Because it just gets too dark too early.
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Because it just gets too dark too early.
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Blogs For Victory 
The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday.
While people typically accumulate assets as they age, this gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago, after adjusting for inflation.
Dolf,
What would your solution be to such an obviously unfair distribution of wealth?
Spook
This is from a Drudgereport headline so not exactly Marxist news source.
No need for a solution, this isn’t a problem. Literally, the boomers can’t take their money with them. It’s just an observation of how resources have moved in the past 6 years (not 60 years mind you, just 6 years).
Of course the elderly voting themselves a prescription drug plan is NOT politicians pandering to an interest group.
Amy had a remark about whether I see myself perpetually among the young, just below the grumpy old folk. Well I don’t. I worry about the next generation. I support the Tea Party in that endeavor and think OWS is also about what kind of future is going to be available to those under 35.
A new study indicates that rich people are 10 times more likely than poor people to be wealthy. The gap between rich and poor has increased every year as more people are rich and fewer are poor. The top 1% has seen their incomes increase by more than 400%. The same top 1% was at the time this study began part of the bottom 50%; notorious rich person Bill Gates was in the bottom 15% and Michael Moore was eating the bottom 5% on his way to infamy over the past 30 years.
In a related story, former top one-percenters Sam Walton, Andy Gibb and Howard Hughes have seen their income decrease by 100% over the same period.
Asked to comment, most of the original 1% from 1980 were unavailable being either dead or dead broke, while today’s one-percenters have plenty to say and do so frequently.
1. Bill Gates was never in the bottom 15%.
2. Michael Moore grew up middle class.
3. The doubling occurred in 6 years not 60 years.
4. The resource redistribution is not for a couple people, it is for an entire group vs. another entire group.
Thanks for reminding the boomers they too will die.
Yet dolf does not address the key message of your insightful post, Captain— …rich people are 10 times more likely than poor people to be wealthy…
Kinda makes you wonder about what it takes to get the attention of these profs these days, don’t it? But what he did get was that people die.
Glad he stuck to maths
And, with the “entire group v. entire group” it is so commonly missed that ours is a fluid economy; if Bardolf’s children want to do better than the lower-middle class existence of a public school employee, (leading a life of quiet desperation) they may rise as far and as fast as their wits can take them.
Michael Moore may have grown up eating middle-class children, but he can afford to eat the children of wealthy people now.
Bill Gates was able to go from struggling college dropout to wealthiest man in the world while Enron’s middle management are wishing they spent more time in the office and less time in jail.
Amy
Captain Obvious made an insight on the level of taller people are taller than short people. His “STUDY” was a joke to entertain the mindless like you.
Who says Bardolf is too thick to understand sarcasm?
Set her straight, Bardolf, she’s obviously having trouble keeping up.
Captain
Bill Gates was struggling at Harvard because his private high school experiences had given him access to technology long before it was accessible to the lower 95%. He exploited his advantages admirably, taking the risk of losing years of his life to pursue a passion.
You’re correct that young people can carve out the futures they want. Maybe they don’t want to rise to a 70 hour a week corporate lifestyle making millions of dollars. That might worry their parents.
HA! Summerhill.
In other words, dolf, it was a joke you didn’t get till I pointed it out to you.
It could be the result of two factors: young people today aren’t producing wealth in any meaningful way but are accumulating massive debt.
Because they are genetically inferior to their parents or because their parents raised/gave them a different environment than they themselves had only 6 years ago.
This could be a major factor:
http://tinyurl.com/3v4oagl
And, is it a coincidence that much of this debt has accumulated over just the last — wait for it — 6 years?
JR
Do you understand you’ve just kicked the can down the road? The obvious followup is why this generation is taking all those loans vs. their grandparents.
The outcomes of people depend on a mix of innate abilities, randomness and the environment where they were brought up. Their innate abilities and the underlying randomness are the same as their parents.
The difference is that the immature elderly like Clinton and Newt by and large destroyed the infrastructure which they themselves had benefitted from just a generation ago. They outsourced jobs, they ran up trillion dollar deficits to pay for a crippled health care system and subsidies and nation building and dubious welfare programs, they destroyed the public schools with nanny state self-esteem bs and they pay lip service to family values. How on earth can Newt be a viable nominee? Any horrible idea in politics in the last 30 years has his okay.
Ah, the ‘elderly’ again. Put ’em on ice floes and send them out to sea—-they irritate middle-aged dolf.
“The elderly” and that randomness thing, wow, who could overcome that?
Well, one of my brothers, for example. Fifteen when my mother descended into what became terminal alcoholism, he chose not to join our youngest sibling in a rather totalitarian aunt’s home. He struck out on his own, did not finish high school, lived in a tent for a while, ran small businesses like cutting and selling firewood, and then married a young woman with two small children.
Suddenly he had responsibilities. He rented an old house on the edge of an abandoned gravel pit, and the family’s recreation consisted of walks around the property.
He contacted the owner, and arranged to lease the property. He struggled through the bureaucracy and politics of the county, got a permit to mine the gravel, and started on a shoestring, part of it provided by a loan from his older sister. (That would be me.)
In fewer than 20 years he built this tiny gravel pit into a company with a concrete facility and a home building branch, had a fleet of dozens of trucks, about 40 employees, and sold out with a multi-million dollar profit for himself.
At about the age dolf is now.
I’m sure dolf would call this “random”—the vague and directionless do like to attribute the successes of others to pretty much anything but inspiration, hard work, harder work, sacrifice, and more hard work.
BTW, he got bored with retirement and when another brother talked about a business opportunity we had a family meeting and we now have a booming young company, expanding faster than we can keep up with it. And yes, there might be an element of randomness in another brother’s rise to executive status in a company where he made them millions of dollars and then decided if he was going to work that hard he’d rather make millions for himself. At least that is how those who always look for an excuse for the successes of others so they can have excuses for not having the same results from their own efforts.
It’s just luck. Just random. Just this, just that, but always something that just happened to someone that led to success falling into their laps.
Which is why we need collectivism—to “level the playing field” and “spread that hard-earned wealth around” to benefit those who just weren’t so LUCKY.
Amy
What is the maximum percentage of the population that can have 40 or more employees?
