Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
In recent years, we have heard and read a lot about the failure of public schools in the United States. “Our schools are failing” has almost become a mantra with members of the media, many of our politicians, and the advocates of school reform. I have seen few people who have questioned the assertions made by the media, elected officials, and school reformers that schools in this country are not adequately educating our youth and that our educational system is a total and abject failure.
Many of those who criticize our public education system offer charter schools and the privatization of public schools as solutions to the “education problem” in this country.
I’m a retired public school educator. I have known and am friends with many current and former public school teachers. I know that there are many fine classroom practitioners working in our public schools today…and many excellent schools where our children receive a quality education. I am aware that there are also many schools where children may not be receiving the highest quality education. (What often go unmentioned in the media are the real reasons—including poverty—why some schools in this country may be failing.)
One problem with the “our schools are failing” mantra—as I see it—is that all our schools are lumped together in one basket labeled “failing.” How did this come to be? Do we Americans really believe that NO public schools in this country provide their students with an adequate education? Do we believe that all schools need to be reformed? If not, do we believe that even the schools which are actually doing an estimable job of educating their students need to be reformed?
I think it is time we start taking a good look at the individuals and organizations that are behind the push to establish thousands of charter schools and to use taxpayer money to fund private and religious schools as the means of raising the quality of education in this country.
ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council)
Last May, education historian Diane Ravitch wrote the following about one group that has been driving the school reform movement:
Since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of many states, there has been an explosion of legislation advancing privatization of public schools and stripping teachers of job protections and collective bargaining rights. Even some Democratic governors, seeing the strong rightward drift of our politics, have jumped on the right-wing bandwagon, seeking to remove any protection for academic freedom from public school teachers.
This outburst of anti-public school, anti-teacher legislation is no accident. It is the work of a shadowy group called the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Founded in 1973, ALEC is an organization of nearly 2,000 conservative state legislators. Its hallmark is promotion of privatization and corporate interests in every sphere, not only education, but healthcare, the environment, the economy, voting laws, public safety, etc. It drafts model legislation that conservative legislators take back to their states and introduce as their own “reform” ideas. ALEC is the guiding force behind state-level efforts to privatize public education and to turn teachers into at-will employees who may be fired for any reason. The ALEC agenda is today the “reform” agenda for education.
Ravitch continued:
A recent article in the Newark Star-Ledger showed how closely New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “reform” legislation is modeled on ALEC’s work in education. Wherever you see states expanding vouchers, charters, and other forms of privatization, wherever you see states lowering standards for entry into the teaching profession, wherever you see states opening up new opportunities for profit-making entities, wherever you see the expansion of for-profit online charter schools, you are likely to find legislation that echoes the ALEC model.
ALEC has been leading the privatization movement for nearly 40 years, but the only thing new is the attention it is getting, and the fact that many of its ideas are now being enacted. Just last week, the Michigan House of Representatives expanded the number of cyber charters that may operate in the state, even though the academic results for such online schools are dismal.
ALEC Exposed provides a wealth of information about how—through ALEC—“corporations, ideologues, and their politician allies voted to spend public tax dollars to subsidize private K-12 education and attack professional teachers and teachers’ unions…” (You can find the information in Privatizing Public Education, Higher Ed Policy, and Teachers–the ALEC report prepared by The Center for American Democracy.)
Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst
In addition to ALEC, there is another organization called StudentsFirst that has been helping to spearhead the effort to “reform” our public schools. According to Stephanie Simon, Michelle Rhee, founder and CEO of StudentsFirst, has “emerged as the leader of an unlikely coalition of politicians, philanthropists, financiers and entrepreneurs who believe the nation’s $500 billion-a-year public education system needs a massive overhaul.” Simon added that Rhee, the former chancellor of the D.C. public schools, “has vowed to raise $1 billion” for StudentsFirst, and “forever break the hold of teachers unions on education policy.”
Simon continued:
StudentsFirst has its own political action committee (PAC), its own SuperPAC, and a staff of 75, including a cadre of seasoned lobbyists Rhee sends from state to state as political battles heat up. She has flooded the airwaves with TV and radio ads in a half dozen states weighing new policies on charter schools, teacher assessment and other hot-button issues.
To her supporters, Rhee is a once-in-a-generation leader who has the smarts and the star power to make a difference on one of the nation’s most intractable public policy issues.
