virtually non-existent among tenured teachers in the U. S. In New Jersey, about one in 20,000 teachers are fired annually. In Los Angeles, between 1995 and 2005 only 112 tenured teachers were fired. In 2003, the city graduated only half its high school seniors. Less than one percent of tenured teachers are fired each year in Dallas, Texas.

This is largely due to legal expenses firing tenured educators incurs, which can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $250,000 depending on the district. Furthermore, unions (particularly in urban districts) have diluted the teacher evaluation system making it almost impossible for a teacher to receive an “unsatisfactory” review.

Union leaders, like mafia bosses, are all about dough. Teachers shell out hundreds of dollars per year to feed the hungry union hierarchy. Union leaders earn six-figure salaries, which is exponentially more than many of the teachers they claim to represent. The fewer unionized teachers there are, the fewer dues these leaders can collect.

Essentially, tenure ensures contract-renewal for mediocre educators year after year. The ability principals have to remove these teachers from classrooms is extremely limited. Principles often cite union power for not firing teachers.

In 2007, the National Education Association contributed more than $80 million (20 percent of its budget) to largely left wing, non-education-related causes. That’s $80 million that could have benefited students. But why waste money on them with a blooming money tree growing in their backyard known as the taxpayers?

The gangster-like teachers union in New Jersey, for example, has suggested Gov. Chris Christie raise the nine percent state income tax rather than agree to a one year teacher pay freeze.

Another favorite target of the unions is The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President Bush in 2002. NCLB essentially mandated standardized testing in every state. It also requires every student to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. The bill has its flaws. However, it is a major step in the right direction: standardization. It fails in the sense that it gives states wide latitude in determining what “basic skills” means.

President Obama, who originally pledged to strengthen education standards, seems to have changed course. The New York Times recently reported President Obama wants to revise NCLB. His proposed revisions, however, are more in line with the union agenda than student achievement.

The President’s changes include factoring “pupil attendance, graduation rates, and learning climate” into a teacher’s/school’s level of success. In other words, the edited version of NCLB will require less measurable accountability.

What happens to mediocre or outright incompetent employees in the private sector? They aren’t awarded raises. They are fired because it would be bad business practice to keep them on the payroll. It is just as bad for students when mediocre teachers are kept on the payroll.

In addition, unions largely oppose merit pay also known as extra pay for teachers who produce high-achieving students. The Florida legislature passed a bill that would have enacted merit pay statewide. Gov. Charlie Crist caved to union pressure, however, and vetoed the legislation earlier this month.

Teachers are America’s human capital. The role they play is critical in educating our youth so they can become analytical, high-functioning, hard-working members of an increasingly high-tech economy. Many teachers are overworked and underpaid. Starting salaries for new teachers deter many qualified applicants – especially in the math and science fields.
The private sector compensates math and science majors much more generously than a career in public education does. Unions, with near unilateral authority over policy, can change this. But they won’t if politicians continue to give in to their self-serving, anti-innovation agenda.
Shane Cronin is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at scronin@student.umass.edu.

A Time for Pay Cuts

The town of Croydon does a great job keeping salaries of our public employees in check, not so much in the Newport schools. Last year at the Town Hall Meeting we were told the salary increases at Newport would result in 10 teachers being laid off they were not, we were also told that the pay increases would not increase Croydon tuition but our taxes are expected to go up 20%. Are these lies, lies and more lies? Newport School employees get excellent pay, benefits and retirement and Croydon taxpayers must always give yet we who work in the public sector continue to see pay cuts, job losses and reduced benefits. Why should we continue a relationship with Newport when they look at Croydon as a cash cow? Further the thought that Newport employees want to close Croydon School and send all of our children there because their student population is declining is not only just plain greedy on their part but appalling.



Quote of the Day -
"Forcing one person to bear the burden of health care costs for another is not only a moral question but a major threat to personal liberty" -- economist Walter Williams.

The following piece appeared on City Watch.

Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers

Mr. Cortines, Tear Down This Wall!
SICK AND TIRED
By Ken Alpern

Just because the old Soviet Union is now confined to the history books, it doesn’t mean we don’t have any “Evil Empires” right here at home that victimize us on a daily basis. I’d say that the public unions, the LAUSD, and their enabling elected politicians just as effectively keep us “Comrades” suppressed, with our taxes misspent and any dissenting voices stifled. As the debate goes on whether to lay off good, hard-working City workers and good, hard-working LAUSD teachers, I remind you all that it’s just a simple matter of math: we either make a pay cut for City workers (ditto for the LAUSD, county, state and federal work forces) or we have to make layoffs.

As the proud son of a Los Angeles civil servant and of a teacher, I very much prefer the former, and NOT the latter, with a broadening of options for motivated public sector individuals to work more than a single job to make more money and help balance the City and LAUSD budgets.

I’ve been through rounds of pay cuts, and I now work six days a week and volunteer countless unpaid hours in my neighborhood council and in grassroots organizations (as do many of you reading this), so I think I’ve earned the right to ask the public unions and elected officials to Do The Obvious and agree to pay cuts…especially because these pay cuts reverse years of salary and pension pay hikes that never, ever EVER could have fit into any reasonable City or LAUSD budget.

Furthermore, I’m sick and tired of walking past fenced-off schools and seeing my children and their friends robbed of the same easily accessible, taxpayer-funded and public school playgrounds and fields that I once enjoyed daily usage when I was a child.



I’m sick and tired of public libraries and parks having to have budgets, staff and hours trimmed while other “Sacred Cows” such as Police and Fire declare themselves off limits to any cuts...while hinting they might not protect us, and guilting/bullying us into submission by suggesting we don’t appreciate their services, if we don’t give them more money.

I’m sick and tired of a LAUSD bureaucracy and the endless whining of the bullies and thugs at the teachers unions tell the taxpayers they have to pay MORE while we get less for our hard-earned dollars. Ditto for the LADWP.

What kind of socialist, statist hell have we gotten ourselves into?

But enough about whining—we need to have ideas, and the discussion needs to have occurred years ago, but to start NOW is better late than never:

1) While a few departments and positions can be streamlined, combined or eliminated, layoffs can be avoided--however, the public sector union leadership needs to have its collective shirt grabbed by the lapel and "get it" that a 5% pay reduction can keep all necessary City, LAUSD and LADWP workers on board and make Los Angeles a great place to live.

2) It's my contention that parks, libraries and neighborhood councils do better with their limited budgets than most of City Hall and other departments do with theirs—cuts have to be across the board, but nailing a few departments because they’re easy targets won’t get the job done

3) Library and parks hours and services need to be extended. With a shortage of open space and educational opportunities, the time is truly ripe for the LAUSD to do a much better job of partnering with the City and County of Los Angeles to fund and provide educational and recreational services.

4) There are too many turf wars between the LAUSD and the City of Los Angeles, and now more than ever we need to have schools and parks and libraries work together to support each other, and not rival each other with duplicated services and facilities.

5) Most importantly, the need to open more evening and weekend hours for schools, with their publicly-funded green spaces and playgrounds, is paramount to restoring the quality of life, trust and connection of taxpayers to the schools they’ve shelled out billions for over the past decade

Whether it’s with a fee and a legal waiver to allow kids and their parents to enjoy these facilities, and to pay for supervisors and security guards to make sure that all legal and security issues are addressed, it’s time to open up the wonderful facilities to the taxpayers who paid for them.

I’ve heard the arguments against this idea, and I’ve also heard the arguments against better coordination and joint funding between City and LAUSD park and library services, and I reject them all—as do, probably, most taxpaying parents who have to put up with this inefficient, taxpayer-hostile way of doing things.

LAUSD Superintendent Ray Cortines is, in my opinion, one of the good guys—and I think that his relationship with Mayor Villaraigosa is one that bodes well for better coordination between the City and the LAUSD. I also think that Mayor Villaraigosa’s idea of a joint LAUSD/City of Los Angeles relationship to improve the education and quality of life for children and their families was, is and will always be an idea that merits a great deal of attention and discussion.

