LOTS OF JOBS INITIATIVES; PROBLEM IS THEY CREATE JOBS FOR THE CONNECTED AND THE FAT CATS
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, OCT. 15, 2015) — The news of Sabic’s exit has knocked the 2015 election out of the news and into next Tuesday — into Tuesday, Nov. 3. Not that this snoozefest has generated enough interest to warrant Bodoni Bold in neon on the marquee. As for the other elections … you mean there are other races? Barefoot and pregnant: That’s how The Suits like the electorate.
For mayor, the good folks of Pittsfield have a choice between two divisions of the same league. With turnout at all-time lows, the only way to win elections is to cater to the elite and The Special Interests that control the vote. That starts with the municipal unions led by the teachers and the school department. Feed that pig, and the rest falls into place.
That’s why neither mayoral candidate has mentioned the bedraggled taxpayers. The Little Guy in Pittsfield doesn’t possess an electoral life. Members of the Greatest Generation have either gone to their reward or are too old to get to the polls. The remainder of the Kapanskis don’t bother in numbers that suggest more a beating down than ordinary apathy. Irwin Moiseff, our city turns its lonely eyes to you.
Local ‘Jobs’ Unit Love Sabic Loss
They will say otherwise, but let’s be stright. The news of Sabic’s loss was greeted with confetti and ticker-tape by the endless lists of local “jobs” organizations. They love it because they get a few headlines and can justify their otherwise pointless existences. You know the type:
* Not-for-Profit (wink, wink)
* “Led” by an executive director paid a huge salary for not rocking the boat
* Creates jobs for other staffers whose first qualification is “knowing” someone.
THE PLANET presents this partial list: Berkshire Works. Berkshire Innovation Center. 1Berkshire. Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. The Unemployment Office. PEDA. The Berkshire County Regional Employment Board. Berkshire Jobs Dot Com. Berkshire Applied Technology Council. MassTEC. Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund. Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative. Berkshire Bay State Works Grant. Division of Career Services. Central Labor Council.
Take the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board — please. It’s an agency so “now” that on its website, the most recent statistical picture of the county manufacturing workforce shows data from the first quarter of 2013. Apparently, Heather Boulger doesn’t know that a great feature of the Internet is the ability to post new data, in real time, instantly. The BCREB has done an excellent job with job creation: It employs Boulger as director at the exec’s fat salary. To help her shoulder the load, BCREB also has an Office Executive, a Heathcare Program Director, and a Youth Director. Counting the usual con job and snow job that always come as the sad adjuncts to these fake “jobs generators,” that’s six jobs where there wasn’t one before.
The agency’s website has this inspiring prose:
Berkshire County Workforce Development Business Plan
Fiscal Year 2016 Executive Summary
The Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, Inc. (BCREB), in partnership with our Chief Elected Official, Mayor Daniel Bianchi of Pittsfield, is required to prepare a Fiscal Year 2016 Workforce Development Business Plan for Berkshire County for submission to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. This planning document articulates the region’s priorities and workforce development strategies and revisits the broad scope of how the Workforce Investment Act system will be coordinated with other systems providing employment and training services to improve services for both job seekers and employers.
To echo Ambrose Bierce, not all bureaucrats are liars, for some are dead.
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“He jests at scats that never felt a wound.” — William Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet, opening of Act II, Scene II, (1597).
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
The views expressed in any comment section are not those of PLANET VALENTI or endorsed in any way by PLANET VALENTI; this website reserves the right to remove any comment which violates its Rules of Conduct, and it is not liable for the consequences of any posted comment as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and PLANET VALENTI’s terms of service.
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“And I think it no disgrace / to occupy my place. / If I’m not so large as you, / You are not so small as I / and not half so spry.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, from “Fable,” (1877).
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
The views expressed in any comment section are not those of PLANET VALENTI or endorsed in any way by PLANET VALENTI; this website reserves the right to remove any comment which violates its Rules of Conduct, and it is not liable for the consequences of any posted comment as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and PLANET VALENTI’s terms of service.
