Richard Kraneis Blog

GED Online

Can you earn a GED online?  Can you just go to a website and study the GED (General Equivalency Diploma)?  Are there test sites on the Internet for passing the GED?

The number of high school dropouts is heartbreaking.  Some people estimate the national high school drop out rate is 30%.  In large urban areas, high school drop out rates are in the solid 40 % range.

On my city block in Chicago, I've met one family alone that has 3 sons and two daughters.  I don't know about the daughters but all three of the sons dropped out of high school.  Alarming.

If you'd like to learn more about the General Equivalency Diploma or GED, please visit my new website at http://onlinegedsite.com/ .  Learning more about the GED Online may be critical to your future if circumstance kept you from  finishing your high school diploma.

Best wishes and good luck on passing the GED test.

Chicago's Failed Olympic Bid

Can Chicago turn an Olympic bid loss into a victory?

Are you happy, sad, or ambivalent that Chicago lost its Olympic bid for 2016?

Even though I was against Chicago's Olympic bid, I took no delight in my town's lost bid.  I admire the hard work of the Chicago Olympic committee.  I respect hard work.

I was against our Olympic bid because I find it difficult to purchase a shiny new car when the rest of my house needs repair.  I knew that the City of Chicago went into the Olympic bid with a 50% high school drop out rate, twice as many homicides as a city twice as large (NYC), unemployment above 11% and budget deficits.

Chicago's Olympic bid committee might have countered my arguments with an Olympic solution.  High tides raise all ships.  A Chicago Olympics would have inspired high school students and reduced unemployment with pre-Olympic work.  Maybe, we'll never know.

What I do know is that Chicago is a city of one incredibly scarce resource:  decision making.  Does anyone honestly think that independent decision making is encouraged in a political environment dominated by Mayor Daley? Most recently, our Chicago aldermen voted 49-0 to support the Olympic bid and cover any losses for the bid.  Does anyone think the aldermen and alderwomen voted 49-0 because they thought Chicago's Olympic bid was a fantastically good idea?  Or do we think the aldermen were hedging their patronage bets against the possibility a "no vote" would mean getting cut off from patronage projects if Chicago did win the Olympics?

Like I said, Chicago's most scarce resource is independent decision making.

The only person with power who can make independent decisions in this town is probably Mayor Daley.

So I ask you Mr. Mayor, what was your Plan B if Chicago's Olympic bid failed.  Surely you had someone working on Plan B so you could utilize all the energy of the Chicago Olympic committee if the bid failed.

How will you reduce Chicago's abysmal high school drop out rate?  How will you reduce homicides in Chicago?  How will you increase jobs in Chicago for a workforce of declining educational skills?

I will not blame Mayor Daley for a city budget with deficits.  All major cities are facing that problem.

But after a few days of processing the emotional loss of the Olympics, I ask Mayor Daley to lead and tell us what his Plan B was in case the Chicago Olympic bid failed.  Give us a good plan for improving our city Mr. Mayor, and even your opponents will support you.  I will.

North Side Chicago Methodist Church

Are you looking for a Methodist church on the north side of Chicago?

When my wife and I first visited this church on Chicago's north side, it reminded me of the small town church we were married in at Mt. Pulaski, IL.

A beautiful place to worship, people were friendly without being too "pushy".  It was summertime and it seemed like home.  It felt just right.  Twenty years later, we're still at the same church.

Our church's pastor is Vickie Hadaway, you'll like her when you meet her.  We call her Pastor Vickie.

In our church we house the Irving Park Food Pantry (www.irvingparkfoodpantry.com) for the 60641 zip code which was founded by a tiny lady from our congregation at about age 80, Ms. Leila Duncan.  This wonderful organization is now supported by over half a dozen churches in the area.

We also house the Reconciling Ministries Network on our 2nd floor.  They're good people working to establish the rights of people of all sexual orientations in the United Methodist Church.

The Old Irving Park Association also meets at our church periodically to promote the beauty and traditions of this north side Chicago neighborhood known as Old Irving Park.

We also house an Alcoholic Anonymous group that meets at our church frequently for support and guidance.

Most importantly, there's a place for you at our north side Chicago Methodist church: the Irving Park United Methodist Church.  Come to visit and worship, shake a few hands, linger a while over coffee and Christ.  We look forward to seeing you soon.

