Pressure Is On IBM To Forgive Millions In IT Debt

coondoggie writes to tell us that several California state legislators are pressuring IBM to release the Costa school district from some $5 million of long-standing debt as a charitable donation. "The back story on this tale is that the school district owes IBM for computers ordered in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For one reason or another the computers were never used and no one now seems to be able to locate either the paperwork or the hardware. The school district experienced hard financial times and ultimately never paid Big Blue for the computers. In 1993 the district and IBM negotiated a long-term settlement that said the school district would pay the first of four $1.25 million installments beginning in 2008. Payments were deferred until then because 2008 was the year the district was scheduled to finish making state loan repayments under its previous loan plan, according to the Contra Costa story."

Do you mean Contra Costa?

[HaeMaker (221642)]

coondoggie writes: to tell us that several California state legislators are pressuring IBM to release the Costa school district from some $5 million of long-standing debt as a charitable donation.

Do you mean Contra Costa?

How do you lose that much computer equipment? It must have walked off.

Re:Do you mean Contra Costa?

[mikael (484)]

More likely the delivery was received by the staff, and then immediately returned.

The office I worked in as a intern had the exact same problem. They made out an order for 50 IBM PC's for a training room. Instead, they received 50 IBM PS/2's that came
in huge palette sized boxes of 25 each. These had to be dismantled inside the container before we could take them out. As soon as our boss found out what they were, they were immediately returned.

This article [contracostatimes.com] seems to suggest a similar thing happened.

Nobody seems to know how many or what type of computers Marks ordered, or even whether they ended up being used. Several former district officials called them "obsolete" and "useless."

Re:Do you mean Contra Costa?

[mikael (484)]

From this article [contracostatimes.com] it appears there was a real battle over the useability of the systems, and the district
did try and get the machines sent back.

Former school board member Frank Calton said he remembers the deal with IBM being touted by Marks as a mutually beneficial partnership.

"This was submitted to us as kind of a joint venture where IBM could showcase computers as learning tools for students," Calton said. "It was supposed to have a PR angle for IBM."

When asked by the Times last week, the district could not track down invoices for the purchases, so it is unclear how many and what type of computers were ordered. But administrators agree the computers already were outdated when the district got them.

"I think they were out of date before (Marks) even decided to buy them," Basalto said. "Every one of them was obsolete; they were absolutely useless."

Where the computers ended up also is a mystery. Basalto recalls that some were installed in schools, but some sat in warehouses, possibly never turned on.

The district tried to return some of the computers, said Ruth Vedovelli, West Contra Costa school district's current finance chief. IBM refused to take them back, leading to a years-long fight that also included battles over the actual cost.

Negotiations often got ugly, with Fred Stewart, the state trustee appointed to oversee the district's finances after it went into debt in 1990, often getting into shouting matches with IBM representatives, says Herb Cole, Marks' successor.

"He said, 'We can't pay you, so if you want them, come and get them,'" Cole said, adding that Stewart threatened to put the computers on the curb. "He was tough as nails with them at the time."

Stewart, who recently retired as the state trustee, declined to comment.

In late 1993 -- four years after the district agreed to buy the computers -- the parties reached a settlement that called for deferring the first major payment until 2008. That was the year the district, under its previous loan structure, was scheduled to be finished paying back $28.5 million it owed the state.

I have heard the opposite is true

[Degrees (220395)]

Something that had been hashed out in civil court was the concept of "innocent third party" - this being the shipper. If you and your vendor are in a pissing match, it doesn't become the shipping company's problem. Two parts to it: when the shipper shows up, you have to accept it. Period. The shipper is not your own private storage rental; he/she uses their trucks to make a living. Were the recipient to refuse to accept, then the shipper's truck is not empty for their next customer (and he/she didn't get paid to haul the goods a second time to storage while you and your vendor finish the pissing match). The other part is that someone has to call up the shipper and place an order for shipment back to the vendor's warehouse. Whomever places the order is on the hook for shipment costs (unless other arrangements have been made. If you are in a pissing match, you'd better get that in writing).

The upshot is that the shipper has the right to unload the goods on your sidewalk and walk away if you are being difficult. Obviously, they'd do all sorts of CYA stuff to document their actions - and this sort of ultimate action is never good for business. But in the end, the innocent third party has the right to walk away without burden (providing the shipping order doesn't place restrictions on the delivery. "Must be kept frozen" overrides "I waited five whole minutes for them to empty the freezer and then dropped the goods on the burning sidewalk."

