Weirdly, The Big Picture wasn't totally annoying last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKMCsIp-9Ww&feature=colike
that's a terrific point about "The Great Forgetting." We've been languishing under trickle-down economics for so long now that a lot of us have never even known a time when there was another way of doing things. 

Karma +2 (owe you one for tomorrow)

Nobody says it better than Thom.  He's my favorite commentator. 

I barely remember what it was like before Reagan.  I was only a child.  I'm rather like Winston Smith -- oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clemons. 

The propaganda worked and it continues to work.  Paul Ryan and Scott Walker are around my age but they remind me of some kind of throwback to the House of Lords under Victoria.  The working classes are cheap labor at best and a criminal nuisance most of the time. 

I saw spiritually retarded automatons on that dais last night.  There statements were devoid of substance and served as vehicles for mere propaganda slogans -- "big government," "get government off our backs," "jobs," "free market," "liberty," "job killing taxes."  I expect sloganeering gibberish from Obama tonight too!

BTW, Ron Paul is not a principled libertarian, he's a loutish corporatist azzwhole like the rest of them.  As soon as he swore the oath, you wouldn't hear another word about ending the drug war.  It would be back to plain old tax cuts for the rich, destroying the public sector, and amping up the police state.
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/vtffani.gif

Karma from me, too.


It just p!sses me off how these so-called conservatives spout off how much they love this country at the same time they are trying to dismantle it. The dude in the video is right that if we continue down the path we are going, we are going to end up like Mexico. I think it was Ron Paul who said last night that if we build a fence along the border, it will keep us in not keep Mexicans out. 



Cat

So that's where England has been going wrong for years too. At first I was wondering where he was going with 'the great forgetting' but the idea of making a bigger middle class makes sense to me, ultimately good for the economy as more people will have the ability to spend.

Interestingly, it's getting to the same point here in England where people don't remember much before Thatcher  and there is still this false optimism that a degree will automatically change your world and live the 'dream' (whatever the dream equates to over here, we English tend to be cautious of everything - including our expectations, lol).

Students were mentioned in the article and I have told people long ago that they could work hard for 3 or 4 years getting their masters degree and could still end up in the same position as I have, only I don't have the student debt and have longer work experience. There is a man in my team who had finished a masters in engineering a few years ago and he's still working part time in the same company I am - whether that is an issue of bad economy or drive I have no idea. I'm guessing life has just sucked it right out of him and he's accepted his lot at this present time. A shame.

My view may be an overly cynical take on things but I usually say to people that they ought to view university as a 'personal development' project first and an investment second because they can guarantee for every student taking a degree there is going to be how many others gunning for those few available jobs out there to benefit from it, often requiring background experience as well as the qualifications involved. I'm not saying to be pessimistic and forget about improving yourself via university, just accept for the time being the reality of the economy at the moment and understand that degree will be important if and when the country decides to sort itself out and realises the degree's role in society again.

The UK has recently drammatically increased the University fees, I have no idea what the current stand is but this is from a Telegraph article from Sept 26. 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8026127/University-fees-could-triple-to-10000.html

I think it was Ron Paul who said last night that if we build a fence along the border, it will keep us in not keep Mexicans out. 

Cat


A few years ago I had a business meeting with the guys who were running the big Mexico Border Fence project.

Those guys were complete maroons.. I doubt they could have successfully fenced in their own back yards.  ;D

So that's where England has been going wrong for years too. At first I was wondering where he was going with 'the great forgetting' but the idea of making a bigger middle class makes sense to me, ultimately good for the economy as more people will have the ability to spend.

Interestingly, it's getting to the same point here in England where people don't remember much before Thatcher  and there is still this false optimism that a degree will automatically change your world and live the 'dream' (whatever the dream equates to over here, we English tend to be cautious of everything - including our expectations, lol).

