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And it's coming to a city near you — it may already be there. We're talking about the sale of public assets to private investors. You may have heard of one-off deals, but what we'll be exploring with the Huffington Post is the scale and scope of what is a national and organized campaign to shift the way we govern ourselves. In an era of increasingly stretched local and state budgets, privatization of public assets may be so tempting to local politicians that the trend seems unstoppable. Yet, public outrage has stopped and slowed a number of initiatives.
And it's coming to a city near you — it may already be there. We're talking about the sale of public assets to private investors. You may have heard of one-off deals, but what we'll be exploring with the Huffington Post is the scale and scope of what is a national and organized campaign to shift the way we govern ourselves. In an era of increasingly stretched local and state budgets, privatization of public assets may be so tempting to local politicians that the trend seems unstoppable. Yet, public outrage has stopped and slowed a number of initiatives.
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==Various Article Comments==
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Freep -- Various Articles
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Rick Snyder to announce sweeping DPS reforms Monday (June 19, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110619/NEWS01/110619015/Rick-Snyder-announce-sweeping-DPS-reforms-Monday
Governor Rick Snyder to announce sweeping DPS reforms today (June 20, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110620/NEWS06/106200359/Gov-Rick-Snyder-announce-sweeping-DPS-reforms-today
Sweeping reform plan empowers principals, teachers in low-performing Michigan schools (June 20, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110620/NEWS01/110620027/Sweeping-reform-plan-empowers-principals-teachers-low-performing-Michigan-schools
How new Michigan school district for low-performing schools would work (June 20, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110620/NEWS01/110620033/How-new-Michigan-school-district-low-performing-schools-would-work
Snyder had idea for changing DPS even before he was governor (June 21, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/NEWS01/106210388/Snyder-had-idea-changing-DPS-even-before-he-governor
DPS's scholarship promise is short on details and resources (June 21, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/NEWS06/106210390/DPS-s-scholarship-promise-short-details-resources
New start for Detroit's worst schools (June 21, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/NEWS01/106210383/New-start-Detroit-s-worst-schools
Editorial • Stronger medicine for sick schools (June 21, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/OPINION01/106210320/Editorial-Stronger-medicine-sick-schools
Eastern Michigan faculty side with teachers' unions, refuse to work in Detroit schools (June 22, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220413/Eastern-Michigan-faculty-side-teachers-unions-refuse-work-Detroit-schools
Art dealer's trial to begin in DPS corruption case (June 22, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220383/Art-dealer-s-trial-begin-DPS-corruption-case
Roy Roberts to cut non-teaching jobs, cancel supplier contracts in effort to transform DPS (June 22, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/110622024/Roy-Roberts-cut-non-teaching-jobs-cancel-supplier-contracts-effort-transform-DPS
Eastern Michigan faculty side with teachers' unions, says they weren't consulted about plan (June 22, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220413/Eastern-Michigan-faculty-side-teachers-unions-says-they-weren-t-consulted-about-plan
DPS spent $1.6M on travel, gave raises to consultants (June 24, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110624/NEWS01/106240431/DPS-spent-1-6M-consultants-travel
Under Bobb, consultants got raises, perks (June 24, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110624/NEWS01/106240443/Under-Bobb-consultants-got-raises-perks
Michigan Senate OKs teacher tenure changes (July 1, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/article/20110701/NEWS05/107010436/Michigan-Senate-OKs-teacher-tenure-changes
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Starve and Supplant
The Governor and his Privateers are starving the Public Sector in Michigan out of existence for a reason, so that private corporations can complete their hostile takeover of all public services. They stopped being content with tax abatements, bailouts, incentives, kickbacks, and worker concessions a long time ago — they want nothing less than the automatic funneling of tax dollars directly into their private corporate bankrolls without the annoying interference of all us pesky commoners.
Mackinac Center For Public Policy • “State Needs Privatization”
• http://www.educationreport.org/15050
Lansing State Journal • “Going Private? — Snyder, Republicans Put New Focus On Merits Of Privatization”
• http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110515/NEWS04/105150528/GOING-PRIVATE-Snyder-Republicans-put-new-focus-merits-privatization
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Waiting for Superfraud
Here's a article that will help Michiganders understand the brand of PR blitz — bankrolled by the Billionaire Boys (and Betsy) Club — that we can expect to see broadcast all over Michigan in the coming year.
Michael T. Martin • “Waiting For SuperFraud”
• http://ksdcitizens.org/2010/12/22/waiting-for-superfraud/
The invasion of cash from so-called “philanthropists” is what is known in the Biz as a “Loss Leader”. Big bucks will be pumped into the system to make it look like the reforms are a smashing success. If that strategy works the way it has in other States and Washington, DC, a lot of data will get cooked and lot of Agenda-Driven Statistification (ADS) will get trumpeted all over the Corporate Air Waves in order to make it look like there was any improvement at all.
