The Cynical Economist

China ‘to overtake US on science’ in two years –

The country that invented the compass, gunpowder, paper and printing is set for a globally important comeback.

No hope for the country re-electing someone as G W Bush for a second term and Obama the empty suit as a president after him…

Oh, wait! I know what the problem is…Our teachers are not getting paid enough…I just wonder how much are teachers getting paid in China. Such a superb result in education must greatly reward the teachers. But wait! WTF? Their average salary was 800 to 1200 RMB a month or $122 to $183/ month in 2008.

So tell me again, why are we paying $4 000 to $10 000 with benefits and guaranteed pensions to the teachers in this country and still have   such a poor results in educating the future building blocks of our country and society?

For those of you who missed it yesterday here is one more time  the letter by the professor Elayne Clift . That would clarify to you,  why USA is sooner going to be  behind China…Our society is breading morons…

…..As the semester continued, I slipped further into despair. How could it be that graduate students delivered such appallingly poor papers and presentations? They’d gotten undergraduate degrees; why couldn’t they write in sentences? Why were they devoid of originality, analytical ability, intellectual curiosity? Why were they accosting me with hostile e-mails when I pointed out unsubstantiated generalizations, hyperbolic assumptions, ungrounded polemics, sourcing omissions, and possible plagiarism?

The sad thing is, I’m not alone. Every college teacher I know is bemoaning the same kind of thing. Whether it’s rude behavior, lack of intellectual rigor, or both, we are all struggling with the same frightening decline in student performance and academic standards at institutions of higher learning. A sense of entitlement now pervades the academy, excellence be damned.

Increasingly, students seem not to realize what a college degree, especially a graduate degree, tells the world about one’s abilities and competence. They have no clue what is expected of them at the higher levels of academic discourse and what will be expected of them in the workplace. Having passed through a deeply flawed education system in which no one is paying attention to critical thinking and writing skills, they just want to know what they have to do to make their teachers tick the box that says “pass.” After all, that’s what all their other teachers have done. (Let the next guy worry about it.)

When teachers refuse to lower standards, those students seem to resort to a new code of conduct that includes acted-out rage, lack of respect, and blame. That behavior is fueled by the absence of clear standards from the administration, and of administrators who care about learning, not just financial ledgers…..

rest is here…

Here is some more idiocity provided by our idiots in the government…

New Rules Would Label Millions of American Workers as Disabled -

Although the new regulations cannot classify any condition as a disability per se, there is a list of maladies that will be viewed that way “in virtually all cases.” The list includes: autism, diabetes, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder.

I can bet you that when you are applying for a job from now on, you will have to answer medical questions beyond the simple “Are you person with disabilities” . The employers will require you to bring your medical records with you and you may find out, that if you are not in perfect health you may not need to apply to the particular position…

Thank you big government! You really care for the people….Not!

Cash for Clunkers 2: The Return of Government Motors

Ready for another cash for clunkers program? It looks like General Motors is attempting to replace it’s own consumer incentives with tax payer money. The car company, bailed out of bankruptcy in 2009 by the American tax payer, appears to be turning the government into an automatic rebate provider.

States detecting radiation –

At least 15 states have found trace amounts of radiation from the crippled nuclear plant in Japan, but officials say the levels of radioactivity are much too low to prompt health concerns.

Should we believe those same people, who said that any radiation will dissipate over the Pacific ocean and will not reach USA

GOOD BYE AND GOOD LUCK – A must read!

Former State Senator and Republican Cook County Board President candidateRoger Keats and his wife Tina are leaving Illinois to live in Texas.  They bid farewell to their Illinois friends in a Wilmette Beacon article and with this letter this weekend, saying they’re “voting with their feet and their wallets”:

GOOD BYE AND GOOD LUCK

As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and wish all of you well.  I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of it.  After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart.  BUT enough is enough!  The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can’t continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here.  I remember when Illinois had 25 congressmen.  In 2012 we will have 18.  Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4rd of our population.  Don’t blame the weather, because I love 4 seasons.

Vanishing act by Japanese executive during nuclear crisis raises questions - Tepco “is just too big to be accountable,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan. “There is anger, but the wagons are now circling” to try to prevent serious jolts to the system.

Fatal Radiation Detected Outside Damaged Japanese Reactor – Radiation levels that can prove fatal were detected outside reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant for the first time, complicating efforts to contain the worst disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Japan says high radiation due to partial meltdown after quake – The high level of radiation in water flooding the basement of a reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is likely due to a partial melting of fuel rods after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the government said on Monday.

