The Disfactor

How Banking Practices Create Unemployment

2011-10-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

According to Associated Press finance writers Eileen AjConnelly, and Dave Carpenter of Associated Press (et. al September 30, 2011)“38.7 million people carry Bank of America debit cards. However, the recentlyinstated $5.00 will apply to various services that are offered by Bank ofAmerica not just debit cards.” The problem with Bank of America’s new servicecharge is that it will adversely affect its’ disabled and elderly customers.Nearly $ 4.5 billion of unauthorized overdraft fees are taken from people whoare heavily dependent on Social Security. Debit cards are the most frequent overdraft triggerfor individuals existing on fixed incomes.

Bank practices intentionally maximize overdrafts byautomatically approving debit purchases, debiting the highest dollar amountfirst then artificially increasing the number of fees that can charge. AlthoughBank of America has stated that it will not charge an overdraft fee for aclient those account is overdrawn by an amount less than $10.00 at the end ofthe business day; depending upon the number of items purchased by a customer,the taxes on 2 – 3 items purchased by a customers can collectively exceed the$10.00 limit easily without the customers knowledge. Thus; if a customer isengaged in regular shopping habits they could exceed the $10.00 limit by theend of a normal business week.

Since a number of individuals living on fixed incomes areeither: PWAs (People living with AIDS), HIV positive or possess otherdisabilities that have black balled them from the job market such as RMIs(recurring mental illness, which requires medications to maintain their highlevel of functioning and stability), see NEI’s March 08 issue of Socio-EconomicCorner with J.R. Allen; overdraft fees can eat away from 1/10 to 1/5 of theirmonthly income – from $100.00 – $200.00 dollars of their SSI, SSDI checksleaving them with $700.00 to $600.00 dollars per month for living expenses in aclimate of rising taxes, high unemployment and credit biased employers. Overdraftscan actually affect your credit score which in turn can decrease your chancesof being hired by an employer.

Thus; Bank of America’s increased service fees couldactually prevent those on fixed incomes from obtaining employment due tounintentional poor banking practices. According to Elias Westnedge, eHowContributor, “Over drafting your bank account puts your account into adelinquent status. If the overdraft is not reversed or paid off, your accountwill be closed and sent to collections. Although over drafting your accountdoes not directly affect your credit score, if not quickly resolved, it candamage your credit history by showing up on your credit report as a collectionaccount, thus lowering your credit rating significantly.” For those on fixedincomes, it one bad month can create a series of bad months in a row. In short,for an individual on a fixed income one bad month can lead to closed accounts,bad credits ratings and even greater difficulty in obtaining employment.

2011-10-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

How Employment Assists in Mental Health/Substance AbuseRecovery

By: Jabram Raven Allen

Meaningful employment positively impacts individuals in recovery from mental health and substance abuse by: 1) making them too tired to engage in former drug related activities directly after work, 2) bringing them under socialized peer pressure which can be exerted upon a macro (society as a whole ranging from employers to friends) and micro level (close associations), 3) implants healthy fears about losing hard won positions of respect within society and monetary rewards, 4) assist in developing and maintaining refusal skills – the ability to say – no – to their drug of choice, past dysfunctional behaviors and life style; thus, providing those in recovery from mental illness and substance abuse who are suffering from long term unemployment with meaningful jobs actually assist in their recovery as it reduces taxes – this is because taxes are utilized to pay for drug treatment programs, incarceration, and increased police presence in communities. According to, (et. al. 2009, Mental Health and Addiction 101 Series) Harm reduction can be defined as "any program or policy aimed at reducing harm related to substance use without requiring that the substance use be stopped. The program or policy may be aimed at the individual, family, community or society." Why not just provide them with volunteer positions?

The problem with this is that today’s volunteers including those that are in recovery from mental illness and substance abuse; especially those that are over thirty may be just as qualified as those individuals working as paid employees. Individuals over thirty struggling with recovery from mental health and substance abuse issues don’t just sit around and collect welfare and SSI checks. These individuals also engage in everything from volunteer positions, internships to formal education in order to return to work; unfortunately a number of these individuals may engage in these back to work activities for years without being rewarded for their efforts; thus, encouraging them to relapse and give up any hope of leading a normal life. According to BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) 2010 online publication relating to volunteerism within the U.S: whites volunteered at a rate of (27.8 percent), blacks at (19.4 percent) and Asians (19.6 percent); while Hispanics or Latinos, 14.7... Individuals with higher levels of educational attainment which includes those that possess college degrees who age 25 and over volunteered at a rate of 42.3 percent.