The more you talk about yourself, your mom, your dad, your aunt the less there is to envy your multi-millionaire brother. At least he probably gets to the ski lodge quite often.
You seem to be in denial that the AARP organizes voters to vote for politicians who promise AARP members increased benefits.
Dolf asks what is the maximum % of the population that can have 40 or more employees?
Hmmmm 100%?
Well, I donno dolf, since some of the “employees” can have multiple “employers” and some “employers” can have multiple businesses that might employ the same sub set of employees. And some employees may own businesses that employ a different set of employees or even the same set or even some to the employers may be employed by the employees under different circumstances.
Full Time? Part Time? Contract? Partnerships?
You’re going to have to give more information if you want a reasonable answer. I hope you’re questions to your students are more thought out than this one. Oh, wait, you must use a canned lesson plan with pre-determined questions written by research mathematicians, written precisely to prevent teach-by-rote teachers from screwing up the purpose of the class.
Never mind.
“Ski lodge”?????
The only thing going downhill around here is your intellect.
We all work at least 60 hours a week, but we love what we do, we love the challenges, we own our own property and businesses, and we are proof that it is possible to be successful in this country without random luck, rich or powerful parents, or Uncle Sam paving the way for us.
In other words, we are as far from the dolfs of the world as it is possible to get.
And we have noticed that the only thing dolf can say about his family is that his “wife” and “daughter” love to buy shoes and purses. Not my fault your life is and has been so boring and unproductive and uneventful.
“part of it provided by a loan from his older sister. (That would be me.)”
What would his story have been if he didn’t have family with money to loan him?
Successful people succeed, cory.
Success certainly has some basis in personal qualities, but I think it is telling that Amazona couldn’t even finish an anecdote about how good things happen to people who work hard without having to include family support in the story.
The other typical fallacy is that the personal qualities our system measures are in any way positive or virtuous. Are people rising to the top because they are good at their jobs, or is for some other reason? Is our society rewarding people for providing services that benefit somebody or make something, or is it giving people money for cheating others?
cory,
Her brother looked for options and found his sister. The question should be how many other places did he try before he hit on the combination of savings, loans, and sacrifice? What other options would he availed himself of had he not been successful with this one? was a government handout not available or did he never consider that option?
If he’s determined and dedicated to success he would have found a way; losers assume he would have failed if some part of his plan caused him to re-think his options or look for other opportunities. He has been successful precisely because he’s a successful person.
Gee cory, you’re a half-empty kind of guy aren’t you?
Successful people fail just a bit less often then they succeed.
If you’ve failed cory; try again … only this time —> try something different.
“Gee cory, you’re a half-empty kind of guy aren’t you?”
I am a realist.
“Her brother looked for options and found his sister. The question should be how many other places did he try before he hit on the combination of savings, loans, and sacrifice? What other options would he availed himself of had he not been successful with this one? was a government handout not available or did he never consider that option?
If he’s determined and dedicated to success he would have found a way; losers assume he would have failed if some part of his plan caused him to re-think his options or look for other opportunities. He has been successful precisely because he’s a successful person.”
What other options? A bank isn’t going to loan money to a guy to lease out a gravel pit because they like his smile. If you think a high school dropout with a wife and kids wasn’t already getting as much as they could of government assistance, I’ll laugh in your face (he sure wasn’t in the 53%, or whatever precentage it was at the time. Maybe his success would have been all that much greater if we just broadened the tax base!) He probably would still have made something of himself, but my guess is that we’re talking about the difference between being solidly middle class and retiring a millionaire. And with our dwindling middle class, even that level of success becomes more and more dubious as time progresses.
cory, you’re right … I’m surprised he didn’t just shoot himself. There is no hope without the government …
Cory,
Your unbridled negativism notwithstanding, there were most likely many options available from angels to venture capitalists (and before you start the anti-religion crap an “angel” in the business world is a risk capitalist). Delaying or downsizing his ambition, finding a partner or panhandling on a freeway onramp or maybe just knocking on doors until he finds the one that opens capital access.
Go to the library and find the other risk takers; fill out an application for an industry grant or get a contract. Get off your lazy ass and try to find a way to succeed and quit bitchen about how dishonest the world is and how no one can succeed without a rich uncle Obama.
I found the money without family and without any government aid to start and operate three different businesses that all failed before I found one that succeeded.
Just because you can’t see past the omnipotent government or believe that them rotten bankers are just out to steal our money and offer nothing in return doesn’t mean that people don’t find ways to succeed even when a nit-wit like Obama and a cadre of economic morons like OWS are actively trying to prevent individual success from happening.
“Your unbridled negativism notwithstanding, there were most likely many options available from angels to venture capitalists (and before you start the anti-religion crap an “angel” in the business world is a risk capitalist). Delaying or downsizing his ambition, finding a partner or panhandling on a freeway onramp or maybe just knocking on doors until he finds the one that opens capital access.
Go to the library and find the other risk takers; fill out an application for an industry grant or get a contract. Get off your lazy ass and try to find a way to succeed and quit bitchen about how dishonest the world is and how no one can succeed without a rich uncle Obama.”
You’ve listed a lot of things, but none of them give money to high school dropouts with no proven experience.
“I found the money without family and without any government aid to start and operate three different businesses that all failed before I found one that succeeded.”
Are you a high school dropout? When you say you did it without family or government, how honest are you being? Do you have any sort of higher education that your parents or the government helped you pay for? How frequently did you live under somebody else’s roof for less rent than you would have had to pay a stranger? Did anybody spend money to help you find a way to spend the time on running your own business instead of working for somebody else?
“Just because you can’t see past the omnipotent government or believe that them rotten bankers are just out to steal our money and offer nothing in return doesn’t mean that people don’t find ways to succeed even when a nit-wit like Obama and a cadre of economic morons like OWS are actively trying to prevent individual success from happening.”
I don’t think the government is omnipotent, nor do I want it to be. A banker’s motivation is to make money; they give out loans to get profit, not to help fund the American Dream. The fact that some people succeed has no bearing on whether or not the ones who do not do so only on their own merits.
