Sunday, August 29, 2010

4: Obama Accounting: Trying to Make Poverty Profitable for Education?



Obama's $4.3 Billion "Race to the Top" Department of Education (DoEd) program administered by Chicago friend, DoEd Secretary Arne Duncan is a high priced federal intervention into national, state, and local education policy.

Initially there were 3 major criticisms: 1)"Race to the Top is a Charter School initiative. Charter schools create a 2nd public school system, a duplication of services in a weak economy. If you cannot educate in School 1, why start over in School 2? 2)"Race to the Top" created a competition between states and "consortia" of states for federal DoEd money. 3)What was the identified problem in school achievement, the student, teachers, or schools? How can you propose a solution if you haven't identified a problem?

The Obama DoEd money may be a "trojan horse" deployed by the Democratic Administration in the months before the primary elections. Enormous amounts of state and local educator time and energy has been devoted to the compilation of voluminous reports required for the "Race" applications. In Round One, only Delaware and Tennessee tentatively "won", $100,000 million and $500,000 million respectively. New York, Goergia, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, DC, Illinois, Hawaii, Maryland and Rhode Island are in Round Two, filing paperwork for the "Race" funds.

Published Federal press releases of state "winners" have not mentioned that these are preliminary awards and amounts, pending review of an additional application by November. Applications are further complicated by which school districts and charter schools choose to "sign on" to the state application. These are not uniform awards to the states or to schools within the states by population or other criteria.

Despite generating huge volumes of data for government data entry technicians, it is not clear how any actual distribution of funds could occur.

DoEd Secretary Arne Duncan notes "the creativity and innovation in each of these applications is breathtaking", relinquishing the concept of standards.

The New York Daily News reports New York has tentatively been awarded $240 million of $700 million to be disbursed over 4 years in Round Two. New York goals would include creating testing standards for math and reading for 3rd - 8th grades and High School which are "rigorous, globally competitive, and consistent". New York has not made a final decision to continue the application for these funds.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reports Ohio has been tentatively awarded $400 million, $29.8 million for Cuyahoga County. The Ohio Education Department interprets the amounts as a reform effort determined by the number of students in low-income families. This is hard to reconcile with achievement criteria, based on student and school performance data on OH standardized tests.

Schools at the highest level of achievement are held to that standard for a 2-year period, from which they fall by not achieving more. If you have an "A", your "A" will fall to "B" for not raising above the "A". Under this interpretation, the best students at the best schools probably would not receive funding, until they fail. So the best must "Race to the Bottom" to get the most "Race to the Top" funding.

In OH "no teacher will be left behind". The OH goal is to train teachers in instructional strategies that vary by building. Marilyn Tromer, OH State Superintendent, said the money "will be used to bring more tools and services to OH teachers so they can better track their students' achievement". Other OH goals include improving graduation rate by 0.5%, halving the gap between minority and white student graduation rates and test scores, and halving the gap between OH and the best performing states in national math and reading assessments.

In New Jersey, the "Race to the Top" has been divisive. Governor Chris Christie fired his Education Commissioner for early "Round" application errors.

There is a minimum $100,000 application amount for state school districts which apply to "Race to the Top". Government analysts and penny counters must have been off the day Obama introduced this legislation to Congress. Why appropriate more money if less will do? The "Race to the Top" terms resemble commission-based collateral business loan applications.

There is another question. With a $1.5 trillion dollar federal deficit, where is the loan money coming from? US students not able to learn under normal conditions may not be able to study under the pressure of a foreign, particularly United Arab Emirate (UAE), lien against the schoolhouse, their teachers, themselves or their parents.

"Save the little red schoolhouse!"

Photos: Top--One-room country schools were common in the US in the 1800's. One teacher taught all grades. Teaching methods stressed memorization and discipline.
Next--1930's Progressive Education teachers rejected the formal teaching methods of the 1800's. Pupils learned about community life by building a miniature town.
(The World Book Encyclopedia, 2003)

Other references include: The New York Daily News, The (Cleveland, OH) Plain Dealer.

