Penny PressNevada, USA Volume 15 Number 1 SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

PennyPressLogotype Pointedlymad licensed from: Rich Gast

Credits:Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors:Fred Weinberg Floyd Brown Al Thomas Doug French Robert Ringer John Getter Pat Choate Ron Knecht Byron Bergeron

The Penny Press is published weekly by Far West Radio LLC All Contents © Penny Press 2017

Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be emailed to: pennypresslv@gmail.com No unsigned or unverifiable letters will be printed.

775-461-1515 eFax: 201-304-0355

www.pennypressnv.com

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 2

By DANIEL HONCHARIWSpecial to the Penny Press

The Clark County School District and its teacher union, the Clark County Education Association, just finished Round

One of binding arbitration meetings, to no avail.

To those interested citizens and school parents hoping to better understand the real conflicts at issue in these important talks: Good luck.

The public is expressly barred from these meetings under laws that school-district and union insiders lobbied into statute years ago.

Representatives of both sides

met last week in a three-day attempt to convince an ostensibly independent arbitrator of the merits of their respective positions. For reasons undisclosed to the public, the arbitrator has not yet been able to render a decision in the matter. Thus, both sides must endure an additional three days of arbitration hearings, set to take place September 13-15, 2017.

The arbitration process is only necessary because of the failure of the school district and the teacher union to broker a new agreement governing workplace conditions. The prior collective bargaining agreement expired as the 2017-2018 school year began, although its provisions, generally, will continue to govern until a new agreement is reached.

According to local reports,

the impasse stems primarily from the teacher union’s demand for 3 percent increases in step pay over the duration of the new contract. The district, citing its estimated $50-60 million budget deficit for the current year, has instead proposed a “pay freeze” for at least the current year.

After the first round of arbitration meetings ended, however, the district announced $43 million in spending cuts, which may change the calculus for future meetings.

Such financial issues are core to CCSD’s ability to provide its students with a meaningful education. It is well documented that Nevada consistently ranks as worst or next-to-worst in many national education rankings, depending on the methodology.

As such, the arbitration process, which could exacerbate CCSD’s budget shortfall, has significant ramifications for the district’s ability to educate its students.

Yet despite this, the public at large, including the parents of children attending district schools, are blocked from witnessing the arbitration process unfold — not to mention the series of failed negotiations which preceded it.

Such is the case because state law specifically exempts the entire collective bargaining process from Nevada’s Open Meetings Law, which otherwise provides that “all meetings of public bodies must be open and public, and all persons must be permitted to attend any meeting of these public bodies.”

1. Under NRS 288.220, the following

Penny PressNEVADA USA 16 PAGES VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1 SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

Penny WisdomCongress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue! —Donald Trump

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of NevadaInside:It Took A Cat 4Hurricane . . .

See Editorial Page 6

RON KNECHT PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6ROBERT RINGER PAGE 7DOUG FRENCH PAGE 9NATALIA CASTRO PAGE 10ROBERT ROMANO PAGE 11CHUCK MUTH PAGE 14

Want To See Your Money At Work? Tough Luck

Commentary

Continued on page4

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 4

meetings “are not subject to any provision of NRS which requires a meeting to be open or public”:

2. Any negotiation or informal discussion between a local government employer and an employee organization.

3. Any meeting of a mediator with either party or both parties to a negotiation.

4. Any meeting or investigation conducted by a fact finder.

5. Any meeting of the governing body of a local government employer with its management representative.

6. Deliberations of the [Local Government Employee-Management Relations] Board toward a decision on a complaint, appeal or petition for declaratory relief.

This carve-out makes it impossible for any common citizen to gain a comprehensive understanding of the factual basis for the stalled negotiations, including those whose stake in CCSD’s financial wellbeing is greatest — the school parents.

There is, however, no justifiable basis for exempting government-union labor negotiations from public view. Like any other government meeting where taxpayer dollars are on the line, the general public has a compelling interest in what results from arbitration.

In June, an NPRI commentary published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal advocated for the abolition of the collective bargaining exemption to the state’s Open Meetings Law.

In that particular instance, the basis for arguing against the exemption was the district’s ongoing sexual-misconduct scandal. Since 2014, more than 30 CCSD staff members have been arrested on suspicion of sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior involving students.

Soon after local media reported on the scandal, it became clear that the governing labor agreement between CCSD and the teacher union had been exploited by district employees to perpetuate the abuse. Specifically, in multiple cases the agreement’s “pass the trash” provision had been invoked to quietly transfer staff members who had been accused of misconduct into other district schools, instead of simply terminating their employment with the district.

