Detroit: What Happens if Teachers Are Not Paid?

By dianeravitch

May 5, 2016 //

Tom Pedroni of Wayne State University in Detroit sent this photo:

Categories Education Reform

72 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Laura H. Chapman says:

May 5, 2016 at 2:18 pm

Good one.

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- KrazyTA says:
  
  May 5, 2016 at 9:35 pm
  
  That photo and others are at HuffPostEd—
  
  Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/detroit-public-schools-crisis-teacher-sickouts_us_5728f889e4b016f37893d656?utm_hp_ref=education
  
  Enjoy.
  
  😎
  
  Reply
H.A. Hurley says:

May 5, 2016 at 2:50 pm

I LOVE that teacher!
It should go viral!
Yes, teachers spend hundreds/thousands of $$ per year to pay for basic school supplies. These supplies are not items that would be nice to have, or just fun to share with children (that’s another expense). These are just the BASICS.
Teachers pay for things that the school system is required to buy, but the systems skim those expenses off the top, and often spend $M on items not always a necessity.

A system near me in Atlanta purchased a huge fleet of white cars for administrators to use on the job, while teachers’ salaries were frozen for years, several superintendents were unethical and fired with Golden Parachute$, trailers all around the system were moldy, teachers had little to no technology, NO TEXTBOOKS for children, administrators as a group attended a private university to work on their PhD’s (system $$), no copy paper, no crayons, no markers, no TP, no soap…
The 1st open house meeting in August was dominated with long lists of basic class supplies that teachers were asking for to start the year. Told us immediately how severe the teacher supply budget was robbing students and teachers.
Oh, don’t forget to raise test scores and close the achievement gap.

Gates & Billionaires/Legislators should get off their a**es and spend a year in our systems. Nah, still would no help. They could care less about children and teachers.
Our country is in deep trouble! We are not “better than that”!

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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

May 5, 2016 at 3:30 pm

This is so true. Not that long ago, Bill Gates and his wife offered a measly million dollars to public school teachers as a PR ploy so a few teachers could buy supplies at the same time he was spending hundreds of millions to destroy public education. But the average teacher spends about $400 annually on back to school supplies. According to Forbes that is the average. Some teachers spend a lot more. Some spend less. According to nces.ed.gov, there are about 3.1 million full time teachers in the traditional public schools. That adds up to 1,240,000,000. Yes, more than $1.2 billion annually, and Fake Gates got a lot of media attention for his paltry $1 offer but no mention of the billions he is willing to spend to destroy traditional public education. Bill Gates might as well say, “Here, let me give you a few bucks while I stab you in the back a thousand times.”

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Linda Johnson says:

May 5, 2016 at 3:32 pm

So true!

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Sad Teacher says:

May 5, 2016 at 4:03 pm

That is for sure! I am constantly buying school supplies, stickers, candy, prizes, and the list goes on. I don’t know why we are so hated and unappreciated.

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- Abigail Shure says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 12:09 am
  
  We are pension liabilities.
  
  Reply
Used to love NY says:

May 5, 2016 at 4:36 pm

Also many of us are buying snacks to keep in our classroom because kids are hungry.

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- ciedie aech says:
  
  May 5, 2016 at 5:04 pm
  
  Sadly, this will be more and more necessary as across the nation conservative legislators now look to cut school lunch funding.
  
  Reply
wdf1 says:

May 5, 2016 at 5:56 pm

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- artseagal says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 6:41 am
  
  Just watched this video. Loved it almost all the way through… that he would bring light to this absurdity. Sadly at the very end of the video, Meyers references a charter school that decided to pay all its teachers 125k and low and behold their test scores in math soared. Ughh if the suggestion is higher salaries will cause test scores to rise (inferring that higher salaries = better teaching because the students do better on tests)… there is a problem!!!
  
  Reply
Donna says:

May 5, 2016 at 7:31 pm

Gates kept the charter schools open…for 1000 kids? Why can’t the oligarchs do something positive with their philanthropy, like pay for the kids to go to school.

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- Threatened Out West says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 12:06 am
  
  But there’s no money in that!
  
  Reply
Harlan Underhill says:

May 6, 2016 at 2:15 am

Aren’t those supplies teachers purchase deductible on their income taxes? It isn’t like they are REALLY paying out of pocket because they love children, is it?

The sign in the photo could therefore possibly qualify as hypocrisy. What do you think?

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 10:36 am
  
  The amount saved by the tax deduction is as large as the money spent for school supplies?
  
  Who knew?
  
  Let’s suppose that (before a “school supplies” deduction) I had a taxable income of $61,000 (after personal exemption) — which is actually higher than the median salary for high school teachers in the US.
  
  The tax on that for “head of household” (from 2015 tax table) would be $9,566. Now suppose I had spent $500 on school supplies and that I claimed that as a deduction, making my taxable income $60,500 and thereby making my income tax $9,441.*
  
  By claiming the deduction, I would save a whopping $125.
  
  ..which, of course, is virtually the same as the $500 that I paid out for school supplies.
  
  Wow, you are right! I had no idea things worked like this. Thanks.
  
  *For “married filing jointly”, the savings would be $75, for married filing separately, it would be $125 and for “single” it would also be $125.
  
  A teacher who makes less than the 61K used in the example is going to save less on taxes from the $500 deduction. For example, a teacher who makes $46,000 would save $75(max) from a $500 deduction.
  
  Reply
  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 11:48 pm
    
    Thanks for correcting my error.
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 10:46 am
  
  I just noticed that the max savings for the latter case (41K taxable income) is not $75 (which is for head of household). It’s $125 (eg, for single) which is the same max savings as for 61K income.
  
  But it makes no difference to the argument.
  
  Reply
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 11:24 am
  
  …and actually, most teachers are probably not going to have sufficient expenses to merit itemizing deductions, so they will not be able to deduct any more than $250 for “educator expenses” (line 23 on Form 1040) — or $500 ($250 apiece) if two married educators are filing jointly
  
  Reply
- Lloyd Lofthouse says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 11:43 am
  
  Harlan,
  
  Your comment is disingenuous in its attempt to belittle public school teachers for the sacrifices they make for the children they teach.
  
  Deductible from income tax is not a rebate. The average public school teacher earns between $45,000 to $50,000 annually and spends $400 on average annually on classroom supplies.
  
