1 DOOM, baby. Now we're cooking!

2 Our kids no longer say, "but it's not fair!" They are both in their late teens and I haven't heard it for a few years.

I wonder when the liberals will stop saying it?

3 S&P affirms ratings on US; outlook revised to negative Hope and Change.

4 a good cup of doom is always a good way to start the week.

5 Could this boom in college debt be due to the government taking over the loans?

And yes, the U.S. became a socialist nation in the 30s and we have moved downhill every since. Not as fast as Europe but we are at the crossroads now.

6 Slytherin Kitteh?

7 Per my Dad, I was the first in his family to go to college and earn a degree. It was a very big thing for him. I did take on some student debt (and worked during college as well) but paid it all off in a couple of years. There was very little student aid available back then.
 
Fast forward 30+ years, and now it's practically a right to get a college education.

8 Well the one thing Dionne gets right is that the country works better when new talent can break into the ranks of 'the rich'. Too bad all his wealthy liberal buddies are spending so much to get their DNC buddies to write regulations whose purpose is to drown new competition in government regs. so they cant challenge the lazy existing big corporations. --I'm looking at you GE and Goldman Sachs ............ THIS is why Atlas Shrugs resonates so much. People have been seeing it happen since 2007 when the the D's controlled congress and Bush was only firm in not letting the rug be pulled out on soldiers in Iraq.

9 Ya know, the whole thing about who should be taxed more, like the rich, should ALWAYS start with the pre qualifier that forty-five percent of all households pay no federal income tax at all. Any polling about this would ALWAYS have those respondents saying yes to higher taxes for others.

10 When ever a report gives statements like "effective tax rates" one should always investigate to see what they are talking about. Here is the definition from the Monty link:

Total income taxes is defined to be the sum of all taxes imposed on income by local, provincial or state, national, and foreign governments during the year.

It is the total tax provision and includes current taxes as well as the change in net deferred tax liabilities for the year. Pretax income is defined to be worldwide net income before income taxes, minority interest, and extraordinary items.

The effective tax rate is defined as total income taxes divided by pretax income.

11 The luster on this man has definitely been removed.  Maybe he's been compromised by Andrea Mitchell?

Greenspan Steps Up Call to End Bush-Era Tax Cuts

“This crisis is so imminent and so difficult that I think we have to allow the so-called Bush tax cuts all to expire. That is a very big number,” he said, referring to how much the U.S. government could save from letting income taxes go back up to levels last seen under former President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Greenspan was talking about re-imposing the taxes for all Americans. The Treasury has estimated that a permanent extension of all the Bush tax cuts would cost $3.6 trillion over the next decade. Allowing taxes to increase on those in the top income brackets would take the cost to the government down to $2.9 trillion, according to White House estimates.

Ignoring the fallacy of treating tax cuts as a "cost" to the government, this proposed move to end the Bush tax-cuts will "save" the government a whopping .7 trillion dollars - more economic pain for meager savings.

12 Inevitable.

13 As an engineering professor, I don't know what all those English and History majors expect to do when they grow up. Work at B&N? A few go to Law, but we turn out tons of Liberal Arts grads. Even a lot of the science degrees see sketchy. Biology? Where is that going? At least a chemist can work in labs at a production facility. And I have had numerous students that were pre-med focus on straight engineering. Thanks Obama!

14 Ya know, the whole thing about who should be taxed more, like the rich, should ALWAYS start with the pre qualifier that forty-five percent of all households pay no federal income tax at all. I have a deeper objection to the notion that paying taxes is some kind of moral balm -- more taxes means more "goodness" in some abstract sense. I reject that idea completely. I agree that some level of taxation is necessary to provide for the commonweal and the essential functions of government, but it's purpose is not a moral one. It serves the same purpose as paying for the lights and gas and trash-collection. And I don't think "the rich" should be charged more for water and gas, so why should they pay more in taxes? It's a deep subject, and is obviously more complicated than that, but essentially -- everyone needs to have "skin in the game", tax-wise, and in our country "the rich" already pay an outrageous proportion of the taxes. As a nation, we send a very bad message: we'll punish you with punitive tax-rates if you're successful, but reward you with lower taxes (or no taxes at all) if you're unsuccessful. We subsidize failure, and whatever you subsidize, you get more of.

15 Will you take cream and sugar with your DOOM, Sir?

16 Update for you Monty, drudge headline, S&P puts US outlook to negatory.

17

WELCOME TO THE RANKS OF THE BONED!

I've been handing out those buttons all week! You're welcome.

18 Monty, Monty, Monty!  I posted this yesterday, but you must have missed it.

19 And  I should read the comments sometime.

20 Biology? Where is that going?

Microbiology (which a biology degree can do) is a reasonably lucrative field and the industry is pretty vibrant in terms of jobs.

21 World Bank Head Raises Food Prices Alarm: ‘One Shock Away From a Full-Grown Crisis’World Bank President Robert Zoellick says the surge in food prices is the biggest threat to the world’s poor, pushing 44 million more people into poverty over the past year.

Robert Zoellick, World Bank President, said, “Of particular concern is food prices. This is the biggest threat today to the world’s poor, where we risk losing a generation. We are one shock away from a full-grown crisis. The financial crisis taught us that prevention is better than cure. We cannot afford to forget that lesson.”

22

From last night:

Great news!!

usdebtclock dot org added a new field at the top of the page: "US Public Debt Subject to Limit - $14,235,142,899,543"

Bad news! US National Debt still climbing at $14,304,706,463,321.

I visit that page often when I need to be reminded about impending DOOM.

 

23 It's a deep subject, and is obviously more complicated than that, but essentially -- everyone needs to have "skin in the game", tax-wise, and in our country "the rich" already pay an outrageous proportion of the taxes. As a nation, we send a very bad message: we'll punish you with punitive tax-rates if you're successful, but reward you with lower taxes (or no taxes at all) if you're unsuccessful. We subsidize failure, and whatever you subsidize, you get more of. Posted by: Monty at April 18, 2011 09:25 AM (4Pleu) The root of the problem is taxation of income. (Well, there are deeper roots, but this will do for now.) I propose a new model: Government has no right to know how much you earn. Government has no right to know where your incomes comes from. Government has no right to tax your income.

24 the only reason most people even pay taxes is because they are afraid of what the gov't will do to them if they don't......

25 everyone needs to have "skin in the game", tax-wise

This is why I have been saying for a long time the 24th amendment needs to be repealed or reworded to reverse the "other tax" portion at the end to say that people must pay taxes to be able to vote.

Until we do that we will never be able to reverse this slide into communism and doom.

26

 A ruling class closed to new talent doesnÂ’t remain a ruling class for long.

Wow, really E.J.? Ever heard of Latin America?

27 Obama has been throwing billions into education grants over and above all those student loans..

How come teachers and college professors always seem to do just fine in a recession? Huh?

28

  I guess we'll just let whatever comes get here. Getting awful tired of hearing about the impending shitstorm, there isn't anything ELSE we (us personally) can do to counteract it, so fuck it.

  You'll just have to have an ironclad reason I should let you into the compound.

29

Even a lot of the science degrees see sketchy. Biology? Where is that going? At least a chemist can work in labs at a production facility.

Posted by: Prof at April 18, 2011 09:24 AM (UvAYo)

Well, it wasn't long ago that pundits were predicting that just as the 20th was the Century of Physics the 21st would be the Century of Biology. There's the potential for genetically modified crops to ease the pressures of a growing population, genetically modified microbes to produce fuel. And then there's the whole human genome mapping which is to yield better medicine. We'll see if these things pan out. But it's true that there has to be some productive benefit to these developments or they might just cause more trouble. Medical care has to become cheaper, or the longer, healthier lives that it delivers have to be put to productive use (and not just extending the number of retirement years). That means we need more job-creating industries or we'll just have older people crowding out the young in the job market, or burdening the young with their retirement/health costs.

30 More DOOM!:

GOP Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is taking a step toward a presidential bid in 2012 by setting up a committee to help him test the waters for a possible run.


Come on man.  You bow out, let your son take a swing at things.

31

 Biology? Where is that going?

Oh, I don't know, biotech, pharma, ag research but I guess those are only three rather small niche fields.

32 It's interesting that people like Dionne who refer to America's "ruling class" are usually the same ones that refer to America's citizens as "the masses".

33 You'll just have to have an ironclad reason I should let you into the compound.

Posted by: irongrampa at April 18, 2011 09:34 AM (ud5dN)

Pleeeease....I'll bring bacon.

34 Government has no right to tax your income. Consumption-based tax regimes are the obvious answer to this, but I"m not fond of the VAT -- there is much opportunity for mischief with a VAT, and the potential to strangle industrial output. It also allows governments to increase the amounts without putting them to a vote in many cases...which is why governments like the VAT. The taxes are "hidden" in the prices of goods, and can be increased almost at will; then the increases can be blamed no other factors.

35 As a nation, we send a very bad message: we'll punish you with punitive tax-rates if you're successful, but reward you with lower taxes (or no taxes at all) if you're unsuccessful. We subsidize failure, and whatever you subsidize, you get more of.
Posted by: Monty
-------------
It's bad enough that so many pay no taxes at all, but what really gets me is the negative income tax we send to so many in forms of Earned Income Credits.  Especially considering those credits promote tax fraud in the form of couples living together raising children remaining unmarried so one of them may qualify for the credits.