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:Behind closed doors, it’s all too easy for government

representatives and union bosses to form a common front against the public — whether it’s the taxpaying public or, as in this case, the youth and families the district was established to serve.

Take for example Article 12, Section 10 of the current collective bargaining agreement between the school district and the Clark County Education Association, known colloquially as the “pass the trash” clause. It reads, in part:

“In the event civil or criminal proceedings are brought against a teacher and the teacher is cleared of said charge, all written reports, comments or reprimands concerning actions which the courts found not to have occurred, shall be removed from the teacher’s personnel file.”

While this provision is somewhat ambiguous — can a personnel file be wiped only if courts have become involved? — in practice it

has allowed predatory teachers to be quietly transferred to other schools where new students can potentially be victimized.

Note that the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s recent “Broken Trust” series revealed that at least two of the teachers arrested during just the 2016-17 school year “had a known history of inappropriate behavior, according to police records,” yet were permitted to teach anyway.

This is powerful evidence that, for the safety of students and the common welfare of the community, the provisions of collective bargaining agreements need to be crafted publicly and transparently…

…Sunlight on union negotiations would have likely precluded this type of clause, and anything as potentially damaging, from ever being adopted in the first place.

Clark County parents are already furious, given the failed educational outcomes the district provides to its students.

Thus, had they been present for the negotiations that resulted in the “pass the trash” clause, they likely would have rebelled against the union efforts to blindly prioritize the protection of its members over the safety of children.

There, the consequences of having kept the bargaining process secret were arguably more dire than in the present case, which primarily concerns financials. Regardless, in both instances, the taxpaying public has a vested interest in the contents of the district’s labor agreement with its teacher union, and therefore should be allowed to witness the bargaining process in real-time.

Transparency in government benefits any civil society. Why do the unions insist on secrecy?Daniel Honchariw is a policy analyst with NPRI.

And Just Why Is Collective Bargaining Exempt?Continued from page 3

An Attempt to Make Sense of Politics Today – Part II

In our last column, we discussed the Civil Rights movement that hugely changed America in the 20th Century and greatly redeemed the failure of our Founding (allowing slavery) and the Democrat and KKK legacy of bigotry, oppression and discrimination known as Jim Crow.

We pointed out that government, plus the social, economic and political Establishment, was the enforcer of slavery and Jim Crow. And that the reforms overshot their mark, leading to pernicious reverse discrimination that now travels under

the euphemism of diversity.Many Republicans, whose

party led the fight against slavery and for equal rights, plus limited-government conservatives, resisted the overshoot, focusing on high-minded principles including the rule of law and individual (not group) rights. Many Democrats sought to atone for their party’s historic bigotry and demonstrate their virtue by changing government from the instrument of minority oppression to one of minority revenge or at least group compensation.

In the late 19th Century, when Jim Crow was rising, two radical political movements born in Germany came to America. One was progressivism, which in its earliest form was merely the provision of what today we’d call a modest social safety net. The other was socialism and communism in which government owned “the means of production” – i.e., commercial and

industrial ventures.Once here, these ideologies

mutated. Progressivism, both here and in Europe, began to mean exchanging limited-government democratic governance for nearly unlimited central planning, command and control economics and social policy controlled by insiders who considered themselves the elite. America adopted its own lite version collectivist economics via regulation instead of state ownership.

Early on, progressivism won major adherents among both Republicans (Theodore Roosevelt) and Democrats (Woodrow Wilson). It was also associated with racism and other bigotry, as exemplified by Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger and those two presidents. Regulation was also a bipartisan movement.

With the coming of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Democrats became true leftists and began to own both progressivism and collectivist economics. FDR used regulation as far as he could, but then resorted to limited socialism. In the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats married aggressive and extensive progressivism and collectivist economics with their new-found support for civil rights.

Along the way, Democrats and other leftists discovered coalition politics based on ethnic, gender, racial, regional and particular economic interests, including especially labor unions. Beginning in the 1960s this approach mutated into identity group politics, which they increasingly have ridden right up to the present time.

Over the last half-century, Democrats, other progressives, statist liberals and much mainstream media, academe and entertainment jettisoned real civil rights and American limited-government principles for ever more aggressive progressivism, regulation (especially the environmental, “alternate energy” and “consumer” movements), collectivist economics

and identity politics. As their policies became more extreme, they experienced major failures.

However, their politics lent a false symbolism of supporting little people, the unfortunate and the disenfranchised against the alleged predation of real capitalists and proponents of individual liberty.

