Inland Empire Progressive

I was impressed with Justin Kim as he was campaigning for the 31st Congressional District. While some may disparage him because they say he cost Mayor Pete Aguilar votes. I knew differently that people were looking for an alternate voice because Pete Aguilar was just too conservative for the tastes of activists. While the other candidates did well, Justin Kim stood out because he was young and articulate unlike a certain President that we all know. More than anything, he fired up the base. I hope he stays active and runs again. Here are some of his highlights: Ran on Progressive Values Mr. Kim ran on Progressive values and could explain them in simple terms that ordinary folks could understand. He ran on including the Public Option in health care, immigration reform, cutting wasteful defense spending, cleaner air, and financial reform. As he said on his ballot statement: “I will be an active progressive voice for the Inland Empire in Congress.” No other candidate mentions progressi...

Above is a tabular break down of revenues and expenditures of the San Bernardino Unified School District. On his last day as chief financial officer, Mohammad Islam laid this budget out before the school board. He said that their was a $23M budget deficit for FY (Fiscal Year) 12-13 and that it was structural. As I understand it, this is separate from the short falls if Prop. 30 fails. In addition the board addressed this on September of this year . I happened to catch this meeting accidently while going through the public access channels (ATT cable allows you to view various cities’ govt. channels). I was concerned enough to email the secretary for the school board for this document because on T.V. the screen the numbers are barely legible. The two line items that stand out for me are on the expenditures side of the ledger. About $24M is spent on school supplies for the district. I wonder what is the breakdown per school. It just seems high. Another is Services, Other Operating Exp...

I’m a budget geek, but the learning process was become one was trial by fire. To make things a little easier to understand the byzantine process of budgeting, why not make learning fun by playing a game! I suggest the two websites of: The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget : crfb.org   This site has a budget simulator that games out the decisions you make to reduce the deficit to 60% by 2020. It is not easy, but very informative about how our tax dollars are spent on the federal level. Next 10: http://www.budgetchallenge.org/pages/home This site games out the budget decisions you make on the state level. It even has so budget games for certain cities. Both of these sites will elevate your knowledge on our budget on the federal, state, and local level. I will be posting my results on both budget games in subsequent posts.

Just looking at government budgets in San Bernardino here are the numbers: Department Budget San Bernardino Unified $437 Million Cal State San Bernardino $169 Million City of San Bernardino $120 Million San Bernardino Community College District $110 Million Omnitrans $89 Million San Bernardino Municipal Water District $40 Million Total $965 Million People costs (Operating and Maintenance) account for about 60-80% of the budget, which is around $579-772 Million dollars. This is not even including our share of the $4 Billion dollars of County budget! It is a staggering amount of money, but why is our city of San Bernardino still impoverished? We should have the most economic growth in the region just on government spending alone. While I will discuss these points in future posts, I want to point out that it is not crime, or business atmosphere, or housing that are explicit in our problems. They are symptoms of a larger failure: Our school system. The ranking ...

I was in the new neighborhood Wal-Mart in San Bernardino the other day, which opened recently in strip mall that was anchored by an indoor swap-meet which went under recently, and noticed two shopping carts filled with the same food stuffs. One of the carts was labeled Wal-Mart and the other was labeled Stater Bros. As you might has guessed the one labeled Wal-Mart had the lowest prices, but I think this misses the point entirely. Stater Brothers, more specifically CEO Jack Brown, has contributed more to this community than Wal-Mart ever will. Our annual event to celebrate Route 66 bears its namesake. The business building at Cal State San Bernardino was dedicated to Jack Brown for all he has given to his community. Finally, when folks think Stater Brothers they think middle class. Stater Brothers employees are paid good wages and have good benefits. So Wal-Mart can have its low prices, but commitment to community and the middle class is what keeps customers loyal. Thank You Jack B...

“Our Neighborhood Every store is part of a community , and we take our responsibility to be good neighbors seriously. We want to be invited in wherever we do business. We can be a force for positive action – bringing together our partners, customers, and the community to contribute every day . Now we see that our responsibility – and our potential for good – is even larger. The world is looking to Starbucks to set the new standard, yet again. We will lead.” Emphasis mine. The above statement is take from Starbuck’s Mission Statement, and I think it is utter bullshit. Earlier this year, Evolution Fresh, a company that had its foundation in the impoverished city of San Bernardino was bought and relocated to the more affluent Rancho Cucamonga. This was part of a strategic move by Starbucks to move more into the juicing industry. The excuse was given to San Bernardino officials and residents that their was not enough space for expansion. I say excuse because if you are from San Bernardin...

  For all the innovation over the last three decades of the financial system, we still cannot have mechanisms for the poor to be apart of the banking system. Kiva the micro lending/crowd source model has yet to catch on here in the Inland Empire. Most of the folks here would rather use alternative banking systems such as payday loans, title loans, pawn shops, etc. to take care of their banking needs. I cannot walk at least two blocks without seeing a payday loan provider. The most popular one in San Bernardino is Speedy Cash. That place is always packed. I have used alternative banking on occasion to buy food or take care of expenses.  For the most part, I would try to use overdrafts in my checking account rather than take out a payday loan because overdraft fees are held at a constant no matter how much you take out. What I find funny is that I make a decent income, around 32K a year (not including benefits) and still struggle.

  As someone apart of the Millennial Generation, I feel that the title above really represents our fate. We have little to no social safety net, deeply indebted, and face a tax burden and services shortage that will be draconian. Finally, we have an elder care crisis looming on the horizon. The future seems bleak, but apathy is not the solution. We have to rise up and become like our grandparents: The Greatest Generation. Our parents have squandered our wealth but probably through no fault of their own. I think this because in our era, the era of big data, we have information at our fingertips. We can look up budgets and generate algorithms and see line by line where our money is being spent. This is where we will have the most cost savings. Efficiencies in government programs because of information are being identified but we have to make sure that policies reflect the data.

With no Democrat in the race for the 31st Congressional District, it has been very quiet here in the Inland Empire. Besides a couple of endorsements, this race has been largely uneventful.  While all the Inland Empire candidates have the energy and stamina of a tortoise. Mr. Dutton has been pretty lethargic.  Maybe it’s all that hard work of being California Senate Minority leader that’s kept him from running a more spirited campaign. I don’t know, but what I do know is that candidates who don’t take their races seriously tend to lose. And lose big.

Everyone agrees that Unions in the 21st Century are faltering, the question is what do we on the Left do to help unions adapt to this new reality. The majority of Labor is now concentrated in government services and is helping to fuel conservative hostility against it.  A cognitive dissonance in the ranks of some labor unions (police, fire, corrections, and some construction trades) tend to be more conservative and vote against their own economic interests. In addition, these factors also come into play as I see them in my work place: Pensions tied to Wall Street. A double edged sword. Shareholder activism can be used to drum up reforms on Wall Street because our pensions (PERS, STRS, etc.) are tied to Wall Street. However, performance suffers and preparations must be made if this route is chosen. Health Care Mismanagement. I see this a lot in my union, the Teamsters. Management pays off the Business Agent, who is also a trustee in the management of rank and file medical benefi...