FEED THAT PIG. So accurate Dan. That pretty much sums up the Pittsfield school system. Should be a campaign slogan for somebody. Can we at least have banners made up and hung across North street with the Christmas lights? T shirts for the Kapinskis? Put that logo on a plaque on the administrative building as well. And perhaps on a flag that could hang at half mast at school committee meetings.
At least we know that Dan V. will bring up the subject of the Pittsfield School Dept. and the bedraggled taxpayers at the debate that he will be hosting. Since neither candidate has anything to say on those subjects you know it can’t be good for the taxpayer.
The Berkshire County Regional Employment Board is a do nothing organization in my opinion.
Progressive government is supposed to be all about equality and socialism. That formula, however, doesn’t work here in the Berkshires. With too few jobs and way too many people looking for jobs we end up with a system that is anything but fair. Human nature being what it is, we end up with greed. The Pittsfield School Department tops the list of greedy people, but yet these same people vote for progressive candidates. Then we have the two high income career couples who if they live and vote here in the Berkshires are more than likely also progressives.
I would argue that progressive politics also doesn’t work at the federal level, but here in the Berkshires it is glaring just how progressive politics is destroying the area. Progressive politics is all about an anti-business, save the environment or climate change will kill us all attitude. Progressives are not job creators so they end up having to give the few jobs that exist to their friends and relations to keep their supporters happy.
and Regressives er ah Conservatives are about depressing middle – low class incomes not paying for the society they benefit from , make a buck and screw u society and f the environment cuz who cares about the chil den and our responsibility to manage this lovely garden that are Creator gave us !!! Oh so how trickle down economics works for OUR country look at the facts not all middle class and working poor are lazy u know
They are not lazy, that’s the point. They want JOBS.
So the Mayor has the Rapid Response team and Flo has said Pittsfield will survive…that’s original. At some point much earlier, Sabic had an obligation to inform the City or someone, that restructuring was a possibility and that forewarning a year in advance minimum, at least as professional courtesy. So, as it sits, they will be going to Houston, rated 6 in the Country for murders,leaving the poor workers pondering courses of action with about a two year window, fighting to get a piece of the Rapid Response Teams ingenuity or Blight Advocate. neighborhood Clean up and Progressive candidate,Flo to help ease the blow.
An effective, full time mayor would have met with SABIC years ago and asked, “Is there anything Pittsfield can do to get you to stay here?” Now of course, that may not have changed the outcome at all, but a slim chance is better than none at all.
SOL you are right on point. At the west side debate Bianchi told the story that he was shocked the exective manager from Sabic called him to inform him of the news.
Any good and full time mayor would have had a relashionship with the person in charge at Sabic and would be working with him to do something to help or at least know about the situation.
I guess Bianchi was to busy carveing pumpkins with the Kid O’s
There is not anything the Mayor could have done. The other parts of the operation are concentrated in Texas. Even with alterations to corporate income at the state level, Sabic was only there for as long as they had to keep the lease with GE, and I am guessing that was a part of their initial purchase. Also, Texas attracts companies because personal income taxes are much lower than Massachusetts. This falls on the business community to communicate.
Do any of you even know what the Mayor’s legal responsibilities are? This is the same argument as saying the President of the US makes gasoline prices go up or down.
The window for Sabic workers who don’t accept the relocation is less than a year. End of June. That’s when the money and benefits run out. By then many will be long gone or working at HON.
What is HON? When somebody tells me I’ll say “Oh yeah, but right now I can’t think of what it stands for.
Pat, HON stands for Hotel on North St..
Thank you!!!
At maxwell, I see that also, good observation,seems to be latent political relationship of some sort. For myself, will not bring myself to vote for either candidate and will write in Mr. G….Really don’t care what either has to say.
The list of agencies devoted to economic development is stunning. It is a remarkable waste of taxpayer dollars. I wonder if the list is longer than the number of jobs created?