36 A ruling class closed to new talent doesnÂ’t remain a ruling class for long.

What he doesn't get is that he's the ruling class.  He thinks it's some ethereal uber-rich that he can't properly comprehend.  It's him.  Who do you think runs the thing? It's Ivy league law graduates mostly but also a few others whose parents could afford the fancy schools and the connections that go with it.

37

Yes - EJ Dipshit - the government is a better steward of private money than "we the people".

 

Government has such a great track record of trust when if comes to spending our money efficiently.  Right EJ Dipshit?

GRAFT.

38

I have a deeper objection to the notion that paying taxes is some kind of moral balm -- more taxes means more "goodness" in some abstract sense. I reject that idea completely. I agree that some level of taxation is necessary to provide for the commonweal and the essential functions of government, but it's purpose is not a moral one. It serves the same purpose as paying for the lights and gas and trash-collection. And I don't think "the rich" should be charged more for water and gas, so why should they pay more in taxes?

Posted by: Monty at April 18, 2011 09:25 AM (4Pleu)

From a strictly moral/ethical line of reasoning, I categorically reject the idea that one able-bodied, abled-minded person has an obligation to pay more in tax than any other such person. We (as a nation) have come to accept a line of false moral reasoning to cover up the fact that the true rationale for progressive taxation boils down to: they've got the money and we want it.

39 The problem with making science "pay" is that in order to employ a lot of people, the science has to have a real-world counterpart. There aren't many physicists or mathematicians in the world, but there are lots of engineers. There aren't many pure biologists, but there are many doctors, chemists, pharmacists, and so on. Theory and study are a vital part of the chain, but they're a small part. To build an industry on a technology or science, you have to build a market for it, scale it up, and industrialize the process.

40 5 Could this boom in college debt be due to the government taking over the loans?

not really - the trend has been ongoing for a while now - the government takeover has prob. only accelerated the current trend

41 YA know I think we should a rule: No Doom Thread on Monday mornings. I mean by definition Monday mornings are bad enough

42 I did a little math over the weekend to try to get a grip on the $3.82T in spending we will do this year and the $1.65T in borrowing we will do.  So I scaled the tax revenue figure down from $2.17T to an upper-middle class income of $75,000.

So our national spending and borrowing is analogous to a family that makes $75,000 annually spending $132,027.  We're not going to rectify this by cancelling HBO.  We're going to have to move grandma out of the home and take care of her at our house and we're going to have to tell the daughter that got knocked up (but not married!) that the free ride is over and she's going to have to support herself and her child from now on. 

BTW, this upper middle class family has $494,343 in credit card debt (the national debt scaled down by the same factor). 


Another way to look at it is to figure out the national debt per household.  Most recent census figures show 117,538,000 households (including one-person households) in the US.  The national debt is roughly $14.3T.  That works out to a national debt per household of $117,5238,294.

It is actually probably worse since about half of Americans don't pay income taxes so actual taxpaying households will end up paying even more. 


Someone please tell me I got the math wrong.....

43 16 Update for you Monty, drudge headline, S&P puts US outlook to negatory.
 
The stock market didn't take too kindly to that headline, opening down around 1.4%. Gold is on the run (up) once again.
 
Hey, I know. Let's tax the rich! That'll fix everything!

 
Come on man.  You bow out, let your son take a swing at things.

Posted by: momma at April 18, 2011 09:35 AM (penCf)

Cut. Jib. Newsletter.

44
How come unionized teachers and unionized college professors always seem to do just fine in a recession? Huh?

FIFY

45 If memory serves me, things were not this bad under Carter. They were bad, but not this bad. The feckless JEF and his co-conspirators have really done a number on our, and our children's future. Isn't Affirmative Action just great? Equality before the law and all. The village requires an Ivy Leaguer to screw up the obvious and the simple. No one else is that dumb.

46 Even a lot of the science degrees see sketchy. Biology? Where is that going?

well, there are some mainly worthless biology degrees out there, ones that focus on how to count delta smelt in the wild or something - but most biology degrees have a strong microbiology/cell biology component to them as well, which is much more marketable

47 When The Boy was very little and we were trying to impress upon him that actions have consequences, we'd say something like, "If you put your finger in that part of the kitty again, you won't get to watch Junkyard Wars."  He would do what was forbidden and we'd say, "OK, no Junkyard Wars!" and he'd yowl, "But that's not fair!"  I'd say, "No, it is absolutely fair. We told you not to take that action and then we told you the consequences of taking that action.  You took that action and now you have to face the consequences. It is the very definition of fair."
He got it, eventually. 

48 That works out to a national debt per household of $117,5238,294...

Someone please tell me I got the math wrong.....

Posted by: ColWalterKurtz at April 18, 2011 09:43 AM (MDYwu)

You got the math wrong.

49 That works out to a national debt per household of $117,5238,294.

You got the math wrong.  $14.3T/117.538M = $121,663 per household.

50 I suspect that this is another kind of "magical thinking" at work -- the notion that getting a degree in, e.g., sociology or women's studies or medieval French poetry or even "business" is a sure path to success in the workplace.

Monty,

There is an easily understood reason for the education bubble.  Disparate Impact theory makes it impossible to subject job applicants to meaningful testing.  A four-year degree as a minimum requirement has not yet been successfully challenged for the average white-collar position. 

Requiring a four-year degree sharply reduces the number of qualified minority applicants, and that helps an employer subject to the OFCCP or any other affirmative action planning keep their rates of minority hiring from looking as dismal as they really are.  In arithmetic terms, the four-year degree requirement grinds the denominator (qualified minority applicants) toward zero.

That is why the demand for education is so high.  If it is seen as a ticket for success in the workplace, that is because it is the only way in the door for a very broad swath of jobs in the private sector.

Interestingly, governments at all levels rarely have positive education requirements for non-specialized positions that do not require licensing.

51 Please sir, may I have another ...

52 13 As an engineering professor, I don't know what all those English and History majors expect to do when they grow up. Work at B&N? A few go to Law, but we turn out tons of Liberal Arts grads.

As a math professor, I wonder what all the engineering grads will do.  I guess the ones at Minnesota will build bridges and stadiums that fall down.

No, seriously, you guys are great. Try the veal.

I've said before, the humanities and social sciences are a disaster. There are no standards, not just at the undergraduate level but at the elite level.

Even a lot of the science degrees see sketchy. Biology? Where is that going? At least a chemist can work in labs at a production facility.

Others have pointed out some of the areas in which you can get work in the biology field, but I think you need to explain your experience here to everybody.  For the most part, a bio major is pretty wussy.  If you're straight bio, you're taking an easy option. It'd better be supplemented with a serious field like chemistry or even physics.

Pure scientific research is a rare and competitive field and very few will be using their degree to do anything like that.

The "century of biology" is all too true. Just look at what teat the math profession tries to suckle to see where the funding trends are.  Yes, they're still trying the climate science thing, but mathematical biology is what everybody's hiring.

Of course, the biologists don't give a damn about mathematical biology. When they talk to mathematicians, they give new meaning to the words "ill-posed problem".

53 If memory serves me, things were not this bad under Carter. Interest rates were sky-high but our debt was vastly lower. We were still the world's industrial powerhouse back then (though Japan was starting to eat away at our heavy-industry share). China was still a poverty-stricken backwards Communist hellhole under Mao's rule. Personal indebtedness was lower and personal savings were higher. Labor-force participation, as a percentage of population, was much higher then than now. The long-term unemployment rate (>6 months) was far lower. A lot of these trends cannot be blamed on Obama, however. Both parties (and American citizens in general) have driven the country to its current state.

54

One thing Canada is doing right is lowering the corporate tax rate. I believe it's at 17% now and the Liberals and NDP are ticked off because the Conservatives want to lower it to 15%.

I love the liberal use of the word 'enlightened'. It's a nice, not so subtle way of saying 'If you disagree with me, you're a bitter, gun-clinging, religious moron..'

And regarding the education bubble, I think at some point down the road, we'll move more towards certification programs where you have to be able to demonstrate you know what you're doing. That's open to abuse also but probably still the best way to go. 

My god-daughter is at university now. She's in first year psychology. I've been telling her I want to transfer into some area where she will pick up a useful employable skill where she won't be reliant on the government for a paycheck. We've had further talks and she's been trying to convince me of ways that she'll be able to use that 'Psychology degree' in a manner that will let her make a living. I'm asking her what she's going to be doing that's going to make her one of the hundred that might actually make the degree useful without teaching being an option. She was interested in sports medicine which I think I'll continue to push her towards. If anyone has any other ways I can approach her, arguments I can use to change her mind, I'll be interested in reading. Thanks.

I have to run for now. Everyone have a great day.

55 Damn glad to meet ya'.

56 We've had further talks and she's been trying to convince me of ways that she'll be able to use that 'Psychology degree' in a manner that will let her make a living.

Tell her this: Next time you go to class, look to your left, now look to your right.  There are a lot of chicks, aren't there?  Go forth to engineering, where even the homeliest lass is a goddess.

57 Even more DOOM!

SharptonÂ’s NAN Race Rants: Shut Down Construction Sites With No Blacks; Only Blacks Should Educate Blacks, Other Classes Teach Hate; Media Conspiracy Causing ObamaÂ’s Polls to Drop With Blacks & Al Beat Back Beck & Racist Tea Party

58 You got the math wrong.  $14.3T/117.538M = $121,663 per household.
--Additional Blond Agent

Thanks.  Actually feeling better ...

