Deregulation, Privatization, and Cheap Labor, Obama's Corporate Plantations

[mother earth]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/10/obamas-corporate-plantations/

Deregulation, Privatization, and Cheap Labor

Obama’s Corporate Plantations

by MIKE WHITNEY

The man who promised to restore hope and bring change to America, has announced a plan to open five corporate plantations in the United States. On Thursday, President Barack Obama, whose policies have resulted in the greatest number of public sector job losses in US History (Public sector jobs have declined by 718,000 jobs since Obama took office.) announced the opening of five “Promise Zones” located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. According to an article in USA Today:


“Under the proposed Promise Zones, the federal government plans to partner with local governments and businesses to provide tax incentives and grants to help combat poverty.” (“Obama to name 5 ‘Promise Zones’ for assistance“, USA Today)

Combatting poverty’ has nothing to do with it. Obama plans to shower the nation’s biggest corporations–which recorded record profits in the last year and are presently sitting on more than $1.3 trillion in cash–with more lavish subsidies and tax breaks while providing an endless source of cheap slave labor to boost future earnings. The president believes that the wealth generated in these profit zones, er, promise zones will trickle down to the area’s residents, even though–as the Christian Science Monitor notes–”it can be hard to tell whether a program’s benefits reach the poorest people, rather than flowing largely into the hands of the business owners who get the tax credits.”

Translation: The Obama administration is committed to assisting the corporate oligarchy whenever possible even if it means further eviscerating the rapidly-diminishing US middle class and reducing millions of hard-working Americans to grinding third world poverty. Deregulation will allow corporations to privatize policing, education and any other lucrative public resource or service. According to the New York Times: “White House officials said the Promise Zones initiative would not provide new money, rather it would be aimed at providing the local governments and agencies “aid in cutting through red tape to get access to existing resources."

Plantations were a familiar feature of the antebellum South, but were abandoned following the Civil War. Now a new generation of corporate kleptocrats want to revive the tradition. They think that weakening consumer demand and persistent stagnation can only be overcome by skirting vital labor protections and shifting more of the cost of production onto workers. Obama’s promise zones provide a way for big business to slip the chains of “onerous” regulations and restore, what many CEO’s believe to be, the Natural Order, that is, a Darwinian, dog-eat-dog world where only the strongest and most cunning survive. This is a world in which Obama has done quite well, although he’s had to distance himself from his political base and throw friends under the bus (Jeremiah Wright) in his relentless climb to the top. Even so, selling out has never been an issue for Obama.

Sound familiar? Deregulation, privatization, and cheap labor; the toxic coctail that has vaporized the US middle class and wiped out a good portion of the developing world.

Obama calls these promise zones. We think corporate plantations is a more fitting moniker.

[Coyotl]

1. What an Obama hit piece, starts by blaming Obama for Bush's economy.

[mother earth]

4. Hasn't Obama bought into austerity? Sure Bush's economy brought us here, Congress has

enabled more of the same, but TPP is Obama's. Who are the winners? Who are the losers?

[Coyotl]

6. Actually NO.

[mother earth]

12. He's double downed on many Bush policies, TPP is NAFTA on steriods and the only people

thriving through the Great Recession are the same wealthy elites that bought our democracy.

Yes, TPP, is exactly what the new owners want. Promise Zones? Guess we are going to find out real soon.

[bvar22]

40. We don't have to wait.

This is MORE Recycled Republican Policy.
The only major difference is that the Republicans called them "Enterprise Zones",
and they proved what we already knew:

Tax Break "Zones" for the already RICH don't "create jobs",
but merely STEALS them from other areas,
reduces Tax Revenue,
busts UNIONS,
and puts downward pressure on Wages & Benefits for Working Americans.
SEE: The American SOUTH


Hey Everybody!!!
Lets have ANOTHER Republican Race -to-the-Bottom.



You will know them by their WORKS.

[mother earth]

68. Absolutely, he has given away so much under the guise of "bipartisanship", and then there are

the continuations and expansions that we all are happy to ignore, simply because we won the election, didn't we?

Did we? Or did we just take a slower route? Obviously, we are right on course to the same destination.

We have to wake up and call it what it is, BOTH parties have merged, it's the entire reason we aren't moving.
Congress keeps the stranglehold, onto the next election or crisis, somehow debt is the enemy, but they really don't want to deal with the true entitlements, the true giveaways, because those are their campaign financiers.

Nothing of substance changes, and then we are left to wonder why history keeps repeating itself.

Are we going to remain centrist cheerleaders into the next round?

Damn, are we ever going to be true to our principles?

We need to embrace our "left", even Bill Maher (known libertarian) speaks loudly that it is the only way we have not yet tried.

WTF are we waiting for?

[Enthusiast]

113. +1 a whole bunch.......nt

[liberal_at_heart]

125. Race to the Top = No Child Left Behind on steroids too.

[ProSense]

2. What

“Under the proposed Promise Zones, the federal government plans to partner with local governments and businesses to provide tax incentives and grants to help combat poverty.” (“Obama to name 5 ‘Promise Zones’ for assistance“, USA Today)

<...>

Sound familiar? Deregulation, privatization, and cheap labor; the toxic coctail that has vaporized the US middle class and wiped out a good portion of the developing world.

Obama calls these promise zones. We think corporate plantations is a more fitting moniker.

...level of ODS is this? I mean, WTF?

This initiative was introduced last year, and what the hell does it have to do with "Deregulation, privatization, and cheap labor"?

In Obama’s Budget, Poverty Initiatives Face an Uphill Battle

by Deborah Weinstein

We’re proud to collaborate with The Nation in sharing insightful journalism related to income inequality in America. The following is an excerpt from The Nation’s “This Week in Poverty” blog.

There are certain facts of life reflected by the FY 2014 Obama budget proposal: first, anything really worth having is going to be hard to get; and, the regrettable corollary — some things you don’t want are a lot closer to reality.

There are new and even historic anti-poverty proposals in this budget. But the better they are, the more they fall into the “hard to get” category. On the other hand, Social Security cuts in the form of smaller cost-of-living adjustments could far more easily become real...President Obama includes thoughtful plans to reduce poverty: targeting job development in the poorest communities; preserving tax credits and food assistance for low-income families; carrying forward health insurance expansions, and promoting the healthy development of children from infancy on...His commitment to improving education for children from birth to five. “Preschool for All” — a $75 billion, 10-year proposal — would ensure that every low- and moderate-income four-year-old has access to a pre-kindergarten education. The money would come from an increase in the tobacco tax. The budget also allocates $1.4 billion next year for Early Head Start and child care partnerships that would increase high-quality early learning programs for infants and toddlers through age three.

The president’s budget attempts a comprehensive approach — using resources from multiple government agencies — to attack both the causes and toxic by-products of poverty. It would create 20 Promise Zones, coordinating housing, education, anti-violence and other economic development initiatives. It would more than triple funds for The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative to improve distressed HUD-assisted housing in very poor communities. It increases Homelessness Assistance Grants by about $350 million, not counting the extra across-the-board cuts now being made. The current sequestration cuts that could end rental housing vouchers for 140,000 low-income families would be reversed.

The president’s $12.5 billion Pathways Back to Work proposal would provide summer and year-round jobs and training for low-income youth and subsidized jobs and training for the long-term unemployed. There are initiatives to improve high schools and to invest in community colleges. The budget would stop cuts in food stamps scheduled to start in November...Obama budget makes the current levels permanent for the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit — lifting more than 9 million low-wage workers and their children above the poverty line and creating greater opportunity for low- and middle-income students to attend college.

- more -

http://billmoyers.com/2013/04/14/in-the-obama-budget-poverty-initiatives-face-an-uphill-battle/

Do you support any of those initiatives?

[mother earth]

7. Sounded good to me on first blush too. Coupled with TPP, it takes on a different glow.

Taken from same article, linked in OP.

Special economic zones are not a new idea, in fact, they’ve been tried in the UK, Australia and other places where the global bank cartel exerts its grip. In Tokyo, last month, right-wing PM, Shinzo Abe announced the launching of his own “Special Economic Zones”. Here’s a short summary of Abe’s plan from an article in the Japan Times:


“Special zones aimed at spurring corporate investment through deregulation and tax incentives are to be created in Tokyo as well as Osaka and central Aichi Prefecture….Other deregulation steps to debut in such zones will let private firms operate public schools, let experts without teaching licenses teach classes, expand the scope of treatment that can be administered by non-Japanese doctors and nurses, facilitate the use of foreign drugs and increase the number of hospital beds.” (Japan Times)

[ProSense]

10. So

"Sounded good to me on first blush too. Coupled with TPP, it takes on a different glow."

