I HOPE YOU GOVERNMENT DRONES ARE WATCHING

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Posted on 17th June 2013 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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 Math is hard. Especially for government drones. Detroit is only the beginning. The math doesn’t work for every local and state municipality in this country. The only difference is timing. Detroit happens to be the shittiest of the shitholes. Government can only function and pay its obligations with the revenue they collect from the citizens. They can borrow to fend off the grim reaper for awhile, but in the end money does not grow on trees. The union government workers from the fine city of Detroit are going to be lucky to get 20 cents on the dollar in pension payouts promised to them by lying cocksucker politicians. I hope the union workers in Los Angeles, Philly, and thousands of other urban union strongholds are paying attention. The grim reaper is headed their way. They can protest, strike and scream bloody murder. Tough shit. The money isn’t there – only promises and worthless IOUs.

Detroit rock bottom: City announces $2.5bn debt default

Published time: June 15, 2013 16:03
 
The abandoned and decaying Packard Motor Car Manufacturing plant, built in 1907 and designed by Albert Kahn, is seen near downtown Detroit (Reuters/Rebecca Cook)

Detroit said it will stop making payment on $2.5 billion of the city’s massive $18.5 billion debt and has asked creditors to accept 10 cents in the dollar of what the city owes them in a bid to avoid the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in US history.

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr said the city would stop making payments on its unsecured debt in a bid to “conserve cash” for vital services like police and firefighters. He further said pension benefits both present and future along with healthcare would face cuts, while control over the city’s water and sewage would be turned over to an independent body.

“We’re tapped out,” Orr was quoted by WWJ-TV as saying. “We need to come up with a plan to restructure our debt obligations and our legacy obligations going forward — that is: pension, other employee benefits, healthcare, so on and so forth.”

Orr continued that $1.25 billion would be set aside over the next decade, $750 million of which will go towards public safety, including funds for police, fire, streetlights and other endeavors. The remaining $500 million will be for blight removal.

The emergency manager spent two hours with about 180 bond insurers, pension trustees, union representatives and other creditors holding Detroit debt on Friday in an effort to fix fiscal problems which have left the city insolvent.

One bond holder present at the meeting who asked not to be identified told Reuters Orr’s proposal was likely more than debt holders would be able to accept.

“It’s just too much. It is an unprecedented amount to ask.”

If creditors reject the plan, Detroit could be forced into what would be by far the largest-ever municipal bankruptcy in US history.

Orr said there is a “50:50” chance the city will be forced into bankruptcy and that decision would likely happen in the next 30 days.

“Financial mismanagement, a shrinking population, a dwindling tax base and other factors over the past 45 years have brought Detroit to the brink of financial and operational ruin,” Orr said.

In a report issued to creditors on Friday, Detroit’s skyrocketing debt, pension and healthcare obligations will sell to almost 65 percent of total city revenue by 2017, up from the current level of 42.5 percent.

Detroit has also experienced a 26 percent decline in population since 2000, while unemployment surged from 6.3 percent in June 2000 to 18.3 percent in June 2012, further shrinking the city’s revenue base. Meanwhile, the city’s budget deficit is likely to exceed $380 million by July 1.

Orr, who was appointed three months ago by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to salvage the city’s finances and operations, has been met with skepticism by local residents who have accused him of exaggerating the current situation.

“We feel that the bankers and the creditors who are here today with the emergency manager are not going to negotiate in the best interest of the people of the city of Detroit. And we are saying that the same financial institutions that Mr. Orr is negotiating with today are responsible in large part for the crisis that exists in Detroit,” Abayomi Azikiwe, a protester outside the meeting told PBS.

Leaders of some of Detroit’s 48 public sector unions were also upset by the proposals, with water and sewage workers vowing to strike over the privatization plans.

DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN

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Posted on 30th April 2013 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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You hear Obama and his liberal brethren constantly invoking “the children” as the reason for anything they want to inflict upon the American people. Obamacare is for the children. Taking away guns is for the children. The $800 billion porkulus program was for the children. We needed to keep teachers in the classroom to educate our children and make them fine productive citizens. The storyline is a load of crap. Most of the billions spent annually “educating” our cherubs is pissed down the drain on massive bureaucracy, gold plated union benefits, and social engineering bullshit. There are 3.7 million teachers and 3.3 million are public school teachers. Among full-time and part-time public school teachers in 2007–08, some 76 percent of public school teachers were female, 44 percent were under age 40, and 52 percent had a master’s or higher degree.

We hear about how overburdened these poor teachers are, but some facts shed some light on that workload. The pupil to teacher ratio in 1970 was 22.3. Today, the pupil to teacher ratio is 15.4. The chart below is adjusted for inflation. In 1970 we were spending $5,000 per child. Today we are spending $13,500 per child. The average class has 30% less students and we are spending 170% more per student than we did in 1970. These facts would lead you to believe we are producing brilliant scholars across the board.

The average teacher pay in 2011 was $56,000, with the more experienced teachers making $80,000 or more. Considering the median household income in the US is $50,000, teachers are making a pretty nice salary for 9 months of work.

RPM Graph January 2011: Average Base Salaries for Public School Teachers, 2008

But salary only tells part of the story. The union benefits being subsidized by the American taxpayer is equal to or greater than the wages. Public school teachers have benefits that are twice the level of the average worker. Therefore, their overall compensation package is much higher than the average worker in this country. But, we hear stories about underpaid and overworked teachers. We hear storylines about how if we just paid teachers more (higher taxes for you and me) our children would benefit tremendously.

Average Benefits as a Percentage of Wages, Adjusted Data

Well here is the problem. Even though class sizes have declined dramatically, spending per student has surged, and teachers are already compensated at an above average level, our public school system is a fucking failure. Math scores are at the same level they were in 1972. Critical reading scores are at all-time lows. We’ve spent all this money and got no ROI. Of course 95% of public school graduates can’t calculate an ROI, so it doesn’t really matter.

Does it ever occur to liberal do-gooder control freaks that we spent $2,000 to $3,000 per student in the 1950s and 1960s and produced engineers, scientists, and mathematicians that put people in outer space, designed and constructed buildings and highways, and created the technological marvels of today? Remember, those spending levels are inflation adjusted. We spend six times as much per student today as we did in the 1950s and only 30% of high school seniors score high enough on the SAT exam to do B minus level work in college.

Our public educational system is a complete failure and spending more money on teachers, bureaucrats, and social engineering will not change it. Everything the government touches turns into a disaster. Obamacare here we come.

GOVERNMENT UNION DRONES WILL FIGHT AGAINST YOUR INTERESTS TO THE END

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Posted on 1st February 2013 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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Only corrupt politician hacks that slither through the State House in Harrisburg could possibly oppose the privitazation of the State monopoly on liquor sales in Pennsylvania. Governor Corbett is again taking on the government union drones that are ruining the finances of the state. Fast Eddie Rendell did nothing about this outrage in his 8 years as governor, because he and his Democratic cronies are bought and sold by the unions. Pennsylvanians are stuck with a Prohibition era system of State owned and operated liquor stores. You cannot buy alcohol anywhere but State stores and Beer distributors. It’s a monopoly that drives prices sky high, reduces selection, increases the inconvenience for every person in PA, and pays for the gold plated pensions of 3,500 retail union government drones. This antiquated, inefficient, expensive joke of a system is kept in place by corrupt politicians to benefit 3,500 drones at the expense of the 12.7 million Pennsylvanians who are plagued by high prices and limited selection.