But critics say Rhee risks destroying the very public schools she aims to save by forging alliances with political conservatives, evangelical groups and business interests that favor turning a large chunk of public education over to the private sector. She won’t disclose her donors, but public records indicate that they include billionaire financiers and wealthy foundations.
In January the National Opportunity to Learn Campaign published its review of Rhee’s StudentsFirst State Policy Report Card for 2013:
Here’s an excerpt from the summary of the campaign’s review:
On Monday, the pro-privatization education group StudentsFirst, led by former D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, released a State Policy Report Card, ranking states and giving each a letter grade based on their implementation of a slew of education reform policies. Rather than focus on issues facing students and families, particularly those affected by unequal access to school resources, the policy benchmarks in the new report reveal StudentsFirst’s obsession with charter schools and de-professionalizing the teaching profession. The report pushes policies that are either untested or disproven — but happen to be welcome in the halls of right-wing think tanks and politicians.
The National Opportunity to Learn Campaign listed five reasons why the StudentsFrirst Report Card is “a veritable wish list for privatization advocates and a recipe for failure for everyone else”:
1. Ironically, It Ignores The Needs of Students
2. It Opposes Personalized and Student-Centered Learning
3. It Argues That We Don’t Have Enough Quality Teachers… While Advocating That We Lower the Bar for Teacher Preparation
4. It Continues the Disastrous High-Stakes Testing Drumbeat
5. It Advocates “Equal Funding” and “Equitable Access” for Charter Corporations and Private Schools, Not Students
The DeVos Family
In May of 2011, Rachel Tabachnick wrote an article for AlterNet about the DeVos family, a wealthy family that has “remained largely under the radar, while leading a stealth assault on America’s schools” that has the “potential to do away with public education as we know it.”
Quoting Tabachnick:
Vouchers have always been a staple of the right-wing agenda. Like previous efforts, this most recent push for vouchers is led by a network of conservative think tanks, PACs, Religious Right groups and wealthy conservative donors. But “school choice,” as they euphemistically paint vouchers, is merely a means to an end. Their ultimate goal is the total elimination of our public education system.
The decades-long campaign to end public education is propelled by the super-wealthy, right-wing DeVos family. Betsy Prince DeVos is the sister of Erik Prince, founder of the notorious private military contractor Blackwater USA (now Xe), and wife of Dick DeVos, son of the co-founder of Amway, the multi-tiered home products business.
According to Tabachnick, the Devoses, who are big contributors to the Republican Party, spent millions of dollars “promoting the failed voucher initiative in Michigan in 2000.” Following that defeat, Tabachnick claims that the family decided to alter its strategy.
Tabachnick:
Instead of taking the issue directly to voters, they would support bills for vouchers in state legislatures. In 2002 Dick DeVos gave a speech on school choice at the Heritage Foundation. After an introduction by former Reagan Secretary of Education William Bennett, DeVos described a system of “rewards and consequences” to pressure state politicians to support vouchers. “That has got to be the battle. It will not be as visible,” stated DeVos. He described how his wife Betsy was putting these ideas into practice in their home state of Michigan and claimed this effort has reduced the number of anti-school choice Republicans from six to two. The millions raised from the wealthy pro-privatization contributors would be used to finance campaigns of voucher supporters and purchase ads attacking opposing candidates.
Dick DeVos advocates “stealth” strategy, Heritage Foundation, December 3, 2002
Last April, Daniel Denvir wrote an article for City Paper about the push for a school voucher program in the state of Pennsylvania. He said that names on the fliers of “legislative hopefuls” sounded like the names of “homegrown” candidates. He said that a “different picture” emerged when one followed the money:
…that of a statewide campaign, funded by wealthy donors, to stack the Pennsylvania primary battles on April 24 in favor of those supporting school vouchers, which allocate taxpayer funds for private and religious school tuition. The pro-voucher political action committee (PAC) Students First — funded by Pennsylvania hedge-fund managers and American Federation for Children, a Washington, D.C., pro-voucher group headed by Amway heiress and major right-wing donor Betsy DeVos — emerged on the state’s political scene with a bang for the 2010 elections. And they are back to spend big in 2012.
Lawrence Feinberg, co-chairman of the anti-voucher Keystone State Education Coalition, said, “I see a move by essentially a handful of very wealthy people who want to privatize public education for a wide variety of reasons. Not the least of which has to do with crushing labor unions, but they also want tax dollars going to private and religious schools.”
