Category Archives: Golden Rule

April is National Financial Literacy Month. To mark the occasion, MarketWatch will publish a series of Financial Fitness articles to help readers improve their fiscal health, and offer advice on how to save, invest and spend their money wisely. Read more here.

Financial Literacy Month puts a spotlight on the financial knowledge Americans are supposed to know and often dont. But what about financial knowledge that we think we know, but should reconsider?

When it comes to money, we pick up lessons from a mish-mash of sources ranging from parents to TikTok videos to high school classes. Along the way we can form strong opinions about the best ways to manage our finances. People can hold tight to these ideas, and even come to regard them as financial commandments that must never be broken. But sometimes these so-called rules are based on outdated thinking or incorrect assumptions.

Theres a whole lot of people that have made what they call cardinal rules of financial planning, and they really arent rules, said Jack White, a certified financial planner with Fidelis Financial Planning in St. Charles, Mo. The only cardinal rule that you cant break is that you cant spend more than you make.

Even that one can be broken for a little while, he noted, but if you do it consistently, the results arent pretty.

In honor of National Financial Literacy Month (or Financial Fitness month, as MarketWatch has dubbed it) we have talked to financial planners about personal-finance commandments that people sometimes blindly follow, and why it can be OK to bend or even break them.

People sometimes have a knee-jerk rejection of credit cards because theyre convinced theyre a path to financial ruin. I think thats the No. 1 myth out there, said Jeff Brown, president of BWM Financial, part of Stratos Wealth Partners, in San Diego, Calif. Obviously theyre viewed negatively due to the potential for debt accumulation and the high rates, however theres a lot that credit cards can offer.

If you can afford to pay them off, credit cards can be a great tool, especially during times in your life when youre waiting to make money from a new job or business. Brown himself leaned on credit cards when he started his business.

Unlike a debit card that draws cash from your checking account, credit cards come with benefits, including points and cash-back rewards. They often include robust fraud protection and insurance coverage. Most importantly, credit cards when used properly help you build your credit score, which can open financial doors down the road.

Its true that you should start building your savings as soon as possible in life, but there comes a time when its permissible to spend the money youve worked so hard to make, said White, who is 74.

People my age spend a lot of time being very frugal and accumulating money, he told MarketWatch. Part of accumulating for retirement is saying its OK to spend it.

You can go ahead and splurge within reason especially if youve worked hard to save this money. Its not frivolous if youve wanted to go to Europe all your life and you spend $5,000 of your savings to do it, White said.

Financial planners interviewed for this story repeatedly mentioned clients who insist they need to pay off their house before retirement. They think thats the golden rule, the 11th commandment that Moses had that didnt make it into the Bible: Thou shalt have a paid-off home in order for you to retire, said Jeremy Shipp, a certified financial planner specializing in retirement planning with Retirement Capital Partners in Richmond, Va.

Though financial gurus like Dave Ramsay preach getting rid of debt at all costs, not all debt is bad debt, Shipp and other experts noted. It doesnt make sense to rush to pay off your house with money from your savings if the returns on your portfolio are higher than the rate on your mortgage.

I tell people, if youve got a 3%, 30-year fixed mortgage, why are you paying that thing off? Keep it forever. Its free money, said Ken Waltzer, a certified financial planner with KCS Wealth Advisory in Los Angeles. If youre making 7% on your investments and youre paying 3% for your mortgage, thats 4% a year on that money youre earning for free.

The urge to pay off a house as fast as possible is based on Great Depression-era thinking, says Shipp. Mortgages were structured differently then and it was easier to lose your house while you were still paying it off. But he advises clients that they can really be shooting themselves in the foot if theyre piling any extra cash they have into trying to pay down this liability when its a very favorable liability to have.

Once you put $1,000 in extra payments into the walls of your house, you lose access to that money, whereas you would still control and manage it if you held onto it and put it into a side account, Shipp said. People dont understand they dont really own and control the equity that is inside their house, Shipp said. Its not like a piggy bank.

The only way to access that equity is to either sell the house or obtain a home-equity loan from a bank. Instead of pouring extra money into your house, its a better bet to keep that money close at hand, he said.

The intangible benefit of liquidity, use and control of your cash, its so hard to quantify because as life changes and situations arise, we just cant quantify how much it could mean to you to be able to put your hands on a sizable amount money whenever you want without any penalties or taxes associated, Shipp said. Thats just one benefit that is really overlooked.

Higher education is seen as a golden ticket, and parents often have the urge to try to pay for their childrens college or graduate school, especially because they want to save them from the burden of student-loan debt. But doing so can derail parents financial future, said Niv Persaud, a certified financial planner at Transition Planning & Guidance in Atlanta.

The best college for your child is the college you can afford, Persaud told MarketWatch. Many parents go into debt for their child to go to a top college or sacrifice their retirement savings. Its easier for your child to secure a student loan. But there is no loan for retirement.

Clients of hers, a successful lawyer and her husband, paid for their childrens schooling, then saw their dreams of early retirement disappear. She was really annoyed because she thought she had more than enough, Persaud said. She was looking to retire by 58, 59, but that wasnt going to happen. They didnt even have an extravagant lifestyle. They just have one home; they didnt travel a lot. People are always surprised.

