Arne Duncan: Great Educator Or Great Ball Player? Eli Broad, Great Businessman Or?

From the Nation via ednotesonline

The Nation Exposes Obama's Cynical Education Gambit
Broad Inauguration Party in Washington D.C., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (Photo/Stuart Ramson) While many of us were out busting our humps to gather up a few dollars and votes for the change we thought we could believe in, the Harvard boys were cutting backroom deals with the multi-billionaire oligarchs to fully engage their plan to corporatize American public education, beginning with the urban schools.

Broad, the hype

The way Broad sees it, the big problem in education is that principals and administrators--typically former teachers with scant business training--are overwhelmed trying to run their organizations and aren't focusing effectively on education and academic achievement. Train them in the same management skills used at the best companies--and replace laggards with savvy outsiders--and the entire system could improve sharply.

Broad housing and good business practices, the reality
from KB home problems

KB HOME CLASS-ACTION SETTLEMENT
HOBB Press Release - KB Home Settles Unprecedented Arbitration Class-Action Case
Express News - KB Home to outline owner rights
Beware of the NEW KB Home 12-Year Warranty with a Binding Arbitration Clause!
Beware of KB’s new promotional spin on its 12-year Warranty with Mandatory Binding Arbitration clause. Don't be fooled; avoid KB’s new so-called “customer choice” 12-year Warranty Promotion with a Binding Arbitration Clause, designed to lure buyers into giving up their constitutional right to sue for defectively built homes.
Related Updates: KB Home Pays $2M fine for Binding Arbitration Clause
Consumer Affairs - Texas Homeowners Can Now Sue KB Home for Construction Defects
HOBB Press Release - Class Action Settled - KB Home defies FTC Consent Order!
! KB Home Defies FTC Again! See copy of documents – KB’s warranty provider request for binding arbitration, March 30, 2006: KB Defies FTC
! NCPIRG News Room: Buyer Beware - Martha Picks Bad Business Partner In KB Home
Martha Stewart was in Cary promoting a new line of homes with KB Home Chairman and CEO, Bruce Karatz. Unfortunately, her partner in this venture, KB Home, has a long and documented history of poor building practices and consumer rip-offs. Read More
FTC & HUD Investigations Continue
KB Homeowners File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commision Take 5 minutes of your time and submit a complaint about your builder.
Important: file two seperate complaints: Please fill out an additional Special HOBB Complaint form and mail it to the FTC, Enforcement Division
U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez pushes for answers in KB investigation
KB Home & HUD's $20M Mirasol Fiasco under investigation. Special Express News Report - Amererican dream now homeowners' nightmare "Sixty-six of the lease-purchase houses now are vacant and the purchase program has left many residents disgruntled and concerned about construction cost-cutting and use of lower-grade materials."

or the KB stock options scandal

LOS ANGELES – A former CEO and chairman of the board of KB Home was named today in a 20-count indictment that charges him in a scheme to defraud KB and its shareholders by awarding himself and other KB executives millions of dollars in undisclosed stock-based compensation in connection with the backdating of stock options over a seven-year period.
Bruce E. Karatz, 63, of Bel Air Estates, was charged with seven counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire, three counts of securities fraud, four counts of making false statements in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and one count of lying to KB’s accountants.
This scheme alleged in the indictment involves Karatz’s use of hindsight pricing to inflate the value of stock options granted to him and other KB executives, as well as Karatz’s ongoing concealment of this practice from KB’s board of directors, Compensation Committee and shareholders. Furthermore, the indictment alleges, when an internal investigation into stock-option backdating was initiated at KB in May 2006, Karatz falsely denied his orchestration of the stock-option backdating scheme and caused a false report of KB’s historical option-granting practices to be submitted to KB’s Audit Committee and outside auditor, which impeded the timely and accurate disclosure of this matter in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.