"Mom doesn’t know best. Buying is easy, selling is hard — and best left up to the professionals."
Yeah leave it all to Wall Street and the money managers. I mean, they have taken such good care of us all so far!
UPDATE:
"Predictions that the economy would grow more quickly in 2014 have not come true. Growth has repeatedly fallen short of the Fed’s expectations in recent years.... The Fed’s critics have gotten some of their biggest predictions wrong."
Mixed me$$ages aside.... (sigh)
"A mostly ignored stock market has roared back" by Shirley Leung | Globe Staff, March 05, 2014
How do I know if the stock market is in a bubble?
When Mom starts giving me stock tips.
And she hasn’t, not once in this five-year bull run we’re in. Compare that with the late ’90s, when it seemed like she was calling every week to drop a get-rich-quick tip that would make me want to ditch my day job for day trading.
When you start looking at the numbers, it’s actually quite extraordinary to see how far the stock market has roared back — and how we have mostly chosen to ignore it.
Five years ago this week, the Dow Jones industrial average skidded to the 6,500-point level as the world churned through a financial crisis and the Fed desperately pumped money into a lifeless economy.
At Tuesday’s close, the Dow was just shy of 16,400, following a year in which it grew by nearly 30 percent....
Despite eye-popping returns, a lot of cash is still sitting on the sidelines in safe CDs, money markets, and probably under a lot of mattresses.
Related: Corporations Sitting on $1.8 Trillion in Cold Hard Cash
It's up to 1.95 trillion now!
The memories of two big crashes less 10 years apart are seared into our 401(k) portfolios.
That’s one of the reasons some Wall Street gurus don’t think we’re heading into a bubble — the point at which good times suddenly implode. Sure, corporate profits are expected to rise, interest rates remain low, and the nation’s economy is growing, but droves of mom and pop investors have yet to jump into stocks, prompting a new round of buying that would push healthy stock prices even higher....
They want your money now!
Related: The wealthiest philanthropists did not give as much in 2013 as they gave before the Great Recession, even as a strong stock market and better business climate have continued to concentrate American wealth in the top 1 percent of earners.
Now go inve$t in the stock market, Ma and Pa!
John Spooner should be feeling the love. But over dinners and cocktails last year, the charming Boston money manager — who is a also best-selling author on investing — might as well have been a social pariah....
Aww, poor little rich man!
Related: Taking a Glancy at Putnam
John Hailer, who oversees the mutual fund firm Natixis’s investments in the Americas and Asia, said today’s investors are more sophisticated. They’re asking about unemployment numbers, the retail sector, the Chinese economy. And if anyone is worried about a bubble, he’ll tell them it doesn’t matter.
“I don’t really care if we are at the top. I don’t care if we are at the bottom,” he said. “Without risk, you don’t get a return.”
Our new sober attitude — however sobering — is actually healthy. We’re thinking about how to invest for the long term — buying and holding. We’re not glued to CNBC, chasing paper riches and trolling for stock tips from cabbies, bartenders, or hairdressers.
Joseph Kennedy Sr., who was a savvy investor, liked to joke about how he survived the 1929 crash that ushered in the Great Depression.
The summer before, he started to get unsolicited stock advice from people like the shoeshine boy and the newsstand dealer. That’s when he knew it was time to get out, finding no wisdom in crowds.
Today, even Eddie McGuire, the longtime bartender at the Langham Hotel in the heart of the Financial District, has stopped passing along tips. It’s just as well, because the traders and brokers who stream in after the 4 p.m. Wall Street close aren’t saying much about what they’re into.
Instead, over Bud Lights, they’re complaining about how commissions used to be better. Back in the ’90s, it was martinis all around.
“It’s not really as fun as it used to be,” said McGuire.
What we’ve learned, in all of this, is that maybe Mom doesn’t know best. Buying is easy, selling is hard — and best left up to the professionals.
--more--"
Who has she been hanging around with?
"After the Hill, what’s next for Deval Patrick?" by Shirley Leung | Globe Staff February 28, 2014
For sure, Deval Patrick has a killer resume. Governor of Massachusetts. General counsel of Coca-Cola. Harvard Law grad. Great communicator. Hobbies include cooking and gardening.