Our English services are at 10 AM and our Spanish services are at noon.

Thank You Alex Deve

After posting a general question on Twitter regarding TypePad, I was glad to receive a reply from Alex Deve of TypePad.  Obviously he or someone on his staff is doing customer service interventions using Twitter (and perhaps other social media).

He kindly answered my questions regarding using search engine optimization methods with TypePad.  This short post on my blog is an effort to use the keywords Alex Deve and thank you.

It's difficult learning interface after interface on computers and web applications, that's why I'll be grateful if Typepad now has simple SEO techniques.

No matter how well this blog is indexed by Google or other search engines, I'm grateful to Alex Deve for his help.  Thank you Alex Deve.

Fishing Survey for an Unknown Lake

For my friends from www.windycityfishing.com/ , here are two files on the lake analysis of an unknown lake in Central, IL.

Download PollyWog Fishing Club Report

Download PollyWog Club Fish Stats

The first report is a 3 page report advising a fishing club how to transform 80% biomass of a fishery (trash fish) into something better.  Pretty interesting reading.

The second file is a spreadsheet and is simple in construction, but useful in information.

Hope you enjoy them.

Republican Advice

Seems like the Republican Party needs advice this early 2009.  Here it is.

Stop looking for 2012 presidential candidates. 

All this talk about Jindal, Palin, Pawlenty and others is misplaced.  Election 2010 will come soon enough so focus on that instead.  That means re-earning the trust middle America.

Create an honest response to Recovery.gov

Am I the only one whose noticed that the entire Republican party doesn't have a coherent response to President Obama's Recovery.gov ?  The current website built by the White House is a good initial attempt but it's missing some obvious features.

1)  Recovery.gov has no Excel spreadsheet of the actual American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as ARRA 2009, also known as the 2009 Stimulus.  Read my February blog articles for my responses to the 2009 Stimulus, I even have a spreadsheet.
2)  The Recovery.gov website leads to a WhiteHouse.gov page where you can read the entire 400 page PDF of the ARRA 2009.  But strangely enough, the WhiteHouse PDF on the ARRA 2009 doesn't even have a "find" feature for looking up programs.
3)  The 2009 Stimulus will cost each American "on average" $2578 so why not tell them?  Use a spreadsheet like the one I made at Your 2009 Stimulus Credit Card Bill.

Stop Sitting on Your Hands

It was embarrassing watching the Republicans at President Obama's February 24, 2009 speech to the joint session of Congress.  The Republicans tried hard not to applause but kept looking around to see if other Republicans were applauding so they could applaud.  Embarrassing.

Be your own person.  Try closing your eyes and applauding because you think President Obama's ideas deserve applause.  Applaud with your ears and your heart, not your eyes.

Start Working

Build a website named Recovery2.org as the honest Republican position on the 2009 Stimulus.  And find something about the 2009 Stimulus that you can agree on with the President and start helping him.  Find some common ground.  You can disagree on a bunch of the President's ideas, but help him with something.

It's time for every American, Republican or Democrat, to do their part.

As for me, I'm an Independent living in Chicago, IL, USA.

Economic Stimulus Package in Detail

Stimulus Package Basic Info

Many people still want to know the contents of the Stimulus package that was passed earlier this month and signed by President Obama.  So here's my best non-political guide to the Stimulus.

The real name of the bill is not Stimulus Package but rather American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  It's a long name but that's the official name.  The bill was signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009 and also goes by the acronym of ARRA.

The bill was signed for $787,000,000,000.  That's 787 billion dollars.

The Official White House Info:  http://www.recovery.gov/

The White House has created a web page for information on the bill and its located at http://www.recovery.gov/.

The http://www.recovery.gov/site is produced by the White House (not Congress) and announces its own efforts at transparency.  So what can you find at http://www.recovery.gov/?

1)  You can find a simple bar chart of categories of money to be spent within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  The bar chart is on the home page of the site under the topic Where is your Money Going.  The chart is simple, useful, but meant for a younger audience.

2)  You'll find a link on the Recovery.gov home page in a section named On Our Way:  Read the Bill pointing you to another web page where you can find the full text of the ARRA 2009 Bill.  The bill itself is 407 pages long.  If you want to see it immediately, click ARRA 2009 PDF.