It may be that you legally have the right to return the goods. But, you need to be careful about who has possession the goods, and have proof of transfer of possession.

Excuses, escuses

[L. VeGas (580015)]

no one now seems to be able to locate either the paperwork or the hardware

Uh, the dog ate it?

signed,
Epstein's Mom

Re:Excuses, escuses

[brogdon (65526)]

This is no laughing matter, man. $5 Million bought a hell of a lot of 286's back then. Do you have any idea the size of the Wing Commander lan-party the children are missing out on right now?

Shameful.

Coming soon to a cinema near you...

[antic (29198)]

Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM, losing the documents and misplacing the hardware. Until now. This summer, one man wages a solo war against confused and incompetent administration in schools. You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll mostly cry.

Bad Records

[fozzmeister (160968)]

And obsoleted computers does not mean they should be let off their debt. I reckon I may leave everything I owe for 27 years or so then claim that.

Seriously instead of saying "let us off" they should be saying "here's your money, _please_ don't charge us interest or take us to court".

Re:Bad Records

[caseih (160668)]

It's not clear that the computers were ever delivered. No trace of paper work or the computers themselves can be found. Does IBM have actual delivery paperwork to prove the goods were actually delivered? Guess I'll go read the FA and find out.

Wow, it's not often I feel sorry for IBM

[shawnmchorse (442605)]

They agree to defer payments for 15 YEARS, and now that they're finally at the time they might have to actually start paying something they want to just pressure them to make it go away entirely? Yow.

Re:Wow, it's not often I feel sorry for IBM

[Timesprout (579035)]

Dont kid yourself IBM will love this. They will write off the 5 mill on condition that they get the next big IT contract California signs. Then they will cream the 'we are so generous PR' and make even more money off the fat contract.

Re:Wow, it's not often I feel sorry for IBM

[kebes (861706)]

Not only has IBM given them 15 years to sort out their financial situation, they even decided to not charge interest. From TFA:

A letter from IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge to district Superintendent Bruce Harter called the repayment plan "generous" on the part of IBM because the company is not charging interest.

So they have already decided to allow a 15-year grace period and no interest. Given the time-value of money, I'm guessing that even as-is, IBM has de facto given them the computers at below cost. They've no doubt lost money on the deal, and have been extremely generous already.

To me this seems like gross mismanagement of funds on the part of the school board. And, frankly, forgiving their debt will not compel them to manage their funds any better in the future.

Re:Wow, it's not often I feel sorry for IBM

[by Anonymous Coward]

I'm a former student of the Richmond Unified School District, which after a misappropriation scandal and a consequent bankruptcy, became the West Contra Costa Unified School District. The district, while newly named, continues to be plagued by financial misdeeds committed over 15 years ago. The suggestion in this thread to call for the teacher's union to concede pay cuts was actually mandated by the state in 1991, in order for the district to receive a $29MM loan. Teachers have not received cost of living increases commensurate with their colleagues in other unions since. Bear in mind, the RUSD, and subsequently, the WCCUSD, contain schools in some of the most violent and impoverished cities in California. Richmond is consistently in the top 20 most violent cities per capita in the US. It's hard enough to attract teaching talent to some of these schools, regardless of the fact that they're relatively underpaid.

When it comes down to the asshattery of the administration of the time..there's a lot to go around. The superintendent, Walter Marks, took whatever funds he could to further a pet project called open schooling, which may have been one of the forebearers of the proposed voucher schemes. The different campuses were given specific lines of study, and students were given the choice to go to the school that interested them the most. For example, Pinole Valley HS was given the Dramatic Arts line, while at the same time, all musical and arts classes were cut dramatically at other schools across the district. El Cerrito HS, if I remember right, was given Math & Sciences, while those same courses were underfunded at other schools. Parents could simply not afford to send their children to schools that weren't local, helping to foment serious student disenfranchisement and furthering dropout rates.

The asshattery continued in the state assembly, where Sup. Marks was given high praise by the Secretary of Education, William Bennett. Secretary Bennett felt that this disjointed and disenfranchising method of splitting the district was a model for urban school reform. Sup. Marks was given high praise nationwide for bankrupting the district. Marks was able to find a higher paying job in Kansas City after being fired at the height of the scandal.

All that being said, I still think that the district should pay the debt. The question is, where will the money come from? Can't get them from the teachers, or you won't have any teachers. Can't get an appropriate amount from property taxes, due to proposition 103. There's simply not enough cirriculum to cut back. I wish there was an easy answer that didn't affect students adversely, but I simply don't believe there is.