Never mind the small stuff, the truth won't matter. More big bucks will be pumped into rah-rah ads and corporate media “documentaries” to cover up the facts. By the time the Public figures out what is really going down, the school system will be so far down the road to privatization for corporate cash, command, and control that it will take the People all they can do to keep any shred of equal opportunity education at all.
You have to understand that these people are not philanthropists — “lovers of humanity” — they are investors. They don't give money away — they invest money for the sake of making more money, acting in tandem with their ego-driven need to force their personal ideology on the rest of the world. It does not make an ounce of difference to them if they have to destroy the American way of life in the process — it's just so much collateral road-kill on their toll-way to the Greater Glory of Greed.
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The Broad Axe Falls Again
Here's a couple of reports on the Broad Foundation, that we find behind the scenes of so many current raids on public education and so prominently mentioned in the Governerd's plans, not just for Detroit, but for Michigan at large —
Seattle Education Blog • “The Broad Foundation”
• http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/race-to-the-top/the-broad-foundation/
Seattle Education Blog • “Eli Broad’s Last Hurrah In Detroit?”
• http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/eli-broad’s-last-hurrah-in-detroit/
One thing we've learned about the Corporate Privateers is that it doesn't really matter what their PR says — the agenda is always the same.
Say hello to the East India Teaching Company —
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Snyder had idea for changing DPS even before he was governor (June 21, 2011)
So it was all a case of indigestion …
Nice job of post hoc legend craft, but my guess is that ALEC and the MCPP had the idea of busting the unions and privatizing the schools long before they ran him up the flagpoll for Governerd.
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How new Michigan school district for low-performing schools would work
Those of you who are Real Nerds might try looking up “Regression Effects” in your old statistics book.
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The reason for the quick reaction is that the better-informed readers on this site already know the history of Corporate Ideology Groups (CIGs) like ALEC, the Broad Foundation, the DeVos family, the Koch brothers, the Mackinac Center, and all the other Privateers who are pushing this agenda. We don't have to Wait & See what they have in mind for Michigan because we have read the history of what they have done elsewhere and we have read the plans that come out of their own doublethink tanks for their dreams of a Colonial Plantation America (CPA).
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Here's a good update on some of the things that educators, parent activists, and others will be doing over the Summer to protect our system of democratic education from hostile takeover by corporations, ideologues, and other private interests.
Education Week • “Frustrated Educators Aim To Build Grassroots Movement”
• http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/15/35activists_ep.h30.html
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Thousands of educators, parent activists, and others are expected to convene in the heat and humidity of Washington next month for a march protesting the current thrust of education policy in the United States, especially the strong emphasis on test-based accountability.
Organizers say the effort aims to galvanize and give voice to those who believe policymakers, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and state governors, have gone astray in their remedies for improving American schools.
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Wear Red For Public Ed is a good place to learn how communities across the nation are dealing with the ongoing degradation of public education.
People across the country are beginning to realize that there is a coordinated campaign by corporate-dominated State governments to turn back the clock on American education to the schools of private privilege we once had the good sense to revolt against.
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Anyone with a working long-term memory knows where this agenda to “Starve Public Schools Out Of Existence” came from.
Good thing there's web search for the rest of us —
Richard DeVos Advocates “Stealth” Strategy Against Public Education
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-fTAhc4QC4
Blackwater In-Law DeVos Outlines “Stealth” Plot Against Public Education
• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/04/972949/-Blackwater-In-Law-DeVos-outlines-stealth-plot-against-Public-Education
Strategy for Privatizing Public Schools Spelled out by Dick DeVos in 2002 Heritage Foundation Speech
• http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/5/3/12515/58655/Front_Page/Strategy_for_Privatizing_Public_Schools_Spelled_out_by_Dick_D
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Just in case anyone thinks these Educational Privateers are relics of bygone days, here's a couple of recent stories that indicate what they have in mind for one of democracy's most precious resources —
New York Times • Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates
• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/education/22gates.html
Daily Kos • “The United Gates Of America”
• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/22/978218/-The-United-Gates-of-America
Business Insider • “Rupert Murdoch, Who Bought 90% Of An Education Software Provider, Launches Initiative ‘To Make Education A Top Issue In 2012 Presidential Campaign’”
• http://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-murdoch-news-corp-education-2012-presidential-campaign-2011-5
Here's another couple of articles on the ongoing program by ALEC, DeVos, Koch, Mackinac Center, and others to destroy public education —
Jim Hightower • “Billionaires' Front Groups Attack Workers, Public Schools, and Young Voters”
• http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/2680
Michigan Populist • “Kids are Collateral Damage in Mackinac Center’s War”
• http://www.michiganpopulist.org/?p=177
Washington Post • How Walton Foundation spent $157 million on ed reform (in D.C. and other places)
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-walton-foundation-spent-157-million-on-ed-reform-in-dc-and-other-places/2011/06/28/AGhLy0pH_blog.html
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Comment 8
Starve and Supplant
The Governor and his Privateers are starving the Public Sector in Michigan out of existence for a reason, so that private corporations can complete their hostile takeover of all public services. They stopped being content with tax abatements, bailouts, incentives, kickbacks, and worker concessions a long time ago — they want nothing less than the automatic funneling of tax dollars directly into their private corporate bankrolls without the annoying interference of all us pesky commoners.