59 iron grandpa i have food storage and gold...........

60 There is an inherent threat in Dionne's words. "spread the wealth and be more secure" meaning give the poor some money or they will come take it by force?

It just continues to amaze me how utterly ignorant the left is about economics. Does Dionne know that about 40% of the richest 10% changes every decade. Some rich fall out of the top ten some in the bottom 80% move into the top ten.

The left tries to convince us that the poor are always poor and the rich are always rich.  God he is a moron.

61 Hey, guys.  April 15th is Steal From Work Day!

From the site:

Does your boss work less than you but take home a bigger paycheck? Is somebody zipping around in a private jet at your expense? If the corporation is making money at the end of the day, that means they’re not paying you the full value of your labor – that’s where corporate profit comes from! So if you need something in your workplace, take it. You earned it!

62

Got to give it to the JEF, he really knows how to kick off a re-election bid. DOW down 200, S&P downgrades US economic outlook to negative, and JEF, and his gimp in the box Krugman, want to shoot Paul Ryan. Dude, Harvard Law must be so hard.

 

Here is a new rule for sanity - never hire an Ivy Leaguer.

63

China was still a poverty-stricken backwards Communist hellhole under Mao's rule

Mao died in 1976

64 "(humee)" Holy Shit! That has to be the best hash ever.

65

Hey, guys.  April 15th is Steal From Work Day!

From the site:

Does your boss work less than you but take home a bigger paycheck? Is somebody zipping around in a private jet at your expense? If the corporation is making money at the end of the day, that means they’re not paying you the full value of your labor – that’s where corporate profit comes from! So if you need something in your workplace, take it. You earned it!

where is that from?

66 I thought that blacks were already educating blacks in the big bootie, gangsta lifestyle via the entertainment industry. What else does Sharpton expect?

67 It's like that line from The Incredibles where Mom says, "Everyone is special, Dash," and Dash says, "That's just another way of saying that no one is."

Yeah.

This shit makes me fell less inclined to pay off my student loans.

I can't believe how hard I had to work to earn my BA from my Alma Mater, just to find out that fucking morons who can't manage basic arithmetic, much less do a translation from even one language dead or alive, or even set up a valid experiment get their credentials.

What the fuck did they do, for 4 years?

Wow.

College was tough for me.

I had to work my ass off, to earn my BA!

Sure, sure it was all worth it, the journey and everything...

Best years of my life and all...

Still pisses me off to find out that perfectly nice, decent, illiterate, innumerate fucking morons have the same academic credentials that I worked hard to earn.

I can't believe I'm still paying for this!

Well, I can.

Really, I don't have a problem with paying The School back, for all they done for me.

Sallie Mae, can go fuck herself though!

Really?

A glut of ignorant fucking morons sporting a BA?

Hey, all of us College edjumicated people are all fighting over the same job to be a barista in a fucking grocery store, so, no harm no foul, right?

Screw you Sallie Mae!

You debase the worth of my education, every minute you are in business!

68

My god-daughter is at university now. She's in first year psychology

you poor poor bastard.

69 OT

This is something to make the men smile

The HOTTEST Chick on the Beach!

70 People who continue to misuse and abuse the words "fair" and "fairness" should be routinely and thoroughly beaten about the head and shoulders until they drop those terms from their lexicon. And E. J. Dionne can FOADIAF.

71 65

Hey, guys.  April 15th is Steal From Work Day!

From the site:

Does your boss work less than you but take home a bigger paycheck? Is somebody zipping around in a private jet at your expense? If the corporation is making money at the end of the day, that means they’re not paying you the full value of your labor – that’s where corporate profit comes from! So if you need something in your workplace, take it. You earned it!

where is that from?

Posted by: Ben at April 18, 2011 10:04 AM (wuv1c)

stealfromwork.crimethinc.com 

72 Sowell and Walter Williams have both written extensively about how poverty is a function of age. As you get older, you mature and acquire more skills, making you more valuable to employers and thus increasing your income.
 
So, many poor people are young people. Then the government steps in and institutionalizes this 'poorness', subsidizing and abetting it to continue until it becomes generational in nature for some.
 
Also to blame is the minimum wage, which prices low skilled (read young) people right out of the market. The result is our current 25% unemployment rate for the 18-25 crowd.

73

UN Calls for Cease-Fire in Libya (Daffy is winning)

Looks like Daffy is a better leader than Sparky. Who knew? Not to worry, we can rely on the steadfastness and resolve of France and Italy here. Soon they will be landing their troops. Just you wait and see. Also, pretty deft diplomatic strategery. Its good to know that Hillary is smarter than Bush.

 

74 Start your day with a laugh.....

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Treasury Department said Monday that Standard & Poor's is underestimating the ability of the Congress and the White House to combat fiscal challenges. Earlier Monday, the ratings agency stunned Wall Street by cutting its rating outlook on the U.S. to negative from stable.

"We believe S&P's negative outlook underestimates the ability of America's leaders to come together to address the difficult fiscal challenged facing the nation," said Mary Miller, the Treasury assistanct secretary for financial markets. Miller said both Republicans and Democrats now agree that it is time to begin bringing down deficits as a share of GDP.

75 NRO: There Is No Regulation Day to Remind Us What They Cost

S&P: "Even in our optimistic scenario, we believe U.S. fiscal profile would be less robust than other 'AAA' s by 2013"

76 #60 It just continues to amaze me how utterly ignorant the left is about economics.

Frighteningly ignorant comments.

77

"We believe S&P's negative outlook underestimates the ability of America's leaders to come together to address the difficult fiscal challenged facing the nation," said Mary Miller, the Treasury assistanct secretary for financial markets. Miller said both Republicans and Democrats now agree that it is time to begin bringing down deficits as a share of GDP.

Mary is a dim stooge. I guess she didn't get the memo that JEF wants to collect 24% and greater of the GDP. I bet Mary went to an Ivy League school. What a dolt.

78 Tell her this: Next time you go to class, look to your left, now look to your right.  There are a lot of chicks, aren't there?  Go forth to engineering, where even the homeliest lass is a goddess.

Posted by: AmishDude at April 18, 2011 09:57 AM (T0NGe)

LOL. I'll try that. She's attractive though.

Fortunately for her, university is heavily subsidized here and she won't rack up HUGE debts like in the United States. But still, why spend time and money on something you learn at home for near free. She could seriously pick up much of the reading lists, as you can do for any humanities course, and just learn at home. It's not like the humanities professors were ever a huge font of enlightening wisdom. I just don't want to see her start life with huge piles of useless debt.

I'm going to get a chance to spend some time with her in a few months and I'll keep pressing the issue. I think I'll encourage her to take a year off, and try to find a job. Anything she can find will probably be what she could get with her fancy degree anyways. And university will be there next year. We'll see. Two of her older sisters ended up doing well. The third is still finding her way.

Hey, snowing here. Give's DOOM a nice Christmas feel to it. Time to get to work.

79 69--Lawrence Taylor in a bikini! eeewwww

80

Hey all!  How about some looming DOOM in China?

China is About to Suffer a Banking Crisis (link to Big Government)

Very interesting article.  Here's a pull-quote:

The less known and far more important secret-weapon of the “China Economic Miracle” is the absolute control of the banking industry by China’s four largest state-owned banks (“SOB”); Industrial and Commercial Bank, Agricultural Bank, People’s Bank of China and Construction. Since the government does not provide adequate social welfare programs and restricts its citizen’s investment options to bank accounts, about 40% of Chinese household income is deposited in SOBs each month. The SOBs then leverage the deposits by ten times and loan 75% of this massive amount of cash at extremely low interest rates to state-owned-enterprises (“SOE”). The other 25% of lending is allocated to real estate development...

I find it humorous that "state-owned bank" is abbreviated as "SOB."  How very apropos!

81
  Bacon and all the 7.62 you can tote are valid reasons.

  Anything else is negotiable.

82 Hopefully TIMMAY will print a couple of trillion dollars and let his Plunge Protection Team go to work. Remain calm, high speed rail is on the way. Remain calm.

83

Posted by: momma at April 18, 2011 10:06 AM (penCf)

What did we ever do to you that would make you do that?

 

 

84 "Also to blame is the minimum wage, which prices low skilled (read young) people right out of the market. The result is our current 25% unemployment rate for the 18-25 crowd." It's more than just the minimum wage: It's the full range of employment "protections" in the law. This is why I've been saying that Illegal Aliens are bootleg labor. I used to work with a guy who grew up in Maryland toward the eastern shore. He took his family out to Ocean City for a vacation about ten years ago, and when he returned, he told me that he couldn't believe that all the seasonal jobs were held by eastern europeans here on some kind of student visa with a loophole that let them work for pay. When he was in high school and college, there was a mad rush every year for any summer job they could get in Ocean City, but employment laws and this weird visa thing priced American citizens out of the market.

85

My god-daughter is at university now. She's in first year psychology

you poor poor bastard.

Posted by: Ben at April 18, 2011 10:04 AM (wuv1c)

She floated women's studies in a telephone conversation once. I asked her why she'd want to spend time and money with a bunch of butch lesbians bitching about men for 4 years. Dodged that one.