  How much is that $400 dollar dedication is going to return to the teacher through their tax return? According to the hill.com the average, single US worker pays 31.5 percent tax rate and that is ranked the 11th lowest rate among OECD countries. Married with children, of course, pays less tax.
  
  http://thehill.com/policy/finance/238735-average-us-worker-pays-315-pct-tax-rate-report
  
  Married and filing jointly for that tax bracket is 15%.
  
  For instance, if a married teacher is paying 15% on their $47,000 annual earnings, they don’t get that $400 back. They get to reduce their total taxable earnings by $400 and 15% of $400 is $60 back on their tax return. That means a teacher has to spend $400 to get $60 back from the IRS. Some deal.
  
  How much do teachers spend compared to what they get back through that tax deduction?
  
  3.1 million teachers spending an average of $400 annually on classroom supplies adds up to about $1.25 billion. That means if all those teaches are married and filling jointly with a 15% tax rate, they are getting back $187.5 million divided between 3.1 million. Teachers are not going to get the money back they spent on their classrooms and students. Teaches are also paid a monthly salary. Teachers in America work 53 hours a week on average. I, for instance, worked 60 to 100 hours a week with most of that work outside of instructional time with students. How much do teachers earn on an hourly basis when we take the average teacher earnings and divide them by the 40 weeks of a regular school year? 53 hours a week x 40 weeks = 2,120 hours divided into $47,000 annually. Wow, the average teacher is paid about $22.2 an hour for time worked.
  
  How about someone like me who worked more hours? What did I actually—and teachers who worked as long as I did—earn per hour worked?
  
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/survey-teachers-work-53-hours-per-week-on-average/2012/03/16/gIQAqGxYGS_blog.html
  
  The 7.5 hours in the classroom are just the starting point. On average, teachers are at school an additional 90 minutes beyond the school day for mentoring, providing after-school help for students, attending staff meetings and collaborating with peers. Teachers then spend another 95 minutes at home grading, preparing classroom activities, and doing other job-related tasks. The workday is even longer for teachers who advise extracurricular clubs and coach sports —11 hours and 20 minutes, on average. As one Kentucky teacher surveyed put it, “Our work is never done. We take grading home, stay late, answer phone calls constantly, and lay awake thinking about how to change things to meet student needs.”
  
  Reply
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 12:09 pm
  
  Lloyd,
  
  The fact that the IRS limits the deduction on “education expenses” for teachers to $250 apiece (for those not itemizing deductions) when teachers spend more than that on average on supplies is actually yet another slap in the face to teachers.
  
  Reply
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 12:15 pm
    
    Thanks. I didn’t know about the $250 limit. In fact, I don’t think I even knew, when I was still teaching, that I could take that deduction and probably never did. And I spent more than $400 annually on my classroom supplies and students. When tax time arrives, most teachers don’t have the time to itemize and it is easier to either pay someone to do the taxes for you or file the simplest short form.
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 12:24 pm
  
  ..and in case it is not clear, I was being sarcastic when I said above
  
  “..which, of course, is virtually the same as the $500 that I paid out for school supplies.
  
  Wow, you are right! I had no idea things worked like this. Thanks.”
  
  Reply
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 12:36 pm
  
  Lloyd
  
  In most cases, it would not even matter if teachers had the time to itemize deductions because most of them would not have total deductions that exceed the standard deduction.
  
  So it really is quite sleazy that they are limited to deducting only $250 when they are spending more than that. Whoever wrote that line on the tax form knew that teachers were spending their own money — and probably also knew that many teachers spend considerably more than the 250.
  
  Under a fair tax system, teachers would be able to subtract the money they spend on school supplies directly off any income tax they owe (not just off the taxable income) and if they owed no income tax, it would be refunded to them.
  
  But no one ever said we have a fair tax system.
  
  Reply
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 1:08 pm
    
    The unfair tax system is only the tip of the iceberg. Look at what the corporate public school reformers are doing behind a legalized veil of secrecy and fraud that the transparent traditional public schools do not have.
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 31, 2016 at 2:42 pm
    
    I never spent less than $2000 a year when I was teaching. I purchased all the paper for my bulletin boards, and the trim, and the colorful large posters on which I wrote important things. I bought al the books of my room for years when I was hired in 1990 to ‘teach’ English (communication Arts) at the East Side magnet school. Spending over $5000 that first year when I earned only 32k (despite having three degrees and decades of experience at that time). I bought all the reward stickers, and paid for all the little parties, bought all the rolling file boxes to house student work… if it was in MY room… I bought it… and my room was gorgeous… a feast for the eyes, and a place kids loved.
    
    I bought all the art supplies, because the principal NEVER PAID ME BACK AND TOLD ME TO ‘LAYIT OUT,’ and submit a bill which tossed. One year, the pTA president said me,and he had a fit… but as the worm turns, he was gone th next year, after his chicanery with the school funds was uncovered. He went to… well not to jail… he went on, with his pension and benefits in tact, to become a principal at a school in Yonkers…. only teachers get fired.
- Harlan Underhill says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 11:51 pm
  
  Not disingenous, Lloyd, just ignorant.
  
  Reply
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 7, 2016 at 1:43 am
    
    OK
    Sorry
Yanglish says:

May 6, 2016 at 7:57 am

Completely agree with Tom Pedroni

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Jan says:

May 6, 2016 at 8:00 am

Totally the truth!

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Susan Lee Schwartz says:

May 6, 2016 at 10:53 am

Love it!

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H.A. Hurley says:

May 6, 2016 at 12:14 pm

Lloyd, absolutely THE TRUTH!
Most teachers do not keep track of their classroom spending.
We are first responders who buy socks, food, tons of pencils, tissues, Purell, you name it.
We are constantly judged for “not being smart” and working for low wages, no Social Security benefits (even if we pay into it), crappy iffy pensions, supporting children in poverty, etc. Yes, the new deformsters, non-educators economists and PoliSci majors, look down their noses at us for “rescuing” children and parents. In their selfish minds, we should get what is coming to us.
We all do it, for the right reasons, and are OK with it.
None of the economists would jump in front of bullets or cover children during tornadoes, only teachers with a heart of gold don’t think twice.
Only the USA gets its cheap thrills by bashing teachers. Sick society!

I have spent thousands in a 40 year career, and do not regret spending any of it. It was needed, and I had it…no matter how low my pay was – started with a $5,200 salary.
I am proud to be a TEACHER!

