Having watched a bit of the coverage on the government shutdown, Obamacare, and upcoming debt ceiling crisis leads me to believe that most politicians and people on TV have no idea about macroeconomics. I think they should have taken a course on it in college, but either they cheated off the guy next to them, or they found a way to skip that class and still graduate.
First, there is the Republicans love of cutting spending. This is fine when the economy is good, but it is terrible when the economy is slow. Why can't there be a Republican who is also a Keynesian? Can't someone be pro business but also support temporary government spending in a depressed economy? If spending is cut now, that means less money in the economy and it will slow down even further. The crazy thing is, if one looked at Europe, they would see what happens when spending is cut in a depressed economy (it gets worse). However, the people who advocate austerity in this country say we don't want to be like Europe, so we must cut spending. Do they really believe this crap?
Second, there is the "Obamacare is the worst thing ever in America" crowd. I wasn't big on Obamacare when it was first proposed because nobody tried to sell it as something that is good for America as a whole. It was always appealing to my desire to help some poor person with medical problems get healthcare. Well, I am a mean, heartless, bastard, who doesn't give a damn about someone I don't know suffering through some terrible illness without medical insurance. To me, a random person in Indiana is no different than a random person in Syria or North Korea. If I don't know them, I don't care about them. If you care about the random person suffering, then take a look around the world and then kill yourself, because there is no way to help these people.
Sorry, back to Obamacare... It has passed and it is law now. I have heard some economists like Paul Krugman say Obamacare will be good for most people and lower premiums. This is where my laziness comes in. The Affordable Care Act was something like 2,000 pages long. I didn't read it. I am not going to read it. I am just going off people who should know about these things and their explanations. I get the premise of Obamacare, I just don't know all the specifics. And no, it isn't socialism. It is a market solution with government regulation. I want to give it a shot before I advocate its removal. I don't understand why others don't feel the same. The worst thing that can happen is that it works and that Obama looks good. If it sucks, then all the people who are against it can say "I told you so!" and then repeal it after they win in the next couple elections.
Finally, there are some people who don't want to increase the debt ceiling. This will tank the economy for sure. Don't increase the debt ceiling and there will be serious automatic cuts to spending and an increase in interest rates (because we will default on our loans). This means a massive economic slow down, which will certainly lead to another recession. Again, why can't there be Keynesian Republicans? There is nothing wrong with temporary government spending. It's not like we have businesses competing with the government for those loans. If they were, the economy would be doing just fine and there would be no need for the government spending.
It all seems very basic and simple to me. I really don't understand why educated people don't understand what is going on. Economics isn't religion. You can change your views if evidence supports the other side.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
People Should Know Better
It always amazes me how people believe some really dumb stuff. It is especially true with the internet, because these people can now brag about their lack of critical thinking skills by posting to facebook or sending emails about the various conspiracy theories or lies they have bought into. I wish it was indicative of a political ideology (crazy liberals or crazy conservatives) but they seem equally batshit.
Liberals like to talk about the conspiracy of corporations that control our government. We aren't talking having access to politicians so business friendly legislation gets passed at the detriment of the average worker. That would make some sense and I would respect that. No, these people believe that big pharma is poisoning people with vaccines and medicines that are designed to make you sick. Or, they think Monsanto is forcing everyone to eat GMOs that will cause cancer, and soon we will see all our loved ones die an early death. Now, these claims can easily be debunked by the scientific method. So it should be very easy to show these people the published research and kill the conspiracy theory. Wrong. Like all bad conspiracy theories, they get larger and larger as the evidence shows up against them. The people explain away the scientific evidence by claiming those corporations control the scientific world. So, not only do these corporations control government, they control our universities as well. It seems the only thing these corporations don't control is the random nut job with an internet domain. The funny thing is, that would be a lot easier and cheaper to control than the US government and universities around the world. Here is the strange thing... If I knew of a publicly traded company that was that powerful, I would invest all my money into buying their stocks. But, they don't. They continue to be poor and crying about being controlled by these corporations.
