The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

One would be hard pressed to name an institution that has done more damage to America than our universities. 1930s and 1940s? Hotbeds of communism. 1960s? Pure, unadulterated cowardice in the face of a small group of communist-inspired "students" hell bent on destroying classical educations and giving control over the curriculum to students barely out of high school. 1970s? The same stuff, only with more violence! 1980s? The emergence of the 1960s student protestors as instructors and professors, gleefully watering down the education of America's youth, injecting the insanity of postmodernism, and beginning to create entire departments dedicated to the rejection of the Enlightenment. The 1990s saw the pace accelerate, with these radicals entering the upper levels of the administrations of our formerly great universities.

The 21st century saw the watering down of the college degree, as the consequences of the catastrophe of Griggs v. Duke Power Co. provided an amazing opportunity for the academy to grow, as business ceded evaluation of their potential employees and simply accepted a college degree as proof of minimum competency.

And grow they did, building dormitories and classrooms and Kafkaesque administrations dedicated to increasing "diversity" while simultaneously creating the conditions for the Balkanization of our campuses. All the while the quality of the education afforded to our youth decreased, while the costs skyrocketed. And four years gradually turned into more than five years to complete these degrees, adding to student debt but growing the coffers of the universities, since they didn't grow their teaching ranks as quickly as they increased tuition.

Along the way they became unimaginably wealthy, with Harvard University leading the pack with a $50 billion endowment. How they manage to charge tuition of more than $75,000 while sitting on investments that could yield enough income to make it free is beyond me, but the idea that they are a non-profit organization dedicated to research and education is simply laughable.

Apparently President Trump thought the same thing, and perhaps the 1.4% tax on their endowments was his opening salvo against the academy.

Ivy League schools pleading with Congress for tax break in reconciliation bill

The lobbying effort came as the Ivy League university's endowment increased by $11.3 billion in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, an increase of 33% from the previous year. Similarly, Stanford's investments increased by 40.1% in the same fiscal year.
Despite the massive increase in their endowments, the universities have continued to push for the repeal of the 1.4% tax, which was enacted in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by then-President Donald Trump.

Obviously the current stock market has shrunk their endowments, but they are still huge, and are used for things that are antithetical to the concept of the free expression of ideas. Can anyone not wearing a straitjacket argue with a straight face that America's universities are dedicated to anything other than a hard left world view with its attendant political, racial, class and increasingly gender-based segregation and hierarchy?

It is time to defund higher education in America. President Trump got it exactly right, and the next sane president should go after the academy hammer and tongs, push to classify them as for-profit institutions and tax their income just as Exxon and 3M and Joe's Diner are taxed. Then change the bankruptcy laws to allow student loan debt to be included, and then perhaps our institutions of higher learning (Hah!) will be held accountable and be exposed to market pressures, rather than being protected from the results of their failure to provide value for the inflated tuition they charge.

Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Restless Horde

Posted by: Diogenes at July 28, 2022 11:01 AM (anj39)

2 The lobbying effort came as the Ivy League university's endowment increased by $11.3 billion in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, an increase of 33% from the previous year. Similarly, Stanford's investments increased by 40.1% in the same fiscal year.

========

So, they'll get the money because they're the truly oppressed of the world.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:01 AM (LvTSG)

3 Go to tech school...get a cert.

Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:02 AM (AwYPR)

4 3 Go to tech school...get a cert.
Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:02 AM (AwYPR)

========

Hard to outsource plumbers to India.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:03 AM (LvTSG)

5 I will call the otters.

Posted by: StewBurner at July 28, 2022 11:03 AM (Guh8+)

6 Tax the biotches.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 28, 2022 11:03 AM (ufFY8)

7 It's a Big Club, and most of us are not in it.

(most of us are hit over the head with their Big Club)

Posted by: illiniwek at July 28, 2022 11:03 AM (Cus5s)

8 If you are not going to school for science or engineering, then go to a trade school instead.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 28, 2022 11:04 AM (ufFY8)

9 Hard to outsource plumbers to India.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28,

Yep, I retired early from my enginerd job and now I slam a framing nailer for a living.

Posted by: Clutch at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (9UmRs)

10 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - RIP Dave in Texas at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (Zz0t1)

11 Call up the chairprsyn of the Biology Dept. and ask xhir if men can have babies.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (PiwSw)

12 I like your policy recommendations.

Thanks CBD for your COB contributions day-in and day-out.

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (NaH5I)

13 ... and the next sane president ...

-------

"Why, thank you Herr Dildo!" -- Kamala #47 without a bullet

Posted by: ShainS -- Welcome to the boneyard, it gets worse here every day at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (saZAT)

14 Kelo.

That's how you handle the University System.

Take their land and give it to developers. For the good of the community.

Posted by: garrett at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (rwTWa)

15 >8 If you are not going to school for science or engineering, then go to a trade school instead.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 28, 2022 11:04 AM (ufFY

Agree completely. I give this advice all the time.

Posted by: Muad'dib at July 28, 2022 11:06 AM (sjdRT)

16 >>It is time to defund higher education in America.

Piker.

Posted by: Zombie Pol Pot at July 28, 2022 11:06 AM (rwTWa)

17 If a college has more than four years operating expenses it is a hedge fund and should be taxed as such.

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:06 AM (NaH5I)

18 We're going to have to burn the village to save it, I'm afraid.

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at July 28, 2022 11:06 AM (sWM8x)

19 Tolerance is a vice.
Letting the Universities be unregulated for political content/activism is what doomed the West

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo, food, water at July 28, 2022 11:06 AM (V6f9+)

20 I like your policy recommendations.

Thanks CBD for your COB contributions day-in and day-out.

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (NaH5I)

----------

Ditto. Lamborghinis for all the COBs!

Posted by: ShainS -- Welcome to the boneyard, it gets worse here every day at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (saZAT)

21 Great rant and so very on point! Nothing more to add. I hope this gets linked far and wide. Love yours and Yud's take on current topics

Posted by: NoLongerintheBellyoftheBeast at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (5XUmo)

22 I do want some institutions to remain untouched: Oberlin, Reed, Bezerkely, for example, just to see how insane they can become.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (PiwSw)

23 Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey. - John Lennon, probably

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (W+kMI)

24 >>I like your policy recommendations.

I don't endorse his French Toast Policy.

It's terrible.

Posted by: garrett at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (rwTWa)

25 22 I do want some institutions to remain untouched: Oberlin, Reed, Bezerkely, for example, just to see how insane they can become.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (PiwSw)

========

By "untouched", you, of course, mean to build a twenty-foot wall around them without entry points.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (LvTSG)

26 $50 Billion?

Fuck off. Kids want to go to your school, they'll pay you. NO MORE TAX MONEY TO UNIVERSITIES. Period.

Posted by: Sponge - RIP Dave in Texas at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (Zz0t1)

27 If motivated there are all sorts of things you could do to bring colleges into check.

Pricing is an especially good target.

For example Force public colleges to not cost more then an average year's salary ($54K) for 4 years of education
and colleges will have to do two things - cut everything that isn't pure education (or pay for itself) and move out of the cities.

Both would have major positive benefits.

Posted by: 18-1 at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (ESjRY)

28 In the Duke vs Griggs environment - it is interested that my daughters have been interviewing in the computer science field and both have had companies give them projects to complete to prove they have certain capabilities.

For the good of society maybe we need to find a way to overturn that court ruling...

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (NaH5I)

29 College was fun, though. And I wasted a minimum amount of money.

I'd do it again, if I get a rewind.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo, food, water at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (V6f9+)

30 I think I lucked out at university. Went to a small state school in the early 2000s, somehow had a conservative for my US government instructor, and wound up travelling the engineering route (where the department wasn't quite woke yet). Now? No way I'm encouraging my kids to go the college path. If there is something specific that requires a degree they really want to do, we can talk about it. Maybe.

Posted by: She Hobbit at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (ftFVW)

31 Along the way they became unimaginably wealthy, with Harvard University leading the pack with a $50 billion endowment.
++++
Some of them did. The first-tier private universities - the ones you've heard of, like Harvard and Penn and Princeton and the like - have racked up massive endowments. The second-tier private universities - ones you might have heard of - and many first-tier state schools have done okay. They're in decent shape, but the earth's crust isn't breaking up under the weight of their endowments.

The rest are screwed. The third-tier private colleges are mostly about one academic year away from insolvency, perhaps three quarters. If enrollments drop meaningfully and they have to hit the endowment for operating costs, the car runs out of gas pretty quickly. And they can't meaningfully drop tuition to get increased enrollment because they have brutal fixed costs, often related to massive physical plant expansion. Dorms are pretty nice now, on average. Gyms are really nice. Lots of nice amenities, too. That has to be paid for, and a lot of that expansion involves meaningful amounts of debt for smaller schools.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (WWh8n)

32 Maybe we should require all Academics to go to Cuba to harvest sugar cane? That's the only way they will learn.

Posted by: Puddinhead at July 28, 2022 11:09 AM (T/Wjp)

33 26 $50 Billion?

Fuck off. Kids want to go to your school, they'll pay you. NO MORE TAX MONEY TO UNIVERSITIES. Period.
Posted by: Sponge - RIP Dave in Texas at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (Zz0t1)

=========

"Well, gosh, looks like we'll just have to raise our prices again."
-Universities, counting on no change in the student loan paradigm

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:09 AM (LvTSG)

34 Us Honorable and Highly Trained operatives at highest ranks of the FBI CIA ABC NBC CBS most certainly agree colleges are bad and seem to be rigging elections and installing puppets in high orrifices

Posted by: concealedkerryorsubmitt at July 28, 2022 11:09 AM (EnQQ8)

35 If I win MegaMillions can I buy a university and fire the DEI staff just for fun?

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:09 AM (NaH5I)

36 We've went from a thread about lancing boils to a thread about what to do with Ivy Leaguers. Hmmm.

Posted by: Wally at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (FJYfm)

37 35 If I win MegaMillions can I buy a university and fire the DEI staff just for fun?
Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:09 AM (NaH5I)

========

Yes, for $3 million paid directly to me.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (LvTSG)

38 I mean all of those things are good but STEP ONE is we need to revert student loans to the private sector

now they are only thru FedGov and it's a total mess. they are distributed based on demographic checkboxes more than need. and no one has had to start repaying them for three years.

it was clearly (federalizing student loans) a way to use higher education as a political tool.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (w0NJk)

39 =========

"Well, gosh, looks like we'll just have to raise our prices again."
-Universities, counting on no change in the student loan paradigm
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:09 AM (LvTSG)

Good. It will all work itself out in the end. When it's too expensive, no one will go there. JOB DONE!

Posted by: Sponge - RIP Dave in Texas at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (Zz0t1)

40 I feel like these days a college degree is a bad investment. And I have 2 of them.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (eJn7u)

41 Pronouns are Mr and that guy
Wearing blue jeans and optic yellow shirt
Commenting present

Posted by: Skip's phone at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (LUZhL)

42 If you are not going to school for science or engineering, then go to a trade school instead.

There are other fields that require a college degree and beyond. I am specifically thinking of speech and language therapists and audiologists. I'm sure there are dozens more.

Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (45fpk)

43 Every time I see a top down "solution" offered to a problem, I get frustrated.

Seems to me the message from the last couple years SHOULD be, you don't need to go to an "elite" university. In fact, you don't need to GO to any university. If you want an education, you can get it from home. They told us this themselves.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:11 AM (NWBBy)

44 I crack myself up sometimes

Posted by: Skip's phone at July 28, 2022 11:11 AM (LUZhL)

45 The majority of Degrees handed out by higher ed are useless and insanely overpriced.

Posted by: garrett at July 28, 2022 11:11 AM (rwTWa)

46 Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:05 AM (NaH5I)

My pleasure!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 28, 2022 11:11 AM (XIJ/X)

47 I bet Sarah offers apprenticeships in her trade.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at July 28, 2022 11:11 AM (iXjtm)

48 This was yesterday on a NYC subway:
https://tinyurl.com/bdhk8snt

Posted by: Ciampino - utterly unbelievable at July 28, 2022 11:11 AM (qfLjt)

49 AC&R cert - people will give up food before they will give up air conditioning

Plumbing cert - people with give up food before they will give up flush toilets and running water

Electrical cert - self explanatory

Local community college / tech school is ginormous and has programs to get all three.

Very low tuition.

Posted by: Queequeg the Harpooner at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (9X60i)

50 In the Duke vs Griggs environment - it is interested that my daughters have been interviewing in the computer science field and both have had companies give them projects to complete to prove they have certain capabilities.

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (NaH5I)

My first job after school...Dow/BASF...I took those tests.

Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (AwYPR)

51 It is time to defund higher education in America. President Trump got it exactly right, and the next sane president should go after the academy hammer and tongs, push to classify them as for-profit institutions and tax their income just as Exxon and 3M and Joe's Diner are taxed. Then change the bankruptcy laws to allow student loan debt to be included
++++
Yes. No more federal student aid, either. If the states want to subsidize college attendance, that's their prerogative. Eliminate the bankruptcy law carve-outs for student loans, take the federal government out of the student loan business entirely.

Student loans will suddenly be priced like what they are: high-risk, unsecured debt. Probably in the 20s for the interest rate if you can even get one. The lenders will be damned picky - likely providing loans only for STEM degrees, medicine and law. GPA is going to matter to them, too. Demand will crater and tons of students, being priced out, will choose not to go to college. Enrollment will shrink. Balance sheets will turn upside-down. A whole lot of colleges (though not the first-tier schools) will go bankrupt and be auctioned off. So be it.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (WWh8n)

52 We've went from a thread about lancing boils to a thread about what to do with Ivy Leaguers. Hmmm.

Posted by: Wally at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (FJYfm)

Yuck, can't say I'm sorry I missed that thread.

