High Quality & Affordable Child Care is an Economic Development Tool
February 8, 2012
I am writing from Toney Westchester County, NY.
Our current County Executive, Rob Astorino, recently decided to charge mostly poor families in our County an extra $120 a month for subsidized child care, while most families still grapple with the worst effects of the recession.
Much like presidential candidate Mitt Romney, County Executive Astorino is sending the message that he is out of tune with the proletariat, and that he has distain for the lower and middle-income people who are the majority of the workforce in New York’s lower Hudson Valley.
Our County Executive recently announced that he would ask for permission from New York State to increase from 20 percent to 35 percent the amount of money charged families who use subsidized child care. Now, two years into his four year term, Astorino has been consistent in his apparent campaign targeted at cutting child care and a number of other services that help to keep the working poor working.
In the end, Astorino knows that this gets relegated to be a ‘women’s issue’ and he knows that women have little, if any, influence on election outcomes.
In fact, equal access to quality child care is way more than a ‘women’s issue’, it is a long-term societal issue.
The positive impacts of quality early care and learning on early cognitive development have been well documented.
Children from households with 2 parents who are both college graduates probably benefit the least from high-quality child care, because they start out with a ‘competitive advantage’ from their home environment.
The children who need the most help — those from single parent households where the mother’s highest level of educational achievement is GED or less — are the most in need of rigorous, reliable and high-quality ECE programs.
The positive impact of universal and equal access to quality ECE is clear: on individuals, on families and on society overall, although the positive program outcomes are more often gleaned from European data because of the political ‘yo-yo-ing’ that exists in the U.S.
Westchester County is one of the highest cost areas in America.
Why wouldn’t the residents and businesses in Westchester NOT want to set an example for other U.S. areas in terms of equal access to high-quality early care, if for no other reason than to create a salubrious environment for employers that need a productive workforce?
In the final analysis, discrimination against children due to economic circumstances has disparate impact on children of color.
Isn’t this just another proof that the housing lawsuit really may have merit?
Class Action Law Suits
February 6, 2012
Class Action Lawsuits really frost my windshield.
In November 2011, Senior U.S. District Judge James King approved a $410 Million settlement against Bank of America in a class action suit which alleged that the bank overcharged debit card users for overdraft fees.
It all sounds good and just – those greedy blood sucking banks! — until you get to the news that the Judge set fees for the class counsel at about $123 Million.
That is 30% of the award.
Maybe the bank was bad, and it really needed to be punished and to refund some excessive fees that were charged to customers.
But, for this law firm to step in and take $123 Million off the top? What in the world did they do to earn $123 Million? And how does this help any consumers who may have been victimized?
I’ve been waiting for the news on who will be litigating against that law firm for Piracy and Pillage! Haven’t heard anything yet, but I’m sure one of the other Class Action Conquistadores will step forward soon?
I recently was the beneficiary personally from a class action suit against an insurance company for some transgression that I don’t think really happened. Pretty sure I didn’t get any monetary benefit, maybe a coupon for a 10% discount on future premiums?
I do recall that the class action law firm received a 7 figure payout — not in coupons, but in real dollars!
Who pays for that? We do.
Over the years, I’ve read about proposals in Congress around “Tort Reform”.
I’ve read that some of the spiraling costs in our health care industry are in large part related to fear of litigation.
The Congressional Budget Office recently found that reforming the medical malpractice insurance system, a.k.a. “med-mal reform” — a.k.a. ‘tort reform’ — could save $54 billion over 10 years.
Other estimates are higher.
David Kendall, a senior fellow with Third Way, an independent ‘think tank’ recently said, “We found that roughly, between $92 to $207 billion dollars per year can be saved from reducing defensive medicine.”
My call: We are missing some real opportunities to reform our legal system and to save huge amounts in our health care system due to a continuing battle between Red and Blue.
Yet, if we look back in history, we would find that the Civil War was decided long ago.
Isn’t it time for each and all of us to find ways to find common ground and work together for the common good?
ObamaCare?
February 1, 2012
Members of Congress have the Cadillac health insurance plan.
Why should we expect them to understand the plight of average Americans?