Weve been taught to work hard and save money so that, hopefully, someday we can plop down on a beach and relax for the rest of our lives. The idea of leaving the workforce later in life was popularized in part with the advent of Social Security in the 1930s, Brown said. Back then, people started receiving their retirement benefits only a few years before the typical American reached their life expectancy. The financial services industry jumped all over the idea of retirement, Brown added, and in his view, his industry has heavily promoted the idea that peoples primary financial goal should be to save enough money so they can drop out of work and recede from active life.

But hes seen many clients retire completely as in, effectively stop doing something useful with their time and hes been alarmed to see their cognitive abilities diminish shortly afterward. (There is also considerable research that backs up this idea.) People think theres this magic thing, Im gonna grind it [and] work 60 hours a week, and then I have some magical day when I dont do it anymore, Brown said. Its had a massive impact negatively for people.

A better approach is to reframe your thinking around retirement, and make plans for later years that are purpose-filled and engaging, either through work, or other activities. Think carefully about how youll spend your time during this period, because some people, especially men, find themselves lost when they suddenly switch from working non-stop to endless leisure time. What a successful retirement means is that youre done working for your money and its time for your money to work for you, Shipp said.

People often see buying a home as a necessary milestone that means theyve reached adulthood and achieved security. Home ownership is also seen as a way for Black and Latino families in particular to grab a rung on the financial ladder, but some research suggests that homeownership isnt necessarily effective in closing the racial wealth gap.

Thats because homeownership beyond whether you can scrape together enough for a down payment is an expensive ongoing cost.

The thing that people never seem to include in the cost of homeownership is maintenance and repairs, Waltzer said. Its always way higher than you expect. I always tell people to add at least 1% per year of the cost of the house for maintenance, and if youre going to do remodeling, add that in too. Its not the gold mine that people think it to be.

While real estate is considered a solid investment because home prices generally go up over time, it doesnt typically outperform the stock market over the long term.

Popular culture tends to glamorize stock-market traders, and theres no shortage of celebrities and social media influencers peddling cryptocurrency and other investments as get-rich-quick schemes. But buying and selling individual stocks, or stock picking, is risky and volatile, not to mention that it takes time to research companies and track stock performance.

A better bet is to grow your money steadily by investing in index funds that mirror the overall performance of the S&P 500 SPX or Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA . The biggest loss of money Ive seen in my career is people chasing individual stocks, Brown said. More people get blown up from that than anything else.

Go here to read the rest:

7 money 'rules' you can actually break, according to financial experts - MarketWatch

Hannah McQueen is a financial adviser, personal finance author, chartered accountant, and the founder of enable.me now part of AdviceFirst.

OPINION: One of the golden rules of investing is the egg analogy that is, dont put them all in one basket, otherwise if the basket falls, all the eggs crack.

But its a rule more investors seem to overlook as they flock to DIY investment apps.

Hatch, Sharesies, InvestNow and others have all undoubtedly been positive developments for investors and New Zealands capital markets. Theyve democratised investing, made it accessible and fun, introduced shares to young investors and even reintroduced them to investors who had shunned them since the 1987 stock market crash.

READ MORE:* Planning to downsize your home when you retire? Here's why it might be harder than you think* How to give less of your hard-earned money to the bank * Why your property may start to cost you more money soon* Is KiwiSaver always the best place for long-term savings?

As a result, most clients when they first come to see us now have some kind of share portfolio, when just three short years ago that was a rarity unless they had a significant asset base.

But I have noticed one particular fishhook that keeps cropping up more often than not their holdings are a random selection of shares. When you enquire as to why theyve chosen those particular shares, theres little method involved.

Sometimes its simply based on name recognition Allbirds, Rocketlab, My Food Bag. Other times its because their uncles cousin said it was likely to be a winner, or their best friend had already made money out of it, so they wanted to get in on the action.

FMA research substantiates that anecdotal evidence 31% of online DIY investors admitted they were driven by a fear of missing out, and 27% invested on the strength of a recommendation, without doing their own research.

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff

Simran Kaur and best friend Sonya Gupthan host a financial podcast aimed at helping younger people invest in the stock market and break down some of the age-old stereotypes.

If youre investing randomly with a bit of play money, who cares speculate all you like. But if youre investing seriously for your familys future, and have a specific outcome you need to achieve, Id argue thats not the method thats most likely to achieve your aim.

Take for example the S&P/NZX 50 Index, if you had invested in the whole index between January 2012 and December 2021, your annualised return would be about 16%.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index had a higher return than 68% of the individual companies in the index. So, while youd hope youd pick a selection of those over-performing stocks, the odds are that you could pick more which underperformed the index.

Further, only 2% of the shares on the NZX had lower volatility than the index, and thats relevant too when investing ideally you want the highest return with the lowest volatility. Picking a fund that spreads its exposure across different industries helps you withstand specific events that impact a particular sector.

For example, if your picks a few years ago favoured Air New Zealand, Auckland Airport and Tourism Holdings, your exposure to travel and tourism would have resulted in outsized volatility in your portfolio, which can be hard to stomach.

Supplied

Hannah McQueen is a financial adviser, chartered accountant, personal finance author and the founder of enable.me.

