More on the Job Creation Act of 2004 Where is the money!

March 18, 2005
Dear Mr. Zimmerman:

If you recall we had a discussion about the ethics of not teaching the poorest of the poor children how to read soon enough so they would not fall behind. Interesting how all this ties together and could actually be leveraged into action with the money from the Job Creation Act of 2004. Real interesting, I am sure you also see it as an opportunity.

The Caux Roundtable is fighting for moral capitalism because the populations equate greed, corruption and scandal with business. This is very similar to our basic belief that the speculators (short-term profiteer) in our society-- whether in government, education, business, faith-base, or on the main street are demonstrating the greed and holding back the middle and lower class economic growth. Many of our systems feed the short-term speculator, with more information in areas of public and private earnings and spending which result in divided growth that is not deeply rooted. When does the speculator get exposed? How do we make sure these exposures are not taken out of the context of the whole? How clearly society works together to distinguish the speculator from the effective citizen-driving real growth is one definition of peace and prosperity. One way to define together is to be 70-80% in agreement on the accountable chart of real actions responding to real truths and real expectations. We have tools and a Plan to help effective citizens do this and highlight those individuals and businesses that are meeting requirements. This plan needs a platform for the next 20 years.

I am certain we share the belief that recognizing the truth can go along ways toward neutralizing the speculator. Long-term growth requires character, virtue, morality, ethics, values, investment, time and consistency of purpose. AND, THERE ARE MANY EFFECTIVE
CITIZENS WILLING TO DO THIS! They live and work in business, non-profits, government, the school sectors and every other walk of life defined by our democracy and majority middle class view of choice and opportunity. But in order to get "back on track", working together, making investments for growth, peace, and prosperity, the core accountabilities and truths must be more absolutely confirmed by our various leaderships and directories of the powerful. Probably 90-95% of for-profit businesses aligns generally well with the effective citizen concepts of success, savings, sharing, democracy and the middle class authority. You have projected elements and relationships to make this clear to all; we are hoping you see ways to act with visibility.

Social investments broaden and deepen the middle class customer base spending power so more private risks and innovations are tested, tried, failed, and rewarded. Public spending is a major building block for world wide private for-profit investment decisions. Collaborate private-public spending is and will be required to reach the poorest of the poor for the benefit of 100% plus the world. The Plan capitalizes on the positives behind the separation of church and state when it prompts the government and the schools to ask for help in doing life-changing work for the good of 100% of the population. Demonstrations in the last 80 years show that social giving to the poorest of the poor to change lives is most powerful when delivered in a definition of one-on-one giving very close to the benefactor. We also have learned that effective citizens, businesses and governments that protects themselves from speculators give the middle class true choices and opportunities that expand values with deep roots and ownership. Needless to say USA VALUES-CDP has very tricky positioning of truths and realisms; little stretch space; no secular base; and a positive belief that it represents a real positive possibility. Our position is considered uncomfortable because powerful directories are being distracted by short-term action not addressing the most basic truths. Society is no longer looking for 70-80% agreement to benefit 100%. You have said it clearly from the perspective of the effective business citizen and our next steps might be similar on the basis of first things first.

Our work is to link first things first accountable societal efforts (everyone working together) to reach the poorest of the poor with secular opportunity and choice. Accountable means 100% of the children start kindergarten ready to read. Principals create and maintain the networks to deliver this new start for all the students in the school. The Plan can be visioned regionally, at the school doorstep and inside, in the early learning community before kindergarten, and in a higher tech community network of early reading and social skills development organized from the elementary school. The Plan achievement will generate a real ROI in the social cost arena of government, education and job creation. The Plan can be judged to be working in just 4-6 years at the school level. This plan has been demonstrated to be effective. The regional communication and the network building from the school locations are low cost efforts that can be projected to payback the investments required in the short-term. The delivery of the early learning is an extra cost activity that pays back at plus 16% ROI over 40 years (huge, but the bulk of return to society is after the child’s school years). This delivery will require a constant activity funding for at least 10 years before the savings offset the extra cost.

The money for this social investment has been given back to the effective citizen and businesses via the 2004 Jobs Creation Act. It has effectively been removed from the public sector and put back into the private sector. We must believe that new manufacturing job creation is only possible in the urban and poor rural United States if all citizens are literate and fully engaged in choice and opportunity. Our multinational companies have already pledged the money to job creation and small business and domestic manufacturers got a new tax deduction without having to pledge its use. Some estimate it to be at least 300 billion dollars one time (2005-2006) cash flow into the US economy from overseas and then 70 billion dollars annually. The 300 billion dollars is totally pledged by boards and CEO’s-- to job creation. (Newsweek 1-31-05, p34--and others) This is lots of money; it should be a huge positive; but it seems hidden in the weeds. It seems like government and education does not know it exists; and does not have a plan to ask for its application to first things first.

