Are Schools a Casualty of the Alleged Non-Recession?

As hard as it is to believe, there are still ivory-tower economists, Wall Street "strategists," Washington politicians, and TV pundits running around claiming that the U.S. is not in recession (and a few are even arguing that conditions are not really softening all that much), with many placing great emphasis on the bogus economic data being excreted - er, produced - by the current administration.

In some ways, these delusionists remind me of the arrogant rocket scientists who dismissed the collective wisdom and experience of those who had been around Wall Street for a while and blithely constructed dangerous houses of cards built on false assumptions and dubious logic. They insisted that their data and "models" were all they would need to keep "printing" money and managing the extraordinary risks they were taking. Of course, those fools - many with PhDs and other "credentials" - turned out to be spectacularly wrong.

Regardless, those who believe that the American economy is not heading down the slippery slope towards a hard landing should open their eyes and look past all the "data" that tells them as much. They'll soon discover real evidence, including details like those reported in the following article, "Hard Times Hitting Students and Schools," by Sam Dillon of the New York Times, that clearly indicates otherwise.

Comments

[1worldcurrency:]

Thanks for your frankness. Of course, it isn't a problem limited to the current state of the "economy", or GDP. It's a distribution of wealth issue.

2008 Sep 03 06:49 AM

[notsosmart:]

its the goldilocks attitude of those who are not affected by the current problems.its the elite & insiders who move from chair to chair without accountability that caused this mess & it will continue.sad.

2008 Sep 03 11:45 AM

[alajac:]

heres how to start fixing the ``distribution of wealth`` issue.

As we learned in `Quality Improvement Process 101`, the problem is never `the people`. The problem is always THE SYSTEM. Unless (and until) we fix THE SYSTEM, the same bad things will keep happening, over and over. The fault lies not with the borrowers and the banks who profit from THE SYSTEM, but with our ancestors for letting this SYSTEM get set up, and with ourselves for letting a SYSTEM continue which incentivizes activities that lead to our own destruction.


First thing we need for our NEW SYSTEM is our own, debt-free U.S. Government currency, backed by all the real estate within the nation`s borders (of which property the U.S. government is the actual owner...`legal` owners are granted `legal exclusive right of use` by an `actual` owner, valid until such time as the actual owner changes its mind or becomes unable to defend its ownership claim). Since banks will no longer be able to print the our new currency to cover their losses, and since we will no longer be dependent upon banks to maintain a flow of credit, banks should become more conservative in their lending and speculation. We should also get rid of FDIC insurance to further encourage such a change.


While we are at it, we should replace all income-related taxes with a 1/2% electronic transfer (aka debit) tax which will be avoidable by the use of cash. This will not only rid us of the IRS (saving us the billions of dollars currently spent on `tax reporting`), it will also end the current system`s penalization of work and entrepreneurism, and release for investment purposes untold billions currently spent on `tax avoidance`. This debit tax will not only be more of a tax on wealth than labor and be (arguably) voluntarily-paid, it will also act to discourage excessive short-term market speculation and will raise enough revenue to begin paying off the National Debt, a debt which will no longer be growing once we have switched over to our own debt-free currency. We will also apply any Federal Reserve dollars that are swapped for our new currency toward paying off the National Debt.


Since the U.S. government has, by granting `exclusive rights of use`, denied everyone free access to all of its property, and since the U.S. government has not compensated everyone for that `taking`, we should elect a Congress that will pay every legal U.S. resident `Adequate and Equal Just Compensation for Denial of Free Access to U.S. Property`, compensation which WILL FUNCTIONALLY REPLACE ALL FORMS OF PERSONAL AND CORPORATE WELFARE, SUBSIDIES AND BOONDOGGLES, including the rescindance of Federal Minimum Wage laws and a phase-out of the Social Security system. (Once everyone is getting `Denial of Free Access` compensation their whole lives, it would seem arguable that the vast majority of people will be able to save enough to be able to comfortably cease working at some point in their lives.)


As a starting point, $1000 per month (of the new, non-Federal-Reserve, non-Debt-Money, as described above) should be paid to every legal adult resident (compensation of minors should, of course, be held `in trust` to avoid incentivizing baby factories). Since everyone gets the same amount, this compensation plan is not wealth redistributive, but will give the least wealthy the biggest advantage (in terms of monthly percentage increase of wealth) and a better chance to `catch up` than the current system that keeps the rich getting relatively richer through good times and bad.


Once this NEW SYSTEM gets going, we should expect people in other countries to insist that their governments either emulate our NEW SYSTEM, or else apply for U.S. statehood as The Republic of Texas did in 1845.


Benefits of the new system should include better childcare, less poverty, less crime, cheaper government and a safer world. All in favor, help spread the word.

2008 Sep 04 05:37 AM