NWLehigh school board considers major renovation.

HIGH SCHOOL RENOVATION POSSIBLE SUMMER 2017

ESTIMATED COST OF $16 MILLION

KCBA Architects laid out plans for major renovations of the high school at a March 22nd special meeting. The plans estimated the cost at $14,000,000 plus 13% KCBA commission and other costs that would raise the package to $16,000,000.

Renovations are planned for the sports locker rooms, unisex bathrooms, shower rooms, band room, more administration space, and conference rooms. Construction could start in the summer 2017 and last until spring 2018.

Funding will be a possible combination of fund balances and new debt. There will be a meeting on March 31st at 6pm to discuss funding options. There will also be a meeting on April 26th to vote on the tentative approval. Some board members may have a conflict of interest with KCBA and may be required to recuse themselves.

The school district now has $46,217,832 in previous construction debt and $50,329,108 in pension debt, for a total debt of $97,544,845; annual income from all sources is approximately $38,515,322. These possible new renovations will not qualify for any grants as they are not considered educational enhancements.

Governor Wolf finally surrenders

WOLF WAVES WHITE FLAG, WILL HE NOW GOVERN?

LAST CHANCE TO BE GOVERNOR OR BECOME EARLY LAME DUCK

Governor Wolf has finally relented and allowed the 2015-16 budget to become law.  He was out of ammunition and his democrat troops were about to desert to the other side. This has been a 1-year war that has finally come to an end. Hopefully he has learned some lessons on how to proceed with the 2016-2017 budget.

The Governor will allow the budget to become law on March 27, without his signature. He has stated he could not sign this budget because the numbers did not add up. Well, if he has any hope of saving his administration, he will do the job he was elected to do, which is to manage the state government and make the numbers add up. Real management is what everyone in the private sector, including the taxpayers, has to do. Real management is making do with what you have, not holding schools and others dependent on state funds hostage as leverage to raise taxes. Real management would be to reform the state's pension funds which are about to blow up in state and school district budgets across the state. If  he continues to insist on making Pennsylvania a state in economic decline by trying to appease the state employee unions he will become the earliest lame duck in the state's history.

If he wants to save his reputation, and his party's credibility in the state, he needs to start making the efficiencies and reforms necessary to make Pennsylvania a competitive and enticing place for business and jobs to locate or expand. We will see what choice he makes; it is still not too late for him to save himself and his administration. 

Corrupt primary system needs reform

PRIMARY SYSTEM RESEMBLES HONG KONG DEMOCRACY

   TIME FOR REFORM OF PRIMARY SYSTEM

BOTH DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES ARE FLAWED

 

 

 

When Hong Kong was returned to the Peoples Republic of China in 1997 by the United Kingdom, China guaranteed that Hong Kong would be able to be semi-autonomous and that free elections would be held in 2017.  When the rules for elections were released in 2014, it was revealed that the candidates for election would be selected by a nominating committee appointed by the Chinese Government. Any candidate would need to be approved by at least 50% of the nominating committee. So in effect, the people will have a choice of approved candidates all who will be the same except for their appearance and name. The Honk Kong residents  have been protesting off and on for the last three years. Their chances of having elections with the candidates of their choice are slim to none. Is it really any different with our nominee selective process in the USA?

 

This is the first year that the inequalities of the primary system have come under scrutiny. The most glaring and obvious problem is in the democratic primary, where 712 of the delegates are appointed by the party leaders, this is close to 1/3 of the 2382 delegates needed to win the nomination. This makes it nearly impossible for anyone not approved by the party to win. On the Republican side, the manipulation starts by how certain states are winner take all and some a proportional, every state has different rules that are continually changing. It is obvious that the winner take-all-states change from year to year, and this year they were states with establishment candidates with strong ties to these states.  While these rules are not a guarantee, they definitely are a thumb on the scale of the process. The other place for reform is the caucus system, which if you look at the numbers you will see this system discourages participation, the amount of votes actually cast in this system is far lower than regular election process. This is an antiquated and undemocratic process, in many cases voters have to vote in public after being lobbied who they should vote for.

