Here is a quote from Adam in one of his posts:
It’s time to start working to fix our failing K-12 education system, to bring minimum wages up to living standards, to move forward on better healthcare for every American, to make a college education more affordable, to honestly fix Social Security, and to move America toward renewable energy sciences.Lost Adam
I like Adam and he is a smart fellow even if he did vote for Nancy Pelosi and I agree with some of the things he says in principle. He says that things like gay marriage and Flag burning are fringe items that do not deserve the attention of real problems. This would be so true if activist judges did not keep seeing words in state and federal Constitutions that are not there. Adam indicates it will take time to achieve the above and that it involves more than poor legislation designed to influence elections (I know he means from both parties). He is right it will be hard but if he wants success, I offer these solutions. They will work as has been demonstrated in the private sector and in other countries.
However, spending more money will not fix the educational system. The per student spending in the poorest performing school districts is thousands of dollars more than in a private school yet the private schools perform better. It is also thousands more in better performing districts. Money is not the variable that is causing the problem. We have spent billions of dollars on education and yet Johnny can not read. Perhaps it is because Johnny’s teacher can not read. Or because Johnny’s teacher is too busy working on union activities and endorsing Democrats so she can get a pay raise for incompetence.
College education can be more affordable if we get rid of tenured professors who allow students to teach while they write their books. Maybe we can do a market analysis or if we are going to pay for people’s college, they have to go to local community colleges. If you want to go to an Ivy League school you should have your own Ivy League money. Also, anyone who gets money for college should have to prove they are a citizen of this country.
To honestly fix Social Security we need to allow people to invest some of it in private accounts. The money they pay in should be theirs as much after it is extorted from them as it is when they earn it. Privatized accounts ALWAYS perform better than anything the government does. Additionally, when people die they can pass THEIR money on to their families (without a death tax would be great). Another benefit would be that the government can not dip into private accounts in order to extract extra money and leave an IOU. Private accounts make the best sense and ALL of your elected officials have their investments in private accounts because they know that SS will not be worth anything. SS is designed to make old people live on fixed incomes and be forever in debt to the government. Private accounts will not lose money but if we accept that they will, then so will the money held by the government. You can not trust the government to manage it and the courts have ruled that the government is not obligated to pay out the benefits. Private accounts also keep ILLEGALS from drawing money to which they are not entitled.
Renewable energy is a good idea. Nuclear power plants would be best. There is never going to be a shortage of nuclear fuel and electricity will be so cheap we can cheaply produce hysrogen to run hydrogen automobiles. The fact is that until we get on the ball and see that nuclear energy is cheap and safe and until we build the plants, we will depend on oil so we need to consider drilling in ANWR. If not then people need to stop crying about the cost of gas and just pony up the money.
Adam is a sharp guy but these problems will not be solved by throwing money at them. We have proven this with the educational system and with the so called war on poverty (3 trillion dollars and the poverty rate is the same as when the war started 40 years ago). We need to get rid of the entitlement mentality and the idea that government is there to provide for us. Let us manage our money and we will do well.
Are all people earning minimum wage dead? If not then they are making a living wage.