l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Posted on December 12th, 2011
post by Steve Oliver
The current #Occupier of the White House loves to tell us about the “failed
policies of the past…” But let’s have a look at what the real failed
policies of the past are:
The War on Poverty.
According to the Census Bureau, in 1966 the poverty rate was 11.8%. It has
remained in a range between 8.7% and 12.3% for the last 46 years. Fail.
Giving money to people with no strings attached does not eliminate poverty.
Helping those who cannot help themselves is a moral obligation, but the
able-bodied need to work and pay their bills and taxes like the rest of us.
We are told, “We just need more money and we can eliminate poverty and
hunger.” No, you can’t. When “the dole” pays for cars, computers and
cell phones, when food assistance is abused to pay for booze and cigarettes,
it is clear the system is an abject failure.
The Federalized, Unionized Public School System.
According to PublicPurpose.com (further links at the page), public schools
lag non-elite private schools in nearly every performance indicator while
non-elite private schools perform at a lower cost. According to the PISA
Report, the US public education system fails vs. the world as well.
According to the report, the US falls at or below average in 5 of 7
categories, including below average in Math and Science. But students are
really good at “Reflect and Evaluate” and “Non-Continuous Texts” (I don
’t think that is much cause for celebration). But again, we are told by
the education establishment and the Federal Government that all they need is
more money and the problem will be fixed. I suggest they show me results
with the money they have first. 40+ years of sub-par education by unionized
teachers tells me this is also a fail, perhaps and “epic fail”. As we
have seen in Wisconsin, public school teachers are all about themselves, not
“the children”.
“Alternative Energy”.
What a disaster this one has been. Ethanol, solar, wind. All epic failures
with no indication they will every be more than a niche.
It is very difficult to find sources of information on ethanol energy
balance that are neither government nor ethanol lobby related. In 2003,
Pimental and Patzak concluded the energy balance for most biofuels was
negative. But even if they are not negative, how good an idea is it to take
corn and soybeans out of the world food supply to make a fuel? Especially
when there remains plenty of alternatives in petroleum, natural gas, coal
and nuclear.
Solar and wind have been highly subsidized for years, yet fail to make any
inroads at all worldwide. They are both expensive, unreliable and require
energy-intensive materials. The subsidies are rife with corruption and
crony capitalism as we have seen with Solyndra. (Interestingly, if one
Googles on the subject of Solyndra, one will find the usual suspects
defending continued subsidies and the usual suspects deriding the whole
system.)
This is getting a bit long-winded. There is plenty more to discuss in the
real failed policies of the past. I’ll get back to it later.
Steve Oliver is a Milwaukee area blogger, an all-around good guy. He writes
at Beer, Bicycles, and the VRWC (vast right wing conspiracy) and explains:
“It’s not that it isn’t happening…We KNOW it’s happening. We just don’
t understand the data.” Sure.” |
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