I really hate these type of arguments...

[iknownuttin (1099999)]

"Unlike corporations such as IBM - with revenues of $22 billion in the first quarter of 2007 alone - our schools do not have the ability to generate new dollars to fund projects or pay for employees,the lawmakers wrote."

Oh, so that makes it OK to rip IBM off.

Well, "honorable" lawmakers, how many of your teacher's pensions are in IBM stock?

Or what about your investments?

Or some of your other constituents - many who are retired and are relying on IBM making an actual profit in order to make money on their retirement investments.

Not all stock investors are rich, fat, white, dudes who nobody has pity for.

Mental note: Do not give credit to the CA schools - cash only.

Re:I really hate these type of arguments...

[magarity (164372)]

Well, "honorable" lawmakers, how many of your teacher's pensions are in IBM stock?
 
60.6% of IBM stock is held by institutions such as pension funds according to their latest report.

Which implies...

[patio11 (857072)]

... that $3 million of the $5 million that the school district absconded with is being taken from the pockets of retired or soon-to-be-retired working Americans. (Sorry, old rhetorical trick I picked up in college to deflate the balloons of folks who liked to make every issue into The Class Struggle. Most billion dollar companies, once you trace through the intermediaries like pensions and mutual funds, as a series of thousand dollar chunks. Many of the owners or beneficiaries of these chunks would not strike you as being very wealthy, or even as being investors, if you were to bump into them in the checkout at the supermarket.)

Wow

[Wicko (977078)]

So, yeah, about the 5 million... well, we were kinda expecting you to forget about it ya know? Thats what friends are for, right?

On a serious note, I am surprised at no mention of paying a smaller amount or anything.. No they expect IBM to just forget about the whole thing.

Cant "find" the computers? Then...

[BarnabyWilde (948425)]

...this invalidates the forgiveness part of their plea: Unaccountability encourages corruption.

"What you subsidize, you get more of".

Have the school district *try* a little harder to find out where it all went.... a good first step.

If the taxpayers het mad enough at the failure to do this, *then* you'll get some accountability, although late.

BWilde

Re:Cant "find" the computers? Then...

[eln (21727)]

IBM should insist on an audit by the district in order to find out what happened to these machines. If requested, IBM could even supply an auditor or two in order to help the school get to the bottom of this issue. $5 million in misplaced equipment is a big deal for a poor district, and they should jump at the chance to have IBM assist.

If the audit is completed, and if the district makes its payments on time, IBM could then make a $5 million charitable donation to the district.

That way, IBM would get good press, the district would hopefully straighten up their records, and everyone would be happy.

$5 million computers NEVER USED?

[squisher (212661)]

Wow, this is amazing. They ordered computers, which were never used... shouldn't that be an outcry? That school-district must have had a terrible administration at that point. I really don't see how the argument that they never used the equipment has anything to do with why or why not they should pay the bill. Afterall, IBM delivered, so why should they not get paid?

If it wasn't for the fact that the administrators that created this mess are probably all not working there anymore, I'd say they should pay the full amount, with interest, as punishment for wasting the taxpayers dollars!

Re:$5 million computers NEVER USED?

[Oliver Defacszio (550941)]

Wow, this is amazing. They ordered computers, which were never used... shouldn't that be an outcry?

Man, relax! This was the late-80s... $5M probably bought about a dozen computers (EGA monitors, 20MB hard drives and 2400bps modems not included). Besides, the "unavailable" hardware and proofs of purchase are probably just cover-ups for someone having lost one or both while on a three-week cocaine bender.

Ah, those halcyon days.

What a vague article

[truesaer (135079)]

For me, the issue of "How the hell do you misplace $5 million worth of computers???" is central to deciding if IBM should do this. No details were given on that little snafu. I'm not sure they should get a free pass for such incompetence, maybe the state should bail them out if they screwed up.

Besides...lets say they were using the computers. How does the fact that they're missing affect whether they can pay for them? Surely the district didn't place a $5 million order with no means to pay for it?

IBM should just turn it over

[wtansill (576643)]

to a collection agency. Let the agency buy the loan at a discount and then harrangue state officials until they ante up. It would be good for the officials to experience the same kind of pressure and hectoring that they allow consumers to endure...

IBM bent over backwards

[nurb432 (527695)]

And the school still wants a free pass.

