Graduates Face Bad Ecomony : Poor Outcomes Effect Health

It's the culture of least resistance that has over taken the society - all it seems it takes to be happen is a smart phone and where's the party and who can't make it. Actually taking courses that matter to obtain a degree that will produce a steady income is lost to social pressures.

It's fat city while taking the easy way out to skate for four years or more, and then the jobs that you thought were available for your worthless degree are no where to be found in this horrid economy, actually there are nonexistent, but worse, on top of all this, you have this huge debt you obtained to get your worthless degree.

School is just a way to get organized for the good life when real time can be spent viewing a tiny screen to see how to proceed to the next step in their future. Little do they know that when the little screen get shut off because they can't pay the bills, their future get shut down as well.

How did this all happen?  Look in the mirror. Reality is a harsh teacher. 

Health Effects of Graduating During a Bad Economy
Source: David Cutler, Wei Huang, and Adriana Lleras-Muney, "When Does Education Matter? The Protective Effect of Education for Cohorts Graduating in Bad Times," National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2014.

May 30, 2014

According to a new study from David Cutler, Wei Huang and Adriana Lleras-Muney for the National Bureau of Economic Research, students graduating in bad economic times have lower wages and poorer health for many years after graduation compared to their counterparts who graduate during good times.

Analyzing data from European countries, the authors found correlations between employment, education and health:

• Higher unemployment when graduating is associated with lower household income as well as poorer health and lower life satisfaction.
• Moreover, those who graduate during times of high unemployment are more likely to be obese, smoke cigarettes and drink daily later in life.
• However, these effects are less pronounced in individuals with more education.
• Smoking and excessive alcohol uses actually drop during the short-term when unemployment rises, because individuals cut down on luxury expenses. However, the study found that such short-term deprivations actually lead to long-term increases in luxury goods consumption, such as smoking, alcohol and desserts.

The authors suggest that programs targeted at improving mental health and preventing the development of poor health habits could help uneducated youth during economic downturns.
 

California Headed for Oblivian : Ship of State Sinks, Residents Flee

Hurray for the ideology of progressive socialism that exists in California and which is driving this great state into a financial nightmare. It's easy to blame the politicians but the real problem is the voters that put them in power. oblivion

Elections have consequences. You bought it, you broke it, you own it!

Residents and Businesses Flee California
Source: Jared Meyer, "Poverty's Grip on California is Man-Made," Economics21, May 24, 2014.

May 30, 2014

California is the cause of its own economic woes, writes Jared Meyer, policy analyst at Economics21.
Californians are facing a lack of jobs, high energy costs and low economic mobility. The state's low-skilled workers, including large numbers of immigrants, have especially suffered.

Texas, however, also has a large immigrant population, yet it has strong economic growth, lower unemployment and plenty of jobs. California companies, including Toyota, are leaving the Golden State and heading to Texas, and more will follow.

California is inflicting these economic problems on itself. The American Legislative Exchange Council ranked California forty-seventh for business outlook this year. Texas, on the other hand, was ranked thirteenth, while California's neighbors Arizona and Nevada were ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.

Why such a low ranking? The state has continued to promulgate policies that restrict growth, raise prices and hurt job creation.

• Over 15 billion barrels of oil are estimated to lay in the Monterey Shale oil reserves, yet the Los Angeles City Council recently moved to ban oil exploration there entirely. North Dakota residents can earn $120,000 a year working in the oil and gas sector. North Dakota also has a 2.6 percent unemployment rate, while joblessness in California sits at 8.1 percent.
• Low-income families are forced to spend a full quarter of their incomes on natural gas, electricity and gasoline due to California's misguided energy policies. The state has continued to raise its renewable energy standards, despite its impact on costs.
• Moreover, California's tax system does nothing to encourage business creation. The state has the highest individual tax rate in the nation -- 13.3 percent -- and a flat corporate tax rate of 8.84 percent.
• The state's regulations also hinder economic growth. Its consumer protection statutes only invite litigation, and California's environmental regulations continue to drive companies outside of the state.

Calfornia is on a dangerous course, and it has the highest level of unfunded pension liabilities in the nation, at $650 billion. The state lost 410,000 residents to Nevada and Arizona between 2000 and 2010, taking nearly $12 billion in adjusted growth income with them. Additionally, 225,000 Californians and $4.5 billion in income fled the state and moved to Texas.
 

Death Bed Regrets : 5 Most Regrets Revealed

It's time to step back from the stress of the daily routine and contemplate what we are doing and how it will effect us now and in the final stages of our life. Understanding what's important and what isn't could change us in important ways.

 

Here are a few suggestions to start the transformation : 

 

'Live with Intention - Walk to the edge - Play with abandon - Laugh - Appreciate your friends -  Live as if this is all there is - Choose with no regret '

 

Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed

The Mind Unleashed on 21 May, 2014

 

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them. When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

 

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

 

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

 

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

 

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

 

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

 

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

 

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

 

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

 

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

 

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

 

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Elections Have Consequences : It's Now or Never - Choose

What side will you pick when it's time to choose? Will you pick the course of least resistance, allowing the progressive socialist liberal democrats to guide you into dependency and poverty, or will you be able to stop long enough from exercising your thumbs on the little screen to make a decision that will give us a chance to turn our country around, back to common sense and prosperity?

The first 'decision time' is coming in November that will give us a chance to start the healing by voting out all democrats that are running for election or reelection. I can not imagine our country, as it was founded, surviving four or six more years with progressive democrats in control. The destruction that they have already brought to us is nearly irreparable, but another six years of this irresponsible nightmare of a collective party ideology will spell a "fundamental" change that will be permanent, irreversible.

Time to choose. Prosperity or fundamental change?

Free Market Solutions for VA : Free Markets for All Healthcare Solutions

Free market solutions will always work better then any government directed program. The bottom line is the VA is ObamaCare. To believe otherwise is to risk your very survival.

The Free Market Leads to Better Health Care Outcomes
Source: Peter Ferrara, "Transform the VA Into a Pro-Growth Model for First Rate Health Care," Forbes, May 25, 2014.

May 29, 2014

The recent Veterans Administration (VA) scandals involving long delays for obtaining health care are indicative of the problems caused by socialized medicine, writes NCPA Senior Fellow Peter Ferrara.

Since the government pays for health care for veterans, builds health facilities and hires medical workers, the VA system operates in much the same way as the British National Health Service (NHS). The notoriously strict rationing system of the NHS is due to the fact that the government must find a way to control costs, leading the government to deny care.  Similarly, the American VA system lacks market prices, incentives and competition. To operate within the VA budget, bureaucrats deny care through some form of rationing.

Real solutions for the VA would come with private, free-market reforms. Similar reforms are needed in the Medicaid program as well as the U.S. health system in general.

• The VA budget could be divided into equal shares for every veteran, allowing them to purchase private insurance and use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which maximize patient choice and control over their care and their money.
• Federal Medicaid funds could be block granted to the states. This would allow states broad authority to reform Medicaid in a way that works best for its citizens. States could reform their Medicaid programs by providing insurance vouchers to the poor.
• Obamacare threatens both supply and quality of health care. Instead, the government could provide a universal tax credit for all citizens that could be used to purchase the insurance of their choice.

Free-market solutions will help lower the costs of health care and increase access while simultaneously helping to spur job creation and increase take-home pay for employees, says Ferrara.
 

Colleges Misled Students? : 'For Profit' Schools Investigated

I wonder who's responsible for not checking the accreditation or asking how courses will transfer to other institutions for further learning, and how the costs compare of the schools the students want to attend? I also wonder just how many misled students are actually effected by these 'for profit' schools and how many 'accredited' colleges and universities that have the same problems?

