My Bailout Moment

#1
volinbham

volinbham

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#1
Most of you know I work for a research university. We've been under severe budget pressure - actually pro-ration where they take back money they put in your budget. We are in our second year of no raises. The university has done a good job of maintaining jobs but things are very tight.

Today, the upper administration met with us to tell us:

1. how stimulus money was going to make up some of our budget shortfall and

2. how other parts of the stimulus bill have drastically increased NIH and NSF funding.

As I listened to the VP of Research describe with delight how wonderful Obama and Arlen Specter are (Specter's critical vote for the stimulus was predicated on putting a massive increase in NIH funding), I couldn't help think..."does anyone in here care that this is tax money coming to bail are arse's out?" Most likely no.

More disturbing was the comment by the VP of Research that we are likely to see half a billion for science research jobs hiring but the funding only lasts 2 years so these people's jobs will be in jeopardy in 2 years (this is after saying that there aren't enough qualified folks in Alabama to fill this sudden windfall of jobs). Is the real tragedy that jobs we didn't have will get filled for 2 years then be at risk?

Sorry for the rant but even though this bail out money helps me directly, I couldn't help but feel sickened by the whole mentality. There was ZERO mention of whether or not this was good for anyone but us. No hint of concern about the consequences of this spending. It was pretty clear that it's a mad grab for government $ and we are doing are damnedest to get our piece.

[/rant]
 
#2
#2
Depends, hopefully you would see some kind of gain from that research that would offset the price.

It is a gamble, but its at least one of the areas I dont mind money going to.
 
#3
#3
MontereyVol said:
Depends, hopefully you would see some kind of gain from that research that would offset the price.

It is a gamble, but its at least one of the areas I dont mind money going to.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt there will be worthwhile projects funded.

I was more put off by the total lack of concern of the "cost" of the money and by the logic of "we can hire people we wouldn't normally hire but we have to find a way to get the government to pay for them in the long-term". In essence, the funding bump is viewed as if it should be permanent and if it isn't then it's some kind of injustice to those hired.
 
#4
#4
volinbham said:
I don't doubt there will be worthwhile projects funded.

I was more put off by the total lack of concern of the "cost" of the money and by the logic of "we can hire people we wouldn't normally hire but we have to find a way to get the government to pay for them in the long-term". In essence, the funding bump is viewed as if it should be permanent and if it isn't then it's some kind of injustice to those hired.
Click to expand...

The military research community is undergoing the same thing right now. My main worry is who else is grabbing the money schools and the military are not getting.
 
#5
#5
MontereyVol said:
The military research community is undergoing the same thing right now. My main worry is who else is grabbing the money schools and the military are not getting.
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Our university submitted over 300 grant applications to the NIH last week.
 
#8
#8
volinbham said:
In essence, the funding bump is viewed as if it should be permanent and if it isn't then it's some kind of injustice to those hired.
Click to expand...

this is my primary concern with the spending bill. we all know how hard it is to stop paying for somethign once the precident has been set. in 2 years will your company and others be lamenting about all the poor people they had to lay off even though they knew from the beginning that the money woudlnt' last and that these jobs were temporary? when did we become france i.e. a country where laying people off is considered the greatest offense possible?
 
#9
#9
My Bailout Moment...

My wife went a little crazy with her bank account and she overdrafted 10 times at $35 a pop...

She was trying to hide it from me and was talking to a BOA rep crying, so I was like "whats wrong" She told me and handed me the phone, I got past the "No" guy and got to the manager and told him I wasnt paying 10 overdraft fees and if I did it was going to be a deal breaker on my current refi with BOA (I lied, I already refied with citi)


He cut out 3 of the fees and I said "fair", covered my wifes losses and told her "hey you know how we wrote a check to the IRS on the 15th, well we just wrote another."
 
#10
#10
allvol123 said:
Do you think your view is the minority view among your peers?
Click to expand...

Hard to tell. We are a Business School so I know some of the folks are conservative. However, I think the natural inclination is to start with a "this is good for me" mentality. Honestly, I'm glad we are getting some of the stimulus but deep down I know someone has to pay for it.
 
#11
#11
VolsNSkinsFan said:
My Bailout Moment...

My wife went a little crazy with her bank account and she overdrafted 10 times at $35 a pop...

She was trying to hide it from me and was talking to a BOA rep crying, so I was like "whats wrong" She told me and handed me the phone, I got past the "No" guy and got to the manager and told him I wasnt paying 10 overdraft fees and if I did it was going to be a deal breaker on my current refi with BOA (I lied, I already refied with citi)


He cut out 3 of the fees and I said "fair", covered my wifes losses and told her "hey you know how we wrote a check to the IRS on the 15th, well we just wrote another."
Click to expand...

you are a better man than i.
 