How can this system be reformed?. There should be a consistent system. If the first  3 or 4 states are proportional, that would be ok, the candidates have months to campaign in these states, and it gives them time to hone their message. Shortly into the process it should  go to winner take all, this would be a fair process in all states, not just in states that benefit certain candidates. It would also negate the possibility of no candidate  reaching a majority of delegates.  States should be able to have a caucus for as long as they want with all the lobbying they want, but the voting should be the next day by the regular process. The states could start out as they do now, one from the Midwest, one from the New England one from the South, I would add one from the West.  Then the states should be lumped up in areas to save travel and advertising money. New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast etc. with some time off in between to recoup and fundraise. This could move from west to east or be picked at random but would eliminate traveling long distances in a short time frame. This would be a much fairer process, and maybe we could actually get some candidates that the voters would select, rather than being manipulated by a small group of insiders. This may very well encourage more participation by the citizens and more confidence in our government. 

Reform will not happen unless voters put pressure on the parties to make changes before the next election cycle. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



NWLehigh teachers union laments "good old days"

TEACHERS UNION COMPLAINS ABOUT BOARD, DISTRICT, SUPERINTENDENT

FEELS UNAPPRECIATED BECAUSE CONTRACT DEMANDS HAVE NOT BEEN ACCEPTED

 

Northwestern Lehigh Education association members showed up in mass at the March 16 board meeting. Incorporating the usual union play book, they brought along supporters who read from prepared speeches how great they are with the children and how they are not appreciated enough by the board and superintendent because their demands for more pay and keeping their Cadillac health care plans have not yet been accepted. The board offered them a very generous increase of 3.4% per year for 3 years, they claim they deserve more. This is far more than what has been accepted by most teachers unions in the area. Has anyone asked their neighbors if they have received comparable raises in the last 8 years?  Seniors have averaged less than 2% increases in the last 7 years and have not had any increase in 3 of those years. It seems that the whole basis of their demands is ENVY of what some other districts pay their teachers. While this is relevant to some extent, keep in mind that many districts have an industrial base, that this rural district does not have. Also look at the statistics of assaults against teachers in some other districts, many of those teachers are earning hazardous duty pay.

The board has asked them to accept health care plans that mirror what has become the standard in most of the  private sector, but they either don't want to compromise to save the district any money or want the money saved by the school district reimbursed to the teachers. Looks like a one way street.

 

Some of the specific complaints were that they remember the old days when the board was very affable and there was that warm feeling. This translates to 4% increases every year and raise taxes every year to support the increases.  That the board has now hired a lawyer to negotiate for them, but failed to mention that the union has hired a lawyer to negotiate for them for decades. We all long for the years when incomes were increasing, but the teachers neighbors income have been down or flat for the last 8 years. This is very provable by the earned income receipts by the school district, maybe a good idea is to tie the income increase to the increases in the earned income tax receipts. This would be a fair representation of the economic health of the district. Does anyone in the union ever take into consideration that the district contribution to the teachers pension fund has risen 528% in the last 8 years and is now at 30.03% of salaries? Is this irrelevant to their employment package?  

 

When was the last evaluation done on the fact that enrollment has decreased by near 200 students in the last 8 years, but has there been a comparable decrease in staff? I believe Northwestern has the largest staff per student population in the Lehigh Valley. While many districts have cut staff in these difficult economic times, Northwestern has not.

While teachers lament that they are underpaid and overworked, the fact is that compared to the taxpayers who pay their wages and benefits, they are compensated much better than most of the people in the district and work far fewer hours. While no one would argue that they don't do a good job with the care and education of the children there are economic realities that no one is immune to. 

Big Republicans ,Trump negotiations begin

TRUMPS FUTURE SUCCESS AT RISK

ESTABLISHMENT WANTS SAY ON VICE-PRESIDENT, APPOINTMENTS

 

 

 

 

The negotiations have begun as to what kind of power the establishment republicans and donors will be able to exert in a possible Trump administration. Contrary to what you hear, the possiblility of a Kasich candidacy is not going to happen. Look at Kasich's financial report and we see his super-pack is $4,228,668 in the red. His campaign has a balance of $1,476,642. He has only raised $8,000,000 in the whole primary. He won his home state where he is the sitting governor, this is hardly a movement that big money is about to invest in. Contrary to what you hear about the principles of conservatism, I doubt you will see anyone contribute money to keep this campaign alive.  He will not be able to win any substantial delegates going forward.

Ted Cruz has $13,645,419 in his campaign and $25,000,000 in his super-pack on March, 7. I doubt he has that much now, and I suspect the money will soon start to dry up. He will be able to campaign on but without major wins he will not be able to get to the delegate count needed.

