Sick of highly-paid teachers?

Found this on Facebook:

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....

That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000.

$50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators!

Bits of Tid: February 19, 2011

More Power Edition

• You know how Republicans are supposed to be against tax hikes? Well, not anymore. At least not on seniors and poor people.
• On Daily Kos they're talking recalls in Wisconsin. Perhaps we should consider a recall or two in Michigan - or at least organaize a campaign to recall someone, even if it comes nowhere near getting on the ballot. One benefit of the low turnout in 2010 is that the threshold for recalls is lower. It would only take 19,895 signatures to force Dave Hildenbrand to face a recall. Recall drives must start at least six months after a lawmaker's term begins, so we could start gathering signatures on or after July 1. If we campaign to get a recall on the ballot, we can at least use it as anm opportunity to educate voters.
• Be sure to follow the the Michigan, My Michigan group on Daily Kos! Let me know if you'd like to be added as a member of the group.
• Sad news: West Michigan Rising is closing.
• Happy news: I have been elected to three things in the past ten days! Earlier this month I was elected to the Kent County Democratic Executive Committee, filling one of a few vacancies. Last weekend at Cobo Hall, I was also elected as a member of the Michigan 3rd District Democratic Executive Committee. Then on Thursday, Dad and I were elected as Council 4362's two delegates to the Michigan Knights of Columbus State Convention in May. Delegates from our council are usually the current Grand Knight (currently myself) and a past Grand Knight (Dad was Grand Knight in 1999-2000). Dad was previously a delegate to the 2000 and 2003 conventions.
• What a difference 17 days makes. On February 2, nearly every school in West Michigan was closed, as were most businesses, due to one of the biggest blizzards to hit the area in many decades. Now, there's almost no snow on our deck and very little on the ground. I hear Mother Nature is going to do something about that tomorrow.

VerWys's opposition to jobs makes no sense

When Autocam offered to bring 200 jobs to Kentwood, city leaders saw an excellent opportunity.

With all the vacant industrial space in our city, the Kentwood City Commission embraced the idea of bringing in new jobs for the folks of Kentwood and surrounding areas. Autocam sought a tax abatement from the City so they could get started. It's a good deal for the City, given that the alternative - leaving the industrial space vacant - would have resulted in the same amount of tax revenue for the next couple years but without the jobs (though the City would receive new revenue in a few years; more on that later).

So Kentwood City Commissioners voted 6-1 to offer Autocam the abatement.

The one exception? Commissioner/Tea Party activist/Republican precinct delegate/twice-convicted felon Ray VerWys.

Why?

He said abatements are no different from “the targeted tax breaks handed down in Lansing” and that giving tax breaks to some only shifts the tax burden onto others. “We cannot afford to give up this kind of money,” said VerWys.

And in just a couple sentences, VerWys both slams the successful state tax breaks instituted under then-Gov. Granholm, while at the same time demonstrating a lack of knowledge about tax abatements and their benefits. So let me explain.

See, here in Kentwood (and in other places), the City Commission is authorized to give tax abatements to businsses that are starting up in Kentwood. This is meant to help with their start-up costs; the idea being that while they will still be responsible for their fair share of the tax burden in a few years, the City will do what it can to help them get started by not letting tax burdens prevent companies from creating jobs.

In the Autocam situation, it makes perfect sense. Without the abatement: (a) the empty industrial space would have remained empty; (b) no jobs would have been created; and (c) the city would get no additional revenue from the project.

But since the abatement was approved: (a) the industrial space will be occupied; (b) 200 jobs will be created; (c) the city will get new, direct revenue starting in a few years; (d) these new jobs will help families avoid foreclosures, meaning the City continues to earn revenue from their property taxes; and (e) the local economy will get a boost from their spending, meaning more jobs and more businesses saved (and again, keeping revenue for the City).

To hear VerWys say it, you'd think this is actually costing the City money. What would have cost the City is if VerWys had his way.

Which, thankfully for 200 West Michigan families, he did not.

Stay tuned as I keep track of how many jobs VerWys opposes for the remaining three years of his term.

Bits of Tid: February 6, 2011

Elections Here and Abroad Edition

• Happy Birthday Grandma! She's 87 today, which is hard to believe. She's also a proud Democrat, was an Army nurse, and is deeply committed to her Catholic faith. (She met Grandpa through her brother-in-law, who was one of his Army buddies.)
• So Mubarak says he won't run in the upcoming Egyptian election. But will he even allow it go on? Or will he just cancel it and maintain power for as long as he's able to? That's not far-fetched given that he hasn't allowed anyone to run against him.
• Notice how the media is portraying the protests as 'anti-government' protests? They're anti-Mubarak protests, but you don't hear them calling them that. Unless they're trying to use these protests against the Mubarak regime to further a general distaste of government in general.
• If not for Egypt, the fact that this would have been Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday would probably be the big story of the day. But as someone recalled in a recent letter to USA Today:

  I do not recall any celebration of Franklin D. Roosevelt's 100th birthday, and he had real accomplishments: leading this country out of the Depression and to victory over the Nazis in World War II. Roosevelt created the modern presidency, not Reagan, who demeaned and disgraced it.

  Furthermore, one wonders if the modern Tea Party would tolerate someone like Reagan running for office. He tripled the national debt and raised the payroll tax. At any rate, there better be a lot of hoopla surrounding the 100th birthdays of Gerald Ford (July 14, 2013) and John F. Kennedy (May 29, 2016).
• It's February 6 and so far only one Republican - Herman Cain (?!) - has even formed an exploratory committee to run for President. At this time in 2003, Howard Dean, John Edwards, and John Kerry (and probably a couple others) had announced Presidential runs. Four years ago today, Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Tom Vilsack had formed committees, along with Sam Brownback (R) and others. Perhaps they're waiting for Palin to say whether she'll run or not? Either way, while she has a hardcore batch of supporters, I don't expect Palin to get the nod.
• I kind of suspect that they all see Obama as the general-election favorite, and many people who didn't vote in 2010 (thus enabling the Republican wave) will vote this time, boosting Obama and other Dems. Perhps if they see more weakness/vulnerability in Obama, they'll run. Otherwise, who wants to be the Dole or Mondale of 2012? (Keep in mind, though, that so much can and will happen between now and November 6, 2012. In fact, Bush Sr.'s poularity in 1991 is credited/blamed for dissuading many Democrats from making a run - but Clinton's persistence paid off big time.)
• That said, 2011 does come before 2012. (Shocking, huh?) This year's focus is on local races, including for mayor of Grand Rapids, Flint, and other cities, along with city council/commission races in most cities. Perhaps, for the first time since I turned 18, I (a First Ward resident) will vote in a contested City Commission race here in Kentwood!
• Also up for election this year are seats on school boards as well as community college trusteeships. The race for two spots on the Grand Rapids Community College Board of Trustees features former GRPS superintendent Bert Bleke and former Republican state House candidate Frank Murin, among others. In Kentwood, incumbent Bill Joseph is retiring, while Mimi Madden is seeking her third term (and will likely get one of my votes). That means one other person will be elected - and unless another great candidate steps up to the plate, my other vote will go to Amanda LeAnne Brunzell.
• After much thought, I'll cheer for Josh Gordy, Cullen Jenkins, Frank Zombo, and the Packers over Antonio Brown and the Steelers. But like I said, they both got good players.