Blueprint for a Coup
 

Earlier this week, there was an email about an article in Slate Magazine written by Farhad Manjoo.  Manjoo wrote an article titled, "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Startup Founders".  

In the article, Farhad wrote the following:

"About one-quarter of American tech companies are founded in part or entirely by foreigners.  The proportion in Silicon Valley is even higher—a recent survey (PDF) by Vivek Wadhwa, an engineering professor at Duke University, showed that more than 52 percent of Valley startups were founded or co-founded by people born outside of the United States. According to Wadhwa's research, immigrant-founded firms produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers in 2005."

  

Note:  Update,  See EB-5 visa program.   The purchase of American citizenship... and once they get it, they are "minorities" in our country which makes them qualified for SBA loans and preferential government contracts.   10/21/2010    Payal Tak    Lurita Doan    "The CORE"

There have been studies - including government studies - showing that American citizens are being replaced in the American job market by imported foreigners.  These reports are ignored by the mainstream media.  Only occasionally will a reporter write about how the American technology market - jobs and contracting opportunities have been taken over by foreign firms that use foreigners employees imported on H1-B.  Recently, Kim Berry, President of the Programmer's Guild wrote an article about his daughter and her inability to find a job.  Stephanie Berry graduated in May 2009 from the University of Southern California with the following credentials:

  • M.S. Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering
  • B.S. Civil Engineering, Building Science (Architectural Engineering)
  • National Honor Societies: Chi Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, Mortar Board (Webmaster), Phi Kappa Phi
  • GPA: 3.840

The lies of the American storyline concerning the job market and the educational requirements for now and in the future are laid bare by Stephanie Berry's story.  The fact that Stephanie wasn't recruited before she graduated is proof positive that there is something very wrong in America.

Export Wealth - Import Poverty

During the late 1980's through the decade of 1990's, the national policy of supply side economics caused the exportation of - not products - but production.  Supply side coupled with the Multinational Investment Agreements (MIA) fraudulently called 'free trade' agreements led to the exodus of business from America leaving us with only brand name corporate facades that are simply import and sales offices.  The domino effect of supply side policies has been rippling through our economy ever since.  All attempts to "fix" the economy by tweaking various aspects of the economic environment have been dismal failures at best and exacerbations of the problems at worst. Supply side economics reversed our economy.  Effectively, we exported wealth and imported poverty.

 

The banking, financial services and tech industries provided the conceptual framework for the MIAs that comprise the global economic system that was created by supply side economics.  The main idea of that framework was that multinational corporations had a right to do business in any country (Foreign Direct Investment) and that if the domestic laws of a country got in the way of the multinational, those laws could be challenged in a kangaroo court under the rules of the World Trade Organization.  If the kangaroo court ruled in the favor of the multinational corporation, a country could still keep it's laws but it would have to pay the multinational corporation damages for the assumed losses by the inability to carry on it's business in that country.  The conceptual framework of the global trading system reversed the power structures in the world - disempowering governments - empowering multinational corporations. 

National Archives - Clinton Accomplishments

Promoted Trade Opportunities for High Technology. The Clinton Administration completed series of trade agreements on technology, including the WTO’s commitment to duty-free cyberspace, keeping the Internet free of trade barriers, in 1998; the global WTO agreements on Financial Services and Basic Telecommunications in 1997; the global WTO agreement on Information Technology in 1996; and a series of bilateral agreements on intellectual property, high-tech products, services and other sectors. These efforts are the building blocks of the New Economy.

In the 1990's when the international economic system was being designed, it was known that the multinational corporations were going to become expatriates from their developed home countries because the conceptual framework of the MIAs gave de facto preferential treatment to multinational corporations in any country other than their home country.  They could break down laws and import their business customs and culture to foreign countries with no penalty to the bottom line.  The large corporations with labor intensive operations would naturally locate in lowest labor cost countries leaving the developed economies with severe unemployment problems. 