Although there are laws that that offer tax incentives for hiring long term unemployed individuals, these laws may not be enough to ensure that women and minorities in recovery from MHSA issues will be rehired back into the work force due to the problem of racism, and the stigma of substance abuse/mental illness. Yet, without question, hiring long term unemployed individuals in recovery is the best way to reduce government and tax payer spending.

Ask Santana

2011-09-27T01:41:00.000-07:00

SF Lighthouse Church Clothing Line

According to (2011 The Associated Press)," Santana saidin an impromptu news conference after the ceremony. "This is about fear.Stop shucking and jiving. People are afraid we're going to steal your job. Nowe aren't. You're not going to change sheets and clean toilets." These are the two things I have against Mr.Santana’s statement 1st, like most anti-immigration advocates, he neveraddresses the immigration laws of other countries – particularly Mexico’s, orCosta Rica’s. However, Mexican authorities are known for their brutality andtheir refusal to allow illegal immigrants to protest against their treatment byMexican authorities; in fact, Mexico’s, Arizona and Atlanta’s are similar. But,their similarities end with their actions; our government allows illegalimmigrants to protest against their own treatment, and does not engage in thebrutality that Mexico utilizes against them when they do so.

These are excerpts from articles outlining both Mexico’s andCosta Rica’s treatment of immigrants both legal and illegal, the 1st excerpttaken from USA Today is of Mexico’s, which is the largest single source ofillegal immigrants in the United States, treatment of illegal immigrants: FromUSA Today (et al, Updated 5/25/2010 7:53 PM) "There (in the United States),they'll deport you," Hector Vázquez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras,said as he rested in a makeshift camp with other migrants under a highwaybridge in Tultitlán. "In Mexico they'll probably let you go, but they'llbeat you up and steal everything you've got first."

2nd excerpt From KarenRealEstate.com located in Costa Rica,”If you are a pensionado (pensioner) or a rentista (renter), you will not haveto pay taxes in Costa Rica, but you will have restrictions regarding the rightsyou have here. You can have your own business but you cannot be employed; forthis you will need a permanent residence and obtain a work permit. You willneed to have a rather large amount of documents ready. Unfortunately, there isno way around this; the first three documents listed below are mandatory forall types of residency, and are valid for a period of 6 months following theirissue.

These are:

• PoliceCertificate of Good Conduct

• BirthCertificate

• MarriageCertificate

However the list continues, the most important documentmentioned which relates to the heading of my column is – Income Certificate forPensionado and Rentista: “This isrequired for only the applicant, and it is valid for 6 months. Pensionados -proofof a pension of at least US$1000/month stating that it is for life, and that itwill be paid on Costa Rican soil.” This in combination with being able to ownyour own business, but cannot be employed would be difficult for impoverishedU.S. citizens to accomplish considering our own socio-economic crisis; despitethe fact that we refuse to acknowledge that we are still in crisis and facingan imminent jobs recession.

I am aware that utilizing Costa Rica will bring backlashfrom liberal opponents to what I’ve just said, so let me further express to youin writing how Costa Ricans’ feel about having individuals legal or illegalbreak their no work prohibition from Christopher Howard’s blog (et al, Live inCosta Rica 13 January 2011) “immigration police will be increased and in somecases they will deport anyone who is caught working without the properdocumentation. This is not a major issue but what it boils down to is that youhave people who are guests in a country and who are breaking the law.” What isalso expressed in Howard’s blog is a desire to be protected from “hard corefringe elements” due to being surrounded by other South American countries thatCosta Ricans hope will absorb less desirable immigrants on their way to CostaRica.

Thus; attempting to utilize Costa Rica’s stance upon immigrationas a rebuttal to my article is futile. In short, illegal immigrants are not awelcomed source of immigration to any nation that truly places the wellbeing ofits native born citizens above corporate profits due to their impact upon bothits national job market and those citizens still dealing with both historicaland institutionalized discrimination.

To further add insult to my opponents’ argument againstillegal immigration laws two of the countries that are attempting to sue theU.S. along with Mexico over its immigration laws Bolivia, and Argentina alsopossess and enforce tough immigration laws. In fact, both countries are knownfor deporting illegal immigrants on a routine basis; thus, attempting to launcha suite against the U.S. over its immigration policies is nothing short ofblatant hypocrisy.