School Reform and The Profit Motive
In his Salon article The Bait and Switch of School “Reform,” David Sirota writes about the profit motive behind some of the reforms being advocated by “Big Money” interests.
Sirota:
As the Texas Observer recently reported in its exposé of one school-focused mega-corporation, “in the past two decades, an education-reform movement has swept the country, pushing for more standardized testing and accountability and for more alternatives to the traditional classroom — most of it supplied by private companies.”
A straightforward example of how this part of the profit-making scheme works arose just a few months ago in New York City. There, Rupert Murdoch dumped $1 million into a corporate “reform” movement pushing to both implement more standardized testing and divert money for education fundamentals (hiring teachers, buying textbooks, maintaining school buildings, etc.) into testing-assessment technology. At the same time, Murdoch was buying an educational technology company called Wireless Generation, which had just signed a lucrative contract with New York City’s school system (a sweetheart deal inked by New York City school official Joel Klein, who immediately went to work for Murdoch.
Such shenanigans are increasingly commonplace throughout America, resulting in a revenue jackpot for testing companies and high tech firms, even though many of their products have not objectively improved student achievement.
At the same time, major banks are reaping a windfall from “reformers’” successful efforts to take public money out of public schools and put it into privately administered charter schools. As the New York Daily News recently reported:
“Wealthy investors and major banks have been making windfall profits by using a little-known federal tax break to finance new charter-school construction. The program, the New Markets Tax Credit, is so lucrative that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years…
“The credit can even be piggybacked on other tax breaks for historic preservation or job creation. By combining the various credits with the interest from the loan itself, a lender can almost double his investment over the seven-year period.
“No wonder JPMorgan Chase announced this week it was creating a new $325 million pool to invest in charter schools and take advantage of the New Markets Tax Credit.”
SOURCES
Ravitch: A primer on the group driving school reform (Washington Post)
Activist targeting schools, backed by big bucks (Reuters)
5 Ways Michelle Rhee’s Report Puts Students Last (National Opportunity to Learn Campaign)
Right-Wing Campaign to Privatize Public Ed Takes Hold in Pennsylvania (AlterNet)
Big corporate money in support of school vouchers hits primary races statewide. Will it tip the scales in Philly? (City Paper)
The bait and switch of school “reform” (Salon)
The Deep Pockets Behind Education Reform (Forbes)
Privatizing Public Education, Higher Ed Policy, and Teachers (The Center for American Democracy)
nick,
“I did not say, nor, did I imply that teacher union bosses in the US are organized crime. They are in Mexico.”
Did I say that you did? I was making a comment. I’m allowed to that, you know.
When did Mexico enter the discussion on unions?
*****
Oh…this is priceless: “The rape thread is a classic example. You remember that, where the grammar schoolteacher was lecturing me about rape victims w/o having ANY experience.”
I have never been raped. Does that mean I can’t have an opinion on the subject?
Have you ever been pregnant? Do you have an opinion on pregnancy and abortion?
*****
Once again, nick, you are not the arbiter of what we can discuss and how we choose to discuss it. You are not the master here. Get over yourself!
*****
I guess you haven’t read this post carefully. It is not a grammar school teacher thread. Then again, I know you think you insult me when you make note of the fact that I was a grammar school teacher. I take pride in what I did in the classroom. It was hard but very rewarding work. The “union bullies” didn’t scare me away from teaching. I was able to stick it out for more than three decades.
It’s hard to be sedentary when one cares for a nineteen-month old. You ought to try it. You’d be on approximately the same intellectual level–no offense to my granddaughter.
*****
“Now please, can we end this tedious infantile banter?”
Yes, as soon as you choose to discontinue your tedious infantile banter. Bring something substantial to the discussion of this subject for a change.
You seem to be under the impression that you’re going to be allowed to continue your childish name calling when proven wrong and then playing victim without there being eventual consequences, nick.
That would be a mistake.
Nick: I’m sure Tough TonyC would stand up to them.
I don’t think I’m that tough. I have, however, quit jobs over personal moral outrage at high level corruption and racism (not against me).
You STILL do not understand the word “abide,” or apparently the word “tolerate.”