When things got ugly in France, Marie Antoinette said, “Let them eat cake.”
What people didn’t grasp back then was that Marie wasn’t being mean or sarcastic, she just didn’t know.
She was so disconnected, she had no clue what it was like to be a peasant in France at the end of the 18th Century. In fact, some historians believe that something may have been lost in the translation, and that Marie wasn’t referring to what we today think of as cake, at all.
Even so…
My sense is that most of those sitting in Congress today are so disconnected that they have no clue what it is to be a regular American at the beginning of the 21st Century.
So, we need to give them a break, stop the rhetoric, and come up with a plan to help inform those who have the power that we — the people who are getting jerked around — are just not happy with the fat cats working in the private insurance industry who travel in their private jets and chauffeured black cars while denying us health care; that we are not happy with our Congresspeople and other ‘government workers’ — who now make up around 30% of the workforce — and who have lifetime benefits.
We are not happy because the rest of us — the 70% who work in the private sector — are getting screwed.
Some of us have been working as virtual slaves to a corporation which recently determined that health care coverage for retirees was too much of a burden for them to shoulder.
Or worse, the company declared bankruptcy or closed down, leaving workers and retirees with nothing other than bad memories.
Others of us were counting on some sort of group plan that has now disappeared.
We need access to a group health plan that spreads the risks and the costs across a broad cross section of the population.
If we take this to the extreme, let’s take a peek at K-12 public education, which is typically funded with property taxes, levied on all property owners whether they have children or not, and whether they send their children to public or private schools.
Everyone shares in the cost of public education. Everyone.
Some pay twice: they pay their taxes; then they send their children to private schools. That’s their choice.
With our healthcare system as it stands today, people have no choice. Either you are at the top of the economic pyramid and have the Cadillac plan, or you are uninsured.
Is that a Socialist issue?
Then what about roads? Sewers? Libraries? Public education? How about parks? Sidewalks? Public transportaion?
It seems that the USA may be the last of the economically developed nations to stop and recognize the need for universal health care.
Will this be the very issue that precipitates our demise as a sovereign nation?
Speaker of the House & Keystone XL Pipeline
January 18, 2012
Imagine if Ronald Regan were with us today, and what he might be saying to Speaker Boehner:
“If you seek oil independence, if you seek economic prosperity, if you seek good jobs in the United States: Come here, to this microphone. Mr. Boehner, open your mind! Mr. Boehner, tell us the whole story.”
There is an old saying, ‘…real success comes from good planning, carefully executed’.
The Alaska Pipeline — sometimes known as the “Alyeska Pipeline” – provides an interesting case study.
First proposed in 1968, it took about 6 years of pre-construction activities, including extensive soil surveys; archeological investigations; and significant government oversight and permitting to reach the point where preliminary construction began in 1974.
That pipeline was completed in June 1977, taking just over 3 years.
Despite what seems to have been great planning and very careful execution, there have been a number unfortunate and destructive failures and accidents
From 1977 through 1981, about 27,000 barrels – just over 1 Million gallons – of crude oil leaked from the pipeline at various places due to a variety of failures: accidents; pipe settlement; leaking valves; even sabotage.
http://alyeska-pipe.com/Pipelinefacts/Chronology.html
Running 800 miles across a very complex ecosystem and terrain, the Alaska Pipeline provides a great “cookbook” for what it takes to build a great pipeline that will stand the test of time.
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would run some 1,700 miles from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, has generated a great deal of controversy, some pro, some against.
Some have claimed that the Keystone 1 pipeline, which began operations in June 2010, had more spills in its first year of operation than any in history – some very minor, some significant, thus creating some reason for reservation about the sponsor and operator itself of Keystone XL.
Others have claimed that the Keystone XL pipeline will be a salvation for the U.S. economy, creating an endless supply of petroleum while also creating thousands of jobs.
There must be some truth on both sides of these arguments, yet it seems we don’t have all of the facts quite yet.
Doesn’t it make sense to give a few more months so that a complete and independent assessment can be completed so that our elected officials and their independent advisors are able to make neutral and informed decisions?
