Republicans think the bubble wand is magic. It is waved about in Harry Potter like fashion accompanied by the magic words, "The credit crunch is over, the credit crunch is over."
The true believers ooh and aah at the perfect glistening sphere. It floats in the Heavens like christians during the Rapture, it must be a good thing. Sadly when touched the truth is revealed. The bubble bursts and the believers are left with a handfull of slippery scum.
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
The only solution is free education--period. Why does it have to stop at HS?
I watched Michael Moore on Larry King (got up early this am) and he was saying that the base tax rate in France is 10%. People don't mind paying extra to ensure they have health care, daycare, education, something the US pays no mind to since everybody is bitching about their "high tax rate." He likens the dollars people have to pay for health insurance, education and daycare as "extra taxes" paid to private companies, which is exactly what it is, in the guise of "free enterprise." Now, wouldn't you rather pay a couple of thousand extra in taxes each year for these benefits than handing over your hard earned dollars to those who just want to make a profit from it? Everyone of these issues affects people directly, unlike consumer products, which you can really choose or leave.
But at sometime in your life you will probably need all three--and might never be able to pay for them, as long as so-called private enterprise has their profits as the bottom line. These are things everyone should demand--instead of cheap trinkets, etc., which soak up more of our taxes anyone wants to admit.
To me, it's more important to have well rounded, educated, healthy people than it is to have the latest botox application, over-priced designer shirt, or even those bloated, wasteful McMansions for 2 or 3 people that became the rage. We've already seen what greedy and selfish "individualism", which has nothing to do with caring about anyone else, has done to this country.
Time to change minds and hearts in the US.
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
And BTW, in Charlotte, the powers that be will attempt to divert $2.5 million to more police coverage, more courts, more punishment--since property crimes esp. have risen, and are being committed in large part by "career" criminals.
I'm just wondering how much crime we would actually have in this country if every child, every parents, had some of their burdens lifted, didn't have to face poverty, eviction, etc.? Wouldn't it be more of a societal benefit to ensure that people's actual needs are met to prevent anyone from having to resort to crime? That baby being born this minute depends on whether or not its parents are educated, healthy and will provide them with decent child care--which increasingly is becoming unavailable to most but the wealthiest.
KeithNovo
· 1 year ago
Worse is graduating with an MBA with debt, then finding out that one is "overqualifed" for everything execept welfare. Then two years later, playing musical jobs. Finally, three years later, forced into Chapter 13. Now 24 years later, in severe underempoyment with the only permanant fulltime job ever for the past 14 years. Schrubomics may be poision, but Reaganomics is a terrible disease as well. Now tt's time to upgrade my skills so I can be "overqualified" again, but I can sue for age discrimination. By the way, I've never used a credit card.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
The fact is that at the other end of the digestive track that is the current educational model is the no-job-unless-your-dad-owns-the-company phenomenon. Education, as they call it, is not for everyone anymore. The dilemma of crowded college classrooms could easily be resolved by withdrawing all student loans and requiring that every student pay full tuition. Restoring the socio-economic model of medieval feudalism is a nasty job but clearly our Lords and Masters are determined that it happen.
tofubo
· 1 year ago
Graduating from college with over $120,000 of debt = leverage
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
Is this really a good idea, or will it just fuel speculation on the part of large investors:
Keith, and the kicker for you and others in your situation is that the legacy kid, Bush, got his MBA which for the country has proved disastrous.
We're truly educating the wrong people when rich spoiled frat boys are running the country.
KeithNovo
· 1 year ago
And the reality is that Schrub never earned that degree. It is quite obvious that he bought that degree. He'd never had finished at Penn State back in the early '80's, for one of the courses was on communications! Schrub also fooled Limbaugh, the college dropout, who thought an MBA shows intelligence. Only when it's earned, not bought. Under Reaganomics, McJobs multiplied by keeping minimum down. Real jobs kept being rare, even for me, who became quite politically involved in my community. After reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and ruminating over Robert Kiyosaki and Robert Allen, I finally realized where the rich are screwing us. I never fell for Schrub one minute in 2000.
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
Michigan, with double digit unemployment, now pays more from its budget for prisons than education...and all states are grappling with prison budgets (probably including some of those "contractor owned prisons."
120,000? That's a lot of devalued US dollars. Just go to Yale, and tell them you're Jewish, or a member of the Bush family. You're in! No dollars down!
jr
· 1 year ago
"your wisdom knows no bounds"-Alan Greenspan to his Ayn Rand statue
Houndentenor
· 1 year ago
You're absolutely right. Easy access to credit eliminated the need for universities to offer more scholarships and hold down the cost of tuition. When they raise tuition students just borrow more money. 19 year olds have no concept of what it's going to mean to owe $80k before they even have a job.
All Comments
The true believers ooh and aah at the perfect glistening sphere. It floats in the Heavens like christians during the Rapture, it must be a good thing. Sadly when touched the truth is revealed. The bubble bursts and the believers are left with a handfull of slippery scum.
I watched Michael Moore on Larry King (got up early this am) and he was saying that the base tax rate in France is 10%. People don't mind paying extra to ensure they have health care, daycare, education, something the US pays no mind to since everybody is bitching about their "high tax rate." He likens the dollars people have to pay for health insurance, education and daycare as "extra taxes" paid to private companies, which is exactly what it is, in the guise of "free enterprise." Now, wouldn't you rather pay a couple of thousand extra in taxes each year for these benefits than handing over your hard earned dollars to those who just want to make a profit from it? Everyone of these issues affects people directly, unlike consumer products, which you can really choose or leave.
But at sometime in your life you will probably need all three--and might never be able to pay for them, as long as so-called private enterprise has their profits as the bottom line. These are things everyone should demand--instead of cheap trinkets, etc., which soak up more of our taxes anyone wants to admit.
To me, it's more important to have well rounded, educated, healthy people than it is to have the latest botox application, over-priced designer shirt, or even those bloated, wasteful McMansions for 2 or 3 people that became the rage. We've already seen what greedy and selfish "individualism", which has nothing to do with caring about anyone else, has done to this country.
Time to change minds and hearts in the US.
I'm just wondering how much crime we would actually have in this country if every child, every parents, had some of their burdens lifted, didn't have to face poverty, eviction, etc.? Wouldn't it be more of a societal benefit to ensure that people's actual needs are met to prevent anyone from having to resort to crime? That baby being born this minute depends on whether or not its parents are educated, healthy and will provide them with decent child care--which increasingly is becoming unavailable to most but the wealthiest.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109...
We're truly educating the wrong people when rich spoiled frat boys are running the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...