The Federal government is spending mega hours and money to have the right to deport 134 plus individuals whom were the wives of men who have died. These women would have become citizens had their husbands not died and they are not a risk to the USA. In one case they have said they will abide by the ninth district courts decision not to deport a specific women. For a government agency on principal to be fighting for the right to deport the individuals is such a waste of time and money. This group of women and their families that would otherwise have become citizens except for the fact the husbands died before the process was completed.

The money would be better spent on processing the thousands of pending delayed requested for citizenship. Individuals, organizations and foundations should voice their support of an immigration policy that is fair, efficient and meets unmet needs of the USA. Remember it is an election year. While you can not campaign for a candidate, you can certainly public what is good immigration policy.

Dancing is something that you don’t think about. It’s some form of self expression that no one can ever take away from you.

Help kids to dance, its not violent.

Health is important because it can save your life. Even the earth if you be nice to it. Grow carrots, tomatoes or a vegetable. I grow vegetables. Everyone needs water and food.

Support teaching kids how to grow food.

Of the billions of dollars that are placed in the retirement accounts of federal employees and in social security, the government should commit 50% TO EDUCATIONAL LOANS.

There should be no financial institution or college involved in the selection of the loan.  Payments should be issued to qualified schools directly.

The IRS collects taxes; the Social Security Administration issues retirement checks; the INS processes passport and citizen requests; and Federal Stafford loans help pay for college.  These are all examples of large volume transactions exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars.  This provides the proof of the capacity of the federal government to run a student loan system.  There will be no enticements to use any particular service, no revenue sharing, and everyone qualifies who is an US citizen. The mission should be to have the best rates for students in need of loans for education.  The US government could provide a loan forgiveness incentive for students to go into needy fields of study and/or to serve in geographic locations where there are shortages of credentialed people.  The US government can add a loan forgiveness program as well as blend in the other training programs already supported by the government.  One government agency to be the center of supporting higher education for all individuals who seek to learn and improve the likelihood of advancements in quality of life and economic impact.

Rates should be tied to the treasury bonds as fixed in order to have similar expectation of return.  These education loans will then create a return for social security and the retirement funds not dependent fully on future taxes or revenues.  If the success of the program provides adequate return it may be possible to increase the amount made for loans to more than 50%.  However, the federal budget has to stop using the social security money for other purposes.  The money will only run out because it is not getting a return, it is being used for the current base federal budget.

Let’s get serious about higher education and invest in our future.

The effort to obtain affordable housing has been getting harder recently by the relining by financial institutions of neighborhoods, developments, and whole states.  The financial institutions have made it harder regardless of the credit score, down payment, or your income.  The financial institutions actions have just become unpredictable and not base on reality. 

One aspect of the problem that should not be ignored throughout the housing financing market is predatory loans.  They continue to happen regardless of what people think.  The government has been trying to decide involvement they should have on loans of these types.  Federally backing the loans is not the way to fix bad practices. 

My suggestion is that if a loan is predatory it is wrong it should be clearly criminal.  Thus, the government should take any loan that meets such a standard and give the lender a choice. 

1. Government will investigate wrong doing and either prosecute, revoke their licenses or both.

2. Lender provides a fix rate loan up to 90% of the current value of the property or what the individual can afford.  Yes, the owner makes out here.   However, the lender does not get charged with a crime either.

If you are killed by the failure of a government project, you’re worth millions.  If you are killed by the failure of government policies, you’re worth nothing.

The policies set and the dollars spent by government, and the responsibility that is assigned to government failure, seem to be more dependent upon whether a group votes.    Historically minorities and poor do not vote heavily and therefore are marginalized.

Low income people and minorities seem to get the blunt of bad government policies.  Examples include the locating of polluting industries, high incidence of lead paint, distribution of firearms, lack of access to health care and the lack of resources. 

There are a number of nonprofit institutes whom have provided studies noting the problem.  However, I have rarely observed the same organizations providing direction to public policy makers of specific solutions.

Just because government has failed policies does not mean nonprofits should just blame the government.  Talk is cheap.  Creating partnerships to address unmet need takes effort and giving up some control.  So I challenge each organization that has a compliant about government policies to come up with a blueprint as part of their strategic plan on how they would resolve the issue. 