But staying local has its risks, too. In 2021 if your exposure had been entirely to New Zealand shares youd have done particularly poorly according to the MSCI country index, the NZX was the worst performing developed market.

What Im getting at is ideally your investments are diversified across industry, asset type and geography.

Without a large budget and an enormous investment of time, its difficult to achieve and maintain that balance by buying individual shares, which is where investing in managed funds or index funds can be a great alternative provided you invest in fund that doesnt charge you a kidney in fees.

(Please note Im not wading into the debate around passive versus managed funds, which continues to be hotly debated Im talking about the difference between individual stock picking, and diversified investment funds).

This is not an attack on investment platforms, where you can opt to index in funds. Nor am I saying you cant invest in stocks that take your fancy.

If youre only investing a bit of play money, then any upside will be a bonus rather than something youre relying on. If youre comfortably on track to hit your financial goals a few dud investments wont impact your trajectory but the fact is most people are not on track and cant afford to be cavalier with their investment approach.

Therefore, Id suggest your investment strategy shouldnt be driven by FOMO, name recognition or whispered BBQ stock tips. It should be driven first and foremost by what youre trying to achieve.

Picking the investment option before youve determined the outcome you require is like devising the route before youve settled on the destination you could end up anywhere.

More:

Investors overlooking the golden rule as they flock to DIY apps - Stuff

For MP Motorsport Team Principal Sander Dorsman theres one golden rule to remember when racing in Baku to expect the unexpected. That certainly proved to be the case on Friday, after Dennis Hauger and Jehan Daruvala put themselves right in the mix for potential podiums, a performance Dorsman hopes will kickstart their quest to retain the Championship titles.

Likening Qualifying around the Baku City Circuit to roulette, their gamble on being one of the last cars to set a lap paid off as they locked out the third row, with Hauger leading the charge from fifth.

At the halfway mark in Baku Qualifying, the Red Bull junior had been on provisional pole, but track evolution meant it was always going to be a fight to the finish. Nevertheless, Dorsman is satisfied to have started off on the right foot.

This morning Free Practice was not as good as it would be in Qualifying, but over here you never know. I think Dennis did a brilliant job, especially on the first set and then on the second set, the last run is always like a casino. Still P5 and P6, so Im happy to have two cars solid in the top ten and then, lets see what the race brings.

I think both were satisfied with Quali and because they were in that window where you have to be a bit lucky with the slipstream. Well take it for now and lets see for tomorrow, even Quali in F1 was crazy! We havent even started the race yet, so it will probably throw a couple of curveballs at us. If we can avoid some damage and have some good results here that would be nice.

Sitting third in the Teams table, 29 points adrift of leaders DAMS, Dorsman says that its results like these that the Dutch squad need to get their title fight back on track. However, previous experience has taught him that the Azerbaijani tracks reputation for being unpredictable isnt without merit.

READ MORE: QUALIFYING: Bearman snatches maiden pole in dramatic Baku ending

After qualifying fifth last year, Felipe Drugovich kept himself out of the fray to bring home a podium in the Feature Race. Aiming to repeat a similar feat this time around, the MP team boss believes that qualifying well is only half the battle. The drivers will need to be on high alert to steer clear of any potential dangers.

Its a very important first step. Theres always a bit of a goal to have two cars in the top 10, so for now we are super happy with it. Its always one of those crazy races here, so we just need to stay out of trouble, bring the cars home and lets see where we end up.

He added You can do a good job, but you see so often that you can get eliminated in Turn 1 or 2. Over the last few years when we look at ourselves, we have experienced all sorts of scenarios here before. For example, last year with Felipe, we didnt have a great Quali, but he just kept his nose clean and ended up on the podium. It would be nice to copy and paste that now with two cars, perhaps that would not be a bad plan!

It would be nice to have two cars in the top five tomorrow, but I think if you want to put some money on someone, heres probably the worst place to do it. Its so difficult, its just like a casino.

Read more from the original source:

Dorsman: MP Motorsport betting on caution ahead of inevitable ... - Formula 2

"OK, Boomer" may be the ultimate catchphrase among Gen Z and Millennials, but boomers have grievances against the two generations. While the young workers may not possess the experience of their older colleagues, they are now as burned out as boomers. Statements like "Nobody wants to work anymore" had become popular with the "Great Resignation" during the COVID-19 pandemic when many workers quit or got fired from their respective jobs. However, boomers are now observing how much more difficult it is for the younger generations to land a job than it was in the 80s or 90s. In a recent Facebook post by Mike Kelley, a "boomer who is retiring," he listed all the difficulties the younger generation is facing while being part of the workforce.

ADVERTISEMENT

The post reads, "It is a lot harder than it was when I was a young man. You cannot just trot around dropping off resumes. No one will talk to you." Kelley added, "Filling out applications online is far worse than filling them out in person. They want a resume and a cover letter, and then you fill out the same information in their application." Kelley also shed light on how hiring managers do not reach out and avoid having any lines of communication or follow-up questions from potential employees. "You will never, and I mean never, hear from the employer again unless you are hired." He even contrasted this with how the hiring process was in the 1980s.

