Another saga in the nightmare that is standardized testing. You have to read the whole story. This is one of those things that makes you wonder about what advocates of standardized tests are really trying to achieve. Thankfully, the New York Department of Education has the authority to throw out questions when something like this happens (and believe me, this isn't the first time they've had to do it). I wonder how other states deal with this crap.
27 April 2012
Teen Fantasies
Paul Krugman reminds me of this:
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
26 April 2012
How Does This Happen?
It always shocks me when I see these kinds of stories, given the thorough background checks I know prospective employers made on me when I was looking for work. Surely someone at Penn knew about his status. No doubt he knew someone important, and got a pass on all of that.
And I agree with Atrios - he will be well taken care of. Particularly considering the programs he was pushing:
And I agree with Atrios - he will be well taken care of. Particularly considering the programs he was pushing:
Since joining Penn, Lynch has become a lightning rod for controversy. He has pushed entrepreneurial methods and supported programs such as Teach for America, which puts bright college graduates who lack education degrees in some of the nation's toughest public schools for a two-year commitment.
A February 2011 feature on him in Penn's alumni magazine said: "What happens when you unleash an entrepreneurship evangelist on an education school? Meet Doug Lynch, the vice dean bent on making Penn GSE a hub for social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and next-generation educational reform."
When a former student asked him if she could copy and use parts of her Penn executive doctorate program in her for-profit education program at Fremont College, Lynch gave her the following advice, according to the article: "Steal shamelessly."
23 April 2012
ALEC's 501(c) Status Challenged
From Bloomberg News:
Common Cause, a Washington-based political ethics watchdog group, today filed a complaint accusing the American Legislative Exchange Council of violating its tax-exempt status by lobbying state legislators.Probably not much will come of this. Still, it is amazing to me how so many supposed charities are really fronts for lobbying activities. Having the IRS strictly enforce the law in this area might not go a long way towards cleaning up corporate money in politics - but it's a start.
The filing asks the Internal Revenue Service to force ALEC to pay back taxes and penalties.
“ALEC is a corporate lobby front group masquerading as a public charity,” Common Cause President Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, said in a statement announcing the complaint. “It tells the IRS in its tax returns that it does no lobbying, yet it exists to pass profit-driven legislation in state houses all over the country that benefits its corporate members.”
An ALEC spokeswoman, Kaitlyn Buss, didn’t respond to a request for comment made outside of normal business hours.
The Power of Capital Mobility
Excellent post by Kenneth Thomas, a guest poster at Angry Bear.
I will say that I have never l liked the competition between states and localities trying to get businesses to move into their jurisdictions - even three decades ago, when one could argue the benefits were greater than the costs. Now the costs being extracted are huge, and far outweigh the benefits. But this is to be expected:
Yes, one cause of this is corruption among goverment officials, but I honestly don't think that's the primary cause for this. Local officials, having seen whole communities die from major employers leaving, simply are not willing to take a chance of it happening to their communities as well.
This competition between governments is happening at all levels of course - locally and between the states here in the US, and between national governments on a global scale. "Trade Agreements" are little more than mutual exchanges of concessions for each country's favored industries, so that the officials can return home with the goodies for these industries and say "see how much we love you?"
And as long as governments are willing to continue playing this game to the detriment of their citizens, we will continue to shift from crisis to crisis as standards of living for the vast majority of citizens continue to decline.
I will say that I have never l liked the competition between states and localities trying to get businesses to move into their jurisdictions - even three decades ago, when one could argue the benefits were greater than the costs. Now the costs being extracted are huge, and far outweigh the benefits. But this is to be expected:
The fact that capital has far greater ability to move geographically than labor does, and that governments of course are geographically bound to one place, is a source of power for owners of capital. Modern economists, especially conservatives and libertarians, often have great difficulty acknowledging the role of power in market transactions, though their ostensible hero, Adam Smith, did not. To treat this power as a natural phenomenon rather than a social one, as Mankiw does, is dangerously close to saying that might makes right. But that's not the way things are supposed to work in a democratic society, or a moral one.The ability of the owners of capital to take their marbles and go play elsewhere is an enormous source of power. I personally think that many democratically elected governments around the world are currently being held hostage to this kind of power. It certainly looked to me, in October, 2008, that a gun was being pointed at the head of Congress when they swallowed the TARP.
Yes, one cause of this is corruption among goverment officials, but I honestly don't think that's the primary cause for this. Local officials, having seen whole communities die from major employers leaving, simply are not willing to take a chance of it happening to their communities as well.
This competition between governments is happening at all levels of course - locally and between the states here in the US, and between national governments on a global scale. "Trade Agreements" are little more than mutual exchanges of concessions for each country's favored industries, so that the officials can return home with the goodies for these industries and say "see how much we love you?"
And as long as governments are willing to continue playing this game to the detriment of their citizens, we will continue to shift from crisis to crisis as standards of living for the vast majority of citizens continue to decline.
