Social Secureity Debate

My friend over at Economics without a face had an interesting post today. Take a look.

Chief of the Harbor Police

From the Union Tribune -

Betty Kelepecz, who last year was honored as the Woman Law Enforcement Executive of the Year, resigned this week as chief of the Harbor Police Department.

On Monday, Kelepecz, 49, told port officials that she was leaving. Port commissioners contacted yesterday said they did not know why.

Kelepecz could not be reached for comment.

"I'm pretty shocked," Commissioner Sylvia Rios said. "She had a tough job. As far as I could tell, she was a good chief."

calendars...

This is an interesting article...

From the Union Tribune -

Jan. 12, 2004, was a hectic day at San Diego City Hall. The city auditor suddenly resigned, and the mayor spent four hours rehearsing for his annual State of the City address that night.

Over 90 minutes that afternoon, Assistant City Attorney Les Girard met separately with Councilmen Scott Peters, Brian Maienschein and Jim Madaffer on the city's pension woes. Peters also worked in a lunch with then-Assistant City Manager Lamont Ewell.

Two weeks later, city officials revealed that municipal bond disclosures hid the full scope of a ballooning pension deficit, triggering the federal investigations and credit-rating downgrades that afflict the city today.

San Diego's precipitous slide from fiscal grace snagged headlines for months, but 2004 appointment calendars released over the last two months show that it consumed some elected officials more than others as the situation grew worse.
...

City Hall...

From the Union Tribune -

"The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office are investigating possible financial crimes related to the city's underfunding of the pension system, and errors and omissions in city financial statements. Both agencies also are conducting a separate public-corruption probe. ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a parallel securities-fraud investigation into the city's financial disclosures, and experts say city officials may have a tough time arguing with regulators for leniency.

Meanwhile, the pension board has refused to hand over certain documents to investigators, and the city attorney alleges widespread failure of the bureaucracy to comply with subpoenas, a view challenged by the city manager.

These developments suggest more dysfunction than cooperation, and there could be a heavy price to pay when the SEC gets around to fines and sanctions.

..."

USAID

From the Washington Post -

The U.S. Agency for International Development is moving smartly on its "branding" campaign, which is designed to make absolutely sure that people receiving U.S. aid know who it's from.

Nongovernmental groups operating overseas in nasty places are not too happy with putting the USAID logo on their cars, comparing it to a bull's-eye for bad guys to shoot at. The agency says it will allow exemptions in some cases.

Meanwhile, though, folks at the agency have hats and lovely lapel pins they are to wear proudly to let everyone know where they work. There are great T-shirts, polo shirts, baggage tags and other items -- and a 94-page manual explaining how this is to work.

The United States, it seems, is not the only country working to improve its "branding" programs. The lapel pins -- "USAID" and "From the American People" -- have a little tag on each plastic envelope that says "Made in China."

The white baseball-cap tags say the same, with a China label inside that also alerts us to "hand wash only" -- though machine washing is not a huge danger in the Third World.

Who knew this was a Sino-American project? Will this confuse recipients? Should we just declare China a permanent subcontractor?

Councilman Tony Young

It looks like Councilman Tony Young's office is running into trouble already. I wonder if they made sure all the FBI bugs were out of the office when they moved in.

From the Union Tribune -

The San Diego City Attorney has begun a criminal investigation of Councilman Tony Young's chief of staff after Young fired him for asking a community member for a personal loan.

Young, who took office in January, said he asked for the investigation and expected Aguirre to explore the matter fully.

"I don't think there is criminal intent, but you want to make sure," Young said. "And if it is, then we need to deal with it." ...

Reese Jarrett, a general partner in Carter Reese & Associates, which has several developments before the city, said Hightower asked him for money in February to avoid being evicted. Jarrett lent him $2,000.

Bruce Williams, director of community relations for Mayor Dick Murphy, said he lent Hightower $1,300 in late July or early August, when Hightower and Young were working for the late City Councilman Charles Lewis. "

Social Security

This is a great summation of the Social Security debate.

From The New Republic -

..."On a deeper level, though, Bush's line of reasoning is illuminative. Privatizers portray Social Security as a kind of low-performing 401(k) plan. But the program was never intended as a personal retirement plan. It's a form of social insurance, designed to spread risks throughout the population. One such risk is that you get sick or hurt and can't work anymore; 11.5 percent of Social Security benefits go to disabled workers (which is another reason why retirees get a lower rate of return). "...

