How will Republicans under Mitt Romney Create Jobs?

    How will Mitt Romney create jobs? By bolstering the corporations? By making business loans available? By increasing government civil service positions? By expanding the number of government subcontractors?

Below is a copy of am email from Stephanie of the Obama-Biden campaign.  It discusses past examples of business practices of Mitt Romney.

There is an email within the email. The original is posted in the bottom half of the boxed area. It is even more informative than the top half.

 (Hello)

Watch this video we put together featuring people affected by Mitt Romney during his time in the private sector, and help hold him accountable by passing it along.

[This is an ad by Democrats. There is much info here, especially in the timeline across the bottom of the add page. Ignore the first popup. The others are all about information gathered from the people involved in the assistance provided by Romney's company. ~Knee Jerk Reactions added this caption.]

It's important that you understand exactly what Romney did as a businessman, and whether the lessons and values he drew from that experience really do qualify him to be our president.

In a career of buying and selling companies, Romney's pattern was to reap quick profits for himself and his investors, but often at the expense of workers and communities. Sometimes it meant outsourcing jobs to places like China and Mexico. Other times, it would mean reducing wages and benefits.

At times, his firm would buy companies, load them with debt and pocket millions, even as the companies went bankrupt, costing workers their jobs, health care, and pensions.

In Romney's world, CEOs and wealthy investors prosper by any means they can get away with, even when that means companies fail and workers are left behind. Two sets of rules -- one for people like him, another for the rest of us.

It's our job to let people know the truth about Romney's record, and what it says about the economic vision and values he would bring to the presidency.

The real strength of the economy is a growing, thriving middle class, not simply a band of successful financial engineers, and Romney doesn't get that.

I sent the note below to the Truth Team, a group of grassroots supporters who've signed up to be on the front lines of doing just that.

So check out this video:

http://my.barackobama.com/Romney-Economics

And consider becoming a part of the Truth Team -- we'd love to have your help.

Thanks,

Stephanie


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-----------------Original Message-----------------
From: Stephanie Cutter, BarackObama.com
Subject: Romney economics

Friend --

On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney points to his private sector experience as his chief qualification to be president.

So we took a look at that experience, and put together a new site, RomneyEconomics.com, on it. Take a look for yourself here.

Let me sum up how Romney economics works:

Romney and his partners bought companies across the United States, often loading them up with debt in the process.

Too often, they slashed pensions, benefits, and jobs, while paying themselves and their shareholders straight from the debt they'd accumulated.

Because of that debt, several of these businesses went bankrupt, leaving workers without jobs, without pensions, and without health care -- all while Romney and his partners walked away with millions.

Everyone understands that businesses rise and fall -- and sometimes fail -- and no one is challenging Romney's right to run his business as he saw fit or questioning private equity as a whole.

But when a handful of people make a fortune by putting thousands out of work and bankrupting once-healthy businesses, it's legitimate to question whether those are the values America needs in a president -- and whether those are the values that will create an economy built to last, with a strong, secure middle class.

On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney claims that what he and his partners did is the very best of what capitalism can be. He claims to know how to create jobs based on that experience, but even his former partners admitted their business was never about creating jobs -- it was about creating wealth for investors.

Just listen to the workers of GST Steel: Mitt Romney came in, ravaged it with debt, and it ended up filing for bankruptcy. 750 workers lost their jobs and health care, and Romney's managers left their pension fund $44 million short. The 113-year-old steel mill closed its doors, and Romney's company made a 150% profit on their initial investment.

As RomneyEconomics.com shows, stories like that happened time and time again. That approach, where a few people do very well no matter what the cost to others, is the last thing we need in a president.

Romney's economics would be a disaster for the middle class. We can't afford an economy where even when the company fails, the financial wizards walk away with millions, while the workers who have invested years growing the company are left holding the bag. That won't make our economy -- or our country -- stronger.