What no one seems to ask is if rather or not those LatinAmerican countries seeking to sue the U.S. over its immigration policies aredoing so as an attempt to sacrifice the U.S.’s declining wellbeing in an effortto protect their own countries from being overcome by the effects of illegalimmigration; while also having the world community focus on U.S. anti-illegalimmigration laws as they take measure to strengthen their own anti-immigrationlaws. These seem to be questions that pro-immigration groups and lobbyists areeither afraid, or prefer not to be asked.

2011-09-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

The Eco-sphere vs. BP

Why BP’s Oil Spill is a Case for Right of Eminent Domain byUS Government

By: Jabrim Raven Allen

Does BP’s $2 billion fund trulyamount to a “shake down” of its financial assets by the President as stated by GOPRep. Joe Barton, or just a slap on the wrist? Isn’t it BP that should beapologizing to both Great Britain and the United States; while offering to makeamends for lives lost during the initial disaster and creating the greatestman-made disaster in both US and British histories? Politically, if the US wereto exercise its right of “Eminent Domain” it would lose socio-political andeconomic confluence with Britain; thus further endangering its relationshipwith Britain which could affect its military campaign in Afghanistan; yet ifBritain were to acknowledge the US’s right of “Eminent Domain” over BP, itcould result in a loss of international prestige for Britain and endanger herown economic recovery due to the rest of her oil companies reputations beingtainted by BP’s screw-up. In order to move away from the political implications of Gulf CoastDisaster, it would be better to look at it in terms of one corporation vs.another.

“Because of the Due Process Clause,a state government can't take the property of a corporation without using dueprocess of law and providing justcompensation for its lost. See article written by NYT (New York Times) for greaterdetails. However, this would not apply to BritishPetroleum who has a $140 billion market cap and$30 billion in annual cash flow during normal times.”

The yearly output of the entirebiosphere, which consists of 16 biomes, hasan annual cash flow of $33 trillion per year. In separating our Gulf Coasts biome’sannual cash flow from the annual cash flow of Earth’s collective biosphere;reducing it to 1/16 of the annual cash flow for the entire biosphere, it can beconcluded that BP based upon its annual cash flow would not possess enough fundsto repay the Gulf Coast for damages, or lost revenue caused by BP due to Bp’soil spill which interrupted those daily business functions that resulted in itsinability to provide safe, useable goods/services to its consumers. The GulfCoast’s loss of revenue would be estimated to be 1/64 of $33 trillion per year-- $50 billion dollars for 1 business quarter.

Since BP’s quarterly cash flow is$7.5 billion; $42.5 billion less than what it owes the Gulf Coast biome for damagesand loss of revenue, Those states affected by BP’s oil spill would not have toprovide BP with “just compensation” as part of the “Due Process Clause” sinceBP’s lack of funding would cause it to be indebted to Gulf Coast biome for 6times its actual worth.

In a legal battle, BP could beheld responsible for paying the Gulf Coast biome’s its estimated loss in revenuesince BP’s oil spill resulted in its loss of revenue and physical damages;thus, those states within US territory directly affected by BP’s oil spill asacting managing conservators for the Gulf Coast biome would be able to sue BPfor damages and loss of revenue even if those damages can only be paid throughsurrendering BP’s assets to the Gulf Coast biome’s consumers who are also itsmanaging conservators – the citizens of the united states. It is this situationthat sets the socio-economic, political and moral frame work for our governmentto exercise “Right of Eminent Domain” over BP. However, who has the right of“Eminent Domain” and how does this affect the ruling by US District Court JudgeMartin Feldman. 1) only the legislative branch of government has the ability toexercise right of “Eminent Domain”; 2) only the Supreme Court can make bindinglegal decisions, this would mean that by turning to the legislative branch ofgovernment the Obama administration would be able to over-turn Judge Feldman’s decisionin a court of law and bring about a binding legal decision concerning the BPoil spill which would directly affect the Gulf Coast for generations if bothwere forced to make their appeal to the Supreme Court. Many believe that JudgeFeldman based his decision upon his personal financial interests.