Also, as their politics crowded out religion and other voluntary charitable and civil enterprise, their politics became their religion. It not only allowed them to demonstrate their alleged virtue via empty political posturing and preening, but also gave them a rhetorical weapon against their political opponents as they developed the language of “political correctness.”

All the while, they’ve been blind to the fact that the essence of all their politics is increasing coercion. That is inherently aggression, oppression and destruction of aggregate human wellbeing (the real public interest). All that is experienced by their targets as hate and lies, especially when coupled with the smug condescension and ugliness of ever increasing political correctness and ever more splintered identity politics.

Along the way, principled arguments of many Republicans and other limited-government conservatives often have been drowned out by all this – but thereby reinforced, not refuted. The increasingly vicious and intolerant litany and aggression of the Democrats and other leftists has thus provoked severe frustration, legitimate anger and a sometimes (but not always) inarticulate rage. And thus a strong reaction by bigots and other lowlifes, as well as thoughtful reactions by limited-government conservatives.

Today’s politics in a nutshell: Democrats and other leftists are reaping some of what they have long sewn.

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 5

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:

The Pittsburgh airport which is opening the gate area to non-passengers who go through security so they can see rela-tives off and greet arrivals. It’s about time we stopped worrying about 9-11 and started worrying about not allowing a bunch of terrorist punks to change our lives forever. As comedian Ron White said, “If you’re going to travel in a turban, make it a John Deere Turban.”

President Trump for moving to end the illegal exemption which President Obama gave the so-called “dreamers” by executive order. The ball is now in Congress’ court and, for a change, it better do something.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:UNLV which is requesting approval to finance the construction of a new football training complex at an estimated cost of $28.5 million. The 73,000-square-foot, two-story facility will be located at the north end of the existing UNLV football practice field. This from a University which is way short of its fundraising goal for its medical school. And which just suffered the worst loss to an underdog in NCAA history. www.pennypressnv.com

Tips Of Our Capand

Bronx Cheers

Commentary: Ron Knecht & James Smack

RON KNECHT and JAMES SMACK

Last week, even the mainstream media got a chance to see the real America.

Mother Nature moved in to test the gulf coast of Texas and the city of Houston was clearly in Hurricane Harvey’s sights. But unlike 2005 in New Orleans, the Republican Governor of Texas, the Democrat Mayor of Houston and the people of Texas were ready.

I’ve always believed that America consists of about 330-million native heroes just waiting for an opportunity to go into action. It’s in American DNA.

Something about living in a free country must nurture the instinct because whatever else we may not do so well, helping our fellow citizens in tough times is something we specialize in.

The onslaught of a hurricane seems to have been an open invitation to our heroes in waiting.

There’s the story of a Houston cop who has stage 4 metastatic colon cancer and couldn’t get to his normal office, so he got to the nearest office and had a hand in helping to rescue 1,500 residents from floodwaters. “He’s been so caught up in the emotions and the excitement of trying to rescue people, he had no time to even think about it,” his wife told Fox News.

There are the church groups who are helping their fellow citizens clean up the muck the flood waters created in thousands of houses.

And there are just regular folks who used their boats to rescue people they didn’t know.

There are thousands of people from everywhere in the USA who heard the news and headed to Texas where they could be of help.

When I hear that Americans are arrogant, I think about events like this and remember Dizzy Dean saying, “It ain’t braggin if you can back it up.”

Americans can almost always back it up.

And let me also tell you about the people who are, today, being helped.

When Oklahoma gets hit by tornadoes, when Nevada gets hit by wildfires, when a hurricane makes landfall in Florida; among the people who load up and head to the scene will be thousands of Houstonians. We know that for two reasons; 1) they have in the past, and, 2) Houston is in Texas.

And despite a mainstream media assault on First Lady Melania Trump’s shoes as she got on Marine One to head to the area (they were sneakers by the time she got off Air Force One in Texas) and a similar assault on President Trump’s supposed lack of empathy, the Federal Government in the form of both the military and FEMA was there and we have heard zero complaints about the interaction between the Trump administration and local authorities.

It must be killing the media that it can’t find much—if anything—to bitch about.

Why I even saw the head of FEMA on CBS This Morning having a civil conversation and not having to defend the Trump Administration. That’s like the Lions and the Christians eating together.

But, very soon, it will be back to normal.

The media normal.

The mainstream media viscerally hates Donald Trump and it took a category 4 hurricane with a near perfect Federal response to make it stand down for five minutes.

A week from now, all will be forgotten and stories of all of Trump’s perceived mistakes and malfeasance will be flying to you over the airwaves as well as down the cables and internet. And the vast bulk of Americans won’t be paying attention because they simply know better.

