A friend in a conservative think tank said it was time for me to write a post praising John Arnold for giving $10 million to keep Headstart alive during the federal government shutdown.
Arnold was an Enron trader who left with $3 billion before the Enron scam collapsed, destroying the pensions of everyone who worked there. Other Enron executives went to jail, but Arnold got out before the collapse and is now using his fortune to advance privatization of public schools and to attack pensions of public sector employees nationally.
At first, I thought, what a nice gesture on the part of a man who fleeced so many Enron investors. I am glad he is using a tiny part of his vast fortune to do some good.
Then I read this article by David Sirota. Sirota, who has become one of the nation’s finest investigative journalists, said that Arnold was buying good PR and diverting public attention from his efforts to impoverish millions of retirees by slashing their pensions. Oh, well, at least their grandchildren will be able to go to a Headstart center.
My friend on the right said I was becoming too cynical. But I don’t think that is quite right.
How should one feel about a man who walks away with $3 billion from a corporation that looted its stockholders, whose major executives went to jail, whose employees lost their life savings? How should one feel about his efforts to cut the pensions of people who have retired on $40,000 a year?
My view: outrage is a human and appropriate response.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone did an investigation of Wall St’s pension theft schemes and John Arnold appears as a major player.Taibbi links to the Sirota piece as well. FYI, Taibbi uses some spicy language when he refers to certain unsavory characters and their amoral behavior.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/looting-the-pension-funds-20130926
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That “spicy” language that Taibbi uses is necessary to tell the truth with a proper emphasis about that which he writes.
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I think you need new friends.
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Homer reminds us about friendship that:
“The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.”
Dienne: “I think you need new friends.”
With all respect to the owner of this blog, I think these two comments might be very compatible…
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It is easy for a person who is not worried about food, clothing, or longterm anything to call those who fear for those concerns on the part of others and believe there are efforts set up to intentionally destroy the systems that had previously been set up to guard against such worry, as cynical. I get that from relatives and friends too. I am surprised that even teachers get excited over a Walmart gift card and I’m thinking, “do you know what Walmart is doing to our profession?” (I would be viewed as cynical if I were to say something like that out loud). (I used to love to go to Walmart, but suddenly I just can’t do it). Immediate joy blinds long-term planning, sometimes.
If you don’t see poverty every day or if you don’t have to consider what pool of money you will rely on when you can no longer work, it is easy to forget.
I am thankful that there are still some people who see things that are going on for what they are.
It is ironic, I think, that in at-will states people are afraid to speak up because they just want to keep their jobs. But unless they are putting every penny into savings, I think that decision is short-sighted. If what is being foisted on those who do not have vast wealth compromises what they do have even further, then we have to say, “whoah, quit foisting that on me. I matter here too.”
But I do think it takes both intentional efforts through laws, legislation and systems established through our civic organizations as well as the benevolence of private donors, churches and community relief centers to keep people fed, clothed, housed and secure.
It isn’t really looking a gift horse in the mouth if the horse was not acquired by a fair method. I imagine many Wall Street types would say he did acquire his money by a fair method, because it was legal. So then it is time to look at what we allow with our laws.
That’s where we are. I wonder where we will be in five years.
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As you have obviously figured out, Joanna, there is legal and there is ethical and they are not necessarily the same. Does anyone remember that particular look from a parent when you said, “But you didn’t tell me I couldn’t…”? Same old excuses, sometimes excusable… in children.
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I know.
I do feel that we have to figure out how to make those who justify that type of ethics listen in a way that will not just cause them to group all those who see their greed and its destruction as “leftist” “liberal” etc.
