FWCS Still Doesn’t Get It
First things first, of the 137 teacher positions being cut 88 of them are due to potential changes in the state budget. These changes would force schools to pay for insurance and utilities out of the general fund instead of the capital projects fund. An abrupt move like this is wholly unacceptable and the state legislature should NOT consider it during this session. There are problems with the capital projects fund to be sure but a better solution is needed.
Beyond that, reducing teaching positions is the worst thing FWCS could do right now. There is absolutely no reason FWCS couldn’t hold a referendum to get funding for teaching positions while simultaneously fixing their capital projects funding gap. The problem seems to be Superintendent Wendy Robinson:
Robinson said even a referendum, like the one just passed by Southwest Allen County Schools, would not be feasible, mainly because, as experience showed with the $500 million building plan, she doesn’t think the community would pass it.
“At a time when people don’t have jobs, how am I going to get a referendum passed?”
Sometimes I wonder if she has some hidden angle or if she really is that dense. I mean does she still not get it? The opposition was to wasteful spending on an ill-conceived building project. I, and many other opponents, would whole-heartily support more funding for the general fund given these conditions:
- The additional staff positions were teachers (not assistants/trainers/administrators/etc)
- The new positions were created in elementary schools (preferably 2nd and 3rd grade)
- These new positions would show tangible results before the funding was renewed
If Robinson and her administration spent half as much time marketing this new strategy as they did the building project then the referendum would pass quite easily. The board and the administration need to get their priorities straight before it’s too late…
Stick it to the Bondholders
I’ve been saying that the way we can stop digging our financial woes deeper is to hammer the bondholders of failing institutions. Here was my previous comment regarding GM and Chrysler:
Right now bondholders have been unwilling to take a loss in order to help these companies restructure. Their reasoning is that they don’t believe the government will allow these companies to fail - a classic example of moral hazard. They fully expect the government to bail them out and pay the bondholders at 100%. This is problematic for the auto industry because the unions (and others) are willing to renegotiate their contracts but only if the bondholders take some losses too.
The very best thing the government could do is put GM into bankruptcy and make the bondholders eat it. This would send a clear message to everyone that their junk bonds are no longer backed by the government and nor should they be. This will also force the private sector to begin restructuring their debt without government intervention. Of course it will shock the market to no end but unfortunately that probably needs to happen to get things back on the right track.
And here’s an excerpt from yesterday’s NY times on the showdown between the Obama Administration and the bondholders (the largest which happen to be the bankrupt banks):
Last week the Treasury Department, which runs President Obama’s automobile task force, presented banks holding $6.9 billion in Chrysler’s secured debt with a plan under which they would get about 15 cents on the dollar, or about $1 billion. That is roughly the trading level of Chrysler debt in recent days
[...]
On Monday the banks, led by JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, rejected the administration’s plan outright, with some of the debtholders arguing that they would rather break up Chrysler and sell its assets — notably its Jeep brand — because they believed that they would receive more money selling the assets than they were being offered by the administration.In a plan submitted to the administration on Monday night, the debtholders insisted that they receive about 65 cents on the dollar, or about $4.5 billion, and roughly a 40 percent stake in whatever car company emerges as a re-engineered Chrysler.
Are you kidding me? The same bozos whose companies only exist thanks to government bailouts now want their bonds purchased at four times the market rate? And they want 40% of the newly minted government-subsidized company? Give me a break. As Judge Smails said to Spaulding in Caddyshack - “You’ll Get Nothing and Like It”!
Chrysler can’t be saved no matter what the government does. If the administration sinks this sucker it will send a message to bondholders the world over that the free lunch is over…
In Defense of FWCS (sort of)
Every year the AYP numbers come out and everyone feigns shock that so many of our schools aren’t making the grade. People blame the school board, superintendent, teachers, etc. But rarely do people want to talk about the real problem - PARENTS. So let’s just be honest about what’s going on here shall we?
The reality is many of these kids who are falling behind have parents that could care less. At the end of the day parenting is what matters most in a child’s life. If you’re a total screw up then there’s a better than average chance your kid will be too. And that’s really the gist of the problem I have with the Fort Wayne Community School Board and the administration. They think more money will solve this and every other problem - it won’t.
The hard truth is that if a kid’s parents don’t give a damn about his education then he has little-to-no chance at a successful future. No amount of money for new buildings or programs will change that. And really, if you don’t give a crap about your own child then why would you expect anyone else to? You show me a kid who’s parents are involved in his education - even to the tune of 1 hour a night - and I’ll show you a kid who’s going to do all right regardless of their socio-economic status.
