ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

In Bangladesh, only one fifth of the preschool aged children ever could have access to center based programs though the centers hardly have sufficient materials for children's development. Considering this stunting situtaion the Sesame Workshop started a Bangladesh version of their project - Sesame Street Bangladesh, locally known as Sisimpur. Since a country like Bangladesh needs foriegn support to take developmental projects I wonder whether the Wall Street Tsunami will blow through out this country. We have long way to go to develop our children.

The sad and simple reality is that the crisis is virtually everyone's fault.

Our economy gets by on debt. People mostly buy stuff with credit, rather than cash.

Advantages: (1) People get the stuff right away and they can buy more expensive stuff. Who wouldn't want nice things without the hassle of saving for them???

(2) This is good for the makers of the stuff (cars, houses, clothes, etc...). People buying a lot of expensive things usually leads to a higher profit margin for the makers of those things. These businesses grow. They employ more people. Their employees buy a lot of expensive stuff with credit too.

(3) This is good for the institutions offering the credit. They make money off of the lent money, especially when only the minimum payments are made.

Everyone's happy! Hurray for credit! What a fun time!

Disadvantages:

(1) Inevitably, people are going to buy too much stuff and their debt is simply too much. They may have their stuff repossessed. Or, they may have to pay a higher interest rate because of late payments. This isn't fun. Making ends meet just got much harder. To what extent can we lower our standard of living?

(2) Makers of the stuff (businesses) aren't happy anymore either. People aren't buying as much stuff - and the stuff they do buy tends to be less expensive. The makers of stuff have to lay off employees. These formers employees now have a hard time paying of their debt. They, too, buy less stuff, which hurts other businesses.

(3) The institutions offering credit are unhappy too. Expected loan repayments with interest aren't coming in. This means they aren't making as much money as they expected. This hurts their stock. This also prevents them from offering credit to other people and businesses. Why go further in the hole and give more credit if a significant portion of people aren't repaying? Where would they get the money for the loan in the first place?

Oh no! This isn't fun anymore! The music has stopped and there is no more booze in the punch bowl.

Have no fear! The Federal Reserve is to the rescue! Let's print more money and give it to the financial institutions so that they can start the debt cycle over again.

Yes, yes... This will just make inflation worse (the $ will not be able to buy you as much stuff as it did before), but... that's okay. Just borrow more $$$ next time!

And, just for fun, let's hope the Senate approves a bill for a $700 billion dollar bailout. Precisely WHERE that $700 billion comes from does not matter (*cough* taxes) -- national interests are at stake.

As Families are impacted with higher prices, layoffs, and many other financial hardships -- we (licensed child care providers) are impacted. We lose clients, their ability to pay- we lose money, our income is very unstable causing our credit report to suffer as well as our ability to pay our bills and mortgages. We are seriously affected!

Living in Canada, we feel the fear of what is happening in the US, but take a little comfort in the fact that our financial system is more tightly regulated and though not immune from the Wall Street greed, are buffered from such extreme market effects. And while Canada is in the middle of a federal election campaign, and the Conservative right assures us we have a solid and resilient financial system, make no mistake, it is due to the strong regulation that our opposition governments instilled over the years and continue to support. The conservative government has tried over the years in the past to "deregulate" our banking system as "a means to stimulate a sluggish economy in favor of a more capitalist system". Well the very regulations they want to destroy, have saved our *#!! in this current crisis. The effects on our children and early learning are obvious with a slower economy, cuts to early learning programs and the end of the stick for quality and regulated child care funding.

I work for a company who has a preschool, Afterschool, dance, cheer, gymnastics, basketball, ice skating, and martial arts. We are feeling the money crisis everywhere. All of our programs except Afterschool are Luxuries in today’s times. Recreational activities are some of the first things to go. Our preschool has 20 spots opened. This summer our summer camp hardly filled up when we normally have to turn people away because we are so full. Our gymnastics program is really bad. Parents aren't signing out their children for gym. Our ice skating is open to the public. Sometime we have to close early because there isn't anyone here. I have worked here for 9 years and I feel like I am not going to loose my job but I fear for those who will.