What sort of example are they trying to set?

Pay Up

[Frosty Piss (770223)]

The school ordered and received the equipment. If they used them or not is irrelevant, and that they can't find the stuff or any records only speaks to their incompetence. They need to pay their bill.

For one reason or another?

[Intron (870560)]

I love that part. I wish I could just order $5M worth of computer equipment using the taxpayer's wallet and then blame IBM for being hardhearted and cruel for not forgiving the debt. Why is the media not reporting on the waste and/or fraud involved in the original contract? Obviously, computers that were never used were not "needed", since the school district is still there and is apparently serving students. Who signed the original deal and what did he/she get out of it?

What a load of crap

[Flavio (12072)]

"Unlike corporations such as IBM - with revenues of $22 billion in the first quarter of 2007 alone - our schools do not have the ability to generate new dollars to fund projects or pay for employees," the lawmakers wrote. "Our schools rely solely on limited state and federal assistance to educate our students and every dollar is precious."

If every dollar is precious, they should've thought twice before spending $5 million in hardware that was never even used!

This district's atrocious conduct is precisely the reason why IBM should not forgive the debt.

Well, these are politicians we're talking about

[grasshoppa (657393)]

Their concept of money has never really reflected the real world. Mix that up with "THINK OF THE CHILDREN" and the school district's own inability to deal with money, and you can see where this came from, at least.

IBM has been more than fair. They are owed their money. Mistakes are made, but unless the consquences are paid they will happen again.

Let me see if I understand this

[overshoot (39700)]

IBM has already given the district more than 15 years of no-interest loan on millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, the State of California has insisted on, and gotten, much stricter terms (including interest.)

Now, the State is suggesting that IBM should forgive their loan altogether?

Maybe, if forgiving those loans is so good an idea, the State of California should go first?

contra costa country

[olmy (11401)]

as mentioned in the comment section of the network world article:

"of course, it's worth pointing out that Contra Costa County is the predominant county and tax base for the East Bay -- a sprawling set of towns/cities full of people that work in downtown San Francisco, Oakland, and Silicon Valley. It's the same county where median home prices for most of the towns are well north of $500,000.

To quote the Contra Costa website: "Due to the presence of relatively high-wage skilled jobs and relatively wealthy residents, the County achieves high rankings among all California counties on a variety of income measurements."

This isn't the story of an impoverish[ed] county begging for debt relief from an evil corporation. Move along."

A tale of two counties

[stefanlasiewski (63134)]

Not entirely true. This *is* the story of an impoverished school district begging for debt relief from a corporation. (I won't comment if their request is justified or not).

Contra Costa County is broken up into Multiple School Districts [k12.ca.us]. This story is about the West Contra Costa School District, which serves communities such as Richmond & San Pablo. I don't know specifics off the top of my head, but it is one of the poorest school districts in California.

Contra Costa County is a tale of two counties. Eastern Contra Costa County is as you described, with many wealthy suburbs, wealthy inhabitants and well-funded schools. This is the image that Contra Costa County would like to promote on it's website.

Western Contra Costa County is much poorer, with poorly funded schools & high crime rates. Richmond has a disturbing level of corruption in the government. Compare these two cities:

    * Richmond [wikipedia.org]Walnut CreekAbout 1.7% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the poverty line

I travel in both areas of Contra Costa Country regularly, and I'm always amazed at the difference. Walnut Creek has beautiful, clean schools located close to grass-covered golden hills. Many Richmond schools have a ton of graffiti, broken windows, boarded-up buildings, etc. Several times a year, schools in the parts of the Western Contra Costa County School district go into 'lockdown' mode due to leaks at the nearby chemical plants or oil refineries. Drive by shootings happen near the schools. In Richmond, you can hear gunshots just about every night.

I went to school there

[rmdir -r * (716956)]

The basic problem is, in 1992, they got a superintendant who was going to revolutionize everything. New schools, new ways of doing things, the works.

He turned out to be a corrupt bastard, but he disappeared without ever having to pay or atone for anything, and the people who use the schools have been paying for it ever since.

The school district is broke as hell, and quite honestly, will probably go bankrupt before they pay IBM (if by 'pay' you mean 'pay in the next 50 years').

All the other comments here seem to be going 'lol pay up already', but it's not that simple. IBM should forgive the debt, and everyone should learn a lesson from this:

Don't let public institutions pay with credit. The people who make decisions are not held responsible, and thus do not make responsible decisions. They will rip you off, and rip off the people they are supposed to be representing.