Email mkrause54@yahoo.com or mkrause381@gmail.com for a copy of this blog or other blogs posted by mary for monthlynotesstaff on http://monthlynotesfour.blogspot.com (when indexed) or http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com on www.google.com.

4: Obama Accounting: Trying to Make Poverty Profitable for Education?



Obama's $4.3 Billion "Race to the Top" Department of Education (DoEd) program administered by Chicago friend, DoEd Secretary Arne Duncan is a high priced federal intervention into national, state, and local education policy.

Initially there were 3 major criticisms: 1)"Race to the Top is a Charter School initiative. Charter schools create a 2nd public school system, a duplication of services in a weak economy. If you cannot educate in School 1, why start over in School 2? 2)"Race to the Top" created a competition between states and "consortia" of states for federal DoEd money. 3)What was the identified problem in school achievement, the student, teachers, or schools? How can you propose a solution if you haven't identified a problem?

The Obama DoEd money may be a "trojan horse" deployed by the Democratic Administration in the months before the primary elections. Enormous amounts of state and local educator time and energy has been devoted to the compilation of voluminous reports required for the "Race" applications. In Round One, only Delaware and Tennessee tentatively "won", $100,000 million and $500,000 million respectively. New York, Goergia, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, DC, Illinois, Hawaii, Maryland and Rhode Island are in Round Two, filing paperwork for the "Race" funds.

Published Federal press releases of state "winners" have not mentioned that these are preliminary awards and amounts, pending review of an additional application by November. Applications are further complicated by which school districts and charter schools choose to "sign on" to the state application. These are not uniform awards to the states or to schools within the states by population or other criteria.

Despite generating huge volumes of data for government data entry technicians, it is not clear how any actual distribution of funds could occur.

DoEd Secretary Arne Duncan notes "the creativity and innovation in each of these applications is breathtaking", relinquishing the concept of standards.

The New York Daily News reports New York has tentatively been awarded $240 million of $700 million to be disbursed over 4 years in Round Two. New York goals would include creating testing standards for math and reading for 3rd - 8th grades and High School which are "rigorous, globally competitive, and consistent". New York has not made a final decision to continue the application for these funds.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reports Ohio has been tentatively awarded $400 million, $29.8 million for Cuyahoga County. The Ohio Education Department interprets the amounts as a reform effort determined by the number of students in low-income families. This is hard to reconcile with achievement criteria, based on student and school performance data on OH standardized tests.

Schools at the highest level of achievement are held to that standard for a 2-year period, from which they fall by not achieving more. If you have an "A", your "A" will fall to "B" for not raising above the "A". Under this interpretation, the best students at the best schools probably would not receive funding, until they fail. So the best must "Race to the Bottom" to get the most "Race to the Top" funding.

In OH "no teacher will be left behind". The OH goal is to train teachers in instructional strategies that vary by building. Marilyn Tromer, OH State Superintendent, said the money "will be used to bring more tools and services to OH teachers so they can better track their students' achievement". Other OH goals include improving graduation rate by 0.5%, halving the gap between minority and white student graduation rates and test scores, and halving the gap between OH and the best performing states in national math and reading assessments.

In New Jersey, the "Race to the Top" has been divisive. Governor Chris Christie fired his Education Commissioner for early "Round" application errors.

There is a minimum $100,000 application amount for state school districts which apply to "Race to the Top". Government analysts and penny counters must have been off the day Obama introduced this legislation to Congress. Why appropriate more money if less will do? The "Race to the Top" terms resemble commission-based collateral business loan applications.

There is another question. With a $1.5 trillion dollar federal deficit, where is the loan money coming from? US students not able to learn under normal conditions may not be able to study under the pressure of a foreign, particularly United Arab Emirate (UAE), lien against the schoolhouse, their teachers, themselves or their parents.

