Past lives at @WGU, @christenseninst, @harvardhbs. mom of 3.
Joined January 2016
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Stunning. Do these students enroll in Fall 2021, or are we leaving a generation behind?
Treasure trove of data by @NSClearinghouse nscresearchcenter.org/wp-con…
Alana Dunagan retweeted
So, that’s a lot, and I’m a little conflicted about sharing it all publicly, but I don’t want to shy away from the faith.
When I was still very young, anger, hate, and pain drove me away from God.
Thirty years later, love brought me back to Him.
This. Creating a class of people not prepared to succeed in a competitive society benefits people with a vested interest in an anticompetitive ideology.
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It takes a few minutes a day to teach a young child to read. It's so worth it. It gives them so much autonomy, confidence, power, and joy.
We started getting the newspaper a few years ago. We get it once a week and the kids are obsessed. wsj.com/opinion/newspapers-u…
I definitely don't hate NPR. But if there was a news organization by and for conservatives that was publicly funded, I would think that was weird too...
Wins add up. We are going into our fifth year of homeschooling this fall. The compounding effects are amazing. At first you're just executing a plan you made on how to do school. But a few years in your kids - and your LIFE - are incredible. (Career not so much 🙃)
Alana Dunagan retweeted
"Public schools cannot be both a core government service and a platform for personal or political expression. The tension between those roles results in a steady erosion of public trust—not because Americans don’t value education, but because they can no longer be certain whose interests it serves."
My latest for @educationgadfly
fordhaminstitute.org/nationa…
I've been wearing a @whoop for ten days. It is SHOCKING how visible having one drink is in the data. Feels like these things have to be tanking the adult beverage industry.
"Strivers don’t talk about this. They don’t discuss the ways having a child makes your life better—and makes you better."
I'm glad people are finally talking about how fun it is. ❤️ So thankful for my kiddos and the life they've given me.
thefp.com/p/stop-striving-an…
And after that, can we have kids stop spending hours and hours distracted on *school issued* devices?
Ban mobile phones in schools. Gate to gate, first bell to last. Successful options include:
1. Complete physical ban
2. Turned off, never visible
3. Handed in (office, pouches, teacher desk)
All of these need exceptions for exceptional circumstances.
All of these need to be systematic, whole-school and patrolled, with consequences. It’s not easy but it’s not complex either. And the benefits are enormous. Especially weighed against the harms.
I hear people saying ‘this is too hard to do’. Which is news to the hundreds of schools I’ve seen do this successfully. And you know what? They never regret it. Not one of them would reverse the policy.
Alana Dunagan retweeted
Parents can accomplish in ten minutes a day for 6-12 months what schools can’t for seven hours a day for 13 years
Actually, in 2006 WA spent less than 9k per student (vs over 20k today), and test scores were higher. Time machines welcome.
We need to stop funding WA schools like it's 2006 | Op-Ed seattletimes.com/opinion/the…
Alana Dunagan retweeted
If I've learned one thing in politics, it's that blaming voters for a loss today is a recipe for failure tomorrow.
Alana Dunagan retweeted
'To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future' - Plutarch
Judging by my X feed, a lot of progressives think the only mistake they've made recently is failing to call opponents Nazis often enough.
If one leader gets fired, blame the leader. If all the leaders get fired, blame the incentives.
realclearpolitics.com/articl…
Alana Dunagan retweeted
$47.61 for paper towels and TP at Target today.
Absolutely insane example of corporate greed and price gouging.
In fact, it made me so angry, I decided to do some analysis.
Many prices have increased by 50% or more since COVID, so I decided to put on my investment banking hat and spread some financials back to 2018 / 2019.
And man, was I ever surprised...
I started by looking at Target's annual revenue:
2018: $75.4 billion
2019: $78.1 billion
2020: $93.6 billion
2021: $106.0 billion
2022: $109.1 billion
2023: $107.4 billion
Last Twelve Months (LTM): $106.6 billion
Couple things I noticed. First, revenue has slipped a bit since 2022 and is continuing to do so in 2024 - not a great sign for the broader economy. Second, there's been big growth since 2018. They must be price gouging!
Well, I looked a bit deeper. Let's look at their cost of goods sold over the same period (the price they paid to buy the products they sold you).
2018: $53.3 billion (70.7% of sales)
2019: $54.9 billion (70.2%)
2020: $66.2 billion (70.7%)
2021: $75.0 billion (70.7%)
2022: $82.2 billion (75.4%)
2023: $77.7 billion (72.4%)
Last Twelve Months (LTM): $76.8 billion (72%)
Wow, so let me get this straight...
Target is making less money (28 cents) on every dollar of sales today than they were in 2018 (29.3 cents). Hmmmm. That's weird. Maybe they're not so good at this price gouging thing.