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- Lloyd Lofthouse says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 12:45 pm
  
  I used my credit card to buy classroom supplies and increased my debt limit and ended up paying interest too.
  
  Reply
Susan Lee Schwartz says:

May 6, 2016 at 1:29 pm

Lloyd, H.A and all your genuine teachers, who unlike Mr, Underhill, know that it is we TEACHERS who supply everything (and in some places feed kids, too).

I covered holes in the wall with bulletin boards I created and paid for.
I cleaned plaster from the desks each day in one school, because the ceiling was in disrepair… I paid for the supplies.
I
KEPT TRACK in the last 8 years at East Side Middle School.
I bought all the YA books for years at garage sales, to create a library, and spent $4000 on books alone that first year at Barnes & Nobles, , when I go the position of CA of both grades six and seven in 1990. How does one teach reading with no books. hey, they gave me a room overlooking the East River… and eventually replaced the carpet squares Iused that first week, with desks and chairs…. but I bought everything else, created ‘closets’, and book shelves, and finally got a rolling blackboard. (no computers or TV ).

I also taught, integrated into my literature studies and writing program, the full seventh grade state objectives for the teaching of ART. I wrote the curriculum, not Bill Gates, and I created the materials, the activities and the assessment tool (not tests but genuine PORTFOLIO). 40 children from all over the city , vied for each seat in that school, and in my seventh grade program.

In my third year, the 2nd, director of ESMS– as part of the harassment to break my tenure,–would tell me to ‘lay out’ the money for the art program, and then he would Not pay me. One year, on the last day of school, I asked for the reimbursement, and he, Larry told me to come to his office at 3:15.

All the teachers had left by then, but I waited and went to his office, only to discover that he had left. too. The hubris, and the ignominy of being treated as… hmm. as Mr Underhill simply does not GET!

The story would end there , but the PTA of this magnet school on the upper east side of Manhattan, was thrilled that their kids were getting, –free (taxpayers $$$), an education that was on par with amy private school, the evidence being that my students were at the top of any and all CITYWIDE standardized tests of the time, and were accepted at all the top high schools.

The president of the PTA that year, the head of a college, had a son, Teddie, who was a prodigy, and who at 13 had found it difficult to be with classmates reading Goosebumps when he was reading Homer. He now teaches Greek Classical Literature at a university) but then he just wanted to talk with someone about science fiction, about the themes and the possibilities, and I was a big fan sci-fi, and had filled the classroom library with My collection. ( which the principal later stole and distributed to other teachers while I was in the rubber room.)

In this time before iPhones and screens, he called me almost daily. His parents invited me to their apartment, and they also met my son.

Teddie’s father paid me what was due… and Larry hit the roof… but then, he was gone in another year,– after some budget ‘shenanigans’ were uncovered,– moving on to a job AS A real ‘principal in Yonkers. We teachers who lose our jobs, never work again!

In the 8 years at ESMS I spent thousands on everything from books, paper, paints, room decorations and cleaning materials, research materials, teaching materials, and on rewards for the kids ( certificates and other things that celebrated their achievement.

In the end, they stole everything, trashed 2 years of my data based research with Pew, the LRDC and Harvard, and turned my famous classroom into a math room.

Dedcutable. I got a ‘D’ word for you, Harlan …how about DESPICABLE.

Reply
- Sad Teacher says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 2:47 pm
  
  Susan, God has a very special place in Heaven for you. (:
  
  Reply
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 3:54 pm
    
    Seriously… why is that so? I personally have met hundreds of teachers who do the same thing, and MORE!
    
    I know that teachers across this nation are just like me, determined to give those kids what they need in order to LEARN.
    
    It is not a noble thing, but a necessary behavior, because in the end, if the kids fail to ‘get it,’ the TEACHER is blamed.
    
    So, that being the case, if YOU were given a once in a lifetime chance to teach in a school a stone’s throw from Gracie Mansion, and to teach kids from across NYC, for crying out loud, including Andrew Gulianni’s best friend Phillipe, and you were give a room and a class list, what would you do?
    
    The basics needed to be there, and I knew how to write curricula that worked, and how to gather material, plan activities and evaluate. The fly in the ointment was that I needed more that 4 walls and a class list…. so I did what every REAL teacher I know did… I made it work, as best as I could.
    
    I had been teaching since 1963, when I took that position, and I knew what the NY Times finally figured out–that meeting any objective WITH A CHILD begins with engaging them
    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/to-help-students-learn-engage-the-emotions/?emc=edit_tnt_20160505&nlid=50637717&tntemail0=y&_r=0
    
    Motivation was always first when I taught primary kids, so why not 12 & 13 yr olds.
    I used art to motivate. If they did ALL the writing and assignments well, as a class, then we had a full week of art… drawing ,painting etc.
    
    The full 7th grade art curricula the elements and principles of design… applied with fun stuff like pastels, watercolors, ink and markers. All I asked for was the materials, I created wonderful lessons!
    
    No sainthood, sad one,just REAL TALENT and dedication… plus 4 decades of experience and 4 degrees.
    I had a ball, but so did they, and boy did they write for me, in those weekly letters which made my curriculum famous.
    
    Here is a question for you… how do schools attract REAL TALENT, today, if the only thing that a really talented, educated and dedicated teacher can expect in the end (which is a bout 3 to 5 years) is a kick in the butt, when the budget needs reduction.
    
    I don’t know about heaven for me.
    I know that my students find me on facebook and linked in, and now, in their 20’s & 30’s they tell me what I did that made a difference in their futures. Some became artists and writers. That is heavenly for a teacher to know… that she made a difference.
    
    There is however, a place, a hot place far below heaven, in which the critters that colluded to harass me, will find themselves burning! For what they did to me, simply because Joel Klein and Mayor Bloomberg, Duncan and clones, made it clear to the principals that ANYTHING GOES to rid the schools of tenured teachers… and thus, with not a shred of accountability for the worst, uncivil, unethical and immoral behaviors, they did their worst. Have you not yet read “Bullies, Bravery & Blowhards/”
    
    did what I had to do.
    The files on the people who should have supported LEARNING and thus MY teaching, are placed into my file called : CHARLATANS & LIARS, and reside within the sub folder, labeled SHAME!
    
