OMG! What a great commentary on what happened to the idea that education (no matter at what level but certainly from pre-K through college - if that is where your path led) was for the PUBLIC GOOD and not a way for fat cats to get even more into their portfoliios and grow the loan industry. I too, went to college through state funded gr…
OMG! What a great commentary on what happened to the idea that education (no matter at what level but certainly from pre-K through college - if that is where your path led) was for the PUBLIC GOOD and not a way for fat cats to get even more into their portfoliios and grow the loan industry. I too, went to college through state funded grants - I too came out of college without debt. By the time I went to seminary, however (because who wants to educate decent clergy?) I borrowed at first on a credit card but then the church where I was a member actually paid my tuition for several years so I came out with an advanced degree without debt. My youngest joined the Navy to become a doctor - he owed the nation for his education and he paid a good part of it in the Navy. My other two had to borrow money and they may be close by now to paying it off. Something has been wrong with all of that for years and years. If you did not hear Fresh Air today and a report from ProPublica of how the billionaire class get away with paying no income taxes at all, be sure to find it and take a listen, then find the report. And then when you think of "Cinema" and "Mansion"- although ostensibly democrats -really just one more of the crowd protecting the ultra rich from paying their fair share while everyone else hunkers down trying to make it from day to day. I learned today that one county in Mississippi, primarily composed of African American residents, is audited more by the IRS than the billionaires at the top - because of --hold on to your hat - the EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT! At any rate - the dems, by and large, are better than the r's - who have taken on everything but the brown uniforms at this point. They are however practicing their salutes to whichever fascist comes along - Orban comes to mind. Finally I learned a NEW WORD today for which I will forever be grateful - I wonder if I can sneak it into a sermon? It begins with F!
PS Loan forgiveness is good. It should be more and it should include having the entire student loan industry investigated (and the real estate industry as well).
PPS - this comment from Heather Cox Richardson today really goes with TC's commentary:
"Since the 1980s, Republicans have argued for cutting public programs because they cost too much money, while also arguing that tax cuts for the wealthy would pay for themselves by expanding the economy, thus increasing tax revenues. It has never worked—when government computers showed that President Ronald Reagan’s first tax cut would explode the deficit, the budget director simply reprogrammed them—but that has not stopped the Republicans from passing repeated tax cuts for the wealthy, one as recently as December 2017." And if you have read Fiona Hill's memoir, then you know that Thatcher did exactly the same things Ray Gun did, and in the process crushed the lives of millions of people and shuttered whole communities - all in the name of reigning in whatever needed reigning - in actual fact unions and other organizations focused on making life better for the folks at the bottom up to the middle. Top down has never worked except for the folks at the top. Too many have bought into the "class warfare" waged by the folks at the top who have made too many believe its the guys at the bottom who are the problem. And because of that sleight of hand, some of the guys at the bottom have actually gotten angry enough to keep believing the C*** coming from the mouths of the fascist movement posing as the gop.
Linda, excellent comment! In the computing field, FUBAR is so thoroughly internalized that if you get a chalk talk explaining the code from a developer at any random software company, s/he might start by saying something like “First we declare two variables, foo and bar…”
There is also SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked Up). TC, where does each one come from—do you know?
OMG! What a great commentary on what happened to the idea that education (no matter at what level but certainly from pre-K through college - if that is where your path led) was for the PUBLIC GOOD and not a way for fat cats to get even more into their portfoliios and grow the loan industry. I too, went to college through state funded grants - I too came out of college without debt. By the time I went to seminary, however (because who wants to educate decent clergy?) I borrowed at first on a credit card but then the church where I was a member actually paid my tuition for several years so I came out with an advanced degree without debt. My youngest joined the Navy to become a doctor - he owed the nation for his education and he paid a good part of it in the Navy. My other two had to borrow money and they may be close by now to paying it off. Something has been wrong with all of that for years and years. If you did not hear Fresh Air today and a report from ProPublica of how the billionaire class get away with paying no income taxes at all, be sure to find it and take a listen, then find the report. And then when you think of "Cinema" and "Mansion"- although ostensibly democrats -really just one more of the crowd protecting the ultra rich from paying their fair share while everyone else hunkers down trying to make it from day to day. I learned today that one county in Mississippi, primarily composed of African American residents, is audited more by the IRS than the billionaires at the top - because of --hold on to your hat - the EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT! At any rate - the dems, by and large, are better than the r's - who have taken on everything but the brown uniforms at this point. They are however practicing their salutes to whichever fascist comes along - Orban comes to mind. Finally I learned a NEW WORD today for which I will forever be grateful - I wonder if I can sneak it into a sermon? It begins with F!
I want to hear the sermon where you use Fubar, Linda. :-)
Or at least see the text.
PS Loan forgiveness is good. It should be more and it should include having the entire student loan industry investigated (and the real estate industry as well).
PPS - this comment from Heather Cox Richardson today really goes with TC's commentary:
"Since the 1980s, Republicans have argued for cutting public programs because they cost too much money, while also arguing that tax cuts for the wealthy would pay for themselves by expanding the economy, thus increasing tax revenues. It has never worked—when government computers showed that President Ronald Reagan’s first tax cut would explode the deficit, the budget director simply reprogrammed them—but that has not stopped the Republicans from passing repeated tax cuts for the wealthy, one as recently as December 2017." And if you have read Fiona Hill's memoir, then you know that Thatcher did exactly the same things Ray Gun did, and in the process crushed the lives of millions of people and shuttered whole communities - all in the name of reigning in whatever needed reigning - in actual fact unions and other organizations focused on making life better for the folks at the bottom up to the middle. Top down has never worked except for the folks at the top. Too many have bought into the "class warfare" waged by the folks at the top who have made too many believe its the guys at the bottom who are the problem. And because of that sleight of hand, some of the guys at the bottom have actually gotten angry enough to keep believing the C*** coming from the mouths of the fascist movement posing as the gop.
Linda, excellent comment! In the computing field, FUBAR is so thoroughly internalized that if you get a chalk talk explaining the code from a developer at any random software company, s/he might start by saying something like “First we declare two variables, foo and bar…”
There is also SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked Up). TC, where does each one come from—do you know?
The armed forces in World War II - civilians in uniform dealing with insanity.