In our preschool, we can't purchase the things we normally can because we don't have money. The kids can't get what we want to give them and we have to do with out most of the time.

I don't have a lot of insight into financial affairs. Actually, I have been struggling over the last year to get my personal money matters sorted out. However, the news of all of this frightens me. Somehow we have come away from a time when everyone... individual, family or business was held responsible for its own actions, positive or negative. I am not sure who is responsible for this mess ... had we not all been turnning our backs on increasing national debt, credit card spending and outragious loans being taken ... maybe ..
well not much is ever gained in retrospect. For the future, I think we all need to tighten our belts where ever we can and save as much as we can ... It frightens me that things could get alot worse than they are.

Make no mistake we are under hard times and everybody knows it. With that being said the trickle down effect on our daycare is getting worse. We've had parents get laid off and lose their jobs and we're feeling the pinch. At first the director asked for volunteers to leave early but now she's had to let one teacher go (purely for financial reasons) and she's cut everyone else's hours including hers and the assistant director's. As parents lose their jobs they have to pull their kids out because they can't afford the payments. I love what I do and the daycare I work for so I'll probably have to get a part-time job to make ends meet until things get better. It's sad times for everyone but hopefully wall street will learn from the current mistakes and take steps to prevent this from happening in the future. Best wishes and good luck to everyone!

The recession we are experiencing is due to greed and lack of government oversight. Normally Presidents do not have much impact on the cycles of the economy. However in this case, conducting war without paying for it. Allowing subprimes with no oversight. Allowing credit card debt with no regulation of the credit card companies. Allowing the growth of medical benefits for seniors without a method to pay for it and having the benefit administered by insurance companies. Cutting incentives for alternative fuel sources so the US becomes more dependent on Middle
East Oil.
The economy will have a terrible impact on all businesses and therefore employment. It will have a very negative impact on child care centers and family day care homes as the demand for full day programs declines and families who want part day will be concerned about their financial situation. Those children funded by the state or Federal CCDBG or TANF programs will find that governments at the Federal and State level will cut this critical support so that children are ready to learn and families are able to earn.

There is not one person that is not going to be affected by the current financial dilemma. As a childcare provider and educator, my main concern is that children will suffer some of the effects that such circumstances cause. Children feel their parent's tention as their wallets don't afford as much as they used to. Children feel the emptiness as childcare employees abandon their positions for higher paying jobs. Children and families feel the change in attitudes as people around them become more concerned with their personal circumstances. As a director, I fear the loss of quality care and education for the children I serve as parents look for alternative care that is less expensive. I fear that a "bail out" may have a direct effect on the funding that may have gone to support children and families. As stated above, no bail out would come our way if we ran financially irresponsible businesses. I have very mixed emotions. Are we willing to let things hit rock bottom as financial institutions fail, or do we as a country need to share the burden? I feel that any bail out has to be carefully monitored and that there needs to be assurances that all other programs will not loose out in the process. Great strides are being made in the childcare industry. Attentions are moving to where they need to be. It would be a great injustice to allow this to all fade away to save those that have acted so irresponsibly.

Tightening one"s belt is always difficult. There is no doubt in my mind the time for such measures is NOW. I am sure the government would not come and bail us out if we ran our programs like those requesting the bailout. Yes, this is a travesty but taking on more debt is not the answer. Whatever happened to the days when you paid for what you bought? Now everyone wants to live on credit. The house of cards is not a very stable foundation. Let's be an example for our children and grandchildren and stop this foolish spending.

If child care center directors were in charge of Wall Street this mess would never have happened because directors are careful with the money they have to spend. They work hard for every dime that comes into the program, and they have had lots and lots of experience scrimping and saving to make their programs run over the years. Now the Fat Cats get to see what our lives have been like for the past 20 years and they need a "bail out". Whose been around to "bail out" child care centers? Get to work people! You can make do with less like we have.

