"Smart Start" putting Private Childcare out of Business?

In the mid 1990s former Governor Jim Hunt came up with the "Smart Start" program for child care. This program was designed to ensure higher quality care by assisting all child care facilities (private, corporate, for profit, or non profit) to ensure that all children in the state were exposed to higher standards of childcare. Some of the following indicators of quality were identified: pre-kindergarten (pre-K) teacher education, nurture and child/teacher ratio's, age appropriate environments, and nutrition.

Before this program was begun, the North Carolina Division of Child Development would issue an annual license to a facility in compliance with their book of State rules and regulations. North Carolina’s Childcare Regulatory book is the second most voluminous such document, only ranking behind California. This book of regulations includes codes involving fire, sanitation, and building safety for the respective counties in the State.

In 1995, Catawba County launched Smart Start and the Catawba County Partnership for Children. At that time most child care facilities in this county were operated by private business owners. Keep in mind that pre-K teachers, support staff, and the facility had to meet the regulated standards set forth by the North Carolina Division of Child Development.

At that time the local Smart Start organization distributed "grants" to the local childcare facilities so that the Smart Start organization might assist with education, environments, books, supplies, safe equipment, etc., to help meet some of the newly defined criteria that were believed to be minimally acceptable quality standards. These grants were not initiated because business owners solicited the government for grants, but because these childcare facilities provided the places where children actually spent most of their days. Parents needed help with the prohibitive costs of childcare.

This initiative enabled many parents to work or go back to school. It was looked at as an opportunity for the children of families that fell into the lower end of the socioeconomic strata to be enrolled in a licensed center that used the funds to raise the bar on quality. At the time, these facilities agreed that this was a worthy endeavor. Research has shown that if children can't be with their own parents, then they still need a safe, nurturing environment in order to progress successfully through these early years.

As time went has gone on, the Division of Child Development has revised rules, added rules, dropped rules, and eventually came up with a 3 component licensing system that has since been modified into a 2 component “Star” rating system. The Stars that facilities now receive are based upon earning points within this two component system. Thus a childcare center is rated and licensed as a one to five star facility based upon this point system. A One Star rated center means that the facility has met minimum state regulations... Two Stars, higher standards… Three Stars even higher voluntary standards were met… All the way up to the highest, a Five Star facility. This is similar to Hotels or Restaurants that are critiqued by AAA, Mobil, or Michelin.

As research continues on the human brain and child development, studies have shown that the first five years of life are the foundational years and therefore the young child's experiences can affect everything for the rest of their lives. The child’s experiences at this age indicate future success and thus well being. It is imperative that they get a good foundational start to their lives.

The lady that shared this information, I am divulging, operates a highly rated childcare facility here in Catawba County. All facility Star ratings are for a 3 year period, after which a subsequent rating inspection must be conducted again. Facilities must apply and undergo an observation by inspectors who come to the center and observe the different age groups. Afterwards, these inspectors chart measurements based upon what they saw and the questions they asked staff.

What this lady is seeing with her current periodic inspection is that there are major additional requirements and measurements that her facility (and other facilities) must undergo to obtain their standard rating. It also bothers her that there are exceptions made for public schools and some churches.

The rating scale is not necessarily required for private "mom and pop" owned child care businesses, but it is a requirement of all state licensed centers; except for the public school "More at Four" programs, which consist of "At Risk" children who are recruited into their programs. This lady has lost enrolled children from her facility to the public school’s “More at Four” program. A percentage of North Carolina lottery funds are channeled into the “More at Four” programs. The "More at Four" program is part of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This program was initiated and coined by our last Governor, Mike Easley.

High star ratings seem to be synonymous with programs that have high funding (in other words a lot of Money). The “More at Four” program isn't required to undergo a rating scale, but will do so because they have the funds at their disposal to afford the $200,000 playgrounds that appear to "raise the bar on quality."

You can visit the North Carolina Division of Child Development Website and see that they promote ONLY Government programs and other funded programs, which have been awarded Federal funds. They make it appear as though they are centered around "CHILDREN,” but they are really centered on the Almighty $$$!

Common Sense shows that the reason that any center wants a higher star rating is to appear as though they are a better facility, but we all know that this can truly be deceptive. More Stars does not necessarily equate to a better quality of childcare. The highest quality of child care centers around the integrity of the individuals caring for the child. Why would a parent choose a caregiver with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education, but no experience or nurturing ability? A system that looks at these sorts of quantitative measures looks at a child like they are a project; instead of an individual human being who needs nurturing, love, and good chemistry with the caregiver. The public school system fosters a structure and mindset that the child gets who they get (as a caregiver/instructor) and that’s the end of it.

Here we will explain why having more Stars on your wall, as a private childcare facility, is critical to the survival of a one’s business. The more stars that a facility manages to get, the more of a monthly bonus per child the facility is awarded from the Department of Social Services (DSS) subsidy program. DSS receives funding from the Division of Child Development. That may sound like a great way to entice childcare providers to lift their standards of care, but it goes back to showing that this isn’t about the children, it’s about money.

