[quote]Headhunter wrote:
JustTheFacts wrote: Rich-Poor Gap Gaining Attention
Washington - The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself.
This link is a good read. Until and unless society pays its teachers more (to attract top people to the field), that society is simply screwing itself. Short-term, underpaying teachers saves money. This policy makes teaching undesireable and leaves the field open to those who SHOULD NOT be teaching. This then becomes self-justfying: “We’re not paying those idiots and dolts more. They’re morons! They’re OVERPAID, blah, blah, blah…”
You can’t expect to get an effect without a cause, despite liberalism’s teachings to the contrary.[/quote]
I doubt anyone would disagree but who pays for teachers?
Home owners via property tax.
I hope you are advocating a tax raise?
FYI - Truthout.org is one of the most liberal sites on the Internet.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
biltritewave wrote:
How can you say we should increase education subsidies? We now spend twice as much on education than most other industrialized countries and get half the return…clearly adding more money is not the answer. If we had teachers that werent paid an ass load regardless of competence then many of our problems would be diminished with regard to education
also, what kind of tax are you advocating. I am all for switching to a consumption driven tax rather than a production driven tax but the chances of that happening any time soon…doubtful.
Very little of this money you’re referring to is EVER seen by a teacher. The number of administrators has doubled since 1994 (don’t recall where I read that). Many old buildings are finally being replaced.
How many of you would like to work in your chosen profession for TWENTY years and earn less $50,000? Do you know that in many parts of the US, the beginning pay for a new teacher is $24,000 or so? For that, you get to teach children who’ve been ignored by parents and hate school with seething, almost psychotic loathing.
Enjoy!
HH
[/quote]
A perfect example of this is right here in Bergen county NJ.
Bergen county has 33 school districs which means they have 33 superintendents, etc.
Image the amount of money that could be saved by conslidating.
Unfortunately it would turn into a bigger S show than it already is.
I’m in the middle of Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan. Interesting. Veyr pertinent to this discussion, he talks about GDP being an indicator, but one that has to be taken into consideration with inflation of course. I’m worried aboiut inflation, not bc of the latest inflation number’s per se (which included humongous gas price increases) but because 5% growth in GDP every quarter without inlfation is not teneable over the long term.
[quote]bigflamer wrote:
This, to me, is an example of why the flat tax would be a great idea. Simplicity on top of pumping a shit ton of cash into the economy. I wonder how much increase in state and federal revenue could be expected with the inception of a flat tax?
Also, how much could the government save if it could abolish the IRS? I don’t know, but I bet it’s a shit ton.
[/quote]
Putting a shit ton of cash into the economy all at once? Not a great idea. It’d be inflationary as hell. It’s true that money you pay to the feds you no longer have control over, but it doesnt disappear from the economy.
Unfortunately, there would be too many systemic concerns about getting the Fed involved in that political process – even tough they couldn’t really do a worse job than Congress.
I really think the only thing that can rein in the budget is for the executive branch to reassert its authority to not spend money that Congress appropriates – that or a line-item veto. Congress just cannot control itself.
I really think the only thing that can rein in the budget is for the executive branch to reassert its authority to not spend money that Congress appropriates – that or a line-item veto. Congress just cannot control itself.
[/quote]
As soon as we allowed the Federal Government to meddle in the economy, it set us up for this. Now, they’ll spend us into bankruptcy and set the table for a military-style dictatorship.