#12
#12
VolsNSkinsFan said:
My Bailout Moment...

My wife went a little crazy with her bank account and she overdrafted 10 times at $35 a pop...

She was trying to hide it from me and was talking to a BOA rep crying, so I was like "whats wrong" She told me and handed me the phone, I got past the "No" guy and got to the manager and told him I wasnt paying 10 overdraft fees and if I did it was going to be a deal breaker on my current refi with BOA (I lied, I already refied with citi)


He cut out 3 of the fees and I said "fair", covered my wifes losses and told her "hey you know how we wrote a check to the IRS on the 15th, well we just wrote another."
Click to expand...

The good news is she is going to have to pay you back for it.... somehow :whistling:
 
#13
#13
VolsNSkinsFan said:
My Bailout Moment...

My wife went a little crazy with her bank account and she overdrafted 10 times at $35 a pop...

She was trying to hide it from me and was talking to a BOA rep crying, so I was like "whats wrong" She told me and handed me the phone, I got past the "No" guy and got to the manager and told him I wasnt paying 10 overdraft fees and if I did it was going to be a deal breaker on my current refi with BOA (I lied, I already refied with citi)


He cut out 3 of the fees and I said "fair", covered my wifes losses and told her "hey you know how we wrote a check to the IRS on the 15th, well we just wrote another."
Click to expand...

As a BoA share holder, I think you should pay all 10 OD fees...:)
 
#14
#14
I met with someone who staffs in the Senate yesterday and he mentioned that the Congress intended for the money sent to these agencies, such as the DOE Office of Science, to not go to more research - but to actually go to building new infrastructure that would house future state-of-the-art research once funding levels were back. This was interesting to me, because he was pretty insistent on that...but I've talked to some folks within DOE that see this money as directly going into research (not just development construction projects or academic buildings). I think that there is going to be crap hit the fan in that area within the year.

Also, your VP was bringing up a point about the 2 year time line that has concerned me too. I asked an administration official the same question about the 2-year spend down and expressed concern that it would be ramping up just to lay off. He actually corrected me and said that the contracts have to be written in 2 years, but that they pay down may extend to as long as 6 to 8 years. That's another thought to chew on....
 
#15
#15
TennTradition said:
I met with someone who staffs in the Senate yesterday and he mentioned that the Congress intended for the money sent to these agencies, such as the DOE Office of Science, to not go to more research - but to actually go to building new infrastructure that would house future state-of-the-art research once funding levels were back. This was interesting to me, because he was pretty insistent on that...but I've talked to some folks within DOE that see this money as directly going into research (not just development construction projects or academic buildings). I think that there is going to be crap hit the fan in that area within the year.

Also, your VP was bringing up a point about the 2 year time line that has concerned me too. I asked an administration official the same question about the 2-year spend down and expressed concern that it would be ramping up just to lay off. He actually corrected me and said that the contracts have to be written in 2 years, but that they pay down may extend to as long as 6 to 8 years. That's another thought to chew on....
Click to expand...

On the last point, I can only go on what the VP of Research said. Perhaps NIH funding (that he was talking about) has different criteria/payout periods. His example was the most of the NIH $ span 3 year grant cycles. He also indicated that these new monies would have 2 year cycles so at the end of these we'd see a "cliff" of both the extra monies and any of the older grants that would normally expire that year.

On a larger point, he emphasized that our university is dependent on the federal government. I asked what we were doing in terms of commercialization efforts (growing companies, licensing, etc) and he indicated they had no new plans to ramp up commercialization. This is the most worrisome part to me. If you know the "cliff" is coming, I'd think we would diversify sources of revenue to become a bit less dependent on federal funding cycles. Instead, it appears we will lobby to keep the federal spigot open.
 
#16
#16
Why would you not work toward commercialization and licensing?

...also, as to his comments, I would say that there will be a fair amount of variety across the various agencies in how the money is spent down. However, I'm still trying to reconcile the staffer's comments about very few research dollars against things I'm hearing elsewhere....and the staffer is definitely informed...I'm thinking they told the agencies one thing, but they are beginning to do another...
 
#17
#17
TennTradition said:
Why would you not work toward commercialization and licensing?
Click to expand...

there is some effort in this direction but there is quite a bit of frustration among the venture community, faculty etc with the roadblocks within the university. Hundreds of millions of federal research dollars come in but the amount coming out via commercialization is paltry. Comparing us to other research 1 universities with the type of research $ we draw, it's almost embarrassing how little we do in commercialization.

Overall, I was more surprised that while we ramped up our grant writing and processing capabilities no additional attention has been devoted to commercialization and frankly, it doen't seem to be a priority at all.
 
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