86 She floated women's studies in a telephone conversation once. I asked her why she'd want to spend time and money with a bunch of butch lesbians bitching about men for 4 years. Dodged that one. An MBA is just about as bad any more. You spend four years in an undergrad program and two years in postgrad work mainly studying to use terms like "synergy" and "cross-branding" and "leveraging social media". It's not business any more; it's just PR with a business gloss. And it's mostly a complete waste of money. Entrepreneurs shouldn't piss away a hundred grand on a degree from the Stern School of Management; they should use the money to, you know, start a business.

87

Abolish the Teacher's Union. NOW.

88 My congress critter has been in DC too damn long.  He just sent us a letter talking about how he fought for bigger spending cuts.  Actually he voted against the RSC budget, this year he has always voted with leadership and against bigger cuts.  He also claims the 2012 Republican budget with it's trillion dollar deficit is "sustainable".  If this is the best we can get in a very red Texas district you might as well add Texas to the LOTB now.

89 IPAB, Obama, and Socialism

"IPAB is the real death panel, the true seat of rationing, and the royal road to health-care socialism. President Obama wonÂ’t admit to any of that, but his speech in response to Paul RyanÂ’s plan did push IPAB out of the shadows and into public view, however briefly. If Republicans donÂ’t seize the IPAB issue and run with it, theyÂ’ll be losers in 2012. Policy wonks and political junkies may know a bit about this health-care rationing panel, but most Americans have barely heard of it. That has got to change. And the only way to expose and explain the dangers of IPAB is to tell the truth about Barack Obama."


I have only heard a few Rs discuss IPAB.

90

France does not like Italy shipping all their North African refugees their way.

...Italy has been issuing temporary residential permits to thousands of migrants, permitting them to travel more freely in European countries.

However, France says it will only support the migrants' entry if they can provide evidence that they are able to financially support themselves, according to Press TV.

91

--There is also the problem that an undergraduate [Hah-vahd] degree is no longer a sure sign of knowledge or accomplishment

Although, nowadays, a Hah-vahd degree is a pretty sure indicator that the holder is an America-hating piece of shit who is deluded into thinking that his simple-minded theories bear any tenuous connection to reality ... i.e. an obnoxious schizophrenic.

92 That psychology degree will at least get you a teaching position gov job if you get a teaching credit to go with it. Whereas the more useless poly-science degree will get you nothing. That is the degree my liberal BIL's daughter just got.

As for the regulatory environment, that is something I have been screaming about for years now. Labor costs and taxes, although highy here, are not what has been driving companies out of the U.S.

It is the overwhelming number and the cost of useless regulation. Regulation in the U.S. is probably the highest in the world. When you throw the cost of litigation into the mix you get a true world class economy destroyer.

And the real pisser is the fact that these regulations rarely even achieve their stated objective, even in the rare case where the stated objective is a real need.

93 However, France says it will only support the migrants' entry if they can provide evidence that they are able to financially support themselves, according to Press TV.

Why can't we do that?

94

I just wanted to point out that i had my first experience with inflation last week.

For whatever reason the food products i buy haven't been affected by inflation, until now.

I went to pick up my 5 dollar pizza at walmart only to find it is now 5.75.

Needless to say, let the violent revolution begin.

95 Entrepreneurs shouldn't piss away a hundred grand on a degree from the Stern School of Management; they should use the money to, you know, start a business.
And preferably go broke a couple of times, and that is worth a lot more than the MBA

96 My DiL2B graduated with two humanities degrees (BAs in English and Anthropology, I think) "with honors". She and my missus are SO impressed by this. I most definitely am not, for three reasons: (1) the two degrees are in the ever-so-subjectively graded humanities field, (2) grade inflation has rendered moot the whole question of accomplishment and class standing, and (3) acquiring a double major in the humanities is, more than anything else, merely a matter of scheduling courses to accomodate the "accomplishment". No job, though, except serving as a parking lot attendant while she pursues a Masters degree because she failed to secure a sinecure posting in the College of Humanities at Delaware to pursue a PhD in English. And yeah, I'm biased, having earned degrees in a "hard" science - chemistry - at the BS and PhD levels. If I don't grow tired if the grind or screw up, I figure that I could remain gainfully and productively employed for another dozen or more years because there is so little by way of a competent threat coming out of the schools today.

97 70 People who continue to misuse and abuse the words "fair" and "fairness" should be routinely and thoroughly beaten about the head and shoulders until they drop those terms from their lexicon.
Posted by: ya2daup: an iPhone-iMpeded iPost at April 18, 2011 10:07 AM (kWQPe)   Heh.  Which ties in nicely with the fallacy that going to college is somehow a right these days.  I finished college right before the real entitlement babies started pouring through the doors, but I've heard horror stories from my sister (who's currently pursuing a PhD) about some of the students she and others have had to teach recently.  It's all, "But it's not FAIR!  I worked so HARD!  You can't give me an F!  That's not faaaaaair!  Waaaaah!"   When did level of work involved in obtaining an outcome somehow become equivalent in importance to the efficacy and quality of that outcome?  I don't care if you spent three straight weeks at the library, sleeping on a cot in the Reference section, to do research for your thesis on Roman bath houses.  If you keep spelling "Roman" as "Romaine" through the entire thing, you're going to lose points.  If you can't exercise the slightest abstract thought or critical analysis, you're going to lose points.  If you can't write a grammatically correct sentence, you're going to lose points.  How is this so hard to understand?

98 @13 "as an engineering professor," you probably wonder at a great many things. The people you work for -- government administrators,  let's face it, public school or private -- what was their undergraduate major?

See?

The number one complaint mechanics have about "arts majors" is that they're reporting to one. You're just going to get angrier and angrier. Try reading "The Horn of Roland." Some medieval French poetry might help you learn to deal with that.

Watson of IBM? Philosophy major.

99 My DiL2B graduated with two humanities degrees (BAs in English and Anthropology, I think) "with honors". She and my missus are SO impressed by this. I most definitely am not, for three reasons: (1) the two degrees are in the ever-so-subjectively graded humanities field, (2) grade inflation has rendered moot the whole question of accomplishment and class standing, and (3) acquiring a double major in the humanities is, more than anything else, merely a matter of scheduling courses to accomodate the "accomplishment". No job, though, except serving as a parking lot attendant while she pursues a Masters degree because she failed to secure a sinecure posting in the College of Humanities at Delaware to pursue a PhD in English. And yeah, I'm biased, having earned degrees in a "hard" science - chemistry - at the BS and PhD levels. If I don't grow tired of the grind or screw up, I figure that I could remain gainfully and productively employed for another dozen or more years because there is almost no competent threats coming out of the schools today.

100 This next week will be interesting because this is the first series of lawmaker town halls since passing the Republican budget. While we're going to get some breathless reports about Republicans getting hammered by constituents due to their efforts "to kill grandma", I'd like to know how the majority are actually responding.

101 I wouldn't say that's off topic, momma. You've DOOMed my chances of an erection this morning.

102

When did level of work involved in obtaining an outcome somehow become equivalent in importance to the efficacy and quality of that outcome?

That's just part and parcel of infantilization of American society and the perverted concept of "civil rights" that this country has pursued since passing the un-Constitutional civil rights law.

103 why do we think everyone needs a college education...as if it is some right....and why do people go into absolutely STUPID debt to go to elitist colleges only to be shocked when the debt comes due and surprised when they are only making an entry level salary when they finally land a job in their profession......

104 Oops

105 I wouldn't say that's off topic, momma.

You've DOOMed my chances of an erection this morning.

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at April 18, 2011 10:35 AM (NuNbc)

Tell your wife she owes me one

106 You've DOOMed my chances of an erection this morning.

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at April 18, 2011 10:35 AM (NuNbc)

So your rape quotient is set to low this morning, I take it?

 

Here, let me help. Those images made me think of what it would be like to see Moochelle in a teeny bikini.

Okay, now I need some mind bleach myself.

107

Evidence of a higher ed bubble:  applications to all the top 100 colleges and universities were up this year, some by over 20%, even though the population of high school seniors has been declining since 2009.  NYU got 42,000 applications this year, up from an already ridiculous 38,000 last year.  This is a school that costs $60,000 a year to attend.  And NYU charges $75 just to apply.  Do the math.  That's over $3 million a year just in application fees! 

College applications are looking just like the housing market in 2005.  Everyone thinks they have to get in even though they probably can't afford it.  Too many people trying to get into the top "neighborhoods" pushes up the prices and  makes those "neighborhoods" seem even more exclusive, even though many of them are overpriced and underproducing.  Parents are engaging in magical thinking and just looking for bragging rights, like people were in 2005 when they overpiad for those McMansions with all the eye candy and crappy construction.

108 She could seriously pick up much of the reading lists, as you can do for any humanities course, and just learn at home.

You don't need to pay tuition to belong to a book club.

109 Fun's fun, but I have to continue my birthday-to-Easter "vacation" by stepping outside to visit some creative restructuring on our water-damaged storage shed. Really good time coming up smashing things!!!

110 WSJ: Where the Tax Money Is
"Obama targets the middle class while pretending to tax only the rich."

111 Entrepreneurs shouldn't piss away a hundred grand on a degree from the Stern School of Management; they should use the money to, you know, start a business.
And preferably go broke a couple of times, and that is worth a lot more than the MBA

Posted by: Velvet Ambition at April 18, 2011 10:31 AM (xKr+I)

Don't worry, 80% of the Stern students are Asian.  They're there because their parents will pay the full freight.  NYU is a racket.