The evidence that the political establishment in this country knew the consequences of what they were doing is in the legislation for programs designed for small businesses which were a key component of the central planning following the transition to the global corporatist system.  The problem is that the economy they created through the mechanism of small business funding, government contracting and preferential loans is a false economy.  It's all government funded at a time when the government has drastically reduced tax revenues because they exported their tax base.   They created a fictional boom at the economic bottom funded by the U.S. Treasury while the multinational corporations were slipping out the backdoor.  In this writer's opinion, it was a cover operation for the losses incurred due to the globalization of our economy.  It was planned with the intent to destabilize and economically disembowel the middle class while funding and empowering the underclass - reversing fortunes between the two.

 

New Markets Initiative

 

Throughout the Clinton Administration's eight years in office, a series of programs collectively called the 'New Markets Initiative' were put into place that opened up a pipeline of money from the U.S. Treasury to fuel the creation of the fictional economy creating the illusion of a boom where there was none and in this writer's opinion to transfer the power of government into the hands of the coup forces.  I say that not only because of the government takeover, but also because of the surveillance, tracking and command and control technology that is being implemented on our highways plus a host of other command and control systems are more suitable for totalitarian system than for an allegedly free country.  

Lloyd Bentson was the Treasury Secretary until 1995.  In January 1995, Robert Rubin became the Treasury Secretary.  Prior to government "service", Rubin spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs

1999 - Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin Remarks at the Small Business Administration Luncheon.

EZ/EC Zones

One element of the fictional economy was the zoning system for preferential business treatment of small businesses in the inner cities.  These zones were called Empowerment Zones (EZ) and Enterprise Communities (EC). 

Clinton Office of the Press Secretary, January 17, 1994,
Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Fact Sheet

Empowerment Zone History, Mitchell Moss, 1999

President Clinton's National Urban Policy -- Guiding Principles (Draft) 

Excerpts from Pages 3-4

The Community Empowerment Agenda is grounded on four basic principles. First, it links families to work. The National Urban Policy brings together tax, welfare, education, job training, transportation, and housing initiatives that help families make the difficult transition to self-sufficiency and independence:

  • Rewards work, individual initiative, and family responsibility by reforming welfare, housing, and other policies that inadvertently punish the poor for doing the right thing for themselves and their families -- this is the employment connection.

  • Invests in education, training, work force development, and life-long learning so that Americans are job-ready and able to compete in the increasingly sophisticated global marketplace -- this is the human capital connection.

  • Expands the residential and employment options of inner-city families in their metropolitan areas -- this is the access connection.

Second, the Community Empowerment Agenda leverages private investment in our cities. It works with the market and private businesses to build upon the natural assets and competitive advantages of urban communities:

Third, President Clinton's National Urban Policy is locally driven. The Community Empowerment Agenda promotes solutions that are locally crafted and implemented by entrepreneurial public entities, private actors, and the growing network of community-based corporations and organizations:  [read ACORN]

Empowerment Zone General Information

"In order to create jobs for area residents, employers received a 20 percent wage credit for the first $15,000 paid to a resident of the empowerment zone, in addition to tax breaks for any expenses incurred to train these workers. The credits could be applied to full-or part-time workers, but not to workers who were closely related to the business owner, who owned part of the business themselves, or who worked for golf courses, massage parlors, liquor stores, gambling facilities, or other ineligible business enterprises.

In order to encourage investment in the zones, the act allowed businesses to exclude from taxation 50 percent of any capital gains from such investments. It also provided tax-exempt bond financing for the purchase of certain properties within the zones, and increased the allowance for depreciating such properties by $10,000 to $20,000 in the first year (which had the effect of reducing taxes). In contrast to empowerment zones, which receive all of these benefits, enterprise communities are eligible only for tax-exempt bond financing."

Chicago was one of the first cities to receive the EZ/EC designation.  Information on their program was retrieved from the Internet Archive.   Chicago Empowerment Zone

GAO Report on EZ/EC program, 2006  (large pdf)


 

Community Development Financial Institutions

From Clinton's list of "Accomplishments".  Ignore the petty cash start up funding.  At this point in the game, 10's of billions and maybe even 100's of billions are being funneled through these "Community" programs.   