I would like to know to if these 'for profit' schools are targeted just because they have a profit motive? 

Regulators Target For-Profit Colleges
Source: Alan Zibel, "For-Profit Colleges Face Test From State, Federal Officials," Wall Street Journal, May 26, 2014.

May 29, 2014

The Federal Trade Commission along with state attorneys general are looking into whether for-profit colleges are deceiving students, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

For-profit schools enroll 13 percent of all higher education students, but investigations are underway to determine whether the schools have misled students about the strength of their programs.
Some students argue that the schools used deceptive marketing, with students taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt, only to learn that their accredited degree is one not widely accepted by employers. Many lawsuits have already been filed against these colleges:

• Tom Miller, Iowa's Attorney General, settled a lawsuit with Ashford University and Bridgepoint Education for $7.25 million at the beginning of May. Iowa had accused Ashford of misleading students into believing that their online degree would allow them to become classroom teachers, failing to disclose that additional coursework would be required. The school denied this.
• Earlier in the year, New Mexico's attorney general sued ITT Educational Services, alleging that the school claimed to be on target to receive accreditation from a national nursing group. The case is still pending.
• In Colorado, the state attorney general settled for $3.3 million with Argosy University. The state alleged that Argosy misled students into believing that participation in their psychology program would allow them to become licensed psychologists and that the program was on track for accreditation by the American Psychological Association.
• Bryan Babcock, a veteran of the Marine Corps, did not complete a law enforcement program at ITT Technical Institute when he discovered that more than 20 police departments did not recognize the accreditation. Babcock had accumulated $50,000 in student loan debt during his three years of study.

But officials from for-profit colleges deny the allegations, saying that they always disclose to students that there are no guarantees that they will be able to find employment in their chosen fields of work. Noah Black, spokesman for the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, says that the investigations are merely the result of "activist attorneys general partnering with individuals that are ideologically opposed to our institutions."
 

Gender Wage Gap : The Politics of Division

This is or should be general knowledge by now as there is a huge amount of readily available information to help understand this situation of financial gap in the compensation between male and females.

Again, this is all politics for the progressive democrats using the gender pay gap as a wedge issue to divide the population of men and women showing women as victims that the democrats will resolve this discrepancy if the women vote for them.

Sadly, many women, especially the young, are easily duped into believing the democrats actually will do what they say they will do. Worse maybe, the women know the democrats are lying but it's a trend to vote with the low information crowd. And not to be trendy is unacceptable.

Explaining the Wage Gender Gap
Source: Rachel Greszler and James Sherk, "Equal Pay for Equal Work: Examining the Gender Gap," Heritage Foundation, May 22, 2014.

May 29, 2014

While many believe that employers pay women less than men simply based on their gender, they ignore many of the other factors that influence pay, explain Rachel Greszler and James Sherk, senior policy analysts at the Heritage Foundation.

Differences in male and female compensation (the most common statistic purports to show that a woman earns 77 cents for each dollar earned by a man) are the product of education, choice of occupation, hours worked, experience, non-cash benefits and career interruptions. All of these factors affect productivity, and pay differences arise naturally based on an employee's background, choice of industry and work ethic. Dangerous, labor-intensive jobs such as construction, for example, pay relatively high wages to attract employees to these jobs. Men, not women, tend to fill these positions.

One of the best ways to view the natural pay gap is to look at federal employees, whose pay is set by Congress through the General Schedule (GS). Under the GS, an employee's gender, market rates and individual productivity play little role in salary-setting. Rather, pay is the product of grade and seniority, according to the schedule.

• There is a gap between male and female wages among federal employees: the average female earns 89 cents for every dollar earned by a male.
• This is because more females choose jobs in lower grades on the salary schedule. Females, for example, comprise 75 percent of all social workers (who earn $79,569) but just 17 percent of all general engineers (who earn $117,894).
• Within each occupation, however, there is little wage gap between men and women. Female social workers earn 97 percent as much as male social workers, not accounting for education, experience or hours worked.

Looking at differences in pay in the aggregate reveals that male and female pay disparities are largely the product of choices made by the individual employee. For example, in 1979, a median woman earned 62.5 percent as much as a median man. But by 2013, that figure had risen to 82 percent.  The rising number reflects the fact that women have become more highly educated and thus moved into higher paying industries.

When accounting for all of the factors that influence compensation, the difference between the average male and female wage is reduced to just five cents on the dollar.
 

ObamaCare Myths : ObamaCare A Fantasy, Who Knew?

What is the best way to understand ObamaCare? The best way to understand it is to live it and that is exactly what is happening. Reality is a harsh teacher.

The problem : Millions of voters still can't connect the dots, they will vote democrat even if they are dying from malnutrition or being denied care for their children that are dying because a government committee decided it was too expensive.

Being a progressive democrat is a disease that has no cure. If the Republicans think this next election will be a walk-over, they are in for a lot of disappointment. It is what it is.

Debunking the Biggest Obamacare Myths
Source: John Graham, "The Biggest Myths of Obamacare," National Center for Policy Analysis, May 2014.

May 29, 2014

For years, the Obama administration has propagated a number of popular myths about Obamacare. But despite promises, millions of Americans have already lost their health coverage due to the law, and many more will see their health care disrupted as Obamacare changes the American health system. In a new report, NCPA Senior Fellow John Graham debunks eight of the most pervasive myths surrounding the Affordable Care Act.

Myth: If you like your health plan, you can keep it.

• Actually, 6 million people have had their insurance policies canceled, and another 19 million are enrolled in private health plans that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act's requirements.
• Employee health plans were supposed to be grandfathered into the law, but they lose that protection when small changes -- such as a change in the deductible -- occur.
• A government memo predicts that up to two-thirds of Americans with employer-provided health insurance will have to switch to more expensive, regulated plans and that, eventually, all plans will lose their grandfathered status.

Myth: If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

• In reality, many exchange plans have narrow networks that limit a patient's choice of doctor. In fact, a staggering 70 percent of California physicians are not in California's exchange networks.
• Without an influx of new doctors, there is no realistic way to meet the demand that will be created by 26 million newly insured who seek to double their health care consumption. By 2015, the Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortfall of 21,000 primary care doctors.

Myth: There is an employer mandate to offer affordable coverage.

• Actually, an employer is fined $2,000 for each employee if he refuses to provide health coverage. $2,000 is generally cheaper than the cost of health benefits, so many employees will stop offering health insurance.
• Moreover, the Affordable Care Act incentivizes self-insured employers to offer very expensive coverage and require their employees to pay up to 9.5 percent of their wages in premiums and the full cost of coverage for their families. If an employee turns down this offer from his employer, he is not entitled to subsidies in the exchanges.

Myth: Health reform will lower the cost of health insurance by $2,500 a year per family.

• In fact, coverage will become more expensive for everyone outside of a small portion of older, low-income adults who have access to highly subsidized exchange coverage.

These are just a few of the false promises of the Affordable Care Act. Graham explores many others, including claims about coverage for preexisting conditions, Medicare and the individual mandate.
 

New York City Social Welfare Reforms Deleted : Food Stamps Explode

Unfortunately this isn't the whole story of reforming welfare. Since the introduction of progressive socialism in New York's food stamp program, financial collapse and poverty will be the rule of the day. And with the election of the new far left progressive socialist liberal mayor, this situation will grow substantially worse.

Given these numbers are correct, and the overwhelming influence of social welfare programs being deleted, New York City is headed for a  future of financial disaster and collapse. Hello - welcome back ignorance and failure to this once great city. 