Since the monthly bonus money goes to the big facilities who get the funding to put the shiny new buildings in place and the educated teachers that get a "package" that the “mom and pops” can't afford, they exploit the so called "At Risk" children to promote the bureaucracy’s agendas.

It has been pointed out to me that the local Catawba County Smart Start Program is housed in a new building at the old Sweetwater Elementary school. They have also opened up two “More at Four” classes and a Head Start program, which is an overlapping of services and double expenditure of our tax dollars. They are trying to fill these programs by recruiting from the private facilities. The lady who brought all of this to my attention stated that these Public Entities are recruiting children out of her private program, into their program, because they received funding to open these new classrooms and the end result is that her facility is looking more and more like a ghost town.

These local public childcare programs have recruited anywhere from 2 to 5 children from this lady’s childcare facility annually over the last few years. They are making the “At Risk” children’s parents believe that they don't have a choice, if they want to attend a program for free, then they have to enroll at their facilities, She stated that that this isn’t true. Doing the math: one "At Risk" child's annual tuition at her childcare center is $5,460. (subsidy pays it with a small parent fee, but the parents of so called "At Risk" children are the biggest contributors to their own child's "At Risk" status, parents SHOULD be held a tiny fraction responsible). $5,460 X 5 = $27,300.00. That's how much revenue the government is taking out of her facility, on average, annually. How many other facilities are facing similar circumstances?

This lady believes that the growth of the educational bureaucracy in Catawba County is growing more and more out of control and they are using young children to promote a lie. She believes that the administrators of these programs are blowing our tax dollars on luncheons, comfortable furnishings, and ego. She states, “They have taken federal funds and continue to create bogus job titles for themselves so that they can keep channeling money into their pockets and out of the child care facilities that have given the real blood, sweat, and tears.”

The Children's Resource Center has stated that they opened another "More at Four” classroom at Sweetwater this year, because they moved it from the Balls Creek area, because that area didn’t need it. Looking at the demographics, that makes sense. The Hickory area has many more Hispanics and any child that speaks Spanish as a first language, in their home, receives a spot in the “More at Four” program. And the "At Risk" criteria are advertised as being centered on children who are not already in high quality programs, such as the one this lady owns. The Public Educational Bureaucratic programs are basically all over the Department of Social Services day care unit in recruiting “At Risk” children into their public facilities, for their programs. They do this, because these children are considered "At Risk" and thus they qualify for subsidy payments.

All of these bureaucratic agencies know that they are taking children from the private facilities, because DSS keeps documents and records that show where these children have attended pre-K. The government is terminating subsidy vouchers about two weeks before the school year starts, so that they can say that the children aren't being served. What used to go into the already existing high quality centers in our area is slowly, but surely, being taken from the private facilities; except for the subsidy bonuses based on Star ratings and a few (regulated and required) workshops for teachers from centers such as the YMCA's, CVCC lab pre-school, or favored centers such as the United Way and the Boys and Girls Clubs, who also get big funding opportunities, yet need to meet the basic requirements and ongoing education requirements to stay licensed.

DSS is paying market rates for each child they have recruited into these public programs. This means that the children that are aggressively being recruited away from private childcare centers, that have earned higher stars, are driving the cost of child care over the top for the lower middle class working families in our county. Most young people starting families don't usually start off with six digit incomes in Catawba County. Market rates go across the board and vary from county to county. Working class families who deserve quality care can't afford to pay the going market rates, but childcare centers will be in breach of contract with DSS, if they offer a discount. Centers are not allowed to give breaks to working families who don't qualify for subsidies and can get into trouble with DSS, which has the wherewithal to start an investigation. The DSS has the capability of putting a childcare facility out of business.

The Children's Resource Center (Smart Start) is funding projects such as the Parenting Network (where parents are forced to attend meetings held by various systems), The Early Childhood Support Team, Health Nurses, Behavior Specialists, Infant/Toddler Specialists, Early Start Specialists, Dental Screenings and so on!

The health department already HAS health nurses for those who can’t afford them. The Smart Start Team health nurse drops off information that she has probably copied off of the internet (most daycares have internet or access to it), The “Behavior Specialist” does nothing but visit centers. The “Infant/Toddler Specialist” (this lady has never seen her). Many times the dental screeners offer condescending comments to the poor teachers who spends 40 hrs a week with (some) children that need their home life to change. They give out cheap tooth brushes, Made in China, and send a letter to the parents telling them that they need to go to a dentist, but only for the children that have Medicaid.

The lady who provided this information to me in confidence stated that this information could result in the death of her business, if her name got out. I truly appreciate this information. It is eye opening to see what a local childcare provider is having to deal with, just to stay in business. Why are we allowing the government to do this to a small business person who obviously cares about the children whose life she touches? Is this type of control and manipulation of parents and children a good idea? Is it a good idea to allow the government to monopolize childcare? Is that not the direction we are headed towards? Are you comfortable with this?