...an unrelated policy that has yet to be enacted justifies the ridiculous assertions in the OP?

[mother earth]

14. The author wrote the article in response to Obama's speech on these promise zones.

I hope he's wrong, I fear he's right, and that we are going to see just how related the new trade deal is and the transformation that will take place in this country and globally.

[ProSense]

15. The piece is nonsense, and completely mischaracterizes the initiative. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

26. Seems like some posters here, heavily afflicted with ODS, take any opportunity

to blame President Obama for anything and everything - even things that haven't even happened yet!

This morning I checked the weather in my area. OMG! They're reporting dangerous winds on such a nice and sunny day - yet there isn't even a breeze! I've been misled by the weather forecast for the rest of the week, too! I blame Obama!

[SamKnause]

3. Promise Zones indeed !!!!

Why any Democratic, or Progressive still supports president Obama's policies are beyond me.

All of his actions are anti union.

All of his policies are anti union.

How different a path the U.S. could be on if president Obama had put on his walking shoes and supported unions and working people.

He signed 3 new trade deals; Panama, South Korea, Colombia.
He is pushing hard for the TPP.
He has offered lowering taxes on corporations.
He has offered to let those with offshore accounts be allowed to bring their ill gotten gains home at a reduced tax.
He has offered CPI for Social Security.

[sendero]

5. The Obamabots.

.... can't hear you. they don't realize that things like gay marriage are a luxury when you cannot afford to EAT.

Economically, Obama has been nothing short of a disaster, he has simply carried on the policies of Bush, Clinton and all of the other assholes who wrecked our economy.

[ProSense]

9. Well,

"The Obamabots... can't hear you."

...maybe the noise from those salivating over a ridiculous anti-Obama piece is too loud.

"Obama's Corporate Plantations"

Imaging that being cheered.

Not only is the OP piece completely off the mark, it's pure idiocy.

[Iggo]

18. Jury results.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Aside from the use of the term "Obamabot," this post is merely agreeing with the one above which was allowed to stand.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Let me get this straight: You're okay with the poster calling Obama a disaster, and with the poster basically calling Obama an asshole (along with Bush, Clinton, and "other&quot , but Obamabot is over the line?
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Name calling … And now Gay marriage is a luxury? Sick of hearing that civil rights for women, LGBT and people of color need to take a back seat until the economy improves. Fuck that, the Dems would be nothing without us.

[L0oniX]

8. jury results...

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: The alerter obviously doesn't wish to debate. Why is the alerter on a blog site?
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I disagree with this person but I don't think the comment, by itself, is trolling.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

[SamKnause]

11. Hello L0oniX

I do not understand your post.

Did someone try to ban my post ?

Does someone think I am a troll ?

I thought the Tea Party and Republicans were against unions.

I am PRO UNION !!!

President Obama's actions are ANTI UNION !!!

Could you please give me an explanation ?

Thank you in advance.

[L0oniX]

13. Someone didn't like what you said and rather than debate you they alerted on you...

to try to get your post hidden. They accused you of being a troll.

[SamKnause]

17. Reply

Thank you L0oniX.

I really have a hard time understanding this site at times.

Hope you and yours have a pleasant day.

[ProSense]

19. "Why any Democratic, or Progressive still supports president Obama's policies are beyond me. "

Because we're not crazy.

<...>

What follows is a PARTIAL list of Obama’s accomplishments so far. Unlike many such lists, there is a link to a citation supporting every single one.

<...>

Wall Street Reforms and Consumer Protection

Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money. http://huff.to/eAi9Qq

He pushed through and got passed Dodd-Frank, one of the largest and most comprehensive Wall Street reforms since the Great Depression. http://bit.ly/hWCPg0 http://bit.ly/geHpcD

Dodd-Frank also included the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau http://1.usa.gov/j5onG

He made it so that banks could no longer use YOUR money to invest in high-risk financial instruments that work against their own customers’ interests. http://bit.ly/fnTayj

He supported the concept of allowing stockholders to vote on executive compensation. http://bit.ly/fnTayj

He wholly endorsed and supported the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 that would close offshore tax avoidance loopholes. http://bit.ly/esOdfB http://bit.ly/eG4DPM

He made a deal with Swiss banks that permits the US government to gain access to the records of criminals and tax evaders. http://bit.ly/htfDgw

He established a Consumer Protection Financial Bureau designed to protect consumers from financial sector excesses. http://bit.ly/fnTayj

He oversaw and then signed the most sweeping food safety legislation since the Great Depression. http://thedc.com/gxkCtP

Civil Rights and Anti-Discrimination

He advocated for and signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which made it a federal crime to assault anyone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. http://bit.ly/gsMSJ7

He pushed through, signed and demanded the Pentagon enact a repeal of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that forced soldiers to lie to fight for their country, and put our troops at risk by disqualifying many qualified soldiers from helping. http://bit.ly/fdahuH http://bit.ly/mZV4Pz

He appointed Kareem Dale as the first ever Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. http://1.usa.gov/fi5IY0

Helped Congress pass and signed the Civil Rights History Act. http://bit.ly/th0JC8

He extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. http://1.usa.gov/g2RLCj

He’s appointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history. http://bit.ly/g1lA7D

He issued a Presidential Memorandum reaffirming the rights of gay couples to make medical decisions for each other. http://1.usa.gov/aUueGT

He established a White House Council on Women and Girls http://1.usa.gov/rFfqMM

He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. This was after the GOP blocked the bill in 2007. Only 5 Republican Senators voted for the bill. http://bit.ly/fT3Cxg

Wrote and signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies evaluate the effect of their policies and programs on women and families. http://bit.ly/e1puTk

He expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. http://1.usa.gov/dSbI0x

Under his watch, National Labor Relations Board has issued final rules that require all employers to prominently post employees’ rights where all employees or prospective employees can see it, including websites and intranets, beginning November 2011. http://1.usa.gov/qu2EhQ

- more -

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/15/a-long-list-of-president-obamas-accomplishments-with-citations/

Ally Bank To Pay $98 Million For Charging Higher Interest To Non-White Borrowers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024208931

U.S. orders mortgage servicer Ocwen to help borrowers with $2 billion

By Emily Stephenson

(Reuters) - U.S. officials on Thursday ordered the largest nonbank mortgage servicer to provide $2 billion in help to underwater borrowers to resolve allegations of misconduct that led to thousands of people losing their homes.

Ocwen Financial Corp must reduce loan balances for struggling homeowners and refund $125 million to foreclosed borrowers under an agreement with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and officials from 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Ocwen failed to account for borrowers' payments, gave false reasons for denying loan modifications and robo-signed legal documents, the consumer bureau said.

In many cases, after Ocwen began servicing loans, it did not respect trial modifications that had already been agreed to by the lenders, consumer bureau Director Richard Cordray said.

- more -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/19/us-financial-regulation-ocwen-idUSBRE9BI0ZT20131219

Elizabeth Warren:

<...>

When I worked to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I pushed hard for steps that would increase transparency in the marketplace. The crisis began one lousy mortgage at a time, and there is a lot we must do to make sure there are never again so many lousy mortgages .

CFPB made some important steps in the right direction, and I think we’re a lot safer than we were .

There is no question that Dodd-Frank was a strong bill—the strongest in three generations. I didn’t have a chance to vote for it because I wasn’t yet in the Senate, but if I could have, I would have voted for it twice.

Even so, the law is not perfect. And so it’s important to ask: Where are we now, five years after the crisis hit and three years after Dodd-Frank?

<...>

Powerful interests will fight to hang on to every benefit and subsidy they now enjoy. Even after exploiting consumers, larding their books with excessive risk, and making bad bets that brought down the economy and forced taxpayer bailouts, the big Wall Street banks are not chastened .

They have fought to delay and hamstring the implementation of financial reform, and they will continue to fight every inch of the way .

That’s the battlefield. That’s what we’re up against. But David beat Goliath with the establishment of CFPB and, just a few months ago, with the confirmation of Rich Cordray .

David beat Goliath with the passage of Dodd-Frank. We did that together – Americans for Financial Reform, the Roosevelt Institute, and so many of you in this room. I am confident David can beat Goliath on Too Big to Fail. We just have to pick up the slingshot again .

Thank you .

http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/AFR%20Roosevelt%20Institute%20Speech%202013-11-12.pdf

Elizabeth Warren: Cordray Vote ‘A Historic Day For Working Families’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took to Twitter on Tuesday in praise of the Senate's vote to advance Richard Cordray's nomination to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, calling it a "historic day for working families."

