Can wait to hear the school board's 11th hour offer now that the cards are stacked against them in arbitration. The article says "money to keep teachers". Let's see what SJD does with the $ to keep teachers. According to Schulte's quotes above it looks like her agenda doesn't include doing that.

Janesvillean last time I checked Japan has no military and is a democratic society. China is a communist regime that has one of if not the largest military in the world. There will be a day in our lifetime that the USA and China are at war and the weapons they use to kill our men will have been bought and paid for by all the $$$$ we the USA gave to them. This money comes from debt and all the goods we buy at places like WalMart. The difference is this next war will not be one of conventional means but one of nuclear. The USA cannot fight this type of war against China. China could if needed arm 50 million men in a matter of weeks and still have another 500 million in reserve. So we should all enjoy the party because the hangover is coming.

The school district should look into the organization "TerraCycle." TerraCycle collects garbage (chip bags, Capri Sun pouches, butter tubs, candy wrappers, and many other items) and then uses these items to create products.

What is interesting about this organization is that for every item collect, money is donated to schools or charities. For example, for every drink pouch collected, two cents is donated to an organization of your choice. So all the schools in Janesville should sign up with TerraCycle and start having collection drives for these items to receive money. Not only would the money be beneficial, it would also benefit the environment and keep garbage out of landfills.

Check it out: www.TerraCycle.net

TCB, I really dislike arguing with people who advance irrelevant objections. We are not passing the hat for anybody. We are paying teachers and staff to provide services to the school district. This is, in fact, stimulus money being spent directly on jobs, which is something that people have been saying for months the stimulus does not do enough of. Well, here you got it, cash for work. Can't get much more naked than that.
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You are very concerned that China is buying part of our debt. The T-Bill and Bond market is open to anyone. It is unsurprising that one of the three largest economies in the world is choosing to invest in the United States, even at record-low return, and if anything indicates a vote of confidence in the future American economy. Even so, China only holds some 20% of current Treasury bonds. I don't hear anyone freaking out over Japan, which holds an equivalent fraction.
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As to M3, the controversy is over whether it is a useful measure of anything (versus M2).

TCB, according to thr Studor principles that the JSD is trying to embrace, happy employees leads to better production/results. If teachers were even embraced and appreciated in this city {no pay raise needed} they might work harder and longer hours to improve scores and learning. Many teachers that I know are getting sick of reading the bashing and working without a contract. That translates into unhappy workers and a less chance of scores improving. Many still work hard, but aren't going to put in all the volunteered hours with conditions as is. If the school board truly followed the philosophy of Studor than our district might go from good to great. But never with this school board!

Look at that, Janesville and Milton got more than Beloit.
What a deal.

Janesvillean- The only controversy that I am aware of with M3 was the controversy regarding the decision to stop officially reporting it. Is there something "controversial" about the indicator that I am unaware of?

Gary:

Yes- money evaporated.

It is a common misperception that money loaned by the bank is money that is in deposits. In fact more money is loaned than actually exists in deposits. This how how when someone takes out a loan or debt instrument money is created.

When the person defaults on that debt money dissapears.

Its a scary thing when this happenes because we need more money in the system tomorrow than we have in it today because money needs to be paid back with interest. This is one reason that economists want a manageable amount of inflation.

Janesvillean- Yes, they stopped reporting M3. Its very dissapointing since M3 showed the looming housing bubble.

Janesvillean,

The piece you site is irrelevant. Bill Gates lost $7 Billion in networth between 2008 and 2009. Should we pass the hat and collect money for Bill? 7 Billion is a lot of money....

The point of the 1.8 million is that this so called stimulus grant is simply an IOU payable from us the taxpayer to those who lent the money (Chinese). 1.8 will be spent on salary and benefits to current teachers. Zero impact on improving test scores.

garyprimer, in the sense that wealth is money, wealth evaporated to the tune of $6 trillion in property values. That's an average of $60K per household.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-kl...
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The money supply, M1 or M2, has not declined. The controversial M3 measure of money supply (which includes "shadow" financial system holdings) did apparently show a dramatic decline, but the Fed had discontinued reporting it several years prior.

