Hey College Kids! What happened?

[Bob]

He's right about the educators too. They are the product of a terribly mismanaged and misguided school system. Not every student can be expected to be academic, some are much better suited to work in the woods. Our system is predicated on the idea that all students can be proficient in math, higher science, and english skills and I promise you this is a fantasy! The average test scores keep going down because the builders, welders, mechanics, and shop students have nowhere to go. Those courses were eliminated to hire more math teachers and pay raises for the remaining staff and of course...tax cuts. Where would we be without the tax cuts oh...right...here.

[lycanox]

Really? You know that to be a fact? More anti`american bullshite if you ask me..you are prejudiced against America

Here you go.
Especially Math seems to be a problem for US students.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datab...rt-of-comments

[JenaS62]

It's our wonderful liberal education system and all of the money we waste on the Dept. of Ed to line union head's pockets that makes us so great! Go USA!

[AnneOminous]

The point of the video of course, is an expression of disenchantment of some college kids in Obama. Specifically asking - What happened to the hope and change yes we can can, song and dance? What happened to the ideals he expressed about bringing folks together, about eliminating partisan politics, changing the way Washington works, and restoring hope for the future of the country? What happened to the promises where he told us he had the solutions, that he was the guy who would fix the economy, create millions of jobs, lower unemployment, solve the debt crisis, secure Medicare, and have balanced budgets?

What happened? At some point you have to admit, it just wasn't realistic... It was an amateurish approach. Style over substance. Empty promises.

[DontBeAfraid]

What happened?

The republican party filibustered EVERYTHING... That is what happened... Dont lie about it.

[DontBeAfraid]

If you wish, you may say, I don't like you ning, YOU are a bad, bad, man. However the sources for his economic statements are abundant and obvious, should you choose to look. Remember, I am one of those "Libtards" upon whose head ning is always eager to dance upon, but economics doesn't give a shit about politics or belief.

SOME of nings claims are true... SOME of his stats are true... If he doesnt cite a source though it is USUALLY made up... It doesnt take a BA in economics to know that shifting all jobs from production to service and deregulating the banking system is going to break an economy... Ning is no genius... He is just a devious liar...

The average test scores keep going down because the builders, welders, mechanics, and shop students have nowhere to go. Those courses were eliminated to hire more math teachers and pay raises for the remaining staff and of course...tax cuts. Where would we be without the tax cuts oh...right...here.

Those courses were not eliminated... You cant take ONE thing and say it is to blame for test scores going down... If I had to choose though I would say its heavily culturally related... Being super smart isnt cool... In some states its actually discouraged...

[AnneOminous]

The republican party filibustered EVERYTHING... That is what happened... Dont lie about it.

Wah! They so mean!

For HALF his term in office, Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.

But you know this.

They still control the Presidency and the Senate, and the Supremes have become a rubber stamp for them. And this was the President who promised he was a uniter. A bridge builder.

What happened?

You are right... the Democrats did take a "shellacking" at the last mid term elections, but that was nothing compared to what's coming.

[DontBeAfraid]

For HALF his term in office, Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.

But you know this.

How many people does it take to filibuster and how many people does it take to break a filibuster?

What happened?

Republicans sacrificed what little integrity the had in order to stop anything that comes from the president and the Democrats... It doesnt matter what it is, they are going to be little bitches about it...

And you eat it up.

[Reef Badlaw]

How many people does it take to filibuster and how many people does it take to break a filibuster?

Republicans sacrificed what little integrity the had in order to stop anything that comes from the president and the Democrats... It doesnt matter what it is, they are going to be little bitches about it...
And you eat it up.

What a whiner. You're the first Mary Poppins-groupie I've ever heard of.

[AnneOminous]

Don't Be A Whiner and his friend the Realist have trouble accepting a little thing called "reality."

I think Obama would do fine as a Dictator, where he doesn't have to lead people. Where he doesn't have to listen to elected officials who represent the people... You know like those Congressional Representatives. If only he could set aside those pesky folks with differing ideas he could ruin the country unabated.

Opposition to his path of destruction was the one thing he didn't anticipate when he ran for office apparently.