As part of the Truth Team, it's up to us to spread the truth behind Mitt Romney's business record. We don't need to spin it here, the facts speak for themselves.

So take a look around the site -- check out the year-by-year statistics and hear from the workers and managers affected by Mitt Romney and his business partners. Then share these stories far and wide: http://my.barackobama.com/Romney-Economics

There's too much at stake in this election not to.

Thanks,

Stephanie

Stephanie Cutter
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America

A Note on Wall Street Reform

I recently received this email. It is chock full of information for consumers.

Being a supporter, I am passing it on. I added the books for your edification and (yep! my profit. Read more and learn! OK?)

A Campaign eMail from Obama's Supporters

"Take the faculty of one of the best finance departments in the world. Ask them to analyze the new U.S. legislation on financial regulation, and to think about what the new law gets right, what it gets wrong, and how it is likely to shape the future of the financial system. With a bit of luck, you get this very impressive book. An absolute must-read."
—Olivier Blanchard, Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund

Perhaps you haven't heard: over the last 30 years the middle class has shriveled while the wealthy enjoy the skewed economics of the gilded age. The authors do their best to blow the dust off of their subject by taking a close look at this political "30 year war" and carefully parsing its roots. Corporate coalitions, lobbying, tax policies geared to the wealthy, and the extreme use of the "rule of 60" filibuster have tipped the scales and ultimately heaped blame onto the majority party. While Government can affect the distribution of wealth, it doesn't catch up with economic realities in time, and a changing Washington blocks attempts at reform. Where moderates used to rule the swing vote, now radical conservatives have taken hold. Unions are powerless, public interest groups prevail, and Christian conservatives drag Republicans ever right. Meanwhile, voters remain poorly informed. Though they never shed the sheen of "old news," Hacker and Pierson end on a note of optimism: the middle class can take the majority again with a "politics of renewal" shepherded in on a wave of "mass engagement" and "elite leadership."
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This morning, a group of public servants showed up to work
at a brand-new agency created to protect everyday Americans
from the abuses of Wall Street.

They're the folks of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
and they'll be the cops on the beat protecting consumers from
predatory credit card and mortgage lenders, bait-and-switch
creditors, and anyone trying to make a quick buck by deceiving
or manipulating Americans who are just trying to secure their
financial future.

Many Americans don't know it, but this bureau is just one part
of a sweeping Wall Street reform law -- the most pro-consumer
and pro-taxpayer reform of our financial system since the Great
Depression -- that President Obama signed a year ago today.

Watch this video to get a quick overview of the law, and a briefing
on the special interests trying to undermine it:

http://my.barackobama.com/Wall-Street-Reform7

Whether you watch the video or not, please share this email with
 someone.

It's important that everyone knows what this law means for all of
us. Simpler mortgages. Clearer credit card rates, fees, and rules.
Fairer loan terms. It's based on the simple idea that if you make
sure that people get clear information, they'll make the financial
decisions that work best for them.

And we can all rest a little easier knowing that our common
financial future is more protected from the irresponsibility of a
few. This law made structural reforms to ensure that the financial
crisis we experienced in 2008 never happens again and that
taxpayers aren't on the hook to pay for Wall Street's risky bets.

It's up to you to make sure more people know about this. Most
Americans don't have all the details on how this law is working
for them, and it's our job to change that.

Take a look, and be sure to pass this one on:

http://my.barackobama.com/Wall-Street-Reform7

Amazingly, each and every Presidential candidate on the other
side opposes this law.

And the same opposition that tried to block it more than a year
ago is still alive and well.

Right now, lobbyists are at work trying to weaken the tough
regulations this law imposes.

That's no accident -- its provisions are designed to rein in the
Wall Street, credit card, and mortgage banking interests these
people represent.

As we know, there aren't a whole lot of high-powered lobbyists
in Washington looking out for the common good of everyday
families.