ADVERTISEMENT

"When I applied for work in the 1980s, I would get polite form letters rejecting me if they did not want me. Now, I just get ghosted," Kelley wrote. "We live in a litigious world where almost every excuse can call for a lawsuit, and companies know that all too well. So instead of mailing you a rejection letter or giving you a call, the employer might adopt a 'silence is golden' rule when dealing with those not hired." Kelley also pointed out that the salaries these days are awful and as are the benefits. "As a pro-union person, I blame it on a dearth of unions. Regardless, it is awful." Despite the generational gap between Boomers and Millennials, money is a big motivator for both generations, with 84% of Millennials and 75% of Boomers saying they would leave their current jobs for a higher salary elsewhere, according to a survey by Olivet Nazarene University.

ADVERTISEMENT

Kelley noted, "To my friends of a similar age: your millennial kids and acquaintances are not making it up." He added, "Businesses are awful because they can be. I'm not sure of the solution, but it appears it will get worse before it gets better. And the more everyone buys into the 'people just do not want to work these days' narrative, the more power you give these naughty corporations." His post went viral, with more than 8,200 shares and 700 comments. It resonated with many and some even thanked him for putting these thoughts out there. Christy Cheyenne Prince commented, "Thank you. Thank you so much for understanding. Thank you so much for not playing us off as 'whiny babies.' " Ana Abigail said, "You seem like a very gracious and reflective man. The world would be a much better place if there were more people like you. Carry on, good sir!"

See the rest here:

Boomer explains why millennials are having a hard time at work: 'It's ... - Upworthy

ATTENTION: Major social media outlets are finding ways to block the conservative/evangelical viewpoint. Click here for daily electronic delivery of The Stand's Daily Digest - the day's top blogs from AFA.

Dr. Jerry NewcombeOn-air personality/Senior Producer for D. James Kennedy MinistriesMORE

In October of last year, in a girls high school volleyball game in North Carolina, a student was injured painfully. The ball was spiked by a member of the opposing team only it wasnt by a biological female but a biological male a transgender player. That had to leave a mark. Watch the video for yourself.

Today that girl, Payton McNabb, is speaking out to support a bill that would disallow biological males from competing in girls sports.

In our Brave New World, people can claim to identify as a member of the opposite sex, and so it is. But that neither comports with the Bible nor science.

In his new book, The War on Virtue, Dr. William Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, writes, Among many members of the ruling class, gender ideology is all the rage. But the fact is that we cannot change our sex. We are either male or female. We cannot change our chromosomes.

Congress acted last week to bar biological males from competing with biological females in schools and colleges that receive federal funds. It passed in the House, 219-203.

The sponsor of the bill, Greg Steube (R-Florida) said, The integrity of womens sports must be protected. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) called it a "great day for America, a great day for girls and women and for fairness in sports.

Sadly, not one Democrat voted for it. No, not one. And President Biden threatens to veto it.

Furthermore, punishment awaits those who deviate from the new sexual orthodoxy that claims a man can be a woman if he so wills it. Such as a Christian school in New England.

Last month, the New York Post reported, A Vermont high school has been banned from participating in state athletics after its girls hoops team forfeited a playoff game against a team with a trans player. And so it goes in our Brave New World.

Terry Schilling, executive director of the American Principles Project, has become an outspoken critic of the transgender movement. In a radio segment on its impact on womens sports, Terry told me:

The transgender movement believes that sex is not important. What is really important is your gender identity or who you identify as. Men and women are different. Our founding fathers would have said it is a self-evident truth that men and women are different.

Schilling adds,

We have studied this scientifically---the biological difference between males and females, and there are many of them. When they come to sports, they apply the most. Men have more bone density than women do. Men are taller on average. Men are typically faster. They have more muscle mass.This is what scientific research has shown time and time again. And its all related to our hormones and our biological makeup, and its why we needed to create Title IX.

The federal government notes that Title IX is a part of the Education Amendments of 1972: Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

Out of Title IX grew womens sports leagues. So that women could compete against women.

But the transgender movement is disrupting all this. Many girls who have practiced for years in a particular sport are now losing to biological males who have a natural advantage over them. The girls then lose out on valuable scholarships.

What are biological males doing in womens sports? It is grossly unfair. Sometimes its even dangerous as in the volleyball example.

One of the great ideals of America is basic fairness. Its abiding by the Golden Rule, articulated by Jesus, that we should treat others as we would want to be treated. If you were a biological female, would you want to have to compete with biological males claiming to be girls?

Some of our presidents noted the importance of the Golden Rule in a variety of contexts:

The longer society goes down this path, the longer we abandon our moral sanity, the worse off we are.

[Hat tip to Bill Federer and his Americas God and Country for help with the quotes.]

View original post here:

AFA.net - Basic Fairness in Women's Sports - American Family Association

If you cut your vegetables too small, they will inevitably end up a burnt mess at the bottom of your air fryer. The reason is that the smaller cuts will slip through the basket's holes. Whether you choose to use a processor, slicer, peeler, or knife, a 1/4-inch wide cut is the golden rule.

Think about what a thick-cut French fry looks like. You know the ones served at a steak house? Even the board-walk style fries that Five Guys serve, or the crinkle cut ones at Shake Shack will serve as a good rule of thumb for a 1/4-inch wide sliced vegetable. You can fry them dry, but tossing the vegetables in a small amount of oil prior to the time in the air fryer will optimize that golden brown factor you want.