[Bob]

SOME of nings claims are true... SOME of his stats are true... If he doesnt cite a source though it is USUALLY made up... It doesnt take a BA in economics to know that shifting all jobs from production to service and deregulating the banking system is going to break an economy... Ning is no genius... He is just a devious liar...

Those courses were not eliminated... You cant take ONE thing and say it is to blame for test scores going down... If I had to choose though I would say its heavily culturally related... Being super smart isnt cool... In some states its actually discouraged...

Well, actually you can take one thing and say it's to blame for test scores going down and that thing is: Institutionalized stupidity. The southern christian block of states were just ahead of the curve on this one.

[Ningishiddza]

asking for your sources is quite pertinent...

No, your psychiatrist would say that's just part of your obsession. I seriously hope you aren't masturbating whilst looking at my photos here, because that would be disgusting and the mere thought of that would make many vomit on their keyboards.

that you disagree says a lot about you...

Yeah, it says I don't work for you.

So today you are the globe trotter...

I never claimed to be a "globe trotter." That is your differently twisted Straw Man perception. I know you cannot help twisting the truth, but maybe that's something you can work on with your psychiatrist. Living in Romania is not "globe trotting" in spite of what you want to believe, and either the VA will fix me, or they will not, and the VA will either increase my disability rating or they won't, but regardless I'll be going home soon.

You have 3 degrees so why did you only get one that is even SEMI useful?

5 actually. My other two undergraduate degrees are in Economics and Political Science, my Master's is in Political Science, and my PhD in International Relations (with Certificates in Homeland Security & International Security). I got hooded in 2005.

I paid for four of those degrees, no student loans, and I did it because I wanted to do it, not because I thought I would get a job --- especially since I don't need a job -- and no, I'm not rich. I don't even like money.

I hate to interfere in a beautiful hate/hate relationship, but I have checked out ning's claims regarding US and international economics, and his claims are right on the money. Believe me when I tell you, I wish he was wrong. But he's not. I am not referring to google or wikipedia, serious economists from both sides of the political spectrum agree with ning's conclusions and I am forced to as well.

We're in uncharted waters, Bob. Seriously. You want to know about ZERO Level Agrarian Economies? We got several thousand years of data on that. You want to about 1st Level Base Economies (1st Phase extraction of raw resources for export -- 2nd Phase processing raw resources)? We have over 2,000 years of data on that. But if you want to know about 4th Level Consumer Service Economies, we have only 20 years of data. Is a 4th Level Consumer Service Economy even viable? I don't know. Maybe a 4th Level Consumer Service Economy is only viable if the economic state as a whole is at certain levels, meaning a certain percentage of the world economy is 2nd Level, and certain percentage 3rd Level and such (in order to support a 4th Level Economy).

During the first term of Bush the lessar, I wondered how an economy whose only expanding sectors were real estate and financials, could be sustained in a country that was shipping it's jobs overseas as quickly as possible?

Well, you were right to wonder about that, but you're not "shipping jobs overseas." Think back to the recession in the 1970s and 1980s. What happened? Textile mills in New England packed up and moved to the Southeast US -- mostly Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas. Manufacturing in the Midwest (the Rust Belt) shut its doors and moved to the South and Southwest. Technology moved from the East Coast to the West Coast, mostly Washington and California.

So you're saying Michigan, Ohio and Illinois "shipped" their jobs to other States?

No. Economics seeks an equilibrium, just as water seeks its lowest point, or gases flow or chemical reactions seek equilibrium, or the nucleus of an atom seeks equilibrium (often by ejecting gamma rays, x-rays or neutrons).

The Free Market rules. The Invisible Hand is always there and no one can stop it. It is the Market through Supply & Demand that sets the wages, and when you have unions, you have Soviet-style Command Economics, instead of the Free Market. Unions often set wages far above what the Market says they should be, and when that happens, you force the Invisible Hand to work its magic. So the union textile mills and the union manufacturing plants get closed, and they re-open where Market Economics is in effect.

The same thing is now happening on a global scale. Americans are paid way too much in relation to the rest of the world and Economics, like Nature, abhors a vacuum and seeks to correct imbalances. This imbalance, this great disparity in wages and standard of living between the United States and the rest of the world is being corrected....and not in your favor.