After showing some promise that New York was doing good things to solves it's problems, I wonder who voted for the progressive socialist democrats to run this city?

Impact of Welfare Reform on New York City
Source: E.J. McMahon, "Trends in Assistance and Dependency: Tracking Programs for NYC's Poor, 1956-2014," Manhattan Institute, May 2014.

May 28, 2014

Because of welfare reforms, New York City's welfare caseload is 71 percent below its mid-1990s peak, according to a new report from Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow E.J. McMahon.
To analyze the growth and movement of welfare, McMahon tracked poverty measures -- from food stamp enrollment to the number of families receiving cash assistance from the government -- in New York City from 1956 to the present.

One of the most notable welfare programs was Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a program with its roots in the 1935 Social Security Law. Originally, it provided aid to single mothers. Over the years, the program grew: 

• The federal government gave states discretion to expand eligibility for AFDC in 1961, and cities saw their welfare rolls swell. The number of welfare recipients in New York City rose a staggering 82 percent between 1960 and 1965.
• By March 1995, there were more than 1.16 million New Yorkers receiving cash assistance from welfare programs.

It was not until 1996 that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act passed, replacing AFDC with a program known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or TANF.

• TANF is a block grant program that distributes welfare dollars to the states, which administer the funds. The program imposes a lifetime limit on benefits and penalizes states that fail to meet the program's work-participation rates.
• In response to the new law, New York City instituted antifraud measures and imposed strict eligibility screening.
• Additionally, TANF and New York law required all nonexempt residents receiving cash assistance between the ages of 18 and 59 to participate in a work activity -- from employment to vocational training -- for a minimum 35 hours per week.

What happened? People began falling off of the welfare rolls. While 863,491 New Yorkers were receiving AFDC aid in March 1995, by March 2014, just 218,435 were receiving aid through TANF or New York's Safety Net Assistance (SNA) program.

New York City food stamp use, however, has exploded since 2002, thanks to expansions of the program from Congress through the Farm Bill and the state legislature, as well as city efforts to enroll more residents in the program.

• As of March 2014, one out of every five New York City residents was enrolled in food stamps, at a total of 1.77 million.
• December 2012 saw record numbers of recipients in the program, at 1.9 million.

Unfortunately, writes McMahon, city lawmakers have introduced bills that would peel back welfare reforms and eliminate certain work requirements.
 

Economic Success Is Small Government & individual Freedom : Socialism IS Failure

This all makes so much sense to have a prosperous economy and growing financial future it only takes small government with individual freedom. And yet this is lost on so many especially in our country. The growth of socialism in America is huge and driving millions into poverty, but all the while still voting for more of the same failed systems. Are we just stupid?

Why does it seem to take a near catastrophic financial collapse to wake up the people to the problem that free stuff will not be a supportive life style?

What Makes a Country Successful? Small Government, Economic Freedom
Source: Richard W. Rahn, "Economic Freedom Versus Big Government," Cato Institute, May 12, 2014.

May 28, 2014

A look at per-capita incomes, economic growth, job creation and life expectancy indicates that small, not big, government works best, contends Richard W. Rahn, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth.

The four richest and diverse economies in the world are Singapore, Switzerland, the United States and Hong Kong. This was not the case 50 years ago, when Singapore and Hong Kong were poor and had few natural resources. Today, however, their citizens have high standards of living and life expectancy (Singapore is ranked third, while Hong Kong ranks fourth for longevity).
How did they become so successful? Of 159 ranked countries, Hong Kong ranked first and Singapore took the number two spot for economic freedom.  Their government spending as a percentage of GDP is also low -- less than 20 percent.

And while Taiwan and South Korea are not as rich as the world's wealthiest economies, they have also adopted small government models, which has caused them to grow faster than comparable countries with big governments. Chile, a developing nation, has had similar success. All of this growth translates into a better quality of life for the citizens of these nations.

Switzerland's experience tells a similar tale. Switzerland and France are neighbors, but while France has vastly more resources and ports than Switzerland, Switzerland's unemployment rate is one-third the French unemployment rate, and the Swiss per-capita income is one-third larger than the French per-capita income. The difference? France's government is much larger -- 65 percent larger when measured as a percentage of GDP -- and it spends, taxes and regulates on a large scale. Switzerland, on the other hand, has a constitutional spending cap in place.

The majority of the time, rising per-capita incomes, economic growth and low unemployment are associated with small government and economic freedom. When government grows as a percentage of GDP, economic growth slows, as does job creation.

States within the U.S. are perfect examples of this trend: businesses and residents of California and New York -- big spending, high taxing states -- are fleeing to low-tax, low-spending states like Texas and Florida.
Source: Richard W. Rahn, "Economic Freedom Versus Big Government," Cato Institute, May 12, 2014.

College Degrees Attract Debt & Few Good Jobs : Skills & Hard Work Equals Success

Again, who knew? This has been a sore spot in higher education for as long as I can remember, a majority of college degrees are worthless, in that they do not provide a basis for an increased ability to attract a high starting wage. Worse, most students have no idea what they want or who the are, everyone wants to be a legend but most of us are not born to higher intelligence.  As this article points out, what is needed majority is hard work and skills to survive and prosper as high as our abilities will allow.

And since the government took over the loan business from the banks, the only thing the student has to show for four to six years of debt and a worthless degree that can not begin to pay the bill or repay the loans from Mr Obama.

The federal student loan program is now over $1 trillion in debt. But who cares, the progressives are promising if the student votes the right way, maybe, just maybe, Mr Obama and his buddies will forgive some of their loans.

As the saying goes, 'There's a sucker born everyone minute and two to take them'.

More College Graduates Than Jobs Requiring Degrees
Source: Richard K. Vedder, "Congrats on That Diploma. You May Not Need It," Bloomberg, May 25, 2014.

May 28, 2014

More and more, today's college graduates face uncertain futures. Many will end up in jobs that require only high school diplomas, explains economist Richard Vedder.

In 2014, colleges and universities across the United States will confer 1.8 million bachelor's degrees upon American students. Many graduates will enter the labor force and take home large salaries, but many more will end up in jobs that have historically been the province of those with only a high school diploma. Today, more than 1 million college graduates work in retail sales.

While the 2008 financial crisis can take some of the blame, this state of affairs is not merely the product of a weak economy and poor job growth. Rather, there are simply more college graduates than there are jobs that require a college education. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this problem will only grow:

• The BLS predicts that between 2012 and 2022, the U.S. will see a net increase of 15,628,000 jobs. But of that number, only 4,230,500 will require a minimum of a college degree.
• According to the agency, nearly 9 million of these jobs will require no postsecondary education at all.
• Of the 10 occupations with the largest projected job growth, none require a bachelor's degree. Only one job (registered nurse) requires an associate's degree. Six of the top 10 jobs -- including personal care aids, construction laborers, and retail salespersons -- do not even require a high school diploma.
• Of the top 30 jobs in projected job growth, only five require a bachelor's degree. These include general and operations managers, elementary school teachers, accountants and auditors, software developers and management analysts.

The growth in college degrees is having a negative impact on less-educated job seekers, Vedder explains. Because so many Americans have degrees, employers are narrowing their applicant pools by raising job educational requirements. While administrative assistants do not require a bachelor's degree, for example, employers are beginning to insist upon them. This trend is increasing unemployment among the lesser educated.

Solving this problem, writes Vedder, will be difficult until the American system of financing higher education is reformed. As long as the federal government continues distributing student loans to all students, regardless of their prospects for academic success, the U.S. will continue to have large numbers of indebted college graduates in low-paying jobs.
 