Quitting a job is ALWAYS an option. If you cannot stand up against a criminal for fear of your life, you can at least stop working for him. Your family did not do that. Teaching is not the only job on the planet. If you cannot abide the monetary support you are giving a mandatory union, you can stop giving it, and get a non-unionized job. Especially if you have a Bachelor’s degree, as public school teachers do. you can make just as much as teaching in an office somewhere as a mid-level manager, a corporate trainer or an HR officer.
If they REALLY could not abide it, and they couldn’t change the union, they could have left the job and done something else. Heck, they already have a B.A. or whatever, they could have taken a few night classes at the local college and learned to do something else that interested them in a field that was hiring.
But they didn’t do that, they stayed, which means they obviously could abide by whatever corruption they saw.
Alleged smart should learn how to read everything before talking out of their ass. Elaine has exhibited a problem w/ reading and/or reading comprehension in the past. I have had to direct her to the comment[s] on too many occassions. Then, when she finally realizes she was wrong, she jumps to aanother subject. I see why you all feel compelled to help her. The rape thread is a classic example. You remember that, where the grammar schoolteacher was lecturing me about rape victims w/o having ANY experience.
I did not say, nor, did I imply that teacher union bosses in the US are organized crime. They are in Mexico.Tony brought the discussion to ALL unions and how corruption occurs in ALL unions, a point in which we both agree. “trade” means building trades in this context. That would be carpenters, plumbers, etc. for you Ivy Leaguers “Service” means hotel, restaurant, etc. READ for chrissake. You’re all getting to the assh@le childish phase. Maybe because this is a grammar school teacher thread. Is it nap time? Why don’t you lemmings just appoint a spokesperson and the rest of you can just respond w/ emoticons. It would be easier for everyone and I would enjoy it. Thsoe emoticons are really cool, like the hula hoop. Or, why don’t you take walks. I sensed you were all sedentary, unhappy people. Those endorphins make you happy and positive. Just start walking a few blocks and work up to it.
Now please, can we end this tedious infantile banter? It would make everyone happy, except for you children. If not, who is your spokesperson? How about rafflaw?
“for you Ivy Leaguers “Service” means hotel, restaurant, etc. READ for chrissake.”
Nick,
The pose you make as “a man of the people” is absurd, as are you. I for one am an Ivy Leaguer. I got my Master’s there on a full-tuition work study scholarship, which I won in competition. As far as your being working class, perhaps you are, but then so am I and again perhaps you just talk a good game. My father was a felon who served jail time and dropped out of school in the 9th grade. My mother a high school dropout, who had 7 heart attacks, three strokes while I was growing up and suffered from Major Depression to boot. Both were the children of immigrants. My parents never had a home of their own until I was 12. Before that we lived for 6 years in a 600 square foot two bedroom apartment, one bath apartment. My brother and I shared a room with my aged grandmother, who had diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, quite a “privileged” life. By the time I was 18 both my parents were dead and I was living in a furnished room, with a bathroom in the hall. I worked my way through college working a 36 hour week at a liquor store, making $38 and tips as a delivery boy. Before that I was a cook and I also worked stock at a department store. Before that I was a night watchman at a hospital, going to college in the day. Now it was true I also had won a full tuition Regents Scholarship to College, but that didn’t make my life any easier.
So please why don’t you spare us the crap about your “blue collar” background being trashed by us “snobs” at this blog? I know damned well that I’ve had it harder in my life than you have, but the difference is I don’t wear it on my sleeve. The other difference is that with all of my Parent’s problems they raised me well and taught me not only to care for others, but to have empathy for them. You on the other hand talk a good “caring game” but that just could be more smoke exiting your rear end. Politically, you’re not so caring for other people and you seem to be unable to actually think very deeply as shown by your tendency to use personal anecdotes to make unfounded generalizations.
Your intimations of “snobbery” here Nick is a reflection of your feeling ill-used when we call you on your snide attacks. That was why I even bothered to respond to you here, because rather than come out against Elaine’s points
honestly and openly, you chose to be disingenuous and snide. Then as usual when you were called on it, you play the victim. The truth is Nick that you are the snob here as you imagine yourself far above it all looking down at those “pointy headed Libruls”. That you still respond in that manner shows your own lack of reading comprehension, since it should have been obvious to you by ow that this is not a “Librul” blog, but representative of a wide range of views. That is as true by the way with the guest bloggers as it is with our other regulars. I know by the way that I’m not the only guest blogger here who’s had a difficult life and that is also true of our many regulars. The thing is that almost all of our regulars are skilled in discussion and you are not.
