Job Standards for Members of Congress - Why Not?

     In the past few years, it's become a popular trend to blame teachers for student performance.   This has led to the establishment of more precise standards for teachers .   Last year, teachers and school administrators in Rhode Island were fired due to underperforming students.   A few days ago, teachers in Washington, DC, were fired because they were judged to not meet performance standards, and in many cases, their students did not do well on standardized tests.

     To be sure, an effective teacher plays an important role in the success of a student.  That being said, there are also factors a teacher must deal with in educating a child that are beyond the  teacher's control - things like a family's economic situation,  whether the child is eating nutritious food, whether the child is getting enough sleep,  how many or few adults are raising the child, how involved the parents/guardians are in the child's education, the parents'/guardians' own educational levels, whether English is spoken in the child's home... and so on and so on.  Considering these out-of-school factors, it's easy to conclude that it's unfair to put all or even most of the  blame for student performance on teachers.
    
     On the other hand, in order to do an effective job of working for the success of constituents and the country as a whole, a member of Congress must deal with very few factors that are beyond his or her control - what comes to mind are sudden acts of nature, the surprise hostile actions of foreign nations, and the philosophies and principles of the other members of Congress he/she must work with.  As to the last factor, in order to perform, a member of Congress, whether he or she is a member of the House or the Senate, must put politics and rhetoric aside, and make an honest effort to work with others, including negotiating and compromising at times.

     Since taking office in January of 2010, the present members of Congress have delivered an ineffective performance.  They have done nothing to help the U.S. economy; they have done nothing to create U.S. jobs; they have done nothing to reduce spending or the deficit, and they have brought the U.S. to the brink of default.  Why?  Primarily because conservative lawmakers have refused to put aside politics and rhetoric; they have refused to work with Democrats or the President; they have refused to negotiate or compromise.  (Ed. Note: "negotiate" means to bargain, as in reaching an agreement between parties settling what each shall give and take or perform and receive in a transaction; "compromise" means an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.)  These lawmakers have continued to insist that it's either their way or no way.  
    
     This past week, friends sent me an email listing proposed measures for reforming Congress.  I personally think that in addition to these measures,  Congressional reform should also include minimum job performance standards.  Therefore, I have taken the liberty to add a couple of my own congressional job performance standards (marked with an asterisk *)  to the list.  Read the "Congressional Reform Act of 2011" and let me know what you think.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1.  Term Limits

     A maximum of 12 years total may be served in the House or the Senate.

 2.  No Tenure / No Pension
     A member of Congress collects a salary while in office and receives no pay
     when he/she is out of office.

3.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security
     All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social
     Security system immediately.   All future Congressional retirement
     funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates
     with the American people. Social Security funds may not be used for
     any other purpose.

4.  Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5.  Congress no longer voted themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay
     increases according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or by 3% per year,
     whichever is lower.

6.  Congress loses their current health care system, and participates in the
     same health care system as the American people.

7.  Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American
     people.

8.  All contracts with past and present members of Congress are void effective
     1/1/12.  The American people did not make these contracts with members
      of Congress.  Members of Congress made these contracts for themselves.
      Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers  
      envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go
      home and go back to work or, if age allows, retire on Social Security.

 *9.  Each member of Congress, during the course of his/her  first term in office,
       will be able to show proof that they made at least one contribution to
       legislation designed to improve the quality of life (e.g., education,
       transportation,  safety, health, wealth) of all of the residents of their district.

 *10.  Each member of Congress, during no later than his/her second term in
         office, will co-sponsor  with a member of Congress from a different political
         party, legislation designed to improve the quality of life all Americans.
 **********************************

We create and keep U.S. jobs when we demand, promote, and buy Made in USA goods and products.

This week's recommended product:
·       Bayside apparel - Made in USA and union-made by Bayside USA, Anaheim, CA
    (http://ethixmerch.com/supplier/bayside-usa-unionmade)

Blog Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/rhode-island-teachers-fir_n_475234.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/206-low-performing-dc-teachers-fired/2011/07/15/gIQANEj5GI_story.html

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/06/randi-weingarten-michelle-rhee_n_792841.html

Politicians Hedge Their Bets On The Middle Class

     I have a confession to make...Nancy Pelosi is my current hero.  I know, I know, she can be really annoying; but out of everyone in Congress, she is the only one with the balls to clearly, firmly, and repeatedly say Social Security and Medicare should be off the table as part of a deal to get conservatives to agree to raising the debt ceiling. This is interesting, considering that anatomically speaking, she is one of the few people in Congress who has no balls. 

     I happen to agree with Congresswoman Pelosi on this point.  There should be no compromise when it comes to  programs, aka "entitlements," that help the poor, the disabled, our military veterans, and the elderly.  Shame on those politicians who are targeting these programs, especially when the wealthiest Americans are enjoying lower tax rates, and big oil companies and other multinational corporations earning billions of American dollars while outsourcing American jobs, receive federal subsidies and/or pay little or no taxes.  And shame on those politicians who are not defending these programs. 