Government Trust Lost : The People Must Choose

The fact that this has been said and understood means their are many among us that see our government as not being honest or trustworthy.

If the people lose trust in government leadership, then it seems indeed dark days are soon to follow.

Federal Reserve Chair Marching to Progressive Tune : Integrity Lost

It seems that Janet Yellen is just another party participant in the fold of the democrats. Why is it that to be a democrat one has to forgo common sense, pride of work well done, honesty and integrity?

Dubious Claims from the Federal Reserve
Source: Diana Furchtgott-Roth, "6 dubious Yellenisms from the Fed chair's testimony," MarketWatch, May 8, 2014.

May 15, 2014

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony in front of the Joint Economic Committee contained a number of questionable assertions, says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of Economics21 at the Manhattan Institute.

Last week, Yellen testified in front of Congress about the current state of the economy. Some of her claims, says Furchtgott-Roth, made no economic sense:

• Yellen testified that the Fed would be able to keep inflation in check. But as Carnegie Mellon professor Allan Meltzer explains, no country in history has been able to finance big budget deficits with central bank money and avoid inflation. The United States, he says, has been printing money recklessly for years.
• Yellen told the Committee that inequality was slowing down the economy, because the poor spend larger portions of their income than do the rich. The idea is that raising taxes on the rich and redistributing the dollars to the poor would raise growth. Furchtgott-Roth explains that high-income individuals aid the economy through job creation. Taxing high earners means less spending in the sectors that employ low-wage workers, such as household services and entertainment.
• The U.S. GDP growth rate was 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014. According to Yellen, the weak growth was due to the weather. But in fact, personal consumption expenditures grew at 3 percent, while exports dropped by 12 percent, indicating that the slow Asian and European economies might have impacted the U.S. growth rate. If the weather is not the reason for the slow growth, Furchtgott-Roth explains, America's economic problems are more serious than the Federal Reserve realizes.
• Yellen attributed the current labor force participation rate (at 62.8 percent) to retirements, despite the fact that more young and middle-aged Americans -- far from retirement age -- are working less. The participation rate for Americans ages 25 to 54 is 80.8 percent, down from its 1999 peak of 84.6 percent. Were Americans working at the same rate as in 1999, 4.7 million more people would be in the workforce.

Chair Yellen's testimony revealed a lack of concern about inflation, asset bubbles, GDP growth, and labor force participation. Other than identifying inequality as a problem, the Federal Reserve seems relatively unconcerned about the economy, says Furchtgott-Roth.
 

Anti Poverty Law : More Jobs Equals Less Poverty

The reduced labor participation rate is not about creating jobs to reduce poverty, the progressive socialist liberal democrats encourage people not to work as this will produce a permanent under class that will always vote democrat to sustain their life style.

Mr Obama and the progressive democrats have had 6 years to propose some kind of strategy to produce jobs but failed to do so, and it seem to follow they have no intention of doing so. With more then 90 million underemployed or unemployed and more then 50 million now on food stamps, it's reasonable to assume the ideology of a reduced work force that relies on others is a good start to forced decline and increased poverty.

The Best Anti-Poverty Tool: Jobs
Source: Charles Blahous and Keith Hall, "Jobs: The best way to fight poverty," Economics 21, April 30, 2014.

May 13, 2014

The economic debate over poverty has focused on the minimum wage and government programs, but it should be focused on jobs, say Charles Blahous and Keith Hall, senior research fellows with the Mercatus Center.

The majority of Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 who were in poverty in 2012 were not employed, even for just one week, and only 11 percent had full-time employment. The answer to this poverty problem is jobs, not government spending.

• There has never been a drop in the poverty rate that wasn't associated with a rise in the employment rate.
• Since the late 1990s, an increase in the employment rate has been the only reliable poverty reducer.

Unfortunately, more Americans are giving up on work. In 2013, the labor force participation rate in the U.S. was at its lowest point in more than two decades for every age range between 20 and 54 years old. This drop in labor force participation has been much greater than that anticipated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), with serious economic consequences:

• The CBO projected a 160 million-person labor force in 2013, but the actual figure was 155 million.
• That five million-person difference is the equivalent of a $557 billion shortfall in potential national income.

Policymakers are looking to increase the minimum wage, which will only raise hiring costs and increase unemployment even more. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act penalizes employment, with the CBO finding that it will cause more than 2 million full-time workers to leave the work force in just a few years. This loss of work will have a serious impact on American families, even those who are able to find new employment:

• Research indicates that those who find a job after losing one experience reduced earnings for up to two decades afterwards.
• Those without a job for the long-term may never enter the labor force again.

Laws that raise labor costs and reduce work incentives will not foster employment. Lawmakers need to understand the consequences of such programs and instead focus on policies that encourage work and hiring. 
 

Manufacturing Jobs Go Unfilled : Skilled Trades Needed

The problem is the 'Lotto Mentality' that exists among the 'shakers and movers' that believe getting their hands dirty to earn a living is some how degrading. The new graduate must move from the school yard to the corner office on the same day. Having to wait and work hard to succeed is not the rule of the day. 

Having to spend years learning a skilled trade at the same time having a degree, mostly worthless, is  the accepted ideology of lots of money and with very little effort, and wait for it, we want it all right now.

The conventional idea is just 'buy your ticket to ride' and then it's good life of white shirts, neat suits and smart talk. After all, how can one wait years and suffer indignities in a insufferable work place, and then how can one drive a BMW with dirt under your finger nails? Yikes!

Manufacturers Having Trouble Filling Positions
Source: Pamela M. Prah, "Selling Manufacturing to a New Generation," Stateline, May 16, 2014.

May 27, 2014

American companies are trying to encourage college students to enter the manufacturing industry, reports Stateline.
The average manufacturing worker in the U.S. earned $77,505 in 2012, yet companies are having trouble filling these positions. For many, manufacturing invokes images of old factories, but today's manufacturing is modernized, and manual mills, lathes and welders have been replaced with computerized equipment, 3-D printers and robotic welders.

Manufacturers are trying to show students that manufacturing jobs require skills, are high-tech and can yield high pay, as skilled trades positions were the most difficult jobs to fill last year. According to one report, up to 600,000 manufacturing positions were vacant in 2011 because employers could not find the skilled workers that they needed to fill them -- whether machinists, technicians or industrial engineers.

Industry leaders in different states are making efforts to attract employees:

• Wisconsin manufacturers are expecting 700,000 jobs to open up over the next eight years as employees retire, and businesses are trying to figure out how to fill them. Some are turning to apprenticeship programs for both youth and adults, as well as offering job training.
• Schools, businesses, and local chambers of commerce in Wisconsin are working together to help prepare students and the unemployed for manufacturing jobs, including with federal and state grant money.
• With a $3 million federal grant, the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board in Pittsburgh has joined Carnegie Mellon, a series of local community colleges, unions and apprenticeship programs to promote advanced manufacturing.
• Siemens, an engineering and electronics company, announced a $660 million software donation to technical schools across Massachusetts to train workers in advanced manufacturing.

Many companies have turned to apprenticeship programs, and in April, President Obama gave $100 million in federal grants to companies who create or expand such programs. Rhode Island created its first manufacturing apprenticeship program this month, and Connecticut recently increased its apprenticeship tax credit for manufacturing from $4,800 to $7,500.
 

Saved by Hover Craft (Video): The Human Connection

This is a real 'feel good' video about taking action to save several stranded animals on a ice covered lake. It's short but worth watching to start your day off on the right foot given all the political nonsense that infects our daily lives.

