January 14, 2013

Your timing was perfect to take advantage of the end stages of this system ...

Almost 2 generations stands between you and the new student graduating today ...

And that means 2 worlds ago ....

January 13, 2013

Avoidance of the truth is a telltale sign of cognitive dissonance ...

As you well know, in a society based on capitalistic ideals which promote individualism and all its idealistic goals, that the force feeding of these ideas from kindergarten on has created a monster the world has yet to deal with. ie: climate change due to runaway resource grabbing from industrialized capitalistic societies.

As for your assumption, I am content with my doctorate and know that my choices have been wise.

I unlike you, have reasoned that my abilities to be honest with myself and others go beyond how much I have in my bank account.

January 13, 2013

If the truth hurts then let it be so ...

1. Amortization

2. We students have been sold the idea that a higher education in the USA leads to more and better employment opportunities, which is being proven to be just propaganda by higher education and those whose interests surround the financial subjogation of an entire generation. All the while tuition and fees have risen to levels higher than inflation rates and greedy educators and bankers splitting up the spoils of these heinous promises. Hence your professional life has been riddled with cognitive dissonance the likes of Judas Iscariot.

And your ears must be ringing....

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/bennett-student-debt/index.html

January 13, 2013

USA Social Mobility = Get higher education = In debt forever

For Newly Minted M.B.A.s, a Smaller Paycheck Awaits

Like many students, Steve Vonderweidt hoped that a master's degree in business administration would open doors to a new job with a higher paycheck.

Soaring tuition costs, a weak labor market and a glut of recent graduates are upending the notion that M.B.A.s and other professional degrees are a sure ticket to financial success. WSJ's Ruth Simon reports on the News Hub. Photo: AP Images.

But now, about eight months after receiving his M.B.A. from the University of Louisville, Mr. Vonderweidt, 36 years old, hasn't been able to find a job in the private sector, and continues to work as an administrator at a social-service agency that helps Louisville residents obtain food stamps, health care and other assistance. He is saddled with about $75,000 in student-loan debt—much of it from graduate school.

"It was a really great program," says Mr. Vonderweidt. "But the job part has been atrocious."

Soaring tuition costs, a weak labor market and a glut of recent graduates such as Mr. Vonderweidt are upending the notion that professional degrees like M.B.A.s are a sure ticket to financial success.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324296604578175764143141622.html?mod=e2tw

January 8, 2013

"So I'll keep teaching science, not belief"

A Science Teacher Draws the Line at Creation

As a science teacher, I am always curious about people's attitudes toward what I teach. Since more than 40 percent of U.S. adults believe literally what is written in the Book of Genesis—that Earth and the universe were created in six days about 6,000 years ago—and since I was in the neighborhood recently, I decided to visit the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., run by the Answers in Genesis (AiG) Ministry.

The museum has a brand-new planetarium and 70,000 square feet of exhibits claiming that the story of Genesis happened exactly as written. In the main lobby, a large display depicts life just after creation. Richly detailed with plants and rocks, it features a small boy playing, while two dinosaurs graze nearby. According to the exhibits, the stars are younger than Earth (they were created on Day 4), and Noah saved all animal species that we see today from the Flood. Earth had its one and only ice age, lasting a few hundred years.

What disturbed me most about my time spent at the museum was the theme, repeated from one exhibit to the next, that the differences between biblical literalists and mainstream scientists are minor. They are not minor; they are poles apart. This is not to say that science and religion are incompatible; many scientists believe in some kind of higher power, and many religious people accept the idea of evolution. Still, a literal interpretation of Genesis cannot be reconciled with modern science.

Scientists tell us we live in a remote corner of a vast universe that existed billions of years before humans arrived. The universe and Earth could continue just fine without us. We are one species of many on a little planet with an ancient fossil record that shows that more than 99 percent of the species that once lived are now extinct. This speaks to a tenuousness of our existence as a species—an existence we need to protect vigorously.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=science-teacher-draws-line-creation&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_EVO_20130107

January 7, 2013

Baxter, Bella protect child lost in woods near Seneca

SENECA, Mo. — Ryle Smith could not have had two better companions with him on Friday night.

Smith, 6, of Seneca, followed two of the family’s dogs, Baxter and Bella, into the woods behind his parents’ house Friday evening, and became disoriented and lost as it grew dark.

It prompted a five-hour search that put Ryle back in his parents arms at 10 p.m., thanks to his four-legged friends and efforts from search parties from all over the area.

When Ryle was found, his two dogs were lying on top of him in a ditch, sharing their warmth with him as temperatures dipped into the low 20s.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x503814162/Baxter-Bella-protect-child-lost-in-woods-near-Seneca

January 5, 2013

Ten Years After Decriminalization, Drug Abuse Down by Half in Portugal

Drug warriors often contend that drug use would skyrocket if we were to legalize or decriminalize drugs in the United States. Fortunately, we have a real-world example of the actual effects of ending the violent, expensive War on Drugs and replacing it with a system of treatment for problem users and addicts.

Ten years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs. One decade after this unprecedented experiment, drug abuse is down by half:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/07/05/ten-years-after-decriminalization-drug-abuse-down-by-half-in-portugal/

January 3, 2013

Eight Corporate Subsidies in the Fiscal Cliff Bill, From Goldman Sachs to Disney to NASCAR

Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

The negotiations over the fiscal cliff involve more than the Democrats, Republicans, the middle class and the wealthy. The corporate sector is here in force as well. One of the core shifts in the Reagan era was the convergence of wealthy individuals who wanted to pay less in taxes – many from the growing South – with corporations that wanted tax breaks. Previously, these groups fought over the pie, because the idea of endless deficits did not make sense. Once Reagan figured out how to finance yawning deficits, the GOP was able to wield the corporate sector and the new sun state wealthy into one force, epitomized today by Grover Norquist. What Obama is (sort of) trying to do is split this coalition, and the extenders are the carrot he’s dangling in front of the corporate sector to do it.

Most tax credits drop straight to the bottom line – it’s why companies like Enron considered its tax compliance section a “profit center”. A few hundred billion dollars of tax expenditures is a major carrot to offer. Surely, a modest hike in income taxes for people who make more than $400k in income and stupid enough not to take that money in capital gain would be worth trading off for the few hundred billion dollars in corporate pork. This is what the fiscal cliff is about – who gets the money. And by leaving out the corporate sector, nearly anyone who talks about this debate is leaving out a key negotiating partner.

So without further ado, here are eight corporate subsidies in the fiscal cliff bill that you haven’t heard of.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/13648-eight-corporate-subsidies-in-the-fiscal-cliff-bill-from-goldman-sachs-to-disney-to-nascar