But at least the heroism of Houston—both its people and responders from everywhere—gave us a rest for a few weeks. At the expense of billions in destruction and at least 60 lives.

It would probably be too much to hope the media has learned a lesson.

FRED WEINBERG

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 6

OPINIONFrom The Publisher...

It Took A Cat 4 Hurricane To Make Media Almost Behave

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 7

America’s Great Unsung HeroHeroes are people who accomplish extraordinary feats under

extraordinarily difficult circumstances, such as the firefighters who marched into the World Trade Center towers on 9/11 in an attempt to save lives while everyone else was scurrying to get out.

But there’s another kind of hero — one who makes a living accomplishing extraordinary feats under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, day in and day out. The hero I’m referring to is the individualist known as an “entrepreneur.”

In our current age of envy, the entrepreneur is perhaps the most misunderstood, underappreciated, and reviled human being on earth. He represents everything that thug-infested groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter hate. The truth is that the entrepreneur is not the greedy, win-at-all costs monster that haters like to portray him as.

On the contrary, it is the entrepreneur who is the primary driver of a healthy economy, not only by creating products and services but, in the process, jobs. And through the invisible hand of the marketplace, he improves the lives of people (sometimes millions of people) whom he will never even meet.

It should not be surprising, then, that many of our Founding Fathers were entrepreneurs, perhaps the two most famous examples being George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. They are also good examples of just how far apart the results of individual entrepreneurs can be.

Though they were both farmers, Washington was one of the richest men in America, while Jefferson struggled financially throughout his life and died broke. But Jefferson’s financial difficulties never dampened his enthusiasm for entrepreneurial pursuits, which resulted in the building of his beloved Monticello estate and the founding of one of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning, the University of Virginia.

It’s important to understand that there are no guarantees for the entrepreneur. On the contrary, he labors long, hard hours without the luxury of a safety net. Either he gets results or he starves. And that’s what makes the entrepreneur unique — his willingness to shove all his chips to the center of the table and bet everything he owns on the farm, literally.

Plain and simple, the entrepreneur is a risk-taker who is willing to risk losing everything if he fails. By everything, I’m not just referring to his savings, stocks, collectibles, and even his kids’ college education funds. I’m talking about his house, his furniture, his cars — everything he owns. Not to mention his credit, his self-esteem, and, all too often, his “friends.”

The willingness to risk everything is just part of the price the entrepreneur pays for having a big upside potential. He fully understands that if he fails, he will get hurt — often badly. One of the things that makes the entrepreneur heroic, then, is that he is not afraid to risk failure — and perhaps look foolish in the process.

Those who look their noses down on entrepreneurs who have failed have no understanding of how treacherous the road to success can be. When things go south on the entrepreneur, his employees have the luxury of moving on to another job, while he is left behind to face his creditors. And that can get pretty ugly.

But those who are in the risk-taking arena day in and day out know

that going broke is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, Silicon Valley wouldn’t be what it is today if young dot-com entrepreneurs didn’t have a propensity for failing one or two times before hitting it big.

Unfortunately, in our current age of envy there are many people who actually believe that everyone should be protected from failure. They do not understand that in a free society, people must be allowed to fail, because when you take away the right to fail, you also take away creativity and resourcefulness. If no one ever took risks, nothing would ever be created. Just as death is a part of life, so, too, is failure.

Thus, the true entrepreneur embraces failure because he understands that each failure brings him one step closer to success. That’s why the entrepreneur does not see failure as the end of the line. Rather, he sees it as a learning experience and has the mental toughness to pick himself up, brush himself off, and move on to the next deal. And when he moves on, he does so with an arsenal that contains a considerable amount of newly acquired knowledge and wisdom.

Finally, I should point out the obvious — that anyone can start out as an employee (and most people do), then, when he believes he’s ready, choose to leave his job and go into business for himself. The advantage of taking this path to success is that when he leaves, he takes with him all the knowledge and skills he has accumulated — free of charge — while being paid to do his job.

Thus, everyone is a potential entrepreneur. Striking out on one’s own is a risk-reward choice, and it’s a choice that is open to every employee. Each person’s life takes unique twists and turns that result in his being an employee all his life, an entrepreneur all his life, or some combination of the two.

But regardless of the success or failure of those who try their hand at being an entrepreneur, never lose sight of the fact that in a free society, the life of an entrepreneur is open to everyone. In other words, the entrepreneur is not stifled by a caste system. Under capitalism, it’s possible for anyone to start out as a low-level employee and rise to the top through his own efforts.