Enjoy the real world connection -

http://www.youtube.com/embed/cgnceHH_p_I#aid=P9VMVUJKfvA

Teacher Performance Ratings for Tenure : States Move to Improve Quality

That this is even being considered is amazing given how strong the teacher union push back has been in past years. Maybe there is hope to fix education after all ; Hope does spring eternal.

More States Use Teacher Performance in Employment Decisions
Source: Jennifer Thomsen, "Teacher performance plays growing role in employment decisions," Education Commission of the States, May 2014.

May 27, 2014

Growing numbers of states are requiring teacher performance to be considered in schools' employment decisions, according to a new report from Jennifer Thomsen, policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States.

Teacher tenure laws grant job protections to teachers based on their years of employment. These laws have been around for 90 years, and they generally require teachers to complete three years of "probationary" employment before they can receive the protections. Once a teacher has tenure, he generally can expect contract renewal as well as certain due process rights if he is fired.
But states are starting to reconsider whether teacher performance should be considered in tenure and other employment-related decisions:

• Sixteen states now require that teacher performance evaluations be used when making decisions about granting a teacher tenure or non-probationary status. That number is an increase from 10 states in 2011. Oklahoma, for example, grants a teacher non-probationary status after three years of service only if he has been rated "superior" for a minimum of two years and has received no ratings below "effective."
• Seven states -- Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Nevada Tennessee, Arizona and Louisiana -- now have laws that will put tenured teachers on probationary status if they receive ineffective ratings. For example, when Arizona teachers perform poorly, they are placed on probationary status until they receive one of the two highest performance rankings.
• Eleven states require districts to look at teacher performance when deciding whether to lay off teachers in periods of declining enrollment or economic problems. Georgia, Louisiana and Maine are the most recent states to pass such laws. Washington has also made performance a main consideration for employment decisions, effective in the 2015-2016 school year.
• Ten states also prohibit the use of tenure or seniority as a central factor in firing decisions. In 2012, only five states had such laws. Today, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Utah and Virginia have these provisions on the books.

All states are free to strengthen their teacher tenure requirements and impose stronger evaluation components into tenure decision making.
 

Seattle $15 Minimum Wage Will Force City Into Decline

That the wage increase to $15 will kill jobs and businesses will flee the city has nothing to do with reality, this is all about what the progressive socialist democrats feel is the right thing to do. That the city will go into decline is okay, it always easy to find others to blame. It's always someone else's fault.

Here's a question that I have, how long will it be before the increase will not be enough as people will want newer and better life style. How much more will it take to satisfy the new reality?

Besides, once the damages is done those that brought this on will be gone, enjoying the good life as the city fights to survive.

Seattle's Proposed Minimum Wage Killing Jobs
Source: "Seattle's $15 Minimum Wage Not in Effect, But Already Killing Jobs," Washington Policy Center, May 22, 2014.
May 27, 2014

Seattle's proposed $15 minimum wage has yet to pass, but it is already hurting the labor market, according to the Washington Policy Center.

A proposal to raise Seattle's minimum wage up to $15 is controversial, and while the measure has not passed, small businesses are panicked. Many businesses are holding off on expanding or hiring additional workers, while those who want to start new businesses have postponed their plans.

• Northwest Caster and Equipment has spent decades operating in Seattle. But recently, the business announced plans to move outside of the city. According to the owner, "It just seems like increasingly the city's become a more difficult place to do business," specifically citing the $15 wage proposal.
• According to reports from local radio station KUOW, multiple business owners are delaying expansion plans.
• Jody Hall, small business owner of Cupcake Royale, initially supported the $15 wage increase. However, her feelings have changed, saying that the proposal is "keeping me up at night like nothing ever has."

The mayor of Seattle proposes to phase in the $15 increase, spreading it out over seven years. However, when they head to the ballot box in November, voters may face a ballot measure that would require all large employers to begin paying $15 next year. Small business owners would have just three years to adjust to the new wage. Jody Hall says that she would be forced to close half of her seven business locations if the proposal passes, in addition to firing 50 of her 100 employees.

While a study, commissioned by Seattle's mayor Ed Murray and the City Council last year, predicted that the $15 wage would reduce poverty and help workers, the study did not even examine the proposal's impact on employment. As movement within the Seattle business community indicates, the wage increase will hurt jobs, curb growth and send businesses to neighboring cities.
 

Health Insurance Is Free? Others Will Pay? : An Insurance Fantasy

Health care insurance as we know it now, and in the past, has been a fantasy - people believing someone else will pick up the tab or the premiums that the customers pay will cover all cost no matter the situation. Not so. The new premiums will not cover the demand for care, it will be the taxpayers that will fill the gap, again.

With more and more people entering the market place that still believe that quality health care is given, a right, it's free, will find themselves confused and disillusioned when they can not get the  treatment they think they deserve.

It's the classical example of the old shell game, the progressives keep moving the shells around until people's heads are spinning. The progressive socialist believe where there is chaos there is profit. They have used this technique before with great results. Maybe though this time it will be different.

The Health Insurance Illusion
Source: Jeffrey A. Singer, "The Health Insurance Trap," Cato Institute, May 9, 2014.

May 19, 2014

Health insurance gives Americans the illusion that they are spending someone else's money when they receive medical treatment, explains Jeffrey Singer, general surgeon and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute.

According to a new report from Harvard and Dartmouth researchers, health care costs will grow faster than the U.S. economy for at least the next twenty years. The study's projection has major implications, as Americans already spend 20 percent of their pre-tax income on health care.
Will Obamacare halt this trend? Not at all, explains Singer, because health insurance is one of the largest contributing factors of high-cost medical care. Because health insurance places third-party payers -- whether insurance companies or the government -- into the mix, affordability and frugality take a back seat:

• Insurance providers are not concerned about making medical care affordable, because when they cover medical costs, they pay for it with their members' premiums. So when insurers contract to set prices with providers and facilities, they have little incentive for hard bargaining. As long as they reach a price that is "good enough," they can pass that price along to their consumers in the form of premiums.
• When insured patients seek medical care, they spend money inefficiently, because having a third party payer creates the illusion that someone else is paying for the costs of that medical treatment.

This cycle continues, artificially driving up the cost of medical care.
So if third party payers are the problem, is eliminating the third party payer in exchange for a single payer system the answer? No, explains Singer.  In their attempt to keep costs down, single-payer systems create wait times, rationing, limited choices and reduced access to care.
A health care market without third party payers works, as dentistry, cosmetic surgery and Lasik eye surgery have demonstrated. Some providers today are unwilling to accept third party insurance at all, Singer notes, saving their patients money.
 

ObamaCare's Hidden Tactics (Video) : Some Must Payback Subsides

What more information on just how we are being driven into financial destruction by ObamaCare? Watch this video and then decide what is best for our country and that repealing this medical nightmare is the only course of action that makes sense.

But you have to understand, you have to vote out those that brought this night mare to us in the first place, the progressive socialist liberal democrats. And it's not just a few of them ,it was all of them and only them that voted for this law.

Yes, Some People Will Have to Pay Back Their Obamacare Subsidies
Amy Payne (The Foundry)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gm5ZrkIcE4&feature=player_embedded

Obamacare offers subsidies to help pay for health insurance – if you are buying insurance through the federal exchange and your income qualifies. But now the word is out that at least 1 million people are probably getting the wrong subsidy amounts.