Created Community Development Financial Institutions. In September 1994, the President signed legislation creating the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, a Clinton campaign proposal to support specialized financial institutions serving often-overlooked customers and communities. The Fund has certified over 400 CDFIs. It has provided over $427 million to match investments in CDFIs and to encourage traditional financial institutions to increase their lending, investment and services in under-served markets.

It would appear that what they were doing with this initiative is to build an institutional network of special interests that feed off the U.S. Treasury. 

U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund

Community Reinvestment Fund

In previous research, Robert Rubin was directly connected with the Community Reinvestment Scam along with Lloyd Bentsen and Eugene Ludwig:

The Great Swindle 
The Mission Exposed

And after doing this research, I realize now that another research project that I did - that I attributed to Agenda 21 was actually part of the Community Reinvestment scam - illusory booming economy and homes built where there was no market, collectivization of transportation, planning and zoning departments for the metropolitan area.

Agenda 21 in Idaho

Timeline
Regional Supra-Government

 

New Markets Venture Capital

SBA Funded Venture Capital

In December 2000, to address the unmet equity needs of low-income communities, Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law legislation creating the New Markets Venture Capital (NMVC) Program. Congress also appropriated FY2001 funding for $150 million of debenture guaranty authority and $30 million in for Operational Assistance (OA) grants to supplement the private capital that is raised by NMVC companies and Specialized Small Business Investment Companies (SSBICs).


By August 8, 2003, SBA entered into agreements with six New Markets Venture Capital Companies (NMVCCs). These NMVCCs were newly formed, for-profit investment funds with private management. Their objective is to promote economic development and the creation of wealth and job opportunities in their self-designated Low-Income (LI) geographic Areas. NMVCCs pursue this objective by making equity-type investments in smaller enterprises located in LI Areas, and by providing Operational Assistance (OA) through OA grants to such enterprises

 

 

SME Enterprises

At the 1995 G8 Summit in Halifax, small and medium sized enterprises (SME) were mentioned specifically in the planning for the global information society and e-commerce.  The following information was found on the University of Toronto, G8 Information Center.  Excerpts from one section of the summit documentation:  
 

1995 Halifax, Communique

GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT

7. Good fiscal and monetary policies will not on their own deliver the full fruits of better economic performance. We must also remove obstacles to achieving the longer-term potential of our economies to grow and create secure, well-paying jobs. This will require measures to upgrade the skills of our labour force, and to promote, where appropriate, greater flexibility in labour markets and elimination of unnecessary regulations. At Naples we committed ourselves to a range of reforms in the areas of training and education, labour market regulation and adjustment, technological innovation and enhanced competition. As we pursue these reforms, we welcome the initiation by the OECD of a detailed review of each member economy's structural and employment policies. 

10. We welcome the results of the G7 Information Society conference held in Brussels in February, including the eight core policy principles agreed to by Ministers, and encourage implementation of the series of pilot projects designed to help promote innovation and the spread of new technologies. We also welcome the involvement of the private sector. We encourage a dialogue with developing countries and economies in transition in establishing the Global Information Society, and welcome the proposal that an information society conference be convened in South Africa in spring 1996.

At the Brussels conference, eleven pilot projects were agreed to by the ministers (committee).  One of the pilot projects was the following:

Global Marketplace for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)

Concentrating on increased competitiveness and participation in global trade for smaller companies, the project set up an international business information network on the Web. It successfully catalysed a common vision of electronic commerce policy development around the world, supported some thirty international testbeds and published a best practice guide for SMEs.
[Note: the link on U of Toronto website was stale but the document, "Complete Report" was retrieved from the Internet Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040228110345/europa.eu.int/ISPO/docs/intcoop/g8/is_pp_compl_report.pdf

 

BusinessLINC

The BusinessLINC initiative met the goal of the G8 SME program to establish small businesses in designated communities and in particular, EZ/EC zone communities. The significance of it will become clear farther down.    

National Congress for Community Economic Development - BusinessLINC Background

"In 1998, Vice President Gore introduced BusinessLINC to enhance the economic vitality and
competitive capacity of small businesses, particularly those in economically distressed urban and rural areas. The LINC acronym stands for "Learning, Information, Networking, Collaboration." The Small Business Administration (SBA) leads this initiative in conjunction with the Department of Treasury.