Transparency Problems.

This isn't political, just informational, perhaps you'll agree with me.

1)  Neither http://www.recovery.gov/nor the White House has published an Excel spreadsheet of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  I've searched the Internet for an Excel spreadsheet of the Stimulus and the closest I can find is my own spreadsheet of the Senate version of this bill (Senate Bill was for $801 billion, final bill was $787 billion) on my blog:  Senate Stimulus Bill

2)  The actual bill in PDF format, the 407 page bill, isn't searchable.  Most PDF files are searchable but this the PDF for the public at ARRA 2009 PDFis not searchable.

3)  It's hard comprehending the Stimulus Bill 2009 when its in billions of dollars.  I suggest the White House (and Congress) use a CPT or Cost per Taxpayer value.  For example, $787 billion dollars / 300 million Americans is $ 2624.34 not including interest.  That means that ARRA 2009 cost every single American $ 2624.34.  It will be more with interest on the loan.  If you'd like to learn more, my blog at Stimulus Cost per Taxpayer has a spreadsheet so you can calculate your portion of  the Stimulus Bill for 2009.

4)  Information on the ARRA 2009 is either the very simple bar chart at http://www.recovery.gov/ or the incredibly long, non-searchable PDF at ARRA 2009 PDF.  We need an Excel spreadsheet of this bill.

What Can you Do?

Whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent, I think its laudable that the White House is making an effort at transparency.  Let's give them a little more help.

Go to the White House and give them this simple feedback:

We appreciate the White House's attempt at transparency and we encourage it.  Please provide a downloadable Excel spreadsheet of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for Recovery.org.  Secondly, make the ARRA 2009 bill a searchable PDF file.  Finally, a Cost per Taxpayer number would be useful at www.Recovery.org.  Thank you.

Finally

Thanks for reading this blog.  I do hope you use it to give the White House your feedback.  As for me, I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat, I'm an independent voter from Chicago, IL.

2009 Stimulus Package Spreadsheet

Where is the 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet?  Or do you call it the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 spreadsheet?

The White House has recently created a website named Recovery.gov that has the full text of the signed 2009 Stimulus Bill and simple graphs of monies to be spent.  But no detailed Excel spreadsheet of the bill.

Whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent, it's nice to see a timely attempt at explaining the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  I certainly commend President Obama at making this information available.

But for transparency, give me the actual detailed spreadsheet.  I'll crunch the numbers myself.

One of the categories of the 2009 Stimulus at Recovery.gov is named Protecting the Vulnerable.  The category will receive 81 billion dollars.  I don't think that the phrase Protecting the Vulnerable is very transparent.  Just give us a detailed spreadsheet so we can analyze it.

Analyzing a government spreadsheet isn't rocket science.  (It's coming to agreement on the bill that's hard.)  Earlier this month I analyzed the U.S. Senate Stimulus Spreadsheet after the Senate created their plan.

So if President Obama can instruct his website team to provide the 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet and post it to Recovery.gov, those of us who understand spreadsheets can get that "transparency thing" moving for him.

If you'd like to encourage the White House to provide a detailed Excel spreadsheet of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, go to the White House Feedback Form, fill out the request form, and submit your 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet request to the White House.

In case you're wondering, the 2009 Stimulus was an unfunded bill that is owed by every American, sometime in the future.  Government debt will be issued and sold to cover the bill and your federal taxes will go towards paying the interest on the debt and paying down the principal (we hope).

The 2009 Stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) will cost every man, woman, and child $ 2624.34 .  How do you get that number?  Take 787 billion dollars and divide by 300 million which is the approximate population of the U.S.  Your calculator may not be able to do it.  You'll need a spreadsheet.

Your bill for the 2009 Stimulus will be $ 2624.34 as of today.  Since the U.S. government just "charged" you $ 2624.34 for the 2009 Stimulus, you and I will be paying for that Stimulus as the years go by, with interest.

Don't forget.  Go to the White House Feedback Form and ask/demand that a detailed spreadsheet of the 2009 Stimulus be posted at Recovery.gov.

Thanks everyone.  (In case you're wondering, I'm neither Democrat nor Republican.  I'm an Independent.)

