Dear Commons Community,

There is a provocative piece in the NY Times editorial this morning entitled, The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed.  The editorial refers to the advice of Warren Buffett last month to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires.  It also suggests that America should heed what has happened in Europe where there have been incidents of social unrest  (i.e., London riots and the burning of Mercedes Benzes in Berlin).

I found this editorial unusual given the NY Times is such a moderate publication yet here it was warning that given the economic conditions in this country, we might be incubating the makings of serious social unrest against the rich and powerful.

Bill Gates, the Koch Brothers, their corporate partners and especially the US Congress  might be wise to listen to what this editorial has to say.

The entire editorial is copied below.

Tony

NY Times

September 9, 2011

The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed

Some of the world’s wealthiest people are calling for higher taxes on the rich. They seem to recognize that the burden of the economic downturn cannot be borne entirely by the poor and middle class.

After the American billionaire investor Warren Buffett urged Congress last month to raise taxes on millionaires, the call echoed across Europe. Sixteen of France’s wealthiest individuals urged the government to raise their taxes. The Italian Formula One magnate Luca di Montezemolo publicly backed Mr. Buffett’s idea “for reasons of fairness and solidarity.” About 50 of Germany’s richest people have been campaigning for a higher top tax rate since 2009.

The suggestion is motivated, no doubt, by a sense of justice — that the very rich, who have survived the financial crisis very well, should contribute more to shrinking public coffers to reduce the spending cuts that would hurt the most vulnerable.

But altruism does not fully explain why members of the global elite are suddenly keen to prevent the deep budget reductions that will occur if governments don’t raise more money. They are also moved by what some might call enlightened self-interest.

Their walls may be high, but the wealthy live in the same world as the poor and the middle class, who have been walloped by unemployment and cuts to social welfare programs. When Mercedes-Benzes burned in Berlin and riots broke out on London’s streets, the rich were watching on TV.

These nations risk more than social unrest. Austerity is already undermining economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic. Slashing funds for education, infrastructure and other vital needs will undercut future competitiveness and endanger industrialized nations’ economic performance for generations.

Americans have been historically less inclined than Europeans to explosions of social rage, despite suffering more poverty than most other wealthy democracies. But with unemployment above 9 percent, rising poverty rates and declining family incomes, the no-taxes, all-cuts agenda that has gripped Congressional Republicans will fray our social fabric and squander human capital here as well.

Mr. Buffett lives on the other end of the income spectrum, where 1 percent of American taxpayers — about 750,000 families — pocket more than 20 percent of the nation’s income. It is not surprising that the enlightened rich would think paying higher taxes was a wise investment. The Republicans in Congress need to be persuaded of that truth.

Dear Commons Community,

The news media is awash with articles and commentary on President Barack Obama’s address to Congress last night.  I thought it was pretty good.  Democrats and Republicans can find something positive in his proposals.  There’s a payroll tax cut, a small business tax cut, infrastructure spending, subsidies so states don’t have to lay off cops, firefighters and teachers, and a plan to use unemployment insurance to subsidize temporary work for the unemployed to get them back involved in the labor force.

I think David Brooks’ column entitled, Stimulus for Skeptics, today has a fine analysis of the President’s address:

“He’s put together a moderate set of stimulus ideas. His plan may not be enough to jolt prosperity, but it might maintain its current slow growth.

If he comes up with his own deficit proposal that pays for his programs with some serious entitlement reforms (and not merely with some boilerplate “let’s tax the rich” plan), then Republicans would be wise to work with him to make his growth ideas more effective. ..

The president clearly wants to give it a final shot. His tone on Thursday was feisty and will please Democrats. But the substance was heterodox and worth pursuing. In this moment of peril, the country needs an insurance policy against the double dip [recession].”

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Last night MSNBC and Politico hosted a debate among the Republican presidential hopefuls.  I thought the evening was well-organized and there was good-spirited give and take among the candidates.  In my opinion, the evening belonged to Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.    Michelle Bachman had very little to offer and seemed tied to a script regardless of what question she was asked.   The other candidates (Huntsman, Paul, Santorum, Gingrich, Cain) held their own.

Good issues were raised regarding the economy, social security (Perry called it a Ponzi scheme),  job creation, climate change, the death penalty, Libya.     I believe that Romney helped himself with this debate and Perry put a couple of dents in his image.

A good summary of the debate is available at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/us/politics/08debate.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

And you can read Gail Collins take on the evening at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/opinion/debating-with-the-stars.html?src=me&ref=general

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times is reporting that New Yorkers are broadly dissatisfied with the quality of their public schools, and most say the city’s school system has stagnated or declined since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of it nine years ago according to a poll taken in August.   Mr. Bloomberg has made improving the schools a focus of his mayoralty but only 34 percent of those polled approve of how the mayor is handling education.