Obama to Speak on Energy Policy – Mr. Obama is expected to reiterate a proposal contained in his State of the Union address that the U.S. adopt a clean energy standard that would require that 80% of electricity be generated from clean energy sources by 2035. The administration has defined “clean energy” as nuclear power, natural gas and clean coal, as well as renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Meanwhile the gas at the pump is $4/ gallon, OPEC set for TRILLIONS IN EXPORT REVENUE and….

Two-thirds of oil and gas leases in Gulf inactive - Those inactive swaths of the Gulf could potentially hold more than 11 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Interior said in the report obtained by The Associated Press.

The only thing we have to fear is no fear - Consumer confidence may have taken a bit of a tumble in March thanks to rising gas prices, inflation fears and global turmoil. But investors certainly don’t appear to be worried. ( LOL. It seems the “invthink if something goes wrong they will be bailed out again?! Read on the next story…)

Big Banks Are Back In the Business of Taking Risk - Alarmed by the magnitude of JPMorgan Chase’s $20 billion loan to AT&T, Moody’s warned on Monday that the transaction is a “credit negative” for the second-largest U.S. lender….Moody’s said the loan constituted 17 percent of the bank’s tier 1 capital, which is an unusually large concentration of risk. The credit-rating agency said that if JPMorgan’s bridge loan helps it win a mandate to finance AT&T’s long-term debt, it may encourage other banks to take similar risks.

Investors concerned over “super-size” hedge funds – With the growth of big funds has come the old question of whether they could be stuck if another crisis hits, whether liquidity forces them into less profitable markets and whether their prized trade ideas will be discovered by rivals.

The Price of Taxing the Rich - The top 1% of earners fill the coffers of states like California and New York during a boom—and leave them starved for revenue in a bust

CBO Sees Benefits in Taxing Motorists Based on Miles Driven – Congressional Budget Office study says taxing motorists based on the number of miles they drive would be a fair and “efficient” way to charge motorists for the real cost of using the nation’s highways. “Vehicle-miles traveled” taxes (or VMT taxes) also would provide a strong incentive for people to drive less.

Caterpillar Urges Illinois to Roll Back Tax Increases - Caterpillar Inc., suggesting that it could shift jobs out of Illinois, is prodding its home state to cut government spending and roll back tax increases.

RAHN: Lessons from the states – Prosperity reigns where taxes are low and right to work prevails

From Students, a Misplaced Sense of Entitlement - Every college teacher I know is bemoaning the same kind of thing. Whether it’s rude behavior, lack of intellectual rigor, or both, we are all struggling with the same frightening decline in student performance and academic standards at institutions of higher learning. A sense of entitlement now pervades the academy, excellence be damned.

Obama says too much testing makes education boring –

Obama, who has been pushing his education agenda all month, has expressed concern that too many schools will be unable to meet annual proficiency standards under the No Child Left Behind law this year. The standards are aimed at getting 100 percent of students proficient in math, reading and science by 2014, a goal now widely seen as unrealistic.

The Obama administration has proposed replacing those standards with a loftier yet less prescriptive requirement that by 2020 all students graduating from high school should be ready for college or a career.

Unpaid jobs: The new normal? - ”People who work for free are far hungrier than anybody who has a salary, so they’re going to outperform, they’re going to try to please, they’re going to be creative,”

Underemployed, Downsized and Living on the Edge - “Trends consistently point to underemployment becoming more prevalent in the future,”

China: the end of cheap? - The rising costs, especially wages make the Chinese made products more expensive

Chinese inflation goes global - Commentary: New China price, as we all pay for wage hikes

Housing market: 13% of all U.S. homes are vacant - The national vacancy rate crept up to just over 13% according to last week’s decennial census report. That’s up from 12.1% in 2007.

Freddie Mac Rules Out MERS Foreclosures - Effective April 1, servicers managing Freddie Mac loans will no longer be allowed to foreclose on properties in the name of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS).

Real estate: It’s time to buy again - Forget stocks. Don’t bet on gold. After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is housing.

Feds forbid scientists probing Gulf dolphin deaths from speaking to media - The government’s full of more crap than a bathroom at a Taco Bell…

Defense Secretary: Libya Did Not Pose Threat to U.S., Was Not ‘Vital National Interest’ to Intervene - “No, no,” Gates said in a joint appearance with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “It was not — it was not a vital national interest to the United States, but it was an interest and it was an interest for all of the reasons Secretary Clinton talked about.  The engagement of the Arabs, the engagement of the Europeans, the general humanitarian question that was at stake,” he said.

Europe’s Libya Intervention: France and the United Kingdom - This is the second installment in a four-part series publishing in the next few days that examines the motives and mindset behind current European intervention in Libya. We began with an overview and now follow with an examination of the positions put forth by the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany and Russia.