Did the textile mills ever move back to New England? Did manufacturing ever move back to the Rust Belt? Nope, and they never will, just as the jobs that you lost will never come back....which is why said here on AO back in 2006 and 2007 that you were going to have permanent job losses, as in people would lose their jobs and never work again for the rest of their lives (except maybe perhaps a part-time job).

Those jobs are not coming back to the US. And any attempt to force those jobs to come back, by enacting laws to prevent corporations from "shipping" jobs overseas, or taxing them or using protective tariffs will only result in wholesale violations of the Laws of Economics and make your suffering that much harder.

Who is buying these homes?

Go back to 2005 and look at C-SPAN where a representative from Fannie Mae explains that more than half of the foreclosures were on 2nd and 3rd mortgages, not the primary mortgage.

It didn't make sense that home prices were continuiously increasing at the same time that real income was continuiously decreasing.

No, it makes perfect sense.

That's Interest Inflation. You have two problems....still. Interest rates for mortgages are way too low, and the pool of available credit for mortgages is way too high.

The result is Interest Inflation which drives up the prices of those things tied to the interest rates or to the credit pool.

Do you remember when I said that any action taken by the Federal Reserve can be undone or negated by Congress? This is a perfect example. Interest rates on mortgages would be somewhere in the 9% range if the government stopped interfering in the Free Market. Since the Federal Reserve refuses to raise interest rates, and since the Federal Reserve refuses to decrease the fractional reserve, what action should Congress take?

Congress should halt government-backed mortgages.

If the government doesn't guarantee mortgages, then that puts lenders at risk, so they will cut back on the number of loans they make. Government should not be backing mortgages anyway. Why should I pony up money just because some doofus lost their home? If the lenders want the mortgages to be backed, then the lenders are perfectly capable of purchasing private mortgage insurance. And if it costs too much, then the lenders can reflect the cost of the mortgage insurance in the interest rates. Or the lenders can dump that responsibility onto the home-buyer. You, the home-buyer, must qualify for and purchase your own mortgage insurance....and if you cannot, then choose a really nice apartment, preferably one with some shrubbery.

Unless of course, you are lying or stealing or both. A country cannot sustain a national economy on real estate without customers who have money. I actually had an argument with someone who disagreed with this. I marveled at his stupidity.

Looks like someone drank the FIRE Economy Kool-Aid.

You're right. A country like Switzerland (population 7.9 Million) can run a FIRE Economy, and so can a city like New York City, but the US of A cannot. That's just Economics version 3.0 with Diminishing Returns module and Economy of Scale plug-in.

Lastly, ning is also correct about the cost of production in the US. All things considered, the average cost of a US worker is about 20.00 an hour.

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $30.69 per hour worked in March 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

And that's just the average Labor Cost.

Then there's the cost of complying with all federal rules and regulations, the cost of complying with all State rules and regulations, the cost of complying with all county and city rules and regulations, etc etc, plus your other manufacturing costs and everything else.

but economics doesn't give a shit about politics or belief.

That's why I love economics. Economics doesn't care who you are or where you came from or what you believe in....it just does what it does.

Really? You know that to be a fact? More anti`american bullshite if you ask me..you are prejudiced against America

The truth is not bull-shit. We've done everything asked and still get nothing for the money we pay. 40 kids in a class was nothing when I was in school, but then suddenly teachers didn't know how to teach if there were more than 25 kids in a class. We gave them smaller class-sizes and they continued to churn out garbage. They demanded more money, we gave them more money, and still they turn out garbage. They wanted cable TV and computers and carpeted floors and central air conditioning and we gave them all that and they still turned out garbage.

How sad is it when a kid in another country goes to school with no computers, no TVs, no wall-to-wall carpeting, no air conditioning, no text books and in many cases no electricity, and yet they do better in science and math and can speak multiple languages?

Whatever it is that you are doing, it's wrong, and more money will not fix it.

The point of the video of course, is an expression of disenchantment of some college kids in Obama. Specifically asking - What happened to the hope and change yes we can can, song and dance?

There never was any. He did like Clinton, used pollsters to find out what Americans wanted to hear, and then told Americans what they wanted to hear.

What happened to the ideals he expressed about bringing folks together, about eliminating partisan politics, changing the way Washington works, and restoring hope for the future of the country?