I hope that you appreciate this person’s point of view and that you realize and understand the raw power and undue influence a government can have when it sets its mind to exercising control over something. And this control is over the Progeny of America and our future.

I am here for you! - Please look out for each other

Unemployment report portrays stagnant job market - Los Angeles Times - Don Lee - 8/8/2010

High unemployment rate could perpetuate vicious cycle - New Haven Register - 8/8/2010

Allegretto warns of economic catastrophe without massive public works program - UC Berkeley News - 8/6/2010 - The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will be late 2015 before the United States creates enough jobs to recoup those lost and to provide needed growth, but the Center for Economic and Policy Research says such a recovery could take until 2021.

6 Charts That Suggest The Unemployment Crisis Is WORSE Than It Looks - Huffington Post - 8/6/2010

Percentage of Job Losses in Post-War Recessions

A letter from Congressman Bob "Hooer You?" Etheridge from North Carolina's 2nd district

August 4, 2010

Dear Mr. Hound:

I am writing to you today to update you on my work to help folks in North Carolina meet our challenges and make the most of our opportunities.

My top priorities in the U.S. House of Representatives have been jobs, jobs, and jobs. Specifically, I support common sense policies that will create an economy that works for the middle class so every North Carolinian who is willing to work hard has the opportunity to make the most of his or her God-given abilities.

We need to rebuild America and restore the American Dream. Economic recovery in our country will be powered by small businesses. I have been working to enact eight separate tax cuts for small businesses to jumpstart hiring and boost the economy. A tax credit that I proposed was made law and is already being used to support new jobs, like the new textile jobs at Parkdale Mills in Sanford. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, it is supporting 4.5 million new workers across the country. These are people who would otherwise be on the unemployment rolls, so this is good for our economy, for workers and for taxpayers.

The recent recession cost us 8 million American jobs—and years of policies that favored the special interests cost us 4.6 million American manufacturing jobs. Although too many people are out of work and family budgets are getting squeezed, bold action to correct the failed policies of the past has started to turn our economy around. Recently, the Triangle Business Journal reported that the Recovery Act supported 90,000 North Carolina jobs and more than 3 million jobs across the country. We have added more than a hundred thousand new U.S. manufacturing jobs in the last six months. That's good news, but it's not enough. This summer, I am working with House leadership to promote an American Manufacturing Jobs agenda that will close loopholes that help companies move jobs overseas, support American jobs at home, and enable U.S. companies to bring back the label "Made in the U.S.A."

I am proud of my work to protect consumers and to keep corporate special interests from preying on working families. I helped pass a Wall Street reform bill that will rein in the worst practices of the big bankers on Wall Street and end the "too big to fail" policy and taxpayer-funded bailouts. It builds on the work already done to reform credit card company practices, end abuses of credit card holders, and empower individuals to make informed choices for their financial future. These new laws will put the focus on Main Street and middle class families.

Long term, we need budget discipline and smart investments like Pell Grants and higher education assistance and school construction. I've worked since my first term in office – and back to my days as a county commissioner, a state legislator and as state schools superintendent – to build schools, create jobs and invest in our communities.

You can be sure that I will continue to promote these priorities and represent your interests. Please feel free to contact me with your ideas and concerns. Working together, using North Carolina values and old fashioned common sense, we will build a brighter future.

Sincerely,
Bob Etheridge
Member of Congress

The Hound already knows that this man just doesn't get it. He is a typical eastern North Carolina Good Ole Boy Network ramrod politician. Just look at his record and where he has been on the issues throughout his career. He is yesterday's news and this mindset is not going to solve tomorrow's problems.

His top priority is jobs. How's that working out? The things that this Congress has done have destroyed the ability to create jobs. The stimulus money did little to create jobs and in fact it has placed a burden that is weighing down the economy and this yokel also supported the TARP bailout. I know this is a computer generated answer, but someone set the parameters and it shows the lack of respect for the intelligence he (or his staff) has for his constituents.

What has he done to help the middle class people in North Carolina? The Stimulus paid off cronies and TARP bailed out the very Fat Cats that he rails against in this letter. And once again I reiterate that this Man supported both of these bills. This does not support his contention that he is representing the working class here in North Carolina. This man also supports Cap and Trade, which will double your energy costs. Can you afford that? This wreckless spending and taxation is a burden to the average families and individuals and in the end it will mean a higher tax burden upon everyone, including the small business growth needed to restart the job creation engine.

Read the talking Points about supporting the Made in the USA label and his voluntary submission that he supported the so-called Financial Reform Boondoggle that empowers the Federal Reserve. Ask this man what he has tangibly done to reform the unfair foreign trade system. Cap and Trade isn't going to bring manufacturing jobs back. I will assure you of that. What has he done to reign in the illegal immigration that is suppressing the wages of the working class people here in North Carolina? Ask him why he supports a finance bill that gives even more power to the very bankers he rails against? Ask him if he supports auditing the privately owned Federal Reserve? Ask him how making Security and Exchange Commission Investigation Information private, and under the wings of the Federal Reserve, benefits the public?