Now that you know the best size cut, everything from Morrocan-spiced carrotsto a simple side of green beanswill take half the time by using your favorite modern kitchen appliance.

See the original post:

How To Prep Air Fryer Vegetables So They Don't Escape The Basket - Tasting Table

According to a recent Gallup survey, around 1.7% of LGBTQ adults identify as pansexual.

Maybe you've heard the wordbefore but are unsure of what it means:Pansexuality refers to someone who is attracted to all people regardless of gender identity.

Pansexuality has a flagthat represents those who identify with the sexual orientation. Here are the colors of the Pansexual Pride Flag, what they mean and more.

The Pansexual Flag has three horizontal stripes,and each color has a different meaning:

When is Pride Month 2023?When (and why) the celebration was created.

LGBTQ glossary:Definitions every good ally should know

The Pansexual Pride Flag was created around 2010 to "bringawareness to the community," according to the Human Rights Campaign. The flag was designed to help further distinguish pansexuality from bisexuality.

History of Pride Month:In-depth look at how the LGBTQ celebration came to be

'It's a very fluid thing': What your pansexual friend wishes you knew

What is pansexual? What to know about the LGBTQ label.

Pansexuality and bisexuality are notinterchangeable words.

Bisexuality does broadly describeattraction to more than one gender, while pansexuality isattraction regardless of gender. However, the two terms occasionally overlapin nuanced ways andare entirely personal to the individual who identifies with them.

Pan is more about all-inclusive, and bi tends to be more than one, GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis previously told USA TODAY,adding, The golden rule,honestly, is to call someone by how they identify.

Pride Flag |Progress Pride Flag | Lesbian Pride Flag | Transgender Pride Flag | Bisexual Pride Flag |Asexual Pride Flag | Intersex Pride Flag | Gender IdentityFlags

Original post:

Pansexual Flag: Here's what the Pride Flag's colors mean and more - USA TODAY

HUDSON This will be his last year on his community bocce ball team, Chuck MacLeod (pronounced McCloud) told the Suncoast News, because, When you get a little older, you can start to feel unsteady, and you dont want to fall down and embarrass yourself.

He said that as he was celebrating his 100th birthday at a surprise party April 16 at Widow Fletchers restaurant in New Port Richey. The longtime Hudson resident arrived with his wife, Trudy, to find a host of family members and well-wishers assembled to toast his good health continuing into the next century of his life.

Always eat dessert first, and stay away from broccoli, he said when asked his advice for longevity.

MacLeod was born in 1923 and grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts. The year of his birth, Calvin Coolidge was president, Clarence Birdseye invented frozen food, the first game was played at the old Yankee Stadium, "Yes, We Have No Bananas" was the hit song on radio and Time Magazine printed its first edition.

Chuck MacLeod receives his new VFW paraphernalia from Cmdr. Dale Cloutier of Post 4412 in Hudson.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, which allowed him to earn an engineering degree from Tufts University and was stationed in the South Pacific as World War II was winding down. A Navy Seabee, MacLeod worked as an engineer on construction sites that were periodically attacked by Japanese soldiers who were unaware the war was over.

After the war, he worked briefly before settling in Montclair, N.J., commuting to New York City for most of his working life: half with JC Penney and half with FW Woolworth as a retail executive.

MacLeod raised four children with his first wife Wendy, Sue, Cindy and Ken. He married Trudy shortly before his retirement and became stepfather to Mark, Alan and Laurie.

Ken said his father is in remarkable physical shape: I was there (MacLeods home) in December and we were changing sprinkler heads and measuring for storm windows.

Hes sharp as a tack as well, Ken said. His advice now is just as good as it was when you were a kid. And he always had a very calm temperament his philosophy was not to make a fuss, but just get on with it. He's always been a guy ready and willing to lend a hand. He says he adopted the "golden rule" philosophy espoused by JC Penney himself - which is essentially treat others the way you'd like to be treated.

Earlier in the week, VFW Post 4412 in Hudson made MacLeod a member, and its commander, Dale Cloutier, and two members, Troy Butterbaugh and Ron Wood, came to the party to thank MacLeod for his service.

Meeting with a WWII vet is something we dont get to do much anymore, said Cloutier. Its an honor.

Read this article:

Hudson WWII vet turns 100, decides to quit the bocce ball team - Suncoast News

When addressing the UN Security Council on April 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called out the United States and its Western allies for promoting a rules-based order where nobody has seen the rules and which bars access to modern technologies and financial services to punish countries with which it disagrees.

Mr. Lavrov is not alone in struggling to understand what rules are included in this U.S.-dictated alternative to international law, which apparently does not include the UN Charter, the Hague and Geneva Conventions, other multilateral conventions and treaties, rulings of the International Court of Justice or the World Trade Organization, the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court or customary international law.

However, a close examination of American actions and inactions in recent decades, notably including its wars against Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, its unconditional support for Israeli apartheid, its recognition of Israeli sovereignty over occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and its fierce hostility toward the International Criminal Court and international law generally, suggests that there are three primary and fundamental rules of this rules-based order:

1) It is not the nature of the act that matters but, rather, who is doing it to whom.