Corbett’s plan would end the monopoly, allow alcohol to be sold at grocery stores, Costco, and anyone willing to pay for a new license. Prices would plummet, as free market competition would work its magic. The selection and convenience for customers would increase dramatically. And it would raise $1 billion of revenue for the schools. And here is why I despise government unions. The school systems across the state are being destroyed by the pension payouts to the union teacher gold plated funds put into place and not funded by prior administrations. These same government union workers will fight Corbett’s plan to privatize the State stores, even though the money raised will go towards the school budgets. Theses unions don’t care about students or taxpayers. They only care about getting as much out of the taxpayer as they can and funneling money to politicians who protect their interests.

Polls show there is overwhelming support for privatizing the state stores. So what will the politicians do? They will ignore the will of the people and vote against Corbett’s plan. Remember TARP? Over 90% of Americans were against it. What did the politicians do?

 

Reactions mixed to liquor store privatization plan

By Stacy Wescoe

There was mixed reaction today to Gov. Tom Corbett’s announcement that he would pursue the privatization of the state’s liquor stores.

“The governor presented a compelling, comprehensive plan today, as have other lawmakers who support sweeping changes to the manner in which alcohol is sold and distributed in the commonwealth,” Pennsylvania Chamber President Gene Barr said. “It is long past time for the state to get out of the liquor business; it is not a core function of state government. We believe a responsible private system would better improve the buying experience for customers by promoting competitive pricing and increased convenience, while continuing to generate revenue for the commonwealth.”

The proposal would provide opportunities for numerous outlets – from “big box” stores to convenience stores – to sell alcohol, while giving new options to restaurants, hotels and taverns, said Barr.

He said Pennsylvania Chamber members support privatization efforts, and stressed that Pennsylvania residents also overwhelmingly support changes to the current system beyond privatization of liquor sales.

The proposal also received backing from the Citizen’s Alliance of Pennsylvania.

“Our ‘state store’ system is a relic of the Prohibition. The current system is wasteful, inefficient, and inconvenient. Its time (if it ever had one) is long gone,” said Alliance Executive Director Leo Knepper.

Meanwhile another group, the Keystone Research Center encouraged Gov. Corbett to abandon the proposal to dramatically increase the number of retail outlets for beer, wine and spirits in the state.

“The proposal could cost the commonwealth revenue that won’t be invested in education, health services and a stronger economy,” said Stephen Herzenberg, Ph.D., an economist and executive director of KRC. “It will also radically increase alcohol accessibility and the resulting social costs.”

The union representing Pennsylvania liquor store workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers, opposes the plan as well, saying it would eliminate the jobs of 3,500 members of UFCW Local 1776 and Local 23. It called for the modernization of the stores versus privatization.

ONLY $9,000 PER HOUSEHOLD

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Posted on 14th January 2013 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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And there it is. The liberals and unions never want to deal with the cold hard facts of our economic situation. This is not just a Pennsylvania problem. Every state, municipality and school district in the country has this problem. Even using the ridiculous annual return assumption of 8%, the Pennsylvania government pension plan is underfunded by $41 billion. Using the real return rate of 4% will add tens of billions to that number.

I pay approximately $4,000 per year in real estate taxes. In order to fund the government worker pensions, EVERY household in PA would have to pay $9,000 more per year in real estate taxes. Talk about trying to get blood from a stone. If you are a government worker who thinks taxpayers are going to fund your gold plated retirement by having their taxes double or triple, you are living in a dream world. If the unions and politicians refuse to see the writing on the wall, municipal bankruptcies will proliferate across the land and they will see their pensions go up in smoke.  

 

Pa. pension crisis is ‘tapeworm’ of state budget

Sunday, January 13,2013

GOV. TOM CORBETT likens Pennsylvania’s public pension problem to a tapeworm, a parasite that devours new revenue as fast as an improving economy can create it.

“We have to consider everything,” in fixing the problem; it’s the “tapeworm of the budget,” he told a Digital First Media editorial board meeting last week.

Corbett called pension reform the one thing he seeks to accomplish this year. Property tax reform, he says, will have to wait.