Elizabeth Warren ✔ @elizabethforma

I couldn't be more pleased that Rich Cordray will finally get the vote that he deserves. This is a historic day for working families!
1:11 PM - 16 Jul 2013

47 Retweets 26 favorites

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-cordray-vote-historic-day-for-working

Sen. Warren Praises New CFPB Mortgage Rules that Make Families, Economy Safer

Jan 7, 2014

Video of Senator Warren’s Remarks Available Here

Text of Senator Warren’s Remarks Available Here

WASHINGTON, DC – In remarks delivered on the floor of the Senate this afternoon, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren applauded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new mortgage rules, which will go into effect on Friday, January 10.

Under the new rules, a lender must determine that a borrower has the ability to repay a mortgage before issuing the loan. The rules will also prohibit brokers from being paid by lenders to steer customers into higher-cost loans and strengthen the mortgage market by improving mortgage servicing practices.

"Thanks to the consumer agency's new rules, families will be safer, pension funds and other investors will be safer, and our whole economy will be safer," Senator Warren said in her remarks. "And the rules will reshape the mortgage market for the better. They will give people a better chance to buy homes and a better chance to keep those homes, and they will force mortgage lenders and servicers to compete by offering better rates and customer service, not by tricking and trapping people. These rules will help markets work better, and they will reduce the risk that the economy will crash again."

Senator Warren highlighted the success the CFPB already has had helping consumers, including returning more than $3 billion to consumers who were cheated and resolving tens of thousands of complaints against financial institutions. The new mortgage rules will affect millions of families who own or plan to purchase a home.

"The consumer bureau's new mortgage rules show once again that government can fix problems," said Senator Warren. "Sure, we have to work hard, we have to fight against those who benefit from the broken system, and we have to stick with it even when the odds are against us. But when we do those things, real change is possible in this country. We're seeing that up close this week."

For more information about the new mortgage rules, a fact sheet is available at the CFPB's website here.

http://www.warren.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=309

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gets busy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023372682

SEC Will Require Companies To Report CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratios
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023694931

Regulators Finalize Stricter Volcker Rule - Reuters/HuffPo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024158305

NLRB to Prosecute Wal-Mart For Violating Workers’ Rights (updated)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024053560

Salt Lake City joins Phoenix in ending veteran homelessness
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024294340

[Iggo]

20. This.

[mother earth]

23. We all applaud those gains. I am not your enemy. I want the promise zones, to be filled with

promise. I hope the OP is dead wrong, but we can't turn a blind eye to what's playing out before our eyes.

Do you think TPP is good for this nation?

[BlueCaliDem]

27. Too many documented facts for people suffering through ODS to read, ProSense.

Let alone, to remember.

And not that it's ever proven as a cure for extreme ODS, I just want you to know that I wholeheartedly applaud you for correcting the record - again - in another anti-Obama thread where spittle is already dripping off the walls.

[Jamaal510]

47. There's that dreaded list again...

[Number23]

103. The cretins high fiving this OP won't hear you. But this is appreciated by everyone else

[Hekate]

109. Thank you, ProSense. And now I'm going to Exeunt Left and find an anti-emetic...

... to combat the waves of nausea brought on by reading the OP on an allegedly Democratic board.

[Cooley Hurd]

16. "Plantation"? Really??

[geek tragedy]

43. Par for the course from the Obama-hating freakazoids at Counterpunch.

Racism and Jew-baiting are an old tradition at that online shitstain. They have multiple Holocaust deniers as contributors.

[liberal_at_heart]

126. I'm not much of an Obama fan anymore, but that struck me as racist as well.

Any politician should be praised or criticized on his policies, not his skin color.

[Coyotl]

21. AUTOMATED MESSAGE: You alerted on a post which was already alerted

[BumRushDaShow]

24. The faux leftists are allowed to run rampant of late. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

28. Because 6 people agree that discussion is the point? Why are you even here?

There are a wide variety of no-opinions-but-ours-allowed sites. It sounds like you would be happier in that crowd.

[BumRushDaShow]

38. You are projecting, I'm afraid. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

41. Uh yeah, right. never an answer. You fool no one except, possibly, yourself. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

46. Sorry but I don't go for Libertarian ideals. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

52. Oh the irony...

If I hadn't seen it too many times in the past, I'd think you were making a funny, but...

[BumRushDaShow]

57. Sorry that you can't wrap your brain around much. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

59. ...and every time you think you've found the bottom...

The saddest thing is that you probably believe that...

[BumRushDaShow]

60. Your post illustrates my point. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

64. Oh, I think everyone can clearly see your point. n/t

[Skittles]

112. YOU ARE CORRECT

[Coyotl]

22. IGNORE

The final option for Obama haters on DU.

[mother earth]

25. Don't call me an Obama hater. I'm part of the 99% who wants the promise fulfilled.

He was voted in to put an end to the Bush chaos.

As a nation we wanted an end to the wars, we wanted universal health care, we wanted Gitmo closed, we want the surveillance state reigned in, we want our country to care more about Main St. than Wall St.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. Who is "we"?

People voted for him for their own reasons that may have had nothing to do with what "you" wanted.

Most people don't think in terms of the extremes espoused by the far left when it comes to what they may have "wanted". And they certainly "spoke" in approval of his first term by re-electing him for a second, despite the fact that he couldn't obtain the purist idealistic agenda that many liberals wanted... But they saw that at least he managed to help the country lurch itself out of an abyss that it had gotten into and is counting on folks to do the right thing at the local, state, and congressional levels.

When you have states where turn-out in off-year elections barely reaches 35 - 40%, then irrelevantly banging on the "Obama sucks" drum just feeds the RW loons even more as they seal the fates of the people by destroying their ability to vote, organize, get educated, or achieve gainful employment.

[mother earth]

32. The business party sucks, which is what our two party system has turned into. Here is some

reading for you.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/5-ways-president-obama-has-doubled-down-bushs-most-tragic-mistakes?page=0%2C2
(Article outlines The five worst Bush legacies continued by Obama.)

http://dissentingdemocrat.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/the-obama-record-3/

Administration honestly, wrote in Rolling Stone: “Obama had a clear mandate to rein in Wall Street and remake the entire structure of the American economy. What he did instead was ship even his most marginally progressive campaign advisers off to various bureaucratic Siberias while packing the key economic positions in his White House with the very people who caused the crisis in the first place. This new team of bubble-fattened ex-bankers and laissez-faire intellectuals then proceeded to sell us all out, instituting a massive, trickle-up bailout and systematically gutting regulatory reform from the inside.” (12/9/2009)
Obama handed over key positions of authority for economic policy in his administration to leading figures of big business. The appointees to his 17-member economic advisory board included billionaire Warren Buffet; CEOs and senior executives of Google, Hyatt Hotels, Time Warner, Xerox, JP Morgan Chase, and TIAA-CREF (a private financial services company); Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin, both of whom spearheaded the neo-liberal offensive in the Clinton Administration; and former Reagan Administration Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker.
Most startlingly, Obama’s economic team did not contain a single representative from labor unions, which gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Obama and the Democrats. Nor did it have any representatives from any social movement organizations

.

http://politicalhotwire.com/political-discussion/40164-aclu-slams-obama-continuing-bush-policies.html

ACLU slams Obama's security policies
Cites failure to halt Bush tactics

The ACLU on Thursday excoriated President Obama for continuing the Bush administration's strictest national security policies, including indefinite detention, military commissions and a "targeted kill" program that authorizes the government to take out suspected terrorists anywhere.

The American Civil Liberties Union warned Mr. Obama, in a report based on a review of his 18 months in office, that his administration was on course to institutionalize the policies of his predecessor. The ACLU was a fierce critic of President George W. Bush's war on terror.

----------

Some will still dissent even when it means going against our party, when it does not represent us.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. The U.S. is a "Capitalistic" country

That was one of the first things that my depression-born History/Poli-Sci major mother taught me. I.e., "capital = money". It was founded to be that way by white, male, wealthy landowners, and it has always been that way. And for hundreds of years, these "founders" made sure that they kept this country as one that serviced themselves.

The idealism in modern U.S. history that demands that the Bill of Rights apply to everyone (because certainly it didn't and still doesn't), will always be an on-going struggle, where true equality may never be achievable at all, just based on human nature. The whole governance structure here is nothing but a house of cards that could fail and fall at any moment and IMHO, the reason it hasn't so far isn't so much because the "people" have demanded that the concepts espoused in the Constitution be fairly applied.... it's because this nation has been imbued with so many natural resources ready for exploitation, that dystopian coups aren't yet necessary as there's too much "money" to be made in the exploitation.

So the cherry-picking of some issues that this nation faces versus looking at the major changes that have occurred across the entirety of the body politic and the world itself, appears to illustrate the over-focus on some of the trees and not the forest. I expect most of us agree with what you and others have argued but the vitriol used in making that argument is the sure turnoff.