2) Do as America says, not as America does.

3) Whatever rules exist, the United States and its citizens are not bound by them.

It clearly does not include the Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

From this perspective, no one should be surprised that the U.S. Government has never sought to publicly clarify, let alone to formally promulgate, the rules comprising its rules-based order.

But wait

Perhaps such a struggle for understanding is an exercise in barking up the wrong tree, focusing as it does on the cosmetic adjective rules-based rather than on the operative noun order.

Tellingly, in an interview on the TV program60 Minuteson May 3, 2021 (https://johnmenadue.com/us-hypocrisy-serial-rules-breaker-forfeits-global-credibility), Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, Our purpose is not to contain China, to hold it back, to keep it down. It is to uphold the rules-based order that China is posing a threat to.

China, whose last war was a one-month border war with Vietnam in 1979, publicly proclaims its allegiance to the UN Charter and other aspects of international law as understood by most countries, and its actions and inactions in recent decades have been in substantially greater compliance with these internationally agreed obligations than the actions and inactions of the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The order to which China is posing a threat is the existing international order of American full-spectrum global dominance and unipolar hegemony.

This order is threatened by an aspirational but burgeoning multipolar New Free World, encompassing countries with widely varying cultures and internal governance systems which, inspired and encouraged by China, are both willing and able to assert their own freedom, sovereignty and national preferences and to refuse to be told byanyother country what they must or must not do, either in their domestic affairs or in their relations with other countries, under threat of military or economic punishment if they disobey the dictates sought to be imposed upon them.

From this perspective, the U.S. governments failure to identify the rules comprising its rules-based order can be explained by the reality that no rules are actually relevant, since all that matters is maintaining, in the spirit attributed to King Canute, the existing order.

Originally posted here:

What is the "Rules-Based-Order"? - CounterPunch.org - CounterPunch

While constructing an $800 million data center project in the Northland, one of the largest companies in the world refused to comply with Kansas Citys standards and requirements for including minority-owned and woman-owned businesses and did so with the support of high-ranking city officials.

Andrea Dorch, formerly one of the highest-ranking Black women at City Hall as the head of the Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity Department, was in charge of making sure Facebooks parent company Meta followed those city rules. But, over the course of about two years, Dorch was pressured to ignore her job duties.

She resigned from her position earlier this month, and alleges she was forced out for speaking up about Metas violations and refusing to stay silent.

I felt ambushed, she said. I believe that it was not correct. I felt like I was coerced.

The findings are detailed in a report from the citys Civil Rights office about the sprawling data center campus for Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The Northland facility is publicly called the Golden Plains Technology Park but referred to within Kansas City Hall as Project Velvet.

In April 2022, Kansas City Council approved one of the largest incentive packages in recent years for the data center, worth $8.2 billion over 37 years.

To sweeten the deal for Meta, city council approved a Chapter 100 industrial development plan, which provides exemptions on property and sales taxes for the facility and construction materials. The development plan for Project Velvet will allow Meta to pay no property taxes on the development for 25 years, amounting to about $2.8 billion.

Meta is also exempted from personal property taxes for five years and from sales taxes on construction materials.

A development project with such a high price tag that enters into a contract with Kansas City has to follow certain city rules, including using a certain percentage of minority- and woman-owned contractors, meeting baselines on wages for workers and agreeing to standards related to nondiscrimination and construction employment.

The requirements are intended to ensure that businesses owned by women and people of color have fair and equal access to contracting opportunities in Kansas City.

According to the report, which was published by Kansas Citys Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (CREO) department earlier this month, Meta refused to comply with those provisions. But instead of losing its lucrative tax incentives, Meta was allowed to continue the project without issue because Kansas City Council waived the requirements when it executed its contract with the developer.

The Meta data center is a perfect storm (of) noncompliance and violations of local, state and federal laws for equal opportunity and protection under the law, the report states.

Under the citys requirements for projects that receive tax breaks, at least 14.7% of the businesses contracted with by developers must be minority-owned and 14.4% must be woman-owned.

However, the report found that only 5.5% of Metas contracts were with minority businesses, and only 11% with woman-owned businesses. Thats based on data submitted by Turner Construction, the New York City-based general contractor for Project Velvet, spanning December 2022 to March 2023.

That has to be one of the worst performances of a major project in Kansas City's history for minority participation, said Kelvin Perry, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City. That's not something the City Council should be proud of. And it was all because of a dereliction of their responsibility to minority businesses.

CREO oversees the citys minority and woman-owned business enterprise program and is tasked with making sure developers are meeting those goals.

But according to the report, City Manager Brian Platt and several council members pressured the department to allow Meta not to comply.

In a statement, Meta said it is in compliance with all legal requirements and city ordinances applicable to this project.

Chris McFadden, vice president of Turner Construction, said in a statement that the developer is meeting its obligations for diversity and are voluntarily and transparently reporting progress to the City on a monthly basis. McFadden said the company is taking additional measures to increase diversity with minority and woman-owned businesses.

We are actively working to provide additional opportunities for MBE contractors and are identifying individuals for a workforce development program to increase the diversity on the project, he said in the statement.

Gabe Perez, president of Unified Contractors of Kansas City a local contractors association said the allegations in the report could set the tone for future development projects. (Disclosure: Perez is the father of one of KCURs employees.)