We have all felt the economic crunch far before the current "economic crisis". I think it's wasteful and disgusting that people make so much money and we sturggle to keep the lights on for our kids. What's wrong with this picture!! Let's invest in young people who will lead the country one day...not overpaid, underworked executives!

Our enrollment in courses at the community college has jumped as more people are looking to more education OR a change of career to help them in these times. Those who have become unemployed in this crisis are looking at all manner of cutting costs and thus child care is no longer necessary. On the plus side mothers can now raise their own children, which is always the best option. But families under stress need emotional support and community resources in order to shield their children from these stark realities.

The bail out will effect us because many of our parents will be laid off therefore removing their children from DayCare as it presents an economic crunch. I feel this is a travesty that we the taxpayers pay for the "Big Bird Brain Government". I think we should file a class action suit for negligence and misconduct!

This happened in the mid 1900's and financial tycoon J.P. Morgan and others put up their own money, bailed Wall Street out and even made money doing it. The fact is our government does not have the money to bail out the situation, so they are actually borrowing on the future. What I want to know is; will the C.E.O.'s of the companies still make their high dollar salaries in the bail out? That would be fair to reward them for mis-management.
As for the current Presidential Candidates, all I have to say is that McCain has served through the 8 years of the Bush Administration and enjoyed the Republican success and the demise of the American Economy. NOW he says he wants change and says he doesn't agree with the way things were handled, but he is part of the ways things have been going for many years!!!!

I think this bailout is a travesty put upon the American taxpayers. I'm not sure if the majority of us really knew how bad the situation was, (or if we could have known), and how the lax regulatory criteria would affect not only Wall Street, but the average citizen's finances. I think there should be intense investigations and those found to be fraudulent, jailed. The impact on education, child care, mental health, family services and other vital programs, will be devastating. The current administration never had a clue - No Child Left Behind ? We are at risk of all children being left behind if sufficient attention isn't given to the age group where the foundation of learning begins. Neither presidential candidate has a full understanding of how important early childhood education and quality care is to the economic base of the U.S. Important for parents, so they can continue to work; important for children so they can be ready to learn and succeed; important for the family as a whole so they can remain viable in today's world. This should be a basic bi-partisan priority and not be bandied about as a campaign promise that's soon forgotten after January '09.

We need to ask who this bailout is really helping. Will it help the 1.4 million homes foreclosed this year? I think not as families have taken their hits and moved on. This bailout rewards irresponsible business practices. We need to slow down the panic and think this through. Even Secretary Paulson said he doesn't know the amount needed. It is the same old fear mongering and rushing into things without thinking which will get us into more trouble down the road.

I also think that someone has really dropped the ball on the regulation of our ins. companies and our banks but do feel the bail-out is necessary to keep American going. Do I think Mr. Obama has the answers, definately not! He tends to talk a good talk, but seems to be very unclear about a plan to "fix" all our problems. If the American people who have worked hard for years to get to a point where they are comfortable, not wealthy, but comfortable, want to give more in taxes so some who do not care to work or have chosen to live off the government, may be taken care of, then vote for Mr. Obama, because that is the democratic way and that will surely be Mr. Obama's way also. Money for children? If I knew my increase in taxes would go for children in need, I would have not problem, but unfortunately it will go for many other social programs that don't come close to taking care of our children. We need to push our local legislators to "push" at the Washington level to get the point across about the importance of educating our young children and adults on the importance of this early intervention, not giving more to those who don't feel the need to help themselves.