Which is just of the many reasons why I love capitalism. How sad that the Bernies of the world will never understand the moral sanctity of this powerful subcategory of freedom. ROBERT RINGERRobert Ringer (© 2017)is a New York Times #1 bestselling author who has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows, including The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, The Charlie Rose Show, as well as Fox News and Fox Business. To sign up for a free subscription to his mind-expanding daily insights, visit www.robertringer.com.

www.pennypressnv.com

Commentary: Robert Ringer

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 8

Meet the New Nonprime, Same as the Old Subprime

It’s back. Renamed and repackaged, and fully compliant with Messrs. Dodd and Frank. “Making credit available to borrowers who are subprime is national policy and it is an important part of economic growth,” says Julian Hebron, head of sales at RPM Mortgage in Alamo, California. “It’s untrue to call it a scourge.”

Across the pond, “Everyone in the financial services industry is terrified of using the term ‘sub-prime’ – so you will notice that a new lexicon has developed to describe the market, with ‘impaired credit’, ‘credit repair’ and ‘complex prime’ among the labels commonly used” writes Patrick Collinson and Rupert Jones for The Guardian.

Don’t call it scourge or subprime, for that matter. It’s nonprime. Dan Perl told CNBC, subprime “sounds kind of Neanderthal, doesn’t it? It sounds almost like you’re a monkey and humans are better. But nonprime has a nice ring to it.”

A veteran lender to the less than creditworthy, Mr. Perl walked away in 2007 and sat out last decade’s crash. Now he’s back at age 68. Ben McLannahan writes that the nonprime sector, “is on course to produce about $10bn this year — a tiny slice of America’s $1.6tn overall home-loan market but one that’s growing rapidly.”

“The way Perl and his peers see it, there’s nothing shady or menacing about the business of subprime. On the contrary, they say, specialist lenders in this area are performing a vital service for the world’s largest economy,” McLannahan explains.

The worry is mortgage lending will slid right back to the early 2000’s when anyone could get a mortgage, or two, or three. Down payment, job, good credit history, not required. After all, Wall Street has rediscovered its appetite for higher yielding junky paper. “The market for securitizing subprime loans is picking up, too, spreading the risk of default in much the same way as before,” writes McLannahan. “Fitch, the credit rating agency, expects $3bn of issuance of nonprime mortgage-backed securities (MBS) this year, up from about $1bn over the previous 18 months. (Back in January, it was predicting $2bn for the year.)”

This is reminiscent of the bad old days. “Everyone was complicit,” says Mike Fierman. “You felt trapped; investors were demanding more loans than could be produced in a responsible way. The only way to produce that kind of volume was to be irresponsible.”

To feed the machine, lenders were going after “gardeners and serving maids and house cleaners and gas-station attendants and strippers on poles,” says Perl.

This time there are no negative amortization and liar loans. A borrower’s ability to pay must be verified. However, packaging enough squeaky clean paper to fill Wall Street’s appetite is difficult. For instance, “In a $250m MBS deal in June, more than 40 per cent of borrowers who got mortgages bought by Deephaven had had a prior “credit event” such as a bankruptcy, foreclosure or short sale, according to Kroll, a credit rating agency. The deal was roughly six times oversubscribed, nonetheless,” writes McLannahan.

Wall Street giants Pimco and Blackstone are creeping back in and it’s just a matter of time before the banks ramp up their nonprime numbers. The ratings agencies have returned (other than Moody’s) giving the MBS products their stamp approval. Bill Ashmore, who runs California mortgage company, Impac, thinks the market will grow to $100 billion.

As they were in in the last housing meltdown, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the catalysts. William Poole wrote on CNN in March of this year,

Today, the Fed is again ignoring the GSEs and their potential contribution to future instability. According to Freddie’s 2016 annual report, “Expanding access to affordable mortgage credit will continue to be a top priority in 2017.” Fannie/Freddie have redefined “subprime” to a credit rating of below 620; previously, these firms and banking regulators had used 660 as the dividing line that defined a subprime borrower. Now by using the lower number, they may be buying even weaker mortgages than before the financial crisis.

Freddie says 36% of its obligations are “credit enhanced,” typically used for weaker mortgages. However, as Poole points out, “The insurance against default is only as good as the enhancing firms, and none is rated above BBB+. If these weak subprime mortgages begin to fail in large numbers, so also will the insuring companies.”