     On top of this, billionaire hedge fund managers are legally able to claim most of their profits as "capital gains," therefore paying capital gains tax rates. Although this has just been in the news in the past few days, the hedge fund issue actually went public in the mid-2000's.  Simply put, hedge fund managers basically use their hedge funds, which are much like private equity funds, to use/invest other people's money (OPM).  The hedge fund manager basically acts as a risk consultant, much like a professional gambler who uses OPM to place bets in Las Vegas or at the track.  The gambler, in this case, the hedge fund manager, gets a 2% management fee plus  20% "carry" interest which is considered to be capital gains under the law and taxed at around 15%.  In 2010, the House of Representatives passed legislation to end these tax breaks for investment fund managers.  Under strong pressure from lobbyists representing the investment industry, the bill died without being passed by the Senate before the mid-term elections. 
    
     What's at issue here is the overall fairness of taxing hedge fund managers, many of them billionaires, at this rate, but not others who provide consulting services for a fee.  If this tax rate is fair for a hedge fund manager, for example, shouldn't an attorney who wins a settlement for her client get her percentage of the settlement treated as capital gains?  If a realtor sells a house for his client, shouldn't his commission be taxed as capital gains?        
    
     Another related issue is that if hedge fund managers were taxed like the rest of us, the federal government would receive an additional estimated 6 billion dollars in tax revenue.  (Some estimates are even higher.)  This is huge.  If hedge fund managers were taxed like the rest of us, if wealthiest Americans had their tax rate rolled back to what it was in 1996, when the budget was balanced, if we stopped paying subsidies to big oil companies, and if tax loopholes were closed so that multinational corporations paid their fair share of taxes, we would be able to reduce the nation's deficit without touching programs like Social Security and Medicare.
         
     Politicians who would rather target  programs for the poor, disabled, elderly, and veterans than touch entitlements for the wealthy, claim that doing so would harm job creation.  But giving these benefits to the rich have not helped job creation in the past, and they're not helping now. Critics also say that targeting benefits for the rich is basically waging a class war between the "haves" and the "have nots."  They are forgetting that the U.S. hasn't had just these two classes since the end of World War II.  Since that time, America has also had a middle class - what I like to call the "have enough" class.  The middle class has enough to give themselves and their families a comfortable, good quality life; enough to take their family out to the movies or dinner or a ball game now and again; enough to send their kids to college; enough to save money for their retirement and older age.  Social Security and Medicare help the middle class to do this.  Without good government, and without good social programs such as these, the middle class will be lost, and so will the American Dream that has made this country so great.

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We create and keep U.S. jobs when we demand, promote, and buy Made in USA goods and products.      

 This week's recommended product:

·         Vanity Fair Premium Napkins, Made in USA by Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, LP, Atlanta, GA

 Blog Sources:

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/pm120/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/business/29carried.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/07/991873/-The-New-Class-War:-Closing-a-single-hedge-fund-loophole-would-earn-billions

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hedge_funds/index.html?scp=2&sq=investment%20fund%20taxes%20and%20senate&st=cse

Freedom Then and Now

     Back in 1776, when America won its freedom and independence from England, there were no taxes, little infrastructure, a fledgling federal government, and three socio-economic classes - rich, poor, and slave/indentured servant.   As we celebrate our independence 235 years later, we seem to be going back in time, economically speaking.  According to two years' worth of data from the Consumer Reports Index, only 18% of American households earn more than $100K per year, while 50% of American households earn less than $50K per year.  This leaves just 32% of American households somewhere in the ever-shrinking middle.
    
     In addition, surveys conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center reveal that "while things have been improving for the wealthiest Americans for some time, lower-income families still have very little to be positive about."  In fact, during the current recession, financial problems, such as the ability to afford health care and missed mortgage payments, are "three to five times the level of those earning $100K or more."

     With statistics such as these, and the very real, human stories behind these statistics, I feel compelled to ask again:  Why do  many of our elected lawmakers feel the need to protect tax cuts given to those households making $250K and over?  Why do they feel the need to protect subsidies given to big oil companies, defense contractors, and multi-national corporations who pay little or nothing in taxes, and outsource American jobs?  Why do they insist on targeting cuts to social programs, so-called "entitlements,"  such as Medicare, Social Security, and tuition assistance, that help lower income families? 
    
     If you agree with these lawmakers, keep voting for them, but be careful what you ask for.  If you don't agree, then express your independence, and vote them out.
**************
This week's recommended products:

      ·         Inko's 100% Natural White Iced Tea - Made in USA by Inko's White Iced Tea, New York, NY

      ·         Glad Press'n Seal - Made in USA by The Glad Products Co., Oakland, CA
Blog Source:

"Index shows recovery is for the affluent," Fort Myers Florida Weekly, 6/29-7/5/11

What Price Our Country?