This man thinks his constituents and the people of North carolina are stupid. He talks about Common Sense and has displayed authoritarian arrogance time and time again. He would best serve this state if he would step aside and let someone who truly cares and wants to fix his area, this State, and this Country come into office and move past the partisanship, cronyism, corruption, and stagnation that his era has represented.

People of the Lillington area. Remember what this man has done this November and think about whether he truly has represented your interests in Washington:

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of August 3, 2010

This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.

At the bottom right of this page under main information links is a Hickory's Local Government link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the bottom of the page you will see the future dates for meetings scheduled for this year.

At the top of the page, if you click on the “Documents” link, you will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.

Here is a summary of the agenda of the 6/15/2010 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below

Invocation by Chaplain Robert Ford of Glenn R. Frye Memorial Hospital


Consent Agenda

A. Proclamation Declaring the Week of August 1 - 7, 2010 as “International Clown Week” in the City of Hickory

B. Proclamation Declaring August 8, 2010 as “Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church Day” in the City of Hickory

C. Proclamation Proclaiming August 12, 2010 as “Viewmont Surgery Center Day” in Recognition as an Ambulatory Surgery Center in the City of Hickory

D. Request From Hickory Fire Department for Use of Union Square to Celebrate Patriot’s Day on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

E. Request Hickory Police Department to Award Badge and Service Weapon to Retired Master Police Officer Casey J. McClelland - Under authority granted by the NC General Statues, City Council is requested to award the police badge and service weapon to Master Police Officer Casey J. McClelland who retired on August 1, 2010 from the Hickory Police Department. Upon approval, the badge and service weapon will be removed from the City’s fixed asset inventory.

F. Approve Vacant Building Revitalization Grant “Operation No Vacancy” to Grace Point Holdings, LLC for Property Located at 2905 N Center Street in the Amount of $25,000 - The Vacant Building Revitalization Grant Program was established by City Council in September, 2008 whereby the program provides matching funds up to $25,000 for projects seeking to renovate and rehabilitate vacant buildings and the demolition of substandard buildings. Grace Point Holdings, LLC has applied for such a grant in the amount of $25,000 to assist in the renovation of the building by replacing the roof,
installing a new parapet wall, replacing existing glass and installation of stucco on the exterior. The applicant’s total investment is estimated to be $151,220 to include an interior up-fit. This facility is being renovated for use by a Verizon Wireless Retail Store. The Redevelopment Committee reviewed the application and voted to recommend approval of $25,000.

G. Approve Vacant Building Revitalization Grant “Operation No Vacancy” to ADEMNC, LLC for Property Located at 509 11th Street, NW in the Amount of $25,000 - The Vacant Building Revitalization Grant Program was established by City Council in September, 2008 whereby the program provides matching funds up to $25,000 for projects seeking to renovate and rehabilitate vacant buildings and the demolition of substandard buildings. ADEMNC, LLC has applied for such a grant in the amount of $25,000 to assist in the renovation of the building by replacing the roof, façade improvements that include installation of additional windows, repairs to loading docks and sprinkler system upgrade. The applicant’s total investment is estimated to be $400,000 to include an office up-fit. This facility is being renovated for use by Hickory Mechanical, Inc. and other tenants. The Redevelopment Committee reviewed the application and voted to recommend approval of $25,000. Due to the severely damaged roof, staff requests two (2) reading be held on August 3, 2010.

H. Approval to Purchase Real Property Located Adjacent to the City’s Public Services Complex on 9th Avenue, NE in the Amount of $93,000 - The Mauser Family, owners of 3.2 acres of vacant property located adjacent to the City’s Public Services Complex has agreed to sell this property to the City in the amount of $93,000. The current Public Services Complex property was partially purchased from the Mauser Family in the 1980’s. The purchase of this vacant property would be a good investment for future expansion of this facility, which will be needed in the future to continue to serve our citizens. Miller and Associates performed an appraisal of the property dated April 27, 2010 for $93,000. The land value is approximately $162,525 with an approximate tax value of $50,789 per acre. The expense of this property would be shared equally by both the general and public utilities fund. Staff recommends approval to purchase said property.

I. Approve Application and Resolution to Receive Grant Funds From NC Construction Grants and Loans for Subdivision Sanitary Sewer Lines - City staff desires to file an application for funds with NC Construction Grants and Loans for sanitary sewer lines in the Random Woods, Sherwood Forest and East Woods subdivisions. These three (3) areas were identified in 1998 as future service areas for the City of Hickory sanitary sewer system. The City originally applied in 1999 and was asked to resubmit an updated Preliminary Engineers Report in 2009 and the City received final approval on May 10, 2010. This project will have a potential to serve approximately 226 homes and eliminate the potential public health hazard of septic system failures impacting surface waters. These areas are in the City’s ETJ and the City
does have existing sanitary sewer lines available for connection. We would be requesting $2,946,042.99 representing the entire anticipated construction cost with a maximum award available of $3 million. The NC Construction Grants and Loans staff has requested an updated application for funding while giving the City preliminary approval of the grant funds subject to availability. No match is required. Staff
recommends approval of both the application and resolution.

J. Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 2 - 1. To budget a $1,797 insurance claim check from Nationwide Insurance Company in the Water and Sewer Pipes, Hydrants and Meters line item. This payment is for damage sustained to a fire hydrant on 05-19-10.

2. To appropriate $46,900 of Water and Sewer Fund Proceeds from Financing and $46,900 of appropriated General Fund Balance and transfer to the Public Services land code. This transfer is to pay for the purchase of 3.2 acres of vacant property adjacent to and between the Public Services complex and 9th Ave. NE. The purchase of this property would provide for future expansion of the Public
Services Complex. This property is two 1.6 acre tracts and is appraised for a total of $93,000. An additional $800 is budgeted for associated property title and closing costs.

K. Grant Project Ordinance Amendment No. 1 - 1. To appropriate $57,562 of Federal Miscellaneous revenue and budget in the Recovery JAG projects Specialized Equipment line item. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the City of Hickory Police Department entered into a memorandum of agreement to allow access and use of the Firearms Range for FBI training. $57,562 represents the FBI contribution for the target system and chain link fence.

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. Second Reading - Approve Vacant Building Revitalization Grant “Operation No Vacancy” to ADEMNC, LLC for Property Located at 509 11th Street, NW in the Amount of $25,000 - The second reading was held to expedite the process of this renovation. The mayor stated that this would be a great improvement and what the purpose of Operation No vacancy was intended t5o be.

2. Adopt Ordinance Declaring Property Unfit for Human Occupation and Authorization to Remove or Demolish Structure Located at 244 8th Avenue Drive, SE, Hickory, PIN # 3702-11-76-2663 - The structure located at 244 8th Avenue Drive, SE, Hickory, was inspected by Code Enforcement Officer Kent Sigmon and determined the structure to be dilapidated; exceeding 50% of the tax value to repair, and also poses an imminent threat to health and human safety. This case opened on January 20, 2010 and the Order to Abate was issued on February 10, 2010. During the February 10, 2010 hearing, property owners, Eloise Wilfong Izard and Thomas Allred indicated financially they could not repair or board up the structure and preferred the City to demolish the structure. Officer Sigmon drafted a letter stating their position and had all parties sign including Thomas Izard, who is incarcerated. The structure has continued to deteriorate and vandalism has become more prevalent. City Staff Attorney has reviewed the case and concurs that proper procedures have been met. C & S Cable is under contract to perform City demolitions and estimates the demolition of this property to be in the amount of $3,483, which in turn will become a lien against the property. Funds are budgeted for FY 2010-11. - Bobby Baker provided the report and information as stated above along with a Power Point presentation. A title search indicated that their were 4 property owners attached to the property (heirs). Two showed up for the hearing. Those owners indicated that they could not afford to bring the house up to coded and they understand the violations. their has been continual vagrancy and continued dilapidation, which is affecting neighborhood housing values. Floors are falling in, windows are broken, the roof is deteriorated. There are many indications of vagrancy including bottles, clothing, windows and doors open. It is a very hazardous situation. The City Staff Attorney has concurred that proper procedures have been followed. City Council unanimously approved this petition.

Alderman Guess, Alder Patton, Mayor Wright, and Alder Fox all had positive comments directed towards Code enforcement entailing the work that they do. Alder Fox stated that it is really important that they stay on top of these things with the economy the way it is. It is hard for people to maintain, but it is important, especially in borderline neighborhoods. Mayor Wright stated that these are tough times for everybody and if we aren't careful, we can get way behind the so called curve on this and the spotlight is not good for neighbors.

The Hound completely understands why this property needs to be torn down and this same type of situation has been brought to Council several times over the past two years. And it will continue to happen while the equilibrium of supply and demand related to home values remain out of whack.

I would just like to understand why it is so easy to tear down a house such as this and the same type of emphasis is not placed on many of the dilapidated warehouses in this area that are in just as bad of shape. These warehouses have just as much of a negative effect on the real estate that surrounds them. Mayor Wright mentioned that if we aren't careful that we could get way behind the curve on this issue (I believe he is referring to property maintenance) and I couldn't agree more. Take for example the two city pools that have been shut down. I believe that if they had been properly maintained, then they would not have ended up in a state of disrepair that has rendered them inoperable.

General Comments
Alder Guess asked where staff was on the Landlord-Tenant issue (he brought up at the last meeting). Attorney Crone and Attorney Dula stated that they have met and a presentation will be made at a workshop and options will be given. Alderman Guess also spoke highly and is encouraged about the first meeting of the Mountain View neighborhood association, which he stated was highly attended by city officials and members of the Mountain view community. Alder Fox commended David Moore for his vision on Old Lenoir road and she hopes that it will be a ripple effect and encourage others to do the same.

