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It's Just Hard To Get Ahead When The Numbers Keep Taking Us Backwards
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vicvanb
Guest
Recession Coming To Your Neighborhood
Yes, and it's just the beginning.
Yesterday Bush scheduled a press conference at the same time the Federal Reserve Chairman (Bernanke) was testifying. Bush the cheerleader did it to take the spotlight off Bernanke who gave a gloomy forecast for the next several months. Bush's message was the same old "Don't worry, Be happy" bunk he always spouts.
Unfortunately, the depositors at the IndyMac bank in CA don't believe Bush. Nor do those who can't afford home heating oil at $5+ a gallon. Or, for that matter, the airline CEOs whose jet fuel prices have doubled in the last year.
The McCain campaign says for all those gripers to stop whining!
It's time for change!
Yes, and it's just the beginning.
Yesterday Bush scheduled a press conference at the same time the Federal Reserve Chairman (Bernanke) was testifying. Bush the cheerleader did it to take the spotlight off Bernanke who gave a gloomy forecast for the next several months. Bush's message was the same old "Don't worry, Be happy" bunk he always spouts.
Unfortunately, the depositors at the IndyMac bank in CA don't believe Bush. Nor do those who can't afford home heating oil at $5+ a gallon. Or, for that matter, the airline CEOs whose jet fuel prices have doubled in the last year.
The McCain campaign says for all those gripers to stop whining!
It's time for change!
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Mr. D
Guest
Here's a liberal's concept!
1. Stop spending money policing the world! Attack the underlying causes for terrorism instead of trying to police the globe and causing even more terrorism and danger to the U.S.
2. Balance the budget! If it is worth occupying Iraq than have our taxes raised to pay for it instead of putting it on a credit card as is done now.
3. Federal and State financing of all campaigns with a law that says take a dime from special interests while holding or running for public office and you go to prison. Take the legal bribes out of politics so officials can vote their conscience for a change! A bag of money is not free speech! Talk about twisting the Constitution. Speech in word or print is free speech! A bribe to a government official is not free speech!
4. Create a Universal Medicare type health care program and a Social Security Retirement System and tell the American public they have to pay for it and make it solvent and let them make the choice like "big people" instead of trying to scare them away from it! Facts rather then scare tactics say it can be done!!
I think I'm wasting my typing!
1. Stop spending money policing the world! Attack the underlying causes for terrorism instead of trying to police the globe and causing even more terrorism and danger to the U.S.
2. Balance the budget! If it is worth occupying Iraq than have our taxes raised to pay for it instead of putting it on a credit card as is done now.
3. Federal and State financing of all campaigns with a law that says take a dime from special interests while holding or running for public office and you go to prison. Take the legal bribes out of politics so officials can vote their conscience for a change! A bag of money is not free speech! Talk about twisting the Constitution. Speech in word or print is free speech! A bribe to a government official is not free speech!
4. Create a Universal Medicare type health care program and a Social Security Retirement System and tell the American public they have to pay for it and make it solvent and let them make the choice like "big people" instead of trying to scare them away from it! Facts rather then scare tactics say it can be done!!
I think I'm wasting my typing!
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Rock63
Guest
Here's a liberal's concept!
1. Stop spending money policing the world! Attack the underlying causes for terrorism instead of trying to police the globe and causing even more terrorism and danger to the U.S.
2. Balance the budget! If it is worth occupying Iraq than have our taxes raised to pay for it instead of putting it on a credit card as is done now.
3. Federal and State financing of all campaigns with a law that says take a dime from special interests while holding or running for public office and you go to prison. Take the legal bribes out of politics so officials can vote their conscience for a change! A bag of money is not free speech! Talk about twisting the Constitution. Speech in word or print is free speech! A bribe to a government official is not free speech!
4. Create a Universal Medicare type health care program and a Social Security Retirement System and tell the American public they have to pay for it and make it solvent and let them make the choice like "big people" instead of trying to scare them away from it! Facts rather then scare tactics say it can be done!!
I think I'm wasting my typing!
Mr. D.
Items 1 and 2 are fiscally conservative, not liberal.
Item 3 is just plain logical, not conservative, not liberal.
Item 4 is socialist, not liberal, and will give you the failing medical system that has Canadians seeking medical treatment in the US.
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Mr. D
Guest
That's the trouble with your need to label everything to find out if you like it! I don't care what it is if it works!
Incidentally, we have many Americans seeking medical treatment in Mexico and they are not all Latino! Those with gobs of money will come to the U.S. for the best treatment not available to most. Take a look at medical treatment VS. cost in France and Switzerland. The belief our system is best in the health levels it produces VS. cost is a myth! When spend the most and many are uncovered and we have poor health outcomes. Check the statistical facts not the Insurance Industries scare propaganda!