Your 2009 Stimulus Credit Card Charge - $7,064.20

Give me 5 minutes and I can prove your 2009 Stimulus credit charge will be just over $7000.

I'm an Independent and voted for President Obama.  I'm also glad there's enough Republicans in Congress to make democracy work in Washington,  D.C.  This 2009 Stimulus bill is a nasty business.

Do you know how much the Stimulus will cost you personally?  Your personal credit card with the federal government?

Today, the L.A. Times says that the Stimulus compromise is estimated at 789 billion dollars.

There just over 300 million Americans of which 27% are under the age of 20, and probably not paying a whole lot of taxes (they get tax refunds).

Of the people who pay taxes, the National Taxpayers Union believes that 50% of all wage earners pay 97% of the taxes.

You build a Download Stimulus Bill per Taxpayer spreadsheet of all this and you'll find that only 111 million of Americans will actually pay the taxes for the 2009 Stimulus.

If you're over 20 years of age and earn over $35,000 per year, I estimate your Stimulus bill will be just over $7000.  That doesn't include interest and/or overspending.

Don't believe me?  Play with the numbers on my spreadsheet at   .

Remember I voted for President Obama, I'm an Independent, I'm from Chicago, I want the President and Congress to do well.

What scares the daylights out of me is that my Stimulus Bill spreadsheet doesn't include the 2008 Bailout, Geitner's 2 trillion dollar estimate, or the fact we are trying theories on a massive scale that have never been tried before (sorry FDR wasn't immediately a Keynesian, read history).

Ultimately what scares me is that the White House and Congress are avoiding providing Stimulus spreadsheets that show where the money is spent or your Download Stimulus Bill per Taxpayer .

What do I want out of this?  I want the President and Congress to provide simple spreadsheets and the truth that the Stimulus will cost taxpaying Americans $7000 (actually more when you add the interest on the loan).  Give me the truth, that's all I want.

2009 Stimulus Package in Excel Spreadsheet Format

Too bad neither the White House nor Congress provide a simple downloadable spreadsheet of the proposed Stimulus bill.  They do provide a downloadable 700 page PDF file of their work but no spreadsheet.

I have searched the Internet for a simple downloadable spreadsheet of the proposed 2009 Stimulus package, and I couldn't find any from any source until today.

But courtesy of Anderson Coope's blog at http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/10/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs-senate/ and Michael Grabell's article at http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs.-senate I think I finally have an easy spreadsheet to understand that depicts the Stimulus plan of 2009 as of February 10, 2009.

Michael Grabell is part of www.propublica.org and their article at http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs.-senate helped  me to create a spreadsheet.

I copied the data from www.propublica.org and processed the data into my own spreadsheet.  There's the QC problem.  If we trust ProPublica that their original work is correct, than my spreadsheet is correct.  I'm hoping their data is correct.

Here's my downloadable spreadsheet in Excel 2003 format:  Download Stimulus Bill Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet has 5 worksheets.  Each worksheet has a yellow cell with brief comments.

1)  ProPublica.org - This is the data I downloaded from ProPublica.org on Feb 10, 2009.

2)  Stimulus Data - The first worksheet embedded totals so that when you added things up, the Stimulus looked twice as large as it should be. In this worksheet, I deleted the total lines to avoid double counting.

3)  Stimulus Data in Billions - Reading numbers with lots of zeroes can be confusing.  In this worksheet, I converted all numbers into billions.  For example, a number of 30.3 would mean 30.3 billion dollars.

4)  Senate Stimulus Pivot Table - If you know what pivot tables are, you'll be excited to use this worksheet.  If you don't understand pivot tables, just use worksheet #3.

5)  House Stimulus Pivot Table - If you know what pivot tables are, you'll be excited to use this worksheet.  If you don't understand pivot tables, just use worksheet #3.

I describe myself politically as an Independent.  So I don't think I have a political axe to grind in the Stimulus conversation.  My only complaint about the Stimulus bill is that neither the White House nor Congress has made it easy for people to understand the Stimulus with a downloadable spreadsheet.

Hopefully my 2009 Stimulus spreadsheet will help many Americans voice their support or dissent regarding the Stimulus package in Congress.  Download Stimulus Bill Spreadsheet