That's exactly why this law is necessary, and why our growing
organization in all 50 states is so important. It's up to us to make
sure our friends and neighbors know about it. Watch our video
about Wall Street reform today -- and then pass it on:

http://my.barackobama.com/Wall-Street-Reform7

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

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Paid for by Obama for America

Contributions or gifts to Obama for America are not tax deductible.

Remember: the books were added by KneeJerk, not the Obama Campaign!

An Opinion on Republican States Establishing their own Health Care Plans

This is taken from a Facebook comment on the Democratic Party Wall.

" Even though the Republican states can have their own health insurance policies, the rhetoric against Obama-care is still the same. when will the citizens of these states get tired of the promises of a better way and actually vote to experience the already-established better way? Vote the Republicans out, people. Before you lose everything: jobs, health care, the right to negotiate better working conditions, the right to live without State government interference in your private lives, the right to believe in your own religious principles not the Fundamentalist Right's version."

Strict Interpretation of the U. S. Constitution

In a society where all laws are to be Constitutional, the phrase "separation of church and state" holds little meaning in practical terms. We still pay Chaplains to preside over government institutions and still start all government meetings with prayer. But the Republicans will ignore that traditional mix of church and state in their strict reading of the Constitution.

Another phrase in the US Constitution that will be ignored is "promote the general Welfare." The Welfare of most  citizens will not matter to the Republican law makers as much as the Welfare of the corporations who fund the party.

It is so sad that those that speak most loudly to support the Constitution are blatant in their choice of sections to ignore and sections to support.

Maybe they will surprise us, but I hold little hope of that.

5 Republican Principles

I am a Democrat. But I watch the news. From this I have learned these 5 preachings of the Republican Party.

1. Evolution is problematic, but social Darwinism is the preferred natural state of our land.
   
   1. Everyone should be independent and should take care of himself.
      
   2. Businesses should sink or swim on their own.
      
   3. Success means enough money to call the shots. Big businesses are successful, so whatever benefits big business is the best choice for this economy.
      
   4. Anyone who doesn't have a job should solve his own problems, but businesses do not need to hire more people since that would lower profits.
      
2. In a question of whether the Federal Government or State Government should regulate anything, the States rights trump Federal authority.
   
   1. The Constitutional mandate "to...promote the general welfare" applies only when there is some distinct advantage to the party funders.
      
   2. Matters that affect our national cultural and societal health conflict with the demands of the party funders.
3. If the majority of the country considers a policy to be wise, but the party funders do not agree, attack the credibility and morals of the majority's elected officials and control the press so that the public is told only the party line--ugh--position of those who fund the party.
   
   1. It is OK to spin the truth until the lies are hidden as long as it gets the party attention and support.
      
   2. By renaming an idea the positive or negative impact of the idea is better controlled.
      
   3. Blame the current majority for problems that began when the party was in power in the past.
      
4. In a choice between religious mysticism and science, religion trumps science.
   
   1. If there is climate change ahead, it is the will of God and man would be arrogant to think he should try to stop it or to believe Man could make a difference.
      
   2. If new technology could heal disease, it must be abolutely separate from abortion, but war that kills all stages of life is OK and even makes money for big business.
      
   3. If a party funder is in the business of technology that might be morally questionable in its implementation, profit trumps morality every time.
      
5. When the country is in debt, lower taxes and cut government spending.
   
   1. Cuts will be to entitlements, regulatory agencies, and funding for any bill that the other party passed into law.
      
   2. Spending on war will not be cut except in areas that reduce benefits to soldiers and veterans but not money to military suppliers.
      
   3. Cutting the salaries of civil service workers is legitimate since that is government and government does not need to be efficient or retain talented workers.
      
   4. Subsidies to big business are sacrosanct since big business funds the party.
      

A Few Ideas on School Reform and a Response to the Comments of Jeb Bush on MSNBC

This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe and its Education Nation series Jeb Bush was interviewed. According to Jeb Bush, it is the teachers' unions which are resisting reform. The implication is that teachers fear a loss of tenure and the competition of merit pay initiatives.