The Washington Post has inside sources providing all sorts of juicy details on this problem – but it didn’t take an investigative reporter to predict this was going to happen.
Heritage expert Alyene Senger warned that Obamacare’s subsidies are tied to income – and if your income changes at any point during the year, your subsidy is supposed to change, too. She explained in January:

if a person’s income fluctuates, which happens more frequently than many realize, the subsidy amount will change from month to month. Thus, when it comes time to file taxes in April, the amount of subsidy received over the past year must be reconciled with the final calculation of the total subsidy for which the individual was eligible—based on actual income for the entire tax year.
So if you qualify for more subsidy help than you receive during the year, you’ll get a tax refund. But if you were given more subsidy than your income qualifies you for, you will be required to repay the excess subsidy.

Now, the Post reports that the government is attempting to keep up with this – except that the part of Obamacare’s computer system that is supposed to match proof of income with people’s Obamacare applications is, well, not built yet.
Since taxpayers are funding the subsidies, it’s important to make sure the correct amounts are going to the correct people, right? Well, that does make the Obama administration “sensitive” these days, the Post says:

Beyond their concerns regarding overpayments, members of the Obama administration are sensitive because they promised congressional Republicans during budget negotiations last year that a thorough income-verification system would be in place.

This setup is a disaster. And it will ensnare a lot of people. Senger pointed to one analysis estimating that nearly 38 percent of families eligible for subsidies also experience “large income increases” at some point during the year – meaning they would have to pay back some or all of their subsidies.
“The issue is symptomatic of many problems that will plague the law in coming years,” Senger said.
Is it any wonder that 60 percent of voters in a recent poll said the debate about Obamacare is not over? And 89 percent said Obamacare will affect their voting decisions this fall.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is right – Obamacare is still not the answer for America’s health care needs. It’s time for Congress to look at patient-centered alternatives that would restore choice to American health care – and stop the unending tales of Obamacare disaster.

Hollywood Celebrities Conspire to Destroy our Country - A Video

Watch this video and if you have any doubts that we are at war, in this country, with a group of individuals that want to destroy our country just for 'profit' - progressive socialist liberals, democrats, which proclaim capitalism, profit, is destroying our country . To these people that say they favor progressive socialism, 'for the people' type of government, is a lie. What they actually are saying and planning here has nothing to do with individual freedom but is just the tyranny of the few deciding outcomes for everyone else. This is unconscionable.

But this isn't anything new, the liberal progressive democrats have always been this way, it's only been the press that has covered their motives in the past, but now it seems they decided, since we have a progressive socialist president and Senate believing it's now or never, have come out of the shadows to show us all just who they are and what they have in store for all of us.

Understand, these Hollywood types and others in the democrat party, are not from around here, they come from some place where the quest of freedom does not exit. What they are telling us is they don't care about individual freedom, these people are not our friends, they are the enemy of freedom that so many in our past, and even today, have died to secure.

When you enter the voting booth this November and then again in 2016, remember this video and what the progressives democrats have done to us over the last years and what they have in store for all of us in the future. To not vote them all out of office is to ensure our own demise.

Video Sting Operation: Hollywood Elites Hate Fracking, but Would Take Money from 'Big Oil' and Hide It
Scott Blakeman  (The Founder) celebrities conspire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOX5ehfFF7I&feature=player_embedded

Which do Hollywood liberals hate more: hydraulic fracturing – “fracking” – or oil from the Middle East?
According to the latest undercover sting by filmmaker James O’Keefe, it’s the former. He found that the Left and some of its Hollywood activists, in their haste to halt fracking in its tracks, are willing to acquire cash from “Big Oil” (which they allegedly hate).
Josh and Rebecca Tickell are looking to make an anti-fracking film entitled “Fracked.” The Hollywood Reporter (THR) reports that this film “will argue a technique for extracting natural gas called fracking is bad for the environment.” This is unfortunate because fracking is safe, effective, and needed.
THR is reporting that the sting occurred when actors Ed Begley Jr. and Mariel Hemingway joined the Tickells for a meeting and were “duped by a man named ‘Muhammad,’ who [was] looking to make an anti-fracking movie while hiding that its funding is coming from Middle Eastern oil interests.”
The filmmakers were all too eager to hide the source of prospective funding for their movie.
Here are some rather telling quotes uttered during the undercover operation from Josh Tickell and his wife:

We’re confident that we can keep this zip-locked. You know, tight. Tight. Air-tight forever…If we don’t protect who is kind of funding this thing … if we have to disclose that or that becomes a necessary part of it, the whole enterprise will not work.

And Rebecca added this bit:

Because if people think the film is funded by Middle Eastern oil it will, it will not have that credibility.

The Tickells may be hypocrites, but at least they’re astute hypocrites. To top it off, Josh had this to say:

We work for whoever shows up. Okay…if the oil company showed up and said will you make an anti-fracking movie, we would say yes…Money to us…it’s money…We have no moral issue.

O’Keefe’s video is being released at the Cannes Film Festival this week and is sure to cause a stir, and rightly so. It’s blatantly hypocritical, dishonest, and self-serving for the Left to harp on oil interests and then seek their money when it promotes an aspect of their anti-fracking agenda. It’s interesting what liberals will say when they think no one is listening

Memorial Day : Freedom Means Having Nothing Else to Lose

The most important thing to remember today, Memorial Day, can be found in this short but very important fact of reality:

'Freedom means having nothing else to lose'

Unfortunately, millions of American today don't understand what freedom is anymore, they have had too long to remember what it would be like if it were taken away.

Sadly, the only way they will understand what it means to be free is when they aren't. Then, of course, it will be too late.

It's extremely important to remember freedom is not free, it must be bought and secured by those of us willing to pay the ultimate price.

So, put down the electronic devices, relax the thumbs, look around at what our heroes in uniform, from 1776 to 2014, have given us all at a price we can't even imagine, our freedom to choose.

Honor these heroes by giving a little of your time to understand what our country means to us to millions of others around the world that do not have the God given right to be free.

Nuclear Energy Power Density / Watt Huge : Wind Power Density Wasteful

Interesting that the environmentalist don't advocate for nuclear energy over wind mills, solar panels or Ethanol? I wonder if it has anything to do with the problem of fear of a nuclear energy generation and the complexity of explaining how clean it is to the general public. A confused public is not good for environmental advocacy.

Windmills and solar panels are much easier to explain and therefore easier to generate cash from the taxpayers. After all, money and the power to control outcomes is the driving force of environmentalism. The environment is just a tool.

The U.S. Needs Nuclear Energy
Source:  Robert Bryce, "A Nuclear Option for Energy," Bloomberg, May 9, 2014.

May 23, 2014

Although nuclear energy faces many challenges -- chief among them, expense and aging plants -- nuclear energy should become more affordable and safer in the near future, says Robert Bryce, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. wasteful

Nuclear energy is an environmentally-friendly energy alternative with a small carbon footprint. Moreover, the average reactor has a powerful energy density of 338 megawatts per meter. To put that figure into perspective:

• Two nuclear reactors in New York at the Indian Point Energy Center can provide up to 30 percent of the electricity for New York City.
• Wind energy, on the other hand, has a power density of 1 watt per square meter. You would need 772 square miles of wind turbines to generate the same amount of power as the Indian Point nuclear reactors.

The up-front cost of building a new nuclear reactor, however, is high. In Augusta, Georgia, two new nuclear units are being constructed at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant at a cost of $14 billion -- $6.3 million per megawatt and six times as expensive as a natural-gas-fired plant.