Gene,
Proof? Some people don’t think they need no stinkin’ proof!
The Puppet Masters
By Dan Greenberg, Sylvania Education Association
2/28/13
http://blog.ohea.org/the-puppet-masters/
The education community is getting bombarded with new acronyms all the time: OTES, SLO, SGM, etc. Figuring out what they stand for is difficult. Figuring out their impact on public education in the short and long term is nearly impossible.
However, they are probably missing one very important acronym from their lexicon, one that represents the most influential corporate-funded political force operating in America today, one that has worked to dilute collective bargaining rights and privatize public education. ALEC.
ALEC, which stands for American Legislative Exchange Council, is a conservative organization that develops policies and language that can be used as part of legislation by multiple states across the country.
That probably doesn’t clarify much of anything.
In more concrete terms, ALEC creates legislation for elected officials to introduce in their states as their own brainchildren. ALEC is comprised of legislators and corporate leaders and has been operating in the shadows for about 40 years. They don’t solely focus on public education either. ALEC was the group behind the controversial “Stand your Ground” legislation in Florida, which was at the center of the Trayvon Martin shooting case.
In the documentary “United States of ALEC,” Bill Moyers calls the group “an organization hiding in plain sight, yet one of the most influential and powerful in American politics.”
Moyers’ comment about ALEC is absolutely on point. ALEC is more or less unknown in teacher circles. Teachers, who are focused on their students, generally don’t dabble in the political realm. They have not been interested in knowing or getting to know ALEC, at least until recently.
After the 2010 election — with the assaults to collective bargaining rights, the expansion of voucher programs and education reforms that emphasized testing and “accountability” — teachers in the Midwest got to know ALEC the hard way, though they still probably couldn’t identify it by name.
Think back to those bills that were signed into law in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio in early 2011. Ask yourself, how was it that different state legislatures came up with virtually identical anti-labor bills at the same time? The answer: ALEC. The group crafted the language and legislators waited for the most opportune time to introduce it. In Ohio they found it following the 2010 elections when Republicans took control of the Governor’s office and the legislature.
ALEC’s strategy is like the kid’s game of whack a mole. If they were to put out one piece of legislation at a time, education groups and organized labor could easily defeat each one in succession. Instead they toss out a slew of legislation all at once, so there isn’t enough time or resources to educate and mobilize the public. There is no way to effectively beat back all the reforms.
In “How Online Learning Companies Bought America’s Schools“ Lee Fang summed up ALEC’s strategy: “spread the unions thin ‘by playing offense’ with decoy legislation.” Spreading the unions thin has resulted in radical changes to classroom teachers’ everyday lives — changes that were made without the input of local school boards or educators.
As states have expanded voucher systems, schools have had to drastically reduced funding. These programs take money away from traditional public schools and give it to unaccountable and very often less effective private and charter schools. This means larger class sizes for us, less extra help for students and fewer electives.
They have also increased standardized testing, bringing with it the stress that goes along with constantly prepping students for high stakes tests. It’s frustrating because we all know that these tests are not a true indication of students’ progress and understanding. And now teachers are also experiencing the stress of state-mandated teacher evaluations.
These ALEC-induced policy changes have devastated teacher morale and driven many to retirement.
It’s astonishing how much impact one group can have without 95% of the public even knowing it exists.
That pesky proof thing just keeps gettin’ in the way.
Mike,
Well said. I, too, hope Bruce will “hang around.”
I’d add that we have heard repeatedly that education in America is a failure and that teachers and teacher unions are the main causes of the problem. We have heard it from talking heads on TV, members of the media, politicians, conservatives and liberals–as well as leaders of the astro-turf school reform movement. I think we have to start talking back…to respond to such propaganda when those spouting it have no proof to back up their claims.
I am truly disturbed by what I have seen happening to education in this country and by what this school reform movement has done to good schools.
“This stream holds some of the best materials collected as educated research links for people to fight against the dark clouds and noise from big money and tyranny that threatens this great nation. The attack on our public education is a direct attack on the public’s cultural wealth. Your personal messages are interruptions. You should apologize to Elaine and to the serious people attempting to disseminate real information.”