..."A system of individual accounts would concentrate all these risks on the shoulders of the individual. The inherent risks of investing have captured the most attention. Obviously, if you invest poorly--or even retire at the end of a market slump--you may get a nasty surprise at retirement. (Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institution studied what would have happened historically if workers had invested two percentage points of their Social Security taxes in stocks. Those retiring at the end of a slump would have less than half the income of their more fortunate counterparts who cashed in a few years earlier.) But the risks of replacing social insurance pose an even harsher dilemma. If you suffer a career-ending disability before you've put aside enough in your account, if you find yourself at the low end of the income scale, or if you live longer than you had made contingencies for, you would be out of luck. Social Security doesn't make anybody a millionaire, but it offers everyone the assurance against suffering too much from outrageous fortune. A privatized system would invert that premise. '...

Pension Board

Out with the old in with the new...

From KPBS -

Mayor Dick Murphy conspicuously did not include current pension board member Dianne Shippionne, the person who blew the whistle on the underfunding of the pension plan by the city council.

Murphy: "You will notice that these are 7 new completely board members did not reappoint any of the existing board members not meant to be a reflection on them but just because I felt that we needed to have a fresh start on the retirement board."

You've got to be kidding

I am embarrassed for our city...really ipayOne that has got to be the the worst name is the history of bad names.

From the Union Tribune -

The San Diego Sports Arena will be renamed the ipayOne Center in a deal approved by the City Council yesterday.

Carlsbad-based ipayOne Inc., a discount real estate brokerage, will pay the arena's operator $2.5 million over the first five years of a naming rights agreement. The city will receive $250,000 over that time.

In subsequent years, the company would pay the arena operators $500,000 annually, and the city $50,000 a year.

New signs will be erected over the next two weeks, and most changes in the facility should be completed by a U2 concert March 28.

Government Secrecy

From The Union Tribune -

In his January State of the City speech, Mayor Dick Murphy pledged to bring leadership to San Diego's pension crisis and rebuild public trust "in an open and transparent way."

Two months later, open government in California's second-largest city is a mixed bag.

Even Murphy's toughest critics allow him some credit for inching city government closer to the sunlight, but they give him mediocre grades overall and say a culture of secrecy continues to grip City Hall.

In another incident shrouded in secrecy, the City Manager's Office recently hired former District Attorney Paul Pfingst to advise the City Council in closed session on a lawsuit brought by the pension board against the city and Aguirre.

The Pfingst matter was front-page news earlier this month, but as of Friday, no one at City Hall would answer basic questions about it, including: Is Pfingst still on retainer to the city, and how much has the city paid him and his firm (Higgs, Fletcher & Mack)? "

Public Information

From the Union Tribune -

Beginning today, a host of journalism organizations and other First Amendment advocates are celebrating Sunshine Week in recognition of the precious freedoms we have in the United States. We cherish our right to assemble and to express ourselves, just as we do our right to have access to our government

The Bankruptcy Bill

This Bill has been getting more press now that it has passed, too bad noone cared before hand. I guess everyone was too busy thinking about Social Security. Here are some interesting points about the Bill. This is from The Left Coaster.

...to be a liberal

My friend from economics with a face found this speech by novelist Mario Vargas Llosa on what it is to be a liberal. He quotes a different section on his site, but I like this one.

"... there are liberals who believe that economics is the field through which all problems are resolved and that the free market is the panacea for everything from poverty to unemployment, marginalization and social exclusion. These liberals, true living algorithms, have sometimes generated more damage to the cause of freedom than did the Marxists, the first champions of the absurd thesis that the economy is the driving force of the history of nations and the basis of civilization. It simply is not true. Ideas and culture are what differentiate civilization from barbarism, not the economy. The economy by itself, without the support of ideas and culture, may produce optimal results on paper, but it does not give purpose to the lives of people; it does not offer individuals reasons to resist adversity and stand united with compassion or allow them to live in an environment permeated in humanity. It is culture, a body of shared ideas, beliefs and customs--among which religion may be included of course--that gives warmth and life to democracy and permits the market economy, with its competitive, cold mathematics of awarding success and punishing failure, to avoid degenerating into a Darwinian battle in which, as Isaiah Berlin put it, “liberty for wolves is death to the lambs.” The free market is the best mechanism in existence for producing riches and, if well complemented with other institutions and uses of democratic culture, launches the material progress of a nation to the spectacular heights with which we are familiar. But it is also a relentless instrument, which, without the spiritual and intellectual component that culture represents, can reduce life to a ferocious, selfish struggle in which only the fittest survive."