Posted by: Jordan61 at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (DRSnL)

53 Harvard charges $75,000/year to (mostly) white students that have wealthy parents and are graduates of the huge network of East Coast prep schools.

This allows Harvard to subsidize the other students they are enrolling that definitely cannot afford that tuition, AND Harvard gets to massively virtual signal with Other People's Money about how much they care for the downtrodden, as shown by giving them a 4-year education "worth" $300,000!

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (tkyK5)

54 I often blame University crap that pushes Leftism then puts their students onto government and corporate leaders where they keep pushing Leftism

Posted by: Skip's phone at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (LUZhL)

55
it was clearly (federalizing student loans) a way to use higher education as a political tool.
Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (w0NJk)

I think student loads were federalized to pay for Obamacare. Shouldn't all those students who want their loans forgiven be shamed for their lack of support for the Lightbringer's wonderfulness?

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (NaH5I)

56 There are other fields that require a college degree and beyond. I am specifically thinking of speech and language therapists and audiologists. I'm sure there are dozens more.
Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (45fpk)

Except they don't, really. It's about credentialing, not about competence. I really can't think of anything that really requires a university to teach you how to do something.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (NWBBy)

57 Whoops

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (WWh8n)

58 Accounting. You’re always going to need accountants.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (iXjtm)

59 Oh, and Goucher College. Can't forget their most famous alumnus!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 28, 2022 11:14 AM (PiwSw)

60 t's about credentialing, not about competence. I really can't think of anything that really requires a university to teach you how to do something.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (NWBBy)

I would have had a hard time finding cadavers on my own.

Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:14 AM (45fpk)

61 Heh. My Son has a degree in criminal justice. He is a master plumber.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:14 AM (eJn7u)

62 Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (WWh8n)

FEED ME!!!!

Posted by: The Barrel at July 28, 2022 11:14 AM (Zz0t1)

63 I'm a little concerned that the university tuition/endowment bubble is what really will sink the US financial system, not this case of annoying Wuhan flu hiccups. There is a LOT of unsecured university & college debt out there, if it was called in all at once the economy would go into the canyon like Thelma & Louise.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (W+kMI)

64 Dorms are pretty nice now, on average. Gyms are really nice. Lots of nice amenities, too. That has to be paid for, and a lot of that expansion involves meaningful amounts of debt for smaller schools.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)

That stuff pales into comparison with their administrative overheads. Student/DEI staff ratios approaching single digits.

Posted by: quantum mechanic at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (vcv8B)

65 Make the universities co-signers for every student loan.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (Qhnrt)

66 >>I would have had a hard time finding cadavers on my own.

How many do you need?

Posted by: garrett at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (rwTWa)

67 I feel like these days a college degree is a bad investment. And I have 2 of them.
Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (eJn7u)

I unfortunately couldn't advance past a clerk position without an accounting degree, and finally got one in my late 40's.

Posted by: Jordan61 at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (DRSnL)

68 "as business ceded evaluation of their potential employees and simply accepted a college degree as proof of minimum competency"

I think business was in on the scam and happy to just accept some bullshit piece of paper as "proof" of competency

Posted by: Elric Blade at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (iFTx/)

69 Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (WWh8n)

FEED ME!!!!
Posted by: The Barrel at July 28, 2022 11:14 AM (Zz0t1)

"Does it have to be human?"
-Seymour

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo, food, water at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (V6f9+)

70 60 t's about credentialing, not about competence. I really can't think of anything that really requires a university to teach you how to do something.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (NWBBy)

I would have had a hard time finding cadavers on my own.
Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:14 AM (45fpk)

...phrasing?

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:16 AM (b2nrj)

71 60
'I would have had a hard time finding cadavers on my own.'

You don't have to. Here's our card.

Posted by: Burke and Hare at July 28, 2022 11:16 AM (YohY1)

72 That stuff pales into comparison with their administrative overheads. Student/DEI staff ratios approaching single digits.
Posted by: quantum mechanic at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (vcv8B)
++++
The administrative and "program" bloat is a YUGE line item, too. But those people can be fired when push comes to shove, if the regents decide it's necessary to save the institution from bankruptcy. The debt is there no matter what.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:16 AM (WWh8n)

73 How many do you need?

Posted by: garrett at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (rwTWa)

One was plenty enough for me. And if the class hadn't have been right after lunch, I would have enjoyed it more.

Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:16 AM (45fpk)

74 50 In the Duke vs Griggs environment - it is interested that my daughters have been interviewing in the computer science field and both have had companies give them projects to complete to prove they have certain capabilities.

Posted by: Iris at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (NaH5I)

My son just had an aerospace engineering interview. They gave him a theoretical flight dynamics problem DURING the interview.

He said there is no way a smooth-talking bullsh*tter could have passed that interview.

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at July 28, 2022 11:16 AM (tkyK5)

75 Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:08 AM (WWh8n)

I care not a whit for the prospects of the many crappy universities in America. The reason I want Harvard and the other ones at the top to be taxed is that their insanity filters quickly down to the rest of the country's colleges. Cut the head off the snake!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 28, 2022 11:17 AM (XIJ/X)

76 I hear there's going to be great demand for Gender Engineers.

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at July 28, 2022 11:17 AM (sWM8x)

77 Screw the Ivy League cry babies using union tactics.... For some reason grants and endowments have a better chance getting renewed when an increase over the previous fiscal year is shown.... It is a self-perpetuating unsustainable model concocted in the 60's > I suspect a Cloward/Piven influence....

Posted by: Commenter What Got a Shirt at July 28, 2022 11:17 AM (CJAql)

78 Guy at marina: his granddaughter completed her high pressure pipe underwater welding certificate. Hired before she graduated. $65 an hour plus overtime; $30,000.00 signing bonus. She'll be 21 next month. Has zero debt. Grandpa paid for the tech school - cost less than a new car.

Posted by: Queequeg the Harpooner at July 28, 2022 11:17 AM (9X60i)

79 "Does it have to be human?"
-Seymour
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo, food, water at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM

The need for staff biologists has exploded.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (a3Q+t)

80 WRT student loans:

Limit them according to the employment and income prospects for each major.

Computer science? Yeah, you can have a loan.

Pregnant Man Studies? You can study that if you want, but not at taxpayer expense.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (bW8dp)

81 I care not a whit for the prospects of the many crappy universities in America. The reason I want Harvard and the other ones at the top to be taxed is that their insanity filters quickly down to the rest of the country's colleges. Cut the head off the snake!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 28, 2022 11:17 AM (XIJ/X)
++++
Taxing endowments hurts the top, and I'm all for it. Getting rid of student loan protections hurts everyone, and I'm all for it.

I'm a "power of and" kind of guy!

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (WWh8n)

82 Can someone real quickly tell me what this Duke v. Griggs case was about?

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (iXjtm)

83 >I unfortunately couldn't advance past a clerk position without an accounting degree, and finally got one in my late 40's.

Posted by: Jordan61 at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (DRSnL)

Wait, wait, wait. So, you're not actually 29??

Posted by: Muad'dib at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (sjdRT)

84 WRT student loans:

Limit them according to the employment and income prospects for each major.

Computer science? Yeah, you can have a loan.

Pregnant Man Studies? You can study that if you want, but not at taxpayer expense.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (bW8dp)
++++
This will happen all on its own if bankruptcy protections for student lenders are removed.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:19 AM (WWh8n)

85 I unfortunately couldn't advance past a clerk position without an accounting degree, and finally got one in my late 40's.

Posted by: Jordan61 at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (DRSnL)

LOL! Boy did YOU do it wrong!

Posted by: Kumswala Harris at July 28, 2022 11:19 AM (Zz0t1)

86 Wait, wait, wait. So, you're not actually 29??
Posted by: Muad'dib at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (sjdRT)

My bad, I meant early 20's.

Posted by: Jordan61 at July 28, 2022 11:19 AM (DRSnL)

87 Going to Harvard probably still supplies some nice education, BUT now requires the Woke Agenda, and submission to fake sciences, and woke poliSci religion. Kiss the Global Warming ring or never get a grant.

Also, Harvard is about networking ... making those contacts to advance inside the "DeepState" machine. Say your vows to the globalists, deny any WrongThink (Christianity, Real Science, American Sovereignty, etc) and your path to power is clear.

Posted by: illiniwek at July 28, 2022 11:19 AM (Cus5s)

88 We've mostly removed price as an consideration for 18 year old in choosing a college.

Many, if not most, are then going to choose the best party school, the school with the best gym/dorm/sports team, or the one with the prettiest girls.

And then later they'll have to pay back that loan that allowed them to go to college "for free" and wish they hadn't spent all that money.

You want to talk about predatory lending? This is the best example I can think of. If banks were giving 18 year olds with no collateral hundreds of thousands of dollars for any other reason we would be arresting the loan officers.

Posted by: 18-1 at July 28, 2022 11:19 AM (ESjRY)

89 63 I'm a little concerned that the university tuition/endowment bubble is what really will sink the US financial system, not this case of annoying Wuhan flu hiccups. There is a LOT of unsecured university & college debt out there, if it was called in all at once the economy would go into the canyon like Thelma & Louise.

welp it's going to be SOMETHING so it may as well be this that does it

it IS the weakest link in the whole rotten chain

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 11:20 AM (w0NJk)

90 Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (NWBBy)

I would have had a hard time finding cadavers on my own.
Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:14 AM (45fpk)

Really? We have cemeteries all over my town.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:20 AM (NWBBy)

91 I was lucky. Went to one of the Little Ivies in the mid-80's. The faculty were still mostly old-school liberals and the standard of teaching was still very high. The kidz were mostly hard-core Leftists, but that forced me to really figure out my own positions and learn to defend them.

Nowadays the faculty are all bat-shite crazy, too. Never dreamed of sending any of my kids there.

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at July 28, 2022 11:20 AM (906pl)

92 The reason I want Harvard and the other ones at the top to be taxed is that their insanity filters quickly down to the rest of the country's colleges. Cut the head off the snake!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 28, 2022 11:17 AM

You do realize you're talking about America's finest, the elite of the elite?

Posted by: David Hogg at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (a3Q+t)

93 63 I'm a little concerned that the university tuition/endowment bubble is what really will sink the US financial system, not this case of annoying Wuhan flu hiccups. There is a LOT of unsecured university & college debt out there, if it was called in all at once the economy would go into the canyon like Thelma & Louise.
Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:15 AM (W+kMI)

=========

Clearing it up would be healthy, but painful.

Congress will not let it happen. Expect TARP Part 2: Back to College.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (LvTSG)

94 58 Accounting. You’re always going to need accountants.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at July 28, 2022 11:13 AM (iXjtm)

Accounting could be passed along or tested for without a degree. As far as a specialized technical skill goes, colleges tend to not be well-built for it. Our current model was originally invented to produce administrator/MBA types(the idea of an MBA being someone with shallow knowledge in many areas rather than deeply specialized, so that they might effectively work with diverse more specialized people) for the governments (monarchies at the time). Rigor is down a great deal though and there is some cargo cultism regarding the "broadly knowledgeable" aspect.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (b2nrj)

95 Ain’t nobody here 20fukkin9.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (eJn7u)

96 48 This was yesterday on a NYC subway:
https://tinyurl.com/bdhk8snt
======
I recollect Thucydides on the behavior of some Athenians whom during the plague gave themselves over to pleasure and riotous living, carousing to avoid the troubles of their lives.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (W+kMI)

97 "This will happen all on its own if bankruptcy protections for student lenders are removed." Posted by: Joe Mannix

doesn't BigGov secure most of those loans now?

Posted by: illiniwek at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (Cus5s)

98 Can someone real quickly tell me what this Duke v. Griggs case was about?

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM (iXjtm)

IQ tests that companies used to give prior to hiring were found racially discriminatory and violated sections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (AwYPR)

99 > By "untouched", you, of course, mean to build a twenty-foot wall around them without entry points.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven

Disagree. Make them easy to enter and impossible to *leave*.

"The Communist Motel. Commies Check In, But They Don't Check Out".

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (bW8dp)

100 Then change the bankruptcy laws to allow student loan debt to be included, and then perhaps our institutions of higher learning (Hah!) will be held accountable and be exposed to market pressures, rather than being protected from the results of their failure to provide value for the inflated tuition they charge.

The problem here is that we would almost certainly end up bailing out the idiots who took on more debt than they can repay. This, of course, was Obama's plan all along, as it cemented the loyalty of the idiot class. They're going to vote Dem as long as there's a chance they'll be bailed out by everyone else.

The activation barrier here is a large one because it infuriates those who didn't take on that debt but are expected to pay it. Is it worth it to clear the decks for a fundamental restructuring of how education is paid for? I'm not sure.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (/NCI4)

101 The administrative and "program" bloat is a YUGE line item, too. But those people can be fired when push comes to shove, if the regents decide it's necessary to save the institution from bankruptcy. The debt is there no matter what.

sure they can be fired but that will tank any college's ranking.

the reason for all those jobs is to give work to useless-major graduates. and US News uses "job after grad" as a big data point for rankings.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (w0NJk)

102 If you are not going to school for science or engineering, then go to a trade school instead.
==
Welding

Electricians

Plumbers

Machinists

If you can do the first and the last, well, you will never be unemployed. If you can do the middle two well, and are a hard worker, manage people, you can own your own business.

