Only liberal egalitarianism, the morality of fairness and equality of opportunity....

[Greenman]

When a liberal says he wants egalitarianism, morality of fairness and equality of opportunity, it usually means he wants to be more equal than other people who he will himself judge with his petty prejudices depending upon how much he can leech off them in the name of entitlement.

You have to be my long lost brother.

 

[chucky2]

It's only fucked up if you first assume that all of the white kid's parents' tax money goes to paying for the other kid's education. In reality, it does not. A tiny fraction does.

I don't assume that at all. The F'd up part comes from someone not paying their fair share, and then having their less educated kid get assistance, while someone paying their fair share gets no/less assistance for their more educated kid. How is that not F'd up from the perspective of the fair share parents and fair share kid?

The point isn't to pay for everyone's education regardless of if they need help or not. The point is to help only those that need it.

Why? If their grades are truly awesome they should be getting a ride from the school. If their grades aren't truly awesome, then they and their parents can take out loans to cover the cost of their education. If their parents F'd around and don't have a job that pays enough to get a loan, then the kid won't go to college right then. The kid will have to work, as they should have already been doing if the family was that poor, save, and then go to college when he/she has enough money. I see no problem with this. It is basically what I myself did, and I turned out fine.

The first step is to re-examine how you think your tax money is spent. Most of it is put into an account to pay for your healthcare and retirement when you get old. Once you realize that more than half of your federal tax burden goes directly to yourself, maybe you won't view it as such a bad thing.

No, none of it is put into any account. It goes to Fed/state/local who say it goes into an account but really it doesn't, IOU's go into the account. Fed/state/local blow it on whatever the F they choose to blow it on. And if 1/2 of my tax burden goes to myself, that's great! Cut my taxes by half and let me manage my care, I'll waive my SS and Medicare rights no problem.

Where do I sign up?

Chuck

 

[BurnItDwn]

There is no grand conspiracy.

I do think that at the very top, it's a bit of on "old boys club." But there's obvious proof of that, lots of Members of boards sit on multiple companies boards for example.

When it comes to "real" people, the workers, the managers, their directors or department heads, and even the VPs, those jobs are pretty much going to those who work hard and earn them.

The multi-generational culture of hopelessness in many poor areas very much hurts the future generations who come from those areas. They can not work "as hard as" somebody who comes from a middle class background like myself and expect to do decently. They need to work MUCH harder than most people just to pull themselves out of the gutters. I applaud people who work hard, and succeed at that, but, there are many who work hard and still fail. Lets get their quality of education equal to that of the good suburban areas.

I think that everybody should be entitled to the same quality of education. I think graduate and post graduate level education should be paid for by taxpayers. I think that "wealthy" and "poor" students should pay the same amount out of pocket, $0. It should be paid in full via some combination of property, sales, and/or income taxes.

Our education is our investment in the future. Currently, that looks to be around 4% of the federal budget.
Pensions are 22% of the federal budget.
Health Care is 26% of the federal budget.
Defense is 22% of the federal budget.

I don't think cutting benefits directly is the answer. However, health care costs are totally out of control. We need simpler legislation/liability laws for doctors. Insurance is too expensive due to all the liability doctors face. No point in seeing a $500 an hour doctor for a problem if a $50 an hour nurse practitioner can treat it.
Too many cases where people go for a $5000 option when they could have done a $100 option for the same results if they had gone in for regular preventative care.


Pensions are very high. I am generally "pro union", however, I will agree that in the public sector, they sometimes get away with too much. Pensions are very much inflated. In the private sector, the idea of a Pension is a foreign concept for most. Sure we have a 401K or some other investment plan, but, it's not costing the company 20% of their budget!

The Military spending is too much. I agree that the world can be a dangerous place. I agree that it is more beneficial to the US that we are able to project power globally. I do not think the USA should disarm and hide under the blankets and put thumbs in the ears. However, We are spending too much on military.

40+ Billion a year on foreign economic aid, I agree we should help out with undeveloped countries, but, that's a lot to be spending when we don't even have a balanced budget.
10+ Billion a year on foreign military economic aid. Perhaps theres more cost effective ways to do our charity protecting?


Whether or not a school accepts or rejects a person, should not take into account economic background, race, or connections. It should simply be, here's their grades, here's their standardized test scores, and here's their extracurricular activity.

Also, I am not stupid enough to believe otherwise, I know there will never be true equality of opportunity, or a level playing field. Those who come from richer backgrounds will always have it easier, those who come from poor backgrounds will always have it harder. But, some things CAN and SHOULD be changed to buffer these differences ever so slightly. Upward mobility is not what it used to be.

Also, to help pay for these education changes that I propose, I think that there should be a "minimum" tax.
The purpose of this tax would be to make sure that "everybody" feels it, and is putting in a share.
Nobody should pay $0 in taxes and collect $3000 in credits every year.

If you make less than 10K, sure, don't pay income tax, you don't make enough. But if you make 25K, I know it would hurt, but, if you had to pay $2500, you would maybe care a bit more about what your money was spent on.

And do you think the inequality we have now is not the result of difference of ambition, intellect, or work ethic? Is there some grand conspiracy to keep the minorities in the ghetto, or to keep women out of high paying jobs? No, those are the result of people's choices and the mentality perpetuated in their social circles.

There are people who grew up in a poor neighborhood or immigrated to the country with barely any money, and through personal effort succeeded in life. Then there are people who refuse to take responsibility for their future, and blame it on others. The resulting inequality is the natural consequence of those choices. Trying to artificially force equality where it otherwise wouldn't exist is the flawed fantasy on which all leftist pipe dreams are built and shattered.