According to Mother Jones (ed. Artl2010) Feldman has in recent years possessed monetary interests not only inTransocean—the world's largest offshore drilling company that’s responsible forthe Deepwater Horizon rig, but also other energy companies engaged in offshoreoil extraction. It is believed that in 2008 Feldman invested $15,000 inTransocean and has recently purchased stock in Haliburton, Prospect Energy,Hercules Offshore, Parker Drilling Co., and ATP Oil & Gas. Feldman wasappointed as District Court Judge in 1983 by former President Regan. In 2008according to Think Progress (ed. Artl., 2010) Feldman purchased Black Rock ($12000-$36000), Ocean Energy ($1000 –$2500), NGP Capital Resources ($1000– $2500), Quicksilver, Resources ($5000– $15000), HerculesOffshore ($6000 – $17500); thus between $57,500 - $88,500 instocks. Unless there are Cayman accounts involved which Judge Feldman has notconfessed too; this amount is hardly worth risking his career over. The onlyway that Judge Feldman could benefit from this decision is politically in termsof gaining political favors or future campaign donations which would bepossible due to the entrenched oil dependent mentality of the Gulf Coast. According toChron.Com (ed. Artl.,June 2010) “Gulf Coast state law makers and its oil &gas industry have urged the Interior Department to lift its deep-water ban,claiming that it’s unnecessarily destroying tens of thousands of jobs when theGulf Coast is already struggling with unemployment in its fishing industry, andother spill-related losses.”

However, what is not being examined is the number of vacant jobs causedby the spill which need to be filled in order to contain it. According toJobs.Aol.Com (ed, artl.,May 2010) 11,000 jobs have already been created due toclean up efforts. Perhaps what is not being considered is that the jobs whichmay be replaced are those that dealt with obtaining oil as opposed toprotecting environment – in short, jobs based upon short term goals, fast cashfor investors and speculators, and belief in the principles of capitalism maybe replaced with jobs that are based upon long term goals, responsiblemanagement of resources and environment over profit. It is this change of socio-economic dynamicswithin the Gulf Coast states that may be the reason for Judge Feldman’sdecision in overturning the ban on off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico,and the very reason why the US government may be forced to exercise its rightof “Eminent Domain”.

2011-09-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hotel CaliforniaCondemned Till Further Notice

Despite what has beensaid, we do not have to utilize billions of dollars to resolve our issues inCalifornia. First, let’s consider our immigration policies; if we were toactually enforce them, it would mean creating a split within the Left andsiding with the Right. Personally, I could care less about the Left and itsbizarre policies of justified white guilt, paternalism and back pedaling. InCost Rica, an individual that is not a citizen is not allowed to work for twoyears, and even then must receive special permission to do so. Costa Rica hascreated this law to protect its people from being displaced by foreigners whomay possess higher levels of education or technical skills. There are othercountries in South America that also possess various laws dealing withimmigration, legal or illegal. Yet, the Left never speaks about these laws; itnever speaks about the attempts of South Americans to protect their countriesfrom unwanted immigration from the U.S. or any other country. Why is that;could it be because they are afraid that once U.S. citizens realize theirstance on immigration that we would be less sympathetic towards illegalimmigrants from South American countries.

Couldit be that if we were to place the faces of illegal immigrants on variouscommunication devices accessible to the U.S. public businesses who state thatthey had no idea that they had hired an illegal immigrant would find themselvesexcuseless, or that if we were to circulate these images throughout our socialservice systems it would provide social service workers with an valid reasonfor denying services to individuals that are totally incapable of speakingEnglish; after all how do you spend more than 3 years in California and notspeak English. Since it is, or was the dominant language of our institutionsand government; in fact, don’t most U.S. citizens speak English even if they dospeak another language. Oops my bad, I live in California and don’t speakSpanish, but then again, California is not Mexico or South America – it’s theU.S. and its dominant language is English. Wow, I’m an English speaker by birth

Don’twe refuse to provide U.S. criminalized citizens with aid from social services,college educations, and even black ball them from employment as punishment forbreaking the law.

Accordingto the Center for Immigration Studies, “it may be true that illegal immigrantsprovide the cheap labor that keeps many industries afloat; however, in 2005illegal workers displaced American workers and depressed wages at a cost of$133 billion. When tax money provided by illegal laborers is subtracted fromthe cost of services they utilized while present within our borders it isdiscovered that a net loss still occurs despite their tax contributions. Costfor illegal persons living within the US amount to: $2.5 billion in Medicaid,$2.2 billion in medical treatment, $1.9 billion in food assistance, and $1.6billion in prison and legal, and other miscellaneous costs creating a netfiscal deficit of $10.4 billion for the federal government”. The overall costsbreak down to about $2,700 per illegal household per year and these losses mustbe covered by tax money from American citizens or by our government borrowingmore money, and further increasing the national debt.

