^JesusFreak

Reagan made drastic budget cuts to education. I'd call that austerity. Do you have some specific bit of policy you believe to be the culprit instead?

Sounds like your teacher friend is confusing his role as a teacher with his role as an employee. If he feels he is being mistreated by his district, he is allowed to stand up for himself. If teachers allow themselves to be bullied into pay cuts or poor working conditions, the profession becomes less competitive and thus less effective. This might explain why Texas is dead last in high school graduates? His students are less likely to graduate, but at least they don't have to worry about him going on strike. Well done! To hell with union states and all their uppity diploma earners!

Further reading:
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/why-does-texas-rank-last-in-high-school-diplomas/

The problem with education is funding. More funding = better education. Period. The government has been plenty 'creative' by allowing private charter schools into the educational system. In a study done at Stanford, they found that 37% of charter schools underperformed their public counterparts, 46% were comparable and 17% were better. Among the charter schools that did outperform public schools were schools like the Harlem Children's Zone, which get much higher funding. The take away here is that you get what you pay for. If we want better schools, we need to fund them.

Further reading on this topic:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charter-schools/?pagination=false

As far as I know, RP doesn't have any kind of realistic jobs plan, other than to further deregulate big business, cut their taxes and then pray for some hot trickle down watersports action. And, as you say, I guess he also has no problem with vast economic disparity. These two points are a great illustration of how out of touch he is with the world around him. He seems like a nice guy, and I like his liberal views on foreign policy, but if he is going to willingly kowtow to wall street, then he is the wrong guy for the job.

Congrats, JesusFreak!

@blankfist - Everyone else on this site knows you are conservative. Everyone else but you. Come out of the closet already. Don't you notice how JesusFreak and QM fawn over your comments and posts. It's no coincidence. It's cool. Let your inner confederate flag fly.

Back to the topic. Hayek is the poster child for right wing economics. He was the darling of right wingers like Reagan, Thatcher, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Augusto Pinochet. He believed in deregulation, privatization and austerity, and he wasn't opposed to shedding a little blood to make it all happen.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

^Us per usual, JesusFreak is clueless. Had safety valve regulations been in place - as is the case in many other countries - the BP oil disaster would have been averted.
Enlighten yourself here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212031
417936798.html
"U.S. regulators don't mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn't have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated."
Pro tip: If you accuse others of stupidity, you should be careful to not pair the charge with obviously stupid commentary of your own.


You mean the regulatory body in charge of regulating it wasn't regulating it well enough? How is that any different? If only government could solve problems with hindsight, we would be set! Pro tip, if you make a point, actually make one.


PS. Are those laws even in place yet? Also, "PAGE UNAVAILABLE". I will have to take your word on the government being inept.

^Us per usual, JesusFreak is clueless. Had safety valve regulations been in place - as is the case in many other countries - the BP oil disaster would have been averted.

Enlighten yourself here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html

"U.S. regulators don't mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn't have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated."

Pro tip: If you wish to accuse others of stupidity, you should be careful to not pair the charge with obviously stupid commentary of your own.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
That chart fails to show death rates in comparison with birth rates...Afghanistan is hardly a dense place yet has an astounding birth rate. As with all things, it isn't as simple as A) more people = better for all people, or B) Less people = better for all people...there will always be haves and have not's. However, having MORE people does tend to show higher levels of specialization. For instance, in the US, we have some of the largest and most varied amount of professional athletes.
I think it is better to understand birthrates/death rates in tandem WITH the national economic context they are in. Healthy economic condition would see peoples standards of living increase as more people are added to the equation. There is a fundamental limit on this which is mainly technological in nature (traffic,food,pollution,ect). In other words, you have to compare apples to apples and realize that correlation isn't causation. Zimbabwe would not be cured if their population was halved, their condition is much more a result of political bungling then shear population size. Really, I think population isn't an issue yet on a macro level...micro though it makes all the difference. The difference of the quality of life of someone that has 5 kids and 2 is undeniable. But when the 7 kids are all older, that is 7 people to potentially contribute to the world with all their gifts and talents.
Also, what birth and death rates don't tell you about total population is immigration. Look at the US for that, birth rates here are below 2 on average (last stat I saw was 1.98), but US has always had strong immigration tendencies and our population still continues to grow. Not taking into account migration is to not paint a complete picture of the world.


Aye all good points, i just wish there was more of an emphasis on birth control in these places that currently get food aid, not that i am against giving hungry children food, but just feeding a few of them doesn't solve the core problems (i'm not saying just birth control will either). The death rates per country (as you mentioned was missing) closely matches that of the birth rates given in my earlier link, the top 40 is pretty much all African nations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_death_rate

I realise some work goes into education (in regards to use of condoms etc) in these countries with rampant poverty, but there is still much ignorance, in no small part because pretty much all the major religions oppose the use of condoms because of their view that chastity is "the only sure way of preventing the spread of HIV and Aids" (Pope Benedict). When ignorance of this magnitude is present in the world, bad things happen.
edit: just saw your name is Jesusfreak, hopefully you realise i dont mean to use the religious view on condoms as a personal attack.

Lol.. JesusFreak takes on the old stick-finger-in-ears approach.

NO ONE IS STILL LIVING FROM 300,000 YEARS AGO, SO HOW CAN WE KNOW ANY OF THIS CLIMATE SCIENCE GRAPHS!!!!

What an asshole. Does he realize no one can verify that Jesus was ever on Earth. No one can prove he became a zombie after three days and escaped his grave.

Oh, someone wrote it down you say. Which is more reliable, some book written from emotional pleadings and personal accounts.. Or gas trapped in ice.

Are you saying we can't rely on tree rings? Because no one was alive 300 years ago to confirm the tree really was alive / growing back then.

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