First, how do you know that “none of them give money to high school dropouts with no proven experience”? Has anyone ever asked a panhandler for proof of a diploma? Does the Angel ask for your transcripts before reading your business plan? Has a venture capitalist insisted on seeing your letterman’s jacket before handing over a check? Where was the diploma when Ray Kroc approached the McDonald Brothers? Jack Kent Cook … *sigh *
There’s lots of money out there if you take the time to look. Want to market an idea? There are people and organizations galore that are willing to take a chance on the right opportunity. But, for people like you there is no money, no opportunity, no hope; just a life of quiet desperation and lots of people to blame for your hard life.
Forget it; you’re obviously a failure in search of an excuse. Want to go to college? Losers like you are a dime a dozen , we can find them by the hundreds at any OWS sit-in. You’ll be working for my daughter soon enough.
Good luck with that.
“Does the Angel ask for your transcripts before reading your business plan?”
No, he’ll probably do it afterwards but before he’s given you any money.
“Has a venture capitalist insisted on seeing your letterman’s jacket before handing over a check?”
No, there are usually better ways to check the credentials of people who are asking you for money than that.
“Where was the diploma when Ray Kroc approached the McDonald Brothers? Jack Kent Cook …”
If only it were the early 1900s, you would have a solid point.
“There’s lots of money out there if you take the time to look. Want to market an idea? There are people and organizations galore that are willing to take a chance on the right opportunity.”
You are right, where some portion of the “right opportunity” is either a novel idea or a proven track record of success, of which I saw neither in this story.
“But, for people like you there is no money, no opportunity, no hope; just a life of quiet desperation and lots of people to blame for your hard life.
Forget it; you’re obviously a failure in search of an excuse. Want to go to college? Losers like you are a dime a dozen , we can find them by the hundreds at any OWS sit-in. You’ll be working for my daughter soon enough.”
I’m actually doing just fine, thanks. I’ve been employed at my current white-collar job for about two and a half years now, and I’m working on paying off my student loans.
without measuring births in these statistics…its a really screwed up way to analyse info…
in the last 6 years…a big chunk of the baby boomers retired…which is why the huge jump in these numbers…its not that younger people are making less than what those 65 year olds did when they were at the same age…its just that the under 35 group is at a statistical disadvantage of sheer numbers…
libtard think…how to make a stupid comparison to sound like we need more socialism to stop those bad bad baby boomers from being wealthy…when in fact…a huge chunk of thier wealth is…retirement…
just because drudge had it…doesnt mean its source is any much smarter…
Isn’t that the way it is suppose to be?
Blame the time change…….
obAMATUER shows his anti-Semitism again:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4145266,00.html
How can young people produce wealth when it is taken from them and given to those young people who live off the welfare, and disability programs?
Some people don’t live off the welfare system, but they struggle to get by because they’re have to pay the bills for those who do live off the welfare system.
We used to be a pretty industrious country…we made our own parts out of steel to get around and do things …. these things now lay on old farms, and in peoples backyards rusting away … yet are a testament to what America used to be made of, Her strength.
Does anyone else think its strange that Wall Street has made more profits in under three years with bams as president than it did under eight years of Bush?
Well it would be strange if he were a Marxist. If one thinks he is a too big to fail kind of guy, not so strange.
He is the ultimate crony capatalist. Benito would be either proud or jealous. However I would definately classify bams as an authoritarian marxist. He himself has said so.
Btw. Just a little checklist for ya Bardolf.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4145266,00.html
Sarkozy and bams lay into Bibi over an open mic. like anyone did not know this already?
Like Bibi cares. War with Iran soon.
The predicament that many young people find themselves in, has a hell of a lot more to do with the daily personal decisions that they make, rather than some nefarious macro economic dynamic.
You mean like majoring in Women’s Studies or Art/History and then wondering why they can’t get a job? I would submit that our educational system has failed millions of people in the 20 – 35 age demographic in terms of preparing them to be meaningful contributors to society.
spook
dont forget baldorks basket weaving and pole sitting classes
seem I dont require either in my business.
PS
what do you think of the the MSM attempt to totally destroy Cain as they have done with Palin, Bauchmann, Perry, and an attempt at Rubio…..gee ALL conservatives with ties to the TEA party.
still NO reporting on barrys BJ’s, drug use, fake book deals, associations with gangsters, terrorists, cults, nation of islam, hamas.
FAKE birth certs, FAKE draft cards, FAKE SS cards, MISSING…….well EVERYTHING.
lavish vacations, huge deficits, huge unemployment, THREE wars, political assassinations of American citizens.
The disrespect of AMERICA on foreign soil, communists in his administration.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ the MSM kneepadders sleep.
How long will our citizens?
Oh wait it’s football season.
Just had this conversation this morning—how people used to go to college to become educated, as in learning about art, philosophy, history, different languages, etc. The kinds of things that define education.
But college was not necessarily to prepare for employment. Oh, in some disciplines it was necessary—law, mathematics, engineering, medicine, business, and a few others. But it was understood that college was primarily to expand intellectual horizons.
Now it serves—- aside from the disciplines I mentioned so calm down, dolf—-to restrict intellectual development, to guide people into rigid ideological ways of thinking, to discourage independent thought.
And it lures thousands into classes like Transgendered Eskimo Studies, where hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent getting useless degrees with no expansion of critical thinking or independent thought or knowledge of the world, past and present.
Now it serves—- aside from the disciplines I mentioned so calm down, dolf—-to restrict intellectual development, to guide people into rigid ideological ways of thinking, to discourage independent thought.
And the lack of critical thinking skills is reflected in the level of unemployment among young people as well as the kinds of jobs they’re qualified for. It’s the main reason fast-food restaurants have cash registers that have pictures of the products on the keys, and automatically calculate the correct amount of change.
It’s actually a good thing that wealth is concentrated to a disproportionate degree in the hands of the older generation, because they’re going to need that money when those under 35 or 40 are unable to continue to fund S.S. and Medicare at current levels because of their inability to create wealth. And the fact that we currently have a government that is either against wealth creation or simply doesn’t have a clue as to how it occurs, further complicates the matter. I know I’ve been beating this horse for so long that it’s dead and buried, but I don’t see how we avoid some kind of economic/financial catastrophe in the near future.
Spook
A while back you mentioned a nephew of yours who was taking a degree from the University of New Mexico. He was getting a top notch degree in 2.5 years I believe. Did he get into the professional dentistry program in the end?