Posted by: Mike Rowe is telling you the truth at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (GZVkI)

103 Posted by: Pillage Idiot at July 28, 2022 11:12 AM (tkyK5)

Yes, not everyone pays full-freight. But I wonder what the financial incentives are for these schools (the Ivy League and a a dozen others) to offer reduced tuition to the "needy" among the student body. Are there government programs that subsidize their largesse?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (XIJ/X)

104 So the stock market likes the no recession recession

Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (bs+z0)

105 78 Guy at marina: his granddaughter completed her high pressure pipe underwater welding certificate. Hired before she graduated. $65 an hour plus overtime; $30,000.00 signing bonus. She'll be 21 next month. Has zero debt. Grandpa paid for the tech school - cost less than a new car.
Posted by: Queequeg the Harpooner at July 28, 2022 11:17 AM (9X60i)

If she doesn't burn out physically in the next few years, she'll be making a lot of money.

Commercial diving is hard on the body.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at July 28, 2022 11:23 AM (Qhnrt)

106 82 Can someone real quickly tell me what this Duke v. Griggs case was about?

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at July 28, 2022 11:18 AM

That case made it impermissible to require an IQ test as part of a job interview.

Employers then switched to a proxy "IQ test" - how well you performed in college.

This led to college graduates getting the best jobs. (Back when college was both hard and comprehensive.)

The "IQ test" proxy system is now broken, because the colleges will graduate anyone that mostly shows up for four years - as long as the government tuition checks don't bounce.

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at July 28, 2022 11:23 AM (tkyK5)

107 99 Disagree. Make them easy to enter and impossible to *leave*.

"The Communist Motel. Commies Check In, But They Don't Check Out".

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (bW8dp)

=========

That's why God invented helicopters.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:23 AM (LvTSG)

108 I recollect Thucydides on the behavior of some Athenians whom during the plague gave themselves over to pleasure and riotous living, carousing to avoid the troubles of their lives.
Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (W+kMI)

"Big Sid" doesn't lie.

Posted by: VDH at July 28, 2022 11:23 AM (44ww/)

109 The universities must be parties to the loans. If someone defaults, the university must pay the amounts back to the Feds for the amount defaulted.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at July 28, 2022 11:23 AM (nC+QA)

110 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Posted by: It like the Thesselonians were told at July 28, 2022 11:23 AM (Z9o7R)

111 > doesn't BigGov secure most of those loans now?

Pretty much all of them.

The banksters foresaw the reckoning approaching, and got their boy Obama to federalize all the student loans (under the guise of "taking them away from greedy corporations"). The "greedy corporations" got paid off in full, and the loans are now on the back of every taxpayer.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (bW8dp)

112 CBD- a little off topic, but since there was talk the other night about what it would be like to have known your parents when they were young, and the art thread was about wildflowers, it reminded me of one of my favorites among my dad's WWII diary entries. On the Anzio beach head in 1944: I love the closing line.

Apr 10, 1944
A beautiful day. The flowers are coming out by the hundreds. There is a large peony bush beside our outdoor latrine. One of the buds is about ready to open. Enemy fire is still quite heavy.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (kXYt5)

113 For examples of administrative bloat, let's look at a second-tier (maybe third) private college.
- Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Education Outreach
- Committee for Diversity Awareness
- Women Working to Improve Schools and Higher Education

Five minutes from the sitemap. There's far more, that's just the obvious stuff.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (WWh8n)

114 Their tax rate should by law be set to whatever the corporate tax rate is.

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (fv27Y)

115 Defund the Ivy

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (BFigT)

116
The problem here is that we would almost certainly end up bailing out the idiots who took on more debt than they can repay. This, of course, was Obama's plan all along, as it cemented the loyalty of the idiot class. They're going to vote Dem as long as there's a chance they'll be bailed out by everyone else.

The activation barrier here is a large one because it infuriates those who didn't take on that debt but are expected to pay it. Is it worth it to clear the decks for a fundamental restructuring of how education is paid for? I'm not sure.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (/NCI4)

Whatever, currency is screwed anyways. Might as well remove it as a political issue, and they'd still be ruining their credit. Might as well re-possess the degrees too.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (b2nrj)

117 But, Big Buisness!! Snort. An entity making a.half Billion a year is not considered Big Buisness to America hating liberal socialists. Big education and Big churches - tax 'em the same. Then they can teach and preach all tbe politixs they desire.

Posted by: Cicero Kaboom! Kid at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (3Or4S)

118 doesn't BigGov secure most of those loans now?

it absolutely does and it doles out loan money to protected class FIRST regardless of need. it's redistribution, basically. and FedGov being leftist doesn't even care if those kids can pay it back and in a lot of majors you would get it wiped anyway.

such a scheme it's INFURIATING

also that debt is accrued to kids who probably won't finish at all anyway - and no one particularly cares about that either.

I was shocked to have to deal with student loan process now. it's a hot mess of forms and bureaucracy and they don't care what your major is or how strong a student you are or even need! the criteria is who you are.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 11:25 AM (w0NJk)

119 Yeah that elevator thing, totally true. Except it was Alcibiades, not Laocoon.

Don't mess with me man. These are the pecs that launched a thousand fists.

Posted by: VDH at July 28, 2022 11:25 AM (44ww/)

120 So McConnell is shocked, shocked I tell you with Manchin caving.... Riiiiight

Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (bs+z0)

121 Accounting could be passed along or tested for without a degree.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (b2nrj)

Absolutely. I did not learn anything from my degree program that I didn't already know through on-the-job experience.

Posted by: Jordan61 at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (DRSnL)

122 If she doesn't burn out physically in the next few years, she'll be making a lot of money.
==
She'll still be doing well on land welding.

Lincoln Electric is always hiring good welders.

Posted by: so she's got that going for her at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (h5TFa)

123 /history sock

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (44ww/)

124 >>>1970s? The same stuff, only with more violence! 1980s? The emergence of the 1960s student protestors as instructors and professors, gleefully watering down the education of America's youth, injecting the insanity of postmodernism, and beginning to create entire departments dedicated to the rejection of the Enlightenment. The 1990s saw the pace accelerate, with these radicals entering the upper levels of the administrations of our formerly great universities.

Spot on.

Posted by: Comrade flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (U3uv2)

125 With respect to the endowments, we need to enact a modern equivalent to Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries Act, which was overwhelmingly popular at the time because it's estimated that monasteries and related institutions held title to over 1/3 of *all* of the farmland in England. (They allowed tenants to farm it for a percentage of the produce, basically sharecropping) Henry confiscated all the silver and gave the land back to the locals.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (trdmm)

126 VDH for real?

Posted by: 18-1 at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (ESjRY)

127 Going to Harvard probably still supplies some nice education, BUT now requires the Woke Agenda, and submission to fake sciences, and woke poliSci religion. Kiss the Global Warming ring or never get a grant.

Also, Harvard is about networking ... making those contacts to advance inside the "DeepState" machine. Say your vows to the globalists, deny any WrongThink (Christianity, Real Science, American Sovereignty, etc) and your path to power is clear.

Agree with all of this. The people who say that you don't get a good education there are silly, as are those that suggest that all or most of the students are AA failures. To be sure, there are plenty of them, but the average Ivy student is highly intelligent, at least in the ways valued by academia.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (/NCI4)

128 The problem here is that we would almost certainly end up bailing out the idiots who took on more debt than they can repay. This, of course, was Obama's plan all along, as it cemented the loyalty of the idiot class. They're going to vote Dem as long as there's a chance they'll be bailed out by everyone else. ...
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (/NCI4)
++++
Don't bail them out. They signed the contract with the "you can never go bankrupt" provisions. Leave those in place. Pick a start date - say, two years in the future - and change the bankruptcy law as of then. Finish school in that time if you want to. But if you student loans written before that date, the same rules you agreed to apply. After that date, bankruptcy is back on the table and the loans will be priced accordingly.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (WWh8n)

129 Posted by: Muldoon at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (kXYt5)

That is marvelous!

May I assume that your sense of humor came from your dad?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (XIJ/X)

130 Pfft.. WE don't need no stinking endowments.
Meet the 12-year-old graduating high school and college in the same week

https://tinyurl.com/ynzuzsv4

Posted by: Commenter What Got a Shirt at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM (CJAql)

131 Five minutes from the sitemap. There's far more, that's just the obvious stuff.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (WWh8n)

Colleges are also telling kids how to f*ck. Really. You MUST get consent for every step of the way. If you don't get a yes between fingerbanging and sticking it in her doink, you are a rapist.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:27 AM (NWBBy)

132 45 The majority of Degrees handed out by higher ed are useless and insanely overpriced.
__________

You mean Doctor Jill didn't need her Ed.D., and all those nights she stayed up typing her paper about the two community college students she interviewed, in order to teach remedial English classes in community college?

It's ironic when you think about it: Jill's own "doctoral" paper showed that she herself was in need of remedial English lessons.

Posted by: TrivialPursuer--FJB at July 28, 2022 11:27 AM (MvHI3)

133 53 Harvard charges $75,000/year to (mostly) white students that have wealthy parents and are graduates of the huge network of East Coast prep schools.

This allows Harvard to subsidize the other students they are enrolling that definitely cannot afford that tuition, AND Harvard gets to massively virtual signal with Other People's Money about how much they care for the downtrodden, as shown by giving them a 4-year education "worth" $300,000!
=========
From what I saw of the student population at Harvard in 1984 (Dad was doing some vacation-scheduled research) about a third of Harvard's students are the entitled spawn of foreign elites who come to be coddled and given a first-class sheepskin to impress everyone at home. Maybe I was just judging by outward appearances, but the number of students who would actually go on to reinforce "Hah-vurd's" academic image seemed rather low.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:27 AM (W+kMI)

134 115 Defund the Ivy

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM

I have a 2.5 gallon jug of RoundUp concentrate that I just picked up from the county Weed Department.

I was thinking of an alternative solution for the Ivy.

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at July 28, 2022 11:28 AM (tkyK5)

135 The idea that I sock VHD for the humor, and it might be read by the real VHD horrifies me.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 11:28 AM (44ww/)

136 Welding is a hard skill. Hot, dirty, uncomfortable positions and requires total concentration to do correctly. It SHOULD pay well.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:28 AM (eJn7u)

137 Don't bail them out. They signed the contract with the "you can never go bankrupt" provisions. Leave those in place. Pick a start date - say, two years in the future - and change the bankruptcy law as of then. Finish school in that time if you want to. But if you student loans written before that date, the same rules you agreed to apply. After that date, bankruptcy is back on the table and the loans will be priced accordingly.

I like this approach, but I don't know if it's legally permissible. Any lawyers care to opine?

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:29 AM (/NCI4)

138 136 Welding is a hard skill. Hot, dirty, uncomfortable positions and requires total concentration to do correctly. It SHOULD pay well.
Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:28 AM (eJn7u)

It pays depending on how many people are competent and willing though. As does most things (not accounting for regulatory barriers).

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:30 AM (b2nrj)

139 Welding is a hard skill. Hot, dirty, uncomfortable positions and requires total concentration to do correctly. It SHOULD pay well.
Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:28 AM (eJn7u)

Not only that, but we really DON'T want bridges and buildings falling down on us.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:30 AM (NWBBy)

140 Don't bail them out. They signed the contract with the "you can never go bankrupt" provisions. Leave those in place. Pick a start date - say, two years in the future - and change the bankruptcy law as of then. Finish school in that time if you want to. But if you student loans written before that date, the same rules you agreed to apply. After that date, bankruptcy is back on the table and the loans will be priced accordingly.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM

Pass a law making any institution which gave them a degree liable for all of the debt incurred if the buyer refuses to pay. Some may say this might lead to the bankruptcy of many collegiate institutions, but I call that a feature, not a bug.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:30 AM (trdmm)

141 126 VDH for real?
========
He's as real as it gets, baby! I would take one of his classes on the Classics, as I would definitely learn something.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:30 AM (W+kMI)

142 137 "Don't bail them out. They signed the contract with the "you can never go bankrupt" provisions. Leave those in place. Pick a start date - say, two years in the future - and change the bankruptcy law as of then. Finish school in that time if you want to. But if you student loans written before that date, the same rules you agreed to apply. After that date, bankruptcy is back on the table and the loans will be priced accordingly."

I like this approach, but I don't know if it's legally permissible. Any lawyers care to opine?
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:29 AM (/NCI4)

Not a lawyer but this is a pretty typical way to sunset many things. It's in general keeping with principles of law.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:31 AM (b2nrj)

143 IQ tests that companies used to give prior to hiring were found racially discriminatory and violated sections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (AwYPR)

Isn't that the government admitting there is an IQ difference between races?

Posted by: Clutch at July 28, 2022 11:31 AM (9UmRs)

144 Pass a law making any institution which gave them a degree liable for all of the debt incurred if the buyer refuses to pay. Some may say this might lead to the bankruptcy of many collegiate institutions, but I call that a feature, not a bug.

Going forward, certainly. I just question whether we can alter the terms of the deal now, to say nothing of the political cataclysm the Dems would try to make it.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:31 AM (/NCI4)

145 I just crossed Exdem13 off my list of people who might be VHD.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (44ww/)

146 Cadavers for all occasions? Frankly, some of our customers turn out to be deadbeats. We're currently selling the unclaimed and unwanted direct to the public at fire sale prices! Call now for our inventory and price list. We will not be undersold!

Posted by: Goodbury and Graves, Ltd. at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (PIlQh)

147 The government's grifting operations are staggering. Education alone must account for trillions of dollars at a minimum. The covid scam was several hundred billion and it's only on its second full year. And war... we know that's an ongoing grifting op that never ends.