Triggering a portion of this money, for early education, delivered as a gift, is exactly what effective citizens and businesses will do (invest) to create growth and prosperity. But, leadership and the directories of power in business, government, and education will need to jumpstart this with moral and ethical fortitude. A moral capitalism that demonstrates faith, love, and hope to work together with this money could bring us together (it is in the private sector- placed there in faith by our federal government- for manufacturing job creation). The faith to change the lives of the poorest of the poor through accountable early literacy education, for 100% of the children, to realize a very high return could be judged as moral capitalism at the 6th level. This is long-term societal value building and might be the only way (focus on the age 3-6 child) to reach a 70-80% agreement on next step for the good of 100%. The truth is this effort would change the government and school landscapes in ways that only doing things right the first time could accomplish. The truth is this sets the stage for accountable continuous improvement in the activity cost of business, government and education.

I would be interested to know how an organization like yours could use the tools we have created. Please email me with any interest on your part to meet and discuss this.
Sincerely,
Thomas D. Wolfgram

PS 1. I captured this quote from Stephen B. Young, Global Executive director of the Caux Round Table- in my notes. "This opposition to capitalism would naturally evaporate if it could be demonstrated that business decision-making, though driven by self-interest, did, in fact, embrace vital externalities of consequence to the public interest. Those, like me, who believe that free market capitalism should be the economic system of choice are searching for a Holy Grail of analysis, one that would resolve the contradictions between capitalist valuation techniques and other ethical and moral frameworks of concern.
The end of inquiry should be an integration of virtue and self-interest. Self-interest emphasizes the internal rationality of capitalist calculations, while virtue brings into consideration needs and concerns external to the intersection of supply and demand curves. Such a Holy Grail of valuation is a theory of the firm that aligns stakeholder concerns with the strategic needs of owners of capital."
PS 2. The USA based Multinationals not only have been encouraged by the 911 Commission Report (very effective citizens) to help build effective literacy in the world (page 377) labeled an agenda of opportunity by the UN.
1. It would go without saying that we would do it internationally as we did it at home with our poorest of the poor.
2. What stronger statement could USA Moral Capitalism make about social value building. And only business will be able to realistically undertake this effort.
When the Federal government gives the Multinationals almost "tax- free" repatriation for the promise and commitment to create domestic jobs with the money, a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the corporation’s social commitment has been created.

USA VALUES - CDP Phone 507-452-2658 or 763-550-0769
Character Development Program Fax 507-452-2202
102 Walnut Street http://ulticharnetwork.blogspot.com
Winona, Minnesota 55987 twolfgram@wcprinting.com
(A 501 (c) (3) company)

We expect schools and government to work together

Dear Editor:
Please consider as a counter point. This will be posted to a citizen's league forum and www.usavalues.blogspot.com

February 10, 2005
Dear Senator Hann:
Regarding your commentary date 2-8-2005 regarding Education Access Grants
If you and public education could agree on the positive messages to send children you might, together, set the foundation for agreeing on what is next in education for the children. Certainly a public fight is not going to resolve the merits of vouchers, charters, public schools or other choices for children. Effective citizens expect you and education to provide positive agreement on our strengths and positive steps to align public education with public requirements. It strikes me that there would be fewer battles for vouchers and charters and choices if there were no basic differences in the opportunity created for 100% of the children in public or private education.

Might the real fix be to get back to the point where 100% of the children have an equal opportunity to learn, say at age 3, when they are starting their sensitive period to learning language, order, spaces, practical life and joy in doing. And, at least, to start, make certain, with authority, that the child does not have their sensitive period to learning language wasted by adult neglect before they enter kindergarten. So, at least, 100% of the children start kindergarten with equal ready to read ability.

I guess, truth be told, there never was this point in our history to get back to. Working together to grow is tough. We would’t be trying to make our jobs simple and easy by dividing and conquering, would we? The public and private sector wants total growth. Covey said something about win-win that is relevant to everybody’s effectiveness at the end of the day or decade. Divide and conquer is acceptable practice in the private sector, but with kids, in the public sector, - many like me expect more!