Having been a teacher, naturally I have strong opinions on this subject.

• First, what about the study released last week that stated that there was no link between bonus or merit pay and teacher effectiveness?
• Second, how many teachers have worked for reform the majority of their careers only to see politicians change their minds midstream and cancel reform programs before any meaningful progress can be made?
• Third, why shouldn't teachers expect job security? They are employed staff, not missionaries? Yes, teaching is a calling. But not a religion.
• Fourth, why are all decisions taken out of the hands of the educational professionals and placed in the hands of politicians, anyway? (Actually, I know the reasons, but the rationale doesn't doesn't soothe the frustration of swinging in the wind.)


• Fifth, why is everyone so upset about tenure? It represents job security for those teachers who proved themselves to be capable and professional during the first few years of teaching when each was evaluated several times each year for effective classroom performance. If you want to improve teaching, make the release of ineffective teachers during these first few years a priority. Then continue with workshops and professional development for experienced teachers, as is done today. Make the reforms meaningful to experienced teachers by supporting their efforts to implement them, not by criticizing the professionals for their doubts based in the expertise of experience. Teachers are as much a professional as nurses and doctors and engineers. Do politicians treat the other lisenced professionals with the same contempt with which they are treating teachers today? Do they insist on pushing reform on other professions? NO, they pass regulations that are expected to solve problems. Then they let the profession work out the kinks.


• Sixth, why are we so concerned with being #1? Other countries are just as capable as we are. Isn't that a sign of global progress? Ok, so one day we might not be the primary world leader (I fear that day, myself.) but if we work at it we can stay in the top few and remain influential. How did we get so influential? Be retaining a strong economy and a powerful military--and by being the first to assist other nations in need. Because they know we can and will help, other nations tend to want to stay on our good side.


• Seventh, Jeb Bush made the point that other nations ranked higher than the US in student test scores made education of their young a highly valued social ethic and regarded teachers as important professionals. It does no good to verbally trash teh teaching profession and then expect students to respect the teacher in the classroom. Yet for decades, the news media and politicians have talked as if public education was run by incompetent fools and that teachers merely came to work to collect a paycheck. The hours spent planning lessons, worrying over student outcomes, staying overtime (salaried teachers do not get paid overtime) to assist students, prodding and cajoling students to learn, and being treated with disrespect by students who know they can only be suspended so many times before the school gets in trouble for attempting to discipline him. The only tool of control a teacher has over students are the force of personality, high expectations, and the phone call home. Students collect demerits. After a number of demerits, the parents are called. After the parent is called, the student can be sent to the office. But the count of demerits reflects poorly on the teacher, not the student in the mind of many. It is the teacher's fault when a student misbehaves, not the student's. (Yeah, I know, discipline is a skill. Some teachers are better than others. But students should be made responsible for their behavior, not so closely controlled and micromanaged that they never learn such control. Today, micromanagement of student behavior is the policy. Students are not given the sense of personal responsibility for their own behavior and choices. They are not allowed to fail, either with behavior or academics, and then made to face real consequences for that failure.)


• Eighth, why aren't parents responsible for their child's behavior and achievement? Why aren't politicians demanding that parents insist that children learn and do right or face consequences themselves? Why are so many kids bringing packs of gum to school when they--and their parents--know that students are not allowed to chew gum in school. IT is written in the student handbook that every student takes home and shows to his parents and gets a parent signature to prove that he did so. Yet kids continue to bring packs of gum to school; they bring electronic equipment, including cell phones, that are likewise forbidden; they bring snack food and candy to eat in class, another forbidden practice--but they are sneaky. They break pencils as part of a game and throw paper balls around in a waste of parent's money, then borrow from friends or do not do assignments because they have no supplies (to solve that problem, parents are informed that one's child did not have school supplies and teachers buy extra paper and pencils to pass out from their own pockets.) Yeah, kids will be kids, but these practices require money that comes from somewhere. IF the money doesn't come from the home, then from where? If the cell phones and mp3 players do not come from home, then from where? Parents are complicit in this misbehavior or totally either clueless about the activities of their children. Yet the teacher is the one who held accountable.