At the local level, BusinessLINC facilitates partnerships between large and smaller, less experienced businesses. Smaller companies gain from guidance that larger companies have to offer, such as technical advice, management expertise, marketplace credibility, and sources of financing. Larger companies can leverage these relationships to penetrate local markets with untapped buying power, find new strategic market niches, and diversify supplier bases. In the long term, fostering partnerships between small and large companies also produces considerable benefits for distressed communities.

BusinessLINC encourages the development of business-to-business networks through a multifaceted strategy that entails:

· One-on-one technical assistance and consulting;
· Classroom group training;
· Peer groups and boards of advisors;
· Subcontracting and supplier development programs; and
· Sales channel development programs.

BusinessLINC also maintains an extensive online database of participating companies. The
database houses information about large companies willing to serve as mentors to smaller
companies; small business protégés; small business procurement or contracting opportunities; and intermediaries who facilitate and promote mentor-protégé relationships and business partnerships. Through this database and other web-based networking opportunities,
BusinessLINC connects businesses and disseminates best practice models.
 

Fort Worth BusinessLINC - On June 5, 1998 the BusinessLINC initiative was announced to encourage more private sector business-to-business linkages that enhance the economic vitality and competitive capacity of small businesses, particularly those located in economically distressed urban and rural areas. The name conveys the full range of business-to-business assistance programs. The LINC acronym stands for "Learning, Information, Networking, Collaboration." This is a joint effort between the Treasury and the SBA.

Why was BusinessLINC formed?

BusinessLINC is part of a continuing effort to highlight the importance of business investment in cities and distressed areas. It was formed to encourage the linkage of large businesses to small businesses."

 

Wall Street Hooks Up with the Hood

Robert Rubin was personally involved in setting up the BusinessLINC program as this announcement indicates:

SECRETARY RUBIN NAMES CEOs PARTICIPATING IN BUSINESSLINC

September 15, 1998
RR-2682

Secretary Robert E. Rubin announced Tuesday the names of seven CEOs who will participate in the BusinessLINC initiative.

The group includes: Walter V. Shipley, Chairman & CEO, The Chase Manhattan Corporation; John E. Smith, Jr., Chairman, CEO & President, General Motors Corporation; Gary C. Wendt, Chairman & CEO, GE Capital Corporation; Jack M. Greenberg, President & CEO, McDonald's Corporation; J. Robert Beyster, Chairman, CEO & President, Science Applications Information Corporation; Carlton Guthrie, CEO, Trumark Metal Stamping; Diva Garza, President of ITC Personnel Services. The group's members are leaders in the field of promoting small business development.


BusinessLINC is one component of Vice President Gore's year-long effort to spotlight the importance of business investment in cities and distressed areas. BusinessLINC focuses on encouraging the linkage of large businesses to locally-owned small businesses in distressed areas to increase their economic competitiveness. Examples of these programs include one-on-one technical assistance, boards of advisors, classroom business training, and supplier development programs. These programs benefit small firms by providing technical assistance, improved market and financial access, expansion opportunities and procurement opportunities.


As part of its initiative, BusinessLINC has hosted five regional meetings across the country focusing on different business-to-business strategies. Representatives from small and large businesses as well as community members were invited to gather and share information about their programs.


Following the final meeting, scheduled for September 18, 1998, in Atlanta, Ga., a report will be compiled and then reviewed by the CEOs listed above. The report will profile successful programs, highlight the key principles of success and explore how to expand private-sector activity in these areas. The report will be presented to Vice President Gore at a roundtable later this year with Secretary Rubin and Administrator Aida Alvarez of the Small Business Administration (SBA).  