"Save the little red schoolhouse!"

Photos: Top--One-room country schools were common in the US in the 1800's. One teacher taught all grades. Teaching methods stressed memorization and discipline.
Next--1930's Progressive Education teachers rejected the formal teaching methods of the 1800's. Pupils learned about community life by building a miniature town.
(The World Book Encyclopedia, 2003)

Other references include: The New York Daily News, The (Cleveland, OH) Plain Dealer.

Email mkrause54@yahoo.com or mkrause381@gmail.com for a copy of this blog or other blogs posted by mary for monthlynotesstaff on http://monthlynotesfour.blogspot.com (when indexed) or http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com on www.google.com.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

3: Obama Accounting: Green as in Clean Energy or Money, Money, Money?

Obama White House website observers noted the absence of Obama Clean Energy funding information around August 23, 2010. Why would Obama scrub his website clean of popular environmental projects?

The $1.5 Billion Obama Department of Energy (DoE) Fisker Automotive electric hybrid grants and loans may be one reason why. The February 17, 2010 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) featured the most recent readily available information about Fisker hybrid cars, noting "Gore-Backed Car Firm Gets Large US Loan".

Henrik Fisker, a California custom car designer, gained automotive experience at BMW and Aston Martin. In 2007, Henrik worked for Tesla, a "start-up" electric hybrid California automotive company, under a $565 million DoE grant for the proposed Tesla $109,000 roadster.

Henrik Fisker left Tesla to join Barney Koehler of "Fisker Coachbuilder". The 10/23/2009 WSJ reported Koehler became co-founder and COO of Fisker Automotive. Koehler's Fisker Coachbuilder redesigned a General Motors (GM) door handle for the proposed Fisker "Karma" model.

=========================================
That's FisKer, not FisHer (Coachbuilder).
=========================================

In April, 2008, Tesla investors filed against Henrik Fisker alleging stolen technology used to develop the "Fisker Karma". Tesla claimed the Tesla "Model S" design by Koehler of "Fisker Coachbuilder" was substandard and that Fisker Automotive diverted the best ideas to the "Fisker Karma".

In September, 2009, DoE gave Fisker Automotive a $529 million grant. An additional $500 million DoE loan was made to the Fisker Automotive "start-up".

Congress established a $25 billion fund under DoE Section 136 Energy Independence Act of 2007 for Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM) in 2007for grants and direct loans to automotive and automobile part manufacturers for the cost of re-equipping and establishing manufacturing facilities in the US to produce advanced technology vehicles or qualified components and for associated engineering integration costs.

There are 2 proposed Fisker models, the "Karma" and the Project NINA "Kx". The Kx is a $39,000-$48,000 car due on the market by 2012.

Fisker's Karma originally was slated to be manufactured in Valmet, Finland. However, the DoE grant/direct loan program specifies a US location.

DoE project deadlines approached. Fisker now knew if there was no site, the award was lost, and the whole company was out of business.

Kyle Braden, VP Real Estate, and Mike Deighan, VP Marketing Motor Liquidators Co. (MLC) became property liquidators in the General Motors (GM) bankruptcy/bailout plan. MLC said "GM left behind" several old facilities in the bankruptcy, particularly the Wilmington, DE (Delaware) Boxwood Rd. plant.

MLC, involved in restructuring GM properties and assets also were investors in New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), a Fremont, CA company run by Kunihiko Oguka, whom they mentioned in early negotiations for a CA site for Fisker Automotive. MLC, owner/managers of the GM bankruptcy plants, and Linda Lovelace, of Washington, DC Wellford Energy Advisor representative for Fisker Automotive, discussed possible plans with CA Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and CA Senator Barbara Boxer, for a site for engineering work to complete the first Fisker car, the Karma. Other possible former GM manufacturing sites included plants in Michigan and Ohio.