More than ever, we need leaders who are brave and are willing to break the boxes around which we’ve walled ourselves and different layers of government into. We need the decency to tear down the barriers between LAUSD facilities in a park-poor City of Los Angeles, and we need the wisdom to tear down the blockades between rival City and LAUSD departments who provide the same services, and we need the courage to tear down the stifling obstruction between the public sector unions and the taxpayers who provide their salaries.

Mr. Cortines, please tear down this wall!

(Ken Alpern is a Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) and is both co-chair of the MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee and past co-chair of the MVCC Planning/Land Use Management Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and also chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at Alpern@MarVista.org. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) -cw



CityWatch
Vol 8 Issue 15
Pub: Feb 23, 2010

The NEA Is Not about Education it is about Unions

Parents need to wake up, public schools are about meeting the greedy desires of most of the educators, administrators and other interests groups within the schools that suck off the teat of the taxpayer. Most don't give a darn about your child's education or your desire to educate your child as you see fit or allowing you to take your child's tax dollars to the institution of choice. Just look at what Michelle Caccavaro and the other Newport bullies are doing to try to derail the town's desire to break the agreement with Newport. They don't care that the majority of the town would like to get out of the agreement. They also think that those that choose to get out of the agreement just do not know what is good for them. Educators care about themselves they have hijacked public schools as their own entitlement program.

Don't believe me just wait for the town meeting.

Cathy


The following piece appears on Hot Air.com. Feeding the beast at the local level, feeds the beast all the way to DC this is one case where trickle up economics works.


A Less Perfect Union

POSTED AT 6:06 PM ON FEBRUARY 11, 2010 BY DOCTOR ZERO


John Stossel reports on the forced unionization of day-care centers in Flint, Michigan:

"Michelle Berry runs a day-care business out of her home in Flint, MI. She thought that she owned her own business, but Berry’s been told she is now a government employee and union member. It’s not voluntary. Suddenly, Berry and 40,000 other Michigan private day-care providers have learned that union dues are being taken out of the child-care subsidies the state sends them. The “union” is a creation of AFSCME, the government workers union, and the United Auto Workers."

Stossel explains that AFSCME receives about $3.7 million from the Department of Human Services. It achieved its conquest of the Michigan day-care industry through a mail-in vote, which included votes from only 6,000 of the 40,000 day-care providers in the state. You can expect much more aggressive unionizing if some version of the Card Check bill ever manages to slither past Congress.



The current tribute unions demand from their Democrat servants is the “High Road Contracting Policy,” which would give preference for federal contracts to companies that pay a government-defined “living wage,” which would be suspiciously close to the wages unions already demand for their members. As with all subsidies, this living wage would be extracted from the pockets of taxpayers, who will be expected to go on living while their take-home wages shrink, and their jobs evaporate.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the concept of private-sector labor unions. Every worker is the vendor of his own time, and since individuals have the right of free association, there’s nothing immoral about a group of people with related skills banding together to engage in collective bargaining. Over the past century, however, unions have bathed in the radiation of centralized State power, and mutated from defensive alliances of exploited workers, into de facto arms of the government.

In order to prosper, a union requires two essential advantages: solidarity and exclusivity. Solidarity means the members of the union must remain loyal, provide a steady stream of funding through payment of dues, and obey the instructions of the union leadership. There’s not much power to be gained from calling a strike, if half the union membership decides to go into work anyway, and collective bargaining agreements must be honored with minimal debate.

Unions also require privileged access to labor markets, or else independent workers willing to hire on for lower wages will undercut them. A company paying for expensive union labor cannot compete with an open shop that doesn’t have to pay artificially high wages, or provide elaborate benefits. A union could gain exclusivity by providing a vastly superior work product, providing value equal to their high wages. Naturally, the public-relations arms of labor unions like to claim this is the way they operate… but in the real world of 2010, it’s rarely the case.