     Republican lawmakers walked out of debt reduction talks this week because they were unwilling to consider additional taxes on corporations or the nation's wealthiest.  Instead, they would rather reduce programs that benefit the young, the elderly, the poor, and the sick and disabled.   

     In the movie, "Jerry Maguire," Jerry's football player client demands, "Show me the money."  Everything seems to have a price these days. Everything seems to be about the money.  What price, I wonder, does our country have?  What does it take for those in positions of power and leadership to forget about the money, and care once again, for our country and its people?

*************************

This week's recommended product:

Craisins - Made in the USA by Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Lakeville-Middleboro, MA

Blog Source:

"GOP declares impasse on debt", by Lori Montgomery, The Washington Post, June 24, 2011

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave

      To all fathers everywhere, I hope you had...and are still having a very Happy Father's Day!  This is especially true for those fathers who are in the military, and unable to be with their families today.  Thank you for serving to keep our country free and safe.  

      I can't help wondering, though, just how free we are when our jobs are being outsourced overseas, and when our access to health care, retirement benefits, and educational opportunities are being threatened and targeted for reduction.  I wonder just how safe we are when police, fire, rescue services, and services for the sick and the poor, are being targeted for reduction. 

     What price are our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters paying to protect a country whose value is diminishing at the hands of greedy, unpatriotic multinational corporations, and the politicians, lobbyists, and judges who protect them?  In March, a Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Geraldine Brooks, the main character, Reverend March, a father and anti-slavery abolitionist serving in the Union army, asks himself,  "If our forefathers make the world awry; must our children be the ones who pay to right it?"  Unless we change the direction of our country,  it is our children who will pay most for  the actions of those who are taking down our country and reaping the spoils.

     We may not all be serving in the military, but as patriotic Americans, we can help to keep our country free and safe for ourselves and our children.  One thing we can do, as we celebrate Father's Day and the days of summer to follow, is to buy and promote "Made in USA" goods and products.   Diane Sawyer and ABC News are doing their part to encourage and promote "Made in USA" products with its "Made in America" program.  The program is scheduled to be broadcast all of this coming week.  To get more information on this program, go to the "Made in America" this week's recommendation below.

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This Weeks Recommendation:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/

Blog Sources:

March, Geraldine Brooks - published and printed in the USA by Penguin Books, New York

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/

Bringing Back Jobs - Really?

     This week, two Congressmen, Mark Warner (D-VA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA), proposed legislation to give low-interest, "forgivable" loans of $5,000 to businesses for every new "high-value manufacturing job" they establish in a rural or economically distressed area (which is most of the US, these days.)  Eligible businesses must employ a minimum of 50 people, and must also pay wages for the new job that are higher than the average wage of the county where the job is established.  For every year that the job is maintained, the employer gets $1,000 knocked off the balance of the loan. If the job is established for at least five years, the business doesn't have to pay back the loan at all.  The lawmakers hope to lure manufacturing jobs back to the US from overseas with their proposal. 

     Although I like the concept of bringing back manufacturing  jobs to the US,  I don't think this plan will do that.  First of all, $5,000 per "high value" job for five years doesn't begin to compete with the money that greedy, unpatriotic manufacturing companies are making off of workers in third-world countries.  It's difficult to find recent information on wages paid to those workers, but according to information from the World Bank, in 2004, apparel industry workers  were making an average of  13 cents per hour in Bangladesh,  44 cents per hour in China, $1.62 per hour in the Dominican Republic,  49 cents per hour in Haiti, $1.31 per hour in Honduras, 34 cents per hour in Indonesia, 76 cents per hour in Nicaragua, and 26 cents per hour in Vietnam.  Wages in those countries in 2011 are probably not a lot higher, so I hardly think that $5,000 per job over five years is going to do the trick.  In addition, when you take into consideration that these companies have to pay payroll taxes on each US job, the chances that a $5,000 incentive will have any effect are slim to none.

     I believe that the best plan for creating US jobs is to: (1) create a demand for USA-made goods and products by buying "Made in USA" goods and products whenever that option is available, and (2) stop giving federal subsidies and tax breaks to the greedy, unpatriotic US companies that outsource jobs,  or offshore their operations. 

     As concerned Americans, we can't do anything about tax breaks and incentives, other than electing representatives who value our country over their own political war chests, but we can do our part for our country by buying and promoting "Made in USA" goods and products. 

