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Entry: Taxes And Consequences: Barack Obama's Tax Plan For Wall Street
posted by Ruthlessgravity
Mar 04, 2008 10:16AM
@miami 10:02am
The debate over Social Security being a trust or not has little to do with government bookkeeping and instead focuses on if it counts as savings. Does contributing to social security reduce encourage government to spend more money? I would rationalize that government would borrow that money from abroad if social security did not lend it. It is an insurance policy that holds money in a trust structure for some future benefit. Bookkeeping be damn, it sounds like a trust fund to me.
Entry: Taxes And Consequences: Barack Obama's Tax Plan For Wall Street
posted by Ruthlessgravity
Mar 04, 2008 10:36AM
@Bugs Meany
I'm all for investment in science, math, and economics education. That is what I was hinting at with that comment. The problem is how do you demand results while not making learning driven purely by a test. A stronger focus is needed on these subjects but they are also not the be all, end all. Those Chinese and Indian engineering students are great at what they do, but struggle when it comes to basic communication. That is the flip side to your argument.
I think high school kids should be forced to take statistics and economics as part of their general education.
Entry: Taxes And Consequences: Barack Obama's Tax Plan For Wall Street
posted by Ruthlessgravity
Mar 04, 2008 12:05PM
@Matt_m,
First, I'm a centrist.
Second, English is a language specifically evolved to facilitate commerce, Mandarin is not. China does not have a uniform language. Mandarin is a mesh of different dialects. China still has a lot of different languages that are native to certain regions of the country.
Third, China's economy might exceed the size of the US economy sometime in the next 40-50 years. In order for that to happen, they will most likely face a civil war because of the divergent interest of the economic libreals and the communist party. Hard to be the world's economic superpower when your currency doesn't float and 2/3s of your population is rural farmers. China and Indian suffer from the same ills they did in the 80s. They are great at taking an idea and replicating it. They have no proven themselves when it comes to greenfielding innovation. The main driver of their economies is taking industries that already exist and doing the work cheaper....not a characteristic of a global economic superpower.
Fourth, $12K per year per child is not a lot of money. Think of everything that is reuqired to be competitive in an information based economy. Now compare that to the philosophy we utilize to teach kids. The model for teaching kids today stems back to concepts developed during the industrial revolution. The basic design for a school is stolen from a 1800s era factory. FYI, of course China and India spend less per child. They have a lower cost basis to provide education.
Fifth, technical skills are very important but if you can't clearly and effectively communicate the conclusion the skills have led you to then you've wasted your time. The one complaint I've heard is that Chinese and Indian education doesn't stress how to effectively communicate this information.
Entry: "I Want My Two Dollars!"
posted by Ruthlessgravity
Mar 20, 2008 3:49PM
This is more like the reponse from a Bear shareholder:
Entry: Write-Offs: 05.22.08
posted by Ruthlessgravity
May 23, 2008 10:04AM
Just get the Elliot Spitzer special.
Entry: Taxes And Consequences: Barack Obama's Tax Plan For Wall Street
posted by Ruthlessgravity
Mar 04, 2008 9:58AM
Posted by guest, Mar 04, 2008 9:41AM
Ask anyone on a fixed income if government is efficient or not. As much as the right likes to bully social security, it is one of the best run social programs in the world (the checks get delivered on time). The problem is politicians keeps looting the trust fund. Government can spread fixed cost amongst a larger base of people to create the social safety nets that encourage risk taking.