In terms of labor,construction and social service projects, don’t we have students/interns andmarginalized individuals who have enrolled in various training institutionsthat need actual work experience in their elective field of study in order tobuild respectable resumes; if so, why can’t we enlist them to assist increating: housing for homeless individuals, repair and maintain our state’sphysical and administrative infrastructure; while providing various socialservices to legalized Californian residents (umm excuse me, those who werelegalized residents without any rule bending; cough, cough amnesty). Just expandthe AmeriCorp, Californian Corps and Job Corps programs into real volunteerprograms open to all native born and naturalized U.S. citizens regardless ofage who are taking various courses in both community and four year collegesthat are preparing them to fill the types of occupations listed above; inreturn for service we could offer “amnesty” to those who are delinquent ontheir student loans, and offer to decrease or eliminate the student loans ofthose who are just starting college, or are recently enrolled in some form oftraining requiring financial aid. Oh and you wannabe flower children stopcoming here the 60's is long dead; unless you got some money, we don't need youhere. We're hurting like everybody else. We’ve got nothing for ya. In short,why can’t we solve our problems in California by just being real about them.

How Non-profits Help Themselves by Serving the Working Poor As Poverty Pimps

2011-08-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

In our hatred, we’ve referred to each other in various disparaging terms to describe each other's socio-economic positionwithin our great society. The most common of these is trailer trash. However, I perceive that in our future there will betwo groups of people – those that live in mansions and those that live intrailers. Thus; the poor of all stripes will be united as a trailer trashnation!

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC),”40 percentof those facing eviction from foreclosure in the US are renters; yetregulations on the rental industry vary state to state with little protection forthose living in rental properties.” Since 2000 of this decade a manufactured homestarted and remained at $35,000.00 and moved upwards above $100,000.00this isin-spite of the economy’s changing condition. Yet, this cannot be said for traditional homes; in bad condition traditionalhomes may start at $45,000.00 and sky rocket upward towards the economicstratosphere where it remains out of reach of first time home buyers earningrealistic incomes – incomes that are quickly vanishing from sight.

Regardless of state of purchase $35,000.00 is the averagestarting price for a manufactured home anywhere in the US. However, the cost ofvacant land required for these homes can actually vary depending upon its conditionand use requirement. Within 12 years, provided that their medical care isadministered through Medicare, a person living upon SSI, SSDI paying $300.00per month could purchase a 1 bedroom single wide home, and still possess enoughmoney for: food, second hand clothing, personal hygiene products and limited internet/cablecapabilities from a company such as COMCAST. Based upon interviewing variousindividuals existing upon fixed incomes; while living in MHSA (mental healthand substance abuse) co-ops, the above situation is not only desirable, butactually describes their socio-economic life as consumers within theircommunities.

Usually in MHSA co-ops there are at least 4 individualsliving in a 4 bedroom flat sharing living expenses. This particular livingsituation which has been created and managed by MHSA agencies is how many MHSA agenciespay for housing their service population. Other individuals existing withinthis type of living situation have complained that the current socio-economicsituation within the country prevents them from moving out of these co-opsbecause it affects their ability to afford housing and acquire employmentnecessary to afford housing. Thus; those individuals who have recovered fromtheir substance abuse and mental health issues remain stuck within their co-opsbecause the country’s current socio-economic situation prevents them frommoving out of their co-ops and living on their own successfully.

This situation actually gluts our social service system transformingit into a backed-up toilet which is subject to flooding whenever individuals inneed of services attempt to access them. According to Gotham Gazette’sinterview with Michael Stollerexecutive director, Human Services Council (ed. Artl., 07/28/10) “the long-termimpact, if things do not improve, is dire. Government funding will shrinkradically, as will funding from philanthropic and corporate foundations andfrom (now less-wealthy) individuals. This will dramatically reduce the servicesnonprofit social service agencies can provide. At the same time, the need willbe greater, as more people lose their jobs and fall through the frayed safetynet.” Perhaps the greatest fear of theseindividuals is that they will end up sabotaging themselves by leaving theirco-ops and return to their prior conditions of substance abuse and mentalillness. Due to our country’s present socio-economic situation, this fear isextremely realistic.

From activists, to social service providers, to cityofficials; “cities provide easy access to necessary services which marginalizedpopulations could not obtain within rural areas” has been a persistent battlecry of most activists and social service providers since either can remember.But, is that really true? According to TaliaWhyte of the Grio (ed. Artl., 04/22/10 urban Americans are faced withvarious environmental issues that result in debilitating biopsychosocialoutcomes which affect their ability to survive and flourish as healthyproductive members of society.