    A the top of that file is the principal that did this to Lorna Stremcha (who should go to heaven).
  - Sad Teacher says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 4:02 pm
    
    It is my 31st year of teaching, and next year is my last year. I am beyond thankful to God that next year is my last year. I just can’t take the stress anymore. I am very tired of giving up the normalcy of my life and being in my classroom on the weekends away from my family. I can’t get my job done in a five (5) day work week. The unfairness of being a value added teacher adds to my frustration and job stress. The teacher shortage has already started in my district, with turnover already happening. Teachers are very special, and I know that God appreciates all we have done for His children. I can tell that you were a superior teacher. Your students will never forget you, Susan. I promise. They were very blessed to be in your classroom. (:
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 4:29 pm
    
    I am so sorry that you are being put through this, and I thank you for your kind words.
    It is nice to know that my peers grasp what I have done and who I am…something the administrators of my schools knew well… AND STILL DID THEIR THING!
    
    I know many teachers who hung on at the end, had to accept that they are ‘value added’ or mere subs, if they wanted their pensions.
    
    My husband read your reply, and pointed out how I gave up weekends, and most spent most holidays reading student work or planning lessons.
    
    In the end, they pushed me out at the 20 years mark ( my years of substitute teaching did not count back then)
    
    If I had reached longevity pay, at 24 years, my salary would have jumped from $58k to $70k — and higher with the new contract. My pension, and social security are low because of that, and I lost the opportunity for years of contribution to the TDA, because my kids were finally out of college and I could afford to do so.
    
    Good luck in your retirement… at least you have one. Pensions, retirement and health benefits will be a thing of the past as the oligarchs strive to bring our middle class to its knees, so that they can run the nation for their own benefit.
    
    I took up photography, and writing, and gardening and grandparenting… and I read and travel and sleep as late as I want.
    
    That is heaven enough for me, but I pray that YOU are correct about heaven.. My mother awaits me there.
- Lloyd Lofthouse says:
  
  May 6, 2016 at 6:44 pm
  
  Susan, one of the classrooms I taught out of was a portable with a bulging floor. That room must have had mold because it smelled horrible and gave me and my students headaches and allergic reactions so I went out and bought four portable HEPA filters machines with charcoal filters and set them up to filter the air — one in each corner of that room. It worked. The headaches and allergic reactions didn’t bother us while those machines were running but they were noisy making it difficult to be heard or hear a student ask a question. When the HVAC system wasn’t working, and that was often, I bought fans to move the air around. The windows were painted shut and leaving the one door open didn’t help much. These are just two examples of what teachers do to create a classroom environment where children can learn when they pay attention to what their teachers are teaching and do the work. When I retired, I had a van and I filled it with the stuff I’d bought to help me teach my students, and that isn’t counting all the material I gave to other teachers or threw in the dumpster.
  
  Reply
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 7:01 pm
    
    Oh my, did you deduct it from your income tax?
    
    Like I said, I learned that most teachers spent oodles of their own money to support their practices and I met hundreds of teachers over my years teaching–including subbing for years, in 3 Rockland districts and In East ramapo whine had 70,000 students in 13 elementary schools . 3 Jr. highs and 2 high schools-
    
    I taught in a trailer in Oradell NJ ( because the roof had collapsed) but I had supplies and books there, and parents that ran the school, and ruled the teachers… don’t suggest that little Johnny needs to evaluated for ADD!
    
    And Lloyd, when I was in the rubber room, my UFT rep( who was the art teacher for the grades I did not teach art) confiscated ALL my materials.
    
    However, I have treasure trove in my back room… all the materials and books I used to INFORM MY PRACTICE, all the NYS OBJECTIVES for the curriculum that I WOULD CREATE, and ALL my lesson plans, all the materials and charts I generated, and most of the student work that I copied to use in my research and photos and videos.
    
    I need a filmmaker or documentaries to dig into that room with me, for there is the detritus of a real teacher, and talented one, who taught from 1963 to 1998. I would call that documentary TEACHER.
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 7:10 pm
    
    I didn’t deduct what I spend for most of the thirty years I was a teacher. In fact, I didn’t start to itemize until after I retired in 2005 and became a published author in 2008.
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 7:50 pm
    
    LOL.
    You are one of those brilliant people who will succeed at all they do, even stopping the back yard from eroding downhill.
    Such a pleasure to know you, here at the teacher’s room.
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 7:15 pm
    
    During the seven years I taught one section of journalism, I bought a lot of material for the high school student newspaper staff and submitted grants that paid for several thousand in computers, scanners, etc. When I left and the district couldn’t find anyone who would take that job that often started as early as 6 AM and didn’t end until 10 PM when the school alarm was turned on and we had to leave, other teachers raided the room over the summer and spirited off all the technology that the students had used to produce the international, national and regional award winning high school newspaper. That high school newspaper died. I heard it was recently resurrected and given a new name.
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 6, 2016 at 7:47 pm
    
    Sigh. You were a REAL teacher, and the children who met you and shared what YOU could do, will never forget you.
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 7, 2016 at 1:42 am
    
    Thank you.
- Harlan Underhill says:
  
  May 7, 2016 at 12:07 am
  
  No need for that kind of contemptuous language, Susan. You told your story, and it is a truly noble one. I respect what you did.
  
  Who is Larry?
  
  Teachers often bring opprobrium upon themselves, no matter how generous and genuine their concern for students, because they publicly identify with socialist causes, revolutionary socialism even. Think Bernie.
  
  Socialism is a foreign ideology to America. If so many teacher did not blindly follow the ‘progressive’ party line, their wonderful sacrifices would and should be applauded.
  
  But when a teacher espouses radical socialism, it is difficult for the rest of us out here who earn the tax money that pays for the public schools to think she has any brains at all, however big her heart.
  
  Reply
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 7, 2016 at 2:05 am
    
    “Socialism is a foreign ideology to America”
    
    And capitalism isn’t? The history of capitalism can be traced back to early forms of merchant capitalism prat iced in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The history of socialism had its origins in the French Revolution of 1789 and the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution (IR).
    
    The IR changed the structure of civilization. Before the IR, most people lived on small farms near small communities. They hunted for their food and/or grew their own and they traded and bartered for needs not wants. But capitalism created artificial consumerism for items we don’t need to survive. Socialism was a natural reaction to people losing the freedom they had when most people lived in a more primitive culture where needs were met, famlies were famlies and friends were friends.
    