So, I decided to dig even deeper. They were prolly being evil and firing all of their employees so they could make up for the money they weren't gouging, right?
So, I looked at their operating expenses (the amount they pay to run the stores and the overall business):
2018: $15.7 billion (20.9% of sales)
2019: $16.2 billion (20.8%)
2020: $18.6 billion (19.9%)
2021: $19.8 billion (18.6%)
2022: $20.7 billion (18.9%)
2023: $21.6 billion (20.1%)
Last Twelve Months (LTM): $21.7 billion (20.3%)
Hmmmm. Very unusual behavior for someone price gouging me. Let's sum this all up by looking at their operating cash flow:
2018: $6.3 billion (8.4% of sales)
2019: $7.0 billion (9.0%)
2020: $8.8 billion (9.4%)
2021: $11.3 billion (10.7%)
2022: $6.2 billion (5.7%)
2023: $8.1 billion (7.6%)
Last Twelve Months (LTM): $8.1 billion (7.6%)
So, what this all means is that Target's making less overall profit on every dollar of revenue today (7.6 cents) than they were in 2018 (8.4 cents). And revenue has grown at an average (CAGR) of 7.3% per year since 2018 and operating cash flow has grown at 5.1% per year - both of which are pretty much in line w/ the overall rate of inflation during that period.
I guess I expected price gouging to be more profitable.
❌ NO PRICE GOUGING AT TARGET ❌
"Well Steve," you may say, "that's all fine and good, but even if Target isn't price gouging, Kimberly Clark and International Paper (both of whom are involved in the manufacture / marketing of paper towels and TP) sure as H3ll must be!"
Well Yes! Surely they are! I'll spare you all the numbers, but here's the summary:
Kimberly Clark:
5-year avg revenue growth: 2.0%
2018 Gross Margin: 69.7%
LTM Gross Margin: 64.0%
2018 EBITDA Margin: 12.1%
LTM EBITDA Margin: 15.6%
"A-HA! Look at that EBITDA margin!" you say, "They must be gouging!"
Well, the gross margin clearly says otherwise, and the five-year EBITDA CAGR is 6.6% - pretty much in line with inflation. Again, management is clearly bad at gouging.
❌ NO PRICE GOUGING AT KIMBERLY-CLARK ❌
"Well ok," you say, "I'm sure International Paper must be capturing all of that extra profit because they're the ones gouging then."
Let's take a look:
International Paper:
5-year avg revenue growth: 0.8%
2019 Gross Margin: 30.8%
LTM Gross Margin: 27.8%
2018 EBITDA Margin: 16.1%
LTM EBITDA Margin: 11.6%
Wowza, I guess IP is the worst price gouger of all since, well, they've basically been destroying value since before COVID began. You would think price gougers would be gouging to, I don't know, make more money and all. Well, IP made almost $3 billion of EBITDA in 2019, and a little over $2 billion over the last twelve months. Sigh.
❌ NO PRICE GOUGING AT INT'L PAPER ❌
So, maybe this means the inflation we've been dealing with hasn't been about corporate greed and price gouging after all. Maybe it has had something to do with, oh, I don't know, government spending and stimulus run amok or something.
So, rather than going on populist rants about implementing price controls for the greedy corporations (which, you know, have never worked out so well in the past), maybe we should consider some price controls for government spending.
That's a novel idea.
🤔
p.s. And for those of you who say "Hey, wait a minute, your receipt says "Bounty" - that's not Kimberly Clark, that's P&G! They must be price gouging!"
Procter & Gamble:
5-year avg revenue growth: 4.4%
2019 Gross Margin: 48.6%
LTM Gross Margin: 51.4%
2019 EBITDA Margin: 20.4%
LTM EBITDA Margin: 23.7%
Gross margin up? Yep. EBITDA margin up? Yep. Good management? Yep. Price gouging? Nope.
❌ NO PRICE GOUGING AT P&G ❌
Is the political strategy here "Maybe people don't like inflation because we haven't created enough of it yet?" Or does this actually have something to do with #highered?
apnews.com/article/biden-stu…
Alana Dunagan retweeted
If you’re a far-left extremist offering excuses for the violent terrorism on campuses right now, you are no better than the far-right extremists offering excuses for the violent terrorism at the US Capitol on January 6th. I say this as a Democrat — one who hasn’t lost my mind.
Alana Dunagan retweeted
I teach at #Columbia & I saw the protests yesterday. I walked by one on campus & saw two posters of known terrorists. One of Walid Daqqah, who was affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, & the other of Khader Adnan, who was the spokesperson for Palestine Islamic Jihad - both of which are designated terrorist groups. PIJ is holding hostages right now.
I was stunned & horrified to see the images of these men, being extolled as though they're some kind of heroes. It was like a punch in the gut. I believe that these students, while young and clearly lost, seem to know exactly who & what they're supporting