Based upon these 6 internet sources:

It could be strongly arguedthat cities are detrimental to the US poor due to their overcrowded conditions,and failing infrastructures such as: deteriorating roads, abandoned buildingswhich are becoming crack dens, unpaid overworked police/fire departments anddepleted social services and lack of employment. These conditions render theargument that the poor must exist within urban areas to possess access tosocial services, medical care and increasingly unsafe public transportationmoot. Perhaps what should be argued isthat urban areas when properly constructed are places for affluent singles andcouples where as rural areas such as hamlets, villages and small towns,possessing: various amenities found in cities, social services, healthcare andpublic transportation are more suitable for those that subsist upon fixedincomes or are members of America’s working poor.

Based upon Stoller’s statement and realistic fears bymembers of MHSA service populations that they could return to their pastunwanted conditions due to the country’s poor socio-economics, perhaps citiesare no longer able to provide marginalized populations such as the working pooror those dealing with recovery from substance abuse and mental illness withmuch needed social services or support. So, why is there a huge push for those living upon fixed incomes toremain living in urban areas as disempowered renters? Perhaps it’s becauseservice to marginalized groups provides: employment, monetary rewards, public prestige and potential long termsecurity to those that run even inefficient non-profit organizations and/ormunicipal departments that both handle and utilize funds to provide services tonon-profit organizations and marginalized populations.

Ourpresent government uses two kinds of grants: 1) 'discretionary' grants, grantshanded out by an agency of the Federal government - for instance, grants providedby the Department of Health and Human Services to a homeless shelter; 2) Grantsproviding Federal money to States, cities, or counties to distribute tocharities and social service providers these are referred to as 'formula' or'block' grants. Thus; religious and grassroots organizations that provide vitalFederal services to the poor on an annual basis may apply directly to theFederal government or an entity that distributes money it receives from theFederal government for hundreds of millions of dollars in grant monies. Despitewhatever questions the government may ask about an organizations effectivenessand accountability, it allows organizations to list what is referred to as “indirect/administrativecosts” or “overhead,” – costs that arenot easily assignable to a particular project or unit within an organization.These costs benefit the organization as a whole, but not their projects. Becauseit may not be possible for organizations to determine what percentage of theircosts are necessary for: heat, light,water, and rental fees should be allocated to each project – that figure can bedifficult to determine, and may not be cost effective for a large organization topin down. These indirect costs create loopholes for funds to be manipulated inways that may not at first appear obvious such as fictitious projects or overinflated costs that can be hidden within a projects overhead. Example; buildingmaterials which normally cost $12,000.00 can be increased to $24,000.00, thecost of providing services to marginalized populations could be used to disguiseover inflated salaries for positions that suffer from nepotism and areundeserving of such increases; while the blame for increased cost in servicesare passed onto those receiving them.

However,the government recognizes these indirect costs as being legitimate and hasestablished a budget category for organizations to list them. Yet, in order foran organization to request funds to cover their indirect costs, organizationsmust establish an “indirect cost rate” with a Federal agency. By establishingan indirect cost rate, the organization can pay a certain percentage of itsindirect costs with Federal funds. Since there is no governmentoversight to determine if an organization’s ICR is legitimate, the federalgovernment is capable of being fleeced by corrupt non-profit organizationswhich utilize marginalized populations to provide themselves withsocio-economic opportunities, social prestige land political leverage; whiledelivering a minimum of needed services to those populations. According to theHauser Center for Non-profit Organizations, research into nonprofit sector fraud has been based onnewspaper reports (Fremont-Smith 2004a, Fremont-Smith and Kosaras 2003,Gibelman and Gelman 2001, 2002). These articles do not get at the real extentof fraud in the non-profit sector since most fraud goes unreported (Ayers2006). The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimates that allorganizations lose on average %6 of their revenue to fraud every year (ACFE2005). When this percentage is applied to the nonprofit sector, it could be suggestedthat non-profits lose approximately $40 billion each year through fraud (ed.Artl. Dec 2006 working paper).

This leads us to ask the question –what would happen ifnon-profit organizations where confronted with a limited number of marginalizedindividuals in need of services? A rational conclusion would be that thosenon-profit organizations in existence would be forced to compete for bothclients and resources in order to remain in operation. However, human nature isneither innately rational nor compassionate; as organizations begin to competewith each other over available resources and clientele, those organizationsincapable of obtaining or keeping clients and resources would either drop outof competition or be swallowed by their larger competitors and cease to exist.This would lead to their larger, stronger non-profit competitors scrambling forremaining available resources and service consumers to survive. Yet, within these non-profit organizations,there would be a need to sacrifice those organizational members that would beconsidered inefficient in performing various job functions in order to: cut fat,increase productivity, and decrease waste to increase the organizations chancesof survival. In business terms this makes perfect sense; however, what must beconsidered is the affect that these actions would have on individual organizationmembers, their desire for socio-economic survival, and moral behavior.