Mackinac Center For Public Policy • “State Needs Privatization”
• http://www.educationreport.org/15050
Lansing State Journal • “Going Private? — Snyder, Republicans Put New Focus On Merits Of Privatization”
• http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110515/NEWS04/105150528/GOING-PRIVATE-Snyder-Republicans-put-new-focus-merits-privatization
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I've been watching all and participating in many of these movements over the years, and I always give them the benefit of the doubt at first. Sometimes I even become an enthusiast, if never quite a True Believer.
But this particular push goes back more than 20 years — we can read the Sadder Budweiser history of it from Diane Ravitch and many others — and the time for shadows of doubt is long past.
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My concern for the future of education in Michigan comes from experience, from reading the reports of what is happening across the country as we speak, and from knowing the history of what happened with these same types of programmatic purges in the past. My concern is not based on worries about the unknown — these groups and their aims are known quantities.
If the program being pushed here were really as “unique” as its pushers advertize it to be, that would be one thing, but the current push is not the least bit new or unique, not by a long shot. All the same brands of patent nonsense notions have been sold to the public before, on a periodic basis over the last hundred years, always by the same brands of business-minded factions, people who lack the least bit of knowledge about what it takes to educate anyone, but who remain dead set on running education like a business or a factory with all the arrogant ignorance of their bean-counter efficiency.
Ten or twenty years go by, a decade or a generation gets wasted on what always turns out to be an extremely expensive excuse for “efficiency”, and then people find themselves forced to return to their senses.
Look at the people Snyder is putting in charge — automotive execs, CEOs from banking, construction, finance, hedge-funds, insurance execs, multilayer marketers, and on up the line. Do you really think it's a smart idea to turn Education over to the same sorts of people who already destroyed the Economy?
I don't think so …
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Comment 11
Michigan For Sale !!!
I think we have to recognize that the wool being pulled over our eyes in the public sector of education extends to the entire public sphere. Just by way of one indication, here's a timely article that popped up on my newsfeed —
Dylan Ratigan • “America for Sale : Is Goldman Sachs Buying Your City?”
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/america-for-sale-is-goldm_b_877285.html
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In Chicago, it's the sale of parking meters to the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. In Indiana, it's the sale of the northern toll road to a Spanish and Australian joint venture. In Wisconsin it's public health and food programs, in California it's libraries. It's water treatment plants, schools, toll roads, airports, and power plants. It's Amtrak. There are revolving doors of corrupt politicians, big banks, and rating agencies. There are conflicts of interest. It's bipartisan.
And it's coming to a city near you — it may already be there. We're talking about the sale of public assets to private investors. You may have heard of one-off deals, but what we'll be exploring with the Huffington Post is the scale and scope of what is a national and organized campaign to shift the way we govern ourselves. In an era of increasingly stretched local and state budgets, privatization of public assets may be so tempting to local politicians that the trend seems unstoppable. Yet, public outrage has stopped and slowed a number of initiatives.
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Editorial • Stronger medicine for sick schools (June 21, 2011)
• http://www.freep.com/comments/article/20110621/OPINION01/106210320/Editorial-Stronger-medicine-sick-schools
Comment 1
Say, by the way, when are you so-called “journalists” going to stop publishing these soft-shoe song-&-dance routines that lick the boots of whoever has the Emergency Power This Week and start doing some actual investigative gumshoe journalism into the groups that are pushing these private corporate agendas?
Citizen journalism is probably a good thing and all, but it's gotten lately where your readers have to do all the work, and I'm guessing a few of them, if not a lot anymore, still have day jobs.
Comment 2
Another thing you might try while you've got your gumshoes on is this:
Get thee to one of Michigan's True Think Tanks, one of our fine public universities — while we still have them — find yourself one or two competent professors in statistics, psychology, education, or any of those disciplines where the nerds thereof actually know what the devil they are talking about, and ask them about the significance of “regression effects” in a so-called “experiment” where you grab the lowest 5% on some distribution and apply your favorite treatment to that sample. Ask them how they would grade the “performance” of a researcher who tried to pull that.
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