• Ninth, why not hire hall monitors and bathroom monitors so teachers can spend time preparing for class, consulting with students, and teaching rather than being the first to the door at the end of class and the last to enter the room at the beginning of class for hall duty. Transitioning from one lesson to another for each class must be done during classtime and cannot be done between classes because hall duty comes first. Students play the emergency need to go to the bathroom during class game because they know that going to the bathroom will require the teacher to disrupt the lesson and deal with the student's need rather than continue teaching. With a hall monitor, a quick handoff of student to another adult would stop that game. And using students for these monitor positions in this day and age is not acceptable for a score of reasons. The community will save money currently spend on replacing vandalized toilets, sinks and bathroom mirrors if the local politicians would fund the salary of two bathroom monitor/hall monitor for each hall per school. Or even if kids were allowed to go to the bathroom during a scheduled break morning and afternoon in addition to lunch and PE. Kids are so closely confined and bathrooms so scarce that there is no time or resources for the kids to take care of business--except where there is time, then the bullies take over the bathroom and...USE ADULT MONITORS.


• Tenth, why aren't private school test scores subject to the required inclusion in the national test score results? If the majority of students in the South are in private schools and homeschools and these student scores are not included in the tally of achievement, then how do we know for sure that our nation is behind other nations in test score achievement? And why are dropout rates not tallied on the national level using one standard of definition for drop-out? And why are educational standards not implemented? Time after time, standards are stated then a loophole voted in that allows students that did not meet the standards to be given another set of chances as they are passed on to a higher level where teachers spend extra classtime remediating and advancing simultaneously. This takes the responsibility of learning from the student, who again is not allowed to fail, and from parents who are not forced to arrange private tutoring and family pressure to make the student learn (SPED kids are a special case and not considered in this problem analysis.)

I suggest that elementary and middle schools be revamped into modules where subject matter is planned per 6-9 week modules and students are allowed to advance through the modules at their own pace. Any student who has not accomplished the modules for that grade level can take additional work online for that or repeat a module. Give students a 2-4 week break between modules and offer computer labs and remedial classes during that time.

Repeating an entire year for the lack of preparation of a set of core concepts is a waste of time for a student who gets behind at the beginning of the school year and never catches up. Repeating an entire school year is damaging to the ego.

I suggest that semesters be the modular unit for high schools, with credits given per semester. A student who finds that he is not ready for chemistry, can take the 2 semesters of chemistry after he has accomplished an additional physical science semester and/or math course. Students who do not complete the set of required modules do not get a diploma.

After the age of 19, students should pay to be allowed to continue in high school, taking the classes on a community college campus Or getting a GED. GED's should be offered as adult education services provided free by the local school boards and no student under the age of 16 should be allowed into the classes. Online classes may be taken with a computer lab available and a teacher on staff as a computer/learning assistance coach.

Private, non-profit, religious and other community organizations can sponsor a computer lab for online classes and can provide a computer/learning assistance coach. The couch should be a certified teacher. Standardized testing should be monitored for all groups by certified teachers under the same security rules that govern public school standardized test administration. Groups that test other than public schools should be responsible for hiring and paying the teachers who monitor the tests. The extra burden of testing students not in the public schools should not fall on the public schools. The monitoring of standards compliance should be a government function and all testing groups should be held to the same standards. Students who study and test through online courses under the frequent supervision and test monitoring of certified teachers should receive credit for online classes that match the objectives of a module.