Sorry it is a little long...

Blog connection

This is an interested post by Kevin Drum at wahingtonmonthly.com. It is about the inter-connective ness of blogs on the web.

Funny...

Seriously this is really funny. It is funny that the city council has to sign a letter not to personally attack each other, instead of say... maybe... just not doing in to begin with.

From the Union Tribune -

Peace treaty or muzzle?

"That's how an open letter to the public – signed by a San Diego City Council majority – was being cast yesterday.

Signers pledged to refrain from "personal criticism and accusation" against other city officials over the pension crisis, including at City Council meetings, news conferences and other venues.

"The petty bickering needs to stop and without question this is something that will move the city forward," said Councilman Brian Maienschein, among the majority who signed the document.

City Attorney Michael Aguirre and Councilwoman Donna Frye declined to sign, raising concerns over being muzzled.

Said Frye: "I don't always agree with the majority of the council members and I do not want to do anything or pretend that I am going to do anything that would in any way restrict my ability to state my opinion."

Said Aguirre: "I think they're trying to manage the First Amendment."

...
"I think this letter of cooperation, if signed by everybody, will send the correct message to the SEC, the U.S. Attorney, KPMG and to our audit committee that we are all dedicated to doing whatever is necessary to get the audit and the investigation completed."

But I guess is shows the exact opposite. Big surprise that one.

City Hall corruption

This is going to get bad.

From the Union Tibune -

"A judge indicated yesterday that he will not throw out wiretap evidence in the City Hall corruption case nor will he order prosecutors to pinpoint evidence that the councilmen accepted cash bribes.

Councilmen Ralph Inzunza, Michael Zucchet and the late Councilman Charles Lewis were indicted by a federal grand jury Aug. 28, 2003, on charges that they schemed with strip club owner Michael Galardi, club manager John D'Intino and Galardi's Las Vegas-based consultant, Malone, to try to repeal the no-touching law at strip clubs in exchange for money and favors.

Galardi and D'Intino have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the government. The councilmen deny accepting cash bribes. They say that any money they received was in the form of legally reported campaign contributions and that they never promised anything in return.
"

Port Commission

From the Union Tribune -

Kourosh Hangafarin, the San Diego Port Commission's newest member, was touted as a "successful businessman" and a "proven community leader" by elected officials who supported his January appointment by the City Council.

But after Hangafarin signed an unauthorized trade agreement with a Cuban food agency during a trip to Havana last month, people in the community and inside City Hall are questioning whether he has the decision-making abilities and credentials to remain on one of the region's most powerful boards.

The spotlight on Hangafarin also has revealed the city's lack of a formal vetting process for people who want to serve on boards and commissions.

City Attorney Mike Aguirre said he intends to rectify that by announcing today that his office will begin doing the vetting.

"All of this could have been avoided had there been a proper background review," Aguirre said yesterday.

A public records examination by The San Diego Union-Tribune shows that Hangafarin has a troubled financial history that includes two bankruptcies. Divorce papers he signed in April describe him as an "unemployed marketing executive" who couldn't pay child support for his three children. "

Border Fence

Supervisor Diane Jacob beleives that "...When laws impede our national security efforts, it is important to waive those laws. " I wonder if that includes our rights as well...

This is from KPBS -

"KPBS SAN DIEGO (2005-03-01) The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted four to one today to support the completion of the border fence between San Diego and Tijuana. Supervisor Greg Cox, whose district includes South County, cast the lone vote in opposition. KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

Supervisor Greg Cox wrote the original letter supporting the final three miles of the fence on the board's behalf. In it he asked the federal government to follow all environmental laws in that delicate stretch of the border.

The Supervisors rejected Cox's requests and approved an alternate version by Supervisor Diane Jacob. Her measure urges the government the go ahead on the fence project regardless of any laws in the way.