That's an awful lot of money going into few pockets.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (BFigT)

148 Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:26 AM

Pass a law making any institution which gave them a degree liable for all of the debt incurred if the buyer refuses to pay. Some may say this might lead to the bankruptcy of many collegiate institutions, but I call that a feature, not a bug.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:30 AM (trdmm)

Unless and until you toss out all the lawmakers who are part of the "elite" system that starts with universities, none of this will happen.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (NWBBy)

149 I was merely mentioning accounting as an example of a necessary profession that would be a good choice to pursue, like the trades.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (iXjtm)

150 Pure, unadulterated cowardice in the face of a small group of communist-inspired "students" hell bent on destroying classical educations and giving control over the curriculum to students barely out of high school.

Cowardice? Or collusion?

Posted by: I used to have a different nic, Ashli Babbitt/Rosanne Boyland at July 28, 2022 11:33 AM (zhLdt)

151 Yeah that elevator thing, totally true. Except it was Alcibiades, not Laocoon.

Don't mess with me man. These are the pecs that launched a thousand fists.
Posted by: VDH at July 28, 2022 11:25 AM (44ww/)

***

How cruel

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at July 28, 2022 11:33 AM (flINI)

152 Isn't that the government admitting there is an IQ difference between races?

Posted by: Clutch at July 28, 2022 11:31 AM (9UmRs)

What?....like a "bell curve"?

Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:33 AM (AwYPR)

153 The rest are screwed. The third-tier private colleges are mostly about one academic year away from insolvency, perhaps three quarters.
==
This comment makes us feel bad. It is very hurtful. Judgey and causes us regret.

Posted by: Oberlin College 936 Million June 2020 not counting the judgment and interest at July 28, 2022 11:33 AM (Z9o7R)

154 Hard to outsource plumbers to India.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:03 AM (LvTSG)

And who wants to shit in a hole in the floor, if you could?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 28, 2022 11:34 AM (yzsfV)

155 May I assume that your sense of humor came from your dad?

*******

Largely, with a good dose of gallows humor from my career added in.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 28, 2022 11:34 AM (kXYt5)

156 Instead of a Third Party, the Forward people should refer to themselves as a Third Reich.

Posted by: ... at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (yOjJe)

157 Unless and until you toss out all the lawmakers who are part of the "elite" system that starts with universities, none of this will happen.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (NWBBy)
++++
Oh, of course. None of it can possibly happen. Fixing the problems isn't that hard in concept, but politics is real and politics will prevent any of it from happening until the wheels actually do fly off in an orgy of institutional collapse. The game will keep going until it all breaks at once.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (WWh8n)

158 When My Son was in JR. High many eons ago he got an assignment to design a world in his name... He made his world pretty much what it looks like in this day and age... College types were the unemployed and skilled workers were sought after....

Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (bs+z0)

159 Largely, with a good dose of gallows humor from my career added in.
Posted by: Muldoon at July 28, 2022 11:34 AM (kXYt5)

I thought you were a pediatrician... how many children were you hanging?

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (NWBBy)

160 I like this approach, but I don't know if it's legally permissible. Any lawyers care to opine?
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:29 AM (/NCI4)

All bankruptcy law is created by Congress. Whatever Congress wants to say it is, that is what it will be. Congress can also just wipe away all past debt if they want to, with a stroke of the pen. There will be consequences, but they can certainly do it.

I suspect the path of least resistance would be to turn all contracts and debts into fixed rate loans at 10% per annum or something like that, and then jack up the inflation rate to 100% per year. After 5 or 6 years of that the debt can be repaid for the current price of Happy Meal. (and if anyone thinks that's impossible, look at Argentina which is only a couple years ahead of us on this path. Argentinian inflation clocked last month at a rate of 58% Per Year.)

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (trdmm)

161 OT: Is this a real picture of MTG?

https://tinyurl.com/2awdjhtf

Posted by: Augustine at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (BDZWU)

162 I've decided to support changing the name of Monkeypox. It should be called "Shamiqua."

Posted by: Meade Lux Lewis, Domestic Terrorist at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (sWM8x)

163 143 IQ tests that companies used to give prior to hiring were found racially discriminatory and violated sections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (AwYPR)

Isn't that the government admitting there is an IQ difference between races?
Posted by: Clutch at July 28, 2022 11:31 AM (9UmRs)

Yeah? There's still been a decent amount of IQ-demographic data collected with regularity. We can speak to the average IQ of groups and countries (with lots of qualifiers on data collection and meaning).

The broadly held belief that IQ is a direct measure of raw/genetic intelligence is flawed though. The original inventor of IQ tests knew and stated this as well. IQ is an output, we can't test inputs.

You could try to adjust for circumstances or examine specific cohorts raised in corresponding environments to try to get at something like innate relative intelligence of individuals, but this isn't super useful for broad populations.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:36 AM (b2nrj)

164 I just crossed Exdem13 off my list of people who might be VHD.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (44ww/)

Victor Havis Danson?

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at July 28, 2022 11:36 AM (flINI)

165 136 Welding is a hard skill. Hot, dirty, uncomfortable positions and requires total concentration to do correctly. It SHOULD pay well.
======
A friend showed me a Facebook post once. It was an alleged response to a want ad "hiring welders $15-$30 and hour". It was a pair of weld lines. One looked like steel grouting, the other was a line that looked like a shirt seam. The text accompanying them said, "The line on the left is 15$ an hour, the one on the right is $30 an hour." It occurred to me that skilled workmen are savvy about the value of a job well done.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:36 AM (W+kMI)

166 My workplace just sent out an ERMERGERD WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!111!!! Covid email. Cases! Cases! Cases!

Posted by: bicentennialguy at July 28, 2022 11:37 AM (IytoW)

167 166 My workplace just sent out an ERMERGERD WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!111!!! Covid email. Cases! Cases! Cases!
Posted by: bicentennialguy at July 28, 2022 11:37 AM (IytoW)

=========

"I have to take the afternoon off to make sure that I don't die."

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:37 AM (LvTSG)

168 Not a lawyer but this is a pretty typical way to sunset many things. It's in general keeping with principles of law.

Look at it from the university's pov. They took on substandard students and even lots of adequate ones, with the express understanding that the student is on the hook for the money, and if not him, then the taxpayer. That money has already been spent. It seems unlikely that one could then say "sorry, but in two years, you're the one on the hook".

Again, no problem going forward, but for the debts already incurred, that's a big problem.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:37 AM (/NCI4)

169 I am highly suspicious of notion that the rapidly rising IQ levels of the 20th century indicated an increase in innate intelligence for instance.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (b2nrj)

170 Pass a law making any institution which gave them a degree liable for all of the debt incurred if the buyer refuses to pay. Some may say this might lead to the bankruptcy of many collegiate institutions, but I call that a feature, not a bug.
Posted by: Tom Servo

It is insane that the people most able to control both cost and quality of education are immune from responsibility.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (a7bUt)

171 Unless and until you toss out all the lawmakers who are part of the "elite" system that starts with universities, none of this will happen.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:32 AM (NWBBy)

Oh, of course. None of it can possibly happen. Fixing the problems isn't that hard in concept, but politics is real and politics will prevent any of it from happening until the wheels actually do fly off in an orgy of institutional collapse. The game will keep going until it all breaks at once.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (WWh8n)

I do think it's possible we could see a revolution of sorts, where people of all colors and economic conditions start to lose faith in institutions. There are hundreds of millions of us. If at some point we all stopped bickering and arguing with each other, and started turning our wrath toward our "elites," we could kill them (figuratively, of course) in an instant.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (NWBBy)

172 The idea that I sock VHD for the humor, and it might be read by the real VHD horrifies me.
==
Every time I sock him, I do it hoping he is reading and finds it wickedly funny. (I suspect, even if slightly embarrassing sometimes, he can laugh at becoming a meme on this site in general. Most of the comments are riffs on his noting Ace's "cruelty" and yet still, for some reason maintaining his maintaining an interest . . . )

Posted by: Look, we call ourselves morons, he's not going to be shocked at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (Z9o7R)

173 Q tests that companies used to give prior to hiring were found racially discriminatory and violated sections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (AwYPR)

----------

I interviewed with Duke power in the early 80's (long after this decision). They didn't give IQ tests anymore. What they had was a "Psychological" test instead, where you answered about 100 different questions about various scenarios.

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (fv27Y)

174 170 It is insane that the people most able to control both cost and quality of education are immune from responsibility.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (a7bUt)

========

Establishing barriers to higher education is racism.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (LvTSG)

175 push to classify them as for-profit institutions

Or, you know, malicious religious cult-fonts.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at July 28, 2022 11:39 AM (IEa8U)

176 Look at it from the university's pov. They took on substandard students and even lots of adequate ones, with the express understanding that the student is on the hook for the money, and if not him, then the taxpayer. That money has already been spent. It seems unlikely that one could then say "sorry, but in two years, you're the one on the hook".

Again, no problem going forward, but for the debts already incurred, that's a big problem.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:37 AM (/NCI4)

The original proposal seems to be that, "contracts before X date occur under this regime", "contracts after X date occur under a different regime". The tax code operates like this a lot. In both cases the contracts being signed are clear and voluntary, there is no re-writing of contracts.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:39 AM (b2nrj)

177 I knew a welder that specialized in welding underwater. Dude made incredible money until he got in an accident and the Dr. told him he could never dive again. So he retired at like 40.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at July 28, 2022 11:39 AM (Y5qcH)

178 Re: Taxing universities & strange bedfellows - Bernie was all for taxing the University of Vermont when he was mayor back in the day. He felt that UVM uses city services as much as any other business and they should pay for them.

Posted by: 496 at July 28, 2022 11:39 AM (VJsqe)

179 145 I just crossed Exdem13 off my list of people who might be VHD.
=======
I'm not Victor Davis Hanson, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last week.

Seriously, I'm a big fan of the man and his Elrond-like battle to save Western Civ in the USA. I have a few of his books and have enjoyed & benefited by all of them.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:39 AM (W+kMI)

180 There are other fields that require a college degree and beyond. I am specifically thinking of speech and language therapists and audiologists. I'm sure there are dozens more.
Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (45fpk)

Those sound to me to be exactly what could be taught in a trade school specializing in the field, with no college degree granted or required.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 28, 2022 11:40 AM (yzsfV)

181 Nice rant. Can't really disagree with much here.
I would add one thing and...okay, make it two things, both financially related.

Get the government completely out of the student loan business, and make it so you can default on your loan, same as any other bankruptcy.

Most of the silliness in education would disappear in a decade.
Sure, there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth, but that would be a feature not a bug.

Posted by: OneEyedJack , not Jeff goldblum at July 28, 2022 11:40 AM (MFphb)

182 I unfortunately couldn't advance past a clerk position without an accounting degree, and finally got one in my late 40's.
Posted by: Jordan61

So you're not really 29 ?

!

Posted by: JT at July 28, 2022 11:40 AM (T4tVD)

183 .

Posted by: OneEyedJack at July 28, 2022 11:40 AM (MFphb)

184 You know it's gone to hell when Colleges need to have remedial education for their students.... Why are they there ?

Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (bs+z0)

185 I support a limited life for foundations and nonprofit endowments. As someone famously said, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford etc are just "hedge funds with a college attached".

Something along these lines: maybe the life of the founder plus a decade or something. During that period all the money the founder gave (including any investment gains) has to be fully spent. If the foundation/non profit wants to live in perptuity, they have to raise all new money and start the ten year clock all over again for that annual amount.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (6lQte)

186 I am highly suspicious of notion that the rapidly rising IQ levels of the 20th century indicated an increase in innate intelligence for instance.
==
Most likely better nutrition world wide. That, frankly, has had a greater impact on mankind than modern medicine even though the cost of medical has gone up ten thousand fold since 1900 and the cost of food, not so much. Really, the understanding of vitamins, and the abundance and variety of fruits and vegs year round all throughout the developed world had a major impact on intelligence, development, disease resistence. Yuge.

Posted by: Look, we call ourselves morons, he's not going to be shocked at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (0CKPB)

187 The moment student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy and put the colleges on the hook for offering a faulty product will be the moment vast improvements in colleges will happen.

Posted by: NR Pax at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (2MzFg)

188 I am highly suspicious of notion that the rapidly rising IQ levels of the 20th century indicated an increase in innate intelligence for instance.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy

There's a significant clot of 'contrarians' that believe the opposite. As in we all gonna' die.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (IEa8U)

189 184 You know it's gone to hell when Colleges need to have remedial education for their students.... Why are they there ?
Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (bs+z0)

========

I believe it's very common for universities to do this already.

Basic essay construction is a common freshman level course.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (LvTSG)

190 My workplace just sent out an ERMERGERD WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!111!!! Covid email. Cases! Cases! Cases!
Posted by: bicentennialguy at July 28, 2022 11:37 AM (IytoW)

"I have to take the afternoon off to make sure that I don't die."
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:37 AM (LvTSG)

I'm on Covid break as I type. Head's a little stuffy, some mild aches, chills, and otherwise I'm sitting here chatting with you fine folks.

Thanks, Doktor Falci!

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (NWBBy)

191 180 There are other fields that require a college degree and beyond. I am specifically thinking of speech and language therapists and audiologists. I'm sure there are dozens more.
Posted by: grammie winger at July 28, 2022 11:10 AM (45fpk)

Those sound to me to be exactly what could be taught in a trade school specializing in the field, with no college degree granted or required.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 28, 2022 11:40 AM (yzsfV)

There's two separate things going on at a university, specialist education and broad education. Universities were originally created to provide "broad educations" and so there is a lot of residual attachment to this. Broad education tends to be useful for managing people who have different, more specialized, roles. An MBA is that sort of degree.

We can and probably should separate the specialist education.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (b2nrj)

192 The original proposal seems to be that, "contracts before X date occur under this regime", "contracts after X date occur under a different regime". The tax code operates like this a lot. In both cases the contracts being signed are clear and voluntary, there is no re-writing of contracts.