Fisker decided on the Wilmington, DE GM Boxwood Rd. plant. President Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden, from Delaware, were to meet to announce the deal in October, 2009. Vice President Biden promoted the deal for jobs and money to re-tool the old GM manufacturing facility.

Visit the Fisker corporate website for concept photographs of the Karma and the Kx. The Fisker Automotive slogan is "Designed to Get You Hot, Not the Planet". Fisker Automotive employs only 100, far fewer than the usual 1,000 employees for work on a new model.

Fisker Automotive only designs and promotes the cars the company designs. Almost everything is outsourced to other companies, battery, electric power train, parts, and accessories.
==================================================
"Designed to Get You Hot, Not the Planet."
==================================================
Fisker Automotive investors include: 1) Eco-Drive Capital partners, LLC with Vinood Khosha, formerly of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers Venture Capital firm, who has donated $3.2 million to Barack Obama and other Democratic Party politicians including Hillary Clinton, and 2) Qatar, the state-run investor.

Vinood Khosha also consulted with O. John Coletta, Eco-Motors, Intl. of Troy, MI, who was a good sport about being denied a $20 million DoE loan for their hybrid car. Scott Redmond, CEO XP Vehicles, was denied $40 million by the DoE for their proposed $15,000-$25,000 hybrid.

It is only August 2010. But is it too soon to call Obama DoE Secretary Steven Chu's Deputy Secretary Missy Biden Owens to ask when we can expect to see the Fisker Karma and Kx on the showroom in Delaware, $1.5 billion later?

References: The Wall Street Journal, www.wikipedia.com, www.judicialwatch.com

(Email mkrause381@gmail.com or mkrause54@yahoo.com for a copy of this blog or other blogs posted by mary for monthlynotesstaff on http://monthlynotesfour.blogspot.com or http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com on www.google.com.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

2: Obama Accounting: Black Funding & Lawsuit Settlements

The Obama/Holder Department of Justice (DoJ):
Directing lawsuit settlement awards to DoJ-favored "qualified organizations".

DoJ lawsuit settlement monies traditionally are restricted to injured parties. The Obama/Holder DoJ now directs lawsuit monies to favored community organizing groups who may sponsor education and advocacy programs related to lawsuit issues. These monies are demanded by DoJ in pre-trial-type settlements in which there has been no finding of wrongdoing and in excess of restitution amounts.

In US v. AIG & Wilmington Finance, DoJ demanded $6.1 million, the largest settlement awarded to US DoJ plaintiffs who may have suffered as a result of an alleged violation. AIG was not found guilty of Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act violation allegations in allowing third party wholesale mortgage brokers to charge African-American borrowers higher direct broker fees.

DoJ further demanded $1 million to be paid to approved ACORN-type community organizing organizations for credit counseling and financial literacy programs.

Similar "settlement-plus" tactics were used at the state level by Minnesota "wannabe governor" Attorney General Mike Hatch. Hatch settled with Capital One Bank for allegations of fraudulent advertising for $749,999, $1 short of the amount required to be more rigorously reported. The settlement was a 3-way split between the State of Minnesota, Legal Aid, and ACORN. ACORN later announced its support of Mike Hatch for governor of Minnesota.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Obama Accounting:
...Law (sic, is) a sort of glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power-...

_____________________________________________________________________________________

There are several recurring Obama financial themes:
1. Strong-arming corporations for large pre-trial settlements.
It may produce revenue for the Obama Administration. But it appears extortionate, given the failure of the DoJ to make a finding of wrongdoing.
It also is inflationary: Capital One Bank increased its overall consumer interest charges. Some customer APRs were increased 6-8%, while customers were notified this was a corporate decision unrelated to the consumer's credit.

2. Obama/Holder DoJ "settlement-plus" amounts are earmarked for Obama-approved ACORN type community organizer groups which target mostly Afro-American or other ethnic groups for education and advocacy programs. This does discrimate against white mainstream and other Americans, it is an example of "reverse racism".

