State of The Union 2012

[Gaspar]

You might consider opening your eyes to sources not involved in your religion.

Nice opener.  What is my religion Nate?

[Conan71]

Yes, but HCR did not cause it. It was already doing that.



The fact of the matter is that the situation we're in is a direct result of years of government policy by lobbyist steering us in the wrong direction. Perhaps we should fix those policies before we give up and tell people to just hope for the best.

Telling people to go out and get $10-20,000 in debt for a technical degree in an environment where the unemployment rate in that cohort is less than 1% below the overall average while a four year degree (and being over 25) nets you a much better chance at being employed. Of course, as you're well aware, that college degree is something of a boat anchor when your employment is at Best Buy or Target.

I guess our health insurance agent is lying to us as well as FMC who also markets a health insurance line.  I'll have to have a discussion with her about that.  

Just because the job picture is weak right now, doesn't mean someone should not pursue a better education.  Not everyone is suited for a four year college degree and it's not necessary to get a job even in this economic environment if someone has a trade or skill. The right person with the right attitude and skills is going to go to work.  In this economy there's still vacancies for mechanical engineers, auto body mechanics, chefs, chiropractors, attorneys, physicians, auto mechanics, carpenters, interior designers, insurance agents, hair stylists, morticians, etc- a general mix of technical and college degree type jobs.

My daughter will graduate with a bachelor's degree in interior design in less than four months.  You'd think that's a tricky field to hire into right now and it is.  She sets herself apart because she's a very hard worker, has amazing vision, has an engaging personality, and has taken advantage of every opportunity that's come her way to get her work in front of people she may be able to work for when she's done with school.  She tells me she's got great prospects and expects and offer prior to graduation from a large commercial design firm.

Of course this is a child of a broken home who had to suffer through a public school education after 4th grade.  

My brother got his business degree from TU in 1986.  After graduation, he paid too much for a business he'd worked for four years, thinking he knew all the shortcomings of the previous owner's mismanagement and he could improve it.  Turns out, he was wrong and it failed within two years.  He found himself working at Target for a year waiting for some sort of opportunity to come about.  Was that degree wasted while he was under-employed?  Of course not, it helped him land a gig in the lending industry where he worked his way up the ladder until his death in 2000.  They never even questioned that he was under-employed, it showed work ethic even if the work was well beneath and totally irrelevant to his degree.  He found the finance job during the downturn of the early 1990's when many others were having trouble finding work.
 

[Conan71]

Oh, and heard on the radio this afternoon: Warren Buffett's secretary will be part of the perp walk at the SOTU.

Also heard that the suggestion of moving all that oil from Alberta to Houston could be done in a greener method by train.  Guess who owns a big chunk of BNSF?

That's right, Warren Buffett.  Seems fairly ironic now that Nebraska is the sticky wickett in the Keystone Pipeline.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/23/bloomberg_articlesLY20WE6K50Z001-LY9YF.DTL

More influence peddling? Coincidence? Crony capitalism?

[Teatownclown]

Stick to the potty party line...."Get ready for the biggest, hate filled, class warfare speech ever tonight."


"Get ready for the biggest, hate filled, class warfare speech ever tonight."
This theory is much in play if you read some of Gaspar these posts.

[Gaspar]

You might consider opening your eyes to sources not involved in your religion. If you did, you would know that income mobility, both intergenerational and intragenerational, has decreased significantly since the middle of the century.

This is not, as you attempt to argue, anything like the color of the sky. This is due to a systematic effort on the part of both political parties (at the behest of the Randian loons) to reshape the income distribution to look more like that of a third world country, largely through preferential tax treatment of income that mainly accrues to those at the top of the distribution. It's not a force of nature, it's a force of politics.

Edited to add: Perhaps the Wall Street Journal can explain it in terms you understand: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577030720603515022.html

Good article and I would be very interested to see the results of that study.  

I have spent a great deal of time in 3rd world countries.  They make you appreciate the freedoms we enjoy here and provide a deep prospective as to what it means to be poor and wealthy.  Your Randian loons may have come home to roost, because long after her death, the characters have changed but the story continues to play out.  Just last week there was another proposal for the creation of a "Reasonable Profits Board" to regulate corporate profits for oil companies.  Stolen from the pages of the loon bible.  They didn't even cite the text.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/205085-dems-propose-reasonable-profits-board-to-regulate-oil-company-profits

[Teatownclown]

You think POTUS OBAMA might finally attack the silent politicians?....not the one's who come out to proclaim their lies as truth but the politicians who refuse to refute hate and tolerances... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/media-violent-rhetoric_b_1225552.html

[Gaspar]

You think POTUS OBAMA might finally attack the silent politicians?....not the one's who come out to proclaim their lies as truth but the politicians who refuse to refute hate and tolerances... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/media-violent-rhetoric_b_1225552.html

No, I think he will blame Bush.

[Conan71]

You think POTUS OBAMA might finally attack the silent politicians?....not the one's who come out to proclaim their lies as truth but the politicians who refuse to refute hate and tolerances... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/media-violent-rhetoric_b_1225552.html

Come on now, enough of the reach-around logic here.  By extension, let's blame an entire political party or talk radio for the actions of some sick f*ck.  Really?

Oh, that's right individual accountability is so 1950's.

[Teatownclown]

You're right. That link belonged on a different thread....people who hate liberals don't understand collectivism. We live in progressive times these sick f*cks don't like.

[Teatownclown]

This will be in POTUS OBAMA's 2015 State of the Union: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9031855/Its-time-to-end-the-failed-war-on-drugs.html

[Conan71]

This will be in POTUS OBAMA's 2015 State of the Union: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9031855/Its-time-to-end-the-failed-war-on-drugs.html

I think he will be watching the 2015 SOTU from Honolulu

[nathanm]

Nice opener.  What is my religion Nate?

I believe it's called Objectivism.

[Hoss]

I think he will be watching the 2015 SOTU from Honolulu

Unless the current spate of GOP hopefuls gets better, he may indeed.  He'll wind up moving the White House to the 50th state.

[nathanm]

Oh, hey, it's a live stream that will supposedly have charts and graphs!

[Conan71]

Oh, hey, it's a live stream that will supposedly have charts and graphs!

More propaganda from the state-run media