He’ll have no trouble finding a job after his second term ends in January, but can he find his bliss?
Patrick, according to close associates, is starting to think about life after public office and what he might do next. And who can really blame him? With so many bad days at the office — marijuana licensing gone to pot, a missing 5-year-old boy under state care, and a broken health care website — I, too, would be itching to update my LinkedIn profile.
Related: Can't Find DCF Draft
State Health Site on Iselin
Patrick Feeling His Oates
The 57-year-old lawyer doesn’t want to go back to practicing law. Been there, done that. He’s not really interested in running a foundation or becoming president of a university. He wants a break from politics, and managing academia would probably be too close to home — all those tenured professors refusing to fall into line.
Patrick does want to make money, and the private sector is where he wants to be. He’d like to run a company, much the way he has been the chief executive of the Commonwealth, overseeing a $32 billion budget and about 45,000 employees in the executive branch.
According to confidantes, the governor is enamored with our innovation economy, from clean tech to biotech. One of Patrick’s legacies will be the state’s 10-year, $1 billion life sciences initiative, and I’m sure there would be no shortage of opportunities if he wanted to work in that sector. One tip: If you interview for a tech job, don’t mention last year’s software tax debacle.
He could become a venture capitalist, seeding and building the next Biogen Idec or EMC. But if he is really eyeing a White House run after 2016, voters might be wary of that label.
What else could Patrick do? He’s a great orator, and I bet he could take on Tony Robbins as a motivational speaker any day. The camera also loves our governor, who cooks like a chef and grows his own garlic. Might he be the next Food Network star?
But it’s complicated for a sitting governor thinking about the next chapter. Patrick may have to file a disclosure form if the relationship with a prospective employer would create the appearance of a conflict of interest. (So much for the blackjack croupier gig.)
Associates are adamant that Patrick will wait until he leaves office to launch a formal job search because he’s determined to finish what he started. Not all our governors have felt that way; there was a stretch when it seemed liked everyone wanted to leave us mid-tenure to pursue other opportunities.
Jane Swift, who completed Paul Cellucci’s term after he became ambassador to Canada in 2001, said she wasn’t shy about telling people she wanted to do something related to education. But her job hunting didn’t begin in earnest until later because of those cumbersome disclosure requirements.
“It was almost impossible to get into serious discussions until you were out of office,” recalled Swift, 49, who was Cellucci’s lieutenant governor. “It was awkward.”
Swift eventually landed a position at Arcadia Partners, a for-profit education industry venture firm. She remains in education today, as the chief executive of Middlebury Interactive Languages in Vermont. In retrospect, she said, delaying her search didn’t hurt her chances.
“When you’re a former governor, you’re always former governor, and people tend to return your phone calls,” said Swift.
Other former governors have gone on to a variety of careers. Ed King did public relations. Bill Weld dabbled in private equity, wrote novels, and practiced law. Independently wealthy Mitt Romney ran for president twice.
If you saw the recent “Mitt” documentary on Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign, there might be some confusion about what Mike Dukakis does these days. In one scene, Romney tells donors that presidential nominees who lose the general election “become a loser for life.” To drive home the point, he makes an “L” shape with his fingers and holds it in front of his forehead.
“Mike Dukakis, you know, he can’t get a job mowing lawns,” Romney says in the movie.
Well, actually, Dukakis, 80, has been a professor at Northeastern University, teaching public policy, since 1991.
“I couldn’t really understand that,” the Duke said of the “Mitt” diss. “Teaching is work.”
So what will work for Patrick? Wait for it.
--more--"
Related: Shining a Light on Patrick's Legacy
And he is thinking presidency?
"The Patrick administration has offered state lawmakers a forceful defense of its heavily criticized process for selecting medical marijuana companies."
"A key lawmaker reviewing the controversial selection process for medical marijuana companies in Massachusetts said Thursday that the state Department of Public Health should reconsider some of the highly rated proposals that were not approved for provisional licenses. “We’re essentially giving them another look,” said state Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, whom House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo tapped last month to investigate the process for issuing licenses."
Also see: Cannabis-growing expertise barely rated by Mass. regulators
I'm done with that subject for now.