U.S. Treasury Press Release

We are trying to help bridge this digital divide as quickly and completely as possible. Last year, the Administration provided over $2.25 billion to connect schools and libraries to the Internet. Our current digital divide program contains three components:

  • a 20 percent tax credit for employers who offer entry-level computer training, basic skills instruction, and English literacy instruction to educationally disadvantaged employees;
  • a tax deduction for companies that donate computer equipment to grammar and high schools, public libraries or community technology centers located in poverty areas or enterprise zones; and,
  • a 50 percent credit to companies that sponsor certain payments to these institutions, and to qualified zone educational academies in these areas.

I know that Congressman Lewis has his own bill on this subject, and we certainly want to take a good look at it because he knows the needs of these communities so very well.

Bridging the digital divide is part of the broader New Markets initiative which President Clinton undertook to unlock the potential of our inner cities and rural areas. The purchasing power of these communities, nationwide, is estimated to be close to $70 billion. Under proper conditions, they could be an enormous opportunity for private investment. The New Markets Tax Credit would help foster $15 billion in new private sector equity investment in small business growth in low-income communities. Private investors who make an equity investment in qualified venture capital funds, community development corporations and other investment vehicles will be able to earn a 25 percent tax credit on their investment over five years.

The other part of the New Markets program is the BusinessLINC Initiative, which was created by Vice President Gore in 1998. It helps stimulate economic growth by encouraging partnerships, between large companies and small companies in economically distressed areas, partnerships based on learning, investment, networking and collaboration.

Yesterday, I visited the South Fulton County Business Incubator, which is a good example of how New Markets is trying to bridge the digital divide. It provides a setting in which large companies provide technical assistance to 13 dot.com startups, which are themselves providing technologies which can bridge the divide. For example, one company has developed touch-screen technology in which kiosks can be put in schools and other buildings to provide access to information for those who do not have computers at home. The large companies benefit from the innovation in which the small companies specialize. The small companies get access to technical training and business development help, and most importantly get to sell their products to the large companies. The New Markets Tax Credit gives the private sector the incentive to invest additional resources in initiatives such as the Incubator.

Recall that the dot compost illusory boom was corporate IPO driven

 

SBA HUBZones

The HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program is an initiative of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that gives preference in securing federal contracts to small businesses located in "historically underutilized business zones," or HUBZones. There are three types of HUBZones: urban areas (as defined by U.S. census figures); "non-metropolitan counties" or rural areas (which qualify by having a median household income less than 80 percent of the statewide average or an unemployment rate more than 140 percent of the statewide average); and Native American lands (lands on federally recognized Indian reservations). As of 2000, there were 7,000 urban HUBZones, 900 rural HUBZones, and 340 Native American HUBZones in the United States.

HUBZone contracts are awarded in three principal ways. When more than one qualified HUBZone business is expected to submit a bid, then the contract is awarded competitively at a fair market price. If only one qualified HUBZone business submits a bid, that business can receive a sole source contract at a fair price. In some situations, contracts are awarded via a full and open competition in which qualified HUBZone businesses receive a preference if their bid is less than 10 percent higher than those of other bidders.

In addition to preferences in securing federal contracts, HUBZone businesses also can qualify for higher SBA guaranteed surety bonds on contract bids. In cases where the HUBZone is also designated as a federal Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community, small businesses may also qualify for other tax credits and deductions. To find out more about the HUBZone program, see the Small Business Administration Web site at http://www.sba.gov/hubzone. [hmmm  higher SBA guaranteed surety bonds ... AIG connection?]

PL 105-135 - Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 - Includes HUBZone legislation

 

 

 

HUD - New Markets Initiative
 

HUD - Policy Development and Research website

NMI is a series of measures designed to stimulate $15 billion in new private capital investment in low-income areas with high concentrations of poverty. NMI ensures that opportunities to stimulate job growth and neighborhood and economic development of America's untapped new markets will not be lost. NMI will build a new national network of private investment institutions to provide the capital and expertise that businesses and microenterprises need to flourish and grow in distressed communities -- central cities and rural areas where 20 percent of the population is below the poverty level or median income is less than 80 percent of the area median family income.

 

Department of Transportation (DOT) - preferential contracting

From the Ethnic Majority website (serving the minority? community)

Government contracts are an excellent source of business for minority owned business enterprises (MBE).  The U.S. federal government alone spends over $200 billion a year on goods and services.  Programs exist at the federal, state, and local levels intended to increase the participation of minority owned businesses.