If we leave the decisions to be made in the hands of lobbyists and insiders, will we get an optimum outcome?
Buffalo & Promise Neighborhood
December 20, 2011
Back in the day, I was given a wonderful opportunity.
I was in 4th grade at PS 83 in Buffalo, NY and I was selected to be part of an experimental program that brought 16 students from various neighborhoods around the city – 8 male, 8 female – together in a 5th grade class at PS 68 with a very experienced and high-performance teacher.
Our group stayed intact from grade 5 to grade 8, and we graduated in June 1965 with the other students at PS 68, going on to the high school in our respective neighborhoods.
Sad to say, over the years, PS 68 lost its luster. It eventually sunk to the level of a failed elementary school.
In the mid-1990’s, M&T Bank discovered PS 68 and decided to adopt the school, investing not only dollars, but some of the intellectual capital of its employees and management team.
With the help of business leaders from M&T, and over a period of several years, PS 68 was transformed from a failed public school into a District Sponsored Charter School.
Today – now known as the Westminster Charter School – PS 68 is at least as good as it was in 1965 when I graduated from 8th grade.
On December 19, 2011, the neighborhood which is anchored by the Westminster Charter, Highgate Heights Elementary and Bennett High schools received notice that they had been awarded a $6 million federal grant to improve services in the neighborhood!
The Buffalo Promise Neighborhood was one of only five U.S. communities, out of more than 35 applicants, to receive the U.S. Department of Education Promise Neighborhood implementation grant in 2011.
In 2010, the Westminster Foundation was one of 21 national recipients of a federal Promise Neighborhood planning grant, which led to the establishment of the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood.
As a graduate of both PS 68 and Bennett HS, I’m proud to see this 360 degree transformation coming to life!
Thank you, M&T Bank, and all of the partners who have worked together to make this possible!
Speaker of the House
December 20, 2011
For the past several months, the Walrus has been wondering, “Who is John Boehner, and how did he become Speaker of the House?”
Rep. Boehner was elected to Congress to represent the residents of the 8th Congressional District in the State of Ohio. The 112th Congress was elected from districts based on the Census of 2000. There are 435 congressional districts in the U.S., and each district is a geographical division of a state containing a population of about 720,000 people from which one member of the House of Representatives is elected.
As Speaker of the House, Rep. Boehner is exercising extraordinary power over the government of the United States. This is very puzzling because I know I never had an opportunity to vote for him, and as I’ve asked around, I haven’t found anyone I know who voted in an election where John Boehner was a candidate.
What I observe is that Rep. Boehner (and his Lieutenant, Rep. Cantor) seem to be disconnected from the American value system, yet with sufficient power to be able to control critical outcomes which will impact all of us Americans for years to come.
Many of us had the opportunity to observe the federal government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996, orchestrated by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich during the Presidency of Bill Clinton. Given the long and close relationship between Gingrich and Boehner, one has to stop and ask, “Could this be déjà vu all over again?”
The Walrus thought you might like the opportunity to see some facts (yes, these are REAL facts) on the 8th District in Ohio. Note that most of the District falls into the Dayton Metropolitan Area, yet the 8th District was carefully drawn to exclude the City of Dayton (population 141,527) from the District.
Boehner himself is from the township of West Chester, Ohio which is located in the SE corner of Butler County, Ohio. Butler County is part of the Cincinnati–Middletown, OH-KY-IN MSA.
My look at a map of this District led me to think that this might be a poster child for gerrymandering, but further research would be required to support that hypothesis.
State of Ohio: 8th Congressional District
Geographic and Demographic Highlights
The City of Troy is the county seat of Miami County, Ohio as well as the largest city in this county with a 2010 population of 25,058. Troy is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Miami County population is 102,506 with a land area of 409 square miles.
Darke County, Ohio has a population of 52,959 with a land area of 600 square miles. The county seat is the City of Greenville, population 13,227. Physically located on the western border of Ohio, Darke County is contiguous to Wayne County, Indiana.
Preble County, Ohio has a population of 42,270 with a land area of 426 square miles. The county seat is the City of Eaton, population 8,407. Preble County is also on the western border of Ohio, contiguous to Union County, Indiana.