It's infuriating that U.S. taxpayers must rescue Wall Street banks that have done everything they can over the past 20 years to avoid transparency, accountability and regulation. We're seeing the limitations of the "invisible hand" of the market, valuing wealth above taking care of all of our children, ensuring access to health and decent wages, etc. Greed was allowed to run rampant as the Bush administration and republican leaders - including John McCain - turned a blind eye.
The goal of our economic system, as the late Sen. Paul Wellstone said, must be that BOTH the public and private sectors are focused on: we-all-do-better-when we-all-do-better.
I think this government "correction" of Wall Street can bring back into focus our American values of education, equal opportunities, home ownership, affordable health care, and liveable wages. This includes young children, their parents, and their teachers/caregivers. When these values - not just wealth - become the driving force for public policy and private enterprise, people, including little kids who aren't "productive" in the market sense, won't be left out of our country's economic equation.

In the short run, this new drain on our taxes - especially if the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% aren't repealed - will make it even more difficult for public investment in child care/ early education. Barack Obama DID mention investing in early education as a way to build a strong economic future in the debate last Friday.

In the long run, a positive outcome of this debacle will be to swing the pendulum back from "market activity will solve all our economic challenges" to seeing a role for government goal setting, discussion of values, and oversight of the market as part of the answer. This swing will help struggling families and little kids more in the long run.

In the meantime, an immediate concern for child care businesses is that they need credit freed up to expand slots and improve their quality to take advantage of "market based" scholarship programs.

The number one way that the general economic crisis in our country (world) affects our center is that many of our parents work in the financial sector. That means that some of them are losing their jobs (this has been going on for about 6 months for us), others are fearful for their job security, and almost all of them are very dialed-in to the situation. Almost without exception, these parents feel stressed out, and that stress is reflected in the way that they interact with their children and others in our community. At the moment I am not worried that our enrollment will drop. At the moment I'm concerned about helping parents continue to see their children's successes, delights, challenges and very ordinary everyday young-child experiences as worthy of their attention.

A demand for a bailout of these proportions is undemocratic. It does not take into account those working and middle class people who have lost so much. The greed of corporate America has led us to this moment in time and this includes our administration's actions which have coddled corporations and bent to their will for 8 years. I am concerned for our mental health agency and the most vulnerable population we are treating - poor children and their families. I am concerned about upcoming cuts to services by both the federal and state and city. This will be disastrous for us in the future. That is why I am voting for Obama.

Once again the government is coming in to "rescue" failing business and can somehow find the funds to do this, but when we discuss the need for increased levels of funding for a higher quality early education system, universal health care, or a stronger educational system, there is never the money to be found.

While this bailout will probably be necessary to keep our economy from falling over the edge into a depression, I do wish there would be some type of accountability and oversight that will be implemented to keep this from happening again.

This administration's legacy appears to be a level of corruption that will surpass the Harding administration that led this country into the Great Depression.

We have no choice but to bail out the markets; if we let our financial system fail, the country will be in crises comparable to the Great Depression. This is bigger than foreclosures. Already I am hearing that there is a shortage of money for car loans and student loans. If the markets fail, our 401(k) and IRA accounts will be decimated; there won't be money for business to borrow to expand, use as a line of credit, etc. It is unfortunate that our government let it get to this point. I would expect programs such as Child Care Assistance will suffer as Congress figures out how to pay for the bailout.

I believe that our entire country, including it's citizens, it's political aspects, etc ALL need to return to the things that made us such a great nation. Pride, a sense of right and wrong, personal accountablity, standing up for what you believe in regardless of public opinion. Until we do these things we will continue to just put a bandaid on a huge problem.
In Christ,
Cindy Cadwell
Creedmoor Road Baptist PReschool
Raleigh, NC

Although I understand (I think) the necessity to protect the financila markets because of the current downturn that is a crisis, I am very disappointed that the congress is apparently not able to include some relief for the home owners whose mortgage payments are causing foreclosure. Ther should have been an itme in the plan that would allow judges to re-do home mortgages for primary residences in bankruptcy cases. (Those with boat mortgages and investment mortgages are able to do this, why not the primary home?) I understand that this might keep the whole plan from being accepted by the legislature and the president, but it now protect those with more money, more than it protects those who have less. I recognise that some of the mortgages were not wise choices but I also recognise the smooth talking methods of mortgage lenders who make it sound asthough it will work out all right and the desire of people to have their own home. If it passes the congress and is implemented in its present form, we will not know for a long time whether it is helping or not. In the meantime, people are losing their jobs and their homes and we will suffer for that economically and as a society.