3. Obama/Holder DoJ "settlement-plus" amounts are earmarked for Obama and Democratic candidate supporters, pay-forwards or pay-backs for community organizing for votes.

4. Obama has a legal habit of looking at his last lawsuit for his next lawsuit. It was true in Chicago with Voter Registration and ACORN and its true in Washington, DC. Obama bailed out AIG with $180 billion. Recently AIG reduced its loan by
$4 billion with The Reserve Bank of NY to $15 billion. The AIG/Wilimington Reserve Bank DoJ settlement takes back $6.1 million, plus $1 million, from another AIG company.

5. The wholesale mortgage issues in the AIG/Wilmington Reserve Bank "settlement-plus" do not appear to be related to retail consumer credit and financial literacy education programs delivered by ACORN-type community organizer companies. The Security & Exchange Commission (SEC) might be needed to sort out real vs. sham issues in moving AIG monies.

6. "De facto" discrimination cannot be a legitimate legal cause to be used by a black advocacy Administration to payout monies to blacks and their political allies. Are Obama/Holder willing to payout to whites, who are thusly discriminated against by not being offered housing in less expensive predominantly or totally colored neighborhoods?

More on "Obama Accounting" in the next blog in this series.

References: www.wikipedia.com, HotAir.com, The Washington Examiner.

Email mkrause381@gmail.com or mkrause54@yahoo.com for a copy of this or other blogs posted by mary for monthlynotesstaff on http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com or http://monthlynotesfour.blogspot.com on www.google.com.

Monday, August 23, 2010

1: Obama Accounting: Black Funding & Lawsuit Settlements



Here is the key to the Obama Presidency. It unlocks the black war chest of booty, money hidden behind the illusory veil of transparency. Obama's agenda, spoken in his own words, during the campaign (AP, 2007):

"...Law is a sort of glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power- and that all too often seeks to explain, to those who do not, the ultimate wisdom and justness of their condition."

Early in law, Barack Hussein Obama learned how to use the "letter of the law", much like his Democratic Party mentor, William Jefferson Clinton, notorious for the "it depends on what you mean by IS" defense in the Monica Lewinski investigation at the time of his Impeachment Trial. Obama embellished his legal reputation in 1988 as THE Editor of the Harvard Law Review. Obama actually was one of 80 first year student-editors.

Obama's tale of reaching through the loopholes of the law for the money which he and his administration would earmark for Afro-Americans and other ethnic supporters may have unexpected and ironic consequences.

Obama's career impulse as black advocate began before social organizing, law school, then politics. In 1981 he gave a speech at Los Angeles, CA Occidental College demanding "divestment" (disinvestment) of American college money in South Africa, during the anti-apartheid movement. Here Obama first met his corporate foe, General Motors (GM). As a result of "disinvestment" economic sanctions, GM, the largest employer of black South Africans, was forced to leave South Africa. In 1977, Rev. Leon Sullivan, a black American preacher, formulated the Sullivan Rules, which forbade US companies from doing business in apartheid South Africa. Ironically, Obama, Sullivan, and others reversed the fortunes of black South African GM employees and contributed to the destabilization of South Africa.

Obama left Occidental for Columbia University in NYC and majored in political science with a specialty in international relations. He worked for Business International Corp, then NY Public Interest Group. Obama left for Chicago in 1985 to become Director of Developing Communities Project, a Catholic Church based, community organizing non-profit, akin to ACORN (Association for Community Organizing Reform Now).

Obama cultivated community organizing connections with ACORN, for which he worked, in housing, mortagage and banking access, and voter registration drives. Obama maintained his Chicago community organizing connections.

After he left for Harvard Law School in 1988, Obama worked summers for Chicago law firms. Recruited by Judson Miner, Obama returned to Chicago in 1991 to work in civil rights at the 13-member civil rights law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill, and Galland, until 2004, when Obama entered Illinois politics. Obama also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School during this time. Obama's law license became inactive in 2002.