Donald Trump, is the leader, needing 500+ delegates to get to the magic number. It can be done especially if momentum shifts in his favor, which it has. He has been subjected to over $40,000,000 in negative ads in the last 2 weeks without having much effect on his numbers. I would bet it will be increasingly hard for the Romney/Bush Stop Trump super-pack to raise money. Trump has pledged to finance his campaign in the primary and has spent the least amount of money of any of his past or present competitors.

So, the negotiations have begun, it will be interesting to say the least. I suspect Trump will run them around awhile while he gains more strength. When it looks like he is going to make the numbers, they will be ripe for a favorable deal, this could be sooner than most people think. The Jeb Bush people would love to get a vice president pick and some other major appointments. I expect Trump is wise to this, as they will undermine his presidency if they can. He will need to bring on board people he can accept who will be on his side. So we expect the debate in public will continue that they are going to take the nomination at the convention, this is nothing more than negotiating leverage. Trump will need to give them something, so they can save face, but I doubt that Trump will sacrifice his future presidency by caving when he is winning. 

Trump baits Obama brown shirts in Chicago

OBAMA'S LEGIONS HELP PUT TRUMP IN NEWS AHEAD OF CRITICAL VOTE

HELPS VOTERS REMEMBER FERGUSON AND BALTIMORE

 

 

 

With Friday's cancellation of a Trump rally in Chicago, we were served a non-stop menu of how Trump has created a climate of violence at his rallies across the country. It was interesting as the republicans almost all jumped in to proclaim that yes, trump was no good for the country because he has created divisions in the country, in the republican party, the democrat party, even among world leaders. Trump started all this when he proclaimed he would build a wall and enforce immigation law on the southern border... this made him an anti-immigration racist on one hand and also propelled him to the lead in the republican primary.  Univision cancelled the Miss America pageant,others cancelled functions at Trump's golf courses, Macy's said they would not sell his ties. All this kept Trump in the news continually.  He then insulted John McCain, which many assumed would be his demise, but it was not. He said all Muslims should be barred from emigrating into the country until they could be properly vetted. Again, he was a bigot and a racist and would cause Muslims to not  trust us. He then called Jeb Bush "low energy," which is probably the weakest political attack in history, except that it stuck, and sent Bush to the bottom and out early in the campaign. Trump then went too far when he questioned George Bush's wisdom in invading Iraq - this was definitely against republican dogma. It seemed like a coincidence that before every big primary event, something would happen. The Pope made remarks at the border just before South Carolina, and Trump won, then Las Vegas, another win. Super Tuesday, seven wins. Then Mitt Romney stepped in and started the "stop Trump" movement... more wins. The race heated up all over the place, big republicans came out and stated Trump must be stopped. Again all that we saw in the news was Trump versus big republicans, but the news was all about Trump.

Then came the weekend before the big primaries in Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and North Carolina. This was the last chance to stop Trump. Trump is leading in most polls except Ohio. So does Trump just lay low and try to do the usual campaign? He scheduled a rally at the University of Illinois in downtown Chicago, a hotbed of liberal and Marxist ideology for the last 80 years. Is it just a coincidence that, Move-on, Black Lives Matter and every other Chicago group descended on this rally like flies on fresh dung? 300 professors signed a petition to stop Trump from coming. The protesters proclaimed what a great victory they had when the rally was cancelled and the whole show was on the air nonstop for the whole weekend.  Did this event, which made America recall the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore and Black Lives Matter calling for the killing of police, hurt or enhance Trump's chance of winning today? We will have the answer to that in the next 24 hours.    

Are you ready for negative interest rates?

FINANCIAL GENUISES' NEW PLAN TO SAVE ECONOMY

OR "GOVERNMENT PLAN FOR COMPLETE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE"

The subject of negative interest has been increasingly talked about. At present four countries (Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan) have descended into this bizarre economic policy. While we hear politicians and financial commentators tell us that all is well in the economy, it has just been reported that world trade has declined 14% in 2015 and that the yield on 27% of government bonds worldwide are now in negative territory. I am not a Harvard or Yale-educated economist, who I am sure will have a convoluted message that this is a perfectly acceptable situation, but to me this is a red flag that all is not well.