I see this as another move by this administration to help out his buddies while letting the rest of the country go to pot. This will definitely impact ECE because more funds that could have been used to assist those without a voice will be given to those with the loudest voice - corporations. I hope everyone listed to the debates last Friday, because only one candidate specifically mentioned early childhood education...

If this is a long term fix, then it will be great, but if it is a short term fix, then don't bother.

Bush's advisors convinced Congress to raid Iraq. They "bought in" and now we have a war that won't end. Now, Paulson (a former corporate CEO) is convincing Congress to raid the US Treasury, for goodness sake, and congress, yet again, is "buying it"! Where is common sense? What happened to putting the American people first? I see all the players in this scenario lining their pockets.

This is a tragic, financilly devastating situation that is likely to have a direct or at least a ripple effect on every single U.S. citizen. It has been brought about by the greed and hunger for money that pervades our society. It has been exascerbated by the failed policies and idealogy of the current administration (greed with no oversight and regulation). In my opinion, the Congress is buying into another rip-off of the Bush administration with this $700 billion legislation. It was Bush's advisors that ill-advised the Congress and convinced them to raid Iraq. The same advisors are now convincing Congress that the Treasury of the United States needs to be raided. And the Congress is "buying it", yet again! The current players in the current adminstration are making out like bandits, and the taxpayers are going to be left "holding the bad". Just wait and see.

The Prophet Isaiah spoke to his generation and to us delivering a message from the God of Abraham:

If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sins and heal their land.

Letting morality influence our ethics in the areas of finance, business, fuel, environment, health, world justice and family, not debating but choosing right over wrong, not prioritizing but deciding that we are, as citizens of the world, all responsible for it all, then God "will hear from heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land."

The impact on us began last year. As different companies began to lay off, more people began to do "child care" at home to supplement their income. Some of our families saw this as a way to cut child care costs so they went with these neighbors to watch their children. I feel stuck - we cannot lower our rates because we must pay our staff at least something near fair for their education and hard work. Our payroll accounts for more than 85% of our income, so I have 15% to look at to reduce costs. Wonder if there will be any "bailouts" for the nonprofits like us who serve those lower middle income families who do not qualify for TANF monies but who are struggling to survive this financial climates.

We are experiencing a small downturn in our center as parents lose their jobs. I'm expecting it to get worse. And as someone else pointed out, we will just be a dominoe in the line of causing people to lose their jobs. Interestingly, a friend of mine was able to buy her first home via Fannie Mae 2 weeks before the collapse - with no money down and no one co-signing for her. In the '80's when I was buying my first house - there was no way I could get a loan without 20% down. I've read that during the Clinton administration, the restrictions were loosened to allow more people access to homes. Which is a fine idea, as long as there is some accountability in place. That's what seems to be lacking in government - accountability. Any of us would lose our jobs if we made such similar poor decisions as to lend money to people who cannot pay their indebtedness. How long would it take for a center to go under by not collecting payments? Somewhere along the line, the restrictions should have been tightened. Greed is problematic - but not the root problem. The root of the problem lies in a lack of accountability and maybe a lack of common sense. If it is true that some people warned of danger and the Bush administration tried to change it - why did it not happen? We elect people in both parties hoping that they will do their jobs - and it just doesn't seem to happen. Until we figure out a way to hold elected officials accountable, I guess we can just get ready for more of the same because it will never change.

I do NOT support the bail out. We need to allow capatilism to work and ride out this storm. The market will correct. It may be painful, but it will correct. If we allow government to bail it out, we allow government to get even larger. I say NO.