Poole believes, the market is riskier than 2008 because back then “there was some market discipline, however imperfect it was, because potential buyers of mortgages would look at their quality carefully.” Today, “only Fannie and Freddie are examining the quality of the mortgages,” he writes “And it is taxpayers who would carry the burden of bailing out Fannie and Freddie, since their obligations are guaranteed by the US government.”

As Jim Grant often says, knowledge in the sciences is cumulative, in finance, it’s cyclical. DOUG FRENCH

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 9

Commentary: Doug French

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 10

Higher Ed Bubble BurstingFor years, the message was to go to college. A college degree became

essential for nearly any job and American youth have flocked into Universities at higher rates than ever before. But mounting debt and the struggle to find jobs has created a bubble that is ready to burst. Now, some states are starting to expand programs which promote vocational training and trade jobs, rather than sending everyone to college.

Millennials are the most college educated generation, but at the same time are finding themselves unable to enter the labor force. The value of a college degree has dropped substantial due to increased enrollment, while tuition soars alongside attendance. Graduates are finding themselves with an invaluable degree, mounds of debt, and an inability to find a job.

This bubble has finally burst.In states like Iowa, more than half of the available jobs are middle

skilled jobs requiring some form of vocational training, or jobs which require more than a high school degree but less than a four-year college degree. Students entering college, rather than these careers have caused a skills gap across industries in the state’s labor force.

To meet labor force demands, The Houston Chronicle of Aug. 2017 explains, “More K-12 schools and Iowa companies are partnering to add and expand skilled-trades programs; from creating the Skilled Trades Academy in Des Moines to a pre-apprenticeship program in Boone that can reduce the amount of time it takes a student to complete a traditional apprenticeship.”

By instituting vocational programs and skills based training programs, states like Iowa are fighting to combat the growth of universities and provide students with additional options.

This has been a trend across state lines, California is now spending $6 million on a campaign to revive the reputation of vocational education,

and $200 million to improve vocational programs directly.This reputation revival is necessary, since vocational and trade based

education has dramatically altered from its original scope. Judy Bass explained in Education Dive, that initially trade education remained focused in industries such as automotive, construction, and graphics; but today, skills training focus on engineering, robotics, telecommunications and fiber optics, criminal justice, biotechnology and computer technology. Even in the automotive industry, students receive training on up to date technology that can serve them across fields.

The United States should be training our children for jobs they can receive, not leading them to debt they cannot afford, because the reality is not everyone should go to college or even needs to. There are many students who can attend trade schools to learn skills that can support their lives immediately.

This would prevent students from simply wasting their degree, but rather putting the skills they learn to good use.

Bloomberg’s Richard Vedder writes, “The number of college graduates far exceeds the growth in the number of technical, managerial, and professional jobs where graduates traditionally have gravitated… [W]e have a new phenomenon: underemployed college graduates doing jobs historically performed by those with much less education. We have, for example, more than 100,000 janitors with college degrees, and 16,000 degree-holding parking lot attendants.”

States must combat this dilemma before labor forces collapse and graduates continue to accrue unpayable debt. Trade and vocational schools present the unique opportunity to get ahead of this problem. As always, expectations must be managed accordingly. The message should not simply be go to college but go somewhere that gives you a future. NATALIA CASTRONatalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.

Commentary: Natalia Castro

3 Percent Growth Second Quarter No For Entire Year

There was good news on the economic front as the Bureau of Economic Analysis revised upwards reported growth of the Gross Domestic Product in the second quarter from an inflation-adjusted 2.6 percent annualized to 3 percent annualized.

The news was heralded as great news for the American people by conservative media outlets and the Trump administration, naturally so, but a word of caution. 3 percent growth for a single quarter does not mean 3 percent growth for the entire year.

Growth in the first quarter remained at 1.2 percent, meaning, the growth rate for the year so far averages out to only about 2.1 percent.

To get to 3 percent for the year, the economy will still have to grow at about an annualized 3.9 percent for the remaining two quarters each just to get to the average of 3 percent for the year. Not saying it cannot be done but whether it will be done remains to be seen.

Although it is true that growth never rose above 3 percent annually during the Obama administration, there were many quarters where it grew above that level on an annualized basis. For example, in 2014, in the second quarter, the economy grew at an annualized 4.6 percent, and in the third quarter it grew at an annualized 5.2 percent. But because in the first quarter it shrank at an annualized 0.9 percent and only grew at an annualized 2 percent in the fourth quarter, the average growth for the year was still less than 3 percent.

Meaning, we’re not yet out of the slow growth doldrums that have plagued the U.S. economy for more than a decade — where the economy has not grown above an inflation-adjusted 3 percent annually since 2005 and not above 4 percent since 2000. From a growth perspective, the economy the past decade prior to President Donald Trump taking office was the worst on record.