Not Normal
I agree with virtually everything Ezra says here.
But it pays to remember that it is the "not normal" people inside the beltway that are peddling this junk as important. And I can't help but feel that there's more to this than a bunch of insiders chattering like high schoolers about inanities.
Because while they are doing this, the "normal" people who get bits and pieces of this nonsense in between making dinner and putting the kids to be that are being totally turned off and are tuning out.
Who's to say that's not exactly what those insiders want to happen?
h/t Jonathan Bernstein
But it pays to remember that it is the "not normal" people inside the beltway that are peddling this junk as important. And I can't help but feel that there's more to this than a bunch of insiders chattering like high schoolers about inanities.
Because while they are doing this, the "normal" people who get bits and pieces of this nonsense in between making dinner and putting the kids to be that are being totally turned off and are tuning out.
Who's to say that's not exactly what those insiders want to happen?
h/t Jonathan Bernstein
18 April 2012
Gem No. 2!
American Politics:
What we have to look forward to over the next several months is the following scenario repeated over and over again: somebody says something dumb, it gets elevated into a pseudoscandal, cable news freaks out, there are calls for various people to denounce whatever or whoever, and then eventually the whole thing calms down until the next time, likely because somebody was eaten by a shark somewhere.A Secret Service/prostitution scnadal? Even better!
First of Two Gems from Atrios
On his Wanker of the Decade List:
I've been a bit jokey about the difficulties of writing the wanker posts, but in truth it has been difficult, though not because it's hard work or similar. The ESCHATON DECADE has been a pretty fucked up decade, a time when this country stopped even bothering to pretend to live up to many of its supposed ideals. We go to war and kill lots of people for no good reason, elites have eliminated any accountability for themselves for criminal wrongdoing, we've tortured and assassinated people, and the response to massive economic suffering and related criminal fraud has been to give lots of free money to the people who caused it all.For the Top Ten List, see here and here.
And one premise of his blog is that all of this shit happens, in part, because of the fucking wankers who rule our public discourse. Paying too much attention to it every day can be bad enough sometimes, but reliving it all again is actually a bit painful.
13 April 2012
Wonder Why Conservatives Hate Government?
It's because when they get in power they keep doing stupid crap like this.
12 April 2012
Maybe Some Real Reform in NY is Possible!
Interesting article in today's New York Times about a push for campaign finance reform in New York - most notable for who the pushers are.
Also interesting to see that one of the Republican state senators they are targeting in their push is my very own: Greg Ball. I wonder what it is that gives them the impression he is open to this sort of thing.
Other than the fact that he's a first-termer I mean.
Also interesting to see that one of the Republican state senators they are targeting in their push is my very own: Greg Ball. I wonder what it is that gives them the impression he is open to this sort of thing.
Other than the fact that he's a first-termer I mean.
Global Warming Deniers
Via Think Progress, I came across this article in The Hill regarding a speech made by Energy Secretary Chu on the mounting evideence of global warming and the fact that the adverse impacts - like rising sea levels - are in fact happening at a more accelerated pace than scientists had predicted.
But read the comments at the end of The Hill article. Amazing. Where do these people get this stuff from?
But read the comments at the end of The Hill article. Amazing. Where do these people get this stuff from?
11 April 2012
Still the Scariest Graph
From Calculated Risk:
Click on the graph to enlarge.
People forget how bad things are. This should be a reminder. This graph shows every major recession since the Great Depression.
We are now four years into this, and haven't come close to recovering the jobs that were lost as a result of the financial crisis. We are still nearly 4% below the number of jobs that existed four years ago - that's more than 6 million jobs. We are currently adding betwen 100,000 to 200,000 new jobs per month - at this rate it will take at least 30 months before we get back to where we started. And things will still be bad, because getting back to where we started doesn't account for population growth.
Things are still really bad, and not a whole helluva lot is being done about it.
People forget how bad things are. This should be a reminder. This graph shows every major recession since the Great Depression.
We are now four years into this, and haven't come close to recovering the jobs that were lost as a result of the financial crisis. We are still nearly 4% below the number of jobs that existed four years ago - that's more than 6 million jobs. We are currently adding betwen 100,000 to 200,000 new jobs per month - at this rate it will take at least 30 months before we get back to where we started. And things will still be bad, because getting back to where we started doesn't account for population growth.
Things are still really bad, and not a whole helluva lot is being done about it.
Eurozone
Here we go again!
I'm sure the answer they will come up with once again is to give more free money to the banks, paid for by the taxpayers....
I'm sure the answer they will come up with once again is to give more free money to the banks, paid for by the taxpayers....
Poor Matt
There are days when something like this happens, and you actually allow yourself to be encouraged that things might improve ever so slightly.
Then comes along something like this, and it's like being woken up by having a bucket of cold water thrown in your face.
I feel his pain....
Then comes along something like this, and it's like being woken up by having a bucket of cold water thrown in your face.
I feel his pain....