The Hounds Report - This was one of those typical meetings that are held during the dog days of summer. No presentations were made and the new business was cut and dry. As we move closer to the fall there will be many more issues that come to the fore of our community.

The Future Economy Council Facebook Page

Please drop by and check out our Future Economy Council of Catawba County Facebook page. I created this last night as a resource to communicate not only with Future Economy Council Associates, but also with others who are attracted to the issues that are important to our area.

The Future Economy Council was created last year by Danny Hearn, who is the President of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce. Danny has been very proactive in trying to kickstart the local economy through a series of Outside of the Box ideas and processes. We will discuss these contributions on this Facebook page.

We have knowledgeable leadership including Mr. Rick Smyre, who is the head of an organization called "Communities of the Future." We will discuss Rick's ideas and follow pertinent links to the relevant materials that the FEC discusses, which are associated with Rick's knowledge base, on this Facebook page.

The Chairman of the Future Economy Council is Terry Bledsoe. He is also the Communications and Technology Director in Catawba County. Terry has made many excellent presentations involving the works and thought processes of the FEC over the last year and a half. His power point presentation and other contributions will be made available through this Facebook page. Terry's CIO website is available at a link on the right hand side of this page.

I also have a website Project 3P which is associated with the happenings of the Future Economy Council. Although politics and critical processes of governance play a role in all facets of our lives, I try to present the information on Project 3P in a non-partisan and factual manner. I have been busy with many projects and have not updated thnat website lately, but I will be doing so over the next week. I hope that you will look to that site as a resource of information to see the underlying foundation workings that are taking place involving building a positive economic future in this area.

There are things taking place in Catawba County to turn our economy around. It is not going to happen with the snap of a finger. We are having to transform the economic structure of our county and it is like moving a boulder. One person is not going to be able to do this alone, but standing around and waiting for someone else to do it will not put you on the path to moving that boulder.

We, the people who associate with the FEC, decided long ago that the boulder must move. Last year, Danny Hearn gave us the motivation to join forces to move the boulder. For too long in this area, people would not join forces because of what seems to be reasons of pride and ego. The members of the FEC have been working hard to mend and alter mindsets to get people to change their attitudes and understand that in the end we all want most of the same things. We want a healthy community where we all can learn, live, work, and play in cultural and economic harmony.

Together, we can move that boulder!

Webster Tarpley's Program to end the World Economic Depression

30 MILLION PRODUCTIVE JOBS TO REBUILD US INFRASTRUCTURE, INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE: THE PROGRAM TO END THE ECONOMIC DEPRESSION - by Webster G. Tarpley, www.tarpley.net - November 14, 2009

The US and the world are gripped by a deepening economic depression. There is no recovery and no automatic business cycle which will revive the economy. This bottomless depression will worsen until policies are reformed. The depression results from deregulated and globalized financial speculation, especially the $1.5 quadrillion world derivatives bubble. The US industrial base has been gutted, and the US standard of living has fallen by almost two thirds over the last four decades. We must reverse this trend of speculation, de-industrialization, and immiseration. Current policy bails out bankers, but harms working people, industrial producers, farmers, and small business. We must defend civil society and democratic institutions from the effects of high unemployment and economic breakdown. We therefore demand:

1. Measures to reduce speculation and minimize the burden of fictitious capital: End all bailouts of banks and financial institutions. Claw back the TARP and other public money given or lent to financiers. Abolish the notion of too big to fail; JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Wells Fargo and other Wall Street zombie banks are insolvent and must be seized by the FDIC for chapter 7 liquidation, with derivatives eliminated by triage. Re-institute the Glass-Steagall firewall to separate banks, brokerages, and insurance. Ban credit default swaps and adjustable rate mortgages. To generate revenue and discourage speculation, levy a 1% Tobin tax (securities transfer tax or trading tax) on all financial transactions including derivatives (futures, options, indices, and over the counter derivatives), stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, and commodities, especially program trading, high-frequency trading, and flash trading. Set up a 15% reserve requirement for all OTC derivatives. Use Tobin tax revenue and a revived corporate income tax to provide immediate tax relief to individuals, families, the self-employed, and small business by increasing personal exemptions and standard deductions. Stop all foreclosures on primary residences, businesses, and farms for five years or the duration of the depression, whichever lasts longer. Set a 10% maximum rate of interest on credit cards and payday loans. Re-regulate commodities markets with 100% margin requirements, position limits, and anti-speculation protections for hedgers and end users to prevent oil and gasoline price spikes. Enforce labor laws and anti-trust laws against monopolies and cartels. Restore individual chapter 11.