He was a community dictator, not a community leader. Even Clinton for all of his faults was able to bring people together and create a consensus in Congress.

SOME of nings claims are true... SOME of his stats are true... If he doesnt cite a source though it is USUALLY made up... It doesnt take a BA in economics to know that shifting all jobs from production to service and deregulating the banking system is going to break an economy... Ning is no genius... He is just a devious liar...

Links? You're not going to cite your sources? Why not?

I never said deregulating the banking system would break the economy. And in spite of your stupidity, a service economy isn't inherently destructive to an economy -- provided you can export your services. What services do you export? Practically none, except oil service. It wouldn't matter, because your wages are way too high. Countries that need services like architectural, engineering, hydrological, chemical, petro-chemical, security, economic, business, social, educational, medical, international law, construction and other types of consulting cannot afford your rates, but they can afford to pay consulting firms from BRIC.

And many countries would pay the high US fees --- if it was worth it, but it isn't worth it. Your consultants are stupid and bereft of imagination, not to mention the fact that they are either incapable or unwilling to speak foreign languages.

CBO’s Year-by-Year Forecast and Projections for Calendar Years 2009 to 2019

Unemployment

2009 = 8.3%; 2010 = 9.0%; 2011 = 8.0%; 2012 = 6.8%; 2013 = 5.8%; 2014 = 5.1%; 2015 = 4.9%; 2016 to 2019 = 4.8%

CBO’s Economic Projections for Calendar Years 2010 to 2021

Unemployment

2010 = 9.6%; 2011 = 9.4%; 2012 = 8.4%; 2013-2016 = 6.4%; 2017-2021 = 5.2%

CBO’s Economic Projections for Calendar Years 2012 to 2022

Unemployment

2011= 9.0%; 2012 = 8.8%; 2013 = 9.1%; 2014-2017 = 7.0%; 2018-2022 = 5.4%

So I don't have to be a genius....I just have to be more intelligent than the "you-Harvard" morons that work for your government. Maybe they'll eventually get it right if they keep guessing long enough.

What a whiner. You're the first Mary Poppins-groupie I've ever heard of.

No, I think AssasinX was a Mary Poppins groupie, too.

[Bob]

Well stated.

[DontBeAfraid]

5 actually. My other two undergraduate degrees are in Economics and Political Science, my Master's is in Political Science, and my PhD in International Relations (with Certificates in Homeland Security & International Security). I got hooded in 2005.

I paid for four of those degrees, no student loans, and I did it because I wanted to do it, not because I thought I would get a job --- especially since I don't need a job -- and no, I'm not rich. I don't even like money.

Very fascinating story... How does one pay for a PhD out of pocket without being rich? Or if that wasnt the one you paid for... how did you pay for four others out of pocket? How did you pay for them out of pocket if you are on disability? Why do you accept help from the VA when you are so against welfare? That DOES make you a hypocrite. What exactly IS your disability? Im not entirely impressed by the chosen focus of your educational path... It isnt one that teaches you any critical thinking skills or how to interpret the nature of the universe... but it does gear you up to relate to/watch/manipulate people... You wanted to be an ambassador or possibly a CIA agent? My ex is following a similar path... she cites her sources... she is also out of your league... sorry.

Stitch together a believable story and you may have won me over... not to the point of simply believing everything you post... but I wont dismiss most of it out of hand.

[phedrereine]

What ning however neglects to tell is that US educations are pretty shitty compared with European educations.

You would say "US education is pretty shitty compared with European education." To say "educations" in this context sounds awkward to an English speaker. It may not be technically wrong, but it's just one of those things... kind of like saying "I want candies" instead of "I want candy." Just FYI.

But back on topic, the link you posted of ranked countries still showed the US above some European countries, so that was a generalizing statement on your part. We could do a lot better in math and science, that is for damn sure. But to compare a small European country to the US is actually unfair. Our population is so much greater than any European country. You try dealing with a population of 300 million + in a geographically vast and federalized country, and try uniforming the quality of education. It is not easy. There are certain regions of the US that do much better than others.

Another thing, college educations are not totally free in europe. While it is true that for a good functioning student. It is possible to get a free education. But if you arent. The free money turns in a debt. Which can rank up quite the cost.