The sad thing is that many who push certain subjects here are breathtakingly ignorant of how this government was originally configured to operate with the 3 co-equal branches. And ironically, the role of the one branch that was supposed to represent "the people" is the one that is entirely ignored. It's easier to target the "one" rather than the "many" and sit back self-satisfied.

[mother earth]

62. Yes, our country is based on capitalism, however, it has become predatory capitalism which is

aided and abetted by the broken gov't. Not only do the corporations enjoy entitlement, they are invited in to establish law and shape trade deals to their benefit. Should we be surprised when the outcome does not serve the people?

Campaign finance is at the root of the plutocracy our democracy has become.

Have we learned nothing from two stolen elections where no reform took place afterwards? The silence of our own is deafening in that regard.

Obama is our president, and like it or not, he has maintained and expanded much of Bush's very non-democratic policies.
At least admit to the potholes before YOU sit back self-satisfied.

One cannot argue we are in a better place, when we have really become more state oriented than we were before.
I believe that is called fascism.

We once faulted Bush for what we now excuse away for Obama. That is a complete disconnect from reality.

Shall we all become good Germans?

[BumRushDaShow]

69. This country was FOUNDED with "predatory capitalism"

It was called slavery.

You continue to argue the "Obama = Bush" meme when the two men are worlds apart in terms of ideology and methods. And ironically, whenever anyone posts the list of policy changes that illustrate how completely opposite Obama was to Bush, these are summarily ignored because it doesn't fit the meme. The statement "he has maintained and expanded much of Bush's very non-democratic policies" is bullshit that ignores the fact that Bush enabled the neocon MIC and spy machinery (that was actually put in place under Carter, god forbid), that is slowly being dismantled, and much of that can't be done without CONGRESSIONAL repeal or a strike-down by the Supreme Court.

Campaign finance reform must come from CONGRESS. The President cannot unilaterally enact it.

The "Good German" reference is more bullshit, particularly in this context because it now equates Obama with Hitler, and one would think that DU would be above that sort of ridiculous analogy.

[mother earth]

94. Yes, we fought the civil war over that predatory capitalism too.

Good germans kept their mouths shut when all around them they were denying what was taking place.

Even Thom Hartmann uses that analogy, silencing dissent is never democracy, at least one thing is for certain, we still have that.

If you think any of the two-time voters for Obama relish dissent against him, you are wrong.
Nothing pains me more. This is what is missing from these debates here at DU, nothing is more painful than to
see our Democratic President ignore our core principles. Silence is the enemy of change and democracy.

[BumRushDaShow]

98. If you want to continue to equate the decision to massacre 6,000,000

with governmental policies that were promulgated based on laws enacted by Congress, with numerous instances of Executive Orders written to work around the most egregious of these laws, then you lose all respect. You might as well go the next step and argue that because the largest European ethnic group in the U.S. IS German, then that means we are headed back to 1930s Germany.

Your assertion has been that "predatory capitalism" is something new - and was essentially born under this current President. No one is attempting to "silence" dissent but many of us are trying to correct misinformation. Garbage in is garbage out and can take you out into left field... Particularly if one can't even fathom this nation's establishment of federalism and the roles of the states versus the federal government... let alone deal with the fact that there are 3 branches of government that work in concert (hopefully), but cannot govern as standalone entities.

IMHO, what is missing from the debate is basic Civics and how the government works. The U.S. is not fascist Nazi Germany despite some living their lives as if it were or others insisting that it must be, based on faulty understanding of systems of government that formed in countries with a homogeneous population versus those formed in countires with a heterogeneous population.

[Enthusiast]

114. +1 a whole bunch.

Well said.

The President knows we don't want this TPP shoved down our throat. He knows we don't want to cut corporate taxes. He knows we don't want to cut social security as he has offered to do.

The President needs to hear our criticism. I don't mean faked up criticism like we hear from the right, I mean criticism from Democrats. How can we expect to see improvement if we cheer everything the President does even when he's wrong.

[mother earth]

123. Exactly. If we are happy with crumbs, that is all we are going to get. Real change demands far

more of all of us.

[polichick]

53. One party, two faces. Thanks for posting about the economic team...

Voters need to pay attention to this stuff.

"Most startlingly, Obama’s economic team did not contain a single representative from labor unions, which gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Obama and the Democrats. Nor did it have any representatives from any social movement organizations"

[L0oniX]

35. You really don't expect all that from any 3rd way DLC corporate centrists do ya?

There's one thing that is for certain. The corporate centrist wing of the Dem party is not interested in fighting the class war with the 99%. They need money for campaigns and the amount of money they need for success can only come from the corporate 1% sponsors. They never try to move the party left. It's a right turn only lane for them until they find themselves in the repuke party ...and would happen only to the few who may have some introspect.

[mother earth]

36. Which is why we are where we are. nt

[BlueCaliDem]

29. Very good idea.

Thanks for reminding me.

[El_Johns]

31. Is a "Promise Zone" a new version of Jack Kemp's "Enterprise Zones"?

The Kemp-Garcia Enterprise Zone Bill: A New, Less Costly ...
ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1171&context=ulj?
by RW Benjamin - ?1981 - ?Related articles

The idea was exported to America, where Representative Jack. Kemp introduced the first enterprise zone bill in Congress on May. 1, 1980.10 A second bill, ...


Mr. Obama’s initiative is just the latest in a series of like-minded efforts that have spanned the last few decades. As a congressman and later as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the first Bush administration, Jack Kemp proposed the creation of enterprise zones to attract business to inner cities. Former President Bill Clinton created empowerment zones to spur economic growth in distressed communities.

Last month, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) introduced legislation to create Economic Freedom Zones. Areas with unemployment rates that are at least one-and-a-half times the national average would be eligible for assistance aimed at reducing taxes and red tape.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/01/09/what-is-a-promise-zone/


A 2006 article in the Journal of Urban Affairs found only a few instances in which economic activity in the zone was better than that in comparable areas outside the zone. An article in the Economic Development Quarterly in 2009 found “no evidence that these enterprise zones affected the employment of zone residents.” An article in the Journal of Urban Economics in 2010 found, “The evidence indicates that enterprise zones do not increase employment.” The evidence is equally weak regarding the New Markets Tax Credit. A 2009 article in the Public Finance Review found no change in investment in low-income communities.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/01/10/it_s_the_one_thing_rand_paul_and_barack_obama_agree_about_and_it_doesn_t.html

[KoKo]

48. Good Background ...Obama's Policy Advisors "Re-Branding"

Using Republican Think Tank issues to Re-Package/Re-Brand the same failed policies in a new wrapper.

He just is too young, to know an America that still manufactured and had strong unions and companies that paid a decent wage and allowed opportunites to move up. Publishing, Computer Production, Appliance, Furniture, Textile, Automobile and Widget Manufacturing allowed for stable jobs and ways to work up the ladder to management if you were bright and talented. All offshored and labor decimated. Most of us long time Dems on this Board know the drill.

[Egalitarian Thug]

33. K&R For pissing off some of the right people.

You get the added bonus (trust me on this) of being ignored by a few people you have no reason to talk to anyway.
& R

[mother earth]

37. TY, Egalitarian Thug, I consider myself in good company. The noose around the 99% grows tighter,

and we are somehow expected to overlook it all.

[Egalitarian Thug]

39. No, no darling, it is simply the latest fashion accessory, don't give it another thought.

It will be people like us that make positive change. I've never understood how people can see something fail again and again and again, then turn around and expect that somehow, this time it is going to work.

OTOH, after the people who have been right all along do manage to solve the problem, the fantastic thinkers will claim the credit.
The circle of life?

[bvar22]

34. "No New Money"

Last edited Sun Jan 12, 2014, 03:58 PM - Edit history (1)

There will be NO "New Money" going into these Enterprise Zones.

“Under the proposed Promise Zones, the federal government plans to partner with local governments and businesses to provide tax incentives and grants.”

[font size=3]No New Money,[/font]
but Tax Breaks and Grants for Large Corporations to move into these "zones"
and take advantage of the cheap labor available in our most desperate areas.


Does this really work?
Not really.
As we all have learned, special Low Tax Areas (like the Republican South) will attract industry and commerce from other areas where that taxes are higher,
so these low tax havens don't really create any jobs,
but merely STEALS them from other places.

These little Potemkin Villages may look successful if one doesn't look too closely (or widely),
but the overall impact is a net loss to the country in tax revenue,
and a net loss to overall Wages & benefits for the American Workforce as the jobs in these Enterprise Zones invariably pay LESS than the area from which they were stolen.

Quick Summation:
[font size =3] The Obama Administration is claiming that if we CUT TAXES on the RICH Corporations,
they will Create Jobs, and that wealth will trickle down to the people who live in these little zones.[/font]

*Cut Taxes...check

*will Create Jobs.....check

*the wealth will trickle down....check


Now WHERE have we heard THAT before?