The article comments that “Mr. Bloomberg reorganized the system and poured money into it, satisfaction slowly grew. It appeared to peak in 2009, when nearly one-third of registered voters said they were satisfied with the schools, and 57 percent with Mr. Bloomberg’s handling of them, according to Quinnipiac University polls.

But in 2010, a recalibrating of state test scores sent the city’s soaring passing rates nearly back to 2003 levels. Then Mr. Bloomberg made what the public may have judged as his biggest gaffe, naming Cathleen P. Black, a publishing executive with no education experience, as the schools chancellor. Even though Ms. Black was dismissed in April after three months, the effects on public opinion linger, analysts said.”

Two residents interviewed commented:

“Bloomberg treats the schools and the education system like a business,” said Liette Pedraza-Tucker, 41, a film editor from Brooklyn. “But schools aren’t a business. Kids need nurturing, not to be treated like adults.”

Robert Kemp, 74, a retired bank officer from Queens, said: “What they’re teaching is too narrowly focused. It’s all ‘Let’s pass tests’; it’s not about turning out educated kids.”

Tony

Click the Graph to Enlarge!

Dear Commons Community,

In the NY Times “Room for Debate” a discussion has started on Republican Rick Perry’s challenge to the Texas university system to design a bachelor’s degree program that costs no more than $10,000. or $2,500. per year.   This might seem like pie in the sky but he is not the first person to propose a bargain basement college degree.    Bill Gates predicts that within five years,  top-notch online degrees will be available for $2,000.

The lead discussant, Anthony P. Carnevale,  a research professor and the director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, makes the point that such a system will lead to tracking:

“putting affluent students on a track for America’s elite schools, and poorer students on a track for his less desirable “discount” institutions. In fairness, though, the nation already has such a system. Today, America’s selective four-year colleges educate half the students, who are increasingly affluent and white; two-year colleges and the least-selective four-year schools educate the less fortunate, other half — who are increasingly working class, Hispanic and African American. Elite four-year colleges enroll only 4 percent of students from low-income families, 6 percent of Hispanics, and 5 percent of African Americans.”

Perry’s proposal  may seem crazy to some but up until 1975, a B.A. degree at CUNY was essentially free to students but only made possible by subsidies from New York City.  Given the financial conditions of the states and localities, it is not likely that significant new subsidies will be coming for higher education anytime soon.  To the contrary, most public higher education systems are hoping to keep the state funding they already are receiving.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Today we observe Labor Day in respect for the working class who have given and continue to give so much to this country.   Manual workers and craftspeople who build the buildings, the roads, and the monuments as well as the clerks and professionals who toil in offices, hospitals and schools should be shown our appreciation on this day.  Unfortunately Labor Day 2011 may be more somber because of the high number of people (as many as 25 million) who are unemployed or underemployed.

Happy Labor Day!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Another one of those days when there was just too many interesting stories to blog about.

First, Maureen Dowd raises the real possibility that Barack Obama will be a one-term president.  Part of the problem is that he is in a bad economy, one in which his administration is unable to turn around.  And part of the problem is that he lacks the emotion and leadership ability to take decisive action.

Second, Charles Blow has a fine column on the problem of recruiting good teachers given the way politicians, corporate leaders, and  the media blast the profession.  To quote:

“…how do we expect to entice the best and brightest to become teachers when we keep tearing the profession down? We take the people who so desperately want to make a difference that they enter a field where they know that they’ll be overworked and underpaid, and we scapegoat them as the cause of a society-wide failure.”

Third, the Kyrene School District in Arizona operates technology-infused schools.  A laptop per child, Smartboards, curricula, and teacher training are all geared to maximize technology.  After six years, there has been no significant improvement in student achievement.   Residents voted down the budget to continue the program.

Lastly, on this day in 1957, Governor Orville Faubus against the advice of the mayor and the school board, ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from  entering Central High School in Little Rock.  His actions were a reaction to an integration plan that had been carefully developed by educators in Little Rock in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education Desegregation Decree.  His actions were an embarrassment for the country and ended only when President Dwight D. Eisenhower order the Army’s 101^st Airborne Division to escort the nine students to school each day after which Governor Faubus withdrew the Arkansas National Guard.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Here is a computer animation that is making the rounds on youtube.  It depicts a black hole engulfing or eating a star that wanders too close.  The computer animation supposedly is based on a true event that was detected in the depths of outer space.

Pretty Cool!

Tony

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fTebF0RGbU&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL0CE9E5117EE62DFF[/youtube]

Dear Commons Community,

The Daily Finance has a photo gallery of twenty-five CEOs whose annual earnings are more than what their entire firms pay in taxes.   The collection was made based on a report, Executive Excess 2011: The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging, from the Institute for Policy Studies.   Some of the companies that made the gallery are EBay, Honeywell, Dow Chemical, and Coca-Cola.  However,  a special honor is reserved for Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric whose compensation last year was $15.2 million while his company received a $3.3 billion tax refund.

Only in a America!

Tony