IS IT TRUE January 11, 2014 (Weekend Edition #1)

1. Wealth taken away to expand the federal government…. what a joke.

2. Our education paradigm is flawed, and diversity has become more important than academics.

   • Please elucidate. What, exactly, are you saying?

     • Elkay, we have to wait for that answer. IE’s looking for his dictionary so he can look up the word “elucidate.”

       • Well, it seems he isn’t going to elucidate, but at least he got to use the word “paradigm” in a sentence.

         • You’re being a bit unnecessarily combative. While the part about diversity might be more of a symptom than a cause, the problem of higher education is pretty self evident.

           Surely we can all agree on what was said in this IIT.

         • Since you used elucidate in a sentence…

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

           I would love to hear your comments on the video.

       • Why are you always so mean Sarah?

     • He may have read the article this week about UCLA that mentioned, “Until 2011, students majoring in English at UCLA had to take one course in Chaucer, two in Shakespeare, and one in Milton—the cornerstones of English literature. Following a revolt of the junior faculty, however, during which it was announced that Shakespeare was part of the “Empire,” UCLA junked these individual author requirements. It replaced them with a mandate that all English majors take a total of three courses in the following four areas: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Disability and Sexuality Studies; Imperial, Transnational, and Postcolonial Studies; genre studies, interdisciplinary studies, and critical theory; or creative writing.”

       http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304858104579264321265378790

       • I’m betting he didn’t. It is, of course, a Murdoch publication, you know. Just because you read it online and/or in the paper doesn’t mean it is true and “spin free.”

         • “It is, of course, a Murdoch publication, you know.”

           Yes, I’m sure they just make things up about nationally recognized schools all the time!

     • Since you used elucidate in a sentence…

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

       I would love to hear your comments on the video.

3. I’m tired of hearing about “entitled millenials.” The truth is every generation has bad things to say about those that come after them. I’m sure the older folks at the time thought the country was doomed with those pot smoking hippie baby boomers. Young people have to work twice as hard and get twice the education for half the money their parents did. Being slightly upset about that makes them entitled brats? Time was, you could support a family with a high school education and a factory job. Those jobs have been shipped to China by corporate greed. Maybe the people that had those decent paying jobs without any education were the entitled ones? Most of those factory workers nearing retirement age are the ones trumpeting “them damn lazy kids” type rhetoric. The only solution is to just accept a lot lower standard of living than they had growing up. Reagan’s plan to eliminate the middle class is almost complete.

   • You’re right, as usual, ghost. It does frustrate me a bit though, that too many people attach education to what they believe should be automatic entitlement to superior earnings.
     Maybe learning in the name of being a well-rounded person is being under-estimated. My children figured out that education is not always a “meal ticket.” They learned job skills AND got educations for education’s sake. I know not everybody can manage that “luxury”, but I really take offense at those who take pride in a lack of education and making more than those who are better educated. I guess what I am saying is that everybody needs to establish their personal priorities and march to their drummers if they are to be truly happy people who contribute to society.

     • Ghost and EKB, the world is not fair, never has been never will be. You liberals have done a good job of separating us into 2 classes, those with greed and those with envy. We could take away all the money that the rich have and divide it amongst all people and in a couple of years the greedy would have it all back. Got that bit of info from a liberal professor. I have failed at both of my ventures in having my own business and being my own boss. I failed because I was lazy and thought that 60 hours a week was as much as anyone should work. I’ve worked for 2 business people who started from scratch and became successful, they lived and ate that work 24/7. I have no envy, they put their life into it, they owe me nothing other than what we agreed. Go to JCP and check out the BRAS and Jock Straps and if they ever come in one size fits all you’ll know the world is fair at last.

       • “You liberals have done a good job of separating us into 2 classes, those with greed and those with envy.”

         Hilarious comment! It’s not we “liberals” who have “separated” people into classes. Were you sleeping throughout the entire presidential election of 2012, (and still asleep) when the entire Romney/Ryan campaign was reduced to the “makers and takers” blather? Did you somehow miss that?