This idea of negative interest rates will inevitably lead to series of consequences that can only lead to a very negative result, not only to your economic well being but to all aspects of your life. Does anyone believe any sane person will leave their money in the bank and allow it to decline in value by just sitting there? There is a problem with this in that in the US alone we have $11.1 trillion of digital dollars, but only $1.35 trillion dollars of actual paper currency. If large numbers of people foresee negative interest rates and attempt to withdraw their money, there quickly would be a shortage of currency. There is already  resistance by some banks to giving out cash to their customers. In Sweden, which has become mostly a cashless society, even panhandlers have a cell phone with a device to swipe credit cards and churches have an ATM to receive contributions.

Do not doubt that our financial planners have a solution for this. Last week, Larry Summers former treasury secretary under the Clinton administration, remarked that it was time to withdraw the $100 bill from circulation. If the $100 bill was withdrawn that would leave only $271 billion of currency in existence. It has been proposed by Citibank, one of the largest of credit card processors, that it was time to do away with cash completely. He is not the only one - many of the "superiorly intelligent" economists say that if cash is done away with, they will be in a much better position to control the economy. What they are saying is they can no longer stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates and they just don't know what else to do. The real problem is an overload of debt by the federal, state and local governments, most all corporations, and individual citizens. This includes most all pension funds. Rather than allow the bad debts be written off and taking the medicine for their 40 years of economic irresponsibility, they would rather try this experiment in insanity.

But of course they are not really insane. They are unscrupulous and have decided since raising taxes is becoming increasingly difficult, a new approach is needed. So let's assume we go to a cashless society where the only way you can use your money without paying a tax on your savings is to spend it or invest it. Every transaction will of course have a 2% commission to the credit card processor...and of course the government will say that is too much. In their great wisdom they will say it can only be 1.92 % and you should be very grateful. Next they will decide to inflict a transfer tax to fund some great thing such as education or whatever they think will produce the least outcry. Let's say this will start at 1%, but it can easily be manipulated up when needed. So we will have a situation where every transaction will add at least 2.92 % and also the negative interest which will start out at 0.25%, but of course will be floating number that may go to 7%.  In reaction to this policy you will be encouraged to either buy stock, bonds or a new Chevrolet. The Chevrolet purchase will increase economic activity, and the stock and bond purchase will raise the value of investments to bail out the government debt and pension funds. Wow! These guys are smart! At least until it all blows up and no one will have any money left. Just imagine you go to the yard sale in the future to buy that used lawn mower for $30.00 when you swipe that card, the credit card company can add 2%, the federal govt. 1% for the transfer tax, and the state can add the 6% sales tax. That means it will cost you an extra $2.10  and the seller 0.60 cents. Oh, and by the way the seller will also get a 1099 at the end of the year for his $30.00 sale. One other problem, what if the internet or phone service goes down either by accident or design, will all activity come to a halt? Welcome to the 21st century.

Then comes the next problem. Humans always find a way to get around things like this, for example trading labor or some other item for the lawn mower or silver coins for the lawn mower, or for those without money or coins, maybe their wives or daughter. I have no doubt that if these policies take effect, we will descend into a primitive barter system in an attempt to insulate ourselves from the failures and dishonesty of the experts. You can be sure they will have to make barter or any transactions not done through the system illegal.

If this idea is allowed to be implemented, it will most likely lead to decline in economic activity, the hoarding of goods and assets capable of being bartered, and corresponding penalties for those who do not comply. What it won't lead to is a better world for most of us.

Is Romney running campaign for Nomination?

CLAIMS TRUMP VOTERS CAN BE REPLACED

BUSH, ROMNEY AND GOP

ADMITS GOAL IS TO SELECT CANDIDATE AT CONVENTION

Mitt Romney made his first appearance in the 2016 race by holding a press conference to demand Donald Trump release his tax returns. It was no coincidence that this was the same day as a scheduled debate for the republican candidates. He then came out the following week on the same day as the next debate to do a vicious hit piece on Donald Trump. He failed to endorse any other candidate, but did endorse a strategy to encourage a voting pattern to ensure that no candidate receives a majority of the delegates. This, he explained, will allow responsible members of the party to select a satisfactory candidate. I wonder who he thinks this will be?

Let's go back to the last election. Mitt was encouraged to run by the Bush coalition, even though he failed to win the nomination 4 years before. While encouraged, he did not receive strong support from the Bush people because the plan to run Jeb was in the works. They wanted to have Jeb run when they would not have to run a Bush against Obama. Mitt Romney ran a strong campaign, but he was ill at ease, guilty of his success, and did not convey a feeling of credibility to the electorate. At the end of the campaign he embraced the Chip Kelly strategy to try to hold onto his perceived lead by  going on defense. His perception was that he had it in the bag.  It failed miserably. He was afraid to directly take on Obama and feared he would do something wrong and hurt his campaign. He gave up the most important part of the campaign without a strong finish. Whether this was his decision or his advisers, who knows. He failed to bring out much of the republican base...receiving less republican votes than McCain and Palin.