Time to move on:
Secretary of Transportation Richard A. Davey and Governor Deval L.
Patrick at the revamped Yawkey Station on the Worcester-Framingham
line: “This project shows that our growth strategy is real, not
rhetorical,” Patrick said (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff).
Related: A ‘favorite’ finds himself in line of fire
"Late-night T service set to begin March 28" by Martine Powers | Globe staff, March 13, 2014
The T’s long-awaited late-night weekend service is slated to debut March 28, an effort by city and MBTA officials to make Boston more appealing to younger residents, innovation workers, and other people who stay out long past midnight....
It is the second try at late night public transportation, and MBTA officials will be watching its performance closely. The Night Owl bus service was offered from 2001 to 2005, but was axed because revenue from paltry ridership failed to cover growing costs.
The new late-night service also plays a key role in Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s endeavors to encourage a more vibrant night life in the city, including plans to keep bars and clubs open later.
“It’s not just about the social vibrancy of the city, but it’s also about blue-collar workers, and the T is the way they’d like to get home: the busboy, the bartender, the cook, the line chef,” Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey said Wednesday.
If the service does not prove popular with riders, it could be nixed next March. The pilot comes as a directive from Governor Deval Patrick, and the results could help define his transportation legacy.
The formal announcement and a list of corporate sponsors who have agreed to help offset the $20 million cost will be made by Patrick Thursday morning at a press conference at Kendall Station.
Where did he find that $20 million again?
Related:
"Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday approved the release of $20 million in heating aid for low-income households as the long, cold winter drags on — the first time in three years that the state has provided such assistance. The money, included in a supplemental spending bill, received final approval from the Senate in a voice vote Monday. Secretary of State William F. Galvin signed the bill into law because Governor Deval Patrick was on a trade mission in Panama and Mexico.....
Not very cold there, is it?
Prices are somewhat higher for fuels this winter, but the increase in heating expenses also is driven by a surge in consumption resulting from extended periods of bitterly cold weather. Massachusetts residents, for example, burned the most natural gas in nearly 25 years in November and December, the most recent months available for analysis, according to the US Department of Energy. Federal heating assistance might have helped avoid these situations, but the program has been cut significantly in recent years. The money distributed to Massachusetts — roughly $140 million — is exhausted."
Maybe this will warm you up.
Why are prices rising when we have a shale gold mine of gas?
The Boston Globe is one sponsor of the service.
The $elf-intere$t is noticeable.
Mike Sheehan, chief executive officer of the Globe, said Wednesday that the newspaper’s $500,000 in support for late-night T service would be split over several years, and largely consists of marketing agreements and advertising.
Didn't the unions have to give back benefits a while back?
“I believe that a world-class city is defined by its transportation system, and a world-class city operates almost 24 hours per day,” Sheehan said.
T officials have said it is unlikely the MBTA will break even on the endeavor. Davey said transportation officials do not expect corporate sponsorships to cover all the costs of the service, and there is little chance that fares from the late-night bus and train rides will cover the cost either.
Instead, Davey said the success of the pilot will be defined in part by the ridership numbers, but also by the feedback the T receives from political and business leaders and the effects the service has in stimulating the late-night commerce that regional officials have been seeking.
It won't be decided on the basis of economics?
The question remains whether the incoming governor and transportation secretary, who will be in charge at this time next year, will be willing to continue the service when the one-year pilot program concludes next March.
“If it’s a successful service, I can’t imagine that any new secretary would seek to take the service away,” Davey said. “But our customers have to vote with their feet.”
For those who use the service, the fare system will stay the same, for now, allowing people to use their monthly passes for entry. If the service survives beyond next March, Davey said, there is a possibility that the T may institute special late-night fares.
That's when I get off.
*****************
One of the most significant challenges to instituting later weekend hours, Davey said, was finding people willing to operate the trains and buses later into the night and negotiating agreements with unions to accommodate extended work hours.
“We couldn’t implement this service by edict,” Davey said. “We had to work with our partners, especially those in [Boston Carmen’s Union Local] 589.”
Davey said that requirements for the amount of rest employees must receive between shifts prevent the T from simply tacking on two hours at the end of each worker’s weekend shift.