DURec for the OP.
It was not flattering to the Obama Administration,
and for that, you will suffer the wrath of DUers who can't see beyond that to the actual Tax Cutting for the RICH POLICY,
but the nuts and bolts of this piece were exactly Right On Target




You will know them by their WORKS.

[KoKo]

49. "Potemkin Villages"....Nailed it!

These little Potemkin Villages may look successful if one doesn't look too closely (or widely),
but the overall impact is a net loss to the country in tax revenue,
and a net loss to overall Wages & benefits for the American Workforce as the jobs in these Enterprise Zones invariably pay LESS than the area from which they were stolen.

In my state we gave huge tax breaks to locate several big name compaies in the 90's. They stayed for a few years then sent the production overseas. It was a rip off to our state because they left abandoned buildings leaving the taxpayers responsible for the vacated buildings to try to find new companies to come in and rehab. There were no takers for these buildings. So they sit there without maintenance an eyesore going down in value blighting the area and the workers left with nothing.

[Enthusiast]

115. Thank you. Beautifully said.

[Scuba]

120. Thread winner. Thanks bvar22.

[geek tragedy]

42. When an article begins with a brazen, shameless lie, you can stop reading. Typical counterpunch.

From the second sentence:

n Thursday, President Barack Obama, whose policies have resulted in the greatest number of public sector job losses in US History (Public sector jobs have declined by 718,000 jobs since Obama took office.)

The author is either a Chris Christie-style liar, or an ignoramus about economics.

Anyone who doesn't understand why the claim that Obama's policies lead to public sector job losses is bullshit is hereby disqualified from any intelligent discussion of economic policy.

[BumRushDaShow]

45. He's also a Libertarian

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/UserInfo-Mike_Whitney.html

Surprise surprise?

[SidDithers]

97. A Ron Paul loving Libertarian...

but I guess that's who the ODS brigade at DU goes to for their Obama bashing these days.

Sid

[El_Johns]

51. Doesn't look like a lie.

The public sector grew during Mr. Reagan's terms (up 1,414,000), during Mr. G.H.W. Bush's term (up 1,127,000), during Mr. Clinton's terms (up 1,934,000), and during Mr. G.W. Bush's terms (up 1,748,000 jobs).

However the public sector has declined significantly since Mr. Obama took office (down 734,000 jobs). These job losses have mostly been at the state and local level, but more recently at the Federal level. This has been a significant drag on overall employment.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2014/01/public-and-private-sector-payroll-jobs.html


Interesting since black Americans are more likely to work in the public sector than any other racial group.

[geek tragedy]

54. lol, says someone posting a chart showing how awesome bush was at job creation

Those layoffs--at the state level--were due to the fallout from Bush's policies. Not Obama's. Moreover, those layoffs happened DESPITE FEDERAL AID FROM OBAMA's STIMULUS PACKAGE.

They happened because of states' decisions and policies not Obama's.

As I said, anyone who thinks the state layoffs were Obama's fault is an economic illiterate.

Peddle that rightwing Bush apologist horseshit elsewhere. Like at the sewer that is Counterpunch.

P.S. Nice snide, race-baiting comment at the end.

[El_Johns]

55. That's true to some extent, but the fact is that Obama has continued a lot of those policies,

such as in education, and they specifically MANDATE layoffs & terminations, and privatization.

There is no race-baiting comment in my post. It's a fact that black Americans are more likely to be employed in the public sector, and as such, public-sector layoffs hit them harder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/us/as-public-sector-sheds-jobs-black-americans-are-hit-hard.html?_r=0

About one in five black workers have public-sector jobs, and African-American workers are one-third more likely than white ones to be employed in the public sector.

[geek tragedy]

70. "true to some extent" lmao . And, no, Obama's policies have not mandated teacher layoffs

at the state level. Stop lying.

The layoffs happened because the economy sucked and states lost tax revenue, and had to slash budgets, because they have stupid balanced budget amendments.

And, you threw race into the discussion, why?

[BumRushDaShow]

56. You forgot to add context to the chart

However the public sector has declined significantly since Mr. Obama took office (down 726,000 jobs). These job losses have mostly been at the state and local level, but more recently at the Federal level. This has been a significant drag on overall employment.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/12/public-and-private-sector-payroll-jobs.html

And since the President of the U.S. has no control of what happens regarding the workforces at the state and local level, it's natural to blame him anyway.

To echo a previous poster -

[El_Johns]

58. The President actually does have some control over what happens at the state & local level.

For example, his Race to the Top initiative in education forced local level applicants to make policy changes that increased the likelihood of layoffs and privatization. This is a simple fact.

Public sector education has had the biggest job loss of any sector to my knowledge. This is partly/largely the result of Obama admin's enthusiastic pursuit of Bush-style policies in education.

[ProSense]

63. What absolute nonsense.

"The President actually does have some control over what happens at the state & local level."

State layoffs in the public sector have been the result of Republican Governor's BS, everything from trying to break unions to rejecting federal aid, and Congressional Republican sabotage.

Editorial

An Unwise Cut in School Aid

President Obama has rightly threatened to veto the House version of a spending bill that includes damaging and unnecessary cuts to his signature education grant program, known as the Race to the Top.

The $500 million in cuts, which come courtesy of the House Appropriations Committee chairman, Representative David Obey, a Democrat of Wisconsin, would help finance a $10 billion state aid package aimed at forestalling teacher layoffs. That’s a good aim. But the White House and its Democratic allies in the Senate are right when they say that the offset must be found elsewhere and that cutting this vital program would dampen a thriving school reform effort.

The $4.3 billion Race to the Top program has focused the country’s attention on the school reform effort as never before. By finally making federal grants contingent on policy changes, the government has pushed states to develop strategies for turning around chronically failing schools, establish data-driven systems for training and evaluating teachers and adopt the new, more-rigorous standards released earlier this year by the National Governors Association.

Only two of 40 states — Delaware and Tennessee — won first-round grants under the program. But the competition encouraged second-round applicants to do a better job of building statewide consensus around their applications. It also spotlighted innovative teacher and training programs like the one in Delaware, which holds teachers responsible for improving student performance while also giving struggling teachers the coaching and feedback they need to master a difficult job.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/opinion/06tue3.html

Republicans expected to be united in opposition to state aid, teachers
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/08/02/889694/-Republicans-expected-to-be-united-in-opposition-to-state-aid-teachers

Senate Republicans Kill Rebuild America Act
http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Senate-Republicans-Kill-Rebuild-America-Act

Republican Governors like Christie and Walker.

N.J. unemployment jumps from Christie budget cuts
http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/economy/nj-unemployment-jumps-from-christie-budget-cuts

Republican Crowd At Christie Speech Cheers Laying Off Thousands Of Government Workers
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/28/330573/republican-crowd-cheers-government-layoffs/

Gov. Christie Brags About State Layoffs: ‘Unions Are Trying To Break The Middle Class’
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/23/145941/christie-brag-break/

Reversing Local Austerity

<...>

One question that arises when we talk about the possibility of reversing the disastrous push for austerity runs something like this: “OK, you say you want more government spending, but what should it spend money on?” The truth is that I think the perceived lack of shovel-ready projects was overstated even in 2009, but it was a real concern.

The point I want to make is that matters now are actually a lot easier: we could get a fairly big fiscal bang just by resuming aid to state and local governments, allowing them to reverse the big cuts they have recently made.

So here’s my chart. It shows employment by state and local governments, which has fallen around half a million, with the majority of the cuts coming from education. Moreover, the baseline should not be zero; it should be normal growth, say along with population growth. So I’ve indicated what would have happened to state and local employment if it had grown at its usual rate of 1% a year:



This suggests to me that we could put well over a million people to work directly, and probably around 3 million once you take other effects into account, without any need to come up with new projects; just transfer enough money to state and local governments to let them return to doing the essential business of government, like educating our children.

- more -

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/reversing-local-austerity/

The Jobs Program That Wasn’t

Macroeconomic Advisers on the American Jobs Act, proposed a year ago:

We estimate that the American Jobs Act (AJA), if enacted, would give a significant boost to GDP and employment over the near-term.