The free lunch program is a prime example of this. School lunches are already subsidized. Yet you want me to believe that 95% of kids (in some schools) have parents who can’t afford $1.50/day for their kid to eat? As a parent your basic responsibility is to provide food, shelter and love for your child. Now anyone can fall on hard times and that’s why I believe in social safety nets and charitable organizations, but if you cannot provide your child food day in and day out, each and every year then you are a piss poor parent. Of course that’s not what’s going on here and everybody knows it - the money is there so people take it and we all pretend it actually makes a difference.
We need to stop the No Child Left Behind/AYP garbage, the “vouchers will save the day” nonsense and any other method that doesn’t deal with the root problem - lousy parenting. We must rethink the way our educational system is structured and come up with a more holistic, community-oriented approach that educates (and shames if necessary) parents as well as their children.
Every day we continue to pretend that teachers or school programs or new curricula can solve the problem is a waste of time and only adds to our country’s growing opportunity cost of under-educated youth…
City Caution is Welcome
I’m glad to hear that the Hartland group claims to have financing for the Superior Row project. But it’s also good to see that the city is learning from previous mistakes:
The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission on Monday declined the proposal submitted by Hartland Development of Fort Wayne. The rejection was a legal formality because the developer wants to pay only $1 for 8,000 square feet of land the city has valued at $65,335.
Leatherman said the city would not sell the land to the developer until it has proof construction would begin.
Populism Works But You Already Knew That
During the debate over property tax reform the elitists were out in force warning that if we held referendums on school building projects that our entire educational system would collapse. I mean no electorate would ever approve of higher taxes to support education right? Well, as I argued then, that logic is drastically flawed:
The idea that referendums will kill all school projects is simply not based in reality. Most states have a referendum for bonds and they still build schools. The fact is over half of my property taxes go to the schools. Any serious proposal to slow government spending and/or property taxes HAS to account for that.
Don’t be fooled, this is a money issue pure and simple. The ISTA, construction interests, etc are fighting this because it will mean an end to their elitist ways. Allowing the people to determine how their money is spent on massive spending projects should be at the core of the Democratic Party agenda. It saddens me to see that we’re still a party beholden to special interests…
Voters in Soutwest Allen Community School District proved me right again tonight in their referendum when they approved of a $3.5 million tax increase for additional school funding. It turns out voters will support projects that make sense and aren’t seen as a complete waste of money. Hoocoodanode?
What I’m Reading
As I mentioned in a previous thread I finished reading Ron Paul’s The Revolution and enjoyed it. I also read Brew Chem 101 as I thought it would give me a little more insight into the chemistry of brewing beer - another one of my hobbies. Unfortunately the book was extremely basic and full of buzz words instead of real information.
I started to read another book entitled Don’t Get Too Comfortable but I quit about 1/3 of the way through because it sucked. The book is a collection of short essays regarding our society’s rampant and ridiculous consumerism. I had heard one of the author’s stories on the radio and thought the book might be interesting but it was too self-loathing for my tastes. There’s something wrong with making money by selling books bitching and moaning about how good Americans have it and how we should all feel guilt-ridden about it. It just wasn’t what I expected.
Now I’ve moved on to another book I’ve wanted to read for a while - Crash Proof by Peter Schiff. Schiff had been warning people about the pending economic collapse for the past few years and typically was laughed at or mocked. I thought it would be fascinating to read his book, printed in 2007, with the benefit of hindsight. I’ll be posting a few excerpts as I go.
If you have any recommendations for future reads then feel free to drop me an e-mail or post it in the comments…
The Ron Paul “Kooks”
I’ve heard local Republicans refer to a subset of their party as the Ron Paul “kooks” on more than one occasion. I had been wanting to read Paul’s Book, The Revolution, for some time now and I finished it a couple of weekends ago. I must say that I agree with a lot of Paul’s positions as I thought I probably would.
For example, I see no need to extend our military bases all over the planet. I fully agree with Paul that we should close those bases and bring our troops home to defend this country. I’ve always found it quite pitiful that we can guard the borders of South Korea but we can’t manage to keep illegal immigrants from entering this country by the masses.
I’m sure I could go down the list of Paul’s positions and tell you that I agree with the vast majority of them. So that got me wondering, why are people that support Paul considered kooks? Anyone who reads this book would instantly realize that he is not a kook. He has a well thought out reason for his policy positions and the basis for all of them is respect for the Constitution and liberty. If that makes one a kook, well I guess I am one as well.