There is a much easier way for unions to gain exclusive control of labor markets: they can barter the money and voting power they gain from the solidarity of their membership, to politicians with a ravenous appetite for these delicacies. In exchange, the politicians can use the compulsive power of the State to create monopoly playgrounds for the unions. The teachers’ unions are a particularly grotesque example, pushing an obviously inferior work product onto a captive population of students, while politicians patrol the schoolyard fence with truncheons of rolled-up campaign donations.

The National Education Association is the largest union in America, and one of its most powerful political forces, donating millions to Democrat candidates and spending millions more in lobbying… including over a million dollars in donations to the criminal organization ACORN over the last two years. The NEA also provides invaluable political indoctrination, inserting propaganda for statist causes like global warming into education curricula. In exchange, the Democrats are universally sworn to oppose vouchers and school privatization, no matter how much it hurts other constituencies they profess to care about. There are many fine teachers among the ranks of the NEA, but their individual merits vanish beneath the vast corruption of the union establishment.

We’ve also seen billions of taxpayer dollars spent to bail out General Motors, for the benefit of the labor unions whose parasitic embrace ended its free-market life. The unions set a wage level that rendered GM unable to turn a profit, becoming what Mark Steyn describes as “a vast welfare plan with a tiny loss-making commercial sector.” Every American taxpayer was fleeced by the Obama Administration to rescue the unions from the consequences of their actions. Why should they mediate their demands or become competitive with independent labor, when they can hire politicians to follow them around with a club in one hand, and lifesaving cash transfusions in the other?

These events are entirely predictable, because where the supply of votes and political cash from unions meets the demand from Big Government, a transaction is bound to occur. In a centralized state, the power of a political collective is vastly greater than individuals, or most corporations. Plenty of big companies spend cash buying political influence, producing all manner of mischief… but they can’t deliver the kind of packaged voting power that a labor union or racial grievance organization can provide, because they cannot compel – or even encourage – their employees to vote a certain way. The NEA and AFSCME have a lot more than dollars to spend in the political marketplace.

This kind of thing is inevitable, as long as we allow political control over industry, and place huge amounts of tax money in the hands of our government. The depth of corruption can be measured with the value of a congressional vote… or the presidential seal. Despite its overwhelming presence in every aspect of our daily lives, Big Government acquires many characteristics of anarchy, in which the diminishing resources of a moribund economy become the spoils for feuding warlords. One of the hallmarks of civilization is that no one should ever discover they have involuntarily been conscripted into a gang, or the government that increasingly resembles one.


Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

FEC Fails To Investigate

I am getting a little tired of hearing it is not the union members fault it is the union leaders fault. Yes, in some cases it is the union leaders fault but the unions members are to blame too. They have made no attempt to stop the problem and jump on board when they can screw the taxpayers who pay them or the companies for which they work. Math teachers worth the paper their degree is written on should be able to figure out they work in an unsustainable system. If they don't they should not be teaching or luckily the greedy people in the end will get what they deserve. When you decide to lay down with the devil ....... well you know the rest.

The following piece appears on the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc. website.


Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

FEC Fails to Investigate Teachers’ Complaint of NEA Union Money Laundering Scheme
Employee rights advocate weighs federal lawsuit

Washington, DC (January 5, 2010) – Apparently without conducting a field investigation, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) dismissed a complaint against one of the most politically active unions in America after evidence surfaced that union officials deposited illegally laundered dues money into its political action committee (PAC).



Citing in part lack of sufficient funding to enforce the law, the FEC junked a complaint filed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and two Alabama teachers who discovered a union scheme to divert convention reimbursements into the National Education Association (NEA) union’s PAC.

When attending the NEA’s 2004 national convention, Daphne Middle School science department chair Claire Waites was deceived into supporting the NEA’s PAC and was determined that it would not happen again. However, Waites and Assistant Principal Dr. Jeanne Fox, both members of the Baldwin County Education Association (BCEA), Alabama Education Association (AEA), and NEA unions, discovered the practice continues.