      What exactly does "promote" mean?  We can start by telling our friends, neighbors, and even people we meet when shopping, that such-and-such a product (e.g., paper plates, dog food, etc.) is "Made in USA" as opposed to those made elsewhere.  I have found that most Americans really do want to buy "Made in USA" goods and products when given that option.   In order to do a better job of promoting those products myself, starting with today's blog, I not only will be recommending goods and products that are "Made in USA," but reporting on competing products that are NOT "Made in USA."
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Taking calcium supplements is a good way to ensure that we are getting enough daily calcium to develop and maintain strong bones.  Following are those recommended calcium supplements "Made in USA" followed by those NOT recommended and NOT Made in USA. Product research was done in stores.

 This week's recommended products:

        ·         vita fusion calcium gummy vites - Made in USA by northwest natural products, 
                Vancouver, WA

·         up&up adults' gummy calcium dietary supplement with vitamin D; up&up calcium + vitamin D chews - Made in USA by Target Corp., Minneapolis, MN

·         Citracal with vitamin D plus magnesium tablets; Citrical calcium + D3 caplets; Citracal calcium gummies with D3 - Made in USA by Bayer, Morristown, NJ

NOT recommended:

·         Caltrate calcium tablets + vitamin D tablets; Caltrate calcium + D soft chews; Caltrate  calcium + D chewable tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         NatureMade adult gummies calcium + vitamin D3; NatureMade calcium tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         Origin calcium + D3 soft gels; Origin calcium tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         up&up calcium + D tablets - NOT Made in USA

·         Viactiv calcium + D soft chews - NOT Made in USA

Blog sources:

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/06/va-lawmakers-propose-5k-job-lure-employers

http://www.independent.org/publications/working_papers/article.asp?id=1369

E. coli - Another Reason to Buy USA

      My April 3, 2011, post to this blog was about the dangers of consuming food and drugs from foreign countries (see "Eat At Your Own Risk:  Foreign-Made Food and Drugs.") This week, a particularly virulent strain of E. coli appeared on the scene, as people in Europe (and four in the US who recently returned from Germany) came down with nasty symptoms, including stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea.  Currently, 1,833 cases of the E. coli infection have been confirmed, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. What makes this strain of E. coli even more dangerous is that it attacks not only the digestive system, but also produces a by-product called the "shiga" toxin that may damage the kidneys.  Reports indicate that this strain of E. coli originated in produce, primarily bean sprouts, grown in northern Germany.  However, sprouts, cucumbers, and tomatoes grown in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain are also suspect. 

     What exactly is E. coli?  It's a bacteria (Escherichia coli) that is commonly found in our intestines, and helps our bodies to break down and digest food.  Certain strains of E. coli, however, move from the digestive system into the bloodstream, where they can cause serious infections.  E. coli can contaminate crops when manure is used to fertilize crops, or if water contaminated with E. coli is used to irrigate the crops.  .
    
     According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA),the government recently has stepped up testing of food from Germany and Spain, although very little in the way of produce is imported to the US from those countries or from other European countries.  (I have found a lot of produce sold in US grocery stores from Mexico, and Central and South America.)

    Be aware that meat and produce from the United States is not 100% safe from E. coli contamination either.   There was a small outbreak in the US (145 reported cases) of a similar E. coli strain reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in 2010.  That outbreak originated from US-produced shredded romaine lettuce.  In general, however, according to Don Kraemer, deputy director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the United States has "one of the safest food supplies in the world."  Compared to reported outbreaks of E. coli worldwide, this appears to be true.
      
     Treatment for the present outbreak of E. coli is primarily accomplished by keeping patients hydrated with water, and by dialysis, which is used to scrub the blood of patients with infected bloodstreams.  In the case of E. coli infections, antibiotics don't help, and may make symptoms worse because they may increase the release of toxins into the bloodstream.

     Precautions that we can take to protect ourselves from E. coli contamination are: (1) eat meat that is cooked well - not red or pink; (2) wash produce well (I use a vegetable and fruit spray), even if wrappers or labels say the produce has already been washed; (3) wash hands well before preparing food, and (4) wash countertops where food is prepared.
    
     The final precaution that we can take to protect ourselves and our families against E. coli is to buy food and produce made and grown in the USA.  With fewer E. coli outbreaks from USA food, buying food and eating "grown in USA,  and "product of USA"  food  just makes good sense - not to mention that it helps our economy.  This summer, buy locally grown produce, shop at community farmers' markets, and look for "Made in USA," and "Product of USA" labels on food and produce.
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This week's recommended product:

• Fruits and vegetables that are "Product of USA," including "locally grown" fruits and vegetables (as they come into season.)

• All Natural Veggie Wash Fruit and Vegetable Wash - Made in USA by Beaumont Products, Inc., Kennesaw, GA

Sources :  

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/04/earlyshow/saturday/main20068944

http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2010/ecoli_o145/index.html

http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/ecoli.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-03/water-dialysis-only-treatments-for-deadliest-european-e-coli-outbreak.html