According to Stanford Social InnovationReview “ethical challenges involving complex relationships betweenindividual character and cultural influences arise at all levels in:for-profit, nonprofit, and government organizations. These challenges canresult in criminal violations or civil liability. Common challenges involveactivities that border: fraud, conflicts of interest, misallocation ofresources, inadequate accountability and transparency.

Research identifiesfour crucial factors that influence ethical conduct:

Moral awareness: recognition that a situation raises ethical issues
Moral decision making: determining what course of action is ethically sound
Moral intent: identifying which values should take priority in the decision
Moral action: following through on ethical decisions.

Individuals vary intheir capacity to properly interpret and prioritize moral issues, determineappropriate moral behavior, cope with frustration and make good on commitments”(ed. Artl. By Deborah L. Rhode & Amanda K. Packel Summer 2009).

It is these 4 Msthat both shape and determine the socio-economic destiny and structural make-upof an organization. If organizations are composed of people – then would notorganizations that cater to marginalized populations possess even unconsciouslya desire to keep those populations under their control in order to preventlosing their control or access to valuable resources that support theirsocio-economic existence? I propose that this is why those that say theybelieve marginalized populations are best served by remaining in congestedurban environments are actually unconsciously stating that they themselves arebetter served by these populations remaining within an urban environment inorder to maintain their control over these populations by acting asintermediaries between marginalized populations and Federal and Municipalsources of funding.

2011-08-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

How Unionism Createdthe Coming Jobs Depression

By: Jabram RavenAllen

Jan. 27^th2011

Due to Unionopposition in creating a three tier work force consisting of : civic workers (workers that would rely upon our current government for employment in areas ofpublic works and service; while accepting a 1/3 salary cut in those salariesnormally earned by both Union and private sector workers in exchange for jobpermanency, compensatory benefits, no union representation), private sectorworkers (those willing to compete in an open job market for lucrative business opportunitieswhile risking frequent unemployment, lack of employee representation andbargaining power usually provided by unions), and finally Union workers thatrely upon Unions to secure steady employment, healthy work conditions and benefitsthrough collective bargaining and their ability to organize, support, andimplement public protest against employers which are capable of disruptingproductivity; thus preventing corporate stock holders from benefiting fromtheir investments in various industries.

During times ofsocio-economic difficulty, Unions damage a state/city government’s ability to utilizerevenues generated from state/city sales taxes to maintain/upgrade itsinfrastructure and services by insisting upon wages that employers may not beable to provide – this is because wages are directly related to the cost ofgoods and expenditures needed for their creation; whereas private and civicworkers may be willing to work for whatever wages and benefits are offered byexisting employers including the government. Due to their dependence upon Stateand Federal government to provide workers for various projects at cost, civicworkers (which may consist of individuals that are considered unemployable byprivate sector employers or Unions) will work for much lower wages than Unionworkers that insist upon a particular set of wages or private sector workersthat are willing to operate based upon a feast or feminine reality within thejob market which creates a mercenary perspective within private sector workers.

Civic workers whichconsist of individuals that are considered unemployable within the job marketare able to provide their state of origin with inexpensive labor in exchangefor on job training (OJT), basic social health benefits: housing, medical care,food/clothing vouchers, etc. benefits that the state formerly provided throughvarious programs such as SSI/SSDI, Food Stamps, or General Assistance. Privateand Union workers are not willing to work under this type of arrangement; thusthey may prove more expensive than their state of origin can afford. Forinstance, under this arrangement civic workers may cost 2/3 of what a Union or privatesector worker may cost to perform the same type of labor. This decreased laborcost allows both State and Federal government to initiate and complete muchneeded repairs to our public infrastructure during times of serioussocio-economic impairment which could not be done under the costs required toemploy both private sector and Union workers.