In July 2008, Waites and Fox attended the NEA’s annual convention in Washington, DC as delegates of the BCEA. According to their sworn testimony, BCEA union president Saadia Hunter informed the educators that contributions in their names were made to a “children’s fund” using money included in their expense reimbursements for their trip to the convention.

Although Hunter told Waites that these contributions were not political in nature, they actually went to the NEA’s PAC. Hunter later admitted that the money would be contributed to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. AEA union bosses also admitted to the educators that the PAC contributions were paid with BCEA members’ dues.

Foundation attorneys are considering a lawsuit against the FEC for shirking its duty of upholding the integrity of the political system, particularly since it is suspected this scheme affected many other teacher delegates to the union convention.

“The FEC made a conscious decision to not take these charges seriously,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We suspect this scheme could involve many more teachers – potentially to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

It is illegal for union officials to encourage and solicit contributions under false pretenses and without informing workers of their right to refuse to contribute without any reprisal. Federal law also forbids campaign contributions made in the name of another person.

20 Random Thoughts and Beliefs.

1. 911 was not an inside job.
2. The Holocaust did happen.
3. We did land on the moon.
4. I think that some people who believe contrary to the above three can and will cause great harm in our world.
5. Global warming is a hoax we have been going through periods of warming and cooling since the beginning of time. This is just yet another way to control the masses.
6. There is absolute insanity in those who support the killing of innocent people (abortion) and oppose the death penalty for horrible and evil serial killers or child killers.
7. Voting to increase your neighbors taxes is immoral.
8. The government taxing without representation is theft.
9. Some wars are a necessary evil.
10. The War on Poverty has kept 13% of the population in poverty since the 1960's this is one more War that must end.
11. The welfare system is a way to keeping people slaves to the government.
12. When you rely on the government to take care of you, you lose your ability to take care of yourself. Case in point Haiti and New Orleans. We have had tragedy just as large in California, Texas, Florida and New York the people who survive for the most part dust themselves off and put their lives back together.
13. People kill people guns don't kill people.
14. Laws will never stop evil people. Good people don't need laws.
15. Our Country has been on the decline for decades. Republicans, Democrats, Progressives and Independents have had a hand in messing up the Country. When you relinquish your rights to the government you will lose them.
16. Sadly evil does triumph over good at times.
17. If you like Chavez, Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Marx, Castro, Che Guevara or Mussolini you are either really ignorant or really evil.
18. Unions that once built this Country are now destroying our Country.
19. Good hard working people no longer need Unions.
20. Public Pensions are nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme that will bankrupt States and our Country.

Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Look for Fees and Taxes to go up in Your City

According to the American City & County website city budgets will be in trouble through 2010. Well that is a big no duh! Will they cut spending? Heck no! Expect more fees and property taxes to go. God forbid the public sector oligarchies across the Country give a little.

Pretty soon the government is going to put us in money machines with the money we earn throughout the year. What you can grab you keep, what you can't grab the government keeps.



I am grateful that we live in a town where the selectmen are serious about controlling spending. Now only if we had a school district that would do the same.

Cathy Peschke
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Quote of the Day - A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog. Who can trust such creatures? ~ Marcus Tillius Cicero

NLC survey: Cities' financial distress will continue beyond 2010
Sep 3, 2009 1:40 PM

The effects of the recession will continue to drag down city budgets beyond 2010, according to a survey by the Washington-based National League of Cities (NLC). The situation reflects the typical 18-month time lag seen in the effects that economic shifts have on city budgets that results from the collection of tax revenues only at certain times of the year, according to NLC.



The report, "City Fiscal Conditions in 2009," found that cities face significant budget gaps this year because of a 1.3 percent decline of income tax and a 3.8 percent decrease in sales tax collections. Those taxes are typically the earliest source of city revenue to decline as job losses increase and consumer purchases decrease, according to NLC. Property taxes, which make up the bulk of city revenue nationwide, are beginning to slow, growing only 1.6 percent as real property assessments are adjusted to reflect declining housing values.