Much of the staff who will be operating the late-night shifts are new. At a Wednesday meeting of the Transportation Department board of directors, MBTA chief financial officer Jonathan R. Davis said the service required 133 new recruits, most of whom have been hired and are in training.
“For some of our more senior employees, working until three or four in the morning is not exactly an attractive proposition,” Davey said.
Though the T’s Night Owl service in 2001 was also greeted with great enthusiasm, officials said ridership on that service, which relied on buses only, did not justify the costs.
“When we tried it and failed 10 years ago, that really discouraged from trying to do something like that again,” Davey said.
Insanity!
Since then, some transit specialists have blamed the Night Owl’s modest ridership numbers on passengers’ reluctance to switch to unfamiliar bus routes late at night. They wondered whether the service might be more popular now, when smart phones allow people to track buses in real time, or whether conducting late-night service on regular subway trains, rather than buses, would entice more passengers.
Davey said he believes both those factors will be helpful in making this version of after-hours service a success, as will the countdown clocks now found at all Red, Orange, and Blue line T stops. With a visible indication of how long people can expect to wait for the next train, riders may resist the temptation to instead hop into a cab....
--more--"
Related: Leaders urge public to use late-night T service
Passengers stranded for hours after breakdown
With no toilets.
Also see:
Human error found in Green Line trolley derailment
MBTA driver in recent crash had firing overturned in 2010
Police seek identities of alleged Broadway station attackers
Five suspects charged in Red Line train beating
6 surrender to Transit Police in Red Line attack
And if fares don't cover the costs, we all will!
RMV fee increase to be approved Wednesday
"Vehicle fee hikes go into effect July 1" by Martine Powers | Globe staff March 12, 2014
Starting July 1, the cost of registering a car and getting an annual vehicle inspection will increase by 20 percent, hikes approved by state transportation officials Wednesday.
Celia J. Blue, the new registrar of motor vehicles, announced the fee increases at a meeting of the board of the state Department of Transportation. Board members unanimously approved the new fees, which will raise the cost of registration for noncommercial vehicles from $50 to $60 and the cost of vehicle inspections from $29 to $35. The price of taking a road test will also increase, from $20 to $35.
Prices for certificates of title, driver’s licenses, and learner’s permits will remain the same.
The fee increases are part of efforts by transportation officials to close a $53 million budget shortfall that arose after the agency began to end the practice of paying employee salaries on credit.
Why must WE PAY for STATE MISMANAGEMENT?
Officials estimate that the new fees will raise $55 million to $63 million. None of the major Registry fees have been raised since 2008; the vehicle inspection fee has remained the same since 1999.
As if that justifies more state robbery!
A 10 percent fee increase was outlined in a transit finance proposal put forth by Governor Deval Patrick last year, and the transportation law passed last August recommended that transportation officials look to Registry fee increases to find extra revenue.
Another legacy on which to run for president.
Still, the fee hikes are not yet set in stone. In coming months, there will be public hearings and a public comment period, after which transportation officials will register the fee changes with the secretary of state’s office.
Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey said officials are wary of raising the cost of driver’s licenses because they want to minimize the impact on low-income residents.
Dominic Blue, a member of the board of directors, called the fee hikes “quite substantial” and wondered whether the burden placed on drivers could have been distributed more evenly by raising prices for commercial vehicle registration. Davey said officials did not want to do that because those fees were increased several years ago.
Alan Macdonald, another board member, said he agreed with the new fee policy. “To me, this is a valuable way to get to where we’ve wanted to be over the last decade,” he said.
Davey said the agency’s strategy is to wait five years before again raising Registry fees, but that’s not a guarantee because it is an election year and a new governor would probably appoint a new agency head.
Public transit is also set to become more expensive. In coming weeks, T officials will announce fare increases that will raise prices for subway, bus, and commuter rail by an average of 5 percent.
Though the fare increases were not on Wednesday’s agenda, the board meeting drew protesters from the Youth Affordabili(T) Coalition, who want a subsidized youth pass for bus and subway service.