The Trump administration should be mindful of the challenges the U.S. economy still faces — and manage expectations accordingly. The slowdown has been several years in the making, and it will not be turned around by sheer will or optimism alone.

Fortunately, it appears the President has surrounded himself with sober economic advisors, including Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. The budget submitted by OMB does not project 3 percent growth annually until 2021. And in a comprehensive oped for the Wall Street Journal on July 12, “Introducing Maga-nomics,” Mulvaney outlined the several conditions for getting there, including “Tax reform… Curbing unnecessary regulation… Welfare reform… Smart energy strategy… Rebuilding America’s infrastructure… Fair trade for America… Government spending restraint… [and] the size of the workforce.”

Three of those, curbing regulations, trade relations and smart energy strategies are all in the White House’s court. Although reducing the trade deficit will be difficult. It’s actually larger on average per month in 2017 at $46.1 billion a month than it was at this point in 2016 at $41.6 billion.

That, even as U.S. exports have increased. The trouble is that imports grew even faster. Also, currency mismatches overseas remain a challenge.

But other essential items, including tax and welfare reform and spending restraint, depend on Congress and it remains unclear whether the GOP leadership there can create the consensus to get big things done.

Another factor cited by Mulvaney, the size and growth of the workforce, is dependent on other demographic factors — such as population growth of the working age population.

It also depends on social conditions — for example young people receiving the right kind of education and job training to obtain the jobs available — that may be beyond the scope of the government’s ability to affect in the near-term or even over the course of four years.

On those latter counts, the slower growth rate of the working age civilian labor force has correlated with the economic slowdown seen since 2000. The more people who enter the labor force, the more momentum the economy tends to have and vice versa.

As far as education and job training goes, there 131 million Americans over the age of 25 with some college or with degrees competing for only 55 million jobs that require that sort of education. That leaves the other 76 million or so people overeducated and yet unqualified for the many other jobs that actually require some form of vocational training. This is a generational challenge, and will not be fixed overnight.

This might help explain the slowdown of labor force growth in part but other factors including automation and outsourcing also loom.

In short, getting the growth engine of the U.S. economy moving again is not going to be so easy — and the economic advisors in the White House need to manage the President’s as well as the public’s expectations in this regard. It is good we have a president who is optimistic. Trump’s goal of 3 or 4 percent growth is laudable.

But to get to where we need to be will require outlining the real challenges facing the economy, even if it includes unpleasant news, and seek to aggressively address them via pro-growth policies.

Happy talk alone won’t make the economy grow robustly. Just ask former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ROBERT ROMANORobert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 11

Commentary: Robert Romano

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 12

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 13

Watching Outfor Our Country, County and CityLIKE A HAWK!

KELY 1230AM

Ely’s Radio Station293-1875 Georgetown Ranch

A Category 5 storm of stupidity – Hurricane Kaepernick – is sweeping across the NFL.

Last year San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to protest what he falsely claims to be rampant racism in America by refusing to stand during the National Anthem. His insulting act of disrespect then spread to a handful of other highly-paid ingrates. Which resulted in a rather significant boycott of the NFL by fans in the stands.

After the season, Kaepernick walked away from his multi-million dollar contract with the 49ers and - get this - no team has hired him for the 2017 season. Go figure.

In the meantime, other players have stupidly continued Kaepernick’s “take a knee” sideline shenanigans during the pre-season, including 49er strong safety Eric Reid. And when asked recently what he hopes to accomplish by spitting in the eyes of NFL fans, Reid replied…

“Change. The goal is to just create some change.”Well, mission accomplished, bozo. Because every time an NFL game

pops up on my TV screen now I change the channel!“I feel like I needed to regain control of the narrative and not let

people say that what we’re doing is un-American, because it’s not,” Reid continued. “It’s completely American.”

To be fair, that’s true. Protesting in our country is as American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Donald Trump. But the problem isn’t that his silly protest is UN-American; it’s that it’s ANTI-American.

And the disrespect shown is absolutely a slap in the face to America’s law enforcement officers and members of the military – most of whom get paid a comparative pauper’s wage to risk their very lives and limbs defending our nation and fellow citizens.

To put this insulting temper-tantrum by these spoiled, pampered “athletes” into perspective, go to Google, click on “Images” and enter “flag draped coffin” in the search box. Or consider the fact that 64 law enforcement officers were shot and killed in the line of duty last year, including five who were ambushed and gunned down by a sniper in Dallas.