The District also includes some rural and semi-suburban areas of Butler County, Mercer County and the northeast corner of Montgomery County.
Home Rule in a World Economy
December 4, 2011
I live in New York State, often thought of as the land of high taxes and the home of Wall Street.
Current debate in New York has to do with what is called a “millionaire’s tax” which is really just a graduation of income tax rates as incomes rise.
Today, the NYS income tax on a typical New York family is 6.85% on taxable earnings up to $300,000 annually.
The‘surcharge’ starts to kick in when taxable household income for a family exceeds $300,000, causing incremental taxable income over $300,000 subject to NYS Income Tax at a rate of 7.85%, and at $500,000, the marginal rate then rises to 8.97%.
Now let’s take a look at a family in New York State with an annual taxable income of $750,000.
That is about $14,400 per week.
If the “millionaire’s tax’ expires, this family will save about $7,300 at tax time, which equates to $140 per week.
Meanwhile, the Empire State is facing a potential $3.5 Billion deficit in the coming year.
Why would Governor Cuomo not support the extension of this surcharge on the highest earning households?
On another level, one danger of having an uneven income tax landscape in adjacent states is that these highly compensated individuals can easily relocate — note that Greenwich, CT has become the capital of the hedge fund industry; and that downtown Stamford, CT is home to several large investment banking operations (UBS & RBS).
There is currently an effort by the State of Ohio to bring the headquarters operation for Sears from the Chicago area where it’s been forever, to the Columbus area.
Illinois claims they are not in a position to offer hundreds of millions to Sears to retain their operations there; meanwhile, Ohio — with nothing to lose and plenty to gain — is willing to offer a $400 Million incentive package as an inducement to bring 10,000 jobs and all of the ancillary spending that accompanies such an operation.
This news made me stop and think — while our local towns, counties, cities and states are working hard to cannibalize each other, we lose sight of the world economy, and when jobs move overseas, citizens in the U.S. get up in arms, surprised and shocked.
I’m all for ‘home rule’ to a point — but when home rule decisions result in zero sum solutions which have short term benefit (offset by short term loss) to one local region vs. another– accompanied by serious long-term negative impact on our entire nation — we have a flawed public policy that needs immediate attention.
The Walrus thinks it is time to rethink our entire system in the U.S.A. to – hopefully – make it more relevant and competitive in our current world economy…..
Proposed 2012 Westchester County Budget
November 24, 2011
We must applaud our current Westchester County Executive Astorino for staying true to his campaign promise to halt tax increases at the county level in Westchester.
However, we need to remind CE Astorino that reigning in tax collections can be done in several ways.
The proposed 2012 Westchester County budget as released by CE Astorino hacks away at the branches of excess.
Unfortunately, CE Astorino has not driven down to the roots of inefficiency and waste.
The public sector at the County level can deliver major savings without affecting frontline services.
Real and sustainable savings will not come from slashing safety net services, such as:
• legal services for low-income residents;
• eviction prevention services;
• financial education and budget intervention for low-income families; or
• community health centers.
A quick look at the staffing levels and budget allocations to the Office of County Executive and the Board of Legislators leaves me wondering:
What if these 2 divisions were eliminated completely? Or, had their administrative support functions combined?
Then, a further look at the various administrative functions:
• Human Resources;
• Budget;
• Finance;
• Information Technology;
• Acquisition and Contract;
• Law;
• Planning;
• Tax Commission;
• Board of Elections.
This all makes me stop and think:– If this was my company: Would I try to combine all of these functions under one Chief Operations Officer? And look for synergies and cost savings?
Bill Maher & The New New Rules
November 20, 2011
Bill Maher was interviewed for “All Things Considered” which was broadcast on Sunday, November 20, 2011. Most of the interview centered on his new book, “The New New Rules…..”, and some of his thoughts on current events.
In just 7 minutes, he somehow was able to surface some very disturbing symptoms that seem to be invisible to our elected officials.