In light of the Fukushima nuclear incident in March 2011, when a meltdown resulted from a series of tsunamis in Japan, many claim that nuclear power is too dangerous. However:

• The disaster led directly to only two deaths, workers who drowned at the plant.
• Fears of radiation contamination were rampant, yet according to the World Health Organization, radiation exposure from Fukushima was low, and the agency expects no observable increases in cancer above natural variations.

While the impact of Fukushima was relatively mild, it has inspired the development of new and safer reactors with strong containment systems and cooling mechanisms that can work for several days without electricity.
The U.S. needs cheap, abundant, and reliable energy in order to prosper, writes Bryce, and nuclear energy has an incredible power-density advantage.  He encourages the government to streamline the nuclear licensing process while providing proper oversight.
 

VA Health Care is 'Single Payer' : ObamaCare Will Be Single Payer Health Care

As most of us that have been paying attention to the roll-out of ObamaCare, we knew it was the forerunner of single payer healthcare. What the scandals at the VA have shown, not only will ObamaCare fail citizens seeking mandated health care, but also it has spotlighted the disaster that awaits all of us of any kind of government run health care.

The VA is single payer health care!

What more will be needed to convince voters to stop this nightmare from happening in November by voting out all democrats, they are the reason we are in this mess, is not clear as many voters are poorly informed and therefore likely to vote from ignorance and complacency to the determent of us all. 

VA Hospitals: Why Single-Payer Systems Fail
Source: Michael D. Tanner, "How VA Hospitals Are a Government-run Disaster," Cato Institute, May 16, 2014.

May 23, 2014

The problems emerging from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are deeper than corruption and mismanagement, explains Michael D. Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

Scandals within the VA are popping up across the United States, as accusations emerge that veterans have died after waiting months to receive care:

• In Phoenix, 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor -- as many as 40 died as a result. VA administrators covered up the problems with secret waiting lists and false reports.
• At Fort Collins in Colorado, up to 6,300 veterans treated at an outpatient clinic were forced to wait months before receiving care. VA employees falsified records in order to cover up the delays.
• Whistleblowers in Wyoming are also accusing VA officials of manipulating office records in order to conceal patient wait times. Similar accusations have emerged in San Antonio and Austin.
• In Pittsburgh, VA officials have been accused of covering up veteran deaths after the water in the hospital became contaminated with bacteria.

The VA is a perfect example of why government-run health care fails. Like any single payer system, Tanner explains, the VA cuts and controls its costs with a budget that limits the amount that it can spend on care. Funding is determined not by what consumers are willing to spend, but by whatever budget Congress sets.

Demand for VA care has increased as soldiers return home from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. From 2007 to 2012, enrollment in VA services rose by 13 percent. An additional $24 billion -- a 76 percent increase -- was poured into the program over those five years, but the agency still has budget problems. And because the VA lacks the resources to provide all of the care that is demanded, it rations care -- just as every other single-payer system does.

Moreover, it takes an average 160 days simply for a veteran to gain access to his health benefits, and the case-processing backlog within the VA currently sits in excess of 344,000 claims. Appealing a VA decision is lengthy as well, requiring an average wait time of 1,598 days.

Tanner cites Medicaid as a similar example: Medicaid patients are six times as likely to be denied a doctor's appointment as the privately insured, and when they do manage to get an appointment, they wait an average of 42 days to see a doctor -- twice as long as a privately insured individual would wait.

Promising health care does not mean that the government will actually deliver more health care, writes Tanner. Americans should take note of the problems within the VA as the federal government continues to exert greater control over our health system.
 

CNN Advocates for Progessive Democrats : Journalism iS Dead!

Jeff Zucker believes Journalism is dead.

If there every was a statement that identifies who and what the progressive socialist liberal democrats are, and the state of journalism in America today, this is it.

According to Mr Zucker statement, he has to believe journalism, seeking and speaking truth to power, is a dead profession. It seems network news' job today is advocacy of a certain political position, not whether the public is informed with facts of a situation but only information Mr Zucker believes will protect his and his parties ideology.

If someone is looking for news of the day to help make informed decisions, do not tune into the lettered channels on television, as corruption of integrity is the rule of the day and therefore these channels cannot be trusted as information sources.

CNN Boss Says Network Won't Be 'Shamed' Into Covering Benghazi Committee
Rob Bluey (The Foundry)

Two weeks after the House voted to establish a select committee to investigate Benghazi, Democrats relented and agreed to name five members to the panel. The story even got coverage on CNN, which is news in and of itself.

At a dinner with journalists in New York earlier this week, CNN’s president indicated the TV network wouldn’t cover the Benghazi committee unless it was “of real news value.”
“We’re not going to be shamed into it by others who have political beliefs that want to try to have temper tantrums to shame other news organizations into covering something,” CNN’s Jeff Zucker said in response to a question about the Benghazi probe. “If it’s of real news value, we’ll cover it.”
At the dinner, Zucker defended CNN’s non-stop coverage of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. He also suggested climate change was “one of those stories that deserves more attention.”
>>> Related: Why Is CBS News So Quiet on Benghazi?

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Democrats considered ignoring the House’s Benghazi investigation altogether. But yesterday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., named five Democrats to join seven Republicans on the committee, which will look into the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the United States’ diplomatic facility that left four Americans, including Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, dead.

One of the newly appointed Democrats, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, called on the committee to “be finders of the facts. I think we have to go in neutral. I don’t think we need be making accusations before we get in the room to get the facts.”

Yet, Cummings—ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has investigated Benghazi—has been an outspoken defender of the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi. The Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas documented five examples, including Cummings’ comment on May 2 when Republicans announced the committee:

These actions are not a responsible approach to congressional oversight, they continue a trend of generating unnecessary conflict for the sake of publicity, and they are shockingly disrespectful to the secretary of state.

In addition to Cummings, Pelosi tapped Reps. Adam Smith of Washington, Adam Schiff and Linda Sánchez of California, and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.
Republicans selected Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina to lead the Benghazi panel with the following GOP members: Reps. Susan Brooks of Indiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mike Pompeo of Kansas, Martha Roby of Alabama, Peter Roskam of Illinois and Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia.

Imports Good For Economic Growth : Free Market Solutions

What we have to understand, this is all about the free market dictating out comes. Without the 'invisible hand' at work in our economy, failure will so follow.

Need examples? Look what's happening to our economy and our health care as Mr Obama and the progressive socialist liberal democrats have taken over believing government can do a better job of creating prosperity then the free market. Everything they have touched has been a failure.

Debunking Myths About Imports
Source: Laura Baughman, "Five Myths About Imports," Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2014.

May 23, 2014

Americans generally think that exports are good and imports are bad. However, Laura Baughman, president of the Trade Partnership, explains that imports are a good thing and pose no threat to the U.S. economy.

Baughman discusses some of the common myths surrounding imports and exports:

• Myth: Imports come from low-wage countries like China. While China is the largest supplier of U.S. imports, half of America's non-oil imports come from other developed countries with high wages. Nine of the top 20 of these suppliers are high-wage trading partners, including Canada, Japan, Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, Ireland and Switzerland.
• Myth: Imports cost jobs. While businesses shut down when they cannot compete with low-cost imports, other businesses hire workers -- such as transportation or warehouse workers -- because of imports. Low-cost imports also boost productivity, because they create economic efficiency which further stimulates job creation.
• Myth: Imports hurt U.S. manufacturing. In fact, more than 60 percent of imports are raw materials or components that are used to make goods and grow crops in the United States.
• Myth: Floods of imports are hurting the U.S. economy. This is not so -- when imports grow, the economy grows, and when the economy slows, imports slow down as well. A growing economy spurs consumers to buy more, while a poor economy results in less spending on both imports and U.S.-made goods.
• Myth: The U.S. economy welcomes imports. While the average U.S. tariff is low, at 1.4 percent, more than 1,000 product categories are subject to tariffs of 10 percent or more. Moreover, the U.S. imposes quotas on products such as sugar, diary, ethanol, cotton and beef. These barriers only raise the prices of goods in the U.S., hurting low and middle-income Americans.