If we're going to do this for this particular owner, then why wouldn't we do it for others? Perez said. It's a selective way to go about enforcement.

Since the very start of the project, Kansas City officials have allowed Meta to ignore construction diversity requirements, the report alleges.

The report says CREO could not analyze the Northland project under its normal procedures because the City Council had waived Metas requirement to follow the citys goals for minority and woman-owned business participation. CREO found that limited or no opportunities remained for contracting MWBE (minority and woman-owned business enterprise) firms for participation.

A Kansas City Hall spokesperson said the City Managers office was no more involved with the Meta development than other projects.

The report says CREO received complaints from minority contractors saying they were discriminated against in the projects contracting process. The department also received allegations of racially motivated intimidation, including effigies hung in project facilities.

Economic development and construction groups like the Black Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City and the Fair Contracting Alliance inquired about the Meta project but say they were not given any information or details about Metas contract. The report says the Fair Contracting Alliance was denied access to contracts and payrolls for the project.

Upon receiving a copy of the contract, and several communications between CREO and the Citys Law Department, it was revealed that the MWBE program requirements, prevailing wage, construction workforce program, and employment standards were not included in the Meta project, the city report on issues with the Meta project reads.

After learning that information, in October 2022, Dorch, who was head of CREO at the time, worked with the citys assistant attorney and economic development manager in late 2022 on an amendment to Metas contract that would include minority and woman-owned business enterprise goals and prevailing wage and nondiscrimination employment standards.

Dorch, CREO staff, Civil Rights investigators with the city, several City Council members (Dan Fowler, Kevin ONeill, and Lee Barnes), and Meta and Turner Construction representatives then met. At that meeting, Meta and Turner Construction agreed to voluntarily comply with the minority and woman-owned business enterprise program, implement a $15 minimum wage for workers and follow the provisions under the Construction Workforce Program designed to increase the retention, training and recruitment of residents, women and minorities on city construction contracts.

With Metas agreement to voluntarily comply, city officials asked the company to approve a contract amendment that would hold them accountable for meeting the Construction Workforce Program and minority and woman-owned business participation goals.

Then, according to the report, Meta changed course and did not sign the amended contract. Dorch says she received pushback from Meta and Council members Fowler and ONeill, who represent the Northland. The report says they contacted City Manager Platt to insist that CREO stop its compliance and auditing activities of Project Velvet.

An attorney for Meta said the company would not sign the amendment. The attorney requested that none of the agreed-upon goals like following the rules for minority and woman-owned business participation be legally attached to the project.

ONeill said the accusations are categorically false.

I work hard every single day to protect all working people and will continue to do so, ONeill said in a statement to KCUR. Furthermore, I've championed legislation ensuring that prevailing wage is enforced by the city. It's disappointing to see this play out in the media and I hope this issue is resolved swiftly."

Fowler said in an email that he did not participate in any of the project's contract negotiations, and said the allegations did "not reflect the facts."

I have never asked anyone not to follow city ordinances, policies and procedures. Neither have I ever observed another elected official or staff member make such a suggestion," he wrote. "In this instance, the developer volunteered to do more than was required...It should also be noted that the wages being paid on this project are GREATER than prevailing wage."

The report says Platt advised Dorch to accept an amendment to Metas contract that agreed the project would have no goals attached to it.

There's no question that they tried to muzzle CREO, said Perez.

Without any language in Metas contract holding them accountable to the citys rules, CREO could only work with the companys promise to voluntarily comply. Still, Dorch continued facing pushback from City Hall as CREO tried to hold Meta to its word and ensure Project Velvet developers were voluntarily complying with the departments requirements.

I was told so many times that I needed to not do our normal process, just accept this, Dorch said. Basically a stand-down directive, to the point that we just shut off all of our normal processes with Meta.

Dorch says she was being silenced.

I would not stand down, Dorch said. I just told the truth. Because I would not bend, I was targeted.

When asked about the City Managers alleged pressure on CREO to move forward with the Meta project without holding them accountable to the typical benchmarks, a city spokesperson said they did not have reason to believe that was correct, and that they did not understand or experience the situation to play out that way. When asked about the specific events detailed in the report involving the City Manager, a city spokesperson said they were unaware of the reports existence and could not speak to the documents contents.

When construction began in late 2022, Turner Construction refused to provide a list of the contracts awarded on the project, a normal procedure for any other project. CREO policies would have required Turner Construction to allow the department to conduct audits onsite and audits of contract payments and the construction workforce. Instead, Turner Construction submitted its own monthly reports to the city, from December 2022 through April 2023.

CREO found that Turner Constructions reports either had overinflated contract values or utilized minority and woman-owned business contractors as extra participants that would result in a non-commercially useful function being performed by the MWBE firms in violation of the City Code requirements.

In dollar amounts, the report found that Turner Construction distributed about $139 million worth of contracts as of March 30, 2023. Of that amount, white-owned businesses account for about $88.4 million, about 64% of the money. In contrast, Black-owned businesses accounted for $33.6 million of the contracts, or 24%. About 8% went to Hispanic businesses, the rest of the money went to businesses listed as other.