However; there is a difference between management and labor when itcomes to Public workers just as there is a difference between management andlabor in the Private sector. Each sector, both public and private has come topossess an innate ruling class which is often over paid in comparison to theirnon-management brethren who work for much lower wages. This phenomenon of anelite class in terms of management and labor also exist amongst various occupationsrequired to operate those parts of our city infrastructure that requirescontact between city and federal employees and private citizens which mayincrease or decrease based upon differences in various states -- forexample a nurse in Boston may perform the same type of work as a nurse in SanFrancisco, but earn much less based upon the cost of living differences in bothcities. However, this may not have entered the nurse’s thinking of moving fromBoston to San Francisco in order to gain more substantial pay and benefits, northe fact that she/he may be displacing another nurse who is a native of SanFrancisco by pushing that individual out of the job market and onto publicassistance; thus increasing the strain upon the city’s social welfare system.

What is in the nurse’s mind is that they perceive Boston’s pay rate fornurses as being unfair when compared to San Francisco’s pay rate for nurses. Itis also quite likely that this fiction of unfair pay rates between SanFrancisco and Boston nurses is intentionally unaddressed by Nursing Unions inBoston who willing allow the Boston nurse to persist in their belief of unfairpay differences perhaps to suit their own agenda such as getting nurses inBoston to fight for a higher unnecessary rate of pay. This is based upon thefact that Unions themselves are not monolithic entities with identical goals,visions and perspectives.

According to CHARLES V.BAGLI of the New York Times in an article published December 9,2010, as stated by Gary LaBarbera,president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York,a 100,000-member federation of electricians, iron workers and operatingengineers “at times there will be competing interests between public- andprivate-sector unions.” In short, it may be in a Unions best interest to:misrepresent the work and living conditions of worker’s in another state inorder to get workers behind their particular agenda; play ball with politicalparties whose socio-economic philosophies are out of alignment with their owneven at the expense of workers in other occupations, or consider otheroccupations not as valuable as their own and therefore expendable. Thisbehavior would explain why Unions may prove territorial in nature and actuallyfight off other Unions in order to preserve their place in the pecking order,or to even dislodge another Union.

To resolve this issueand return as many U.S. citizens to work, it would be necessary to create threeclasses of labor in which the phenomenon of elitism amongst labor is dispersedand wages are stabilized. The means of creating these three classes would be to1) national standardization of wages within the public sector; 2) decreasingthe wage disparity between management and labor within the public sector, 3)removal of unions from the public sector; while creating a standard basicsocial health benefit agreement which is enforced by government agencies suchas OSHA and others; 4) exclusion of Union labor from projects that requirecontinual maintenance and possess high turnover in order to keep suchmaintenance from exceeding state and federal affordability cost; thuspreventing much needed maintenance of state/city infrastructure from beingdiscontinued and resulting in public health hazards and deteriorating publicservices.

These steps wouldresult in creating a situation in which unions would be forced to compete inthe private sector against non-unionized workers while decreasing expenseswithin the public sector; thus making it possible for workers that areconsidered unemployable to be hired within the public sector and perform laborin areas that would be undesirable to both Union and Private sector workers.

2011-08-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

How Allowing CommunityColleges to Offer Four Year Degrees Protect the U.S Workforce

By Jabram Raven Allen

07/23/11

According to John Rice, director ofinstitutional advancement at Great Basin College “community colleges that offer four-yeardegrees aren’t necessarily trying to fit the mold of a university. The degreesbeing conferred across the United States are applied degrees that are not thevenue of the university such as nursing and teaching education degrees wherethe universities are not able to meet the demand” said Hagan (et. al NallelieVega February 3, 2010).

Inshort; once these potential students are displaced by students from neighboringstates they are much more likely to become welfare dependents and a strain upontheir states social welfare system. According to an article written by WonseonKyung (Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 67, 1996 In-Migration of CollegeStudents to the State of New York Journal) “The interstate migration of collegestudents influences college admissions policy, student body composition, andultimately the labor force of a state; student migrants also tend to work inthe state where they obtained their higher education, thus they become aneducated labor force for that state as noted by Abbott and Schmid”. The impactof community colleges carrying bachelors’ degrees could result in decreasingstudent migration and ease the rate of unemployment in states that migratingstudents may view as more desirable due to lower rates and better programs.

Ifproperly funded, community colleges possessing bachelor degree programs thatdevelop entry level professionals for the U.S work force would reduce waste instate educational funding by making it unnecessary for those seeking 4 yeardegrees to apply for government or private loans set aside for educationaladvancement.

Byallowing legitimate community colleges to offer 4 year degrees to those seekingemployment, community colleges assist in protecting educational funding andunknowledgeable consumers from diploma mills; while assisting in creating askilled and educated workforce.