2. Measures to nationalize the Federal Reserve, cut federal borrowing, and provide 0% federal credit for production: Seize the Federal Reserve and bring it under the US Treasury as the National Bank of the United States, no longer the preserve of unelected and unaccountable cliques of incompetent and predatory bankers. The size of the money supply, interest rates, and approved types of lending must be determined by public laws passed and debated openly, passed by the congress and signed by the president. Stop US government borrowing from zombie banks and foreigners -- let the US government function as its own bank. Reverse current policy by instituting 0% federal LENDING with preferential treatment for tangible physical production and manufacturing of goods and commodities, to include industry, agriculture, construction, mining, energy production, transportation, infrastructure building, public works, and scientific research, but not financial services and speculation. Issue successive tranches of $1 trillion as needed to create 30 million union-wage productive jobs and attain full employment for the first time since 1945, reversing the secular decline in the US standard of living. Provide 0% credit to reconvert idle auto and other plants and re-hire unemployed workers to build modern rail, mass transit, farm tractors, and aerospace equipment, including for export. Extend 0% federal credit for production to small businesses like auto and electronics repair shops, dry cleaners, restaurants, tailors, family farms, taxis, and trucking. Maintain commercial credit for retail stores. Create an unlimited rediscount guarantee by the National Bank for public works projects to provide cash to local banks for bills of exchange pertaining to infrastructure and public works. Repatriate the foreign dollar overhang by encouraging China, Japan, and other dollar holders to place orders for US-made capital goods and modern hospitals. Revive the US Export-Import Bank. Set up a 10% tariff to protect domestic re-industrialization. Nationalize and operate GM, Chrysler, CIT, and other needed but insolvent firms as a permanent public sector. Maintain Amtrak and USPS.

3. Measures to re-industrialize, build infrastructure, develop science drivers, create jobs, and restore a high-wage economy: state and local governments and special government agencies modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority will be prime contractors for an ambitious program of infrastructure and public works subcontracted to the private sector. To deal with collapsing US infrastructure, modernize the US electrical grid and provide low cost energy with 100 fourth generation, pebble bed, high temperature reactors of 1,000 to 2,000 megawatts each. Rebuild the rail system with 50,000 miles of ultra-modern maglev Amtrak rail reaching into every state. Rebuild the entire interstate highway system to 21st century standards. Rebuild drinking water and waste water systems nationwide. Promote canal building and irrigation. For health care, build 1,000 500-bed modern hospitals to meet the minimum Hill-Burton standards of 1946. Train 250,000 doctors over the next decade. The Davis-Bacon Act will mandate union pay scales for all projects. For the farm sector, provide a debt freeze for the duration of the crisis, 0% federal credit for working capital and capital improvements, a ban on foreclosures, and federal price supports at 110% of parity across the board, with farm surpluses being used for a new Food for Peace program to stop world famine and genocide. Working with other interested nations, invest $100 billion each in: biomedical research to cure dread diseases; high energy physics (including lasers) to develop fusion power and beyond; and a multi-decade NASA program of moon-Mars manned exploration, permanent colonization, and industrial production. These science drivers will provide the technological spin-offs to modernize the entire US economy in the same way that the NASA moon shot gave us microchips and computers in the 1960s. These steps will expand and upgrade the national stock of capital goods and enhance the real productivity of US labor. Return the federal budget and foreign trade to surplus in 5 years or less.

4. Measures to defend and expand the social safety net: Restore all cuts; full funding at improved levels for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, jobless benefits, WIC, Head Start, and related programs. Offer Medicare for All to anyone under 65 who wants it at $100 per person per month, with reduced rates for families, students, and the unemployed. Pay for this with Tobin tax revenues and TARP clawback, and by ending the Iraq and Afghan wars. Seek to raise life expectancy by five years for starters. No rationing or death panels; savings can come only by finding cures. Quickly reach a $15 per hour living wage. Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act and affirm the right to organize. Pass card check to promote collective bargaining.

5. Measures to re-launch world trade and promote world recovery: Create a new world monetary system including the euro, the yen, the dollar, and the ruble, plus emerging Arab and Latin American regional currencies, with fixed exchange rates and narrow bands of fluctuation enforced by participating governments. Institute clearing and gold settlement among member states. Replace the IMF with a Multilateral Development Bank to finance world trade and infrastructure. The goal of the system must be to re-launch world trade through exports of high-technology capital goods, especially to sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and the poorer parts of Latin America. Promote a world Marshall Plan of great projects of world infrastructure, including: a Middle East reconstruction and development program; plans for the Ganges-Bramaputra, Indus, Mekong, Amazon, and Nile-Congo river basins; bridge-tunnel combinations to span the Bering Strait, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Straits of Malacca, the Sicilian narrows, and connect Japan to the Asian mainland; second Panama canal and Kra canals; Eurasian silk road, Cape to Cairo/Dakar to Djibouti, Australian coastal, and Inter-American rail projects, and more. American businesses will receive many of these orders, which means American jobs.