Here is an edited excerpt:
“I’m Irish. The Irish people get mad at anything… The country is real screwed up… I think many of us think things are so off track and there are so many greedy selfish people who have hijacked what was good about this country…. Well, you know what’s exceptional about America unfortunately is we are the only advanced nation that doesn’t have Health Care; we are number one in Income Inequality; we are the nation that throws the highest percentage of our own people into prison; we are number one in debt; we are number one in military expenditures; we are number one in meth labs and fat toddlers.
The things we are number one in these days are mostly not good things….”
Here is a link to the entire interview, well worth spending 7 minutes listening to:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=142355162&m=142572018
Can we get our friends and neighbors focused on the big picture, and demand that their elected officials stop all of this inane silliness and get focused on real issues that have real potential to destroy our country — permanently?
Americans for Tax Reform
November 5, 2011
I am an American, and I am fully in favor of Tax Reform.
In my view, Tax Reform means removing all of the crazy loopholes that allow certain special interests to avoid paying taxes, or to shelter income under some special rule that allows their income to be taxed at some artificially low rate.
Tax Reform also means capturing federal and state income taxes from the “Shadow Economy.”
Of course, a portion of our shadow economy involves illegal activities such as burglary, robbery and drug dealing, but the lion’s share of our shadow economy is comprised of regular people who don’t seem to want to be obvious criminals.
As our official economy has continued to deteriorate and unemployment hovers in the 9% range, some creative people have found opportunities in the shadow economy.
It is no surprise that in hard economic times, creative people turn to resourceful solutions in order to get by, and Americans are noted for their ingenuity. With high unemployment, informal entrepreneurs — particularly those who don’t pay taxes – have come out of the woodwork.
Unshackled by excessive regulations, license fees, and (yes) various taxes, people work in the shadow, trying to keep their family from becoming a statistic.
Could be a day laborer waiting on a street corner for a construction gig; a single mother running a day care center out of her apartment; an unlicensed street food vendor; a plumber who offers a discount to clients who pay cash; or an auto repair shop that prefers cash over checks or credit cards, and offers an incentive to customers who are willing to pay cash.
Various sources have estimated that the shadow economy makes up a larger portion of the economies of countries like Greece (25 percent) or Mozambique (more than 40 percent) than it does in the U.S. where consensus pegs the shadow economy somewhere between 8 to 10 percent of total GDP — in 2010, an amount equal to around $1.4 trillion That translates to lost federal tax revenue of $280 Billion, assuming a 20% federal tax rate.
Added to this opportunity to increase tax revenues at the individual level, the awful state of our corporate income tax code further exacerbates the problem.
A recently released look at the inefficiency of our corporate tax policy and rules by the nonpartisan research group Citizens for Tax Justice gives us a picture of some simple changes that could be enacted to help create tax equity and to generate significant new revenue at the Federal level. The full report is available at
Click to access CorporateTaxDodgersReport.pdf
Here is a brief excerpt:
“The corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) was established in 1986 to ensure that profitable corporations pay some substantial amount in income taxes no matter how many tax breaks they enjoy under the regular corporate tax. The corporate AMT (unlike the much-maligned personal AMT) was particularly designed to curb leasing tax shelters that had allowed corporations such as General Electric to avoid most or all of their regular tax liabilities.
But laws enacted in 1993 and 1997 at the behest of corporate lobbyists sharply weakened the corporate AMT, and now hardly any companies pay the tax. In fact, many are getting rebates for past AMT payments. In late 2001, U.S. House of Representatives leaders attempted to repeal the corporate AMT entirely and give companies instant refunds for any AMT they had paid since 1986. Public outcry stopped that outrageous plan, at least so far, but the AMT remains a shell of its former self that will require substantial reform if it is to once again achieve its goal of curbing corporate tax avoidance.”
So, while the organization known as “Citizens for Tax Reform” makes plenty of noise and strongly encourages candidates for public office to sign a Taxpayer Protection Pledge, the real deal here is that they are perpetuating the loopholes which corporations and wealthy individuals are able to use to avoid the tax bracket they ought to be in.
We don’t need to increase tax rates at all. What we need is real Tax Reform that will eliminate these tax avoidance scams once and forever.
walrus51 