    For instance, the Amish are a perfect example of what most life was like before the industrial revolution and the age of the robber barons. Farming is the occupation desired by most Amish. All family members are integrated into an agricultural way of life. Beginning at an early age, the young assist in farm and household chores. The Amish keep their farms small enough to be handled by the family unit. Family-size farms have consistently been productive, serving to meet the needs of the community rather than to earn large profits.
    
    Read more: http://www.everyculture.com/North-America/Amish-Economy.html#ixzz47wlAEj8o
    
    Socialists complain that capitalism necessarily leads to unfair and exploitative concentrations of wealth and power in the hands of the relative few who emerge victorious from free-market competition—people who then use their wealth and power to reinforce their dominance in society.
    
    If you are not wealthy and you have to work to meet your needs and feed your wants, then why are you supporting the 0.1% who hold so much wealth and so much power?
    
    Socialism is where everything is owned in common. Social safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare do not own everything. The social safety net is there so the 99% who don’t win the capitalism competition don’t end up homeless, hungry and without medical care. Capitalism is no difference than the lottery where the odds of winning are about 20 million to one.
    
    Starting at age 15, I worked for 45 years. I served in the U.S. Marines and fought in Vietnam. I worked as a teacher for thirty years. Why should I end up without nothing when I’m too old and/or frail to work when some asshole like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Walton family, the Koch brothers have it all and are allowed to lord it over the rest of us?
    
    Pure Socialism doesn’t work any more than pure capitalism. I think the best system is a balance between the two so most of the people, the 99%, end up with enough to house and feed them while the rich that worship at the alter of avarice are allowed to gorge on all the wealth they can legally keep. Bill Gates is worth almost $80 billion. If he had to pay 90% of that wealth in taxes to keep the social safety net solvent for the other 99% that worked an average of 45 years during their working life, he’d still be worth $8 billion, a lot more than someone on Social Security: the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit for January 2016 is $1,341.
    
    https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/3736/What-is-the-average-monthly-benefit-for-a-retired-worker
  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    May 8, 2016 at 12:55 am
    
    You confirm my point. You’re advocating stealing Gates’s money.
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 8, 2016 at 3:50 pm
    
    If Congress approves taxing billionaires like Bill Gates at 90%, that is not taxation without representation. It is not theft. I do not think it is wrong to tax the super wealthy at much higher rates than the working class and eliminate all loophole for the top 1% of earners.
    
    If Gates earned $1 billion annually and had to pay $900 million in tax, he’d still have $100 million in earnings to fund his lavish lifestyle and we’d all be served better with him losing the power that money buys to subvert the process of government. The same goes for all the other billionaires and multi millionaires using their money to buy elections that further their individual agenda that impact the lives of everyone.
    
    The national average annual wage for 2014 was $45,481.52. If the government taxed a working class wage at 90% let’s compare how that would impact a lifestyle.
    
    The workign man would have less $4,548.15 left to live off of compared to Gates and his annual $100 million.
    
    I think that working class Americans that support the wealthy like Gates keeping all or most of their wealth are defending the enemy of the working class.
    
    I started working at 15 and worked for 45 years. Why should average Americans end up with nothing when they are too old to work when someone like Gates is allowed to keep a fortune estimated at almsot $80 billion.
    
    In 2013, Forbes found that 1,426 billionaires were worth a total of $5.4 trillion. A 90% tax rate would raise $4.86 Trillion to help support social safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare for the workign class and those billionaires would still have more than enough money to enjoy the lavish lifestyle such wealth brings without any fear they could not afford shelter, food and medical care.
    
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/03/04/what-the-combined-wealth-of-all-1426-billionaires-could-do/#440061fe1fd8
    
    Billionaires who hoard their wealth and/or use it to manipulate the political process are no different than gluttons who can’t stop eating while outside the five star restaurant poor starving children stare through the window at all the food being shoveled in this oligarchs mouth.
    
    I don’t think you are a Christian, Jew or Muslim.
    
    What does the Bible say about Helping the Poor?
    
    Here is one of the 70 Bible Verses on this topic
    
    Acts 20:35
    
    In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.
    
    https://www.openbible.info/topics/helping_the_poor
    
    What about the Quran?
    
    The Believers, men and women, are protectors one of another: they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil: they observe regular prayers, practice regular charity, and obey Allah and His Messenger. On them will Allah pour His mercy: for Allah is Exalted in power, Wise. (9:71)
    
    Believe in Allah and His messenger, and spend (in charity) out of the (substance) whereof He has made you heirs. For, those of you who believe and spend (in charity),- for them is a great Reward. (57:7)
    
    And We made them leaders, guiding (men) by Our Command, and We sent them inspiration to do good deeds, to establish regular prayers, and to practice regular charity; and they constantly served Us (21:73)
    
    What about Jewish attitudes toward poverty?
    
    The overarching Jewish attitude toward the poor is best summed up by a single word of the biblical text: achikha (your brother). With this word, the Torah insists on the dignity of the poor, and it commands us to resist any temptation to view the poor as somehow different from ourselves.
    
    The concept of human dignity is well-ingrained in Judaism. The book of Genesis describes human beings as created “b’tzelem elokim” in the image of God (1:26).
    
    http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-attitudes-toward-poverty/
    
    In addition, what does the Bible say about Greed (there are 100 versus)
    
    1 Timothy 6:10
    
    For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs
    
    https://www.openbible.info/topics/greed
    
    I argue that supporting the super wealthy, like Gates, to keep all their money is a love of money.
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 26, 2016 at 4:35 pm
    
    The percentage of families earning middle-class incomes fell in nearly nine out of 10 major metro areas across the country between 2000 and 2014, according to new research by the Pew Research Center. Here we take a look at the 100 metro areas with the sharpest decline in the percentage of people in the middle class.
    
    “The final version of the 2013 data was just released, and it shows that the United States ranks thirty-ninth in the total tax bite imposed on its citizens. So far from having the highest effective tax rate, the United States has the fourth lowest. Virtually alone among industrial countries, the US has frozen its total tax rates for a half century while the rest of the world has increased their tax rates by about 40% — the underlying cause of our disgraceful physical infrastructure, the collapse of financial support for the public higher-education system, the ballooning of student debt, and the still-gross inequities of our health-care system.”
    
    HU is arguing to hear his own voice, and to have something to do, lacking a focus as you do with your repairs and your book, and your 2 blogs. You make great points for the readers here, but that one is impervious to evidence.
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 26, 2016 at 11:36 pm
    
    Thank you.
    