Right, but as I said originally, it's the implications of the old regime (taxpayers foot the bill) that could well block implementation of a new one.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (/NCI4)

193 It is insane that the people most able to control both cost and quality of education are immune from responsibility.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (a7bUt)

It actually makes perfect sense that the people who control the system behind the scenes have set it up so that they will never suffer any of the consequences of their bad decisions, only us. Now why we put it up with it like sad little sheep, that's what is insane.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (trdmm)

194 Average annual tuition and fees at all 4-year institutions
1979-1980: $1,513
2019-2020: $32,769

Median family income
1979: $16,530
2019: $68,703

Relative tuition and fees cost:
1979: 9.15% of median family income
2019: 47.7% of median family income

Of course, those are all-in, nationwide estimates and such large aggregation removes a lot of subtlety, but from a macro standpoint it's fair to say that tuition has gone up 5x in income terms since 1980. What happened in the 80s and beyond? Lots of stuff, but primarily the government trying to "deal with the college cost crisis." They did this the only way they know how: they threw money at the problem, which does nothing but drive inflation.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (WWh8n)

195 Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey. - John Lennon, probably
Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (W+kMI)

Stolen from Jefferson.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic, Ashli Babbitt/Rosanne Boyland at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (zhLdt)

196 You do a disservice to the simple minded (of all colors) when you allow them access to institutions where they are bound to fail. That's how you end up with Preznit Urkel X and VP Kumswallow Harris.

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (flINI)

197 I believe it's very common for universities to do this already.

Basic essay construction is a common freshman level course.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (LvTSG)

Shame they didn't learn this in HS... Too busy with pronouns and transgenderism not to mention green indoctrination

Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (bs+z0)

198 Neighbor lady's kid, a welder, just got back from an assignment in MD. Hated the area, by the way. He has landed a non nomadic job up in Rogers, AR at $36 an hour. Kid's only 26 but played it smart. Any time he could get a certification, he took time to do it.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (lz5hY)

199 You know it's gone to hell when Colleges need to have remedial education for their students.... Why are they there ?
Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (bs+z0)

========

I believe it's very common for universities to do this already.

Basic essay construction is a common freshman level course.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven

It was a dark and stormy night.....

Posted by: JT at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (T4tVD)

200 188 I am highly suspicious of notion that the rapidly rising IQ levels of the 20th century indicated an increase in innate intelligence for instance.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy

There's a significant clot of 'contrarians' that believe the opposite. As in we all gonna' die.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (IEa8U)

Objectively the IQ results have increased(to me this suggests we are getting better at taking the tests and perhaps the specific subject matter of the tests). In terms of actual results, people seem to be getting less capable.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (b2nrj)

201 It is insane that the people most able to control both cost and quality of education are immune from responsibility.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 11:38 AM (a7bUt)

Now do local public schools and property taxes

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (N39Ws)

202 194 They did this the only way they know how: they threw money at the problem, which does nothing but drive inflation.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (WWh8n)

=======

At least when government decides to throw money at killing people (like in a war), some of the people intended to die end up dead.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (LvTSG)

203 Basic essay construction is a common freshman level course.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven

My freshman comp professor was impressed that I came ready to have a thesis in my papers. Apparently most of the others just randomly regurgitated information without trying to make a point or advance a position.

Posted by: She Hobbit at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (ftFVW)

204 Right, but as I said originally, it's the implications of the old regime (taxpayers foot the bill) that could well block implementation of a new one.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (/NCI4)

Leftists like to think that everything they do is a one-way ratchet - anything once granted by government can NEVER be modified or taken away - but the current SCOTUS is working to disabuse them of that notion.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (trdmm)

205 Maybe already mentioned above -

Drop the state requirements for advanced degrees for social work and teachers. No reason for this whatsoever. Esp for social work, go into debt for 6 years of college and come out making $40k. Maybe if you are good at organizing and leading, you can become administrator and make double. Or get one of those prime jobs teaching social work at the university.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (fs1hN)

206 Basic essay construction is a common freshman level course.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (LvTSG)
=======================
And has been for many decades, I believe.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (6lQte)

207 I wonder what will happen when GenXers with student loan debt hit retirement age and 1) their income drops and 2) their SS is garnished.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (/+bwe)

208 95 Ain’t nobody here 20fukkin9.
Posted by: Xipe Totec at July 28, 2022 11:21 AM (eJn7u)

--------
20fukkin9 - Hunter's new password?

Posted by: 496 at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (VJsqe)

209 206 Basic essay construction is a common freshman level course.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (LvTSG)
=======================
And has been for many decades, I believe.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (6lQte)

=========

The American education system is only not great because we don't spend enough money per pupil!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (LvTSG)

210 At least when government decides to throw money at killing people (like in a war), some of the people intended to die end up dead.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:43 AM (LvTSG)

Now do our Covid response.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:45 AM (trdmm)

211 Couldn't agree more. Trump should lay it all out, exactly what he plans to do. Get a mandate.

If I had a college age kid today I would do everything I could to steer him toward Hillsdale, and if not that toward online learning or trade schools or apprenticeships.

Posted by: Ordinary American at July 28, 2022 11:45 AM (H8QX8)

212 I am highly suspicious of notion that the rapidly rising IQ levels of the 20th century indicated an increase in innate intelligence for instance.

According to Charles Murray in his book Facing Reality, the so-called Flynn Effect of rising IQs has stopped and gone into reverse. He explains that the FE was really a reflection of improved education in all classes, but we've reached the limit of that, and are now in the Idiocracy phase of IQ degeneration.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:45 AM (/NCI4)

213 Right, but as I said originally, it's the implications of the old regime (taxpayers foot the bill) that could well block implementation of a new one.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:42 AM (/NCI4)

Presumably under the new regime a lot fewer loans would be made? Due any new loans being exposed to bankruptcy risk(while old loans are not). Mannix seems to intentionally not want debts under the old regime to be discharged.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:45 AM (b2nrj)

214 And has been for many decades, I believe.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (6lQte)
++++
It was when I was in college (mid aughts) unless you tested out or proved equivalence. My grades in AP English when in high school worked as "equivalence" for that purpose, so I got to skip it.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (WWh8n)

215 Student loans are dischargeable due to death.

Colleges are requiring students to get the jab.

Which tells me the taxpayer is on the hook for a whole lot of unpaid student loans in the future, loan forgiveness or not.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - moronhorde.com - Email for morons. at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (Bd6X8)

216 It was first Fletcher Pratt and then VDH who impressed me in pointing out that monarchy can trump democracy if the monarchy has wealth to spend on making a first-class army and buying democratic friends in high places. Suddenly I realized why many of the previous histories I had read about Alexander the Great glossed over his dad's reign and why none of the Greek city-states objected to him hiring their soldiers into his grand army to subjugate Persia. Athenian orators had played the fool for Macedonian gold, and the rest were cowed by Macedonian steel.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (W+kMI)

217 I was talking to my dad, a university professor and former department head, a couple of years ago when we were on the cusp of finishing off our student loans (they gone, now).

He thought that the standard loan period was 10 years. "Oh, you're paying things off a couple of years early, that's good."

He was surprised when I told him that it was 30.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (LvTSG)

218 149 I was merely mentioning accounting as an example of a necessary profession that would be a good choice to pursue, like the trades.
----------------
They should teach Financial Accounting and Cost Accounting in Jr and Sr High School. It is a skill everyone should have.

Posted by: Puddinhead at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (fWTJL)

219
--------
20fukkin9 - Hunter's new password?
Posted by: 496 at July 28, 2022 11:44 AM (VJsqe)

60fukkin9

Posted by: Sponge - RIP Dave in Texas at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (Zz0t1)

220 We have too few Republican governors and legislatures fighting the left wing iron fisted control of red state universities. Gov Abbot in Texas has exerted no influence on the regents who administer UT & A&M. He has ceded the colleges to leftists who are at war with critical thinking, western civ, and classical liberal education.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (d9Cw3)

221
Now do our Covid response.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:45 AM (trdmm)

Speaking of the china flu, the local rag has stopped printing the covid stats.. I guess they didn't want folks to see that the chart with the unvaxed VS the vaxed showed the unvaxed did a lot better in all areas

Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:47 AM (bs+z0)

222 Twitter Karens are having a major meltdown over a new Marilyn Monroe biopic -- apparently because a biopic about a major sex symbol who had a short and traumatic life has... wait for it... sex scenes and traumatic scenes in it.

Quelle horreur!

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at July 28, 2022 11:47 AM (bW8dp)

223 Bernie was all for taxing the University of Vermont when he was mayor back in the day. He felt that UVM uses city services as much as any other business and they should pay for them.

Burlington is cute but totally supported by the college

the college also has a pretty big ag school that donates all produce to the town

and a massive health center (to train HC workers, it's really great btw, all UG students can intern there easily) that has terrific free/reduced cost services to the locals.

so I dunno. not sure what "services" he's talking about other than sewer/water fees? Burlington should thank their lucky stars UVM is there.

We sure do in West Chester and we are far, far less dependent on WCU than they are dependent on UVM. (we are the county seat and have the courts and law/county offices etc)

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 11:47 AM (w0NJk)

224 I knew a welder that specialized in welding underwater. Dude made incredible money until he got in an accident and the Dr. told him he could never dive again. So he retired at like 40.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at July 28, 2022 11:39 AM (Y5qcH)

Yes, I think when teaching kids these trades at which they can make terrific money, alongside it should be teaching of how to save some of it for later years, or at least how to transition to something else once their relatively short career with the physical labor part of it is no longer doable.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:47 AM (NWBBy)

225 212 "I am highly suspicious of notion that the rapidly rising IQ levels of the 20th century indicated an increase in innate intelligence for instance."

According to Charles Murray in his book Facing Reality, the so-called Flynn Effect of rising IQs has stopped and gone into reverse. He explains that the FE was really a reflection of improved education in all classes, but we've reached the limit of that, and are now in the Idiocracy phase of IQ degeneration.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:45 AM (/NCI4)

All of this agrees with the notion that IQ isn't some metric of genetic intelligence though(which logically would be hard to get at by measuring outputs that have environmental inputs). Rapid genetic intelligence increases followed by rapid degeneration seems unlikely.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:47 AM (b2nrj)

226 Presumably under the new regime a lot fewer loans would be made? Due any new loans being exposed to bankruptcy risk(while old loans are not). Mannix seems to intentionally not want debts under the old regime to be discharged.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:45 AM (b2nrj)
++++
Right. And yeah, we'd get boned on the existing debts. We're boned anyway, but that would cause a faster realization of the boning because a lot of people who got those old loans will quit paying. They'll be garnished and whatnot, but it won't make enough of a difference and since the Feds underwrite the student loans, we'll be on the hook for it. But at least under such a scheme (rather than forgiveness), the debtor also has ruined credit and increasing salary claw-backs as they earn more.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:47 AM (WWh8n)

227 20fukkin9 - Hunter's new password?
Posted by: 496

How to spread monkeypox?

Posted by: She Hobbit at July 28, 2022 11:48 AM (ftFVW)

228 If college education was free then everyone could be smart.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at July 28, 2022 11:48 AM (Qhnrt)

229 I have VDH Carnage and Culture on audiobook. The Dying Citizen and Second World War are on my wish list. I am way behind on my reading.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 11:48 AM (44ww/)

230 He was surprised when I told him that it was 30.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:46 AM (LvTSG)
++++
I'm surprised by that, too. My student loans were all on 15-year terms.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:48 AM (WWh8n)

231 I just got one of the innumerable fundraising e-mails I get from the Republicans. I imagine many of us get them along with loads of them from Donald Trump. Anyway, this one made me laugh. I guess because I don't send them money they've resorted to asking, "Are you a Democrat now?" Well, now that you've mentioned it "Yes, I still am one-only because I haven't changed my registration" Unfortunately, there's no way to give a somewhat snappy comeback.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 28, 2022 11:48 AM (fL5aK)

232 184 You know it's gone to hell when Colleges need to have remedial education for their students.... Why are they there ?
Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:41 AM (bs+z0)

this may sound like a joke, but it isn't - a 6th grade level education in the mid 19th Century was equivalent to a high school diploma in the 1950's, which was equivalent to a bachelors degree in the 1980's or 90's, all of which produced students far superior in general intelligence and knowledge than any post-graduate programs do today.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (trdmm)

233 Old and busted: I am majoring in A Useful Skill with minors in 'work ethic' and 'integrity'

New hot thingL. I am majoring in Remedial High School with minors in 'video games' and 'TikTok'.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (kXYt5)

234 If universities ever get squeezed, do you think they'll drop the huge number of high salaried employees they added to administration in the last 20 years? Rather they'll go all in on making it hard on the students and faculty first, to show them what happens when mean orange men take charge. And of course these same students and faculty will be on the highly paid university president's side and will never question why a huge chunk of their tuition goes to pay 50 diversity coordinators with six figure salaries, or why these people make more than the professors.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (fs1hN)

235 "Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey. - John Lennon, probably
Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:07 AM (W+kMI)

Stolen from Jefferson.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic"

Nope. Benjamin Franklin. All great quotes come from Benjamin Franklin

Posted by: Ripley at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (MxEKc)

236 '"Despite the massive increase in their endowments, the universities have continued to push for the repeal of the 1.4% tax"

Now do the individual income tax...much higher than 1.4%.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (ynpvh)

237 One of my colleagues has a son who finished high school with several certifications from Microsoft and Cisco. He was offered a very well paying job working in network operations as a result.