-The various tax cuts aimed at raising workers’ after-tax income and encouraging hiring and investing, combined with the spending increases aimed at maintaining state & local employment and funding infrastructure modernization, would:
-Boost the level of GDP by 1.3% by the end of 2012, and by 0.2% by the end of 2013.
-Raise nonfarm establishment employment by 1.3 million by the end of 2012 and 0.8 million by the end of 2013, relative to the baseline

Of course, it that had happened, Obama would be more or less a lock for reelection. Instead, having blocked the president’s economic plans, Republicans can point to weak job growth and claim that the president’s policies have failed.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/the-jobs-program-that-wasnt/

[El_Johns]

65. Obama's Race To The Top Drives Nationwide Wave of School Closings, Teacher Firings

A nationwide epidemic of school closings and teacher firings has been underway for some time. It's concentrated chiefly in poor and minority communities, and the teachers let go are often experienced and committed classroom instructors, and likely to live in and near the communities they serve, and disproportionately black.

The current wave of school closings is latest result of bipartisan educational policies which began with No Child Left Behind in 2001, and have kicked into overdrive under the Obama administration's Race To The Top. In Chicago, the home town of the president and his Secretary of Education, the percentage of black teachers has dropped from 45% in 1995 to 19% today. After winning a couple skirmishes in federal court over discriminatory firings in a few schools, teachers have now filed a citywide class action lawsuit alleging that the city's policy of school “turnarounds” and “transformations” is racially discriminatory because it's carried out mainly in black neighborhoods and the fired teachers are disproportionately black.

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/16-4

[ProSense]

66. LOL!

Bruce Dixon is an anti-Obama hack.

Pre-K in Vermont

Vermont today won a $37 million federal grant for a statewide, pre-kindergarten program at public schools. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the Senate education committee, worked closely with federal officials and Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration to secure the grant for early childhood education.

Sanders said, “Psychologists tell us that, in terms of human development, the most important years are birth through four years of age. Yet, in terms of early childhood education, our nation does a very inadequate job in making quality pre-kindergarten education available to working families. This major federal grant will significantly improve early childhood education in our state and better prepare our kids for school and the challenges and opportunities of life. I am very appreciative that the Department of Education provided Vermont with this major grant.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) supported Vermont’s application for the award from a U.S. Department of Education program called Race to the Top.

Leahy said, “An educated Vermont is a prosperous and better Vermont. Vermont has always understood the importance of early childhood education and how effective it can be in helping children break the cycle of poverty. This funding will allow Vermont to reach an even greater number of young children and expand their programs to ensure all children have access to quality, early education. I am excited to see the further work this federal partnership with Vermont will make possible in the next few years and the difference it will make for so many Vermont families.”

Welch said, “This is great news for Vermont and recognition of the quality of our education system and its leaders. Investments in early childhood education give children the best opportunity to succeed in school and in their future careers. Vermont has distinguished itself with this integrated, statewide approach to serving and educating children.”

The four-year grant will help establish an innovative system to serve every child in the state. It will invest in the professional development of teachers and promote improved health care for children and counseling for their parents.

Sanders played a leading role in persuading the Obama administration to reconsider its priorities for granting Race to the Top funds. In private meetings and public hearings, Sanders pressed U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to help Vermont and other rural states that had largely been excluded from the grant program. Most of the funds in the past went to states with big-city school systems.

The grant to Vermont was one of only six announced today by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to Vermont, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania will share a total of $280 million awarded in the third round of the early learning grants.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/pre-k-in-vermont

[El_Johns]

72. First, that the admin is increasing pre-K funding doesn't in any way negate the layoffs driven by

Race to the Top in primary & secondary ed.

Second, you do realize that the same approach is being used with pre-K?


"the Obama administration is working on a set of reforms to improve Head Start outcomes including the use of competition, a strategy the White House also favors in the K-12 sector. With its Race to the Top competition, for example, the administration encouraged states and nonprofit organizations to propose new reforms and gave out federal dollars to the ones with the best applications.

In the case of Head Start, though, the possibility that some centers will be shut down—and that local nonprofits or even for-profit companies could be awarded the grant money—takes the administration’s embrace of competition to a new level."

http://nation.time.com/2012/11/30/in-mississippi-will-competition-cure-head-start-or-kill-it/


It's actually not a new level though; Race to the Top also allows private for-profit capital in.

[BumRushDaShow]

79. You missed this part in the link

Republicans in Congress have used the study to call for reducing funding for the program.

This is has been the whole problem since 2010. There has been a budgetary "Continuing Resolution" for the past 3 years with cuts in spending forced by the current Congress. So when the money is slashed, the fights begin.

But then note that education funding is not just a federal issue. It mostly comes from the state level, and when GOP states slash funding to education (like what happened in PA), and when the GOP blocks it at the federal level, the squeeze play is on. The blame needs to be applied to the GOP and non-voters.

[El_Johns]

82. I understand how education is funded. I also understand that just to apply for Race to the Top

funds you had to agree to open up your district to pernicious changes which made layoffs, firings, and privatization much easier.

RTTT was the keystone of Obama's education policy, and was talked up as if it were some great thing. But it's not; it's a continuation of Bush education policy.

Education jobs are the biggest chunk of public jobs lost under Obama, and Obama's policy DID have a not inconsequential role.

If you guys can't even admit this much, there's nothing more to discuss.

[geek tragedy]

84. No one here is going to admit that RTTT caused massive teacher layoffs, because it didn't.

You are talking out of your ass when you make that claim.

So, if you are going to finally spreading that horse manure, fine with us.

[BumRushDaShow]

93. Where are you getting this from?

Look at this one example -

The Republican-controlled Legislature rewrote the formula for public school funding in 2011 to cut $5.4 billion from the state's public education budget, the first such reduction in spending since World War II. In 2013, the Legislature restored about $3 billion, but is still not spending as much as it did in 2010. Texas teachers also make about $1,000 less a year than the national average, prompting many teachers to leave the field or move elsewhere.

http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Texas-public-education-tops-debate-in-campaigns-5136076.php?cmpid=htx

This from the state with 2nd largest population (behind California).

Here are more over the past couple years - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/education-funding-drops-i_n_1855826.html

This type of thing has been going on most notably in the GOP-controlled states and it had nothing to do with Race to the Top (which IMHO is a ridiculous program because it is essentially rearranging deck chairs - IMHO we need to go back to 'Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rythmetic).

Repeat after me - MOST of the education funding for a state comes from the STATE.

[geek tragedy]

71. You're citing opinion pieces written by ODS hacks,not actual analysis or data.

Which is apparently quite fitting.

[El_Johns]

76. Race To the Top incentivizes privatization & layoffs. That's a fact.

I have no idea what ODS is, but the direction of Obama's education policy has been the same as Bush's.

[geek tragedy]

81. You haven't pointed to a single layoff that was created because of Obama's

education policies as opposed to crippling revenue shortfalls at virtually every state in the Union.

You posted one opinion piece that also had zero factual predicate for that claim, just generalized puffery about Obama's education policy being bad.

[El_Johns]

86. Emphasizing the need for additional effective education entrepreneurs to join the work of

reforming America's lowest performing public schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told reporters during a conference call this afternoon that states must be open to charter schools. Too much is at stake for states financially and for students academically to restrict choice and innovation.

"States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top Fund," Secretary Duncan said.

President Obama has called upon states to encourage the expansion of charter schools. A network of innovative and high-achieving charter schools can be an important part of a state's school reform effort. However, charter schools are facing significant obstacles to expansion in too many states.

For example:

Ten states do not have laws allowing public charter schools;
In the 40 states with charters, 26 put artificial caps on the number of public charter schools and President Obama has called on states to lift these caps and other barriers to having a healthy network of charter schools throughout the country;
In Maine, the state legislature is debating a bill that would establish a pilot program for its first 10 charter schools;
Tennessee has not moved on a bill to lift enrollment restrictions on charter schools; and
In Indiana, the legislature is considering a moratorium on new charter schools.

http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/06/06082009a.html


And this is only ONE of the pernicious changes encouraged by RTTT that led inexorably to layoffs in the public sector.

[geek tragedy]

90. again you just make shit up.

And this is only ONE of the pernicious changes encouraged by RTTT that led inexorably to layoffs in the public sector.

You have STILL not pointed to a single layoff that resulted from RTTT rather than state budget cuts.

You are just assuming that policies you don't like lead to layoffs, rather than the rational, well-established and documented cause of state budget deficits.

You are not arguing honestly.

[El_Johns]

96. FFS

Race To The Top's four federally mandated “solutions....” are “school transformations,” “school turnarounds,” “school restarts,” and “school closures.”

Race to the Top defines a “ school transformation,” its first remedy, as firing the principal and up to 50% of teachers...

Race To The Top calls its second remedy “school turnaround.” Turnarounds are exactly the same as school transformations...except that transformations fire up to 50% of school staff, but to be called a turnaround schools must fire at least 50% of school staff.

School restarts,” are the third Race To The Top solution. In a “restart” you close the public school and reopen a new school with new staff and the same connected consultants used for transformations and turnarounds, but all under the management of a private corporation. In other words, you close the public school and open a charter school in the same building. Charters of course can use public money to hire even less qualified teachers, pick and choose the students it serves, and often to generate handsome private profits.