“Now it serves—- aside from the disciplines I mentioned so calm down, dolf—-to restrict intellectual development, to guide people into rigid ideological ways of thinking, to discourage independent thought.” – Amy
1. It serves to keep the unemployment rate lower than it would otherwise be if college wasn’t available.
2. It serves to keep mediocre students out of criminal enterprises.
3. It serves to supply high turnover, poorly paid jobs with a continual labor supply.
4. It serves as a recruiting tool for the military.
5. It serves as a way to justify the elite keeping their positions in society, e.g. “Cain only took a mathematics degree from Morehouse college and a degree from Purdue, not exactly Harvard material so he can’t be president”.
6. It serves as a way to get young people hooked on the debt and materialism needed to continue with the American way of life.
7. It’s a great justification for the lottery, a self-imposed tax of sorts.
Spook
A while back you mentioned a nephew of yours who was taking a degree from the University of New Mexico. He was getting a top notch degree in 2.5 years I believe. Did he get into the professional dentistry program in the end?
His mom and step-dad (my wife’s brother) were out to our house on Sunday to celebrate my mother’s 91st birthday, and they gave me an update. He finishes his undergraduate studies this spring, (34 years; not 2-1/2) but he hasn’t been accepted to dental school yet. He’s a sharp kid, though. If he’s unable to pursue his dream, he’ll excel in whatever he ends up doing.
“He’s a sharp kid, though. If he’s unable to pursue his dream, he’ll excel in whatever he ends up doing.” – Spook
If he is ‘sharp’ as measured by his ability to solve day to day life problems (not by how he did on the ACT) did he really need to go the UNM for a business degree or would he have been better off just trying to start a make/mine/build type career right out of high school?
I did hear an interesting comment about Cain yesterday, which was that he knew he had been charged with these claims, knew that settlements had been made, and did not make this public when he announced his candidacy, thereby setting the party up for an October Surprise if he had gotten the nomination.
This has nothing to do with his guilt, but only with an Edwards-like negligence in being candid up front and possibly exposing the party to a late hit which could be disasterous.
His campaign people for his state campaign knew, but it was not made known regarding his national campaign, and I find that to be a serious problem.
Agreed. If this stuff had been aired months ago while somebody else was the front runner, it would be over by now.
These are issues that need to be cleared up; the last thing I want to see is anyone connected to the Cain campaign impugning the veracity of these women. If he is a womanizer and a lout, there will be evidence of it during another period of his life and not just that 2 year window.
Abusers like what he’s being accused of have long and checkered histories of abuse. If true it will come out. If he was a lout and learned his lesson, never to abuse again I would be willing to offer another chance. Besides, he’s getting too old to keep up such foolishment.
So, what you folks are saying is, attending the University of Casual Sunbathing and that degree in ethnic homosexual gender studies is worthless? How dare you? You wingnuts are making me sick again.
“And the lack of critical thinking skills is reflected in the level of unemployment among young people as well as the kinds of jobs they’re qualified for. It’s the main reason fast-food restaurants have cash registers that have pictures of the products on the keys, and automatically calculate the correct amount of change.” – Spook
Spook you are 100% wrong with cause and effect. The cash registers have pictures to enable the jobs to be DE-SKILLED. It is well known that de-skilling jobs makes them easier to fill with interchangeable people. People without any fixed skill at a company no longer have a basis to ask for a raise. That is why fast food restaurants can hire people who don’t speak English without serious problems.
“People without any fixed skill at a company no longer have a basis to ask for a raise.” Sad but true.
The all mighty dollar reigns supreme.
Dolf,
How shall I put this?
Horse $hit!
Industry began many years ago developing the point of sal registers in such a manner as to make them idiot proof precisely because the caliber of cashier had declined to the point that investment was necessary to prevent massive shrinkage of assets from the typical output of the public education system.
I worked with IBM on the development of the first 3684 with two different retailers; one in the Midwest and another in California; the common complaint was that we needed to present something that prevented these minimum wage drones from having to actually make decisions.
In one case we put in three redundant questions to insure that the picture of the hamburger was really what the cashier wanted to select, “Are you sure? Are you really sure? This is your last chance to change our mind!”
Both retailers that I worked with sincerely wished they could have talented employees that were able to simply punch in codes, calculate totals, and change and remember to hand the customer a receipt; the reality was that thousands of dollars were spent in development with the typical high school graduate in mind.
Count
Utter BS. Making change is an elementary school level function. It is well documented that the fast food industry strives for a zero skill environment. Even the dumbed down community college students whose English class involves reading Fast Food Nation know this.
The de-skilling of the market is why in a small town in Europe or Asia I can find a skilled butcher but in the US one has to live in a large metropolis to find a person who can’t cut meat to specifications.
“but in the US one has to live in a large metropolis to find a person who can’t cut meat to specifications.”
Did you mean “can” instead of “cant”?
Dolf,
You write like someone with a paper-head.
I don’t know what “well documented” crap you think you know, but I actually taught retail skills in a large California High school and counting change is assuredly not an ” elementary school level function” anymore. The students I was given were juniors and seniors who could no more figure out how to calculate change to the nearest dollar, they were clueless on calculation of simple percentages.
I served as advisor for six California high schools on setting up retail merchandising classes preparing the students for great careers as department store clerks. The school system wanted POS (pictures of hamburgers) and I insisted on standard registers that did not calculate change.
The standard for POS Systems was “high school graduate.” That is well documented! Over the years, because of Union teachers and state run educational systems has become dumbed down such that even a union drone can handle it.
Count
I don’t know what dumps you taught in. I’ve taught 5th grade girl scouts how to make change in an hour. This was so they could sell crafts which varied by multiples of 5 cents.
“I served as advisor for six California high schools on setting up retail merchandising classes preparing the students for great careers as department store clerks. ” – Cant
You mock the career of department store clerk BUT still took money to set up high school classes directed at such great jobs instead of insisting that schools teach substantive material. You know that the schools aren’t doing a good job, are failing to give the students a true education with standards but couldn’t pull yourself away from the gravy train. That’s some courage. You should reward yourself.
“ …set up high school classes directed at such great jobs instead of insisting that schools teach substantive material.”