At the federal level, there are contract setasides for companies certified under the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program, and also Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB).  At the state level, where the bulk of U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) funding for roadway and transportation infrastructure projects is allocated, each state and local transit agency must establish a goal for the participation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE).  Keep in mind that a goal is not the same thing as a quota, meaning it is something that cannot be legally enforced.  Some agencies view their goals as a purely ministerial exercise, and fail to achieve their goals year after year.  Others make a more sincere effort to meet their goals and are more aggressive in getting their contracting officers and prime contractors to increase DBE participation, especially on large construction projects.

Many states, counties, and cities also have their own programs that may have setasides, bid preferences, focused outreach, or just set goals.  These programs are typically called Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) or Minority or Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) programs.

For more information on marketing strategies for minority owned businesses, visit our sister site at Diverse Strategies.

DOT Secretary Rodney Slater Remarks at the Mandela/Wist Training Center

Under President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore’s leadership, we at the U.S. Department of Transportation are proud to have been a partner in the Cypress Mandela Center since it began in 1993. Together with CalTrans, the California Department of Transportation, the Oakland Private Industry Council, the local Building Trades unions, contractors and others, we’re making a real difference, not only in the lives of the Cypress Mandela trainees, but for the entire Oakland community.

Cypress Mandela illustrates the power of investing in people. The Center has played a key role in turning a collapsed freeway that cut through the heart of West Oakland into a showplace of working with local residents and providing sought-after job skills, opportunity and hope to an historically disenfranchised community.

It is fitting to celebrate the successes of the Cypress Mandela Center, as an integral part of President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore’s New Markets Initiative. The goal of the New Markets Initiative is to unlock the potential of our inner cities, small and medium-sized towns, rural areas and Indian reservations. These are the areas that have not participated in the capital investment that has spurred job growth and economic development across the rest of America and in regions around the world.

President Clinton and Vice President Gore have a broad strategy for prosperity: investments in education and training, research and development, and transportation infrastructure to prepare America well for the 21st century economy -- including new markets for American products and American workers.

Through the New Markets Initiative, government and business will work together to focus investment on these underdeveloped areas, unlocking a potential $85 billion in untapped markets. Transportation -- and the construction trades -- are a vital part of this strategy.

 

Department of Transportation - Disadvantaged Business Enterprise

DOT's Operating Administrations distribute substantial funds each year to finance construction projects initiated by state and local governments, and public transit and airport agencies.  The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), enacted June 9, 1998, authorized the Federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit for the 6-year period 1998-2003. Section 1101(b) of the act (Disadvantaged Business Enterprises) states except to the extent that the Secretary determines otherwise, not less than 10% of the amounts made available for any program under Titles I, III, and V of this act shall be expended with small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.  The Department's most recent surface program reauthorization — the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act:  A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), enacted in 2005, extended the DBE program to the Department's highway and safety research program.  Recipients of DOT funds must develop and implement a DBE program that conforms to DOT standards set forth in 49 CFR Part 23 (for airport concessionaires) and 49 CFR Part 26.

The integrity of DOT's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program depends to a large extent upon the establishment of systematic procedures to ensure that only bona fide small disadvantaged business firms are certified to participate in DOT federally assisted programs. The DOT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Regulations 49 CFR Part 23 and 49 CFR Part 26 place primary responsibility for the certification process upon State Transportation Agencies, which are tasked with ensuring only bona fide, small firms, owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual(s) are certified.

Idaho Department of Transportation - DBE Program

A Brief History of the DBE Program

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program is its most important tool for ensuring that firms competing for USDOT-assisted contracts are not disadvantaged by unlawful discrimination.

This program originally began in 1980 as a minority business enterprise program. In 1983, Congress enacted the first statutory DBE provision, applying primarily to small minority-owned firms. In 1987, the program was expanded to women-owned firms.

Initially, the Surface Transportation Assistant Act (STURRA) of 1982, and subsequent transportation acts such as the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991, directed that -- to the fullest extent possible -- at least 10% of Federal-Aid highway funds be expended with small, disadvantaged business enterprises.