    I know.
    
    4 blogs and 4 books
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 7, 2016 at 11:59 am
    
    Yeah… all those radical socialist teachers in kindergarten and first grade and seventh grade who are not trying to help kids read and write but are on some idealogical horse, like you.
    
    Really… such nonsense. Sorry for the contempt Harlan, but when yu write such nonsense you ask for it.
  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    May 8, 2016 at 2:42 am
    
    I think you sometimes write nonsense too. That doesn’t require me to be abusively personal.
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 8, 2016 at 10:10 am
    
    How perfectly blind you are…that you can say “YOU do not engage in such behavior” — in the very comment where you abusively put an ACCUSATION that I ‘sometimes write nonsense, too “LOL. Gotta love your rational! When you say something like that- which anyone who knows my writing will see for what it is,– then you should EXPECT a response, and realize that your utter disrespect puts YOU in the position in which you find yourself.!
    
    But if you feel so comfortable in presenting YOUR OPINIONS as FACTS, and wish to say things with no basis in reality, that imply for example, that teachers preach some ‘socialist agenda,’ then you open yourself up to someone who disagrees, and THAT is what you do.
    
    Like Trump, you regard a ‘comeback’ as a personal attack instead of a well-deserved rebuttal. “Abusive” is your word, and anyone reading my comments and yours are free to make up their own minds.
    
    BTW: “I think” …. is a wonderful beginning, as there can be no argument with that opening, Like the other popular one ” I FEEL LIKE,” which also cuts off any contradiction.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/opinion/sunday/stop-saying-i-feel-like.html
    
    In fact, , at Oped, not long after I began to post regularly, the publisher wrote to tell me that I was now a ‘trusted voice’ — because I never speak or post nonsense, and always LINK to the evidence of what I say. LINKS are required…so if YOU say teachers preach socialism then you would need to put the LINKS to the evidence.
    
    Truth is the underlying credo and mission there ( as this conversation (which is ongoing between writers an editors, will show.)http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/opinion/sunday/stop-saying-i-feel-like.html
    
    Trolls have a hard time at that site, which is not a social blog where anyone with an opinion can roil the readers.
    
    What tickles me there, is that when an occasional anti-education troll moves in for a bit , and attacks the reports on the educational destruction that I cross-post, then an editor or reader will quickly say, “Leave Susan alone… she knows what she is saying.”
    
    I do. So Mr Underwood, I say this frankly, You are FREE to express you OPINIONS HERE, of course, but if you wish to do so, you must realize that those of us who are lifelong educators who KNOW THE TRUTH, get weary with the nonsense.
  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    May 9, 2016 at 2:29 am
    
    I only used the word “nonsense” because you used it. It’s an emotional expression as you used it, not a logical one, and thus falls into the category of words that are potentially abusive, such as “idiotic,” “ridiculous,” “foolish,” “stupid,” or “inane,” or as a joke, “Republican.” There are other ways to speak, Susan, that are truly logical and mannerly.
    
    On another matter, you are right, Susan, that I don’t provide links very often, and I agree that that is a flaw in an argument, if I were making a formal argument, which I don’t often do. I had thought that opinion was OK on this blog as mere opinion.
    
    I dispute that you know THE TRUTH, and find your claim that you do know it as insufficient support for your assumed right to use personal invective.
    
    I agree, however, that we all are engaged, or should be, in an effort to find truth.
    
    About education, philosophically considered, my current opinion is that public education is not a human right, and certainly not a federal constitutional right. It has been made a right by all the state constitutions. It may be good policy, even VERY GOOD policy in a constitutional capitalist democracy, such as that in which we live, but I do contest that it is NOT a “right” in the same sense as we say each person has a God given (or natural) right “to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
    
    I favor the analysis that there are positive rights and negative rights under law, and that only the negative rights are correctly protected by government, i.e. right to life, right to liberty, right to own a gun, right to own property without theft, right to equality under the law, right to unpolluted air and unpolluted water, right to travel, and so forth. These negative rights we all support and support paying taxes for.
    
    Other so called rights, such as to education, to health care, to shelter, to clothing, even to food, are not true rights because they require the state to force someone to provide those services or products through taxation at the point of a gun. A true right does not require the government to tax me to do anything that I as an individual would not do or pay money for.
    
    This is a semi-libertarian position which I post here merely to test it’s worthiness, not because I want to get you mad at me. I am just trying to settle for myself the meaning of certain basic words like “fairness,” “equality” and “right.”
    
    In my judgement, many in the public education business are not too clear about their basic assumptions. I don’t like the corruption in charter schools any more than I like corruption in public school systems. But that doesn’t affect my analysis of who should be responsible for the education of a child.
    
    My answer is that it is the parent’s job, not the job of the state or national governments. If we were to agree on that, we might then be able to discuss what would nevertheless be good public policy toward education. As long as so many people assume that education is a human right beyond what the parents can provide privately in the home, there will be others who object to being taxed for it.
    
    To put it succinctly in a colloquial phrase, “A child can have whatever amount of education his daddy is willing to provide himself to the child or to pay others for.”
    
    Now is that a defensible position or not? And if not, WHY not?
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 9, 2016 at 5:32 pm
    
    Like I care why you or Cruz or Trump do anything? It’s a gorge day and I got better things to do than argue with someone who does what you do, and then points a finger!
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 7, 2016 at 8:29 am
  
  “Socialism is a foreign ideology to America”
  
  The Iroquois and other native Americans, practiced a form of egalitarian socialism long before white Europeans sailed to America to practice their religion (capitalism)
  
  Reply
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    May 7, 2016 at 12:16 pm
    
    And here is a link to a book about that native American indigenous socialism.
    