Students were mentioned in the article and I have told people long ago that they could work hard for 3 or 4 years getting their masters degree and could still end up in the same position as I have, only I don't have the student debt and have longer work experience. There is a man in my team who had finished a masters in engineering a few years ago and he's still working part time in the same company I am - whether that is an issue of bad economy or drive I have no idea. I'm guessing life has just sucked it right out of him and he's accepted his lot at this present time. A shame.

My view may be an overly cynical take on things but I usually say to people that they ought to view university as a 'personal development' project first and an investment second because they can guarantee for every student taking a degree there is going to be how many others gunning for those few available jobs out there to benefit from it, often requiring background experience as well as the qualifications involved. I'm not saying to be pessimistic and forget about improving yourself via university, just accept for the time being the reality of the economy at the moment and understand that degree will be important if and when the country decides to sort itself out and realises the degree's role in society again.

The UK has recently drammatically increased the University fees, I have no idea what the current stand is but this is from a Telegraph article from Sept 26. 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8026127/University-fees-could-triple-to-10000.html



University is a scam in the U.S.  We all got sold on the idea college made better workers.  Now businesses require at least a baccalaureate degree for jobs you could learn to do in a six-month apprenticeship.  Students graduate with what amounts to a career mortgage on their backs.  Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt.  It's indentured servitude to banks.
::)

University is a scam in the U.S.  We all got sold on the idea college made better workers.  Now businesses require at least a baccalaureate degree for jobs you could learn to do in a six-month apprenticeship.  Students graduate with what amounts to a career mortgage on their backs.  Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt.  It's indentured servitude to banks.
::)


So basically for the hope of getting a better job financially you have to be financially in debt to get it? Hmmm...That backward 'logic' works over here too. I'm not sure what it's like in the USA but the only saving grace we Brits have is we have to earn over a certain amount of money before we pay off the student debt. If we don't get to the required wage standard we don't have to pay it.

So basically for the hope of getting a better job financially you have to be financially in debt to get it? Hmmm...That backward 'logic' works over here too. I'm not sure what it's like in the USA but the only saving grace we Brits have is we have to earn over a certain amount of money before we pay off the student debt. If we don't get to the required wage standard we don't have to pay it.


In the good old U.S. of A. you get just six months post graduation to get your sh*t together and then you have to start making payments.  It makes no difference whether you are working at a burger stand or a brokerage house.  You can apply for a forbearance for hardship, but sooner or later you're screwed just the same.

"You can't win, you can't break even, you can't even quit the game."
--Allen Ginsberg

A few years ago I had a business meeting with the guys who were running the big Mexico Border Fence project.

Those guys were complete maroons.. I doubt they could have successfully fenced in their own back yards.  ;D


"Who cares if it works?"  (in the context of a CEO reminding his subordinates that it's all about getting the contracts...)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7a/Bestdefenseposter.jpg/220px-Bestdefenseposter.jpg

Sadly, I can't find a Youtube clip of this line, but I'm pretty sure it's from Best Defense, 1984


"You can't win, you can't break even, you can't even quit the game."
--Allen Ginsberg


Also known as the Laws of Thermodynamics.

In the good old U.S. of A. you get just six months post graduation to get your sh*t together and then you have to start making payments.  It makes no difference whether you are working at a burger stand or a brokerage house.  You can apply for a forbearance for hardship, but sooner or later you're screwed just the same.

"You can't win, you can't break even, you can't even quit the game."
--Allen Ginsberg



Good grief! At least the UK has that payment release for the moment. It must be very tough for students trying to make their way in life after university and had better hope they find a half-decent job on the way out of education. I like that quote, I think it makes a big statement on the world's situation in general not just higher education.

Good grief! At least the UK has that payment release for the moment. It must be very tough for students trying to make their way in life after university and had better hope they find a half-decent job on the way out of education. I like that quote, I think it makes a big statement on the world's situation in general not just higher education.


It's all in the grand scheme of things.  The fascists bide there time.  Forty years ago young people were subversive back-talking hippies.  Now they're demoralized groveling indentured servants.  That'll keep the little buggars in line. 

I say, Wilberforce, anyone for tennis?
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