Trade officials should do more to promote imports, says Baughman.
 

Choice Schools Expanding : Public Schools Ignoring Reality?

Clear and precise reasons for the public school systems to reform or be fazed out. It's all about the bottom line, the numbers don't lie and the data now being collected across the country demonstrates the success of Choice Schools.

If the public school systems continue to ignore the changing conditions in education, it is only right and proper that they be closed down. If the public school system can't or won't compete with the choice schools, then their demise is assured.

To believe that ones existence is enviable is to ignore reality. The public school system of education has always believed those that control the money will control the outcomes, the only problem with this strategy it has been proven wrong.

The best example is the change that has taken place in Wisconsin and Scott Walker's Act 10 law giving teachers more freedom to chose who and what they are as well as opening the door to new thinking. Is it a cure all, no way, but it's a step in the right direction to improve education in the public sector.

Why Choice Schools Work Better than Public Schools
Source: Herbert Walberg, "Expanding the Options," Education Next, May 15, 2014.

May 23, 2014

School choice in the United States has expanded greatly over the past few decades, explains Herbert Walberg, fellow at the Hoover Institution. Charter schools already number nearly 6,000 in the 40 states that permit them, and tuition tax credits, which allow parents to deduct private school tuition from state income taxes, are growing in over 13 states.

A vast body of research indicates that "choice schools" -- both charter and private schools -- excel across the board in achievement, parental satisfaction and student social engagement.

• A 2013 study from the Mathematica Policy Research Group analyzing the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) -- a network of charter schools operating in 20 states -- found that KIPP students were 11 months ahead of their public school counterparts in math, eight months ahead in reading and 14 months ahead in science after just three years in the charter program.
• Moreover, the average private school operates at half the cost of its public school peers.

With such high levels of spending, why do public schools have such poor achievement? Walberg explains that the public school system has morphed into an increasingly large, and poorly-managed, bureaucracy.

• Early public schools were locally funded and controlled, and districts were small. In 1900, there were 115,000 small school districts. Today, there are 15,000 much larger districts, and many school boards are uninformed about the schools within their jurisdiction.
• Since 1900, states began paying increasingly larger portions of school costs -- today, states tend to pay half of their schools' costs. With increased funding came new rules and state-mandated regulations, reducing local control. Additional federal funding led to further regulations.

Choice schools, on the other hand, do not have these problems. While large school sizes tend to alienate students, choice schools are much smaller, and parents, students and staff are more likely to know each other. They generally have well-informed governing boards and operate free of dysfunctional state and federal regulations.

Notably, choice schools can hire their teachers based on their own criteria -- such as advanced study and experience -- not the criteria used by public schools, which look at the number of education courses completed. Moreover, Walberg writes, choice schools pay teachers based on their performance, and teachers who do not perform are likely to be fired.
 

Progressive Democrats Believe in Free Speech : For Me, Not for Thee

It's the ideology of the progressive socialist liberal democrats that are running scared as they can not debate issues as they have none other then failures.

What have the democrats done for the last six years that citizens believe was in the best interest of the country? What have they done that they can say 'we did this and it's working'?

Vote for more democrats? Why?

Part-Time Workers Replacing Full Time : Progressives Fail Our Economy

This is just one more reason to believe that progressive democrats are not able to govern this country as after 6 years of decline of our economy, it is no better, if not worse then when they took over the government in 2008.

It makes sense that given this phenomena of ignorance and ideology that is so pervasive now, why would anyone vote for more democrats, ever again?

Number of Part-Time and Contract Workers Rising
Source: "Temporary jobs on rise in today's shifting economy," Associated Press, May 19, 2014.

May 22, 2014

The number of Americans in temporary jobs is on the rise, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Many of the new jobs that have emerged since the Great Recession are part-time and contract positions. Contract workers range from janitors, security officers and home-care workers to computer programmers and freelance photographers. They do not have the same level of job security as a full-time employee. While contract workers were less than 0.5 percent of U.S. employees in the 1980s, the number has risen to 2.3 percent today.

During recessions, part-time and contract jobs tend to rise, receding when the economy recovers. But while the recession officially ended in June 2009, part-time workers have been responsible for more than 10 percent of U.S. job growth since then.

Businesses often hire contract workers or freelancers because it is less expensive than hiring a full-time employee. According to analysts, the U.S. will likely see an increase in contract and temporary positions as baby boomers retire. CareerBuilder.com, an online cite that specializes in contract placement, says that 42 percent of employers intend to hire temporary or contract workers as part of their staffing strategy in 2014. That is a 14 percent increase over the last five years.

According to a recent study from the Brookings Institution analyzing the first decade of the twenty-first century, for the first time since World War II, the U.S. economy did not have more payroll jobs at the end of a decade than at the beginning of a decade.
 

Job Corp : Decades of Wasted Time and Money - How Come?

How do these programs survive for decades without any one standing up to protest how useless they are and how much the cost taxpayers in congress? Yeah, I know, it's the politics of 'how come you don't care about the poor and the unemployed'? I

It's not about doing the right thing, it's about getting reelected.

A $1.7 Billion Program That Doesn't Work
Source: David A. Fahrenthold, "Great Society at 50: LBJ's Job Corps will cost taxpayers $1.7 billion this year. Does it work?" Washington Post, May 19, 2014.

May 22, 2014

Less than half of students enrolled in the most expensive job training program within the Labor Department complete their training and find a job, reports the Washington Post.

Part of President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" was the Job Corps, a job training program intended to teach trade skills to troubled youth. The program is still in place today, and students can take cooking classes, study to be a nurse or learn the plumbing trade from government instructors.

But a single year of training and job placement costs taxpayers a whopping $45,000.
The Treasure Lake Job Corps center in Oklahoma participates in the program, but it is not at all clear that the program is worth the cost. Recent statistics show that only 49 percent of Treasure Lake students completed their training, and of that 49 percent, only 55 percent found jobs in the fields for which they were trained.

The program is the Labor Department's most expensive, costing $1.7 billion in 2014 with spots for 37,000 young Americans to participate in the training program.

• The Job Corps has 125 centers across the country. Enrollees must be at least 16 years old and from low-income families. More than 50 percent of enrollees do not have a high school diploma.
• Accepted students live at the centers for free, and a standard stay lasts for nine to 11 months. Students take academic and vocational classes as well as courses on writing resumes and interviewing for jobs.

Is the program worth it? While the program has changed lives -- George Foreman learned boxing at a Job Corps center, and some alumni have become doctors, judges and business owners -- only 59 percent of students actually complete their training, and many of those are not actually prepared for employment.

Moreover, audits have determined that some Job Corps officials have exaggerated the program's success: when a student who was trained in the Job Corps cooking program got a job as a funeral attendant, the Labor Department counted the job as a match to his culinary training.

A nine-year study that began in 1995 attempted to quantify the success of the Job Corps program. Researchers studied 15,000 students who applied for the program and compared the results of the students who attended with those who did not:

• While participants had greater educational gains and fewer arrests, as well as 12 percent higher wages four years after attending the program, the wage benefits disappeared after four years, with Job Corps students earning the same as the others.
• Moreover, the cost of Job Corps outweighed the social benefits of the program (such as reduced crime and reduced use of welfare benefits).