California’s Union Lessons - A recent statewide poll in California shows just how much pension scandals involving government workers has shifted the political canvas

California cities, counties face bigger pension bill - The bill is coming due this year for local governments struggling to fulfill generous pension promises they made in better economic times.

The collapse of Detroit - De-industrialization, racism, stagnation — is the Motor City our future?

Why Your Nest Egg May Not Last - ”Over-assumed returns can empty savings more quickly than many expect.”

It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due - The following is a presidential address to the nation — to be delivered in March 2026

‘The Euro Will Exist for a Long Time to Come’ – SPIEGEL Interview with Ex-ECB Chief Economist Issing

Obama Budget Nominee Admits Current Budgets Higher than Bush Debt – During the Senate confirmation hearing on March 17, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, grilled Heather Higginbottom – who was nominated last January to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget – about the Obama administration’s claims that the president’s 10-year budget proposal does not add to the national debt.

Government Has $1 Trillion In Untapped ‘Piggy Bank’ –

Some unobligated funds are multiyear construction projects such as roads or weapons systems. No one seems to know exactly how much is tied up in such projects. But the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Transportation account for only $253 billion in unobligated funds.

Treasury has the most, at $337.6 billion. Nearly $264 billion is for bailing out mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Toxic Asset Relief Program (TARP) has $21 billion left.

Illinois teacher pension system nearly $40 billion in the hole - School districts worry local taxpayers might have to foot larger bill

Uncle Sam shelling out big bucks for government jobs, GOP says time to cut - If you’re one of the millions of Americans still looking for a job, the federal government is hiring, and (especially for the unemployed) the pay is excellent. While private sector job growth creeps along at a snail’s pace, the roster of available federal jobs is booming.

Arizona Teacher in Middle of Immigration Debate

A letter by substitute teacher Tony Hill was read aloud Thursday as the state Senate considered one of five bills on illegal immigration. Hill wrote that a majority of eight-grade students whom he taught recently at an unnamed Glendale school refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance and declared that “We are Mexicans and Americans stole our land.”

Hill went on to write: “I have found that (in) substitute teaching in these areas most of the Hispanic students do not want to be educated but rather (want to) be gang members and gangsters.”

Safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium – A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium.

In Official Notification Two Days Later, President Obama Alerts Congress the US Joined a War – The president pledged in his letter, as he has in his public remarks, that the “strikes will be limited in their nature, duration, and scope” and “will set the stage for further action by other coalition partners.”

ILLEGAL, IMMORAL ACTS MADE JUST – Barack Obama himself said in 2002, “What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks… to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income — to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.”

Networks Stressed Importance of Congressional Approval Before Iraq War; Now Barely Notice Obama’s Bypassing of Congress - The Obama administration launched its air war against Moammar Qaddafi’s Libya after a vote of the UN Security Council, but without any congressional authorization — and apparently not even very much consultation with congressional leaders.

ATF gunwalking scandal: Second agent speaks out – ATF allegedly encouraged U.S. gun sales to Mexican drug traffickers — Now there’s evidence other agencies knew about program

Starbucks CEO rethinks health law position –

Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz says the health overhaul law’s employer requirements will impose “too great” a pressure on small businesses.

Schultz supported the law as he watched his company’s health insurance tab — $250 million as of last year — surmount its coffee bill. But he told The Seattle Times in an interview published Tuesday that he’s now worried about what happens when it takes full effect in 2014

Barton takes dim view of federal light bulb policy –

“This is about more than just energy consumption,” Barton said. “Voters sent us a message in November that it is time for politicians and activists in Washington to stop interfering in their lives and manipulating the free market.

“The light bulb ban is the perfect symbol of that frustration,” he said. “People don’t want Congress dictating what light fixtures they can use.”

President Obama’s Crony Capitalism - Indeed, many of Obama’s decisions have been all about benefiting special interests and political friends — what’s been called the Chicago Way. Whatever it’s called, it’s in the interests of the few at the expense of the whole. Some examples:….

Government’s Work Is Never Done - The endless expansion of big government

Stronger Euro Will Slaughter the PIIGS – Find us a country that grew its way out of a debt overhang with a strengthening currency and rising interest rates.

Munis: Not Unbreakable Bonds at All – It may not make sense to fear a muni apocalypse. But it doesn’t make too much more sense to ignore the serious fragilities that have grown up in the muni market

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine - THIS IS A MUST WATCH. What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. With newly designed graphics from Gapminder, Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading. THANK YOU INDUSTRIALIZATION! Thank you capitalism…

Chavez says capitalism may have ended life on Mars – “I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet,” Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day. LOL

IRS Targets Rich Taxpayers: Audit Rates Up 80% - The rich not only face calls for higher taxes.  They also face more audits to make sure they pay.