06 April 2012
From Thers, the Irish appear to finally be revolting against the godawful bailout their government agreed to at the height of the financial crisis. Apparently, a new property tax has been imposed in order to raise money for a government that has basically pledge the GDP of the country for the next 10 years to bail out the banks that should have gone belly-up in the crisis. Apparently, more than half of the Irish citizenry is either unable or unwilling to pay the tax.
American wingnuts are having a field day. Apparently, they view this as some sort of triumph of grass-roots conservatism. Of course its nothing of the sort. The tax is to finance a deal a conservative leaning government made to bail-out banks on the backs of the taxpayers - you know, the sort of thing George Bush did in October 2008.
What I really found interesting from Thers' post was this article that he linked to for those of us who wanted to learn more about what really went on in Ireland and why its such a mess now. I hadn't seen it when it came out a year ago, but it's really a fine article - though long - and does a great job of explaining why Irish economy crashed so hard in 2008 and why it will be a long time, if ever, before they climb out of the hole they find themselves in. But of course, me being me, I especially liked the snippets about the Irish character that are sprinkled throughout. For example, this:
American wingnuts are having a field day. Apparently, they view this as some sort of triumph of grass-roots conservatism. Of course its nothing of the sort. The tax is to finance a deal a conservative leaning government made to bail-out banks on the backs of the taxpayers - you know, the sort of thing George Bush did in October 2008.
What I really found interesting from Thers' post was this article that he linked to for those of us who wanted to learn more about what really went on in Ireland and why its such a mess now. I hadn't seen it when it came out a year ago, but it's really a fine article - though long - and does a great job of explaining why Irish economy crashed so hard in 2008 and why it will be a long time, if ever, before they climb out of the hole they find themselves in. But of course, me being me, I especially liked the snippets about the Irish character that are sprinkled throughout. For example, this:
The Irish insistence on their Irishness—their conceit that they’re more devoted to their homeland than the typical citizen of the world is—has an element of bluster about it, from top to bottom. At the top are the many very rich Irish people who emit noisy patriotic sounds but arrange officially to live elsewhere so they don’t have to pay tax in Ireland; at the bottom, the waves of emigration that define Irish history. The Irish people and their country are like lovers whose passion is heightened by their suspicion that they will probably wind up leaving each other. Their loud patriotism is a cargo ship for their doubt.And this:
Two things strike every Irish person when he comes to America, Irish friends tell me: the vastness of the country, and the seemingly endless desire of its people to talk about their personal problems. Two things strike an American when he comes to Ireland: how small it is and how tight-lipped. An Irish person with a personal problem takes it into a hole with him, like a squirrel with a nut before winter. He tortures himself and sometimes his loved ones too. What he doesn’t do, if he has suffered some reversal, is vent about it to the outside world. The famous Irish gift of gab is a cover for all the things they aren’t telling you.Sound familiar?
The Multinational Corporate Tax Windfall
Remember the windfall profits tax? Now we have the corporate tax windfall.
This is why tax holidays and one-off tax breaks are a bad thing. They never end up being a one time thing.
Just to put this in context, most of the time if a US multinational corporation has a subsidiary operating abroad, the income that subsidiary earns is not taxed in the US until it is paid out as a dividend to the parent company or the parent sells the stock of the subsidiary (then the earnings would be reflected in the value of the stock and taxed as a gain on the sale of the stock). So a US corporation multinational has an incentive to NOT have the subsidiary pay a dividend - if it did, the parent would have to report the dividend as income and pay tax on it. For the most profitable corporations the rate of tax is 35% (although there would be a credit for foreign income taxes paid by the subsidiary when it earned the income, typically this income is earned in countries with very low tax rates or no income tax at all).
The last time Congress did this (in 2004), they corporations to receive all this dividend income that would otherwise be taxed at 35% and instead pay only 5%. Assuming Congress does that again, that's a potential of more than $150 billion - yes billion! - of tax breaks that could be doled out to multinational corporations.
Outrageous.
This is why tax holidays and one-off tax breaks are a bad thing. They never end up being a one time thing.
Just to put this in context, most of the time if a US multinational corporation has a subsidiary operating abroad, the income that subsidiary earns is not taxed in the US until it is paid out as a dividend to the parent company or the parent sells the stock of the subsidiary (then the earnings would be reflected in the value of the stock and taxed as a gain on the sale of the stock). So a US corporation multinational has an incentive to NOT have the subsidiary pay a dividend - if it did, the parent would have to report the dividend as income and pay tax on it. For the most profitable corporations the rate of tax is 35% (although there would be a credit for foreign income taxes paid by the subsidiary when it earned the income, typically this income is earned in countries with very low tax rates or no income tax at all).
The last time Congress did this (in 2004), they corporations to receive all this dividend income that would otherwise be taxed at 35% and instead pay only 5%. Assuming Congress does that again, that's a potential of more than $150 billion - yes billion! - of tax breaks that could be doled out to multinational corporations.
Outrageous.
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