Now, with conservatives, I could go several ways. First, there is the religious conservative. But, I am not going to go there. Religion is superstition and I can be superstitious too. I will leave people to their religions and whatever goofy beliefs come from that. However, I will go after the conservatives that focus on politics outside of religion. There are people that believe everything they read from a conservative website or radio show about Obama. Anything bad about Obama they buy into 100 percent. Fact checking and common sense could debunk these claims, but they don't take the time. I really think they don't want to know they are wrong. It is easy to hate someone, and there is something inside us that likes that. We like to hate. It is a simple, clear emotion that makes us feel better about ourselves, because we can see people that are beneath us.
There is a guy I go round and round with on facebook. He is an educated man, who used to be a history teacher. He actually went to the same schools I did. Every other day it seems he posts something about Obama that he got from some email or website that is just really off the deep end. He doesn't post real criticisms of Obama, and there are plenty. He posts stuff like, "Obama knows everything that has happened in Syria, but still doesn't know what happened in Benghazi." Here is the kicker, I know what happened in Benghazi, and I have told this guy what happened. He ignores it, and I think because it would change his world view to accept it.
There are also the "economics is magic" conservatives. These can vary from the followers of Ron Paul (off the deep end batshit nuts), to the people who want to follow the fresh water economists, but have no idea what they are saying (can't be Keynesian, because then government might actually be able to do good). The Ron Paul nuts say they want to go back to the gold standard, or want to do away with the fed. To them, economics is so simple that macroeconomic theory shouldn't exist. I think it is because as soon as you start talking about macroeconomics, they get the thousand yard stare. It is way too complicated for them. They don't realize that the reason we created the fed, and got off the gold standard was that our economy was terrible, and these things helped correct that. That is as basic as I can be without having them take a class on economics. The other people who are less nuts are the austerity people. I understand what they are saying, but most have no idea why they are saying it. I am not talking about real economists who, while being wrong for the last several years about austerity, can explain why they think we need austerity. I am talking about the people who watch them on tv and parrot what they say without having a clue what they are actually advocating.
These are the sad people, because they should really know better. If they weren't lazy, they could educate themselves. But, then the world wouldn't be so simple.
Liberals like to talk about the conspiracy of corporations that control our government. We aren't talking having access to politicians so business friendly legislation gets passed at the detriment of the average worker. That would make some sense and I would respect that. No, these people believe that big pharma is poisoning people with vaccines and medicines that are designed to make you sick. Or, they think Monsanto is forcing everyone to eat GMOs that will cause cancer, and soon we will see all our loved ones die an early death. Now, these claims can easily be debunked by the scientific method. So it should be very easy to show these people the published research and kill the conspiracy theory. Wrong. Like all bad conspiracy theories, they get larger and larger as the evidence shows up against them. The people explain away the scientific evidence by claiming those corporations control the scientific world. So, not only do these corporations control government, they control our universities as well. It seems the only thing these corporations don't control is the random nut job with an internet domain. The funny thing is, that would be a lot easier and cheaper to control than the US government and universities around the world. Here is the strange thing... If I knew of a publicly traded company that was that powerful, I would invest all my money into buying their stocks. But, they don't. They continue to be poor and crying about being controlled by these corporations.
Now, with conservatives, I could go several ways. First, there is the religious conservative. But, I am not going to go there. Religion is superstition and I can be superstitious too. I will leave people to their religions and whatever goofy beliefs come from that. However, I will go after the conservatives that focus on politics outside of religion. There are people that believe everything they read from a conservative website or radio show about Obama. Anything bad about Obama they buy into 100 percent. Fact checking and common sense could debunk these claims, but they don't take the time. I really think they don't want to know they are wrong. It is easy to hate someone, and there is something inside us that likes that. We like to hate. It is a simple, clear emotion that makes us feel better about ourselves, because we can see people that are beneath us.
There is a guy I go round and round with on facebook. He is an educated man, who used to be a history teacher. He actually went to the same schools I did. Every other day it seems he posts something about Obama that he got from some email or website that is just really off the deep end. He doesn't post real criticisms of Obama, and there are plenty. He posts stuff like, "Obama knows everything that has happened in Syria, but still doesn't know what happened in Benghazi." Here is the kicker, I know what happened in Benghazi, and I have told this guy what happened. He ignores it, and I think because it would change his world view to accept it.