Graduation and class credit can be subject to standardized testing of expressed objectives. Teaching should accomplish the expressed objectives, but should also teach other materials. There should also be elective modules that are required, but not subject to standardized testing. These elective modules should be in each subject area to cover those areas of the subject matter not be subject to standardized testing, but important for subject area mastery, understanding, college prep, job prep, community interest, or just the desire for a deeper, more well-rounded education.

The required number of modules should closely match the number of modules needed for graduation. There is little reason for students to be forced to attend a school day in which he takes classes that he does not need for graduation IF he doesn't actually want to take the classes. The goal should not be to keep kids in school all day, but to offer actual learning opportunities.

And all lunches and breakfasts should be free--paid for by local taxes subsidized by federal lunch program monies, of course. Think of the reduction in bullying that will result in the lack of lunch money to steal and the additional class time the teacher will have if not collecting lunch money.

Students should bring their own water bottles to school so they do not get dehydrated. Parents should be responsible for anything not water placed into the bottles. Maybe students should be watched as they fill the bottles at school. Or bottled water could be distributed--free--at school, again paid with taxes. Broken water fountains, long lines at the water fountain, and 1c milk do not hydrate children. Nor does buying a cola solve the problem. Kids need to drink fluids. What's wrong with water?

I also suggest that past the age of 16, all kids should learn a skill. This can be done with college classes taken through the local community college, vo tech programs, technical schools, community internships, and school/business partnerships, and public school programs. College prep students work on the school paper, announce at ball games, and do other services. They can also plant gardens, breed animals, cook, design and assist in community projects, whatever. A Projects module set could be part of the graduation requirements. In this way the extra-curricular stuff and special class projects that some teachers accomplish can be more standardized and taught to more students. The 4-H projects, the FFA and FHA types of projects, the science fair projects, the student jobs: all will be given accademic purpose and prominence. And more students will reap the benefits. Also, students may collect college credits with classes taken at junior colleges. By the time a student graduates, one should be already started on a path to getting the needed education for a job or career. This should make education more meaningful to the student, not just a way to spend time until one can make more meaningful decisions about one's own life.

Communities can band together to offer opportunities. Then bus students to the opportunities. Modular classes can allow for travel time and expanded opportunities. An all day or 1/2 day set of modules that schedules for a short time only provides more flexibility than a locked-in, year-long schedule. If a choice doesn't work out, the student can attend study hall for the rest of the few weeks left in that module. During that time, he can take an online class--for credit to make up for the credit he didn't complete, saving him from having to take a credit during the 2-4 week interim. The modules can be planned to offer credit towards a technical certification and should be rigorous enough that the credit is transferable to the technical college or community college or state college that offers the technical training.

For instance, if Word is taught, or MS Office, the student should be able to get a Word certificate or some credit towards an MS Office certification. Maybe credit for the first few classes in a paid curriculum towards that certification if the course is that complex. In 2 modules, a student should be able to develop a web page in XHTML and CSS, for example. Maybe using Dreamweaver, and so have experience that can be placed on a resume that one can code a basic web page using Dreamweaver or other Wysiswyg web developer and, using code view, can locate and correct a problem on the page.

Such skills will be needed by many, but need not be required for all to accomplish during high school. Let students develop the skills that interest them now and take the others as adults, when they should be more willing to learn for the sake of the job those skills they do not personally care about.

Enough said for today. Tell me what you think.

Let's Keep Moving Forward, America!

Election time approaches. I ask all liberals, progressives, and Democrats to vote to keep the Dems in the majority and more in the House and Senate. Read what the Democratic Party is posting as a rallying cry for the upcoming elections; watch President Obama on video. Then share the video with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter. Blog. Get the word out. Drink a cup of coffee: Join the Coffee Party! Get active in Organize America.

Personally, I am frightened that the Democrats will lose seats in Congress if we do not all vote. There is much at stake. VOTE.

Download this .pdf file for a flier that can be distributed--after you read it. (It is the same .pdf download link on the above site.)