To read the rest of the story go to the American City & County website.

Where is the Porkulous Being Spent in New Hampshire?

Read it and weep. Look how your tax dollars are being spent. Who will pay it off? Your children, your grandchildren and/or your great grand children?

$340,920 for research to answer the question "How does changing seasonality affect the capacity of Arctic streams networks to influence nutrient fluxes from the landscape to the ocean?"

$772,709 to examine the "use of genome enabled tools to understand symbiosis?"

The state received $39 million in regular educational funding, $31 million in stimulus Title I funds and $51 million for special ed and 3 to 5 year old program, $3.2 million in educational technology, etc., etc.

To top it off Newport and the SAU want to increase the amount Croydon residents pay by 29%. Does the greed of educrats ever end?

The following piece appears in the Union Leader.

Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Quote of the Day - "A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." - George Santayana

The follow piece appeared on the Union Leader.


Stimulus proves to be a windfall for schools

By JOHN DISTASO
Senior Political Reporter
Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009



CONCORD – First of two parts

Ten months after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was enacted, where is the stimulus money going?

In New Hampshire, much has gone to projects you might have expected -- road paving and repair, for example, and extra unemployment benefits.

Some is going to college students and local school districts in big aid programs -- recipients you might think worthy but might not equate with emergency spending to spur the economy out of a deep recession.



And significant millions of your tax dollars are going for things you might not have expected to be part of a stimulus plan at all.

Did you think, for instance, that $340,920 in stimulus funds would go to research aimed at answering the question "How does changing seasonality affect the capacity of Arctic streams networks to influence nutrient fluxes from the landscape to the ocean?"


Or that $772,709 would examine the "use of genome enabled tools to understand symbiosis?"

Or that $693 in economic stimulus money would buy a hot-food counter at the Lamprey River Elementary School in Raymond?

The federal government says it paid out more than $414 million in stimulus money to public and private entities in New Hampshire as of Dec. 1 and that an announced total of $1.4 billion will be available to those entities by the time the program ends in mid-July 2011.

According to the state Office of Economic Stimulus, the stimulus program has provided nearly $140 million for roads and other transportation-related items and more than $120 million for energy- and environment-related projects, with the biggest chunk of the stimulus-fund pie -- more than $160 million -- going to education.

Public schools

In addition to $39 million in regular funding, according to the state Department of Education, scores of New Hampshire school districts have received a combined total of nearly $31 million in stimulus money through the federal Title I program. According to the federal Department of Education, the additional funding "provides financial assistance to (local education agencies) and schools with high numbers of poor children."

More than $51 million in stimulus money is targeted to supplement about the same amount of existing federal funding for special education, according to the state Department of Education. The federal government says that money is to ensure that "children with disabilities, including children ages 3 through 5, have access to a free appropriate public education to meet each child's unique needs and prepare him or her for further education, employment and independent living."

Additionally, the federal Department of Education has sent New Hampshire $3.2 million in education technology grants, $1.9 million for vocational rehabilitation, $323,000 in independent-living grants, and $190,000 to assist school districts in helping homeless children get to and from school and perform well.

Kathleen Murphy, director of instruction for the state education department, said these millions are worthy expenditures of taxpayer money.

She said all Title I and IDEA grants require applications that meet "the specific criteria they are targeted to help, and, when they get it, the school districts must focus it on students who are low-income."

Manchester, for instance, received $5.9 million in Title I and $4.4 million in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding as of Dec. 1, according to the state stimulus office.

The city's superintendent of schools, Thomas Brennan, said the money allowed "some personnel hires," including 20 kindergarten teachers, seven high school and middle school assistant principals, and seven elementary school principals, "all working with specialized students under IDEA."

Brennan said the district hired three transition counselors at the high school level, also under IDEA, to support "specifically identified students."

He said the district also used stimulus money for "additional training for teachers in the development of individual education plans."