Let's all pray for rain!

Money evaporated?

If they are getting money from the government, ie (we taxpayers) then why are my property taxes going up? And what is that money being used for?

There is a lack of money in the economy because money evaporated leading to a recession.

The only way to put money back into the economy is via debt or by printing money.

Unfortunately our politicians continually mislead people about this and continue to make outrageous statements that somehow our debt is the problem.

How about reducing class sizes? This has a huge impact on student learning. Many will say it just makes a teacher's job easier, but good teachers take advantage of smaller classes by taking kids to a higher level and extending their learning.

In times like these, deficit spending to pump up the economy doesn’t make consumers feel more confident; it makes them feel more insecure because they see a political system out of control. Deficit spending doesn’t induce small businesspeople to hire and expand. It scares them because they conclude the growth isn’t real and they know big tax increases are on the horizon. It doesn’t make political leaders feel better either. Lacking faith that they can wisely cut the debt in some magically virtuous future, they see their nation careening to fiscal ruin.

Hopefully this money is used for teachers and not for administration employees. There are more than enough of those employed Year 'Round.

I find the use of the word cabinet interesting because it's is normally used for someone in a presidential capacity.

Time to settle the damn contract and let teachers focus on teaching! What BS excuse is this school board going to use this time. When the Arbitrator sees that the district is getting this money and is only raising the levy 4%, it will be a no brainer which side they should choose. Especially when districts like Milton {also in arbitration} are taxing 10%. Maybe the board should ask Mr. Studor how he would deal with negotiations.

Yes, turn down the money, gut the schools and programs, and everyone can teach their kids at home. Where else can kids learn the sun circles the earth and potato is spelled with an E. We don't need engineers and doctors and chemists - we can just outsource that work to private contractors from India. Come on people!

The USA gives $500 million every single day to China to cover just the interest portion of the debt. The Feds have maxed out the credit card and are just paying the minimum which means the country is doomed and our future is poverty. On the other hand we could just start WW3 and send a few nukes over and tell them to cash those checks. On a serious note $3.5B every week can buy a lot of military hardware. We better get our act together pretty quick otherwise the @#$% is going to hit the fan.

All the "stimulus" is, is a bail out for the unions and the pensions in many states. As for the school district, they are not fiscal conservative and when the money is run out, we will see higher taxes for the district and more layoffs.

Limitless? Of course not. A proper stimulus would have run $2 to $3 trillion, not much more than the adventure in Iraq. As it is, we should be borrowing more during this recession so that the unemployed can retain wealth (homes, cars, savings) and continue to be productive rather than, as seems likely, permanently locked out of the labor market by years of inactivity. As Janesville has been hard hit by the recession, spending stimulus money here will help us. If, instead, an austerity program is implemented, cities such as Janesville are likely to face years of diminished opportunity and large numbers of economically distressed households.
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This is not just politics. This is provable economics. Almost every example of a country that has cut spending during a recession has prolonged the economic difficulties faced by that country.
http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2010/08/1...

janesvillean: According to your logic, we should just borrow a limitless amount from China to give to the people hurt the most, which I take from your comments on this particular subject to mean public employees. Is that what you mean?

Austerity in the middle of a recession will guarantee a prolonged depression. Recessions are when a government SHOULD be borrowing. Unfortunately, there is a movement out there to make sure that the people currently hurting the most from this downturn are the ones who are punished for it.

NVgrf, how's this: Turn down this budget busting CRAP! We, the Feds, State, Local govts ARE ALL BROKE. When will we all get sick of all of this Chinese debt to(temporarily) support a completely unsustainable spending habit at all Gov't levels?? IDEA: Want to get Janesville attention re attracting new business? Turn down this money in a very public way. The press release could say that the citizens of Janesville no longer tolerate unsustainable borrowing at any level. Instead they believe, yes, in cuts and yes, in gov't employee concessions to balance its budgets. Janesville Public Schools will make national news and the city will be seen as a responsible, reliable place to grow a business.

Come on. Where are the calls to turn down this money from Janesville's mighty right?