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason our public schools are screwed; academicians that believe teaching skills that students can actually use in real life situations to achieve gainful employment isn’t “substantive”!
You’re right,’dolf, I should have “insisted” they spend our tax dollars on teaching trig and calculus to students who have no business in college, teach analytical geometry and physics to young people that should be in the labor market after graduation performing tasks and duties that are the backbone of a civilized society.
No, better we waste time and resources to impart philosophy and 19th Century French Literature which sooths the savage breast of the instructor than turn out a reasonable percentage of adults that are able to function.
Every kid isn’t destined for an advanced degree; some are looking forward making a living and contributing to society. Some need to earn a living while learning a trade, or going to trade school. But, no! we shouldn’t teach them to operate in a retail world, we should prepare them for failure at every turn by replicating the teacher’s passion not teaching to the students’ needs.
Never read Siddhartha either I assume.
“And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason our public schools are screwed; academicians that believe teaching skills that students can actually use in real life situations to achieve gainful employment isn’t “substantive”!- Count of Cant
Nearby is a junior high which is a ‘medical magnet school’. They teach 11-14 year old students to draw blood and take blood pressure. They sell the school as the first step in becoming a doctor or nurse. The doctors in town, who want their kids to become doctors or nurses send their children to the science magnet where they study math and earth science with no SKILLS in the medical arena.
Which path eventually leads to gainful employment for the students? The science magnet.
Which path makes principals (think Count Jr and kin) the focus and leads to nothing for the students? The medical magnet.
Which path SEEMS like the better choice for the REAL WORLD?
Name a country in the world which is ahead of the US in math and science and I will show you a country where only the morons would swallow the bs that the Count throws up.
So …. uh … what are you saying?
Your town doesn’t do well in teaching medical sciences? Or the college bound kids in your town are … what? Already knowledgeable about drawing blood? Are you saying there’s no need to teach because the doctors teach their own kids?
What the hell is your point? You’re making less sense then usual. And that’s a trick in itself!
“What the hell is your point? You’re making less sense then usual. And that’s a trick in itself!” — Count of Cant
My point is after teaching how to draw blood and take blood pressure the class teaching REAL WORLD SKILLS does nothing. The ABSTRACT math and earth science classes are a path toward Med Schools.
YOUR phony business skills class taught WHAT? Day 1 how to make change. Day 2 how to clean up Day 3 ????
Please tell me how 150 school days can be filled with your droppings.
“Please tell me how 150 school days can be filled with your droppings.”
The same way Ayn Rand expanded “Selfishness is awesome!” into thousands of pages.
Amazona,
Don’t you know that college professors don’t belong to Unions? They are totally altruistic about educating the young skulls full of mush and turning out productive members of society.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-calstate-faculty-20111108,0,955527.story
The series of strikes against Cal-State Universities is driven by the firm belief that a $650.0 Million cut in State Funds should not affect the dedicated educators from receiving ever larger increases in salary, and protect the very programs like African-American Studies and transgendered Maori Politics that mean so much to our economy.
More News from the administration aka Count Haricots
From a distance I can hear the faculty:
THERE IS NO BUDGET CRISIS AT THE CSU — no crisis that would justify either Charlie Reed’s 250% tuition increases OR him witholding the employee pay increase that an independent mediator recommended. Why is there never any discussion by Carla Rivera of the L.A. Times of the fact that Charlie Reed is sitting on a $1.5 BILLION DOLLAR special secret fund, and that some of the campus presidents have $500 MILLION secret funds each? It is public information. Sure, they use tricks to move tuition money in and out of accounts to hide the fact that this is a surplus they have accumulated over years, but fancy pants reporters at the L.A. Times should be able to unravel this mess and bring Charlie’s corrupt tenure to an end. He has created a “shock doctrine” atmosphere to ram through a bunch of horrific changes, and all of us on the inside see what is happening. The CSU is a corrupt system where Charlie Reed and his other $400,000/yr. administrative turkeys exploit the faculty, nearly HALF of whom make less than $6ok/yr.
So, you really don’t have a bsic understanding of math, do you?
25% increase in tuition? Try 20%
Cal-State teaching salaries average $143,000; the only ones making less than $60.0K are instructors, and only for an average of 3 years before exceeding $60.0K. Even assistant professors make more than $60.0k
Supersecret fund? Seriously?
Are you really that stupid or do you think everyone else is? The finances of the University system are public; they’re debated in the legislature and all of the finances are published every year.
Right! They have hidden Thirteen Billion dollars on the campuses! That explains the Champaign waterfalls in the Administrators office.
Clipped my point;
The tuition increases at Cal State have been 20% not 250%. Typical Union lies generated to garner sympathy for the greedy teachers in the Union!
As long as we’re on the subject; the highest paid President in Cal-State’s structure made $294,000. (Where are the “other $400,000 administrators”?)
“the faculty, nearly half of whom make less than $60,000/yr”
Horse$hit! The average employeemakes $57,000/year. That’s the staff salaries, not the faculty salaries. That’s the groundskeepers and clerks and food service workers.
These greedy bastards have no shame.
Those who can do; those who can’t seek tenure.
WOW, I wish I had said that! /sarc
occupy where ever crowd keeping it classy. Better keep the free stuff flowing.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/11/07/socal-street-cart-vendors-hurting-after-occupy-group-splatters-blood-urine/
Some more classy ows’ers.
It is well documented that the fast food industry strives for a zero skill environment. – stool
What???????????????
I don’t know of any industry that “strives” for zero skilled labor. Years ago I owned a little fast food taco shop and the zero skilled labor made minimum wage, BUT if I did find a conscientious, skilled worker, I always paid them more. Mainly because those were the employees that always increased my business.
Cluster,
This is what the public school unions are teaching our kids; that industry wants them stupid. Then they justify this down the rabbit-hole logic by teaching to that skill level.
In the industry-education partnership in which I was employed we tried to teach to the basic skills an entry-level retail employee would need. We were met with resistance by the educators that only wanted us to teach to a skill-set by rote. Because anything else would mean the math teachers would have to make sure that basic math was actually taught, not just thrown at the kids.
Seriously, I went to the math teacher and asked him how to best teach percentage calculations (as they are necessary in retail) and he said; “Just show them where the percent key is on the calculator, they’ll figure it out.”