My father is really the one who put most of my capacity for being in touch with other people’s pain and with the plight of middle class America on my radar (his father worked for the railroad and was solidly middle class). My mother’s people were southern Democrats, but blue bloods with money. My mother has been slow to recognize the down side of Gates money (she was quick to pick up on ALEC when I told her about it, but slow to see the corporate corruption side, I suppose because of money). And she shops at Walmart. In fact, if you think about it, Walmart has created a complacent (albeit shrinking) middle class because, as FLERP pointed out, we have unbelievable ease in attaining stuff. TVs no problem. Food no problem. Clothes no problem. New towels for the bathroom no problem. Guns no problem. etc etc etc It is hard to see what is going on for most people, I think (except those of us with our nose in a blog and looking for answers), because they are comfortable. I heard the PE teacher at my school today (age 35, married, no kids) at our “PLC” say (in regards to CCSS) “Well, I don’t really care as long as I get paid.” There you go.
My father has the benefit of the pulpit. . .he is a Presbyterian minister and it is easy to plea for the poor when you are doing so in the name of religion. He continues to stand solidly for union interests etc (because of his upbringing). And I will say that he has the gumption to stand up for the working guy. But for some reason corporate money easily sways people. It’s like people are guarded against “old money” persuasion, but new money has made its way into controlling things just fine.
In a state where we do not have unions, it is hard to find the right words to see if people are listening. My principal has begun to dialogue with me about things (I gave her a copy of Diane’s book), but she told me that principals do not discuss the 800 pound gorilla because they too, in our at will state, fear for their jobs. As a public school teacher, while I might be motivated by my personal faith, I can’t go around saying that, really. Maybe I should become a preacher too. Then I can preach professionally!!! 🙂 But because principals don’t discuss the 800 pound gorilla, I suppose our problems (aside from ALEC being prevalent in our legislature) go all the way back to the governor who pushed for RttT. ?? And she has moved on. And we are left with the consequences.
I have no answers. Except do right by the kids and my personal cause of creative reuse of materials for the classroom (from local businesses and retailers). That’s all I can do for now (that I know of). If I get a message from heaven telling me anything else, I will immediately write about it so my friends on Diane’s blog will know.
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” If I get a message from heaven telling me anything else, I will immediately write about it so my friends on Diane’s blog will know.”
I will pray that He doesn’t take the direct approach and talk to you. People who hear voices run into trouble. Let’s hope for subtler signs. 🙂
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Though I have spent over 30 years trying to improve education for disadvantaged populations, I still spend time being afraid of speaking my mind. I am also an employee of the state and like Joanna and her principal, need to worry about losing my job. But maybe not. I admire Diane and wish more people who are not in fear of losing their jobs (like retired educators, researchers and leaders) would be more outspoken. I wonder if I really have to wait until I retire to speak out like Diane or be more like the people who hide behind pseudonyms. Or have I been brainwashed to think I can be hurt so I make sure not to bother the hornets nest..Some of you use your full names and show no fear. Others do not. Not sure who I should be. But guys like this scare me. I guess I am also becoming paranoid.
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Janna– we are discussing on this site, so the only risk in using your name is that someone might quote you later. But when it is discussion for the purpose of discussion, I am OK with that. I am not a rogue teacher, and I stay positive at school. But I do ask a lot of questions. That is how to keep people thinking (at work). Also, I love people and we are all in this together. I imagine we could all enjoy the company of some reformers, hedge fund edupeneurs etc. We just see things differently and that’s OK, so long as they understand that many people do support public school that is truly public. Dialogue is important. I take comfort in music. Going to post lyrics for my favorite Modest Mouse song for you in a minute.
2old: if I hear voices, I will know something is seriously wrong and that the issues have gotten to me. But sometimes I do think we can get answers from a higher sense of self or higher power if we listen enough. I do believe in prayer.
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Nothing cynical about it, the gesture by Arnold Foundation was pure PR. They need to scrub their image on looting pension funds as well as on destroying free public school systems across the country. Ten million to Headstart just to gain face with their “philanthropic” friends is as low as one can go. Meanwhile, a good investigative piece on the rampant corruption in Headstart programs and the far less than stellar early childhood curriculum are in order. So once again, the Arnold’s have made a bad choice. Why not send the ten million toward launching a national, deeply educational preschool for all initiative? Probably because their “friends” the Edelman’s discourage it for their own self-serving reasons. A mess!