However, in 1999, new DBE program regulations were implemented that changed the direction of the program from the old philosophy of "maximum participation" by DBEs on USDOT-assisted contracts to that of creating a "level playing field" for DBEs to compete fairly for procurement opportunities. These program changes were in response to the Supreme Court's 1995 decision in Adarand v. Peña that affirmative action programs be "narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest," that of addressing discrimination.

Each USDOT recipient (state DOTs such as the Idaho Transportation Department) now has the responsibility for developing an overall annual contract goal which reflects the level of DBE participation expected on USDOT-assisted contracts in the absence of discrimination.

 

 

GSA - preferential contracting

Treasury Memo Procurement Instructions to GSA regarding SBA goals

Examples of GWAC orders that support achievement of Treasury’s small business program goals are orders issued under 8(a) STARS, COMMITS NexGen, VETS, and to-be-awarded
Alliant SB.
• 8(a) STARS is set aside for 8(a) firms.
• COMMITS NexGen is set aside for small businesses.
• VETS is set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
• Alliant SB will be set aside for small bus

GSA Small Business Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts Center

 

USDA - preferential contracting

Background

The Department of Agriculture has developed a Mentor-Protege
Program in response to the efforts of the White House Business and
Entrepreneurial Roundtable on Community Empowerment which
highlighted the economic potential of distressed urban and rural
communities and encouraged business-to-business relationships where
large businesses link with, advise, and partner with small businesses.
This effort improves the ability of the small business to compete
successfully for contracts: with USDA, other Federal agencies, and
commercial firms. The Mentor-Protege Program encourages approved
mentors to provide assistance to eligible participants including technical,
management, or financial (equity/loans). Assistance also includes
subcontracting and/or prime contracts with the government in the form
of joint venture arrangements. The Mentor-Protege Program is
intended to enhance the capabilities of the protege and improve its
ability to successfully compete for contracts.

 

Department of Homescam Security

DHS Erred in $475 Million Contract Given to Native Firm

By Spencer S. Hsu
Tuesday, November 20, 2007; A04

The Department of Homeland Security improperly awarded a half-billion-dollar, no-bid contract in 2003 to a little-known company to maintain thousands of X-ray, radiation and other screening machines at U.S. border checkpoints, incorrectly designating the firm a disadvantaged small business, according to a report by the department’s inspector general.

The annual revenue of Chenega Technology Services, a firm owned by Alaska Natives and based in Fairfax County, was too high to qualify for the nine-year, $475 million contract, the report said. After the contract was awarded, the department’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency also failed to ensure that Chenega did not pass most of the work to large federal subcontractors, and the company failed for four years — until last month — to deliver a management system that would achieve savings to justify its middleman role.

CBP’s rush to use “an incorrect industry classification that enabled a sole source award likely did not provide the government the best value,” stated a 30-page report signed by Inspector General Richard L. Skinner and dated Oct. 30. The report added: “CBP did not comply with federal regulations. . . . CBP did not effectively monitor the contract.”

 

And of course, my favorite two stories previously research (check the revenues)

Payal Tak

Lurita Doan  (note:  quite a few of the links have been taken down.  I'll try to find them in the archive)

And the best for last - "The Sting"

Enron and the Clintonites  (Scroll down because the page doesn't format correctly)

I could go on with this for days but I'm going to cut it off here because you should have the picture by now. 

Research recommendation:  Check out Robert Rubin's connection with Obama

Clinton's Executive Order 12835

Obama's amendment to EO 12835

Executive Order 12835 of January 25, 1993, as amended, is further amended by:

     (a)  inserting "(l)  Secretary of Health and Human Services; (m)  Secretary of Education; (n)  Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison; (o)  Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change; (p)  Assistant to the President and Chief Technology Officer; (q)  Administrator of the Small Business Administration" after "(k)  Secretary of Homeland Security;" in section 2; and

Obama's first 100 days

Robert Rubin's disciples dominate Obama economic team

 

Vicky Davis
September 25, 2009