    “Before colonial capitalism, there existed what she calls ‘indigenous socialism.’ The destruction of that economy through war, denial of self-determination, dispossession, criminalization and violence against women affected no group more than indigenous people, but they weren’t the only ones.” … “Corporations are predators to everyone …”
    
    http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26803-from-indigenous-socialism-to-colonial-capitalism-examining-native-history-of-a-settler-state
    
    It took me time but now I think that capitalism is a terminal cancer for human civilization. Unbridled capitalism with honest government oversight will destroy the lives of most people who are not members in the 0.1% club, because to them, the billion are and million are oligarchy psychopaths, enough is never enough. They want it all and the rest of us with our retirement plans, Social Security and Medicare are in the way of getting it all.
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 8, 2016 at 6:54 pm
    
    adam Smith said: “Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.”
  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    May 9, 2016 at 2:48 am
    
    Link, please.
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 9, 2016 at 5:30 pm
    
    http://www.ranker.com/list/a-list-of-famous-adam-smith-quotes/reference
    wuz th matter Harl, go nothing better to do?
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 7, 2016 at 2:38 pm
  
  Lloyd,
  
  If (by a long-shot chance) Americans ever decide to get off our current suicidal path, the first people we should seek advice from are our native peoples. They have known the secret to sustainable living for ages.
  
  If we are lucky, they (and we) won’t all be gone by then.
  
  Reply
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    May 7, 2016 at 7:04 pm
    
    see my comment to you , as part of a larger comment…. i do not like my writing to crawl along the side
Christine Niquette says:

May 6, 2016 at 7:16 pm

I have colleagues who have bought coats, prom dresses, sneakers, First Communion dresses, and snacks not only for school, but to take home. They have even mailed Christmas presents from Santa. That can’t be part of the $250 deduction.

Reply
- Susan Lee Schwartz says:
  
  May 7, 2016 at 12:00 pm
  
  Yeah, but if they were not socialists, as Harlan suggests, they would b appreciated!
  
  Reply
H.A. Hurley says:

May 7, 2016 at 6:16 am

Lloyd ~ glad I can audit your class via Diane’s blog.
Thanks!
The Billionaires Club is not just satisfied with their endless billions, they are constantly tugging at our state teacher pension, which we paid into, no other choices, many of us also paid into Social Security. At the end of our noble career rainbow, our retirement is an OK existence if we retired with the max number of service years. Many teachers who left teaching after 10+ years will not be able to live on that monthly income. No SS, no spousal SS benefits. And, the constant grabbing by these billionaires at that last pot of pension money is an ever present possibility. We are only one election or one scheme away from poverty, folks. They have no sympathy about our existence, because they tell us that we should save and invest our money through life. Yes, many of us do that, but the Wall Street shysters can’t leave that alone, either. We are a constant focus of easy bullying and feeding their greedy sick satisfaction.
Our nations caliber of politicians, their lack of ethics, and the climate of “sticking it” to the working class, should be a massive eye-opener to us all. Sleep with one eye open!
We are part of the working class. Our public school children are the working class. We represent deep resentment and hatred to many of these sociopathic billionaires. Rooted deep hatred! No decent person, with good character and humanity could participate in this destruction and inflict continuous pain on children and their teachers.
It is not based on difference of ideology or philosophy. This is kicking puppies and babies pathological behavior.
This is SICK and EVIL!

Reply
lol says:

May 7, 2016 at 12:35 pm

This teacher is a 2014 Teach For America Detroit corps member.

Reply
Say no to TFA says:

May 7, 2016 at 12:41 pm

This teacher is a 2014 Teach For America corps member. Why are you posting a picture of an evil privatizer who’s Teaching for the Waltons/Gates/Broads/Goldman Sachs/hedge funds?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/smjosephson

Reply
Susan Lee Schwartz says:

May 7, 2016 at 7:13 pm

Dear BlessedDamPoet and Lloyd Lofthouse, and any of you who follow me here.
Ah! But of course the values of the past are gone and so are neighborhoods, communities, religous institutions, … so are nuclear families where grandma & grandpa have voices in that little society called a family.
Grandparents interacted with younger members, sharing values, instead of pining away for company in a senior home. Neighborhoods are gone, too. The local cabbie, or corner grocer, told my brother to get home or face an angry mother. Everyone knew everyone and were social!

Religious institutions are seeing declines as television morality replaces the commandments, and ‘collateral damage’ is acceptable and even, expected, t when you need to get the job done.
No wonder few people are kind these day.

Ya know, I opened every year , at ESMS, as I faced those 12 year old kids, by reading the introductory paragraph in that fabulous book, ‘In the Absence of the Sacred’ by Jerry Mander (yeah…that’s his NAME)
http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/mander.html
And FYI… the adjective ‘sacred’ does not mean ‘religious.’ but it means CRUCIAL FOR SURVIVAL of the tribe, the people, the nation. the society.
The book began with the words: “I was born in 1938, and back then there were no….and he goes on to describe OUR world back then… no air conditioning, tvs, jet planes…etc…”. his final words… “everything has changed”

What a perfect way to take these kids on a trip to see what was,!
To ask them to compare it to what they saw in the past, to what they see ,now, in their own world. After all, my humanities teammate was looking at history, why not look at stories to see how people behaved, how literature captured human behavior through eons.

Did I mention that no common core crap was required and i chose the stories,the movies and the readings that facilitated critical thinking… but I digress….

I had actually been born . a few years later, in 1941, but the list of transformative things was the same.
I wanted to acknowledge,— that FIRST day in that classroom, to those children who would her my voice every day for 10 months — that I knew, of course, that everything changes! But I wanted them to witness things, and to decide what changed for the worse, or things that which should not have changed — things that make human beings special, like empathy, and kindness

I wanted them to know that if a SOCIety is to endure, then those practices and positive behaviors that benefited the SOCIety in the past,— must be passed on, because no change should undo those wonderful societal benefits that sacred values enabled!

Tribes, cities and nations survive when there is a healthy SOCIety, and what has changed, what is absent are those values that underly a great SOCIETY.

The CON men out there, have even ‘twisted’ the word ‘socialism’ so it is regarded by IGNORANT people, as some ‘dreaded economic’ process of a government out to take your treasures. BOO!!!!!! The government is gonna get you! But, if you are really using your eyes, then one can see that ALL successful modern nations ensure health care and education…Does that make them undemocratic. Teachers who teach that all people deserve equal treatment under the law, are socialists??? LOL HU.

Instead of promoting the common good — the actual purpose of that SOCIAL Contract which is THE CONSTITUTION — these scoundrels con the the people into believing that BIG government wants your stuff. Imagine guys, our people are being told a new version of the charter that hangs in the barn. History is being rewritten and the people are buying it.

In the absence of the sacred, “THEIR” values are easily sold to a society where the people have forgotten what once worked… like compromise and cooperation.