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You need to check your facts. Most of your article is completely inaccurate. He was only a trader at Enron, not an executive. He ‘escaped’ prosecution because he literally had no involvement in that part of the business. Furthermore, he amassed nearly all of his wealth post-Enron.
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You really can’t defend someone from Enron by saying they were “only a trader at Enron, not an executive.” The traders at Enron knew exactly what they were doing to energy consumers, a.k.a. Grandma Millie.
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Yes! “[Those] who get angry at the right things, at the right time, for the right length of time, [are] commended.” -Aristotle on qualifications for excusing anger [paraphrase]
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Diane, you just stated why I do what I do in public with the corrupt board of education at LAUSD. Still board members are lying to the public on the radio and in the board room. At the last board meeting the CFO, Megan Reily, said that the revenue from the state was $4.3 billion in the June Budget including the LCFF estimates. I had just looked in the budget and it is $5.3 billion. I was sitting just behind the CFO while she said this and said from the audience “She is lying it is $5.3 billion” and they just say there like dummies. Obviously, not a one knows the number or there is something real corrupt going on. How can you run a $6.4 billion operation and not know your revenue? If you do not know your revenue and where it comes from and how it is changing through time how can you budget? Would you hire them to run your life or company, I mean your personal stash of money and your life?
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“. . . I was becoming too cynical.” From brainyquote.com:
“Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.”
George Carlin
“I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.”
Lily Tomlin
“The more cynical you become, the better off you’ll be.”
Matt LeBlanc
“Yeah, it’s pretty hard not to be completely cynical these days.”
David Byrne
and
“I am thankful that there are still some people who see things that are going on for what they are.”
Joanna Best
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thank you, Duane.
Hopefully I have atoned for my self-praising middle of the night pity part from a few days ago.
🙂
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I’m sure you have. ;-}
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Eduschyster is the best. She is the best because she does her homework, double and triple checks and then puts it in a way that is easy to understand and hilarious at the same time. I wait for her comments and posts as they are always worth waiting for. She educates me on things I may have never considered or thought about and in a different part of the country. One thing is though that these people operate internationally with the cookie cutter, so, once you know their game you basically know that game everywhere. Sure makes it easier to deal with. They do not have much creativity. Must have got caught up with arts being taken from them and now they have a flat brain. Here in L.A. we give Austin a bad time. Now, at LAUSD, there will be no more Parent Triggers without the parents being trained in the law and their options and no more illegal signatures. Between hammering the board of ed. and sending enough to the L.A. Times we got that done. I like the Parent Trigger for necessary cases when the district just does nothing while the school melts away. No one reads the law, rules and regulations so I ask “If you do not know what you are talking about, why are you talking like you know?” Is this what educators are about? Sure saw a lot of teachers during the Belmont Fiasco who were brain dead and wanted to expose students to toxics and would not read a thing.
CORE-CA and the California Title 1 Parent Union were the first to have a parent training program on the Parent Trigger. When Walter and Yolande train people they know what the law, rules and regulations are and what they mean so we “Don’t get Fooled Again.”
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Simply put, it is impossible to be too cynical about these people. Whenever you think they couldn’t possibly exceed the venality and mendacity they’ve exhibited thus far, they turn the dial to eleven.
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If the action be praiseworthy, so be it.
If the actor is bad, say so.
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We call this a Kabuki Dance. What it looks like is never what it is underneath.
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Keep telling it like is! You are my idol and my hero, Badass Diane Ravitch!
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Cynical? After viewing ALL that is going on? Who in their right mind has not become cynical? Congress with a positive rating approaching single digits. People like this one who has never spent one day in jail? If cynical, join the crowd.