Debt Collection agencies.

When debt collection agencies call your employees during this time of financial hardship make sure your employee understand their rights. Too many of the debt collectors use techniques that people do not know are wrong. Do not let the debt collectors tone or use of the English language make your employee feel stressed out or feel they are at risk of immediate harm. Help an employee stand up for their rights. It is as simple as letting them know to contact their state Consumer Affairs Office or Division of Banks for knowing their rights. Many of these rights can be found on line.

In Massachusetts anyone can Know their rights by going to the Office of Consumer Affairs: The summary below is from the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries web site.

209 CMR 18: Conduct of the Business of Debt Collectors and Loan Services, Division of Banks. “The purpose of 209 CMR 18.00 is to establish standards, by defining unfair or deceptive acts or practices, for the collection of debts from persons within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by debt collectors and third party loan servicers, and to establish procedures and requirements for the licensing and supervision of debt collectors and the registration and supervision of third party loan servicers.”

940 CMR 7: Debt Collection Regulations, Attorney General. “The purpose of 940 CMR 7.00 is to establish standards, by defining unfair or deceptive acts or practices, for the collection of debts from persons within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

If your employee is having problems with the debt collector in Massachusetts they can file a compliant form with the Division of Banks which can be obtained from the Division of Banks web site.

Helping is important because you just don’t help yourself. You help other people and the earth. You should help when you see garbage on the ground or when someone says help!!!!.

Getting involved is a great way to be socially responsible.

Individuals in the financial markets are trying to blame the inaccuracy of credit scores as the reason for the losses incurred by the financial industry. They need a scapegoat!!!

Credit scores do not take into consideration when credit companies change their rules. For instance American Express allows many customers to carry balances, but can discontinue said benefit without notice.

Credit scores do not take into consideration interest rates increases.

Credit scores do not take into consideration medical bills

Credit scores do not take into consideration the increase in fuel costs.

Credit scores do not take into consideration a car accident and that insurance does not pay for its replacement.

Credit scores do not take into consideration health premiums increasing.

Credit scores do not take into consideration the cost of childcare.

Credit Scores do not take into consideration being laid off.

Credit scores do not take into consideration the costs of having another child.

A Credit score is a picture of the past.Financial verification of income and certain expenses of today is their choice.The financial entity decides if the risk is worth it, not the score.

The financial meltdown of the credit market has presented a picture that is disturbing. It looks like the industry was bent on squeezing every dime from individuals and passing the risk to another. Fairest and honesty seems to be missing from the investment instrument. The lacking elements of risk has many features of being fraudulent. The fiscal mess will take awhile to resolve itself.

The nonprofit community has an opportunity to take advantage of the mess to replace some of these inappropriate ways of financing for their employees and community. Most nonprofits are use to being transparent. The involvement of nonprofits in stabilizing the financial markets with Micro lending as well as sponsoring the creation of jobs and housing will go a long way. Invest in the future of your employees and community.

Service Employers International (a unit of KBR) employing 20,000 workers in Iraq and Overseas Administrative Services employing 1,020 workers in Iraq are just two examples of tax haven companies.

KBR from 2004-2006 earns $16,059,282,020 according to the Boston Globe.  What they did not pay was social security, unemployment, Medicare, or workers comp on any USA citizens whom worked for them.  A large segment of the payroll expenses are for USA citizens.  This resulted in about $500,000,0000 is lost taxes to the USA.  KBR has said the savings were passed on to the military.  We all know what that means.  The honest taxpayer is paying for those benefits that the employee will need in the future.  KBR is incorporated in the Cayman Islands.  This is considered a tax haven for companies to avoid paying taxes.   It is important that the IRS fully vent whether the company is a shell corporation and bring all punish to bear.  There has been lots of publicity of the IRS investigating nonprofits and their appropriate use of their status and self-dealing.  I have not read of any investigation by the IRS on these companies in the tax havens.  There are millions to recover.

I propose that any recovery from these companies be set in a trust fund for the future use of the military service men and women to help them with job training, college tuition, and medical expenses.  There are tens of thousands of them and they need to have the US government’s long-term commitment.  The equal access of standard of treatment for all of the returning soldiers requires this and it must be placed on the backs of those corporations that have used the war to profit illegally.