112 So your rape quotient is set to low this morning, I take it? Yeah, I tore a disc last Wednesday, so my stats are WAY down. Apologies to anyone who drafted me in their Fantasy Rape League.

113 When I saw that trillion dollar figure for student debt a few days ago, the first thing I wondered is, is that trillion dollars marked as an asset somewhere? And are they fake assets?

114 The two major parties have contended only for public office.  American politics, so-called, has been a professional sport, a matter of organization, team-play, and getting votes.  Elections have been sporting events, as baseball games are; and Americans, accurately, have regarded them as sport*.
*[“The Presidential campaign is at that quiet moment, after the whistle blows and before the ball goes zooming down the field.” - Raymond Moley in News-Week, September 11, 1944]

Meanwhile, during half a century, reactionary influences from Europe have been shifting American thinking onto a basis of socialistic assumptions.  In cities and states, both parties began to socialize America with limitations of the KaiserÂ’s Germany; social welfare laws, labor laws, wage-and-hour laws, citizensÂ’ pension laws, and so-called public ownership.

Eleven years ago this creeping socialism sprang up armed with Federal power, and Americans - suddenly, it seemed - confronted for the first time in their lives a real political question: the choice between American individualism and European national socialism.

Will an American defend the Constitutional law that divides, restricts, limits and weakens political-police power, and thus protects every citizenÂ’s personal freedom, his human rights, his exercise of those rights in a free, productive capitalist economy and a free society?

Or will he permit the political structure of these United States to be replaced by a socialist state, with its centralized, unrestricted police power regimenting individuals into classes, suppressing individual liberty, sacrificing human rights to an imagined “common good,” and substituting for civil laws the edicts, or “directives,” once accurately called tyranny and now called administrative law?*
*

This is the choice that every American must make.  There is no escape from this choice; the present situation put it before us and requires a decision.

Rose Wilder Lane
1936

115 Posted by: rockmom at April 18, 2011 10:42 AM (Y01Pi)
 
My best friend is bound and determined to send his son to one of those 'top ranked' schools, at a price tag of $40k/year, this fall. The goal -- a BS degree in physics.
 
I'm just glad it's not my money he's spending.

116 "Asst Treasury Secy Mary Miller says S&P's negative outlook 'underestimates' ability of WH & Congress to address govt fiscal challenges"

Yet no one is buying her spin.

117 46 Even a lot of the science degrees see sketchy. Biology? Where is that going?

well, there are some mainly worthless biology degrees out there, ones that focus on how to count delta smelt in the wild or something - but most biology degrees have a strong microbiology/cell biology component to them as well, which is much more marketable

Posted by: chemjeff at April 18, 2011 09:48 AM (czcue)

Its not that biology isn't marketable.  When I was in school (mechanical engineering) we had roughly 2 biology majors for every 1 biology related job.  As far as all of the liberal arts majors, they should not be allowed to receive public financial aid.  If someone wants to start a private scholarship, fine.  There is no return on investment for a womens studies degree which costs the tax payers just as much as an engineering degree.

118 Holy shit, people will pay outrageous money for useless diplomas. I need to start an online Montessori university, where you pay me to link you to Google, and you can search and learn about whatever interests you.

119 My best friend is bound and determined to send his son to one of those 'top ranked' schools, at a price tag of $40k/year, this fall. The goal -- a BS degree in physics.
 
I'm just glad it's not my money he's spending.

Posted by: GnuBreed at April 18, 2011 10:49 AM (ENKCw)

My son applied to NYU for music composition and didn't get in.  I was relieved.  Now he is trying to convince us to send him to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, which also costs upwards of $40,000 a year.  It's been his dream school since he was 14 but Mr. Rockmom and I think it is an overpriced fake-prestige school.  For every Esperanza Spalding it produces, it washes out about 1000 kids who end up working as clerks in a Guitar Center and paying back $100,000 in loans.

120

I'm just glad it's not my money he's spending.

but it is. All student loans are backed by the federal government.

One of the reasons that the East German secret police were so successful was by making every East German citizen a partner in the crime of suppression. They were forced to be informants, or put into situations where they had to spy on their fellow neighbors. It's in part why there were never any major reconciliation trials during re-unification. Almost everyone's hands were dirty.

Our government is doing something similar. We are all a party to our coming bankruptcy. Those of us who have been fiscally prudent are on the tab for the mortgages of those who haven't, for the student loans of those who majored in Ancient East Asian Phallic Studies, for the medical bills of those who smoke daily, did/or still do  copious amounts of illegal drugs, those who don't even walk a mile, we're being billed for those who come here illegally, we have to pay to educate the children of those who don't pay property taxes, we have to fund the disruptive child who retards the advancement of everyone else in the class.

It goes on and on, but make no mistake, when the reckoning comes, no one's hands will be clean, our government will have seen to that.

121 OT: Remember this guy?

Republican Roy Moore of Alabama has created a presidential exploratory committee, he announced this morning.

Moore is holding a press conference at 10:10 a.m. today, said Danny Carroll, a former state legislator who is now with the Family Leader, a socially conservative advocacy group.

Moore is a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. He was ousted from the bench for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse, contrary to a federal court order.

http://tinyurl.com/3g96n5k

122 Searching for a few more deductions?

ItÂ’s tax day in the U.S. and you could have had another deduction if you had just agreed to host a foreign exchange student in 2010. Or gone whaling in Alaska.

This year, new mothers can write off breast pumps

123

 For every Esperanza Spalding it produces, it washes out about 1000 kids who end up working as clerks in a Guitar Center and paying back $100,000 in loans.

rockmom,

I have a question. He's obviously a musician right? What jobs are out there for musicians, and more specifically, what musician jobs require big name degrees?

Aside from perhaps an orchestra?

Ask your son this, is there any musician job in the world that will pay more than the 100,000 dollars + interest it costs to go to school over a four year period?

 

124

My snobby Harvard-alum BIL refused to let his son apply anywhere but the Ivies, Stanford, and U. of Chicago.  He got waitlisted at Harvard and Chicago and rejected by all the others.  So here is a kid with a 4.2 GPA and a 32 ACT score that has no college to go to this fall.

I used to live in Virginia outside of DC.  Thousands of type-A parents and overachieving students there are trying for a handful of spots at UVA and Virginia Tech.  My best friend's kid has a 4.25 GPA, is an Eagle Scout and certified ski instructor, rebuilt the engine in his 65 Mustang, and was rejected at Virginia Tech.  Another friend spent thousands to send their son to Episcopal High School because it traditionally gets everyone into UVA, and he didn't get in.

This is all anyone my age is talking about.  Nobody is getting into the big-name colleges this year.  We all feel like we wasted the last 18 years getting our kids into Scouting, church stuff, beating the hell out of them over grades, paying for SAT tutors, making them take music lessons, etc. etc.  They're all going to end up at community college. 

125

This year, new mothers can write off breast pumps

 

I'm going to sue for age discrimination.

126 it's not that they want to pay higher taxes (they could simply write a check to the Treasury if that were the case); they want everyone else to pay higher taxes.

This is a guiding principle of Liberalism.

127 Slytherin Kitteh?

Posted by: EC

 

Well I wouldn't dare call him a hufflepuff.

128

For the first time since the Great Depression, households are receiving more income from the government than they are paying the government in taxes

Not our household. We've never had a dime from Uncle Socialist. Its all outflow for us. We are taxcroppers on Uncle's Plantation.

129 Well ol David made it really easy for ol andy not to fight to raise taxes, David already raised them and monumentally.   NYer's are being raped by their state.  I wonder when most people are going to realize that they can use computers and video chats to "go to work" and leave NY cause it is getting to the point where it may not be worth it to live there.  What you are putting in and what you are getting back is not advantageous to the taxpayer.

130 The Faternal Order of Ternimal Boneheads starts another meeting with their blank eyed expressions to show their tiny pea-sized brain

131

Ask your son this, is there any musician job in the world that will pay more than the 100,000 dollars + interest it costs to go to school over a four year period?

 

Posted by: Ben at April 18, 2011 11:02 AM (wuv1c)

The other day I was reading a story about the Detroit Symphony Orchestra being on strike, a veteran(not sure how many years it takes to gain that status) was making 104,000.  Offers on the table were in the 82k mark, pretty damn good if you ask me.

132 126 They're all going to end up at community college. Posted by: rockmom at April 18, 2011 11:04 AM (Y01Pi)

Blessing in disguise, rockmom. Send the kids to State U or CC, and encourage them to set up their own business. Having their own biz and little college debt will be a HUGE advantage. the big name degree is a sucker's game.

133

rockmom,

I have a question. He's obviously a musician right? What jobs are out there for musicians, and more specifically, what musician jobs require big name degrees?

Aside from perhaps an orchestra?

Ask your son this, is there any musician job in the world that will pay more than the 100,000 dollars + interest it costs to go to school over a four year period?

 Posted by: Ben at April 18, 2011 11:02 AM (wuv1c)

Oh, hell no.  These schools all do very good BS jobs about their fabulous Career Centers and internships and their connections with the music industry.  My son sucks at math but we are putting together some numbers this week to show him.  He has a cousin who is just out of college and struggling with $80k in student loan debt, and he has a pretty good marketing job with a big insurance company.  His loan payments are $1100 a month.  Not many entry level music jobs even pay that much.