Our society will not be able to find others to do this togetherness for us. It is your obligation to give us something that makes one and one equal more than two. We pay public government and public education to sort our degrees of positive, and actualize them, to give us year after year growth in total results. Many can see segmenting as a one-size-fit-one solution but show us the growth in total results. Honestly, I just wish we were working on the right first thing first so this debate would go away with the success of fixing the real problem.
Sincerely,
Tom Wolfgram
Executive Director
USA VALUES - CDP Phone 507-452-2658
Character Development Program Fax 507-452-2202102
Walnut Street Twin Cities phone 763-550-0769
Winona, Minnesota 55987
twolfgram@wcprinting.com
(A 501 (c) (3) company)

Does the Governor of Minnesota value working together?

The following is a recent posting on the Citizen's League Open Forum, It sure would be nice to know the Governor's bottom line to this. May I have an appointment with the Governor? Thank you. Tom Wolfgram 763-550-0769

One of my next steps is to understand why a sense of public good as it relates to at-risk children would not bring us together. Society could think and write forever about how all conceived permanent improvements need to start with the children. The issues are just starting to align themselves because of constraints and accountabilities.

More for the Governor to consider as he finds funds for our State to deliver the gift of early reading skills to 100% of the children before kindergarten.

I sent this letter to Nick Coleman of the Star Tribune with a copy to the Governor asking the Governor to find the funds for a focus on the gaps of early reading skills for 100% of the age 3-6 children in the State. It is the fastest way to deal positively with poverty. Even if he has to start an assessment program on state spending. If not that, then at least a voluntary giving program headed first by the State, its employees, and its vendors and then the rest of the effective citizen population. As we can see from the budget process, there is no entity that spends more money in the State than the State or has more employees than the state. That is $24.5 billion dollars of spending a year, not including county, city, and other local government spending. Alternatively, there is enough money in the state, to be rearrange, to cover the gaps of learning that prevent the most at-risk age 5-6 children from entering kindergarten and the race to opportunity on "equal" terms. This gap could not cost more than $200,000,000 per year if it is approached one-size-fits-one and uses effective citizens and resources in the process, accountable to the school systems and the State supplemental education system.

Why the Governor and the State:

Frankly the effective citizen is or will be hurt when they examine and learn how simple the delivery of Early Reading Skills and basic concepts of social skills can be. Honestly, This quality is expected -- as part of what we are already paying for public service now -- that it has been defined by science as critical time sensitive brain development and the State is the last to get it in position is part of the disappointment.

·Sensitive period to learning languages is age 3-6, not kindergarten or first grade.
·At age 3-6 the teaching is an individual gift to the child. Not complicated, but it must be arranged so that one-size-fits-one.
·The resources are there for the asking. Costing $5,000 per child not $15,000.
·It would be the States role to insist on inoculation against disengagement if it could be done with a shot.
·The State just started holding Principals accountable under NCLB (2002) for learning that starts at age 3-6 when the child is fortunate to have an individual giver of early reading skills.

Without the gift at-risk children will be behind, the State has the clout to control the gift delivered to 100% of age 3-6 children. Effective citizens pay later when early reading skills are not delivered, It should not be optional but delivered in partnerships of state-school-community-effective citizens. In an overdramatic statement only the Governor can lead us through this turnaround to the promise of a return on investment. Our effective citizen base is still getting up to speed on what is critical, and will always need this leadership.
·Consumer Education-- the ability to read is the ability to keep up and is the ability to stay engaged. Behind at the start breeds disengagement.
·Consumer Education-- the gift is simple to give because it is naturally received at age 3-6.
·The prescription is best given by an adult, who cares and makes it one-size-fits-one. Could the classroom be made optional? It is now! How can technology be used?
·Expect schools to burst into proficiency because 100% of the children start kindergarten ready-to-read with basic social skills.
·Expect principals to fully engage a network of adult attention to age 3-6 children, focused on the goal and this new input to the systemic process.
·Deliver the gift money from the effective citizen directly to the principal in the neighbor developing and controlling the network. Start now, it will develop fast-- because it is based on truth.
·Expect your own State supplemental education systemic process to do double duty to get the money to the networks because it will in no time reduce the need for supplemental education after grades 3-4. Fight the Federal Education Department to use the Federal supplemental Title I money on kids age 3-6.
·Recognize all the Federal Education and other Federal Agency money that exists for this focus. Help Mayors and School Superintendents and Education Service Cooperatives design the school changes.


Governor-- You are the leader with the biggest bat to start the giving, This citizen likes no new taxes. This citizen thinks the gift of early literacy has to be given outside of the government anyway. Who will lead the largest employer in the state- just to the starting line. See also the citizen league forum. http://citizensleague.net/forums/index.php...hp?showtopic=15

Sincerely
Tom Wolfgram