I’ve never quite figured out the Ron Paul dynamic within the Republican party. It seems he and his supporters are completely rejected and not taken seriously whatsoever. Perhaps one of you local Republicans can fill us in and let us know why the Paul supporters are marginalized. Are they too demanding - i.e. you’re either with us on 100% of the issues or you’re against us?
Regardless of your party leanings I would encourage everyone to read this book. If nothing else it will give you some insight into a truly unique and fascinating personality in modern politics. I’ll bet that you too will come away from the book agreeing with him on a number of issues. If nothing else you will have a new found respect for him and his ideas even if you don’t always agree…
Another glaring problem with the Indiana Unemployment system
In my earlier posts about the Indiana unemployment system I had several “seasonal workers” post comments telling me that seasonal workers “deserve” unemployment benefits.
Let’s consider my business. My wife and I run a public accounting business here in Fort Wayne called Small Business Services CPA Group; SBS CPA Group for short.
We provide a lot of services including bookkeeping, tax planning and preparation for individuals and small businesses, QuickBooks support and training, Assurance services including compilations, reviews, and audits, and Business Valuations.
We employ three CPA’s year around and hired two interns from IPFW who worked for us part time this year during our busy season. This year our busy season ran for the first 15 weeks of the year. Now we will slow down and we will work a lot less hours. Our three CPA’s worked an averageof 61 hours per week the first fifteen weeks of the year. Read more
Another thing wrong with the Indiana Unemployment system
Over the last few weeks someone from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development has called my office once a week and has asked us if we are looking to hire someone. Each time we tell them no.
After several weeks of this I got frustrated and told them that I am a small business, that I do not want them to call me again, and for them to remove me from their phone call list.
The last straw was when they called me on April 14th (A rather busy day for most CPA’s who work at a firm that handles a lot of tax preparation) and left a message asking me to call a specific person at a specific number. The caller did not identify themself as being with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Instead they left their first name and a phone number for me to call.
So I figured the call came from one of our existing clients or a new client and I immediately returned the call when I was able to.
When I realized that it was the Indiana Department of Workforce Development I asked them to remove me from the list of employers they call once a week. In fact, I told them to never call me again.
There are several reasons I think that this program the Indiana Department of Workforce Development has where one of their employees calls businesses once a week asking them if they are looking to hire someone this week is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars:
What a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.
Mike Sylvester
Tea Party Thoughts
I would say there were over a thousand people in attendance as it was a beautiful day for a political protest. As expected Alan Keyes was a lively speaker and kept the audience engaged during his half-hour keynote address. I do however think he does himself a disservice by continuing his “Is Obama really an American” charade.
Like nearly every political rally I’ve attended, I left with a sense of optimism that if enough people cared then perhaps we really could hold government accountable. Unfortunately, with history as my guide, I’m just not sure enough people do care.
Keyes was right on the money when he said the people need to look in the mirror when they want someone to blame - he rightly asked “where have you been?” A good question indeed. Ranting and raving about the government doesn’t do a damn bit of good if you don’t vote or if you continue to vote for the same people.
The apathy is certainly understandable - I feel it at times myself. What difference can I or this little website make? The truth is probably not much. So how can one start to promote liberty, respect for the constitution and fiscal sanity? Not surprisingly my opinion is that it has to start at the local level. That’s what frustrated me the most about today’s rally.
Where were these people when our local government and their buddies were looting us? From baseball dreams, to gentrification projects and bridges to nowhere. Every part of government has made decisions that would surely outrage these same people but “where have they been?”. Do you even know who your county commissioners are let alone what they actually do every day?
Where were you when the city budget fight was underway and the administration was pushing for an increase in the income tax? Where were you when the county fast-tracked the certain-to-fail Maplecrest Extension project to avoid the new state referendum law? Where were you when the city council voted to cut the tax levy without cutting spending?
If you want to change your government then you might want to start with those closest to you. A group like I saw at today’s rally could have a tremendous impact on local affairs. Congressmen and Senators will never read that e-mail you sent them but you can show up to the city council meeting and talk to your local representative face-to-face.
If you want to change the world then you can start by cleaning up your own backyard. That’s part of what we try and do here at FWP. We want people to understand what’s going on and hear our perspective on it. We also want you to share your perspective and insight. It’s tough for an individual to have much influence but a group of people, even affiliated via a small website, can make a difference…