There are also the "economics is magic" conservatives. These can vary from the followers of Ron Paul (off the deep end batshit nuts), to the people who want to follow the fresh water economists, but have no idea what they are saying (can't be Keynesian, because then government might actually be able to do good). The Ron Paul nuts say they want to go back to the gold standard, or want to do away with the fed. To them, economics is so simple that macroeconomic theory shouldn't exist. I think it is because as soon as you start talking about macroeconomics, they get the thousand yard stare. It is way too complicated for them. They don't realize that the reason we created the fed, and got off the gold standard was that our economy was terrible, and these things helped correct that. That is as basic as I can be without having them take a class on economics. The other people who are less nuts are the austerity people. I understand what they are saying, but most have no idea why they are saying it. I am not talking about real economists who, while being wrong for the last several years about austerity, can explain why they think we need austerity. I am talking about the people who watch them on tv and parrot what they say without having a clue what they are actually advocating.
These are the sad people, because they should really know better. If they weren't lazy, they could educate themselves. But, then the world wouldn't be so simple.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Just Try To Do Well In School
Being a teacher, it is frustrating to see all these attempts at changing education to make it better, and seeing the real problem ignored. The problem isn't with curriculum, or testing, or keeping teachers accountable. It is with too many students being completely apathetic or even contemptuous towards their education. If a student doesn't have a desire to graduate, how can you motivate him to think critically? He has already failed to think critically about the most important aspect of his life. If he doesn't graduate, his life is going to be miserable. If he doesn't understand something he is living, how is he going to communicate abstract concepts about about a hypothetical situation from the information in reading or lecture?
So how do you get better performing students? The first thing is you have to expect them to perform at a higher level. I don't mean hope they perform at a high level. We have to expect it. That means there are some real consequences for poor performance. If a student doesn't want to try, get him the hell out of the school. Maybe he can try a continuation school, or maybe he needs to be sent home for a year and see if he changes his attitude next year. This may seem harsh, but if you do it when the students are young, they can get a second chance or third chance and realize what they are facing before it is too late. As of now, we hold our students' hands right until the time they drop out and then there is no second chance.
More people suffer than just the apathetic student. A deadbeat student tears down everyone around him. Struggling students see there is no consequences for failure and they try even less. Many students will adjust to a middle performance ranking in their classroom. I see it all the time. There are many students that judge their performance in the classroom as compared to those around them. If they are sitting amongst a bunch of F students, they will strive for Ds. If they are sitting with A and B students, they will be forced to work harder and get Bs. Just today in my class there was an F student arguing with a D- student over who was dumber. That D- student took great pride in the fact that he was better than the F student. I think if that F student was removed from school (he isn't going to graduate anyway), the D- student is going to work harder and be a C student. He won't ever be an A or B student, because he is lazy and only wants to do enough so he isn't the dumbest guy in the room.
We can save the D students. We can't save the F students. They F student has a reward system that they judge far greater than their prosperity as an adult. For many at my school, that reward is drugs. It is quite common for a kid to be busted with drugs. Nothing happens to them. They have to promise not to do drugs and go to a drug and alcohol class after school. Needless to say, recidivism is high. For others, that reward is a boyfriend or girlfriend. Nothing makes a kid forget about the consequences of his actions like sex. Getting some, or the prospect of getting some can be overwhelming for teens. Since many high school kids live in a bubble where future job prospects aren't considered, losers can score. There are others that get rewarded by their friends for bad behavior and don't get rewarded by their parents for good behavior. This leads to a self destructive adolescence. Again, this is something that is out of teachers' control, and it would be best to remove these types of students from a school until they change their life enough that they can be responsible about their academics.
Sorry for the rambling thought pattern. I just sat down and decided to type something out. This is first time writing, and definitely a rough draft, but that is what most of my posts will be. Hopefully I will get better at this.
So how do you get better performing students? The first thing is you have to expect them to perform at a higher level. I don't mean hope they perform at a high level. We have to expect it. That means there are some real consequences for poor performance. If a student doesn't want to try, get him the hell out of the school. Maybe he can try a continuation school, or maybe he needs to be sent home for a year and see if he changes his attitude next year. This may seem harsh, but if you do it when the students are young, they can get a second chance or third chance and realize what they are facing before it is too late. As of now, we hold our students' hands right until the time they drop out and then there is no second chance.