At Miner, Obama mainly researched, wrote, and "worked behind the scenes" in black lawsuits. In 1991 Obama represented community organizers and black voters trying to force a redrawing of city ward boundaries to increase black and ethnic poitical influence based on the 1990 Census. In 1992 Obama worked for IL (Illinois) Project Vote, registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered AfroAmericans. In 1995 Obama sued on behalf of ACORN in the Motor Voters case against the State of Illinois for failing to implement federal law to make voter registration easier. Obama left this case to run for State Representative in Illinois.

Recently, ACORN employees and associates have "whisleblown" on Project Vote funding. ACORN felt pressured to use nonpartisan funds obtained from government through the efforts of Obama et.al. to bring in the vote for Obama and Democratic Party candidates. Missouri and Nevada ACORN are under investigation for voter fraud. ACORN has lost funding for these and other irregularities.

However, ACORN and related community organizers continue to receive money through the Obama/Holder Department of Justice, in federal and state lawsuit settlement and "settlement-plus" special funds.

Ironically, Obama may have caught himself in his own snare, in later Obama-sponsored legislation: the 2006 Coburn-Obama Transparency Act (S-2590), its 2008 sequel Strengthening Transparency & Accountability in Federal Spending, and the Deceptive Practices & Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections.

(More on the Department of Justice lawsusit "settlement-plus" packages in the next blog in this series.)

Photograph from The Washington Post, the Obama vs. McCain Campaign, May 18, 2008.
Other references www.Wikipedia.com, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Boston (Globe).com, The Washington Examiner.

Contact mary for the monthlynotesstaff at mkrause381@gmail.com or mkrause54@yahoo.com for a copy of this blog or other blogs in the monthlynotes series.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

2: Social Security Retirement: What is Social Security Disability?

Social Security Disability is meant only for contributing workers disabled due to accident, injury, or illness which occurs "on the job". A worker can seek evaluation for "early retirement" if that worker cannot return to do that job. For example, a worker who sustained a back injury lifting who cannot return to that job because of the severity of that injury may be able to receive Social Security disability payments.

Social Security Disability was not intended to be a general welfare fund. "Welfare State" politicicans have been borrowing from or against Social Security Retirement funds for general welfare recipient payments for congenital "disabilities" (like cerebral palsy) and other forms of mental retardation and developmental problems in infants, children, or young adults (like premature infant neurological syndromes or dyslexia) who obviously have not been workers contributing to the retirement fund.

Misuse of the term "social security" to gain access to funds in welfare fraud and "entitlements" takes money from workers who "pay-in", depletes the fund, and brings negative attention to this "pay-in" retirement fund.

In this time of high unemployment, social security retirement funds should be used as "early retirement" monies for contributing workers. This would alleviate some of the unemployment hardship the fund was created to prevent. This is particularly true for older workers who have more difficulty finding stable jobs.

Stable jobs are not as highly valued by "Business" and "Finance" in this economy as in the past. During this period of relative de-industrialization at home, while exporting factories and labor to third world countries, America is "growing" an investment growth economy which devalues employment. Wages and salaries for jobs are considered an unnecessary business expense, a loss of profit for owners and investors. How to maintain an economy which maintains possibilities for employment and income for its citizens is a focus for debate involving and going beyond the Social Security Retirement fund issues.

How to fund general welfare is another problem to be solved. This question should not be avoided by borrowing from a retirement fund. This avoidance has already caused a crisis for the Social Security Retirement fund.


(Return to http://monthlynotesthree.blogspot.com for the first blog in this series, to http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com and http://monthlynotes.blogspot.com on www.google.com for other US blogs on issues of general interest by the monthlynotesstaff. Email mary at mkrause381@gmail.com for a copy of this blog or to make additional comments.)