Rewarding bad behavior

[ZWithaPGGB (608529)]

Lessee, the school district has such lousy financial controls that they can't account for the systems, and they can't pay for them. Typically, the socialist argument is to not hold them accountable. I say bankrupt the district and put some people in who won't let $5M get STOLEN.

Re:

[HaeMaker (221642)]

No multi-billion dollar corporation left behind.

No...

[msauve (701917)]

there is no reason that a resident of another state, or even another city (taxpayers, all), should bear the burden for a bad local decision.

Re:No...

[cetialphav (246516)]

This is exactly what I am thinking. I am a shareholder of IBM. I'm certainly not rich; I'm just a working stiff just like most other people. Why should I have to take the hit because of the idiots in that school district? (Yes, yes, I know that that $5 million has a negligible impact on my dividends due to IBM's size.) I am a reasonably charitable person, but I like to control who I donate money to. Mismanaged school districts do not seem like a worthy cause to me.

This school district has been able to defer this debt for over 15 years. Where is my 15 year, interest free $5 million loan? I want a piece of that action.

If we want to talk about bail outs, why not have the state of California bail out the school district? Why not have the citizens of that school district pass the collection hat round and round till they come up with the money?

I'm sure there are going to be lots of "think of the poor children" arguments about this. It is real easy to have sympathy when it isn't your $5 million at stake.

Re:No...

[Lesrahpem (687242)]

Yes, I do. My point is that they have a history of spending such levies on stuff they don't need. Rather than buying the textbooks, desks, and (possibly) updated computers they should be buying, they have a history of spending levies on statues, paint, gardens, the teacher's lounge, and sports equipment. A few years back they asked for a levie with the stated purpose being to buy said textbooks. They bought about 50 books and spent the rest on a new soccer field. Now, they have two soccer fields identical soccer fields, only one of which is ever used at a time.

Re:No...

[Jason Earl (1894)]

The problem with giving money to schools is that school administrators tend to *always* spend it on glossy paint, then when the money is gone they turn around and complain about the books that they didn't buy when they had the money.

A perfect example of this is the recent teacher pay raise in Utah. The teachers union (and basically everyone else) complained about teacher salaries so $100 million was raised to bump every teacher's salary by $2500 and give them a $1000 bonus. The school districts immediately began planning to spend that money on everything but pay increases. This has forced the legislature to audit the various districts to ensure that the teachers actually receive the money.

I am sure that the school districts planned to simply continue doing the same thing that they have done for years. The plan undoubtedly was to complain about teacher pay, get more money from the legislature, and then spend the new funds on everything but teach salaries allowing them to complain about teacher pay the next year.

What we really need are school vouchers. If there is one thing that public schools across the country continue to prove it is that the government does a poor job of providing education.

Re:No...

[Penguinisto (415985)]

Doesn't quite work like that.

Even a cursory reading of the Founders' beliefs and thoughts on the US Federal Government was that states are individual entities, experiments in diversity of regional and local government (yes, right down to their budgets - otherwise, states and locales would've never been allowed to levy taxes, and everything would've been disbursed from Federal revenues all this time). The common bond was that they accepted and abided by a common set of rules (e.g. the US Constitution), and pitched in together on Federal matters (Defense, taxation/tarriffs, infrastructure, etc), each according to their ability and population.

Large-scale Disasters (Katrina), local debts incurred from assisting in (or cleaning up after) national emergencies (e.g. 9/11 or Oklahoma City), or debts incurred by the actions or mishaps any federal agency or branch makes in a locale (say, a fighter jet plowing into something accidentally)? No problem - totally cool with the Feds helping out in the money department.

Bailing out the bad decisions made by a pack of politicians at some distant city council? Nope: they dug their hole - they can float bonds or raise property taxes to un-dig themselves out of it. If I have no vote or say in how that California county spends its discretionary budget, why should I (some random taxpayer up in Oregon) be liable for their mistakes?

After all, if you or I do something dumb and run up a mountain of unpayable debt, the Feds certainly wouldn't be breaking their necks to bail us out... so why should cities and/or counties have such a privilege?

/P

Re:No...

[QuantumG (50515)]

A local government can *ask* the federal government for anything they like.

In summary, you are ignorant, and doubly so for calling the grand-parent an idiot.

I wasn't aware there was an arithmetic of ignorance.

Actually,....