It’s a crime what the NEA and DOE are doing to our kids.
Clueless
Has Newt come for eliminating the DOE? Well he helped create it.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h1979-468
Under his leadership, Congress passed the largest single spending increase on education in US history, a whopping $3.5 billion dollars!
Ron Paul’s Economic Plan Eliminates Department of Education and 5 Others
So I vote for Ron Paul and get rid of the DOE, BUT have to live with his isolationist approach to foreign policy and his vaunted gold standard approach to the economy. No Thanks!!!
Is Newt now the newest flavor?
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/2012_presidential_matchups
Sarah P still has time to change her mind and destroy them all.
See Wallace November 7, 2011 at 2:10 am. // Moderator
walleye
BFD
many will just refuse to pay.
If there were any lingering doubts about Corporate America’s contempt for working men and women, the on-going attempt to replace people with robots should put those doubts to rest. Clearly, a company that prefers a “mechanical man” to a functioning human being is trying to tell us something.
A recent announcement by Big Three automakers that they plan to invest a billion dollars over the next decade in the development of robotics reminded me of a remark made by an HR representative of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, some years ago.
Off-handedly, he suggested that we might be surprised at what kind of workforce would, hypothetically, “scare” a management team. For example, it wouldn’t be a lazy, belligerent or even militantly pro-union workforce. Those types, he assured us, could be “fixed” (his term). No, the scariest workforce would be a conspicuously talented one.
Why? Because talent is expensive. Talent is leverage. And while there is obviously a profound upside to having valuable workers, there is, paradoxically, a built-in downside: Management is now dependent upon a variable it can’t control.
Typically, people with “careers” are interested in advancement, recognition, self-realization, etc. Ambition is recognized as a virtue and is encouraged. Conversely, people with “jobs” tend to focus on wages and benefits. But because wages and benefits constitute overhead, ambition among the “gravy-and-french fry crowd” (witty management-speak) is not only discouraged, it often needs to be “fixed.”
Accordingly, management has embraced a strategy called “de-skilling,” the systematic dumbing-down of jobs into easily mastered tasks. De-skilling is to virtuosity what Agent Orange is to foliage. While its primary goal is to improve efficiency through standardization, it’s also a means of “neutralizing” a workforce.
We see a glimpse of it in the fast-food industry. Employees now press buttons with pictures of menu items. No arithmetic to mess with, no management worries about having enough cross-trained employees to go around. The job becomes, literally, as easy as A-B-C.
Warehousing is a better example. Before computerization, shipping checkers (the forklift drivers who load trucks) needed to know how to “cube out” a load. It was an art. They had to visualize the “cube,” calculate its volume, number of cases, and number of stacks-to fill an 18-wheeler. It isn’t rocket science, but it requires logic and finesse.
Today, the size and shape of every container in the warehouse-along with the interior dimensions of every trailer and boxcar in the yard-are logged into a computer. Everything is bar-coded. Monitors mounted on forklifts tell checkers where to go, what to scan, how much to grab, where to take it, and how to stack it.
While accuracy has improved significantly, productivity has not. Forcing checkers to paint by-the-numbers not only prevents any creative time-saving, it’s a morale buster, an insult, like hitching a thoroughbred race horse to a plow. Also, with everything tied to one computer, a minor glitch now shuts down the entire warehouse.
But management got what they wanted. Checker-training used to require two months; now it’s two weeks. Because experienced checkers were a relatively valuable commodity, they could earn $60,000 annually. Today, they compete with drivers making $11 an hour.
Companies tell unions not to worry. They remind them that automation itself was once demonized, and that until workers saw the phenomenon in action and came to appreciate the advantages of mechanization, they feared it.
But automation arrived long before America’s manufacturing sector had been hollowed-out and picked-over; it arrived when good jobs were still plentiful, and workers had time to adjust to new technology.
De-skilling is different. It has the potential to erode what’s left of blue-collar dignity and leave in its wake a sub-class of drones. By stripping workers of their craft-effectively washing out their value on the open market-de-skilling has revealed itself as automation’s evil twin brother. And there’s no easy “fix” in sight.
And I should trust David Macary why?
Here’s my dueling opinions entry;
It’s too bad we haven’t perfected that “Teaching Robot that will eliminate those pain-in-the-ass teachers, but the trained chimps we’ve been preparing to replace the teachers with would revolt and tear away our faces.
count
When I went to college for bus mgt Half the courses required for a degree were bogus fill in classes.
I attempted to clep half the required classes for my degree and met with a “counselor”.
I inquired why at 30 yo, I needed a nutrition class for a business degree. She informed me i would learn and understand good nutrition and eating habits.I asked her if she had taken them for her degree,……..wy yes she proudly replied then gave me a glare as I was athletic and muscular and she a fat pig younger than me when she realized where I was going with this.
Tennis? volly ball etc ? the same, learn good exercise habits.
which I answered like we did in the Marines and Karate lessons I took for years?
College is 1/2 great and 1/2 SCAM.and that was for business mgt.
The liberal arts are 100% SCAM.
Neo,
If you think about it there is a need for those nutrition classes and the Tao of Cycling classes; the colleges entice you to get a near-worthless degree and can proudly claim that their graduates find work in those fields …
Teaching NUTRITION and the TAO of CYCLING at a Community College.
“It’s too bad we haven’t perfected that “Teaching Robot that will eliminate those pain-in-the-ass teachers, but the trained chimps we’ve been preparing to replace the teachers with would revolt and tear away our faces.” – Count of Cant
Of course you are wrong. Itunes pretty much has enough content for curious students to learn everything from Dante in Italian to graduate math classes at MIT to philosophy at Oxford to whatever.
What can’t be replaced is people who do original research and lead students in creative enterprises. The current number of tenured faculty is a good testament to their perceived value.
But seriously, just how much “research” do they pay professors to do at your community college?
Oh, dopey me, I though your job was to impart your vast knowledge and prepare your charges for gainful employment.
But seriously, just how much “research” do they pay professors to do at your community college? — Count
Once again, you wouldn’t qualify to be in my advance pole sitting classes and certainly couldn’t read any of the research I have done in the field. Seriously, your math and science background from junior community college are pretty low.
baldork
a good speech for dumbed down innercity drones who speak ebonics, spell on a 3rd grade level, cant balance a checkbook, and think everything is owed to them.