About a half-dozen high school students told the board that they struggle to afford bus and subway fares. In some cases it is their most significant hurdle in keeping a job. They asked for a pass that would cost students $10 per month or an expansion of the current student transit passes, which can only be used during certain weekday hours, to be valid on nights and weekends, as well.
As they are pushing kids on to the T!
“Figure out a way to protect students,” said Lee Matsueda, political director for the transit advocacy group Alternatives for Community and Environment. “We want to make sure that we invest in the very riders who are the lifeblood of this system.”
T General Manager Beverly A. Scott said the T did not have plans for changes in youth fare rates in time for price increases scheduled to take effect this summer. She said she plans to engage in serious talks about a youth and university pass that could be premiered in 2015.
--more--"
At least women are well-treated in Ma$$achu$etts.
"Late-night T service set to begin March 28" by Martine Powers | Globe staff, March 13, 2014
The T’s long-awaited late-night weekend service is slated to debut March 28, an effort by city and MBTA officials to make Boston more appealing to younger residents, innovation workers, and other people who stay out long past midnight....
It is the second try at late night public transportation, and MBTA officials will be watching its performance closely. The Night Owl bus service was offered from 2001 to 2005, but was axed because revenue from paltry ridership failed to cover growing costs.
The new late-night service also plays a key role in Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s endeavors to encourage a more vibrant night life in the city, including plans to keep bars and clubs open later.
“It’s not just about the social vibrancy of the city, but it’s also about blue-collar workers, and the T is the way they’d like to get home: the busboy, the bartender, the cook, the line chef,” Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey said Wednesday.
If the service does not prove popular with riders, it could be nixed next March. The pilot comes as a directive from Governor Deval Patrick, and the results could help define his transportation legacy.
The formal announcement and a list of corporate sponsors who have agreed to help offset the $20 million cost will be made by Patrick Thursday morning at a press conference at Kendall Station.
Where did he find that $20 million again?
Related:
"Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday approved the release of $20 million in heating aid for low-income households as the long, cold winter drags on — the first time in three years that the state has provided such assistance. The money, included in a supplemental spending bill, received final approval from the Senate in a voice vote Monday. Secretary of State William F. Galvin signed the bill into law because Governor Deval Patrick was on a trade mission in Panama and Mexico.....
Not very cold there, is it?
Prices are somewhat higher for fuels this winter, but the increase in heating expenses also is driven by a surge in consumption resulting from extended periods of bitterly cold weather. Massachusetts residents, for example, burned the most natural gas in nearly 25 years in November and December, the most recent months available for analysis, according to the US Department of Energy. Federal heating assistance might have helped avoid these situations, but the program has been cut significantly in recent years. The money distributed to Massachusetts — roughly $140 million — is exhausted."
Maybe this will warm you up.
Why are prices rising when we have a shale gold mine of gas?
The Boston Globe is one sponsor of the service.
The $elf-intere$t is noticeable.
Mike Sheehan, chief executive officer of the Globe, said Wednesday that the newspaper’s $500,000 in support for late-night T service would be split over several years, and largely consists of marketing agreements and advertising.
Didn't the unions have to give back benefits a while back?
“I believe that a world-class city is defined by its transportation system, and a world-class city operates almost 24 hours per day,” Sheehan said.
T officials have said it is unlikely the MBTA will break even on the endeavor. Davey said transportation officials do not expect corporate sponsorships to cover all the costs of the service, and there is little chance that fares from the late-night bus and train rides will cover the cost either.
Instead, Davey said the success of the pilot will be defined in part by the ridership numbers, but also by the feedback the T receives from political and business leaders and the effects the service has in stimulating the late-night commerce that regional officials have been seeking.
It won't be decided on the basis of economics?
The question remains whether the incoming governor and transportation secretary, who will be in charge at this time next year, will be willing to continue the service when the one-year pilot program concludes next March.
“If it’s a successful service, I can’t imagine that any new secretary would seek to take the service away,” Davey said. “But our customers have to vote with their feet.”
For those who use the service, the fare system will stay the same, for now, allowing people to use their monthly passes for entry. If the service survives beyond next March, Davey said, there is a possibility that the T may institute special late-night fares.
That's when I get off.