While we are letting children play with ATM machine toys, teaching them how to use credit cards and that they can have anything they want - how can we be upset that they (meaning all people) don't get that they should work for the things they want to have???

The issues become so much more polarized in these times of crisis. In Canada, I'm just hoping that we can stick to rational thought and good judgement - so that voters in our election up here don't look to those saviours of the free-market who offer pontifical, simplistic, nonsystemic solutions to "the economy" - when the economy is so MUCH GREATER than the current situation. I simply cannot be convinced that an enormous investment in universally accessible child care is NOT what's needed to help all of us ride through these tough economic times.

We haven't seen much decline in Seattle, yet. Childcare needs are greater than the number of spaces we have available. My concern is for the people with their retirement in Wa Mu and other companies whose stock has become worthless. We may see more poverty at both ends of the life cycle. People are struggling, but people are working, gas is declining in price, but food prices are still going up.

From an article in the DM Register this weekend, it read that Aristotle said "The fate of empires depends on the education of youth." If we lose sight of this we will be in a bigger hole unable to reclaim our footing. We see parents choosing less then quality care or being left with no child care because of the economy. It is critical that we reach young children now and we do not cut government spending on education. If the government could bail out the education system in this country then we might see things turn around.

The government including the congress are responsible for getting us into this mess with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae... they benefit with huge donations to their campaigns and we are now supposed to rush to bail "us" out? We need the government to get out of the way and let free market capitalism right this boat that is about to capsize. As long as we think the government is the best answer and should take over our problems and provide the answers, things will get worse and we will pay the higher and higher price.

Families are struggling to feed themselves, put gas in the car to get to jobs that are dwindling, and wondering if they will be able to keep their home or not. By cutting their spending it effects stores, car dealers, home sales, etc. As jobs decrease, so will the need for child care, since families will have no income to pay for it. Child care centers will have to lay off staff, who will inturn begin to wonder if they will lose their homes. They will cut back even further on spending, which will effect the stores, the gas stations, the housing market, etc even more. It's a downward spiral for EVERYONE. Sure makes me wish I had a 'golden parachute".

It's too early to devise a response to this crisis, in my opinion. I live in the NY Metropolitan area and already parents and staff members families have lost or are in fear of losing their jobs in the financial arena. This means lower enrollment and unstable staffing if spouses need to find other work to make up the lost income. Beyond that, the money for this bail out has to come from somewhere. So, I would suggest we start lobbying long and hard for protection of federal block grant funds as well as support to needy families since it is likely those numbers will increase.

More and more parents are being layed off. Many child care centers are having fewer children and those that are there need more financial assistance.

It frustrates me that we can find $700 billion to bail out Wall Street, but we can't find the money to provide childcare assistance for parents or funds to help non-profits provide services for those living inpoverty, especially the children and the elderly. Our priorities are definiteoly askew in this country.

My program is moving from a home based program to a fully independent program. I am selling my 6000 square foot home, that houses our living space and business space, and buying two properties, one personal, one business. It has been very difficult to accomplish and coordinate this,but it's finally coming together, I think, in two weeks. Financing for the business has been very difficult to get, and I'm still waiting for the final approval.

The real impact is on the future for the children. These kids will have to pay for the excesses of their parents and the business community, and government. From the top down, people and businesses and most importantly, government spend money they doesn't have- all in the spirit of "I have to have it." We don't have to have nearly as much as we think we do. Starting with infancy a new baby needs food, love and security, and warm and safe place to sleep. Not the three packs, two sleeping arrangments, 3 carseats and 100's of toys and outfits that others believe they need- If we look hard enough, I would bet we could pair down in any and all areas of our lives- business, personal and government as individuals and as citizens of a responsible government to needs and use less and use credit only when absolutely necessary under specific conditions.
If we can't do it for ourselves, we have to do it for our futures, the children.

None of us can pay it all back and there must be a collective "no, I don't need this" in order to make progress. This president has been the worst leader and example I have ever seen, it's time for the grownups to behave as the responsible citizens we are.