Incidentally, we have many Americans seeking medical treatment in Mexico and they are not all Latino! Those with gobs of money will come to the U.S. for the best treatment not available to most. Take a look at medical treatment VS. cost in France and Switzerland. The belief our system is best in the health levels it produces VS. cost is a myth! When spend the most and many are uncovered and we have poor health outcomes. Check the statistical facts not the Insurance Industries scare propaganda!
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Rock63
Guest
Personally I believe that insurance is the very thing that has destroyed our medical system in the USA.
We get car insurance for large problems, not for oil changes, tire changes, and regular wear and tear. Thus the insurance pool includes many customers who do not make a claim year after year. The pool can thus pay for the few large accidents.
But if we did car insurance like we do health care insurance, we would draw on the pool for every little thing, thus the pool would have to be much much deeper. And this insurance would not be affordable for the average driver.
We should not expect medical insurance to cover colds, bad teeth, flu, sore throat, etc. Instead insurance should be like auto coverage, and just cover the big stuff like required surgery, broken bones. This way we can all pay in to create a large pool, and most of us would only draw on it a few times in our lives. This insurance could be affordable.
Remember that insurance by definition spreads more than 100% of the insured costs accross all of the insured. (all of the costs of the insured procedures, plus the cost of administration, less any earnings from invested revenues)
We get car insurance for large problems, not for oil changes, tire changes, and regular wear and tear. Thus the insurance pool includes many customers who do not make a claim year after year. The pool can thus pay for the few large accidents.
But if we did car insurance like we do health care insurance, we would draw on the pool for every little thing, thus the pool would have to be much much deeper. And this insurance would not be affordable for the average driver.
We should not expect medical insurance to cover colds, bad teeth, flu, sore throat, etc. Instead insurance should be like auto coverage, and just cover the big stuff like required surgery, broken bones. This way we can all pay in to create a large pool, and most of us would only draw on it a few times in our lives. This insurance could be affordable.
Remember that insurance by definition spreads more than 100% of the insured costs accross all of the insured. (all of the costs of the insured procedures, plus the cost of administration, less any earnings from invested revenues)
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Mr. D
Guest
My son just got a teaching job and he will have to commute 50 miles each way because they are laying off teachers by the hundreds around this area and jobs are scarce. So now he has to deal with the cost of fuel at $4.50 a gal for 100 miles a day. Yah, the economy is just fine for some people!
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Phil Deese
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Why are they laying off teachers?? Is the state going broke?? Has the union stepped in to help??? I rest my case!!
Why are they laying off teachers?? Is the state going broke?? Has the union stepped in to help??? I rest my case!!
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Phil Deese
Guest
Unionized Teachers.......................................... ....
The Union Contract: Bargaining Away Quality, Wrapping Schools in Red Tape
Modeled after labor arrangements in factories, the typical teachers union contract is loaded with provisions that do not promote education. These provisions drive away good teachers, protect bad teachers, raise costs, and tie principals’ hands.
The Dance of the Lemons
“Teacher performance and student achievement have nothing to do with each other”
Education reporter Dale Mezzacappa reflects on her union run-ins: click here to read more.
Interview with the expert
We asked Myron Lieberman, a longtime teachers union expert, about surprises lurking in the typical union contract.
One highly destructive feature of the typical teachers union contract is a system that forces principals to hire teachers who transfer from other schools within the district. Since these teachers frequently are transferring because of poor performance in their original schools, the practice is called “the dance of the lemons” or “passing the trash.”
Unintended Consequences, a 2005 study by The New Teacher Project (TNTP), documented the damage done by this union-imposed staffing policy. In an extensive survey of five major metropolitan school districts, TNTP found that “40 percent of school-level vacancies, on average, were filled by voluntary transfers or excessed teachers over whom schools had either no choice at all or limited choice.” One principal decried the process as “not about the best-qualified [teacher] candidate but rather satisfying union rules.”
Thinning the Talent Pool
One problem related to the destructive transfer system is a hiring process that takes too long and/or starts too late, thanks in part to union contracts. Would-be teachers typically cannot be hired until senior teachers have had their pick of the vacancies, and the transfer process makes principals reluctant to post vacancies at all for fear of having a bad teacher fill it instead of a promising new hire. In its study Missed Opportunities, The New Teacher Project found that these staffing hurdles help push urban districts’ hiring timelines later to the point that “anywhere from 31 percent to almost 60 percent of applicants withdrew from the hiring process, often to accept jobs with districts that made offers earlier.”
“Of those who withdrew,” the TNTP report continues
The Union Contract: Bargaining Away Quality, Wrapping Schools in Red Tape
Modeled after labor arrangements in factories, the typical teachers union contract is loaded with provisions that do not promote education. These provisions drive away good teachers, protect bad teachers, raise costs, and tie principals’ hands.
The Dance of the Lemons
“Teacher performance and student achievement have nothing to do with each other”
Education reporter Dale Mezzacappa reflects on her union run-ins: click here to read more.
Interview with the expert
We asked Myron Lieberman, a longtime teachers union expert, about surprises lurking in the typical union contract.