When companies are required to award a certain percentage of contracts to woman-owned and minority businesses, those calculations are based on the number of contracts, not the dollar amounts.

CREO also analyzes the diversity of construction workers onsite. Out of about 1,135 people, 67% are white, 5% are Black and 5% are Hispanic. The report says 19% of workers did not specify their race. Asian and Native American workers each made up 1% of the workforce, while 2% identified as Other.

Michelle Roberts-Bauer, president of Associated Builders and Contractors, said the city must investigate the allegations made in the CREO report.

These programs are in place to ensure that all in our community have equal opportunity to compete and win work on projects receiving public tax incentives, Roberts-Bauer said. No contractor can be expected to succeed if the rules are always changing.

The report recommends that Metas contract for Project Velvet be amended to require that 15% of contracts are for minority businesses, 15% are for woman-owned businesses, and that the construction workforce includes 10% minority participation and 2% female participation.

The City Managers office said they plan to introduce an ordinance before City Council next week that would amend Metas contract with the city to include the goals of minority and woman-owned business participation, among the other provisions CREO initially recommended.

Dorch said the resistance she faced in trying to hold Meta developers accountable was emblematic of a larger problem at Kansas City Hall: an environment of fear and intimidation among staffers and executives that targeted employees of color.

It was very hard, she said.

Courtesy of Andrea Dorch

/

The City Managers office said Dorch was found to be violating the citys residency rule, which requires all city employees to live in Kansas City, Missouri. The City Managers office cited a deed for a house in Lees Summit that listed Dorch as the owner, and said the city conducted an investigation and interviewed Dorch to verify that claim.

Dorch said she bought a home in Lees Summit in 2020 as an investment property, but her primary residence is in Kansas City proper. Dorch showed KCUR multiple government documents including tax filings and her government ID listing an address within city limits.

Dorch said shes lived at that same address since 1994. She began working with the city in 1997, and said shes always been aware of the residency requirement.

It's my principal establishment, Dorch said of her Kansas City home. It's my true, fixed and permanent residence. Why would I take a job at will and then violate a residency requirement? It doesn't make any sense.

Dorch said the city knew about the Lees Summit property as early as 2021 when she was first hired by the city to lead CREO. The city became aware of the property again early last year, but only approached her about violating the residency requirement earlier this month. According to Dorch, when she tried to explain herself during the investigation, City Manager Platt was unresponsive.

Dorch believes the city used the residency requirement as pretext to retaliate against her.

It was so venomous, she said. The retaliation stung.

Platt appointed Dorch to head CREO in 2021. Before then, she worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development overseeing the region that includes Missouri. Dorch previously worked in CREO when it was known as the Human Relations Department, during the administration of Mayor Sly James.

As head of CREO, Dorch said she noticed an uptick in complaints coming from City Hall employees alleging discrimination based on race and ability. CREO cannot investigate those complaints; the department must refer them to a state or federal agency, like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Missouri Human Rights Commission.

City employees are supposed to file a complaint with Human Resources first, which investigates allegations of discrimination. Employees are not required to file a complaint with CREO, though Dorch said some would come to CREO as a last resort.

Usually by the time they get to our office, they have no other relief, she said.

As a Black woman at City Hall, Dorch said she noticed a stark difference between how she was treated and how people who werent Black or female were treated, like when she asked for funding to fully staff her department.

It was just all of this log jam, when they knew how much I really needed these positions, she said.

Dorch said she noticed many employees would not file a complaint even if they experienced discrimination. They feared retaliation.

Dorch attributes the resistance to CREOs enforcement efforts to an environment of structural racism at City Hall. Within that structure, Dorch says, high performers usually leave, not wanting to work in a toxic environment, while those who stay end up falling in line.

I can't tell you the number of times I've heard employees say, Well, that's just what they do. Well, that's just how it is. Well, I know I'm not going to get a raise, Dorch recalls.

Dorchs departure has been met with criticism from the Black Chamber of Commerce, Unified Contractors of Kansas City and the Fairness in Construction Board, groups that often worked with Dorch on the citys minority and woman-owned business enterprise program. All three sent letters to Mayor Quinton Lucas and City Council praising Dorchs leadership of CREO and expressing shock over her departure.

We believe the departure of Director Dorch of CREO will cause immeasurable damage to the efforts of the city in (providing) contracting opportunities to minorities and women owned businesses in a constitutionally defensible manner, said Ray Malone, chairman of the Fairness in Construction Board, in a letter to council.

The Unified Contractors of Kansas City said in its letter that they are unaware of any performance issues on her part or by her staff that would warrant such a termination. The group asked the mayor and city council to investigate Dorchs forced resignation and reinstate her as head of the department.

We can make a strong argument that this department is the most important department in the city, Perez said. It is there to make sure that Kansas City maintains a certain level of fairness for all.

Construction continues on the one million square foot data facility in the Northland Meta plans to finish the project by 2024. The Meta campus is the first in a line of data centers coming to Kansas Citys Northland. A company based in Overland Park last Fall unveiled plans for a 4 million square foot development encompassing 12 data centers. Construction on that project could begin in 2025.

City officials say they plan to hire a new director for CREO and advertise the job opening soon.

Visit link:

Kansas City reportedly let Meta developer break diversity rules, then ... - KCUR