Murphy said she understands that the stimulus program is controversial, but said, "It is unprecedented for us to do the kind of work for the kids in New Hampshire that we've been able to do. It is terrific."

Broad definition

But these are not the types of programs that the most Americans expected stimulus funds to be used for, said David Williams, vice president of the national watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.

"When people think of stimulus, they think of jobs being created quickly," Williams said. "Fifty people out there pouring cement -- that's what people originally think of a stimulus bill trying to do."

Little known to the average taxpayer is that, according to the federal government, the stimulus has a dual purpose: "To stimulate the economy in the short term and invest in education and other essential public services to ensure the long-term economic health of our nation."

The broad heading "invest in education" has resulted in some intriguing uses.

According to public state documents:

-- $68,590 was awarded to the Henniker Youth Theatre group, more than twice the amount it usually raises privately.

"We had a great time with it," said director Thomas Dunn, who said the program was able to double its summer minimum-wage counseling staff from four to eight 18- to 24-year-old actors/singers and expand into Hillsborough. He said the stimulus money headed off a planned hike in fees for participants.

"It was just wonderful," he said, looking forward to applying for more stimulus money next year.

-- In Manchester, besides the millions used for Title I and IDEA, there was $35,008 for a pot washer and $9,375 for a freezer at the Beech Street School.

-- In Rumney, $1,949 was awarded for a hot-food table and shelf at the Russell Elementary School.

-- Peterborough collected $539 in stimulus funds for a heater and $949 for a freezer at the South Meadow School.

Murphy said such funding, under the federal school lunch equipment assistance program, gives districts "a chance to replace equipment that is sometimes ancient and can be costly."

And in Manchester, superintendent Brennan said the Beech Street School's walk-in freezer, for instance, was necessary to replace an older piece of equipment.

.

Tomorrow: Much of federal stimulus money targeted for education has gone to public elementary, middle and secondary schools, but large grants also are going to the state's universities -- public and private -- and to their students.

Charles Arlinghaus Nails it Again

The following piece appears in the Union Leader. I really do not think the average joe is aware of how fairly government employees are compensated or aware of their outstanding pensions which is constitutionally protected and paid for by taxpayers. Dare I say overcompensated.

Quote of the Day - "Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned." - Milton Friedman

Cathy

Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.


Charles M. Arlinghaus: State employees are not shortchanged
By CHARLES M. ARLINGHAUS


The biggest issue in state government right now is the struggle between state employees and the governor. The details about state employee compensation and its impact on the state budget are not often discussed, and this leads people to make assumptions that may or may not be accurate.

We must do something about the cost of state employees because they are the lion's share of the cost of having state government, we're told. The exact cost is hard to track down, but in 2008 the state employed about 12,000 people who make an average of $42,000, for about $504 million in salary cost. Add to that some additional people not included in the list of 12,000, a raise in 2009, increased pay step levels, and salaries still total less than $600 million.

The largest other employee cost is medical insurance. In New Hampshire, medical insurance had been growing rapidly. From 1999 to 2004, premiums paid for state employee medical benefits increased by about 20 percent a year -- from $49 million to $117 million. During the Benson administration, the state switched to self-insurance to try to better control costs, as many large companies do. As a result, premium growth slowed dramatically to about 7 percent each year. Medical coverage cost $156 million in 2008. At the old rate of growth, it would have been $80 million higher.


If we add together salary costs, health insurance and a few other items such as retirement contributions and retiree health costs, the total is around $800 million in an annual budget of around $5.7 billion -- about 14 percent of the total. Mind you, it may be a smaller percentage than people often think, but $800 million is nothing to sneeze at.

While its growth is not nearly as fast as state government itself, the state employee work force is still growing. Between 1998 and 2008, the number of filled permanent positions increased by 16.7 percent -- about 1,600 additional employees. The state budget in the same time period increased by 85 percent -- about $2.3 billion.