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Sorry, this is off topic but still concerns Texas and Pearson. Below is one of the writing prompts from a recently released End Of Course Eng II exam. Seems to me that most kids in Texas probably had a hard time with this prompt seeing as how very few have migrated recently enough from one place to the other to construct an effective comparison in the persuasive piece. Scores were not very good for the English II exam, wonder why.
Read the following quotation.”What I like about cities is that everything is king-size, the beauty and the ugliness”.—Joseph Brodsky
Although large cities are exciting places to live, small towns have their own special characteristics. Think carefully about this idea.Write an essay stating your position on whether it is better to live in a large city or in a small town. Be sure to —• state your position clearly• use appropriate organization• provide specific support for your argument• choose your words carefully• edit your writing for grammar, mechanics, and spelling
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The mayor of Detroit was just sentenced to 28 years in prison. Why is this man free?
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“How should one feel about his efforts to cut the pensions of people who have retired on $40,000 a year?”
And he got to retire at age 38. How about the efforts to cut Social Security? After 40+ years as a college educated teacher working in non-union jobs that mostly paid slightly above minimum wage, I will be getting Social Security benefits of $9,864 per year when I “retire” next year. I live in an area where the cost of living is high, so that won’t come anywhere near towards paying my rent. And they think this is too much money and needs to be cut? I am already destined to work until I die. I think they want us to die sooner.
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I know song lyrics don’t solve problems, but if they offer comfort in the process I am all about it. In fact I used to play piano for nursing home worship services and I know the power of strong, familiar lyrics in the face of life’s challenges.
Modest Mouse:
I backed my car into a cop car the other day
Well, he just drove off, sometimes life’s okay
I ran my mouth off a bit too much, oh, what did I say?
Well, you just laughed it off, it was all okay
And we’ll all float on, okay
And we’ll all float on, okay
And we’ll all float on, okay
And we’ll all float on anyway, well
A fake Jamaican took every last dime with a scam
It was worth it just to learn from sleight-of-hand
Bad news comes, don’t you worry even when it lands
Good news will work it’s way to all them plans
We both got fired on exactly the same day
Well, we’ll float on, good news is on the way
And we’ll all float on, okay
And we’ll all float on, okay
And we’ll all float on, okay
And we’ll all float on, alright
Already we’ll all float on
Now don’t you worry, we’ll all float on
Alright, already we’ll all float on
Alright, don’t worry, we’ll all float on
Alright, already and we’ll all float on
Alright, already we’ll all float on
Alright, don’t worry even if things end up a bit too heavy
We’ll all float on, alright
Already we’ll all float on
Alright, already we’ll all float on
Okay, don’t worry, we’ll all float on
Even if things get heavy, we’ll all float on
Alright, already we’ll all float on
Alright, no don’t you worry, we’ll all float on
Alright, all float on
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lol good choice of songs Jo. I sing ‘Float On’ half way decently on “Rock Band” too. Even middle aged ladies like me like Modest Mouse. ( or maybe that is just middle aged ladies who used to sing in rock bands . . .?)
I have spent so much of my career being non-controversial but always opinionated. I usually find a middle ground and am usually a political independent/moderate. I was proud of myself for getting along with everyone. But lately I am finding I may have to choose sides living here in NC. My biggest fear has come true- when we go too fast and far in one direction with no checks and balances there are unintended consequences. But like Diane, I find I am becoming cynical and suspecting the consequences were not unintended but actually the plan all along . . .I am starting to believe in conspiracies.
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I don’t say it’s a conspiracy, I say it’s collusion and that, as Diane noted, it’s “a business plan.”
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It’s not a conspiracy, Janna, it’s a ruling class consensus.
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Thanks everyone- now I know what collusion, consensus and business plan really means. Have you heard that several states are changing the name of the common core to something else to fool everyone? I guess we need to come up with a nice name for Arnold, Gates, Pope, Koch’s and others in the ALEC oligarchy ruling plan. . . . wait they already did . .. they call it education reform.