So what? That sounds like a dream, lyca. You have no idea how much is being given to you. You have to be an excellent, and I mean excellent, student to get a full scholarship here in the U.S. Even then, it is by no means a guarantee. Otherwise, you pay several thousand dollars in tuition per semester -- on average. A high percentage of students who go to college in the US have massive debt from student loans, which often take decades to pay off. It is practically the norm.

[The Realist]

He's right about the educators too. They are the product of a terribly mismanaged and misguided school system. Not every student can be expected to be academic, some are much better suited to work in the woods. Our system is predicated on the idea that all students can be proficient in math, higher science, and english skills and I promise you this is a fantasy! The average test scores keep going down because the builders, welders, mechanics, and shop students have nowhere to go. Those courses were eliminated to hire more math teachers and pay raises for the remaining staff and of course...tax cuts. Where would we be without the tax cuts oh...right...here.

Not ONLY that, but we keep hiring engineers from foreign countries by claiming there are NO qualified Americans for the jobs, while there ARE millions of Americans out of work.

We also send all our manufacturing jobs abroad, then have NO JOBS for people who aren't qualified to BE engineers, but ARE capable of building great products (like we USED to do), causing us to import CRAP (DANGEROUS crap in some cases) from China and other places.

[The Realist]

No, your psychiatrist would say that's just part of your obsession.

I have absolutely NO doubt that you have far more experience with what a psychiatrist would say than ANYONE else here (except maybe Dedanoe).

But I DOUBT it's on the side of MAKING a diagnosis, but rather in receiving them.

[Ningishiddza]

Very fascinating story... How does one pay for a PhD out of pocket without being rich? Or if that wasnt the one you paid for... how did you pay for four others out of pocket?

It's called a "stipend." There's another animal called "work" and there are two flavors of "work": full-time and part-time. And then there's another animal called "financial common sense." There's another animal called "part-time student." And then there's "transfer credit." You rent a 4-bedroom in the Gaslight District near campus for $650, and your rent and utilities are less than $200/month. We don't have cable. I don't have a car, so I don't throw away money on car payments, car insurance or gasoline. I got a stipend as an RA to do research, and then later I got a stipend as a TA to teach. You work a full-time job 2nd/3rd Shift, and if you can't find one, then you wait tables, and if you can't wait tables, then you bus tables, wash dishes or cook. If you can work as a paralegal, then you work part-time or full-time. And if you sell yourself to small law firms you can work part-time as a paralegal at home. And then you can also teach classes in exchange for credit hours, so you teach a class, and then you get to take a class for free.

I didn't throw away money on a cell-phone and I didn't throw away money "upgrading" my cell-phone every 120 days because "something new" is out. And I didn't throw away money standing around Starsucks trying to look cool. I went to Sitwell's, paid $1.50 for coffee that was better than Starsucks and got free re-fills. And I didn't throw away money on stupid stuff like Tommy-gear and Nike shoes, or X-Box or Sega or any other stupid stuff like WII or whatever it is. I didn't eat fast-food 37 times a week. And I didn't give away all of my hard earned money to the stinky rich by paying idiot interest rates on credit cards.

Maybe one day when people get smart with their money, they'll find they have a lot of it.

Then there's Pell Grants and Ohio has educational grants. And the Cincinnati Public Library has an entire section on nothing but grants for for-profit businesses, non-profit businesses, education, homes, residences, vocational training and anything else you can think of. I got educational grants from the American Legion, the VFW, from the DAV for being a disabled vet, from other groups for political science and international relations, and a few others.

How did you pay for them out of pocket if you are on disability?

You're allowed to work while receiving VA Disability.

Why do you accept help from the VA when you are so against welfare? That DOES make you a hypocrite.

Like most Libtards, you are way too stupid to understand the Conservative argument.

Social Security is not welfare. Social Security is insurance. It isn't my fault that you are too stupid to understand that OASI is Old Age and Survivor's Insurance. Conservatives have no opposition to insurance. Conservatives do oppose the federal government administering that insurance. There is no reason why the several States cannot administer their own Social Security-like programs. As a point of fact, when FDR was governor of New York State, he implemented a social security program there for New York State residents. Conservatives oppose the federal government's involvement Social Security, because Conservatives understand something that Liberals can never understand: the cost-of-living varies greatly in the United States -- it varies from State to State and even from city-to-city within a State.