IF THERE IS NO ACCESS TO THE PAST then the people cannot learn from history and literature! As education is destroyed our history is being re-written… not by ‘socialist teachers,( H.U) but by these guys! https://dianeravitch.net/2014/12/05/north-carolina-plans-to-adopt-koch-funded-social-studies-curriculum

That should scare everyone
But, that is what you get when teachers like Lloyd Lofthouse, Dan Geery and Susan Schwartz are not permitted the AUTONOMY TO decide what the kids need to read and consider, in order to become critical thinkers.
http://billmoyers.com/story/the-kochs-are-ghostwriting-americas-story/
https://dianeravitch.net/2014/12/05/north-carolina-plans-to-adopt-koch-funded-social-studies-curriculum

For anyone reading this, in case you DO NOT really know “these guys” — who make a million dollars every day and think of us as their ‘serfs’.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924

Jerry Mander explains that — Once upon a time — if a man saw a goose, then he knew for sure, that it existed near him. Now, it is impossible to know what is real, or true… >> even though he can clearly see that the world around him is falling apart!
This, dear BlessedPoet, and Lloyd, is bad enough, because the ‘average joe’ hardly knows whom to believe!

That 52 inch color Hd screen, —that window on the world — offers a false-reality which fools our people into believing utter lies, and accepting the values SOLD to them by the top-dogs who OWN the media — pundits and all the politicos (except Bernie and LIZ!)

Exhausted and hurting at the end of a day, the ‘average joanie’ has no lull in which to actually reflect. In between her job, her texting and the work of caring for a family, it is easier to accept the campaign swill where LIES are the NEW TRUTH!

So, the captains & the kings, hire the ‘expert manipulators’ to sell our exhausted, ignorant citizens THEIR values, using hidden persuaders: http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc1004/article_903.shtml

The media tells our citizens what to do– how to “be ‘ strong” — when strength is not what matters. They TELL & Sell our entire culture on fighting —>>> fight , fight fight… because that is what brave people always do. Look at CAPTAIN AMERICA.
Even though brute strength, nuclear weapons and bad manners make matters worse …the television sells critters like Trump!

In the absent of the sacred values that our ancestors — like those indians– knew were positive behaviors, ones like honesty, integrity, dignity, empathy —into THAT void devoid of values, comes the”mad men’ who sell us not merely bad medicine and foods that kill us, but a steady diet of violence and aggression.

Hey…. Reality shows must have a loser, and today ,EVERYTHING, even cooking shows and dancing, is a competition where there are LOSERS!

Need proof of the big sell of aggression?
I did this with my students. I told them to get a piece of paper, and then, make a mark every time a gun, an explosion, fighting, blood, murder, or a problem being solved by dint of being huge and fighting appears as they channel surf all night
I told them to “Make mark for every time, there is an act of aggression.. pushing, bullying, or abusive language…even if the title character, the good-guy the protagonist is the perpetrator.

Another column, on the page was for marks that denoted each time there actually appeared, a real drama —where people learn and grow as people — who change.
I warned the kids not to include a s’drama, insane and inane laugh-track comedy series.
Many kids decided that they needed a column for ‘dumb & dumber” behaviors that go beyond comic, to ridiculous or just plain insane.

I did this in 1993. The children looked at what was happening and told me that they thought that was Tv scaring the people.

Is it any wonder that war, and drugs appear just as education, housing, healthcare and jobs disappear?

Now they can sell our citizens ‘numb-nuts” like Trump. You gotta hear Bill Maher’s New Rule this week.

We have a sick society at the very moment when the brain-washing is so complete, that hundreds of thousands of people have bought the con, and TRUMP personifies the tCON that began with the ‘tea-party’ wing nuts

I don’t like Krugman , but he nailed the CON! Trump is a pathological liar.
You should really read the series of the publisher at my site, Rob Kall, who writes wonderful pieces about sociopaths and psychopaths.
http://www.opednews.com/Series/Ian-Hughes-Psychopaths-Na-by-Rob-Kall-140202-140.html
http://www.opednews.com/Series/Psychiatry-Psychiatric-Dr-by-Rob-Kall-160105-153.html
http://www.opednews.com/Series/Alan-Grayson-2014-Intervie-by-Rob-Kall-140325-113.html
http://www.opednews.com/Series/FBI-Expert-on-Psychopaths-by-Rob-Kall-140430-399.html
Now, they can sell our citizens ‘numb-nuts” like Trump. You gotta hear Bill Maher’s New Rule this week. Left me wondering if Trump would kill him… for real… assassinate him.

oh, and look at this LOL

Reply
Harlan Underhill says:

May 8, 2016 at 1:14 am

Equality before the law is in the constitution. That is not what socialists teach, but rather equality of wealth. That requires theft by people who put themselves above equality before the law. They steal from capitalists.

Reply
- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  May 8, 2016 at 8:18 am
  
  “Socialism in a nutshell”
  
  A tale of two Bernies
  Of capital crime
  Of socialist earnings —
  The theft of our time
  
  Of stealing from Madoff
  By Sanders and ilk
  The country is bad off
  By Bernie, we’re bilkd
  
  Reply
  - Harlan Underhill says:
    
    May 9, 2016 at 2:39 am
    
    I LOVE your verses, SDP. I read this as Irony, but I agree with it unironically. Bernie IS preaching a bigger theft from the people than even the Wall Street Bankers managed to pull off. At least they with their tranches and so forth weren’t forcing people through taxes to buy the worthless securities. Ah, Freedom. Freedom to win, and freedom to fail (but with so many government socialists on the take from Wall Street, the govamint would allow them to fail.)
- Susan Lee Schwartz says:
  
  May 8, 2016 at 10:20 am
  
  LOL. Theft from capitalists who parked trillions of dollars off-shore. If this were OEN,I would link to endless theft of the middle class wealth but I love this one:
  
  and this one:
  http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Millions-Face-Pension-Cuts-in-General_News-Financial_Losses_Money_Pensions-160503-801.html
  
  Perhaps, you have some evidence that the capitalists in this nation are suffering because of what teachers say in their classrooms.
  
  it’s mother’s day Harlan, and I am going to visit with my son the doctor and my son the CEO of an internet company, both who are the products of a SOCIety that once upon a time, grasped the SOCIalm contract (the real CONSTITUTION ) that ‘promotes the common good, SO they attended free public school, and the doctor went to the state college at Cornell. Social democracy, works, sir.
  
  Reply