A college degree might not be necessary, depending on your aspirations, even a technical degree.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (SRZO6)

238 The only Athenian who was happy by Philip II and then Alexander's triumphant marches down the Athenian version of Chanps du Eleeseeay was Aristotle, who was Alexander's tutor. Alexander gave him an endowment to fund his own school, the Lycaeum. Aristotle had it built directly across the road from Plato's Academy, whose faculty had rejected him as Chairman of the Board due to jealousy many years before.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (W+kMI)

239 If I had a college age kid today I would do everything I could to steer him toward Hillsdale, and if not that toward online learning or trade schools or apprenticeships.

a lot of people are!

it's tough to get into Hillsdale now!

and the schools with working co-ops like Drexel or Rose-Hulman are getting VERY popular as well

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (w0NJk)

240 "IQ tests that companies used to give prior to hiring were found racially discriminatory and violated sections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.Posted by: BignJames
Isn't that the government admitting there is an IQ difference between races?"

yeah, and it means NOT using IQ tests is also racially discriminatory (against more qualified people of the "non-PC Wrong races).

It ensures lower IQ is given a path to degrees/jobs that require higher IQ. But "diversity is our strength" is an article of faith for the Woke Religion. (which is a cult run by mad men intent on our destruction)

Posted by: illiniwek at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (Cus5s)

241 This busty, bespectacled brunette doesn't worry about college costs because she ~~plans to be a trophy wife~~ is attending with a full-ride academic scholarship:
https://is.gd/zzDSA3

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (WWh8n)

242 Basic essay construction is a common freshman level course.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven

Fun part is when the university reviewer declares that 'basic bitch' and forces you to take a remedial class.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (IEa8U)

243 Might as well re-possess the degrees too.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (b2nrj)

This. No skin in the game? No sheepskin for you.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (yzsfV)

244 Nope. Benjamin Franklin. All great quotes come from Benjamin Franklin
Posted by: Ripley at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (MxEKc)

***

Is Ben Franklin going to have to cut a bitch?
-Benjamin Franklin 1772

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (flINI)

245 If universities ever get squeezed, do you think they'll drop the huge number of high salaried employees they added to administration in the last 20 years? Rather they'll go all in on making it hard on the students and faculty first, to show them what happens when mean orange men take charge. And of course these same students and faculty will be on the highly paid university president's side and will never question why a huge chunk of their tuition goes to pay 50 diversity coordinators with six figure salaries, or why these people make more than the professors.
Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (fs1hN)
++++
Let 'em. Demise is demise. Who they screw first on the way down is up to them.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (WWh8n)

246 My freshman comp professor was impressed that I came ready to have a thesis in my papers. Apparently most of the others just randomly regurgitated information without trying to make a point or advance a position.

I remember trying to make a point and advance a position in freshman comp. Prof killed me for it. Lesson learned: shut up and randomly regurgitate information.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (nfrXX)

247 245 If universities ever get squeezed, do you think they'll drop the huge number of high salaried employees they added to administration in the last 20 years? Rather they'll go all in on making it hard on the students and faculty first, to show them what happens when mean orange men take charge. And of course these same students and faculty will be on the highly paid university president's side and will never question why a huge chunk of their tuition goes to pay 50 diversity coordinators with six figure salaries, or why these people make more than the professors.
Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (fs1hN)

==========

"We were going to cut the DEI staff, but then they called us racist. We shut down the electrical engineering program instead."

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (LvTSG)

248 Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (WWh8n)
================

dayam.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (SRZO6)

249 this may sound like a joke, but it isn't - a 6th grade level education in the mid 19th Century was equivalent to a high school diploma in the 1950's, which was equivalent to a bachelors degree in the 1980's or 90's, all of which produced students far superior in general intelligence and knowledge than any post-graduate programs do today.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (trdmm)

About 15 years ago someone name Evan Coyne Maloney did a documentary on the degraded state of higher education. He gave a 20 recent Harvard graduates the 1955 Indiana Public School Junior High civics exam. Zero passed it.

Posted by: Ordinary American at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (H8QX8)

250 241 This busty, bespectacled brunette doesn't worry about college costs because she plans to be a trophy wife is attending with a full-ride academic scholarship:
https://is.gd/zzDSA3

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (WWh8n)

Looks like she likes to get her hair tugged...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (ynpvh)

251 I was talking to my cousin about his college years. He has a degree in landscape architecture. He was shocked that most of the other students went there to party. His idea of what college would be like was based on his dad's stories of college in the 40s. Such a complete waste of time and money. The brother that didn't go to college and became a truck driver had the better life. He's the only one that married and had kids too.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - move forward at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (5HBd1)

252 They'll be garnished and whatnot, but it won't make enough of a difference and since the Feds underwrite the student loans, we'll be on the hook for it.
___________

Any chance we can claw-back from the university? I'd be all for that.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (fs1hN)

253 241 This busty, bespectacled brunette doesn't worry about college costs because she plans to be a trophy wife is attending with a full-ride academic scholarship:
https://is.gd/zzDSA3
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (WWh8n)

-------
I'd like to tutor

Posted by: 496 at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (VJsqe)

254 243 Might as well re-possess the degrees too.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:24 AM (b2nrj)

This. No skin in the game? No sheepskin for you.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (yzsfV)

But do use the other sheep skin or latex alternative...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 11:53 AM (ynpvh)

255 OT: Is this a real picture of MTG?

https://tinyurl.com/2awdjhtf
Posted by: Augustine at July 28, 2022 11:35 AM (BDZWU)

I'll say yes. She's a gym rat and you can tell by looking at her shoulders and arms. There's no reason to think the rest of her wouldn't be as fit.
( I think she owns some fitness business)

Posted by: OneEyedJack at July 28, 2022 11:53 AM (MFphb)

256 All of this agrees with the notion that IQ isn't some metric of genetic intelligence though(which logically would be hard to get at by measuring outputs that have environmental inputs). Rapid genetic intelligence increases followed by rapid degeneration seems unlikely.

The Murray book deals at length with the civilizational and environmental factors that lead to evolutionary selection for IQ, so there's a mix there. Also, the book "The 10,000 Year Explosion" explores that topic at length.

Despite my joke about Idiocracy, the basic thesis remains. 500 years ago, idiots didn't reproduce, they diedm(see the Murray book for data). Now the reverse is true, with an inverse correlation between IQ (however measured) and fertility. The outcome is predictable.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 28, 2022 11:53 AM (/NCI4)

257 I graduated HS in 67 (and got drafted the next year) and will state with absolute confidence my 1967 high school diploma is equal to most of today's college degrees.

Posted by: Eromero at July 28, 2022 11:53 AM (gktX6)

258 Any chance we can claw-back from the university? I'd be all for that.
Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (fs1hN)
++++
Probably not. The university is rarely a party to the loan transaction. That's between the lender and the borrower. Some lenders pay out to the bursar's office, but the university isn't on the contract. Some schools underwrite loans (mine did, and I had a loan issued to me by the institution itself in the education version of vendor financing) and their capital takes a hit for non-payment in that case, but those loans tend to be pretty small.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (WWh8n)

259 Oh, great. This is what my son wants to major in in his two last years of college-Something to do with landscaping or agricultural. He is really looking forward to it.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (fL5aK)

260 Nope. Benjamin Franklin. All great quotes come from Benjamin Franklin
Posted by: Ripley at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (MxEKc)

Is Ben Franklin going to have to cut a bitch?
-Benjamin Franklin 1772
Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (flINI)

Whoever said being fat and ugly was no way to go through life is a fool. I'm laying more french pipe than you are. -

BF, 1784

Posted by: BurtTC at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (NWBBy)

261 249 this may sound like a joke, but it isn't - a 6th grade level education in the mid 19th Century was equivalent to a high school diploma in the 1950's, which was equivalent to a bachelors degree in the 1980's or 90's, all of which produced students far superior in general intelligence and knowledge than any post-graduate programs do today.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (trdmm)

About 15 years ago someone name Evan Coyne Maloney did a documentary on the degraded state of higher education. He gave a 20 recent Harvard graduates the 1955 Indiana Public School Junior High civics exam. Zero passed it.
Posted by: Ordinary American at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (H8QX

They'd likely test higher for IQ though, I suspect mathematics being the core pusher. Mathematics is the one field which seems to be broader and stronger in the population.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (b2nrj)

262 I think we should have a Grand Jubilee, cancel all debts of all kinds to everyone, all at once. Yeah, every financial institution would go bankrupt, but since it looks like that's going to happen anyways, why not? We can have some fun on the highway to hell.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (trdmm)

263 Now that Commie Shumer has bought Mancheun with maybe a V.P. position or maybe even a shot at the Title of President by signing the New Bogus Woke Program(s), IF those Clowns fix it so they win again, even if contested, BAD University Fee's and Agenda's will be the least of our worries.
Chuck probably said "How's It Sound MR. PRESIDENT? Sign HERE"
Done Deal
He Signed

Posted by: Bob at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (jpYg+)

264 244 Nope. Benjamin Franklin. All great quotes come from Benjamin Franklin
Posted by: Ripley at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (MxEKc)
***
Is Ben Franklin going to have to cut a bitch?
-Benjamin Franklin 1772
Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (flINI)

"That Thot had better be wary, lest I incise her with mine blade"--Benjamin Franklin

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (ynpvh)

265 MTG could make Adam Kinzinger cry.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (SRZO6)

266
Who bitch did is?

Yes, also Benjamin Franklin

Posted by: Ripley at July 28, 2022 11:55 AM (MxEKc)

267 MTG could make Adam Kinzinger cry.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (SRZO6)
++++
I strongly suspect that virtually anything could make Kinzinger cry.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:55 AM (WWh8n)

268 This busty, bespectacled brunette doesn't worry about college costs because she plans to be a trophy wife is attending with a full-ride academic scholarship:
https://is.gd/zzDSA3
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (WWh8n)

Bountiful rack and nice belly too

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo, food, water at July 28, 2022 11:55 AM (V6f9+)

269 Looks like she likes to get her hair tugged...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 11:52 AM (ynpvh)

Not too hard. It'll pop off in your hands and you'll owe her to get it rethreaded

Posted by: OneEyedJack at July 28, 2022 11:55 AM (MFphb)

270 246 My freshman comp professor was impressed that I came ready to have a thesis in my papers. Apparently most of the others just randomly regurgitated information without trying to make a point or advance a position.

I remember trying to make a point and advance a position in freshman comp. Prof killed me for it. Lesson learned: shut up and randomly regurgitate information.
Posted by: Oddbob at July 28, 2022 11:51 AM (nfrXX)

Depends on the prof and the class. I took a GE in an ethnics study class, and knew I needed to reguritate. The prof wrote a note that I was thoughtful and would be a great asset for the movement...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 11:56 AM (ynpvh)

271 268 This busty, bespectacled brunette doesn't worry about college costs because she plans to be a trophy wife is attending with a full-ride academic scholarship:
https://is.gd/zzDSA3
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:50 AM (WWh8n)

-------
She looks too young for college. Must be premature matriculation.

Posted by: 496 at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (VJsqe)

272 500 years ago, idiots didn't reproduce, they diedm(see the Murray book for data)."

Excuse me my good fellow, but have you heard of Ireland?

Posted by: The British at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (trdmm)

273 I strongly suspect that virtually anything could make Kinzinger cry.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:55 AM (WWh8n)
=============
I just paid a hotel bill that has me a little teary. What the hell, are hotels now gold mines?! And no one cleans your room either.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (SRZO6)

274 249 Back when I was doing a lot of reading on the Civil War, I came across a book of letters to home by soldiers. The eloquence is amazing, especially when one realizes most were the product of a small elementary school, maybe 6th grade, taught by teachers whose education was the Normal School.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (lz5hY)

275 262 I think we should have a Grand Jubilee, cancel all debts of all kinds to everyone, all at once. Yeah, every financial institution would go bankrupt, but since it looks like that's going to happen anyways, why not? We can have some fun on the highway to hell.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (trdmm)

Not sure if people would call that experience fun when all their cards and accounts stop working.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (b2nrj)

276 There are several other measures not mentioned that need to be taken. Repeal the Lifetime Learning Credit (20% of up to $10,000 in tuition) and the American Opportunity Credit ($2,500 credit dollar for dollar for tuition for first 4 years of college). Repeal section 529. Grant tuition credits for qualified trade schools.

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (vN+oL)

277 this may sound like a joke, but it isn't - a 6th grade level education in the mid 19th Century was equivalent to a high school diploma in the 1950's, which was equivalent to a bachelors degree in the 1980's or 90's, all of which produced students far superior in general intelligence and knowledge than any post-graduate programs do today.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (trdmm)

But that was when expectations for when you are "done" with school was completely different. The college grad might be someone who read books 50 hours a week, as a hobby when it wasn't vocational.

More education is chasing the symptoms of competence rather than building it. Worse, these teens working out in the real world (forgive the cliche) would be learning people skills and respect for immutable problems.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (44ww/)

278 MTG could make Adam Kinzinger cry.

BFD. So can Mrs. Kinzinger.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 28, 2022 11:58 AM (nfrXX)

279 >>>More education is chasing the symptoms of competence rather than building it.

--------
This is well said

Posted by: 496 at July 28, 2022 11:58 AM (VJsqe)

280 On Manchin - I think he's done with politics and won't run again. It's hard to even be mad at him, since I wouldn't be surprised if he held out until the payoff was close to $100 million in untraceable cash, probably on some Caribbean island.

Posted by: The British at July 28, 2022 11:59 AM (trdmm)

281 If you are not going to school for science or engineering, then go to a trade school instead.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt

Engineering is being outsourced to India, so if you want to go that route, you will need a PE stamp so you can stamp their work.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 28, 2022 11:59 AM (lTGtQ)

282 But that was when expectations for when you are "done" with school was completely different. The college grad might be someone who read books 50 hours a week, as a hobby when it wasn't vocational.