Race To The Top 's fourth remedy is “school closure. ” You fire the staff, padlock the school doors and let families take their chances on the free market, or find another public school if they can.

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/16-4

DIRECTLY linked to RTTT.

[geek tragedy]

99. you should educate yourself so that you understand the difference between

rhetoric and evidence.

[El_Johns]

100. It outlines exactly what RTTT provisions do. They require districts to sign onto these provisions,

the main result of which are to fire teachers and close schools, and allow them to become charters.

You can throw shit till you're blue in the face, but that's exactly what RTTT does.

[BumRushDaShow]

101. This has nothing to do with STATE BUDGETS.

You keep linking to the same blog post from a guy who is a Green Party member.

The STATES are the primary funders of their education. The RTTT funding is but a part of the total funding that a state's education system would get.

What you should be discussing is "No Child Left Behind", which Congress has REFUSED to repeal or fix. Meanwhile, the administration has given waivers to 33 states for this as a way to get out of it.

[El_Johns]

102. RTTT = NCLB in new packaging. The bare hope of getting RTTT funding was enough to make states

CHANGE THEIR LAWS. It doesn't matter that the majority of funding comes from states and localities once you have laws in place that tell you teachers are to be rated and the lowest 5% fired, or that the state can have unlimited charter schools, etc.

RTTT funding came from funding that used to be distributed to the states without qualifications.

And the fact is, RTTT and Obama's education policies in general (such as support for "Teach for America" rent-a-scabs) have led to firings and layoffs, much as you refuse to acknowledge it.

[BumRushDaShow]

106. "It doesn't matter that the majority of funding comes from states"

Why do you keep claiming that this is irrelevant when links have been posted from actual news sites describing the state budget processes that have directly impacted not only the number of teachers, but number of support staff, school facilities and everything else associated with education.

Right here in Philly, there were nearly 4,000 targeted for layoff this current school year and it had nothing to do with RTTT. It was related to cuts from the GOP thugs in Harrisburg.

This bullshit about RTTT being the source of these layoffs is ludicrous.

[El_Johns]

107. It was the same story this time last year.

Corporate Greed Targets Public Schools in Philadelphia
By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
12

Abetted by the example of Race to the Top, as well as encouragement from the Gates Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, and the rightwing Corbett administration in Harrisburg, the state-appointed School Reform Commission in Philadelphia is poised to close an unprecedented number of Philadelphia public schools.

The schools are under enrolled, says the commission, but the commission created the under-enrollment by opening charter schools. now Philadelphia will run a dual system, like many other cities, even though the charters are no better than the public schools.

Cui bono?

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/02/18/corporate-greed-sweeps-away-public-schools-in-philadelphia/


Philly & Pennsylvania have been big winners in the "Race to the Top" competitions (multiple years running, millions of dollars). It's really paying off.

Then there's this:


Philadelphia is Closing 23 Schools While Building A $400 Million Prison
by Rania Khalek on June 5, 2013

The Philadelphia School District’s (PSD) state-run School Reform Commission voted in March to close 23 public schools, nearly 10 percent of the city’s total, in a move they say is necessary to plug a $304 million budget deficit.

Last month that same Commission followed up with a “doomsday” education budget (more like austerity on steroids) that if left unchanged will result in 3,000 layoffs and the elimination of clubs, counselors, librarians, assistant principals, secretaries, athletics, art, music and more. The Philadelphia Inquirer added that “Class sizes would be larger, and schools would have no aides to help manage them or support staff to monitor lunchrooms and playgrounds.” Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. called the cuts catastrophic and is requesting money from the state, but local media speculates that the GOP-controlled state legislature is unlikely to pitch in.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and his Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel are spending $400 million to build a brand new prison in Philadelphia, which the Associated Press referred to as “the second-most-expensive facility ever built by the commonwealth, exceeded only by the Pennsylvania Convention Center.”

Education privatization advocates and prison industry profiteers share the same target demographic: poor communities of color (makes the “school-to-prison-pipeline” a lot more literal).

Exhibit A is mass school closures, just the latest scheme in corporate school reform being implemented in cities across the country. But the pain is far from evenly distributed.

In Philadelphia, black students comprise 81 percent of those who will be impacted by the closings despite accounting for just 58 percent of the overall student population. In stark contrast, just 4 percent of those affected are white kids who make up 14 percent of Philly students. And though they make up 81 percent of Philadelphia students, 93 percent of kids affected by the closings are low-income. So there you have it. But it’s not isolated to Philly.

Nevertheless, Wall Street was delighted because fewer public schools mean more charter schools (aka: public funds for private profit). But they can’t go after just any public schools. For now, privatization only works when targeting the most politically disenfranchised communities because in the eyes of decision makers their voices don’t matter.

http://raniakhalek.com/2013/06/05/philadelphia-is-closing-23-schools-while-building-a-400-million-prison/


"Budget cuts" is the rationale, RTTT, with its MANDATE of staff firings & school closings, is the MEANS.

[BumRushDaShow]

110. Dianne Ravitch - the louse who fought tooth and nail against the Multicultural curriculum

I have a term for her that would get my post hidden.

Beware the snake in wolf's clothing that is Ravitch. Anyone who follows the Cult of Ravitch is doomed to internalizing her erratic policy positions. She has lost all credibility due to the chameleon-like whiplash-inducing positions that she has adopted over the decades.

<..>

A few years ago, Ravitch grew so troubled about the purported threat to the public schools that she went through an amazing life change for a 73-year-old historian, whose previous career had been spent writing scholarly books. She reinvented herself as a vehement political activist. Once one of the conservative school-reform movement’s most visible faces, Ravitch became the inspirational leader of a radical countermovement that is rising from the grass roots to oppose the corporate villains. Evoking the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Ravitch proclaims that the only answer to the corporate school-reform agenda is to “build a political movement so united and clear in its purpose that it would be heard in every state Capitol and even in Washington, D.C.” The problem is that Ravitch’s civil rights analogy is misplaced; her new ideological allies have proved themselves utterly incapable of raising the educational achievement of poor minority kids.

<..>

Ravitch gained wider prominence in the 1980s as she joined in the criticism of the public schools unleashed by the Reagan administration’s 1983 Nation at Risk report, with its frequently quoted warning: “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people.” Five years later, she coauthored, with Chester E. Finn, What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know? The well-researched book’s answer: not much. The authors blamed American students’ ignorance partly on the fact that public schools lacked a “coherent literature curriculum.” Indeed, Ravitch began calling for voluntary national standards and championed the teaching of rich academic content knowledge, even in the early grades, and she became associated with E. D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge movement. In his 1987 bestseller, Cultural Literacy, Hirsch credited Ravitch for providing “the single greatest impetus for writing this book” and for suggesting the title. Ravitch soon found herself facing nasty attacks from progressive educators for her “elitism” and for championing “dead white males.”

Though still nominally a Democrat, Ravitch accepted an offer from newly elected president George H. W. Bush to become his assistant secretary of education. Her official assignment was to develop voluntary national standards, but she also came to agree with the administration’s support for school choice. When Ravitch’s Bush stint was over, the Teachers College mandarins, offended by her making common cause with reactionary Republicans, told her not to bother reapplying for her old job. Instead, she became a fellow at the Brookings Institution and wrote a book on national standards. Though the federal government couldn’t require the states to adopt such standards, she concluded, students would benefit if the states voluntarily moved toward them.

Ravitch received financial support for her scholarly work from the conservative John M. Olin Foundation and eventually joined the Koret Task Force at the Hoover Institution. The education-reform movement had acquired a new star, a Democrat supporting almost the entire Republican education agenda—vouchers, more testing, teacher accountability, and higher standards. Ravitch even served on George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign as an education advisor, though she withdrew before the election.

http://www.city-journal.org/2013/23_4_diane-ravitch.html

That leopard will never change her spots and once again, the bulk of losses of staffing were due to GOP budget cuts to public education nationwide, and RTTT has nothing to do with often-massive state funding cuts to school districts.

[El_Johns]

111. aGAIN, RTTT MANDATES firing teachers & closing schools. That is FACT.

And again, states lined up to change their regulations and laws simply to be ELIGIBLE to apply for RTTT. Fact. To allow charter schools and lift caps on charters, just to start.

This is the centerpiece of OBAMA's education policy. It mandates teacher ranking, teacher firing, and charter schools. It's just like NCLB, only with stronger penalties.