[WindBourne (631190)]

if IBM were smart, they would try to cut a deal with the CA state to buy more goods from them in exchange for forgiveness.

Re:Actually,....

[Frosty Piss (770223)]

The should do that so they can get screwed again by a wealthy school district? Do you know where Contra Costa is? It's the land of $500,000 starter / fixer-upper shacks. They can afford to pay their bill.

Re:15 years

[magarity (164372)]

I wish I could order so much gear that I don't even get around to using it AND get the purchase loan forgiven. This story is a case of blatant class warfare; Who care what IBM's revenue was last quarter in regards to what appears to be a school district's wild fiscal irresponsibility? IBM is not the bad guy here, the bad guy(s) are the school board who approved the budget to purchase the equipment in the first place and then totally failed to see that it was put to use.

Re:15 years

[linefeed0 (550967)]

Which school board? The one 15 years ago that approved the equipment and then let it get stolen, or the one now that's stuck with the bill?

It sucks that elected representatives do this so often, but what's the answer for it? The people doing it know they won't be there to answer for it! Kind of like our current administration at the federal level pissing away money on Iraq while the situation there gets worse every day, and leaving it to the next administration to make the hard decisions and clean up the mess.

Re:15 years

[91degrees (207121)]

Which school board? The one 15 years ago that approved the equipment and then let it get stolen, or the one now that's stuck with the bill?

Except the school board isn't stuck with the bill. At least in that the individuals on the board don't have to pay it. It isn't going to affect their salary or anything in any way. The money will have to come from them cutting back on other educational expenses. So the people who are going to suffer are the kids who weren't even born when the deal was made.

Re:15 years

[linefeed0 (550967)]

Right. That's the problem. Now people who elect these school boards need to make informed decisions and not allow people of questionable character in public office. But the people who lose have little to do with anyone who made any of the decisions. Since it sounds like the computers walked off, the real answer might be to get the police dept on the case to see if there's any way they can figure out who took them. The statute of limitations might have expired by now, but a few criminal charges wouldn't hurt if they do find the responsible party. This kind of shit happens all the time in school and public utility boards with poor accountability. IBM might even have a share of the blame if they sold excess equipment on a public procurement contract with no sense that it was going to be useful to the district. Based upon that there's an argument for getting IBM involved in the solution to this other than just paying them back.

Re:15 years

[fwarren (579763)]

It is the taxpayers fault, and they DESERVE to pay for it. Either by higher taxes or crummier education for their kids.

They had a inept, corrupt school system. 5 Million in computers go poof! Is their outrage? Who's head ended up on the block? Who had to pay for this? So far no one. IBM has been nice, and has made a 15 year 5 million dollar interest free loan.

People 15 and 20 years ago were responsible for this. The city, the school board, the voters and tax payers. They did not pay the piper....It has been put off till now. It is time to pay.

If the city had taken out loans, were improving the school district, etc. Then there was some big natural disaster, something beyond their control. I could see IBM feeling generous and forgiving the debt. But this is due to the school districts own stupidity.

If a car lot (yes another car analogy), sold you a car for $30,000.00, you have a million dollar home for collateral. Your worthless brother in law runs off with the car. You are having cash flow issues, and can't really afford to make the payments. Why should the car lot forgive you this loan?

They entered into a business deal with a party who had the ability to pay. Just the party mismanaged things and has the sob story, why should IBM have to eat it? Because "they can afford it" just does not cut it. IBM could also afford to cash out, take the money and run. To not sell hardware to anybody any more. But no, they are staying in business to do business. They are not extorting their customers. They should not have to eat it. Let the tax payers who allow such government pay for it.

Re:15 years

[The Anarchist Avenge (1004563)]

posting because I accidentally modded you up

Re:15 years

[magarity (164372)]

Which school board? The one 15 years ago that approved the equipment and then let it get stolen
 
From 15 years ago are the bad guys, unless they've lost the records of who was on the board back then too.

Re:Cut 'Em Off

[Brett Buck (811747)]

What idiot modded this "Funny"? Some African economists have been begging for the West to stop funneling money into Africa for years. And the result is more "aid concerts". When you send a billion to Africa, you are sending a billion to the same corrupt governments that caused the appalling current conditions. Cut off the money and you cut off arms sales, payoffs, etc.

      This is no joke - literally billions of people are endangered by well-meaning but ultimately foolish decisions like this.

      More money is not the solution to any of the world's current problems. US public education is actually an incontrovertible proof of this - a prototypical example.

        Brett