Your final sentence really sums it all up. It's a fine, fine sentence.
I agree. Great point.
In the midst of another tragic collapse that resulted in the loss of 6 lives (maybe 7), today bought new hope in the form of David Patterson. His address today, and he made mention of the Bear Sterns demise, brought hope to this state and maybe the country. His wit and grace makes me think we may be looking at the best governor this state has ever had. He made reference to "power" being fleeting but "service" is forever. Hopefully, he will see teachers not as a blip on an account statement, but people who also chose public service.
Great point, and good question... why am I the only one accountable when all I'm doing is teaching at risk kids and doing it the best I can? I'm not causing the financial collapse of a country!!
I agree that greedy, anti-government, anti-poor-folks bankers are gigantic hypocrites when they accept a government bail-out, but where I disagree with you is in your conflation of some (most?) bankers with those who are involved in education reform. The fact of the matter is that many of the ed reformers who come from the banking/hedge fund industry are Democrats, and support both higher taxes on bankers and more government programs for poor people. Not every banker is the same, and pretending like they are does nothing to further the public discourse on this matter.
Calling yourself a Democrat means almost nothing. So-called Democrats who are bullish on McDonald's and Walmart and vouchers might as well be GOP.
Of course you're right about the fact that calling yourself a Dem doesn't make you one, but many of these guys are very strong supporters of Democratic candidates, and are supporters of limitations on groups like McDonald's and WalMart. Being pro-school choice doesn't make one a Republican; in fact, being pro-school choice makes one a friend of the very people whom Democrats purport to want to assist - low-income and minority children whose parents don't have enough money to avail them of the same educational options the hedge fund managers had growing up.
Lots of states and municipalities are facing horrific financial crises. Nobody is thinking about bailing out the schools and our children (NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, INDEED!)
Read the following story from the LA Times to see the draconian cuts that schools in California are facing....
http://www.latimes.com/news/loca...ewed-
storylevel
I say don't bail out these banks, or for that matter airlines, automobile manufacturers or any of the like....
...especially when CEO's are still getting huge bonuses while their companies are hemorrhaging profits (or would that losses?)
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/07/
...sion=2008030710
Sorry, to bail out these companies is just to allow the mistakes of these financial idiots to go unpunished....and, of course, it will allow them to continue to make the same mistakes again and again....
Actually, mistake is the wrong word. This has been one huge pyramid scheme with the wealthy fleecing the poor.
Let's bail out the schools, not the bankers.
Rhoda - in spirit, I agree completely, but as RBE correctly pointed out, the Fed HAS to bail out Bear Stearns or our whole economy could go down the tubes. It sounds like hyperbole, but it's true, unfortunately. I don't like the taste of this particular medicine, either, but letting the disease run its course would be much worse.
--in fact, being pro-school choice makes one a friend of the very people whom Democrats purport to want to assist - low-income and minority children whose parents don't have enough money to avail them of the same educational options the hedge fund managers had growing up.--
Oh my, that was one of the biggest laughs I've had all day. Really? If those hedge fund managers went to charter schools and the cheapest of parochial schools and shady, popped up in the night to take the money private schools. I've yet to see the "pro-school choice" plan that actually sent kids to ritzy private schools.
But then again, I send my kids to an urban public school because I think it's valuable for them and for the district to have all different kinds of kids from all different backgrounds. Guess I'm just a real Democrat. ;-D
Agreed, school voucher plans have never been done quite right. They need to give either full vouchers or at least the full amount of public funding that a school would get for serving that student. In NYC, that would be what, $15,000? That might not buy the very best schools, but it would get you into some pretty darn good ones.
School choice doesn't just mean vouchers, though. Anybody who's lucky enough to win the charter school lottery can send their children to the city's highest performing "urban" schools for free.
The ed "reformers" always talk about accountability in terms of "no excuses" for poverty, large class sizes, etc. They are quick to support the billions for bailouts but say they can't waste money on lowering class size because they can't guarantee a quality teacher in every class.
How about not allowing a bank to open until there's a quality banker?
Who are these masked men socmethod is talking about?
"but many of these guys are very strong supporters of Democratic candidates"
Eli Broad? Bill Gates?
Under whose watch were laws passed during the depression to prevent the kinds of abuses we are seeing today repealed? I believe Mr. Clinton.
If we had unions that stood up and exposed the practices that end up in bailouts ( Chrysler, savings and loan - one a decade) instead of collaborating, it all wouldn't be as easy for them.
We will see the UFT lead a rally at Tweed begging for a few crumbs to be put back on the table while the Fed throws billions on the table for the financial industry.
The rally Wed. should start at City Hall and march to the Fed.
Well, Gates is a Democrat, but is not who I was talking about. The biggest supporters of choice and ed reform in NYC among the hedge fund crowd are the Democrats for Ed Reform, who are, well, Democrats. Gates isn't in the banking business and as such doesn't have a lot to do with the Bear Stearns fiasco (except inasmuch as all big businesses are somewhat intertwined). I was speaking of bankers and hedgies, because that's who was mentioned. And they don't support these bailouts.
Look, I'm no pal of big business or of bankers, particularly. I hold a good deal of contempt for the vast majority of them. My contention, however, is that many of the bankers who are involved in ed reform are Democrats who advocate for tighter controls on businesses, avidly support Democratic candidates (Hillary and Barack get much more money from Wall Street than McCain does), and have just as much animus for conservative principles as you and I do. They just reject the notion that poor people don't deserve the same amount of choice as they do.
It's convenient to lump all bankers into one category, but it is neither factually accurate nor intellectually honest. There is no more similarity between the Republican laissez-faire bank president and the Democratic we-need-to-raise-the-capital-gains-taxes
hedge fund manager than there is between the Charter Management Organization CEO and the NEA President. Mutual employment in the same sector does not equal agreement on American financial or education policy.
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