Bruce,
Because in your brief time here you have brought such a plethora of good information and good discussion I would like to specifically address your disquiet at the fact that often excellent threads get partially disrupted by Trolls and the counter-attacks by those responding to them. I do get your “don’t feed the trolls attitude” and on occasions here in past years it has sometimes worked. However, on other occasions it has proved to only give them license and to even expand their horizons and so proved a failure. Those of us who have been around for awhile and guest bloggers like myself, have developed a variety of strategies to deal with them. Yet, however-much, we might stategize they remain a problem. Were this like other websites, some excellent ones in fact, trollish comments would be thrown off the sight and banned. On this site because of the commitment of Jonathan to free speech, as exemplified by the courage of his career accomplishments, almost no-one gets “banned” except for truly hateful, highly uncivil and/or illegal content. Like the championing of free speech in general, it sometimes gets messy.
The reason that I in certain cases will take on a “troll”, or someone who behaves in a troll-like manner, is because their content is such that it really serves as propaganda and/or mythology. To me personally, propaganda unanswered, is ultimately somewhat effective. On this particular blog and thread what are we really discussing except for the false propaganda that our school systems are failing because of greedy teachers and government bureaucracy. That Elaine and yourself have exposed the true problems is wonderful, especially because it provides the rest of us with valuable resources for future discussions. However, as this thread has shown, the false propaganda keeps getting repeated by some and when that occurs I feel it is incumbent upon me to expose it. I acknowledge and admit that sometimes I find ridicule effective. I am hoping this doesn’t deter you from hanging around because based on your contributions thus far I think you would be a valuable member of our community.
Mike,
Didn’t your hear that the president of NEA carries around a violin case with him wherever he goes–just in case he’s confronted by a teacher who stands up to him and his “union boss” tactics.
I tells ya–Dennis Van Roekel is one mighty scary good fella!
http://www.nea.org/home/President-National-Education-Association.html
nick,
P.S. Maybe you need to go for another long walk to clear your head.
nick,
My post is about education reform. You’re the one who has continually castigated teacher unions–including in some of your comments on this post. I wasn’t aware that I couldn’t leave a comment about teacher unions and organized crime in response to what you wrote to Tony. I didn’t know that you were making the rules about our discussion on this thread.
Your EXACT words:
“I grew up out east where many union bosses are organized crime, particularly the trades and service industries.”
Did you actually limit the involvement of organized crime to “trade and service” union bosses in your comment? I think not.
Geez, lighten up, will ya?
Get up to speed, Elaine. Tony took the discussion to ALL unions. But, even if you had taken the time to do your homework, my comment said “trade and service” unions. Step up your game, girl.
I have never heard or read about teacher union “bosses” being involved with organized crime.
TonyC, You’re obviously not well versed in union bosses. I grew up out east where many union bosses are organized crime, particularly the trades and service industries. To stand up to a union boss could get you killed. I’m sure Tough TonyC would stand up to them. HORSESHIT! Union bosses of that ilk are exponentially worse than the shop boss. You’re showing how little you really do know about unions. I now have an added fear of air traffic safety. How about a new enterprise in toy trains or kitchenware?
“I grew up out east where many union bosses are organized crime, particularly the trades and service industries”
The unproven Anecdote King strikes again detailing those mob bosses who run the teacher’s unions in this country………Please!
Gene and Tony C.,
you are correct that it wasn’t the government that caused the Depression and it was the government that helped sustain the country during that stock market and bank induced crash. It is amazing how historical facts can be ignored.
Boron: You can’t read very well, can you?
First, the US government survived the depression, partly by using its power to print money for jobs programs and redistribute wealth through taxation.
Second, IF the US government fails, US currency is worthless, US laws, rights, and protection are worthless, the country will be overrun by coup, revolution, or invasion.
Planning for THAT circumstance in retirement is like trying to plan for retirement if the Earth is struck by an asteroid, disease or gamma ray burst that wipes out 99% of all life, it is a pointless exercise.
For the purposes of planning a retirement, it is safe to assume the government will not fail within one’s lifetime and will be able to meet its financial obligations and keep its financial promises. That is not true of any other entity in the country.
The government didn’t fail during the Depression. There was no collapse into anarchy or a coup. Bonds were paid. The doors of government stayed open and there was no transition of power that was out of the ordinary. Un- and under-regulated private industry failed (specifically bank failures and a demand driven stock market crash) and that caused the Depression.
Wealth Inequality in America
Tony C:
“The government cannot fail.”
Really? I am all ears.
You dont know much about the depression do you.