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Wait, stop!!
This “gift horse” has “made in Troy” stamped on the bottom of it. Do you think the new “consensus” building that we need early childhood education might be the reason virtual charter operators like Knowledge Universe are buying up for-profit childcare center chains?
“Initial financing came from Knowledge Universe, a creation of the financier Michael Milken. Milken, who served time in prison in the early 1990s for securities violations, has bought or started dozens of for-profit education companies, including day care centers.”
https://www.baycitizen.org/news/education/public-financing-supports-growth-online/
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Chemtchr, Michael Milken and his brother also launched the virtual charter corporation K12, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, makes huge profits, and has high student attrition, low test scores, and low graduation rates.
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The Arnold Foundation is a right-wing organization founded by a hedge-funder (John Arnold) who resists accountability and transparency in derivatives markets but calls for them in education. Its executive director, Denis Cabrese was former chief of staff to DIck Armey, the Texas conservative who now heads up FreedomWorks, the group that helps to pull the Tea Party strings and gets funding from the billionaire arch-conservative Koch brothers.
The “leaders” at the Arnold Foundation believe that “Philanthropy should seek transformational change, not incremental change.” The Arnold Foundation dumped $25 million on Teach for America, whose charlatan-in-chief, Wendy Kopp, uses the term “transformational” more often than pigs eat slop.
Those at the Arnold Foundation subscribe to the notion that “Philanthropy should be entrepreneurial.” So it is not surprising that John Arnold thinks that “In Rhode Island…citizens and their leaders have boldly and responsibly addressed their pension problems” by throwing money at Wall Street. As Matt Taibbi reported in Rolling Stone, “In Rhode Island, over the course of 20 years. the state will pay $2.1 billion in fees to hedge funds, private-equity funds and venture-capital funds. it very nearly matches the savings the state will be taking from workers – $2.3 billion.”
John Arnold says that “public employees deserve more than false promises. They deserve to be part of a system that is fiscally sound, responsibly managed, and that ensures that their retirement benefits will be paid” (wink, wink). According to Arnold, unions have been irresponsible in seeking huge, unsustainable retirement benefits that overloaded the system and created big funding imbalances. All this from a man who took huge stock options and bonuses while at Enron, a company synonymous with stock option scandals.
Jerry Markham reported in the Journal of Business and Technology Law (2007), “Option grants to executives were at the center of the financial scandals that rocked the financial world after the market downturn in 2000. Enron’s death spiral was completed after it announced that it was restating its earnings for 1997 to 2001 in the amount of $586 million.” I don’t think John Arnold returned any of the money he got.
Moreover, as Taibbi points out, “the idea that these benefit packages are causing the fiscal crises in our states is almost entirely a fabrication crafted by the very people who actually caused the problem…we have an unfunded-pension-liability problem because we’ve been ripping retirees off for decades – but the solution being offered is to rip them off even more.”
And guess who is at the head of the line, urging more rip-offs of public employees?
John Arnold.
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This is a long term plan for Fascism from the 20’s. These people have patience. When Wallace, who used to be FDR’s vice-president, said as he was leaving office “They have wanted fascism since the 20’s but Hitler taught them something and that is “Take your time and do it without guns.” That is just what they are doing as they now own the prez., congress and the Supreme Court, as if that is not obvious enough. They want you to believe no one would conspire and yet that is all they do. Take off your blinders. Do you really think this is an accident including 9-11? Read “Crossing the Rubicon” and read the Aviation Weeks I have with the time and where they went and then think. If they sent up an armed military plane for a small private jet for a golfer why did’t they do anything with 4 big ones with mass quantities of people? Accident, No. How about the world wide insider trading the day before or Putin calling Bush a week before and Bush saying “Go to Hell.” And is it an accident the wiping out of the money and the taking away of our privacy and rights an accident. NO. Read “Hapsburgs to Hitler” if you want to know the present plan.
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