Do our state leaders have no shame?
"Investors may fund social programs; State exploring ‘pay for success’; Profits would be tied to cost savings" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff / June 27, 2011
Massachusetts could be among the first states in the country to raise money for social services by offering investors the chance to earn profits on programs they establish.
Related: Minnesota bill uses investors to fund social services
The approach is known as “social impact bonds’’ or “pay for success.’’ It is based on the idea that if programs backed by investors succeed in reducing, for example, the number of inmates in prison or the homeless population, governments will realize big savings, which they can tap to pay off investors with healthy returns.
So they are going to TAKE TAX LOOT and GIVE IT TO INVESTORS??
If the programs fail, the government would owe little or nothing.
The administration of Governor Deval Patrick is already sifting through more than two dozen suggestions from nonprofits on how to create such performance-based programs.
“We have a new fiscal reality in state government,’’ said Jay Gonzalez, the Massachusetts secretary of administration and finance. “We have to find a way to become more effective.’’
Related: New Rules For Unions in Massachusetts
Thank God Massachusetts is a Democrat state, huh?
Also see:
"Legislators also agreed last week to change legal language in the recently passed sales tax hike to assure credit agencies that $100 million earmarked for the Turnpike Authority would go toward paying off Big Dig debt"
Also see:
Memory Hole: Massachusetts' State Budget
Mass. State Budget: Screwing Cities and Towns
Uniting With Hollywood
How is cutting an $82 million-dollar taxpayer-funded check for profitable Hollywood effective fiscal management?
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A model for social impact bonds is being tested in the United Kingdom, where the government has pledged to cut budget deficits and is experimenting with novel ways to raise money for social programs.
All the taxes not enough? Better stop funding those wars and occupations then.
Faced with the costly problem of petty criminals returning to prison again and again, and unable to spend more on intervention programs that have produced only mixed results, the government last year turned to so-called social impact bonds....
Yeah, never mind the prime criminals the government is working for and shoveling tax money at.
Boston is expected to play a critical role in developing new approaches to financing social services. Two nonprofits working to create social impact bonds are based in Boston: Social Finance Inc., the sister organization to the one behind the United Kingdom experiment, and Third Sector Capital Partners, a nonprofit investment bank....
That is going to be making profits if.... ?
George Overholser, a former venture capitalist who cofounded Third Sector, said the potential for performance-based models has exploded in recent years because governments have developed more sophisticated databases and tracking systems, making it easier to follow prisoners, homeless people, and others touched by government programs over long periods of time.
The fascist framework built on "terrorism" has proved its purpose.
Related: VenCap Vroom-Vroom
Now you know where they are throwing away pension and endowment money.
“The government data is finally in good enough shape that we can be more scientific in assessing the true impact,’’ Overholser said. “Before it was too unreliable. The data was all over the place.’’
Unless it is tracking "terrorists," then.... sigh.
Overholser said philanthropists and foundations will probably be the first to show interest in funding social impact bonds. But if they prove successful, he said, traditional investors, such as pension funds, could provide money as well.
Didn't learn from the MBS fraud?
To be sure, Overholser said, private investors will play only a small role in funding the nation’s social programs.
Whenever someone starts with "to be sure" you know an agenda-pushing piece of propaganda is coming.
Same with the next word.
But he said these new mechanisms could demonstrate powerful ways to save money or improve services, which could then be replicated.
My college writing instructor told us words like but, still, etc, were bad words for a report -- and yet (another one of those words) I see them in my newspaper all the time.
“This is not about replacing government funding with private financing,’’ Overholser said. “This is about creating a feedback loop. It’s about shining a light on where investments could best be made.’’
Yeah, so tax loot can be fed back to rich people and "investors."
Massachusetts still hasn’t decided whether to involve outside investors, sign performance-based contracts directly with nonprofits, or simply try to better measure the results from more traditional contracts.
Performance-based initiatives still may face complications. Government agencies and nonprofits could have trouble agreeing on performance measures, for instance. And it is unclear whether the approach would work for every type of social service program....
Why the reservations at the end of the piece after telling us what a great idea this is, Glob?
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