Corbett’s call to action is not without merit. The public pension drain has escalated to a crisis in Pennsylvania with nearly $700 billion in year-over-year cost growth robbing state coffers of 62 percent of any new revenue.

In recent years, both the state employees fund (SERS) and public school employees fund (PSERS) have accrued unfunded liability amounting to billions of dollars a year, according to Charles Zogby, secretary of the budget. The funds’ current unfunded liability is $41 billion, not including future shortfalls.

Just to get the funds back on good footing would require a tax increase of $9,000 on every household in Pennsylvania, Zogby said.

The story of how Pennsylvania’s public pensions got to this point can be explained, but not without pain. It’s a story of generous benefit increases without correponding changes to contributions. It’s a timeline of “kicking the can down the road,” as Zogby puts it, intentionally underfunding the systems and pushing the liability into the future. In 2001, the Legislature moved to enhance member benefits by increasing the multiplier that calculates pension amounts. In 2002, employer contributions from school districts and government were capped. In 2003, Act 40 was passed to restrain future growth in employer contributions.

AND, THROUGHOUT that time period, investment growth was nil, sending the funds into a downward spiral.

Unlike 401(K) or private investment funds, a defined benefit pension plan maintains a liability in payout no matter what happens to the fund’s investments. While SERS and PSERS fell in value, liabilities grew. And the tapeworm grew, too.

While the path that brought us here is obvious, the way out is more clouded.

The reform floated most often is moving away from a defined benefit plan to defined contribution, a proposal that was part of a 2010 pension reform package which did not go far enough. Zogby says state officials are looking closely at reforms that have been tried in other states, including changes in benefit calculations, such as capping the salary or rolling back the modifier.

Corbett says a proposal will be part of his budget plan for this year, although he admits his office is down to about two weeks to figure out the specifics. His only hint to the editors’ group was that adjustments to the multiplier could make an important difference.

BOTH OFFICIALS stressed changes have to take into consideration what people have already earned and what they are counting on. Current retirees have to feel secure their pensions won’t be affected, they said.

However, what they don’t say is how they plan to convince state employees and the powerful state teachers union that change has to happen.

“The taxpayers get it,” Zogby said. The people of Pennsylvania know this is a crisis. But for pension reform to work, the state needs to get the unions and groups representing public employees on board, as well as the lawmakers.

One way to start might be to enlist the ideas and help of those groups in writing the reforms. Get buy-in first and soften the sell.

Corbett has made his emphasis on pension reform clear to the public. It’s time now to get down to brass tacks and figure out a plan that not only will work but that will also have the needed support.

Time is of the essence. That tapeworm gets hungrier by the day.

— Journal Register News Service

PHILADELPHIA CLOSING 37 SCHOOLS & FIRING ZERO UNION TEACHERS

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Posted on 13th December 2012 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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The Philadelphia School District is broke. The Philadelphia School District runs rat infested, decrepit, crumbling shitholes with bars on every window. The Philadelphia School District churns out low functioning morons into society. The Philadelphia School District is at the complete mercy of government teachers union drones. Most of these teachers aren’t qualified to teach a dog to shit outside. More than 50,000 kids have fled the Philadelphia public school system in the last ten years. The new superintendent of schools is proposing the closure of 37 of these shitholes. The FSA will be up in arms. City Council will be outraged. The union drones will bluster.

At the end of the day, they will maybe close 20 of these rat infested hell holes and will fire no union drones. They will save very little. City Council will raise real estate taxes. More people will flee this dysfunctional Democratic bastion of delusion and entitlement. Student scores will fall lower. Union teachers will strike for higher wages and benefits. Life in Obamaville, USA. 

Hite to announce plans to close 37 school buildings

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. cited goals of improving academics, viability.

On Thursday, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. will announce the proposed closures of 37 school buildings, plus multiple other changes coming to the cash-poor Philadelphia School District.