My son ultimately wants to compose music for movies, TV shows, commercials, video games,. etc.  with a backup plan of teaching private guitar lessons, doing arranging gigs, and maybe even being a session guitarist.  At least that is a more commercial ambition than wanting to be the next Paganini or thinking he will go to Berklee and be the next Steve Vai or John Mayer.  He isn't that dreamy about his career.  Berklee is one of only two colleges in the coutnry that has a film scoring major, and that is why he wants to go there so badly.  But he can learn commercial composition and arranging at other schools and he just needs to be entrepreneurial and find filmmakers that he can work with on music.

134 Rockmom, The last thing big name colleges are looking for is another intelligent, accomplished white kid. You should have raised a deaf-mute lesbian Asian/Black/American Indian with a cleft palate. Now you're talking full ride.

135

"My son ultimately wants to compose music for movies, TV shows, commercials, video games,. etc."

 

Charlie Waffles!

136
You'll just have to have an ironclad reason I should let you into the compound.

Posted by: irongrampa at April 18, 2011 09:34 AM (ud5dN)

Pleeeease....I'll bring bacon.

Posted by: Tami at April 18, 2011 09:36 AM (VuLos)

I don't know about you, but boobies are gonna be high on the list of qualifying criteria for my fortified compound.

137 131 Well ol David made it really easy for ol andy not to fight to raise taxes, David already raised them and monumentally.   NYer's are being raped by their state.  I wonder when most people are going to realize that they can use computers and video chats to "go to work" and leave NY cause it is getting to the point where it may not be worth it to live there.  What you are putting in and what you are getting back is not advantageous to the taxpayer.

Posted by: curious at April 18, 2011 11:10 AM (k1rwm)

However, you have Cuomo's "talented" girlfriend, Sandra Lee, to teach you how to make outstanding tablescapes.  (Mr. D'oh and I caught her Easter Spectacular yesterday.  It was mind-boggling.)

138 RT @jimgeraghty: This week Sens. Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin are in China. You know, taking notes.

139

@134 snort,

We actually just found out that our local community college has a music program where my son could take all the basic music theory classes and even piano.  It would cost us about $1500 a year.  Might be hard to transfer to one of the really big name music schools with that, because they are all really snobby about how much better and harder their thory classes are than anyone else's, but he could sure get into our State U.  The guy that he just got to sing in his rock band is going to the CC and loves it.

140 Posted by: Miss'80sBaby at April 18, 2011 11:14 AM (uVLrI)

The air fare on that trip alone is in the thousands, so who is paying for the air fare and the hotel and the meals.  Chuckie is cheap with his own money, if he had to pay, he'd stay home.

And did they take their families?

141

My son ultimately wants to compose music for movies, TV shows, commercials, video games,. etc.  with a backup plan of teaching private guitar lessons, doing arranging gigs, and maybe even being a session guitarist.  At least that is a more commercial ambition than wanting to be the next Paganini or thinking he will go to Berklee and be the next Steve Vai or John Mayer.  He isn't that dreamy about his career.  Berklee is one of only two colleges in the coutnry that has a film scoring major, and that is why he wants to go there so badly.  But he can learn commercial composition and arranging at other schools and he just needs to be entrepreneurial and find filmmakers that he can work with on music.

I'm of the opinion experience trumps classroom learning is almost every instance.

Do you live in CA? Why doesn't he apply for a minor job at one of the studio's in the music department. Even if it is an unpaying internship job.

Look at it this way, subsidizing him as he works as an unpaid intern is vastly cheaper than the 100k for school.

142 If I were the head of an empire like Jeff I would replace a third of the High Schools with Trade Schools.

143 Rockmom, when did Virginia Tech get choosy? I thought it doubled as the state university of Virginia. Hell, if I got in circa 1982 then anybody should be able to get in today!

144 126, No shit, I have a story. I was riding on the DC metro on my way to the Beck rally. A very handsome young man tried to get on board, the trains were packed and he said "I have to get on, I have to get to work" We squeezed him on and I asked him "where do you work" He was a bartender at on the big DC haunts. He said he was from Chicago and just graduated from Georgetown. He started complaining because he couldn't find a job in his major. He also made reference to his crushing student loan debt. I asked him what was his major? He said he had a masters in European social studies with a minor in some other bullshit. I smiled, I looked him in the eye and said. Well, I think you got the job you are qualified for" I was hoping to see a light go off in his head. It remained dark.

145 If I were that school in Texas that bought all that gold, I'd send a train or a caravan of trucks to pick it up now and I'd have it assayed before I moved any of it.  Why they would leave it in NY is mind boggling.

146

Every American is living today in the first political crisis he has ever known, and upon his decision and his action depend his right to own property, his exercise of his natural freedom, and the safety of his own life.  For nothing whatever but the constitutional law, the political structure, of these United States protects any American from arbitrary seizure of his property and his person, from the Gestapo and the Storm Troops, from the concentration camp, the torture chamber, the revolver at the back of his neck in a cellar.  I am not an alarmist; that is plain fact.

The major political parties do not yet represent this political issue.

In 1933 a group of sincere and ardent collectivists seized control of the Democratic Party, used it as a means of grasping Federal power, and enthusiastically, from motives which many of them regard as the highest idealism, began to make America over.  The Democratic Party is now a political mechanism having a genuine political principle: national socialism.

The Republican Party remains a political mechanism with no political principle.  It does not stand for American individualism.  Its leaders continue to play the 70-year-old American professional sport of vote-getting, called politics.

Americans (of both parties) who stand for American political principles therefore have no means of peaceful political action.  A vote for the New Deal approves national socialism, but a vote for the Republican Party does not repudiate national socialism.

Rose Wilder Lane

147 101 I wouldn't say that's off topic, momma. You've DOOMed my chances of an erection this morning. Rocked your world, didn't I?

148 Empire of Jeff __ I was looking at your stats and I noticed your blonde percentage is way down. If you want to be a successful borderline rapist remember we have two borders. Try working the Canada side for a while. The changeup might even help your ankle.

149

--So here is a kid with a 4.2 GPA

--My best friend's kid has a 4.25 GPA,

GPAs over 4 are ridiculous and show that the whole grading system is totally and utterly meaningless.  These schools are making a mockery of grading.

150

To quote Tom Cruise in Risky Business, "There's always the University of Illinois!"

Seriously--it's a good school.  I know the admissions people--let me know if I can help any of y'all get in. 

151 The boobie part has already been covered--or uncovered, as may be the case.


  Can't ever have enough ammo, tho'.

152 Posted by: Empire of Jeff, Borderline Rapist Injured Reserve at April 18, 2011 11:12 AM (5pIHA)

Don't forget "rape survivor." And she can write her essay on what it was like. She'll be a shoo-in.

153

@136 Empire of Jeff,

Hahahaha you are not kidding.  You should hav ebeen in my house on April 1 when all the big name colleges sent out their acceptance/rejections.  My son was furious.  Our high school is one of the top public HSs in the state and normally sends several kids to the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, etc.  This year one student got into Yale - black.  One got into Brown - Indian.  One got into MIT - Asian.  Lots of incredibly smart white kids, especially the boys, with huge GPAs and ACT/SATs did not get into any of the big name schools.  One of my son's (white) friends is a biology genius, won a huge national science fair in 8th grade and discovered an entire new line of bacteria, and she didn't get into Brown.  Her SAT score was way better than the Indian kid's who got in.  Everyone in the school knows this. 

The black girl sho got into Yale is really sharp, she knows she is an affirmative action kid and would not have gotten if is she were white.  She probably isn't even going there because they gave her no merit or financial aid and her parents can't afford it.   

154
I love the liberal use of the word 'enlightened'. It's a nice, not so subtle way of saying 'If you disagree with me, you're a bitter, gun-clinging, religious moron..'




That word pushes me into apoplexy. It's snooty, condescending, self-righteous, pusillanimous and annoyingly passive-aggressive. I love to eviscerate the trolls who come by the HQ using that word.

155 Anyone else see the article where on family who had five adopted kids got a 54k refund?

156 One got into Brown - Indian.  One got into MIT - Asian.

Usually being Asian is not a help on admissions. 

157 In my life I a noticed that there are two types of workers. Those that talk about doing stuff and those that do stuff. Too many of our college graduates, regardless of the school, think that they are a hell of a lot smarter than they are. They immediatly want 75k a year to talk about doing stuff. I highly reccomend a little time in the military or a trade school to give these kid an opportunity to actually learn how to do stuff. I don't care what their H.S. GPA was.

158 An enlightened ruling class?

Ruling class....

That term right there is where his entire argument falls to pieces.  The ruling class in America is and always has been the middle class, and even then only in the sense that it is we who define the morality of our nation, we who have the most say in the nature of the LAWS that govern our nation.

From there his argument goes even further afield from reality.  He talks about prosperity broadly shared.  Well I think that is a great idea.  To achieve this, how about we set up a free market economy with low barriers to entry in the context of a politically stable nation?  What...?  We already have that, and its working?