More education is chasing the symptoms of competence rather than building it. Worse, these teens working out in the real world (forgive the cliche) would be learning people skills and respect for immutable problems.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (44ww/)

Generalists aren't useless(useful particularly in hooking the disparate fields together), but advanced economics has lead to greater specialization thanks to the division of labor. Division of labor is highly efficient.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:00 PM (b2nrj)

283 "So the stock market likes the no recession recession"
Posted by: It's me donna

they were neutral on the rate hike, but liked Powell saying rate rises would slow (after the next one?)

They also probably see another flood of free government money from the Nude Green Eel. Inflate the Bubble some more ... happy daze are here again.

Posted by: illiniwek at July 28, 2022 12:00 PM (Cus5s)

284 Over at one of the nearby high schools, they offer a tech track. Kids can graduate with Cisco certs, A+, Network+ and a few others.

Worked with one kid that did that and then got a clearance. He's been doing well for himself.

Posted by: NR Pax at July 28, 2022 12:00 PM (2MzFg)

285 274 249 Back when I was doing a lot of reading on the Civil War, I came across a book of letters to home by soldiers. The eloquence is amazing, especially when one realizes most were the product of a small elementary school, maybe 6th grade, taught by teachers whose education was the Normal School.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (lz5hY)

McGuffy readers advance pretty fast by the time you got to the 6th grade primer.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:00 PM (ynpvh)

286 Fenelon,

That's why I asked him about his degree. He said your son would do better with a horticultural degree. The landscape architecture is less about plants and more about architecture.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - move forward at July 28, 2022 12:00 PM (5HBd1)

287 Not sure if people would call that experience fun when all their cards and accounts stop working.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (b2nrj)

It's a bit tongue in cheek (although I have heard some promote the idea) - but looking at the next 3 or 4 years, I don't think there' a whole lot of "fun" in our financial future no matter what course of action we follow.

Posted by: The British at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (trdmm)

288 I am kind of in mourning for what we have lost from higher education. Not to mention K-12.

Glad there are a few other avenues opening up. These threads are often educational.

Posted by: KT at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (rrtZS)

289 I just paid a hotel bill that has me a little teary. What the hell, are hotels now gold mines?! And no one cleans your room either.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (SRZO6)
++++
Mid 2021 is when hotels started skyrocketing in price based on my experience. It was low for the first half of 2020 because of COVID and then as people started moving around more, the price started to climb and it started surging brutally in 2021. I stayed at a La Qunita hotel in northern Denver last year and had to spend $160 per night. For a mid-low hotel in an unexciting part of town.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (WWh8n)

290 $100 million in untraceable cash, probably on some Caribbean island.

Posted by: The British at July 28, 2022 11:59 AM (trdmm)

...or where ever Hunter banks.

Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (AwYPR)

291 I have a theory that Kamala wasn't simply a check box choice. She was actually Biden's attemp to insure that he wasn't the worst VP in history.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (a7bUt)

292 104 So the stock market likes the no recession recession
Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (bs+z0)

I'm reading things as inflation is going to stay.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:02 PM (b2nrj)

293 Out here there has also been a trend in small to medium towns of former state colleges (perhaps with an emphasis on Ag studies) rebranding themselves as 'universities' with an emphasis on putting butts in seats, as long as those butts come with financing. Little else in terms of entrance requirements such as test scores or HS GPA. The coffers filled up, enrollments soared, faculty grew with corresponding heads of newly formed departments and construction exploded (dorms, sports facilities, even shopping outlets and food courts). I don't know how thin their margins are, or how likely they are to collapse if the money spigot is shut down, but for now we have Colorado Mesa Univ. (G. Jct.), Western State Univ. (Gunnison) and Adams State Univ. (Alamosa) to name a few.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 28, 2022 12:02 PM (kXYt5)

294 this may sound like a joke, but it isn't - a 6th grade level education in the mid 19th Century was equivalent to a high school diploma in the 1950's, which was equivalent to a bachelors degree in the 1980's or 90's, all of which produced students far superior in general intelligence and knowledge than any post-graduate programs do today.
Posted by: Tom Servo

The WSJ put out a test in their paper around thirty years ago. It was a tough test, that many people had trouble doing well on. Once you finished, and turned to the page indicated, you found out it was an entrance exam to a NYC high school from 1900.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 28, 2022 12:02 PM (lTGtQ)

295 Mid 2021 is when hotels started skyrocketing in price based on my experience. It was low for the first half of 2020 because of COVID and then as people started moving around more, the price started to climb and it started surging brutally in 2021. I stayed at a La Qunita hotel in northern Denver last year and had to spend $160 per night. For a mid-low hotel in an unexciting part of town.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (WWh8n)

I suspect that enough hotels closed due to the pandemic to create a supply shortage.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 12:02 PM (trdmm)

296 Also, he said that you need to be able to sketch well to make it in that field. He did okay with CAD but couldn't sketch. He got his degree in OK.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - move forward at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (5HBd1)

297 288 I am kind of in mourning for what we have lost from higher education. Not to mention K-12.

Glad there are a few other avenues opening up. These threads are often educational.
Posted by: KT at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (rrtZS)

But look at all the gains in perversion, intersectionalism, and communism...oh, wait...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (ynpvh)

298 291 I have a theory that Kamala wasn't simply a check box choice. She was actually Biden's attemp to insure that he wasn't the worst VP in history.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (a7bUt)

========

Don't forget that NYT article that lauded Kamala in January of 2019. She was the establishment pick for president in 2020. After months (at least) of interviews with her, the establishment went with her.

The Democratic electorate refused to go along. The establishment probably foisted Kamala on Biden.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (LvTSG)

299 Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 11:54 AM (WWh8n)
_________

How about, when law corrected to allow bankruptcy on student loans, a huge tax on university endowments is added to compensate for taxpayer underwriting losses, with sliding scale based on average student's total annual payment for tuition, services and room&board.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (fs1hN)

300 277 Churchill said all young men (referring to students) will learn English. Then, as a matter of course learn Latin, and learn Greek as a treat. Imagine a kid sitting around learning classical Greek as a diversion when his IPhone is so close. Kids read a lot more without electronic diversion.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (lz5hY)

301 279 >>>More education is chasing the symptoms of competence rather than building it.

--------
This is well said
======
As someone who has largely been educated by the state public systems, I must sadly but honestly agree.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (W+kMI)

302 Universities are essentially Disney+. Ideological businesses.

Posted by: kraken at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (Vr12I)

303 Jerry Pournelle published a reprint of a CA school book. It was amazing how much more difficult it was than our current schoolbooks.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - move forward at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (5HBd1)

304 290 $100 million in untraceable cash, probably on some Caribbean island.

Posted by: The British at July 28, 2022 11:59 AM (trdmm)

...or where ever Hunter banks.
Posted by: BignJames at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (AwYPR)

We do know where he makes his deposits...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (ynpvh)

305 Yeah, that sounds right...

@disclosetv 2h
JUST IN - Biden's statement on the shrinking US economy: "We are on the right path."

Posted by: weft cut-loop at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (IEa8U)

306 "When you come to the fork in the road, take it."

B. Franklin 1777

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (flINI)

307 8 If you are not going to school for science or engineering, then go to a trade school instead.
Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 28, 2022 11:04 AM (ufFY

I've been an engineer for 40 years. If you can hack it, do that for sure. Trades are probably a better choice now though, since you won't have to sit though all the indoctrination bullshit with your mouth shut.

Posted by: Roy at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (u20be)

308 291 I have a theory that Kamala wasn't simply a check box choice. She was actually Biden's attemp to insure that he wasn't the worst VP in history.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (a7bUt)

Being the worst president (so far...) is worse.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:05 PM (ynpvh)

309 Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (lz5hY)

--------
Hey Ma! Who's Auntie Meridian?

Posted by: 496 at July 28, 2022 12:05 PM (VJsqe)

310 308 291 I have a theory that Kamala wasn't simply a check box choice. She was actually Biden's attemp to insure that he wasn't the worst VP in history.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 12:01 PM (a7bUt)

Being the worst president (so far...) is worse.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:05 PM (ynpvh)

=========

Biden hasn't created his own EPA or DHS, though.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 12:05 PM (LvTSG)

311 292 104 So the stock market likes the no recession recession
Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (bs+z0)

I'm reading things as inflation is going to stay.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:02 PM (b2nrj)

Like the man who jumped off a 100-story building...
"99 floors, and alls well!"

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:06 PM (ynpvh)

312 The teams of PhDs in diverse fields, in the Michael Crichton novels, would have gotten stuck in the mud much sooner in real life. To be rescued by a working-class groundskeeper who doesn't say much but rolls his eyes a lot.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 28, 2022 12:06 PM (44ww/)

313 Back when I was doing a lot of reading on the Civil War, I came across a book of letters to home by soldiers. The eloquence is amazing, especially when one realizes most were the product of a small elementary school, maybe 6th grade, taught by teachers whose education was the Normal School.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door

Yeah? Well, they couldn't emoji for shit!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at July 28, 2022 12:06 PM (a7bUt)

314 so I dunno. not sure what "services" he's talking about other than sewer/water fees? Burlington should thank their lucky stars UVM is there.

We sure do in West Chester and we are far, far less dependent on WCU than they are dependent on UVM. (we are the county seat and have the courts and law/county offices etc)

Posted by: BlackOrchid
---------------------------
State universities (and in some states non profit private univ) do not pay property taxes and thus the larger the university's holdings in a particular town or county, the greater the impact on who finances local government. Streets, police (most campus police are not there for serious crime), fire, utilities, and so forth are an issue. Another is that the land that a university sits on in private hands would generate property taxes. In some places, there is a limit on property acquisition by local unis. Same issue occurs with federal property.

Posted by: whig at July 28, 2022 12:06 PM (CXr4y)

315 This busty, bespectacled brunette doesn't worry about college costs because she plans to be a trophy wife is attending with a full-ride academic scholarship:
https://is.gd/zzDSA3

She could flay you with that pony tail just by shaking her head.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - moronhorde.com - Email for morons. at July 28, 2022 12:06 PM (Bd6X8)

316 300 277 Churchill said all young men (referring to students) will learn English. Then, as a matter of course learn Latin, and learn Greek as a treat. Imagine a kid sitting around learning classical Greek as a diversion when his IPhone is so close. Kids read a lot more without electronic diversion.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM (lz5hY)

Oh, he learns Greek today...--modern tranny teacher

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:06 PM (ynpvh)

317 the stock market is reacting to manchin's cave.

more MMT policy; more inflation

I guess it makes them "happy" over there

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 12:07 PM (w0NJk)

318 245 If universities ever get squeezed, do you think they'll drop the huge number of high salaried employees they added to administration in the last 20 years? Rather they'll go all in on making it hard on the students and faculty first, to show them what happens when mean orange men take charge. And of course these same students and faculty will be on the highly paid university president's side and will never question why a huge chunk of their tuition goes to pay 50 diversity coordinators with six figure salaries, or why these people make more than the professors.
Posted by: Chuck Martel at July 28, 2022 11:49 AM (fs1hN)
---
Even worse, they cut core functions of the university like IT and Library staff. Without IT, there ain't gonna be any research or publications. You are also *required* to have a certain number of librarians in order to qualify for various things as well, such as whether or not you can be considered an "R1" university.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 28, 2022 12:07 PM (YIVH2)

319 So, be honest, who had "Beefleggers 3d printing guns to fight revenue agents trying to find their illegal cattle stashed up in the hollow" for any pre-2024 bingo card?

I didn't; I didn't think we'd see this level of retardation without things kicking off entirely due to some misstep or deliberate decision from the leftists. But the powers that be seem to be rushing headlong into this eat-the-bugs bullshit.

Posted by: somedood - skull mountain sherpa at July 28, 2022 12:07 PM (TZivQ)

320 311 292 104 So the stock market likes the no recession recession
Posted by: It's me donna at July 28, 2022 11:22 AM (bs+z0)

I'm reading things as inflation is going to stay.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:02 PM (b2nrj)

Like the man who jumped off a 100-story building...
"99 floors, and alls well!"
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:06 PM (ynpvh)

The Venezuelan stock market has huge nominal returns. If all prices double, the price of the factory and machinery owned by the company also doubles. This is still damaging to their real profitability as it makes doing business very difficult, but they do get carried along somewhat, and if they have fixed debt financing, the inflation actually increases their value for a time.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:07 PM (b2nrj)

321 because the easiest way to keep getting your paycheck was to give in to the loud mouth rabble rousers. No upside to standing up to them. I swam thru this swamp in the 70's to get an engineering degree. I was young and learning. I built wealth with my knowledge gained. Now, these rabble rousers want to STEAL my wealth to pay for their BS. FJB and Antifa and BLM (all who only know how to tear down)

Posted by: gov't here to help at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (h2Opm)

322 @disclosetv 2h
JUST IN - Biden's statement on the shrinking US economy: "We are on the right path."
Posted by: weft cut-loop at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (IEa8U)

It's astounding that Biden's response to the news that we now have officially seen 2 quarters of negative grown is straight out of Monty Python.
"Look, now this is a recession."
"No it isn't!"
""2 quarters of negative growth, that's what a recession is."
"No it isn't!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (trdmm)

323 307 8 If you are not going to school for science or engineering, then go to a trade school instead.
Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 28, 2022 11:04 AM (ufFY

I've been an engineer for 40 years. If you can hack it, do that for sure. Trades are probably a better choice now though, since you won't have to sit though all the indoctrination bullshit with your mouth shut.