Hite is proposing that the buildings listed for closure – around 20 elementary schools, a handful of middle schools, and about 10 high schools – shut their doors for good in June, according to sources and documents obtained by The Inquirer.

The schools are in nearly every part of the city and include well-known ones with long histories, such as Bok, Germantown, Strawberry Mansion, and University City High Schools.

Under the proposal, North Philadelphia would be hit particularly hard, while the overcrowded Northeast would be spared but for the closure of an annex of Carnell Elementary that houses middle school students.

The district would not confirm the list, but Hite on Wednesday offered hints as to what was coming.

“Quite a few of the programs will be programs that will relocate and have different grade configurations,” Hite said in an interview with the Inquirer Editorial Board.He also emphasized that “significant” investments would be made in the district’s remaining programs, and said all closing decisions were made with two goals in mind – improving academics in all schools and ensuring the district’s long-term financial viability.

The list provided to The Inquirer does not include all of the programs merging and relocating, or grade configuration changes.

Specifics will be formally released Thursday afternoon. District officials billed the announcement as not just a listing of possible school closings and reorganizations, but also efforts to “improve safety and educational programs and supports for students.”

No teachers will be laid off as a result of the closings, Hite said, but other employees, from principals to building cleaners, could lose their jobs.

But don’t expect the $33 million annual savings the district was banking on, Hite said.

Officials have said that the closings are a necessary correction in a system that has shed more than 50,000 students in the last decade – most to a burgeoning charter school system – but has not adjusted its infrastructure accordingly.

Hite said the district first drew up a list of potential closing targets that was a “big number” based on academic performance, safety, building condition, and utilization. After a series of community meetings to help set priorities for choosing schools, district staff whittled down the list to about half.

Then staffers went into every building on that smaller list, checking to see if they could support things like handicapped students and career and technical programs.

City police were consulted to check crime patterns and provide a reality check on how sending students to another school might affect their safety.

“They suggested things for us that we should do to provide for safe corridors if we went ahead with the actions,” Hite said.

Eventually, the district got to its final list, which Hite said would “allow us to more efficiently use the space that we have available for our students.”

Multiple groups have already decried the process. The Philadelphia Coalition for Advocating Public Schools has planned a rally voicing its objections to the plan, to be held just after the district makes its announcement.

And Parents United for Public Education, in a statement, blasted the district’s process as “not transparent,” “not honest,” and “not a legitimate process that parents can support.” It said the community was “blindsided” by the announcement.

“We do not have confidence in the process and metrics by which schools have been chosen,” the group said. “The process has revealed flawed data, questionable assessments of academic excellence, and ignored the effects of inadequate resources on neighborhood schools.”

Parents United also suggested that private entities influenced the closing list. It already has filed a complaint with the city’s Ethics Board accusing the William Penn Foundation of lobbying through its support of the work of the Boston Consulting Group.

BCG spent months inside the district, studying operations and making recommendations for wholesale changes.

Hite on Wednesday reiterated the district’s position that while William Penn paid BCG to complete the work, he regards it as merely a set of recommendations, some of which he has already rejected.

Though he knows that he’s in for a rough few months with the proposal of somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 school closings, the superintendent said closing so many schools at once was the right course.

No matter what Hite proposes, the final number of schools will be determined by the School Reform Commission, in a vote scheduled for March.

Some officials have already been briefed on the plan; more, including principals, will be informed Thursday morning.

City Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez said she wanted to make sure that she and City Council took a reasoned approach to the tough choices facing the district.

“We knew this day was coming, but I think it can be managed,” she said. “We have to the responsibility to work through this with them.”

Sánchez, who was briefed, confirmed only that Taylor Elementary in her district was slated for closure.

Sánchez said she was heartened that the recommendations appeared to differentiate between bad buildings and bad programs, as some buildings are being closed but good programs are preserved nearby, she said.

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