Yet again we have someone who believes the concept of human rights in terms of freedom from something.  Freedom from poverty, from hunger, from cold, etc, etc, etc.  Such human rights are a fallacy because they cannot be achieved for those who will not achieve them for themselves without violating the rights of others.  The only rights that can be freely given to any person are those rights which do not compromise the rights of others.  When a right has a price tag attached to it, a resource requirement, then someone has to pay that bill, and forcing someone else to bear that burden is a violation of their rights.  Socialism is involuntary servitude, slavery, and is morally reprehensible in addition to being a direct violation of the 13th amendment. 

This guy is just another indoctrinated Marxist whose ideas about sociology and economics have about as much validity as phrenology does for the fields of psychology and criminology.

Marxism is a pass/fail IQ test and this guy is stuck on stupid.

159
The boobie part has already been covered--or uncovered, as may be the case.


  Can't ever have enough ammo, tho'.

Posted by: irongrampa at April 18, 2011 11:20 AM (ud5dN)

I'm with ya on the ammo thing.

Still, I'm a great believer in the zombie apocalypse harem.

There are advantages to being a single moron.

160 I love all of the Reagan optimism that is found in Mounty's daily economic onanistic ritual.

161 I have an erection!

162 #159, bingo twice over. I know many people who are allegedly many tines smarter than me who are dumber than tree stumps.

 They just make me shake my head whilst fixing their fuckups. No clue about coping with the real world.

163

No we do not live in California, we live outside of Philly where there is not any film industry to speak of (though my son has joked about stalking M. Night Shyamalan to throw his music at him.)  My son also got into Belmont University, which is in Nashville.  Nashville does have a rapidly growing film scene, and of course all those music publishing houses and studios.  But it is lower in the pecking order of music schools.  We are enrolling him there anyway so we don't lose the spot in the class, and will probably convince him to go there.  He got a pretty sizable merit scholarship and a good financial aid package.

164

One got into Brown - Indian.  One got into MIT - Asian.

I had a good friend in highschool apply to a very selective school. He is extremely smart, had great grades, great SAT scores, and his father was an alumis. He is also white.

There was a black girl in our grade who applied, no smarter than he, and no better grades than he.

She got in, he didn't.

He desperately wanted to go to this school. He ended up going elsewhere, but the point was he didn't get in because of his skin color.

It baffles me that we are supposed to condem racism, slavery, and institutional racism that were prevelant in this country for a long time and then in the same breath praise it's new, reincarnated form. Those who are judge people based on their skin color in the private sector or their private lives are bigots and at the same time those who oppose race based quotas are bigots. It leaves me dumbfounded. It's a paradox.

It was bad and evil then, it is bad an evil now.

These quota's are doing nothing by swinging the pendulum in the opposite extreme.

 

165 Usually being Asian is not a help on admissions. 

Sure it is ... on admission into my pants.

166 More emboning of and by California.

http://tinyurl.com/3fze6ga

167 @151 - GPAs can go over 4.0 if you get As in a bunch of AP classes.  They are weighted, so an A+ is worth 4.5 instead of 4.  Schools will talk a lot about weighted and unweighted GPAs now.  AP classes are considered college level and are really hard, my son took two of them this year and worked his ass off compared to the "honors" classes he had been taking.  You can also take AP tests and most colleges will let your out of freshman courses if you did well enough on the AP test. 

168 An MBA is just about as bad any more. You spend four years in an undergrad program and two years in postgrad work mainly studying to use terms like "synergy" and "cross-branding" and "leveraging social media". It's not business any more; it's just PR with a business gloss. And it's mostly a complete waste of money. Entrepreneurs shouldn't piss away a hundred grand on a degree from the Stern School of Management; they should use the money to, you know, start a business.

Uhm.

It is weird of me to want to get an MA in accounting?

Can you get one without having to focus on taxation?

'Cos, if I ever wanted to be a lawyer, that would have happened years ago!

There is some stuff in retail (Grocery Stores in particular) that I find fucking fascinating!

Or, is accounting not the ticket?

I dunno.

I would love to get a hold of the data about what goes in and what goes out of a store or even a division.

How do you calibrate it?

I am always going to wonder.

Think I can make a job out of my wonderment?

169 Hahahaha you are not kidding.  You should hav ebeen in my house on April 1 when all the big name colleges sent out their acceptance/rejections.


I remember that day...a few years ago...very well.  A bunch of friends and I got the same rejection letters from UCLA and Berkeley at the same time.  We all had one distinguishing characteristic.

170

It was bad and evil then, it is bad an evil now.

These quota's are doing nothing by swinging the pendulum in the opposite extreme.

 Posted by: Ben at April 18, 2011 11:34 AM (wuv1c)

They are turning an entire generation of kids into conservatives though.  These Boomer educrats really don't understand that.

171

Cheap Ivy League,Ivy League Cheap,Northeast Ivy League Cheap,Cheap Northeast Ivy League,Ivy League Sale,Northeast Ivy League Diplomas

 

Disocunt College Diplomas,Cheap College Diplomas,Big Name College Sale,Retro College Diplomas,College Diplomas

 

Cheap Big Name College,Discount Big Name College,Big Name College Sale

 

Cheap Virgina Tech Diplomas,Virgina Tech Diplomas Cheap

 

Julliard Drama,Cheap Julliard Drama

172 So S&P issues a warning and the Admin. has only sent-out the Assistant Treasury Secretary to tell us that S&P doesn't understand how serious the govt is?

173 My son also got into Belmont University, which is in Nashville. Nashville does have a rapidly growing film scene, and of course all those music publishing houses and studios. But it is lower in the pecking order of music schools. Before he sets his cap on making a living at music, you might want to have him go talk with people who are professional musicians. Here's one truth: as a rule, you barely make enough to live on. One really good session guy I know only pulls down about $30K a year doing that gig -- and he's a first-call guy. He has a second job teaching at a private school, and his wife works because he doesn't get any benefits. There isn't much money in music, even for pros who have been doing it for years. It's like athletes wanting to go into professional sports -- a lucky few make millions, but most don't even make a living wage at it, and can't even work at it full-time. This is why saying "Follow your dreams!" to many kids is really shitty advice in many cases. Their dreams aren't that realistic.

174

The key to happiness in life is not wanting anything too much, especially if that something depends on the approval of others.  That's why the whole college admissions game is very silly to me. 

Nobody can tell me that my college experience would have been better at some exclusive, secluded Athens-on-a-hill nestled within the Vermont shires populated by nubile, experimentally minded jewish princesses....as opposed to a steamy, non-air conditioned lecture hall in a 200-level class taught by a Chinese TA who is incomprehensible in English let alone in pronouncing the Latin terms for brain anatomy, sitting among 496 of my fellow classmates at Nameless U, while the odors from the pig farms waft in with every late-arriving student, mixing with the ever present aroma of sweat and bologna.    

At least I didn't have any student loans to pay off when I grad'ated.   

175 Monty, did you know that you have two [UPDATE 2]s? Not to be pedantic or anything. Okay, I'm being pedantic, but still.

176 Doom? Doom? Fine, but our dominant media has far bigger fish to fry. There are much more serious issues out there than world financial collapse. This very moment, in the other room, the TV happened to be on the Today Show. They are doing a long segment on the vile cultural perils of Barbie. I shit you not. They are doing a lengthy anti-Barbie crusade. For the Girl Children and Their Body Images.

177

32 It's interesting that people like Dionne who refer to America's "ruling class" are usually the same ones that refer to America's citizens as "the masses".

Hahaha!  And you know he considers himself part of the "ruling class" and those of us here at AoS as "the masses". 

178 Monty, did you know that you have two [UPDATE 2]s? I do now. I was going to fix it, but...eh. I'll let my dumbassery stand. You gotta stay humble.

179 did you know that you have two [UPDATE 2]s? Inflation has eroded the value of single updates.

180

... They are doing a lengthy anti-Barbie crusade. For the Girl Children and Their Body Images.
Posted by: George Orwell at April 18, 2011 11:46 AM (AZGON)

The bastards can never leave childhood alone.  They never can let a kid dream, it's always got to be mired in reality as though we can't tell the difference.

Next thing you know, they'll be saying it's no use to working out with those hand grip strengtheners to develop your Kung-fu Grip^TM

(I'm expecting that acceptance letter from the Adventure Team any day now...)

181   If you find a career doing something you love, then I say you have succeeded in life.  Worked in my case, pursuing my career for 40 years, and I found that while we didn't make a TON of money, there was always enough.  So many people I talk with hate what they do, but there's a common thread running through the complaints--"I hate this, but the money's good".  Not a valid reason to remain trapped in a job you detest, imho.

  Doesn't really matter what you do, loving or just liking it removes a shitload of mental stress. It's what I've experienced, anyway.

182 182, I kept seeing these small blue bruise marks on my daughter's Barbies breasts. It turns out the neighbor kids GI joe has Kung Fu Grip.

183 GPAs can go over 4.0 if you get As in a bunch of AP classes.  They are weighted, so an A+ is worth 4.5 instead of 4.  Schools will talk a lot about weighted and unweighted GPAs now.  AP classes are considered college level and are really hard, my son took two of them this year and worked his ass off compared to the "honors" classes he had been taking.  You can also take AP tests and most colleges will let your out of freshman courses if you did well enough on the AP test. 