THAT’S what the outraged backlash by Americans coast-to-coast is all about.

Making matters worse for the NFL is that coaches and team owners are standing by and letting these jerks get away with it. 49er coach Kyle Shanahan, when asked about Reid’s new protest, said flatly, “I’ve got no issue with it.” And there’s been no public “You WILL stand” edict issued by any of the team owners that I know of.

By the way, for the constitutionally ignorant among us, there is no First Amendment right to speak without consequences from your private employer. The First Amendment only protects you from GOVERNMENT reprisal.

If coaches, owners and the NFL refuse to put an end to this insulting clown act, the fans will. There will be an even bigger boycott this season, which will cost the NFL billions in lost revenue. You take a knee; we take a hike.

To paraphrase the immortal words of “South Park’s” Eric Cartman, “Screw you guys, I’m staying home.” CHUCK MUTH(Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of NevadaNewsandViews.com.)

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 14

Commentary: Chuck Muth Every week in Nevada, someone is trying to screw us.

Most of the time, we elected that someone.

That's why we conserva-tives NEED a WEEKLY voice.

That's why the Penny Press has made sticking up for us little guys a whole new Nevada tradition.

Penny Press775-461-1515

pennypresslv@gmail.compennypressnv.com

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 15

SparksReno

Carson City

KNNR 1400AM

THE PENNY PRESS,SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 PAGE 16

Protect your home & family from anywherewith Vivint Smart Home Security

GET UP TO

$1500

Limited Time! Call Now!

worth of

FREE EQUIPMENT*

Touchscreen Panel24/7 Domestic MonitoringWireless ConnectivityRemote AccessTwo-Way CommunicationSmartphone AppsAutomatic door locks & MORE!

Whether you’re away or at home, you can still rest easy and feel secure. Your smartphone will tell you if anything changes around the house, and you’ve got a whole army of monitoring professionals looking out for you.

Get a smart home system that’s customized to suit your lifestyle.

Call Now For Your No Obligation Rate Quote 800.940.2187

Vivint Home Security. Simply smarter.

*60 month monitoring agreement (48 months in AR, WI, or CA total fees from $3,359.52) at $69.99/month for Full Home Automation Package required. Up to $99 activation fee after discount, home ownership, and satisfactory credit history required. Taxes and permit fees may apply services not available in all areas. Offer valid for new customers only. Package includes 7” touchscreen Vivint Sky panel, 7 points of security equipment, smart thermostat, 1 small appliance module, 1 door lock, and 1 camera. Additional equipment may be added for a fee. Speak to a representative for complete equipment details and pricing.

MS #: 15010729 / Alabama #: 980, 12082, 1321 / Alaska #: 952694, 36012, 10-052 / Arizona #: ROC218272, ROC272138, 18335 / Arkansas #: E 07-009, 1440150 / California #: ACO6286, LCO5368, 874794 / Connecticut #: ELC - 0192591-L5, ELC.0191352-L5, HIC.0634529 / Delaware #: 06-116, 2006209146, FAL-0328 / Florida #: EF20001030 / Georgia #: LVU406189 / Hawaii #: CT31374 / Idaho #: 011630, 012673 / Illinois #: 127-001290 / Iowa #: AC-0011, 04643-06 / Maine #: LM50017112 / Maryland #: 107-1302, IR-2525 / Massachusetts #: 1471 C, 1351 / Michigan #: 3601206218, 7109296 / Minnesota #: TS01618, MB648213 / Montana #: 216 / Nebraska #: FA12465 / Nevada #: 62684 / New Jersey BURGLAR AND FIRE ALARM #: 34BF00000100 / New Mexico #: 93695 / New York #: 12000301658, 68VI1000200, D BY THE N.Y.S DEPARTMENT OF STATE / North Carolina #: 25514-SP-LV, 1811-CSA, NC: 2370-CSA / North Dakota #: TM-00227 / Ohio #: 53891547 / Oklahoma #: 1026, 143819 / Oregon #: 173349, CLE216, 37646 / Pennsylvania #: PA017248 / Rhode Island #: 3734, 34456 / South Carolina #: BAC5569, FAC3437, 1256 / Tennessee #: 1253, 333, 1524 / Texas #: TACLA00043940E, B13684, ACR-2854, 2854A / Utah #: 6093322-6501 / Virginia #: 11 4822, 2705 138422 / Washington #: VIVINI*894BZ / Washington D.C. #: ECS901552, 71101930 / West Virginia #: WV040401 / Wisconsin #: 1209627 / Wyoming #: LV-G-16005