Two persons earn the same amount of money over their life-times, and therefore they receive the same monthly Social Security benefit, say $1,175/month. However, due to the tremendous disparity in cost-of-living throughout the United States, one person is having the time of their life, while the other suffers and can barely make ends meet.

Liberals have orgasms when that happens -- Liberals get off on watching a person suffer needlessly.

The Conservative position is superior -- let the States run their own social security programs; let the States set the premiums to be paid by workers based on the cost-of-living which is unique to each State; let the State then pay benefits accordingly -- so that no one suffers.

But Liberals can never see that. Liberals all have Penis Envy Disease and Breast-Implant Envy Disease and the only thing Liberals see is that someone is "getting "more" than someone else. Liberals are incapable of even considering the possibility that $2,300/month in one State is equal to $1,500/month in another State -- due to the differences in cost-of-living.

For the exact same logic and reasoning, Conservatives are opposed to the federal government running the Food Stamp program. Once again, a family of four getting $400/month in Food Stamps eats like Kings & Queens, while in another State, due to the difference in cost-of-living, a family of four receiving $400/month in Food Stamps can only live on Ramen Noodles, Vienna Sausages and tins of tuna.

And Liberals think that is funny. Liberals have orgasms watching that poor family suffer needlessly, while Liberals chant Compassion™!

The States are perfectly capable, and in the best position, to administer a Food Stamp program. But once again, the only thing Libtards with their Penis Envy and Butt-Implant Envy see is that someone is "getting more" than them. "He's getting $600/month in Food Stamps and I'm only getting $450/month!" Yes, but $600 is equal to $450 due to the cost-of-living and you both are purchasing the exact same thins and eating the exact same foods. "But they're getting more than me! Wah!"

That's you're typical Liberal.

HUD is another needless federal program. The States are perfectly capable of operating their own housing programs, if the people of State think that is necessary.

And in all cases, it is the people who decide whether those programs should or shouldn't exist; and how those programs ought to be funded; and who should be eligible for those programs, and for how long and under what conditions.

Why are Liberals anti-choice? Why don't Liberals want the people to have the freedom of choice?

Anyway, Social Security Disability Insurance is an insurance program, and Conservatives have no objection to it. Conservatives do object to the fact that the federal government administers the program and not the States, and Conservatives object to paying crack-heads, meth-heads and alcoholics disability.

VA Disability is also an insurance program. The disability insurance is part of your benefit in exchange for the extremely low wages and no over-time pay, among things. Insurance is not welfare.

What exactly IS your disability?

I'm disabled.

Im not entirely impressed by the chosen focus of your educational path.

I don't care. I did not choose it to impress you or anyone else. I chose it because I like it.

. It isnt one that teaches you any critical thinking skills or how to interpret the nature of the universe.

I already possessed critical thinking skills. Stupid people with no foresight or ability to think critically don't get chosen to plan military operations for battalion and brigade commanders. I already know the nature of the universe. The Universe is what it is and it seeks balance and equilibrium, which is the whole of Universal Law, Natural Law, the Laws of Physics and the Laws of Economics.

You wanted to be an ambassador or possibly a CIA agent?

No, my focus was exclusively on Foreign Policy.

My ex is following a similar path... she cites her sources... she is also out of your league... sorry.

That would be true of anyone with Genital Herpes -- they are certainly out of my league.

I'm sure she would make a train take a dirt road in reverse.

But to compare a small European country to the US is actually unfair.

It is not inherently unfair.

It is only unfair under certain circumstances, and such circumstances would involve things like Diminishing Returns, Economies of Scale and then sociological aspects like homogeneity or heterogeneity.

Our population is so much greater than any European country. You try dealing with a population of 300 million + in a geographically vast and federalized country, and try uniforming the quality of education. It is not easy. There are certain regions of the US that do much better than others.

That's your mistake --- uniformity.

Uniformity is inherent in Nations and nation-States, since by definition they are culturally homogenous.

The US is a country, and by definition, the US cannot be a Nation or a nation-State -- there is no uniformity, due to the fact that society is culturally heterogeneous.

So why would you try to force uniformity when such uniformity is impossible?