Along comes 2016. Obama is very unpopular, his term is ending and his coalition is in jeopardy of falling apart. Mitt wants to run again, but he is discouraged by the Bush people because they have Jeb lined up with money, endorsements and the backing of the Bush coalition and the established republicans. They see this as a great time to win the presidency, as do 16 other republicans. Mitt complies and disappears until now. I do not believe he ever endorsed any candidate. On February 20, Jeb Bush announced he was ending his campaign. On February 25, Mitt Romney began his campaign to take the nomination at the convention. I have little doubt he has been encouraged to do this by his own regrets at losing and encouragement from the Bush family and establishment republicans.

The Bushs will never endorse Trump, since he humiliated Jeb and insulted Bush 2, even though he may have been right. To them this is payback. To Mitt, he sees Trump's success and cannot understand how such a course, inarticulate candidate is having such success. If Trump is doing this well, just think how well Mitt might have done. Besides, Trump called him dumb, a choker, and a loser. Romney now is on every talk show, trashing Trump, but failing to endorse any candidate. When asked if he would accept the nomination at the convention, he hedged all over the place to not answer the question. When asked what would happen to the party if the Trump voters would leave, he stated they would get other voters. One thing about this whole episode...people are being smoked out and showing what they really are...from Romney, the Bushs, to politicians all down the food chain. There will be long memories, possibly long after the present established party members are gone.

So we will see how all this works out. They may have destroyed Rubio's future. Romney will never win the presidency. Now the only hope for them is for Ted Cruz to win the primary. While Cruz and his wife have worked for the Bushs and Cruz had many ties to the establishment in his early days, it is still doubtful they will embrace him for president. Then there is Trump, who may have the longest memory of then all.

Big Republicans form suicide pact

NO TRUMP, NO WAY, NO HOW

PLEDGE TO TAKE OUT TRUMP BY ANY MEANS

Big establishment republicans have pushed their minions out to let it be known that they will deny the will of the republican voters by any means possible. The only thing that they have not publicly threatened is a contract on Donald Trump's head. I would not doubt that that matter has probably been suggested in private. These are the same people, who like the Bush's, Dole's and McCain's and also some local politicians, tell us every 2 or 6 years how conservative they are to get the votes, but then after the election, sigh and say they just couldn't get it done.  They now claim they must stop Trump because he is not a conservative. He has never put a label on his positions...he has just stated what they are and allows you decide. The real reason they want him out is that he is not part of the club. He has not pledged to continue a trade policy that has made trillions for the insiders and puts Americans on food stamps.  He has also pledged to control illegal immigration which has not been done by an American president for near 30 years. They also know that he will not do the bidding of the powerful politicians in Washington.

So last week they sent out Kamikaze Rubio, to blow himself up if necessary, to take down Trump. While he had some success, he did himself long-term damage for the future. I am sure a good soldier will be rewarded with some well-paying position for his efforts. Since that really didn't work, now they plan to siphon off enough delegates to force a brokered convention. This is a suicide pact of the first order. This may well be the end of the republican party. Lindsey Graham has stated that it is better to lose if Trump is the candidate; I don't see anyone giving him the third degree on that one. Are the Cruz supporters so naïve that they expect to benefit from this effort? Cruz is the only one they hate more than Trump. They will not allow him to be the nominee either...he just hasn't threatened to win yet. Marco Rubio has proven he will jump as high as they tell him to.  I assume if they can get a brokered convention, they will back Kasich or drag out Mitt Romney. Either way, the republican party will become a 22% party and a third party will emerge for the future, if there is a country left for the future.

We hear sad tales of poor republicans who just can't vote for Trump. Do they think they will ever be able to get Trump supporters to back their nominee? I doubt if they can.  Republicans have been holding their noses for decades for the establishment-endorsed candidates. I believe if they have to jettison the unruly and discourage anyone from undertaking a primary candidacy in the future, they will consider their efforts a success.  Will anyone in the future  take the risk and expend the time, energy and money, to run for president without first getting the approval of the ruling class? I believe it is obvious this applies to both parties. Is this really a free democratic country, or more like a third world country with good window dressing?