[BumRushDaShow]

117. Your entire hyperbolic argument is a complete fabrication

and it's obvious that your agenda is to ignore actual facts with respect to the current massive wave of teacher layoffs that have nothing to do with Race to the Top. As another poster noted, you have yet to point to any reports or links to stories of actual "firings" that are associated with RTTT and I don't expect to see any. The only sites that keep pushing this meme are the Green or Socialist party blogs.

Your insistence of ignoring the role of the state funding's impact on teachers in order to focus on what amounts to a piddling amount of federal funding that in total, was $4.35 billion set aside from the 2009 ARRA, is remarkable. That amount is distributed yearly in grants, and represents a tiny fraction of the total amount of money that is budgeted nationwide for schools in every state or territory, which amounts to some $500 billion yearly. So RTTT grants represent 0.9% of the total funding.

As an example, the entire budget for the 2013 - 2014 school year in the Philadelphia School District alone is $5.6 billion, almost 25% more than the entire amount of the RTTT funding that had been allocated for distribution (and current funding for Philly from state and local sources was well short of what is needed to have a fully funded and thriving school system).

You can keep digging that hole.

[BumRushDaShow]

67. Um no.

The fact that you have a gubenatorial map that looks like this -



(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_governors)

where most of the GOP-run states with GOP legislatures (or with at least one chamber as GOP with a GOP governor) have enacted are are attempting to enact the ALEC agenda that essentially pushes to privatize all government functions - not just school functions, should not be summarily dismissed.

This is not "largely" to do with "Obama admin's enthusiastic pursuit of Bush-style policies in education" but reflects the massive cuts of federal spending (forced by the one branch of government that posters continue to ignore) and a drop of school-age population in the major cities.

When everyone but the always-fearful RW loons sit home in off-year elections, and those loons who do vote elect loons, then this nation gets the Congress that it gets, warts and all. But that doesn't mean that everything halts and governing ceases. Ways must be found to go around the loons and the ways will always have flaws because the means were cut off.

To once again plop the ills of the world onto one person is disingenuous at best.

[El_Johns]

77. Um, yes. Regardless of your map, Obama's education policies = reducing teacher & union protections

& opening up funding to private entities, in blue states as well as red.

[geek tragedy]

83. Obama's education policies are not reducing teacher and union protections.

Those protections are negotiated by collective bargaining, and are not federally decreed.

Moreover, your continued insistence that his education policies and not state budget shortfalls are the primary reason for declining public sector employment indicates bad faith on your part.

[El_Johns]

88. Of course they are. You just don't want to admit it, and there's really no point in discussing it

with you anymore.

Obama Calls for Big Education Reforms - More Charter Schools, Longer School Year

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-calls-for-big-education-reforms-more-charter-schools-longer-school-year/

[geek tragedy]

92. yes, it's been established you have no idea how education is funded in

this country, or at what level teacher unions negotiate for protections, or the reason for massive teacher layoffs across the country.

So, best that you stop posting nonsense.

[BumRushDaShow]

87. "Regardless of your map"

LOL!!

Sorry but the federal government doesn't control "reducing teacher & union protections". This is a state function. The states are the primary funders of education in their states - mainly through property taxes. The federal government provides additional funding to states for certain programs and initiatives, but the buck stops at the states.

See California (via an article that just came out today) for an example.

[Skidmore]

50. Libertarian claptrap of thse

Paulian propagandists. Teabagger CYA for sitting in one place and refusing to participate in governing the nation. Now they are lookong at reelection and people don't care for their policies. Liars, thieves, and do nothing bigots.

[mother earth]

73. Bill Maher is libertarian, and he may as well be a democrat, don't throw your labels around when

there are valid points.

Counterpunch has posted this article that is very critical of Obama, but we need to realize, like it or not, these are points of contention here at DU, and there is good reason for these clashes.

Why are we going to piss on our own principles? Or excuse what is playing out? I can applaud Obama when he follows through, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be silent when gives away important ground.

Will you deny this country is suffering at the hands of the only power being served, and that it sure the hell isn't Main St. winning.

There is something very wrong to the core of our democracy.

[Skidmore]

85. And I categorically refuse to lend support to

the sandbagging of this nation that has been done by the Teabaggers. Period.

[mother earth]

89. No arguments there, but what of the left's cricticism? Is sandbagging via centrism ok? nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

61. So, who benefits the most from the "Promise Zones"?

History indicates that it isn't the minimum wage janitors.

[Egalitarian Thug]

74. Just look at the thriving, almost pastoral communities that sprung up all over

South-Central LA/LBC after being declared an "Enterprise Zone".

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

80. Trickle down with a Democratic label.

[liberal_at_heart]

127. +1

[dionysus]

75. LOL, counterpunch...

[mother earth]

78. Point taken, but nonetheless, there is valid criticism, should be a cinch to

disprove, right?

I wish it were so.

There's a reason why there is a divide at DU over centrism, or what is really veering over to the right, constantly, as though left ideals were something terrible.

[ProSense]

91. It's the typical

piss-in-the punch bowl knee-jerk reaction to anything Obama proposes. The mischaracterization is epic FAIL

"Obama's Corporate Plantations" or "Potemkin Villages"

LOL, WTF?

The same thing happened when the President announced his initiative to address homelessness. The program is having success, but the initial detractors are nowhere to be found.

<...>

The Obama administration largely kept that program in place and launched a new initiative in 2010, the Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness, which aimed to bring the number of homeless people down to zero. So, for example, the Veterans Administration made big policy changes and began giving housing vouchers to tens of thousands of veterans, with no strings attached. The result? Homelessness among veterans has declined 24 percent since 2009.

All told, overall U.S. homelessness has dropped 6 percent since the new federal plan was launched.

- more -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/22/homelessness-has-dropped-9-percent-since-2007-will-that-last/

Salt Lake City joins Phoenix in ending veteran homelessness
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024294340

[SidDithers]

95. Extreme ODS...nt

Sid

[ThomThom]

104. The number of public sector jobs has been reduced, government is not shrinking

because those jobs are being turned over to private corporations at an increased cost. It is built in profit for corporations and a decrease in government protection for workers. Not a good thing.

[bvar22]

105. This is an interesting and enlightening thread.

While there are plenty of posters who attacked the OP,

*not a single one offered a single reason WHY Democrats should support this Reaganesque Trickle Down Policy of offering Tax Breaks to the RICH to "create jobs" in the most devastated areas of the US

*not a single attacker even tried to counter the claim that this was Trickle Down Policy that has the well documented result of putting downward pressure on Wages & Benefits by stealing jobs from other areas.

*not a single attacker even tried to defend this new "initiative"

*not a single attacker even tried to counter the claim that this is nothing more than
Republican "Enterprise Zones" re-labeled as "Promise Zones".

We were treated to an exhibition of Logical Fallacies organized around the Ad Hominem Fallacy (Attack the Messenger) and Poison the Well Logical Fallacy.

We were even treated to a resurrection of "The List", a Red Herring Fallacy that can be done with ANY president if one does NOT have to include the things that were "Compromised Away" to achieve these "accomplishments" ( and has been debunked many times on DU).
Jack did INDEED get a handful of beans for the Family Cow.

The Traditional Democratic Party Method of reclaiming Economically Devastated Areas is to put money directly into the hands of the POOR,
NOT by giving Tax Breaks and Grants to the RICH.

I challenge any of the attackers to explain why we should support these Republican "Promise Zones"
over Traditional Democratic Programs that put money into the hands of those that will spend it.

I'll wait.

[El_Johns]

108. You know, it's Counterrrrpppunch. Isn't that enough for you? Doesn't that tell the whole story

right there?

Counterpunch, for crap's sake. Counterpunch!!!!

[HughBeaumont]

116. Whitney's a Ron Paul supporter who thinks the president's name is "Barry".

He's also a contributor to Lew Rockwell's stain of a site. Also never took a class on how American government works.

It's funny how Mike Whitney lays absolutely NO blame at the feet of Corporate America's intentional shrinking of wages for 33 years, NO blame at Alan Greenscam, NO blame at the feet of the Republican-controlled Congress who originates spending and jobs bills (almost all of which came with Republican-favoring provisos that would enhance the pockets of American CEOs even further), NO blame at the feet of almost 35 years of Republican political glad-handing of Republican economics and NO blame at America's CEOs for consistently lobbying against a more progressive tax structure.

Can't get behind blaming the wrong people for American economic woes.

[BumRushDaShow]

118. +infinity

[Bobbie Jo]

121. They simply don't care.

Any and All sources of condemnation are welcome. Truth and accuracy be damned.

This behavior isn't new here.

[solarhydrocan]

119. At this point why is anyone surprised at these policies?

He said himself that they are "moderate republican" policies from the '80s

[mother earth]

124. The GOP should be worshipping at his feet. But they have to keep up the facade, while we get

appeasement....instead of real change.

[woo me with science]

122. K&R