I'll you something else. What I have observed from stats classes and from being out in the Real World™ is that there is an enormous amount of energy expended trying to "statistically normalize" everything. I don't think you realize how damaging that it is to the US. In Education, the effects of statistical normalization result in dumbing it down from...

"How fast can Students read?"

....to...

"How fast can the average Student read?"

"What is the highest level Students can read?"

becomes...

"What is the highest level the average Student can read?"

See the differences?

And this stupid attempt at statistical normalization permeates your society, because then you get....

"How many widgets can a production worker assemble?"

becomes....

"How many widgets can the average production worker assemble?"

And that puts you on the path to mediocrity as a society.

A high percentage of students who go to college in the US have massive debt from student loans, which often take decades to pay off. It is practically the norm.

And why is it the norm?

Because the federal government is violating the Laws of Economics.

There is way too much money available for Student Loans, and the government artificially suppresses the interest rates for those loans.

The result? Interest Inflation causing sky-rocketing tuition. Want tuition to drop? The government needs to get out of federally-backed student loans. As a compromise, I would be willing to pony up money to back Student Loans as a tax payer if and only if the government limits federally backed Student Loans to only those students who score 2100 or higher on the SAT. For those students who score below 2100, they can get a regular loan from a bank and pay market interest rates -- if they can afford it --- and if a bank is willing to make a loan.

Having taught intro level courses in International Relations and US Foreign Policy, I can tell you that 2/3 of the kids in my classes should have been banned from ever setting foot on a college campus, because they did not deserve to be there. They did not earn the right to be there. All they did was get a tax-payer supported Student Loan. I had to waste an entire freaking hour of precious class time teaching the Declaration of Independence as an essay, because half of the students didn't know what an essay was or how to write a proper essay.

And how sad is it that those kids have word-processing software with spelling and grammar check, yet hand in papers full of spelling, punctuation and grammar errors, and they can't even write a cohesive paragraph.

Not ONLY that, but we keep hiring engineers from foreign countries by claiming there are NO qualified Americans for the jobs, while there ARE millions of Americans out of work.

Non-sequitur.

You want a former K-Mart cashier designing your bridges and roads? That's really stupid, but then I guess you have to consider the source.

We also send all our manufacturing jobs abroad....

That's right. Aren't you the brilliant one. I would be more impressed if you can explain to everyone how a Romanian making $2.15/hour can afford to buy products made by Proctor & Gamble employees who start at $22.50/hour.

I'll tell you what Proctor & Gamble figured out --- since you're too stupid to figure it out. Those bottling and packaging machines? They're all made in Germany or Italy. P&G figured out that if you buy a German packing machine, and you put it in the US, and then you buy a German packaging machine, and you put it in Timisoara, Romania, the machines both go the same speed.

So the packaging machine at the Ivorydale Plant in Cincinnati is packaging 100 tubes of Crealm Toothpaste per hour, and the packaging machine in Timisoara is packaging 100 tubes of Crealm Toothpaste per hour.

Okay, so what's the difference? Again, this is why P&G is smart and you're retarded. The 11 employees making $22.50/hour each operating the packaging machine at the Ivorydale plant are packaging 100 tubes per hour, and then in Romania there's 11 employees making $2.15/hour each operating the packaging machine at P&G's Timisoara facility packaging 100 tubes per hour.

Figure it out yet?

P&G is paying $247.50/hour for 100 tubes in America, while in Romania, P&G only pays $23.65/hour for 100 tubes.

Get it? It ain't rocket science.

It costs P&G $2.47 per tube for labor, while in Romania it only costs $0.23 per tube for labor.

What? You still ain't figured it out yet?

Add in overhead and all of the stifling stupid US federal, State, county and city regulations and rules and taxes, plus add in your overhead for the grotesquely over-paid office workers in America and P&G has to sell each tube of toothpaste for $5.00 to make a profit, and Romanians cannot pay that much, and neither can Greeks, Macedonians, Magyars, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Moldovans or Ukrainians.

But they can all buy toothpaste made at P&G's facility in Romania.

Get it now?

And if P&G doesn't put a facility in the Balkans, then one of its international or domestic competitors will --- and with the profits they make, they will buy up P&G and shut it down resulting in even more job losses in the US.