*****************
One of the most significant challenges to instituting later weekend hours, Davey said, was finding people willing to operate the trains and buses later into the night and negotiating agreements with unions to accommodate extended work hours.
“We couldn’t implement this service by edict,” Davey said. “We had to work with our partners, especially those in [Boston Carmen’s Union Local] 589.”
Davey said that requirements for the amount of rest employees must receive between shifts prevent the T from simply tacking on two hours at the end of each worker’s weekend shift.
Much of the staff who will be operating the late-night shifts are new. At a Wednesday meeting of the Transportation Department board of directors, MBTA chief financial officer Jonathan R. Davis said the service required 133 new recruits, most of whom have been hired and are in training.
“For some of our more senior employees, working until three or four in the morning is not exactly an attractive proposition,” Davey said.
Though the T’s Night Owl service in 2001 was also greeted with great enthusiasm, officials said ridership on that service, which relied on buses only, did not justify the costs.
“When we tried it and failed 10 years ago, that really discouraged from trying to do something like that again,” Davey said.
Insanity!
Since then, some transit specialists have blamed the Night Owl’s modest ridership numbers on passengers’ reluctance to switch to unfamiliar bus routes late at night. They wondered whether the service might be more popular now, when smart phones allow people to track buses in real time, or whether conducting late-night service on regular subway trains, rather than buses, would entice more passengers.
Davey said he believes both those factors will be helpful in making this version of after-hours service a success, as will the countdown clocks now found at all Red, Orange, and Blue line T stops. With a visible indication of how long people can expect to wait for the next train, riders may resist the temptation to instead hop into a cab....
--more--"
Related: Leaders urge public to use late-night T service
Passengers stranded for hours after breakdown
With no toilets.
Also see:
Human error found in Green Line trolley derailment
MBTA driver in recent crash had firing overturned in 2010
Police seek identities of alleged Broadway station attackers
Five suspects charged in Red Line train beating
6 surrender to Transit Police in Red Line attack
And if fares don't cover the costs, we all will!
RMV fee increase to be approved Wednesday
"Vehicle fee hikes go into effect July 1" by Martine Powers | Globe staff March 12, 2014
Starting July 1, the cost of registering a car and getting an annual vehicle inspection will increase by 20 percent, hikes approved by state transportation officials Wednesday.
Celia J. Blue, the new registrar of motor vehicles, announced the fee increases at a meeting of the board of the state Department of Transportation. Board members unanimously approved the new fees, which will raise the cost of registration for noncommercial vehicles from $50 to $60 and the cost of vehicle inspections from $29 to $35. The price of taking a road test will also increase, from $20 to $35.
Prices for certificates of title, driver’s licenses, and learner’s permits will remain the same.
The fee increases are part of efforts by transportation officials to close a $53 million budget shortfall that arose after the agency began to end the practice of paying employee salaries on credit.
Why must WE PAY for STATE MISMANAGEMENT?
Officials estimate that the new fees will raise $55 million to $63 million. None of the major Registry fees have been raised since 2008; the vehicle inspection fee has remained the same since 1999.
As if that justifies more state robbery!
A 10 percent fee increase was outlined in a transit finance proposal put forth by Governor Deval Patrick last year, and the transportation law passed last August recommended that transportation officials look to Registry fee increases to find extra revenue.
Another legacy on which to run for president.
Still, the fee hikes are not yet set in stone. In coming months, there will be public hearings and a public comment period, after which transportation officials will register the fee changes with the secretary of state’s office.
Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey said officials are wary of raising the cost of driver’s licenses because they want to minimize the impact on low-income residents.
Dominic Blue, a member of the board of directors, called the fee hikes “quite substantial” and wondered whether the burden placed on drivers could have been distributed more evenly by raising prices for commercial vehicle registration. Davey said officials did not want to do that because those fees were increased several years ago.
Alan Macdonald, another board member, said he agreed with the new fee policy. “To me, this is a valuable way to get to where we’ve wanted to be over the last decade,” he said.
Davey said the agency’s strategy is to wait five years before again raising Registry fees, but that’s not a guarantee because it is an election year and a new governor would probably appoint a new agency head.