More people suffer than just the apathetic student. A deadbeat student tears down everyone around him. Struggling students see there is no consequences for failure and they try even less. Many students will adjust to a middle performance ranking in their classroom. I see it all the time. There are many students that judge their performance in the classroom as compared to those around them. If they are sitting amongst a bunch of F students, they will strive for Ds. If they are sitting with A and B students, they will be forced to work harder and get Bs. Just today in my class there was an F student arguing with a D- student over who was dumber. That D- student took great pride in the fact that he was better than the F student. I think if that F student was removed from school (he isn't going to graduate anyway), the D- student is going to work harder and be a C student. He won't ever be an A or B student, because he is lazy and only wants to do enough so he isn't the dumbest guy in the room.
We can save the D students. We can't save the F students. They F student has a reward system that they judge far greater than their prosperity as an adult. For many at my school, that reward is drugs. It is quite common for a kid to be busted with drugs. Nothing happens to them. They have to promise not to do drugs and go to a drug and alcohol class after school. Needless to say, recidivism is high. For others, that reward is a boyfriend or girlfriend. Nothing makes a kid forget about the consequences of his actions like sex. Getting some, or the prospect of getting some can be overwhelming for teens. Since many high school kids live in a bubble where future job prospects aren't considered, losers can score. There are others that get rewarded by their friends for bad behavior and don't get rewarded by their parents for good behavior. This leads to a self destructive adolescence. Again, this is something that is out of teachers' control, and it would be best to remove these types of students from a school until they change their life enough that they can be responsible about their academics.
Sorry for the rambling thought pattern. I just sat down and decided to type something out. This is first time writing, and definitely a rough draft, but that is what most of my posts will be. Hopefully I will get better at this.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
My First Blog
I have been thinking of creating a blog where I can post my rants about many things that would get people pissed off at me. I can't do this on facebook, because it doesn't seem to be a site for freedom of speech anymore. Actually, I am not sure it ever was, but whenever I post something or make a comment to someone's post, people get really pissed off. So I figure I can post long winded, but hopefully not meaningless rants here and satisfy my need to vent. I am pretty sure nobody will read this blog, but that never stopped me from writing anything before.
Now, the name "I Turned the Key" which I gave my blog simply comes from a card that is next to my keyboard. If you ever go to the Titan Missile Museum in Arizona, you get to go through a simulated Titan missile launch. This is a simulated nuclear missile strike at the former Soviet Union, which would have ended up in Armageddon. When you are one of the the people in the command chairs that turn the keys for this simulated launch, you get a card that says "I TURNED THE KEY". I guess I am using the symbolism that this blog is going to end up changing the world. It is far more likely that it will symbolizing the destruction of my world. Although if I was betting I would put my money on it symbolizing the fantasy of both of those things, but the reality of it being a waste of time and resources with no real effect on anything.
Regardless of the outcome, my hope is to post a few times a week on ideas that I have or on things that piss me off. This way, I might have something to reference as proof that I actually have ideas and that maybe one or two of them are not insane. I should start meaningful posts tomorrow... I hope.
Now, the name "I Turned the Key" which I gave my blog simply comes from a card that is next to my keyboard. If you ever go to the Titan Missile Museum in Arizona, you get to go through a simulated Titan missile launch. This is a simulated nuclear missile strike at the former Soviet Union, which would have ended up in Armageddon. When you are one of the the people in the command chairs that turn the keys for this simulated launch, you get a card that says "I TURNED THE KEY". I guess I am using the symbolism that this blog is going to end up changing the world. It is far more likely that it will symbolizing the destruction of my world. Although if I was betting I would put my money on it symbolizing the fantasy of both of those things, but the reality of it being a waste of time and resources with no real effect on anything.
Regardless of the outcome, my hope is to post a few times a week on ideas that I have or on things that piss me off. This way, I might have something to reference as proof that I actually have ideas and that maybe one or two of them are not insane. I should start meaningful posts tomorrow... I hope.
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