It is true that at one time the average state employee made less than the average citizen. That's no longer the case. From 2003 to 2008, state employee average pay increased from $33,600 to $42,500 -- about 4.8 percent per year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that average pay in 2008 in all occupations in the state was $42,600. In 2009, a pay raise sent state employee pay past the state average.

So salaries are almost exactly average, but benefits are much higher. Private sector insurance is much less generous and involves higher co-pays than the typical state government plan. Even among state government plans, New Hampshire's is among the most generous. According the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual survey, only one state has a higher total cost, and it has significantly higher cost-sharing.

Family coverage costs about $20,800 for a state employee here compared to the national average of $12,700. The NCSL also estimates that average cost-sharing is 18 percent of that total, but only 2 percent in New Hampshire. So it costs taxpayers about $10,000 more per state employee than average.

In New Hampshire, this is a conscious decision. State employees have chosen to forgo higher pay in exchange for a more generous health insurance policy. Even so, an employee with family coverage has salary and medical benefits that are a good 20 percent higher than the average worker in the state.

There is much consternation over the possible layoff of 750 state workers. Yet history suggests that most of those workers could be rehired relatively quickly. Despite attractive pay and benefits, state government is not an unchanging monolith. Each year an average of 1,100 employees leave state service. Combined with the regular growth in the total number of employees and the creation of temporary positions, it means about 210 new employees are hired each month.

The state has been in the middle of a nominal hiring freeze for more than a year, but that doesn't stop positions from being filled. The freeze only applies to general funds, which cover fewer than half the employees. Even then, exceptions are granted. For example, during the four months of 2008 covered by the freeze, 71 exceptions were granted. In addition, another 100 or so other positions were filled. Combined with temporary and seasonal positions, about 1,000 people were hired in those four months.

Government has to be mindful of state employees both to ensure it attracts a dedicated work force and to make sure it isn't overcharging taxpayers. A look under the hood of state government suggests that we certainly aren't shortchanging the workers. But it also shows that 86 percent of the cost of government lies elsewhere and needs the same tough scrutiny that contracts are undergoing.

Charles M. Arlinghaus is president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Concord.

Random Thoughts On Friday

Don't believe everything you see in the News. The Astroturf is from the left not the right.

Who is getting bussed into the Town Hall meetings? Yep pro-union, pro Obamacare people.

Who are the real thugs? These people are making Jimmy Hoffa look like a good guy.

Who is getting paid to go to the Town Hall Meetings? You guessed it the left. Up to 15 bucks an hour.



Who got boxed lunches at the Town Hall Meeting? Yep you guessed it again, the left.

Who knew that facebook was a great source for NEWS, information and a great place to find like minded liberty minded friends.

The I-Pod touch is another distraction I probably did not need.

Movie suggestions for the weekend, Animal Farm and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Who knew that political activism could be more fun then a day at the beach.

If you are not a part of the solution you are a part of the problem. Make a phone call today to your Senator or Representative or attend a town hall meeting or attend a tea party or donate to a pro-liberty candidate or educate your friends and neighbors. Our Country is changing and it will not be for the better, do something to restore the freedoms on which this Country was founded.

Educate yourself on how Obama's policies will change the Country. Visit the Heritage Foundation's website.

Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.

Is This Really The Home of the Free?

I can't believe I live in Country that is asking it's fellow Americans to snitch on its fellow Americans.

I can't believe I love in a Country where a black man gets beaten up by Union thugs and Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the ACLU are not their to help him.

I can't believe I live in a Country where Doctors have to spend their valuable time protesting against socialized medicine.

I can't believe that we have a President who is hypocritical about who gets to express their 1st Amendment rights and how they do it.


I can't believe I live in a Country where the President acts to divide the Country and asks one group to act violently against another group.


I can't believe I live in a Country where the Speaker of the house says garbage like this and the mainstream media lets her get away with it.

I could go on forever but I will close it with....


I am grateful that I live in a Country that is not going to put up with all of it and breaks out in God Bless America when blocked by union thugs and our legislators.

Cathy