Posted by: rockmom at April 18, 2011 11:36 AM (Y01Pi)

I understand, but it's still bullshit.  Total, unequivocal bullshit.  I took my AP classes in 10th grade and did my math at Haverford college while I was in high school, and still only counted a normal GPA, as should be done.  I have no patience and no tolerance for the abuse of grades that the schools are going through, in order so that they can raise the grades of the mediocre students.  The students have their AP exams to show what they actually learned in their alleged AP classes and they have the SATs and ACTs to show how much bullshit is in their GPAs, in addition to that. 

184 The ironic thing about Today's imbecilic anti-Barbie crusade as seen on air this morning? The two anti-Barbie activists were themselves both blonde, attractive, slender women with careful makeup and hair, one adult and one perhaps late teen or maybe twenty. This is the age of stupidity.

185 184 182, I kept seeing these small blue bruise marks on my daughter's Barbies breasts. It turns out the neighbor kids GI joe has Kung Fu Grip. Posted by: Oldsailor's poet at April 18, 2011 11:56 AM (cDRYC) Thank God neither of them have genitalia!

186 Amen, irongrampa!   

187

This is the age of stupidity.

 

Someone needs to slip them some Chinese Blue Pork.

188 DJIA off 199.84. Just to keep things DOOOOMy.

189

54 And regarding the education bubble, I think at some point down the road, we'll move more towards certification programs where you have to be able to demonstrate you know what you're doing. That's open to abuse also but probably still the best way to go. 

 

You are right about the abuse part, look at the entrance exams given across the country to (aspiring) firefighters and police officers.  If not enough minority test-takers score high enough on the exam to make the cut, cries of racism ring out and the exam results are re-normed to make the passing score less than 50%.  What good is an exam result like that, if you could get a higher score by flipping a coin?

 

190 I'm thinking of marketing a Barbie Breast Enhancement Kit. Includes scalpel with child-safety grip, two scale-sized double D silicone implants, an anaesthetic tank with pink mask, and flowered operating table.

191 I'm thinking of marketing a Barbie Breast Enhancement Kit. Includes scalpel with child-safety grip, two scale-sized double D silicone implants, an anaesthetic tank with pink mask, and flowered operating table.

Posted by: George Orwell

 

And then they could add a Ken Lawyer Malpractice Expansion pack.

192 @185 it's all bullshit, you are right.  My son has the opposite problem, not a lot of AP classes, didn't like to do homework and forgot assignments and so got a lot of Bs and B+s.  Then he pulled a 31 on his ACT with 35s in reading and writing.  I could have wrung his neck.  Now he is breezing through Calculus II and AP macroeconomics.  But the college decisions are already in.  He could have had a huge GPA if he hadn't been so damn disorganized. 

193

"Ruling class???"

That cocksucker Dionne is really going full on Marxist, isn't he?

How about we tax the shit out of everybody in Boston, NY, and DC? I mean confiscate everything they make over $50 K. From each, to each, and all that.

"Closed to new talent?" Anyone in mind here, E. J.? Hmmm? Also, are you saying what we have now is talent? That's news to me.

194 I think you're going to need Slublog to revise that graphic some; we're in for a world-ending plunge.

195 I have to say that I'm not particularly fond of the ratings agencies, given their miserable performance over the years. They've been rating stuff at investment-grade for years that I wouldn't use as bung-wipe. The ratings agencies are the C- students of the finance world. Still...it'll be interesting to see what kind of pressure this puts on Geithner and Bernanke. Their "We'll print more!" plan to end the Great Recession is encountering some pushback from the bond vigilantes. [Thanks to Andy and Guy Fawkes.]

I found a site over the weekend that claims that the government, through the RTC, forced the rating agencies to apply AAA ratings to MBS instruments that came out of the S&L crisis. So they are a captive of the government like Fannie and Freddie are. The video was pretty convincing - you can find it at MarketSkeptics dot com.

196 Posted by: Diplomaz Cheep at April 18, 2011 11:42 AM (WDySP)

I saw what you did there.

Almost clever!

You kind of failed though, by not actually linking each of your too disgusting titles to NSFW Ukrainian Sheep Porno with viral attacks!

Or at least, Lace Wigs ...

(You big pervert!  You clicked on that!  Why? )

197 And then they could add a Ken Lawyer Malpractice Expansion pack. Includes replacement scalp with life-like hair plugs for Ken, and for Ken's car extra license plates reading "SHYSTR 1"

198
Posted by: Diplomaz Cheep at April 18, 2011 11:42 AM (WDySP)




Okay, that's funny.

199 Too much DOOM. This is exactly why we need to be mining turbinium on Mars, - to generate some wealth and da clean air.

200

192 I'm thinking of marketing a Barbie Breast Enhancement Kit. Includes scalpel with child-safety grip, two scale-sized double D silicone implants, an anaesthetic tank with pink mask, and flowered operating table.
Posted by: George Orwell at April 18, 2011 12:00 PM (AZGON)

Are you implying that Barbie's breasts are not REAL?  That they are ... PLASTIC?

SOB!

(There go my childhood illusions, down in flames like a Cobra rattler...)

201

The bastards can never leave childhood alone.  They never can let a kid dream, it's always got to be mired in reality as though we can't tell the difference.

 

When I was a kid, my dream was to fuck Snow White.  Man!  That was a rude flash of reality.

202 Absent human nature, we're all saved!

203 Seriously, E. J. Dionne? Guys like Hugh Hewitt still talk to him on is show. Why? A complete waste of time. Just go skim that column from Dionne quoted above. It's so shallow if it were a pond you could walk across it and never wet the soles of your flip-flops. Why does anyone pay this dolt a penny to write a single sentence? His dreck is one-half notch above something like the following: "Rich people just take everything for themselves and us little people shouldn't put up with it any longer. Steal their stuff and spread it around. Who's gonna stop us? Let's smash their cars and break their windows. They owe us and let's make them pay." Glance at his column again. Just how far apart is it and the improvised drool above?

204

When I was a kid, my dream was to fuck Snow White.  Man!  That was a rude flash of reality.

Posted by: Soona

 

Back off pervert.

205 Back off pervert. Posted by: Grumpy Bet you never knew there were eight dwarves. But back in the day, Disney kept me under wraps. Today, not so much.

206

When I was a kid, my dream was to fuck Snow White.  Man!  That was a rude flash of reality.

Posted by: Soona

Not me, she had short hair. I wanted princess Aurora.

207

An enlightened ruling class understands that it can get richer and its riches will be more secure if prosperity is broadly shared, if government is investing in productive projects that lift the whole society

Such as:

--High speed rail lines that do not even have stations.

--Cowboy poetry.

--Training PLO cops to kill Jewish settlers in their sleep.

--The entire Department of Homeland Security.

--The entire Department of Energy, which during its existence has DOUBLED the amount of imported oil coming into the country.

--The entire Department of Education, which during its existence...well, you know. 

--Sugar subsidies.

--Rice subsidies.

--Ethanol subsidies.

--Postal subsidies.  Horrible Vegas Statue of Liberty imagery included.

--Chevy Cruzes with steering wheels that come off.  They come off.  THEY COME THE HELL OFF WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING.

--Lots of presidential golf.

--Airstrikes in Libya.  For just a couple of more days until the Belgians, Portugese, and Czechs can take command of the Mediterranean skies.

--No airstrikes in Syria.

--ATF gun running ops to Mexico.

--Joe Biden's Secret Service detail.

--25% of the budget of the United Nations.  To be fair, according to the UN we should all be dead by now from the 50,000 foot increase in global sea levels predicted in 2005.

--Countless federal grants to idiot lefties to "raise issue awareness" for Andean llama wool rot, abused blind lesbians, National Jute Month, and Ewok scabies.

I can go on and on.

Unfortunately, so can E.J. Dionne.

 

208
"it's not that they want to pay higher taxes (they could simply write a check to the Treasury if that were the case); they want everyone else to pay higher taxes."

That's true of a lot of leftist ideas in general; the mantra is always "Wouldn't it be great if we all just [insert 'meritorious' act here]" or "I think that everyone should [insert symbolic gesture here]". And when it becomes clear that everyone won't do it, they resort to coercion to make sure that everyone does do it.

Oh, and DOOM.

209 One more thing:  Everyone raise your hand who thinks that Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security "open up the talent pool."  What an effing idiot.

210 Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at April 18, 2011 12:22 PM (B+qrE) I don't get it. Everything you listed sounded good to me. Especially the Cruze steering wheels. It's good to get people off the highways and into public transportation, even if it's on a gurney.

211

‘Bread and CircusesÂ’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome."   -- Robert Heinlein

212 "GPAs over 4 are ridiculous and show that the whole grading system is totally and utterly meaningless.  These schools are making a mockery of grading."

Oooooooh No! I received 100% on my Biochemistry final!
I will never get into grad school?  My family is shamed...

213

Posted by: Monty at April 18, 2011 10:23 AM (4Pleu)

You're right about the MBA's. I've heard many people make derogatory comments about MBA's also over the last several years, even before my time in Korea, not being worth much.

If you haven't caught it, occasionally CNBC reairs a documentary on debt incurred for university. I forget what it was called but it featured many people saddled with debt they can never legally discharge for degrees that aren't very useful. Great documentary. Scary.

 

214 #214 - Congratulations on the 100% on your Biochem Final.  Too bad about the "F" on your Reading Comprehension exam.

215 Ewok scabies.
No fair, cutting the bosses favorite before he's awake.

216

دردشة عراقية

  شات عراقي

  جات عراقي

 جات العراق

 شات العراق

شات عراقي كتابي