One highly destructive feature of the typical teachers union contract is a system that forces principals to hire teachers who transfer from other schools within the district. Since these teachers frequently are transferring because of poor performance in their original schools, the practice is called “the dance of the lemons” or “passing the trash.”
Unintended Consequences, a 2005 study by The New Teacher Project (TNTP), documented the damage done by this union-imposed staffing policy. In an extensive survey of five major metropolitan school districts, TNTP found that “40 percent of school-level vacancies, on average, were filled by voluntary transfers or excessed teachers over whom schools had either no choice at all or limited choice.” One principal decried the process as “not about the best-qualified [teacher] candidate but rather satisfying union rules.”
Thinning the Talent Pool
One problem related to the destructive transfer system is a hiring process that takes too long and/or starts too late, thanks in part to union contracts. Would-be teachers typically cannot be hired until senior teachers have had their pick of the vacancies, and the transfer process makes principals reluctant to post vacancies at all for fear of having a bad teacher fill it instead of a promising new hire. In its study Missed Opportunities, The New Teacher Project found that these staffing hurdles help push urban districts’ hiring timelines later to the point that “anywhere from 31 percent to almost 60 percent of applicants withdrew from the hiring process, often to accept jobs with districts that made offers earlier.”
“Of those who withdrew,” the TNTP report continues
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It's time for change![/QUOTE]
The Dems been in charge now for 4 years. Gas has doubled while on their watch-who will you change to??
The best candidates were eliminated during the "debates" that some couldnt even get a question asked of them.
That is caddidate SELECTION-nothing elected about the process.
Like Jimmy Carter-unknown-whose name appeared as newspaper headlines 6 nights a week for 15-16 months. Geuss who won??
The Dems been in charge now for 4 years. Gas has doubled while on their watch-who will you change to??
The best candidates were eliminated during the "debates" that some couldnt even get a question asked of them.
That is caddidate SELECTION-nothing elected about the process.
Like Jimmy Carter-unknown-whose name appeared as newspaper headlines 6 nights a week for 15-16 months. Geuss who won??
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RayfromTX
Guest
The democrats took majority of the house and senate in january of 2007. How do you get 4 years out of that?
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Mr. D
Guest
You never rest your case when there is something negative to be said about teachers, unions, liberals and the list goes on and on!
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Mr. D
Guest
Exactly right! Isn't it just incredible the idiotic spin some put on everything around here! 41 votes in the Senate or a presidential veto stops any Democratic move. The Democrats are not in control, they just have the votes to slow down Bush's agenda.
If the some of the socialist crap in Europe is so much better Mr. D. Then why the h*ll don't you just move there??? I have lived in Europe for many of years and this health care and other crap you talk about being better over there is BS. You might be able to pull that on those who haven't lived there but not on those who have (and lived here also). Canada's medical care is a freaking mess and costs 31% of peoples income, there's nothing for free. And about the billions spent in Iraqi...what about the hundreds of billions spent by Clinton on police/troop action in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, and Iraqi. And exactly how well was american tax payer money spent when Clinton gave two installments of grants (free money) to mexico in the early nineties, one was for 25 billion and the other was 15 billion. The money was taken from the DoD, mostly from the national guard funding.
We do need change...change back to the way things were, not traveling down the path that the socialist in this country has taken us.
Why is it that eight of the top ten richest people in the U.S. are democrats. Why is it that six of the top ten compainies in the U.S. have democratic CEO's.
Yet you and the libs says it's the all rich and powerful Republicans that are running the country in the ground. Demo's are just great at the slight of hand trick.
Hovis
We do need change...change back to the way things were, not traveling down the path that the socialist in this country has taken us.
Why is it that eight of the top ten richest people in the U.S. are democrats. Why is it that six of the top ten compainies in the U.S. have democratic CEO's.
Yet you and the libs says it's the all rich and powerful Republicans that are running the country in the ground. Demo's are just great at the slight of hand trick.
Hovis
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Mr. D
Guest
B.S. yourself! So why are the health care outcomes better in other countries?? Cheerlead for the insurance companies running our health care system if you like, but look at our rotten health care outcomes!
The point is: They aren't better overseas or anywhere else. The U.S. has the best health care and most foreigners come here to use it if they have the money. That's the fact from someone who has been there done that.
You just want to be a socialist freeloader on other peoples money. And I think YOU know who YOU are!!!
Hovis
You just want to be a socialist freeloader on other peoples money. And I think YOU know who YOU are!!!
Hovis
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Mr. D
Guest
Exactly! "if they have the money!" Thanx for making my point!
For the average American health care outcomes are expensive and poor! That's what comparative facts show no matter how much your cheerlead for our insurance companies!
If you are wealthy, we do have excellent health care based on what you can pay!
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Phil Deese
Guest
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Tell you son to go to a state where they don't have a union mandate, then his job will be secure based on his hard work and dedication!!
Tell you son to go to a state where they don't have a union mandate, then his job will be secure based on his hard work and dedication!!