This program will create 30 million jobs in less than five years. It will end the depression, rebuild the US economy, improve wages and standards of living, re-start productive investment, and attain full employment with increased levels of capital investment per job. Most orders placed under this program will go to US private sector bidders. Because of the vastly increased volume of goods put on the market, inflation will not result.

Collecting rainwater now illegal in many states as Big Government claims ownership over our water

Monday, July 26, 2010 - by Mike Adams - Editor of NaturalNews.com

Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I'm about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from "diverting" water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.

Check out this YouTube video of a news report out of Salt Lake City, Utah, about the issue. It's illegal in Utah to divert rainwater without a valid water right, and Mark Miller of Mark Miller Toyota, found this out the hard way.

After constructing a large rainwater collection system at his new dealership to use for washing new cars, Miller found out that the project was actually an "unlawful diversion of rainwater." Even though it makes logical conservation sense to collect rainwater for this type of use since rain is scarce in Utah, it's still considered a violation of water rights which apparently belong exclusively to Utah's various government bodies.

"Utah's the second driest state in the nation. Our laws probably ought to catch up with that," explained Miller in response to the state's ridiculous rainwater collection ban.

Salt Lake City officials worked out a compromise with Miller and are now permitting him to use "their" rainwater, but the fact that individuals like Miller don't actually own the rainwater that falls on their property is a true indicator of what little freedom we actually have here in the U.S. (Access to the rainwater that falls on your own property seems to be a basic right, wouldn't you agree?)

Outlawing rainwater collection in other states
Utah isn't the only state with rainwater collection bans, either. Colorado and Washington also have rainwater collection restrictions that limit the free use of rainwater, but these restrictions vary among different areas of the states and legislators have passed some laws to help ease the restrictions.

In Colorado, two new laws were recently passed that exempt certain small-scale rainwater collection systems, like the kind people might install on their homes, from collection restrictions.

Prior to the passage of these laws, Douglas County, Colorado, conducted a study on how rainwater collection affects aquifer and groundwater supplies. The study revealed that letting people collect rainwater on their properties actually reduces demand from water facilities and improves conservation.

Personally, I don't think a study was even necessary to come to this obvious conclusion. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that using rainwater instead of tap water is a smart and useful way to conserve this valuable resource, especially in areas like the West where drought is a major concern.

Additionally, the study revealed that only about three percent of Douglas County's precipitation ended up in the streams and rivers that are supposedly being robbed from by rainwater collectors. The other 97 percent either evaporated or seeped into the ground to be used by plants.

This hints at why bureaucrats can't really use the argument that collecting rainwater prevents that water from getting to where it was intended to go. So little of it actually makes it to the final destination that virtually every household could collect many rain barrels worth of rainwater and it would have practically no effect on the amount that ends up in streams and rivers.

It's all about control, really
As long as people remain unaware and uninformed about important issues, the government will continue to chip away at the freedoms we enjoy. The only reason these water restrictions are finally starting to change for the better is because people started to notice and they worked to do something to reverse the law.

Even though these laws restricting water collection have been on the books for more than 100 years in some cases, they're slowly being reversed thanks to efforts by citizens who have decided that enough is enough.

Because if we can't even freely collect the rain that falls all around us, then what, exactly, can we freely do? The rainwater issue highlights a serious overall problem in America today: diminishing freedom and increased government control.

Today, we've basically been reprogrammed to think that we need permission from the government to exercise our inalienable rights, when in fact the government is supposed to derive its power from us. The American Republic was designed so that government would serve the People to protect and uphold freedom and liberty. But increasingly, our own government is restricting people from their rights to engage in commonsense, fundamental actions such as collecting rainwater or buying raw milk from the farmer next door.

Today, we are living under a government that has slowly siphoned off our freedoms, only to occasionally grant us back a few limited ones under the pretense that they're doing us a benevolent favor.

Fight back against enslavement
As long as people believe their rights stem from the government (and not the other way around), they will always be enslaved. And whatever rights and freedoms we think we still have will be quickly eroded by a system of bureaucratic power that seeks only to expand its control.

Because the same argument that's now being used to restrict rainwater collection could, of course, be used to declare that you have no right to the air you breathe, either. After all, governments could declare that air to be somebody else's air, and then they could charge you an "air tax" or an "air royalty" and demand you pay money for every breath that keeps you alive.

Think it couldn't happen? Just give it time. The government already claims it owns your land and house, effectively. If you really think you own your home, just stop paying property taxes and see how long you still "own" it. Your county or city will seize it and then sell it to pay off your "tax debt." That proves who really owns it in the first place... and it's not you!

How about the question of who owns your body? According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark office, U.S. corporations and universities already own 20% of your genetic code. Your own body, they claim, is partially the property of someone else.

So if they own your land, your water and your body, how long before they claim to own your air, your mind and even your soul?

Unless we stand up against this tyranny, it will creep upon us, day after day, until we find ourselves totally enslaved by a world of corporate-government collusion where everything of value is owned by powerful corporations -- all enforced at gunpoint by local law enforcement.