When laws impede our national security efforts, it is important to waive those laws.

The U.S. House of representatives approved the fence project last month. It's headed to the Senate soon. Amy Isackson, KPBS News."

Too Much...

It just doesn't stop. Every day more craziness comes out of city hall, just when you thought it was coming to an end and the adults were going to step in and get back to the business of running our city and spending our tax dollars, it gets crazier. You know the city is in trouble when the newspaper starts using words like ‘nemesis’. What is this a Saturday morning cartoon? Although I doubt the going’s on lately would even be believable as the plot in a cartoon.

From the Union Tribune -

San Diego city officials have hired a nemesis of City Attorney Michael Aguirre to weigh in on a controversial pension-crisis matter that Aguirre views as his own.

If the intent was to get under Aguirre's skin, it appears to have worked.

Officials retained former District Attorney Paul Pfingst, a prominent Aguirre critic and onetime political foe, to advise them in a lawsuit filed by the city's retirement board.

Aguirre counterpunched via news release yesterday, ending it with this slap to the head:

"Paul Pfingst, who was removed from office for unethical behavior by San Diego voters and was caught using drugs while a New York prosecutor, is hardly suited to provide independent and reliable advice to the Mayor and City Council." ...

..."You've got to ask yourself, what's their motivation in hiring Paul Pfingst?" said Shea, whose wife, Diann Shipione, is on the retirement board and blew the whistle on irregular pension practices. Shea has also advocated, in several public forums, that the city declare bankruptcy as a means to untangle its finances.

Shea said: "There are professors from Stanford, professors from Harvard, professors from USC or USD, who are impartial and neutral and can do the analysis. So why do you pick someone that is a public personality who is openly critical of the city attorney, (critical) even before this issue arises?"

$26.5 Million...

From the Union Tribune -

A hiring freeze and delayed park maintenance and repair are part of a plan approved by the San Diego City Council yesterday to balance the city's operating budget this year by cutting spending by 5 percent in all but the public safety departments.

In a midyear budget report issued last week, City Manager Lamont Ewell said the city had a $26.5 million operations shortfall. The council approved Ewell's recommendation that $16 million in higher-than-expected revenue and some $10 million in cuts be used to balance the budget by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

"Now . . . is the appropriate time to start reducing," Ewell said yesterday, "because we are going to have to shrink the organization to meet with some of our needs in fiscal year 2006."

Nearly $5.6 million of the deficit arose from unexpected legal and auditing fees tied to multiple federal investigations into possible securities fraud and possible public corruption by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI...

Zucchet said the city needs to end a longtime practice of balancing its budget by underestimating overtime and other costs.

"Before it was a wink and a nod, and just a game. The whole budget was a sham," Zucchet said.
"

I agree there is far to much winking and noding going on in this town...

Don't Blame Wal-Mart

This is an interesting article from the New York Times editorial page. I think it is good because so often the two side of the global trade debate end up sounding very flat, you hear things like "Global free trade is always good", "Global free trade cost American workers jobs". But the debate is far more complicated than that. This article points that out.

- The New Times

"The fact is, today's economy offers us a Faustian bargain: it can give consumers deals largely because it hammers workers and communities.

We can blame big corporations, but we're mostly making this bargain with ourselves. The easier it is for us to get great deals, the stronger the downward pressure on wages and benefits. Last year, the real wages of hourly workers, who make up about 80 percent of the work force, actually dropped for the first time in more than a decade; hourly workers' health and pension benefits are in free fall. The easier it is for us to find better professional services, the harder professionals have to hustle to attract and keep clients. The more efficiently we can summon products from anywhere on the globe, the more stress we put on our own communities.

But you and I aren't just consumers. We're also workers and citizens. How do we strike the right balance? To claim that people shouldn't have access to Wal-Mart or to cut-rate airfares or services from India or to Internet shopping, because these somehow reduce their quality of life, is paternalistic tripe. No one is a better judge of what people want than they themselves.

The problem is, the choices we make in the market don't fully reflect our values as workers or as citizens. I didn't want our community bookstore in Cambridge, Mass., to close (as it did last fall) yet I still bought lots of books from Amazon.com. In addition, we may not see the larger bargain when our own job or community isn't directly at stake. I don't like what's happening to airline workers, but I still try for the cheapest fare I can get.
"