Posted by: Roy at July 28, 2022 12:04 PM (u20be)

You got a decade up on my, Roy.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (ynpvh)

324
Biden hasn't created his own EPA or DHS, though.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 12:05 PM

yet

Posted by: AltonJackson at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (ENBF0)

325 Say what you will about our educational system, but it's a great way for teachers to find sex partners.

Posted by: Wally at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (FJYfm)

326 I suspect that enough hotels closed due to the pandemic to create a supply shortage.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 12:02 PM (trdmm)
++++
Probably a factor. Another is likely that the hotel business has fairly high fixed costs (I suspect - I am not a hotelier) and fewer guests means higher prices per guest to cover it and so the moment demand started to resurface, nightly prices skyrocketed so the hotels can try to dig out.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (WWh8n)

327 To put it another way, even if we all become quadrillionaires, we still won't be able to buy out Apple and the other big corporations.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (b2nrj)

328 University administrative bloat over even just the last decade or so is something to see. I've wondered which university will be the first to have more deans than professors (or if it's actually happened someplace already). There's long been (probably centuries now) more administrators than teachers in universities, even though it's actually a super simple business model (keep a list of teachers you pay and a list of the classes they teach, keep a list of students who paid to take classes, run a match up process between students and classes twice a year, ask for the class grades from the teachers twice a year, and call it a day). At its core it's like five or less Excel spreadsheets total to run a university, but a Modern University needs at least 20 deans (and their staff) per spreadsheet apparently.

Posted by: Match Checksout at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (IK4m/)

329
Gee, Wally, I thought you were gonna croak on accounta you being all old and stuff.

Posted by: Soothsayer's Untrue But Accurate Tales at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (rjIKj)

330 Interesting read.

Today's local dead tree rag's cover story is:

PA GOP pressures Penn State to freeze tuition.

Posted by: kallisto at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (dCxaZ)

331 I suspect that enough hotels closed due to the pandemic to create a supply shortage.

Posted by: Tom Servo
----------------------
Many are filled up with illegal immigrants and various other homeless schemes.

Posted by: whig at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (CXr4y)

332
It's astounding that Biden's response to the news that we now have officially seen 2 quarters of negative grown is straight out of Monty Python.
"Look, now this is a recession."
"No it isn't!"
""2 quarters of negative growth, that's what a recession is."
"No it isn't!"
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (trdmm)

Your arm's off!
No it isn't.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (b2nrj)

333 316 Heh. Knew that was coming when I hit post.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (lz5hY)

334 "On Manchin - I think he's done with politics and won't run again."
Posted by: The British at July 28, 2022 11:59 AM (trdmm)

That was first thought yesterday also. He's got two years to squirrel away some cash, lecture to everyone about extremism while giving the people that voted him in the big "fuck you".

Posted by: lowandslow at July 28, 2022 12:10 PM (qH6FZ)

335 327 To put it another way, even if we all become quadrillionaires, we still won't be able to buy out Apple and the other big corporations.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:09 PM (b2nrj)

I have a few sextillion Pengo notes that back up your assertion...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:10 PM (ynpvh)

336 " Back when I was doing a lot of reading on the Civil War, I came across a book of letters to home by soldiers. The eloquence is amazing, especially when one realizes most were the product of a small elementary school, maybe 6th grade, taught by teachers whose education was the Normal School.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door"

A high school education from 1900 puts most graduate degrees to shame, these days.

Our civilization is being deliberately destroyed.

Posted by: somedood - skull mountain sherpa at July 28, 2022 12:10 PM (TZivQ)

337 291 I have a theory that Kamala wasn't simply a check box choice. She was actually Biden's attempt to insure that he wasn't the worst VP in history.
==========
Well, we all said Biden was Obama's assassination insurance, and didn't he just go and prove it...with help from everyone in DC who didn't like Trump.... I'd have to agree with a historical narrative that showed Harris being cynically selected as veep because she checked boxes but was also too much of a bimbo to seriously trouble the junta taking orders from Obama a few blocks over.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 12:11 PM (W+kMI)

338 The Venezuelan stock market has huge nominal returns. If all prices double, the price of the factory and machinery owned by the company also doubles. This is still damaging to their real profitability as it makes doing business very difficult, but they do get carried along somewhat, and if they have fixed debt financing, the inflation actually increases their value for a time.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at July 28, 2022 12:07 PM (b2nrj)

Large owners of fixed assets can do quite well financially in an inflationary regime - as you say, for a time. It is hourly wage workers and retirees who see all of their savings wiped out and their costs soaring past all bearing.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 12:11 PM (trdmm)

339 324
Biden hasn't created his own EPA or DHS, though.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 12:05 PM

yet
Posted by: AltonJackson at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (ENBF0)

Worse, he wants to hire more IRS agents.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at July 28, 2022 12:11 PM (Y5qcH)

340 State universities (and in some states non profit private univ) do not pay property taxes and thus the larger the university's holdings in a particular town or county, the greater the impact on who finances local government.

this makes sense whig except for say our town, the students generate a whole lot of housing that wouldn't be there, which is heavily taxed, plus other amenities for the student body, all taxed. and we're in a very dense location! someplace like UVM or CSU or wherever is in nowheresville. the property taxes they generate (with student amenities and housing outside of the university proper) are a lot better than them NOT being there and just, like, a whole lot of cows.

Burlington is a cute town but it doesn't seem to have THAT much going on other than the uni. FoCo is similar. I'm sure other mayors who are not totally economically illiterate haven't had any bad things to say about UVM.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 28, 2022 12:11 PM (w0NJk)

341 "324
Biden hasn't created his own EPA or DHS, though.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 12:05 PM

yet
Posted by: AltonJackson at July 28, 2022 12:08 PM (ENBF0)"

No new three letter agencies, but existing agencies are being repurposed. The Capitol Police, for example, are now a national agency and are opening up offices all over the country.

Posted by: somedood - skull mountain sherpa at July 28, 2022 12:12 PM (TZivQ)

342 334 "On Manchin - I think he's done with politics and won't run again."
Posted by: The British at July 28, 2022 11:59 AM (trdmm)

That was first thought yesterday also. He's got two years to squirrel away some cash, lecture to everyone about extremism while giving the people that voted him in the big "fuck you".
Posted by: lowandslow at July 28, 2022 12:10 PM (qH6FZ)

========

His actions over the last couple of years have been...incoherent. There was him bombing BBB last year. There was the easy vote in favor of KBJ. Then there's this.

I suspect he'll run again (just think of the fundraising), but that he knows nothing he does is going to affect the election one way or the other. He won in 2012 by 24 points. He won in 2018 by 3. He may be convinced that he's just done in WV politics.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 12:12 PM (LvTSG)

343 jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM

"But look at all the gains in perversion, intersectionalism, and communism..."

Good point. What would we do without all those gains?

Posted by: KT at July 28, 2022 12:12 PM (rrtZS)

344 343 jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:03 PM

"But look at all the gains in perversion, intersectionalism, and communism..."

Good point. What would we do without all those gains?

Posted by: KT at July 28, 2022 12:12 PM (rrtZS)

Prosper?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:12 PM (ynpvh)

345 Good point. What would we do without all those gains?
Posted by: KT at July 28, 2022 12:12 PM (rrtZS)
++++
Be richer and happier?

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at July 28, 2022 12:13 PM (WWh8n)

346 I suspect he'll run again (just think of the fundraising), but that he knows nothing he does is going to affect the election one way or the other. He won in 2012 by 24 points. He won in 2018 by 3. He may be convinced that he's just done in WV politics.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, learning the value of horror with Wes Craven at July 28, 2022 12:12 PM (LvTSG)

Look at his actions over the last year from the point of view of a man holding out for the biggest payoff possible.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 28, 2022 12:13 PM (trdmm)

347 I'm late to the thread on this one (meetings!), but this is a big bugaboo of mine, CBD.

The fact that the Ivies - especially Yale, Harvard and Princeton - are charging undergraduate tuition is infuriating to me. Really, however, the (okay, one of the) problem with these universities is that they are basically a hedge fund with an education stub that makes the whole enterprise tax-exempt.

As one example, Mohamed El-Erian, former co-CEO of PIMCO, was once head of Harvard's endowment management fund. He was making $15 million a year doing so - far more than any other Harvard employee or professor. I get it - he grew the endowment by billions of dollars - but it seems way out of whack, and the controversy behind that forced him to go elsewhere.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at July 28, 2022 12:14 PM (CeGA3)

348 A typical small liberal arts college has a couple of dozen members on their payroll as " administrators". They in turn, have 3 or 4 adminisrative assistants, to do the actual work. THEY, in turn have hourly staff to do the grunt work for THEM. And that is just the office jobs.

Posted by: kraken at July 28, 2022 12:14 PM (Vr12I)

349 GDP Contraction Nood

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at July 28, 2022 12:15 PM (nRMeC)

350 NOODlum.

Posted by: Sponge - RIP Dave in Texas at July 28, 2022 12:15 PM (Zz0t1)

351 Educational standards are just like cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure standards, changing with the wind on a wet finger held aloft.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 12:16 PM (lz5hY)

352 To quote Eric Hoffer, what starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult, or a corporation.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at July 28, 2022 12:17 PM (yQpMk)

353 > He may be convinced that he's just done in WV politics.
___________

WV is weird. The state embraced Trump bigly but is highly union friendly and traditionally a democrat stronghold. See Robert Byrd. It's poor. Trump gave the state respect whereas Clinton told the miners they'd be out of a job. Learn to code and all that. Yet, Manchin who the voters there know well has been able to skate around the capitol city while bring just enough grift back to the state to keep the natives happy.

They're not happy. If he runs again he'll lose.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 28, 2022 12:17 PM (BFigT)

354 One would think of solid American entities pulling their money out of these colleges instead of flooding them.

IIRC The Bass family pulled all of their money out of Harvard when it changed to some liberal policy that the family lobbied heavily against.

Posted by: Braenyard at July 28, 2022 12:18 PM (a0N9U)

355 Of course, regarding kamala Harris as golden knee-pads candidate for veep nomination, we're all still pretending here that Biden actually had a choice in the matter. He had no choice, only the GOP cares about choice (sometimes). Biden was told that he was going to be president, so he was going to sit in the basement and keep his mouth shut until he was told to read something off the teleprompter. Then he was escorted around and kept away from casual human contact and given an easy schedule befitting an octogenarian dotard who is physically and mentally frail. We are being ruled by Obama's picked cabinet of freaks and geeks through a guy who is less convincing than the Abraham Lincoln puppet at Disneyland.

Posted by: exdem13 at July 28, 2022 12:18 PM (W+kMI)

356 355 Of course, regarding kamala Harris as golden knee-pads candidate for veep nomination, we're all still pretending here that Biden actually had a choice in the matter. He had no choice, only the GOP cares about choice (sometimes). Biden was told that he was going to be president, so he was going to sit in the basement and keep his mouth shut until he was told to read something off the teleprompter. Then he was escorted around and kept away from casual human contact and given an easy schedule befitting an octogenarian dotard who is physically and mentally frail. We are being ruled by Obama's picked cabinet of freaks and geeks through a guy who is less convincing than the Abraham Lincoln puppet at Disneyland.
---------------------
Biden puts the lotion on the skin or Hunter gets the hose.

Posted by: Puddinhead at July 28, 2022 12:20 PM (fWTJL)

357 285 274 249 Back when I was doing a lot of reading on the Civil War, I came across a book of letters to home by soldiers. The eloquence is amazing, especially when one realizes most were the product of a small elementary school, maybe 6th grade, taught by teachers whose education was the Normal School.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 28, 2022 11:57 AM (lz5hY)

McGuffy readers advance pretty fast by the time you got to the 6th grade primer.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 28, 2022 12:00 PM

Compare the popular media of the time (newspapers and some magazines) to the current popular media (mostly social media). The breadth and depth of vocabulary common in the late 1800s is astonishing.

For example, The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass was a popular work and, until a few decades ago, could be used as a text in grades 7+. Good luck trying that now, and not just because he quoted the n-word.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at July 28, 2022 12:25 PM (/+bwe)

358 Manchin is worth $117 million, owns 4 houses etc; his poor wife is only worth double digit millions.

Posted by: Braenyard at July 28, 2022 12:31 PM (a0N9U)

359 For example, The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass was a popular work and, until a few decades ago, could be used as a text in grades 7+. Good luck trying that now, and not just because he quoted the n-word.
------------------
Well, he's got Obama beat by writing four autobiographies. Those Crazy Quakers really believed all blacks were Frederik Douglas. Many of them moved down South as a mission to educate and uplift. If you read their diaries reality seemed to set in around the three year mark.

Posted by: Puddinhead at July 28, 2022 12:40 PM (sVfvf)

360 Ok, let's cut to the chase and call it a DEPRESSION... because that's what it feels like to me.

Posted by: redridinghood at July 28, 2022 12:41 PM (NpAcC)

361 Just noticed that the regime authorized yet another 20 million barrels of oil to be sold from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve two days ago. That is in addition to the 125 million already released. so no it is more than 20% tapped out. I really think this is helping to temporarily lower the prices slightly but the idiots have no credible plan to meet our energy needs expect to keep tapping into it. (And starving us to death.)

Is there a drawdown limit? The regime will take it to zero if necessary.

Posted by: Ripley at July 28, 2022 12:50 PM (MxEKc)

362 I am making a real GOOD MONEY (80$ to 92$ / hr. )online from my laptop. Last month I GOT a check of nearly 21,000$, this online work is simple and straightforward, I don't have to go to the OFFICE, Its home online job. At that point this work opportunity is for you. If you are interested. Simply give it a shot on the accompanying site.... http://www.salarycash1.com

Posted by: Sarah at July 28, 2022 03:09 PM (MxZdd)

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