Public transit is also set to become more expensive. In coming weeks, T officials will announce fare increases that will raise prices for subway, bus, and commuter rail by an average of 5 percent.
Though the fare increases were not on Wednesday’s agenda, the board meeting drew protesters from the Youth Affordabili(T) Coalition, who want a subsidized youth pass for bus and subway service.
About a half-dozen high school students told the board that they struggle to afford bus and subway fares. In some cases it is their most significant hurdle in keeping a job. They asked for a pass that would cost students $10 per month or an expansion of the current student transit passes, which can only be used during certain weekday hours, to be valid on nights and weekends, as well.
As they are pushing kids on to the T!
“Figure out a way to protect students,” said Lee Matsueda, political director for the transit advocacy group Alternatives for Community and Environment. “We want to make sure that we invest in the very riders who are the lifeblood of this system.”
T General Manager Beverly A. Scott said the T did not have plans for changes in youth fare rates in time for price increases scheduled to take effect this summer. She said she plans to engage in serious talks about a youth and university pass that could be premiered in 2015.
--more--"
At least women are well-treated in Ma$$achu$etts.
"Mass. fellowships aim to elevate women in business" by Erin Ailworth and Deirdre Fernandes | Globe Staff, March 12, 2014
The Patrick administration will fund at least a dozen yearlong graduate fellowships to place women in state managerial jobs at full salary, with the aim of helping more of them gain entrance to the executive suites in government and private organizations.
Government serving the already wealthy and privileged -- again!
The program, expected to cost roughly $1 million in its first year, follows recent studies that show Massachusetts is not keeping pace with other states in terms of women achieving leadership posts. One report, for example, found that more than half the state’s largest publicly traded companies did not have any female executive officers.
“We’re in the midst of the most profound global economic competition,” Governor Deval Patrick said Tuesday. “To me that means we need all the talent on the field ready to play.”
The fellowship, to be formally announced Wednesday, is being developed with Bentley University and its Center for Women in Business. Many of the details of the program are still being worked out, but state officials hope to begin accepting applications by the end of April, and placing fellows in full-time jobs in September. The program will offer periodic seminars to the fellows on topics such as salary negotiations and public speaking.
In addition to the fellowship, Patrick on Wednesday is expected to issue an executive order creating a task force to explore policy changes, legislation, and other initiatives to eliminate barriers that inhibit women from advancing in the public and private sectors.
Well, he is behaving exactly like a president.
The goal of the fellowship program is to create a model of mentoring and leadership growth that companies and other organizations can use to help more women follow successful executives such as Karen Kaplan, chief executive of the Boston-based advertising agency Hill Holliday, and Anne Finucane, the global strategy and marketing officer at Bank of America, into boardrooms and corner offices.
Wonderful role models for all you girls out there.
Despite Massachusetts’ image as forward-looking, recent studies have shown that it may not be as progressive toward women as it might seem from its reputation.
What, what, what?
See: Mass. high on list of poor working women
Yeah, nothing has changed at all!
***************
Another study, by the Working Poor Families Project, a national initiative to strengthen policies that help low-income households, found that Massachusetts has one of the highest concentrations of poor working women at the head of a household.
Carol Fulp, a former senior vice president at John Hancock Financial and now chief executive of The Partnership, a nonprofit that promotes diversity in Boston, praised Patrick’s initiative as a much needed “spotlight” that she hoped would spur the corporate world to do more to elevate women into high-level jobs.
It's not the gender or race that matters; it is cla$$.
***************
The Patrick administration has a good record of placing women in leadership roles....
Like Olga Roche, right?
--more--"
Related: Steward again a big backer of Martha Coakley
"Governor Deval Patrick gave it frosty treatment and, in the words of a Globe editorial, “treated her like a cabinet official gone rogue.” As is the case with the new business tax audit controversy, there were whispered complaints about grandstanding."
But he cares so much and has done so many good things for women!
Also see:
"Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland, the first African-American on the Supreme Judicial Court, announced Monday that he is retiring, giving Governor Deval Patrick an opportunity to name a new head of the state’s highest court before he leaves office."
Related: To diversify Boston, we need more white men who can jump
That's the last time I listen to "Mom."