Still don't get it? Read about Zenith -- the former US corporation now owned by Koreans, and then read about LG, the Korean corporation that is still owned by Koreans and who owns Zenith. Zenith couldn't sell TVs and radios and CD players in Romania or Bulgaria or Hungaria, but LG could because Korean workers are paid less than Americans. And LG took its profits and bought out Zenith.

Maybe one day you'll figure out how the world works.

I have absolutely NO doubt that you have far more experience with what a psychiatrist would say than ANYONE else here (except maybe Dedanoe).

But I DOUBT it's on the side of MAKING a diagnosis, but rather in receiving them.

You're just pissed off, because every time you post I make you look like an Ass-Clown on the internet.

[DontBeAfraid]

So the short of it is:
You DIDNT pay out of pocket... You had tons of help... I dont believe you worked fulltime while getting your degrees, UNLESS you took a LONG time to get your degrees... Sorry, but you arent that bright... You are a hard worker but you arent the smartest in the herd.
You, just like me, understand that welfare programs actually ARE just insurance programs or safety nets.
and you should know I couldnt be bothered to read the rest of your rationality or whatever it was defending
your hypocritical/contradictory position...

I'm disabled.

Whats your disability?

I already possessed critical thinking skills. Stupid people with no foresight or ability to think critically don't get chosen to plan military operations for battalion and brigade commanders.

I bet most kids playing starcraft and other video games would do it better than you... but that is because they have much much more practice and have trained their brains to think this way.

I already know the nature of the universe. The Universe is what it is and it seeks balance and equilibrium, which is the whole of Universal Law, Natural Law, the Laws of Physics and the Laws of Economics.

WOWFAIL! You know the tiniest surface scratch... but that really is all it takes to avoid death in most cases...

That would be true of anyone with Genital Herpes -- they are certainly out of my league.

I'm sure she would make a train take a dirt road in reverse.

She really is a wonderful, sexy girl... Some sort of penis problem is your disability?

Having taught intro level courses in International Relations and US Foreign Policy, I can tell you that 2/3 of the kids in my classes should have been banned from ever setting foot on a college campus, because they did not deserve to be there. They did not earn the right to be there. All they did was get a tax-payer supported Student Loan. I had to waste an entire freaking hour of precious class time teaching the Declaration of Independence as an essay, because half of the students didn't know what an essay was or how to write a proper essay.

Must be a problem with your major... You wouldnt have found that in mine... In mine, if the kid couldnt hack it, he/she failed and was kicked out of the major... Not because it's elitist or anything... but because it moves too fast for someone to keep up if all they have going for them is being a hard worker...

You want a former K-Mart cashier designing your bridges and roads? That's really stupid, but then I guess you have to consider the source.

Here you contradict your stance on all the "hard work" you put in while getting your degree... If the cashier is putting herself through the engineering program then why shouldnt she design bridges when she is done...

Get it? It ain't rocket science.

Until you actually DO get rocket science I think you should refrain from using that phrase.

You're just pissed off, because every time you post I make you look like an Ass-Clown on the internet.

Your disability is some sort of problem with mental delusions...? just like jake...?

[Reef Badlaw]

The University Of Virgina told Team Obama to take-up thy teleprompter and walk. They won't be allowed on-campus as school starts, to potentially disrupt as many as 185 classes on the second day of school, closing the library...

http://www.nbc29.com/story/19369132/obama-update

In Obama's world, universities unswervingly follow the declarations of the Professor King...

According to the UVA Communications Office earlier on Friday, they offered up John Paul Jones Arena, but were told it "was not academic enough" by the Obama for America campaign.

[JenaS62]

The University Of Virgina told Team Obama to take-up thy teleprompter and walk. They won't be allowed on-campus as school starts, to potentially disrupt as many as 185 classes on the second day of school, closing the library...

And we know damn well had it been 2008, UVA would have gladly cancelled all classes to allow the students to worship at the alter of Obama.

[Reef Badlaw]

And we know damn well had it been 2008, UVA would have gladly cancelled all classes to allow the students to worship at the alter of Obama.

Agrees... plus The Evolved One's book was required reading for frosh at an upstate New York university and at a college in the State of Washington, I think. There's an AO-thread about it somewhere.