As for me?
IF I was about to be replaced by robotics on an assembly line I would learn how to assemble, set up, program, and repair those robots.
the difference between a liberal wah wah wah THEY replaced me with a machine and a conservative.
neo,
WORD dat!
This is the answer the Unions & OWS drones don’t want to hear; we shouldn’t be allowed to automate and mechanize because the guy holding the grommet when the huge pile-driver smacks it into place will lose his job if a robot holds the grommet instead. We need to keep those Firemen on the diesel engines to stoke the imaginary coal into the make-believe hopper. We need to continue training young girls to sew aprons by hand and put sprinkles on cupcakes until the words DUNCAN IMPERIAL MODEL appear on their forehead. That’s what our educational system can do; don’t tackle the challenges of a modern world, just cut the training down to a size they can handle.
Instead of celebrating the freedom that modernization brings, they only feel fulfilled when we’re behaving like Sisyphus; these anti-capitalists want us all pushing boulders in endless tedium. Much easier to lower someone’s expectations than teach them to excel.
“This is the answer the Unions & OWS drones don’t want to hear; we shouldn’t be allowed to automate and mechanize” – Cant
EXACTLY- Companies are not there to make people happy, they are in business (and not put out of the taco stand business) to make money. It makes no sense for them not to try and keep labor prices as low as possible by making the labor highly interchangeable and fluid. Which is why they DO deskill the jobs.
And the obvious is skirted completely by neo – there are only so many people needed to service those robots. Machines replace whole ranks of people, while very few people are needed to maintain those machines. The work force is decimated by automation any way you slice it.
And while you THINK you’d be the guy who gets the job to assemble, set up, program, and repair those robots, it will be filled by someone younger, smarter and far more technically savvy than you – because that guy was actually designing robotics at MIT or perhaps in his garage, while you were posting self-aggrandizing crap day in and day out here on B4V.
Right ‘dolf, we spend billions $ to mechanize because we want to save hundreds $ in payroll costs. You’re a business genius!
No wonder you’re paid to endlessly repeat the same lesson plan rather than actually ruminate.
dennisdrone
I LIVED as one who did that very thing (not robots) I excelled to the top of the technician field in a fortune five corp.
I TAUGHT the young engineers with practical experience.
I still work for two major corporations doing consultind, repairs, and project management, just finished a $800,000.00 project a few months back ahead of time and budget and I an going on 66 Yo.
so stick your BS where the light dont shine LOSER!!
you really are stupid enough to believe that, eh bardstooge…
cmon folks…stop feeding the troll
We stand in awe of the wise ones 😮
Dennis is a Luddite. Who would’ve thunk it?
Hahaha, this ‘lady’ has undoubtedly been palling around with neoclown. Same gullible mindset, same sad ignorance. Both flaunt their hatred with pride. Unfortunately, this is the face that the world has come to associate with the Republican Party; hijacked by extremists and dumbed down by nitwits. It does seem, though, that the interviewer is egging her along.
Whats the matter co? That monument to Jack not coming along all that well?. Why don’t you have some of your ows’ers poop on a cop car or throw some old lady down a flight of stairs? That should make you feel better.
No one country owns the patent on idiots, GWB. Ownership is universal.
c0
I do hate communists, killers, and smart ass kanucks who pick noses and asses for a living = YOU
Dennis, you’ve found NeoClown! And he is a woman. Who knew? And here I always thought he was a 13 year old using mommy’s computer. Wait. Could this be mommy?? lol
I wonder if this is one of the hundreds of Tea Partiers that spook knows. At least we don’t have to rely on the media here. She does a fine job of explaining herself, right spook?
waspdouche
projection?
some proof?
I call YOU a LIAR, AMCA
next?
That was just plain mean. See how they cut and pasted from the interview? They must have Michael Moore as a videographer.
Seems to be more of a universal problem for the ows’ers. I am still looking for those TEA partiers that are smashing windows, closing ports, putting people out of work, and using children as human shields.
You know of any?
Let’s hope TP’ers are not infiltrated by trouble makers and law breakers and prove themselves to be respectful and peace loving protestors, GWB.
Sorry, didn’t mean to misname you after the former President, Green Mountain Boy. I apologize.
No apology is needed. I knew what you meant.
Looks like the global financial collapse that Mark and I have been predicting for a couple years is getting closer.
When yields on the benchmark 10 year government bonds reach 7%, it’s generally viewed in financial circles as the tipping point for financial collapse. Italy’s 10 year bond is currently at 7.44%, and Silvio Berlusconi is stepping down as Italy’s prime minister.
The U.S. stockmarket (DJIA) responded by plummeting 240 points in the first 10 minutes.
Here’s some more from an earlier report prior to this morning’s U.S. stock market opening:
DJIA now off 314.
Spook,
Do you think our Treasury Notes will be safe-haven? In the past situations like this have caused a run to the dollar, but what about now?
I seriously don’t know; my analyst says to stay away from Bonds, i assume he believes the yeild will go down as a result of a rush to hold.
See Wallace November 7, 2011 at 2:10 am. // Moderator
I liked some of the voting results. This one went well
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Voters in Ohio have approved a ballot measure intended to keep government from requiring Ohioans to participate in any health care system.
Read more: http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/political/elections_local/voters-decide-on-Issue-3#ixzz1dER4HOue
And this one should turn out well:
Republican hopes for an effective majority in the Senate and a historic power grab in Richmond were pinned late Tuesday on a central Virginia race in which a GOP challenger clung to an 86-vote lead with a final count not expected until Wednesday.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/8/virginia-senate-balance-unclear-in-early-returns/
walleye
46% pay NO federal taxes
53% pay LESS than 3% of ALL taxes…
when looters, takers, welfare rats are allowed to “vote” to raise OTHER PEOPLES taxes why do you think we are surprised by the outcome?
like askinf a 3rd grade class of fat kids to vote weather to eat an apple or a cream filled jelly doughnut.
a no brainer.
See Wallace November 7, 2011 at 2:10 am. // Moderator
Another TEA partier found Dead.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/11/man_found_dead_in_occupy_new_o.html
Oops, I meant another occupyer.
Yep, and the obAMATEUR and the left have embraced these people and recognize them as part of their fight.
TEA Partier issues death threat.
Oops again, I meant occupyer.
Yep, and the obAMATEUR and the left have embraced these people and recognize them as part of their fight.
Saul Alinsky 101
LOL
part of 0chimpys civilian security farce no doubt.
Results from yesterday’s elections:
(-) Senate Bill 5, Ohio Public Union Collective Bargaining Law Repealed
(+) Ohio Rejects Health Care Mandate
(-) KY Gov: Beshear (D) Wins Big
(+) MS Gov: Bryant (R) Tops DuPree
(+) GOP Takes Control in Virginia
3 out of 5 is bad?
One state drives another nail into the coffin of government mandated healthcare.
The GOP wins in Virginia and takes control of the state government, something that hasn’t happened since the Civil War.
Apparently, the drones are relying on talking points from a liberal talking head in the media that finds the need to downplay the defeats. The same media who treats Cain’s accusers as valid (with no evidence) and Clinton’s accusers as part of the Bimbo Eruption.
The left is scared to death of what will happen next year and are pulling out all the stops.
Check your math. It’s 3 out of 8. You forgot the failure of Mississippi’s “person-hood” amendment, the failure of Maine Republican’s to restrict voter registration and the recall of whats his name Pierce in Arizona.
And then there is this dose of reality..
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/11/the-tea-partys-delusion.html
See Wallace November 7, 2011 at 2:10 am. // Moderator
From your “reality” article mitchie: “To be frank, I was taken aback by the immediate and total obstructionism from the GOP in 2009.”
Wow, that statement alone shows this “source” to be based on fantasy.
In 2009, the Democrats had majorities to make the Republicans powerless to oppose their agenda – a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and a sufficient majority in the House to overcome any Republican opposition – not to mention their majorities in committees.
In short, the Democrats could overcome any all all GOP “obstruction”.
The rest of his “article” is nothing but mindless talking points – just like the GOP obstruction.
Tell me, why hasn’t the Senate passed a budget in over two years? And the Senate is controlled by who?
Are you that stupid or just stay in a Holiday Inn? If it took a simple majority to pass bills, then yes, the Senate would act differently. Mitch McConnell stated that his #1 goal is to defeat the president. Not to do anything for the betterment of this country. So instead of arguing with me about it, take on the millions of voters in multiple states who bitched slapped the Koch Bros, the Tea party, Theocons and a host of other anti-American politicians. For example, if the Republicans were so confident that they represented the views of the majority, they would not be doing everything they could to dissinfranchise voters. They would be doing the opposite. Just because the Koch Bros have a Randian wet dream doesn’t mean that their perversion is shared.
When was the last time the democratically controlled senate passed a budget? Name a piece of the Obama agenda that failed to pass from 2009-2010.
And requiring photo ID, IS NOT “disenfranchising” voters. It’s actually the responsible way to manage a population of 300+ million when it comes to deciding their futures in elections. This of course goes to the core belief of whether or not voting is a right, or a privilege, and of course I believe it is the latter. I will go one step further to takeaway this ridiculous argument – I believe the state should provide everyone with a free copy of their birth certificate, and a free photo ID with proof of that birth certificate. Would you support that Mitch? If so, the “disenfranchise” drama queen argument goes away, doesn’t it?
In light of the current events around this country and the globe; in light of our current unemployment and economic malaise; in light of our President doubling down on the same policies that failed just two years ago; and in light of the discord that is evident on both sides of the aisle, it’s hard to believe that anyone can enthusiastically be a liberal in todays world.
it’s hard to believe that anyone can enthusiastically be a liberal in todays world.
Dumbed down drones licking up the FREE shiite sandwiches from big brother.
No thought, work, sweat, education, dedication, beliefs, faith required.
Just enter the soylent green machine for the good of the chillen.
mitchie-the-kid: “Mitch McConnell stated that his #1 goal is to defeat the president.”
Sorry mitchiethekid, but in 2009 Mitch McConnell was not in the position to do so….
…really are you that ignorant or is the urge to regurgitate dumbed down talking points to strong for you to think for yourself. Let’s see, according to mitchie the kid, “bitch slapping” is defeating the “person hood” and a recall election. But not, setting precedence for defeating obAMATEUR care and in Virginia taking total control away from Democrats since the Civil War.
I see you read the same talking points about yesterday’s elections that the other drones did.
Then mitchie moves on into the usual talking points…. Koch Bros…blah blah blah….. Tea Party … blah blah blah…. Theocons blah blah blah …. Koch Bros blah blah blah.
Nope, mitchie can’t think for himself. He is just the usual run of the mill useful idiot drone regurgitating dumbed down talking points designed for the ignorant masses.
Pathetic.
id really look hard at the voting irregularities in MS…the simple fact that life begins at conception is without any doubt empirical…
no man made law ever changed it…
passing laws at state level is worthless in this topic…the only thing we need to do is to insure that congress respects the declaration of independence…it need only pass a binding resolution to the fact that life is an unalienable right…and nothing the SC says about it can usurp that right of any living human being…
the term person does not even belong in the discussion…its all about human life
Bwaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha
c0? waspdoushe? denny?
is dat you????
Occupy Portland Protester Goes on Obscenity-Filled Rant Against Local TV News Crew: ‘Nazi F**king Americans’
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/occupy-portland-protester-goes-on-obscenity-filled-rant-against-local-news-crew-nazi-fking-americans/
Reporter Asks Occupy Protesters: ‘Who Pooped or Peed on the Bank?
had to be the PEE BAGGERS LOL
It’s always “voting irregularities” when one side looses and “the will of the people” when they win.
The law they were trying to pass didn’t say conception, it said fertilization and that’s why rabid pro-lifers like Halley Barbour had a hard time with it. Apparently so did the rest of the voters in Mississippi. Almost a 70/30 split. Furthermore, the law didn;t use the term human life, it said person-hood. And aren’t you always gripping about States Rights?? So what’s with the reference to a Federal document. Face it, ultra right wing extremisim is out and moderation is in.
“id really look hard at the voting irregularities in MS…the simple fact that life begins at conception is without any doubt empirical…”
You clearly have no idea what empirical means.