         All you should do is tune in to FOX (any day at any time) and the mantra is still being put forth as “news.”

         Seriously pov, you’re WAY off base. It’s your side who have attempted to “separate” Americans into two classes. Makers and Takers, what a joke!

         • I never watch FOX news except when I’m traveling which is not often. Didn’t see much of the campaign because I knew the fix was in. I know that almost every city in this country that is democrat controlled is in trouble. I know that the innovators are not developing or investing in this country. I know that immigrants, legal or illegal barely able to speak English seem to do well. We have a problem of white flight in this country and I have found that my liberal social services friends are some of the first to jump ship. They come into the city to work and go home to the burbs. Minimum wage jobs are entry level jobs that allow you to grow and develop your skills for higher positions. Minimum wage jobs are rites of passage for those who struggle and do well in life. This country is still the hope of the world and where those willing to work do well. Maslow’s theory does not work well in a benefits society. We have 3-4 generations of people who have never seen a person go to work, we have 30 year olds who are grandparents, we have grandparents raising their grandchildren. This is what we have gotten from 50 years of the war on poverty. The only program that ever worked was the welfare to workfare.

     • “but I really take offense at those who take pride in a lack of education and making more than those who are better educated.”

       Why is that LKB ?

       Are those of us who only graduated high school, who had to work harder without the head start to achieve success not allowed to take pride in our accomplishments ?

       Frankly, I take offence to educated imbeciles looking down their noses to those “uneducated” individuals who more than likely could buy and sell their arrogant butts many times over.

       • I have no problem with those who opt to do hard jobs that do not require higher education making more money than those who do easier jobs with more education. My problem is with the people who wear ignorance as a badge of honor, and brag about being “smarter” than those who choose to get an education.
         I’m not looking down my nose at anybody, but statements like your last sentence really makes me wonder what you are trying to prove to yourself.

       • Do you really think your income is important to anybody but you and your dependents?

       • Maybe you should re-read my statement. I clearly stated that I don’t think education should be a ticket to superior income, didn’t I? You seem to be sadly over-defensive.

         • EBK, I read that portion of your post and fully concur. But I know for a fact that young 18 year olds go to college for 5 years thinking a degree is the ticket to the good life. There’s some graduate degrees in this town that are in such abundance that the pay scale is basically equivalent to a high school graduate. The folks that do well are the ones that can fix things.

         • LKB,
           “It does frustrate me a bit though, that too many people attach education to what they believe should be automatic entitlement to superior earnings.”

           That first assumption is fair and balanced,

           “I really take offense at those who take pride in a lack of education and making more than those who are better educated.”

           The contradiction reeks of conceit and elitism, that YOU take offence to those who have every right to be proud of their achievements without a degree. That YOU because of you education/brainwash “take offence” to those less educated peons making more money than you when you know so much better whats good for them, you know its just those people who cling to their guns and bibles.

           I am dam proud to have achieved financial independence by working hard and smart with or without a degree, it used to be called the American Dream and is a testament to the opportunities that are available in this country with or without a degree.

           We all need to work together, “United we Stand, Divided we Fall” and divisive elitist remarks serve no good purpose.

           I would suggest you not equate education with intelligence, your lack of the latter is evidence in your progressive liberal demoncratic points of view.

           BTW, I was very careful not to use any words that you or Lucys Mama would have to look up.

       • I, for one, don’t “look down my nose” at anyone, and I don’t see how you can proffer any evidence that Elkay does either.

         Let me tell you about an example. I knew Mr. Robert Libs (may he rest in peace) who started Libs Candies many years ago with a pile of recipes. He didn’t have a college education, just a passion for making candy. He built his little candy business in to a very successful company by working hard and treating his employees very well.

         His son Stephen learned how to make candy from a very early age, and now owns Stephen Libs Candies out on Burkhardt Road. (“Libs Candies” is now owned by another branch of the family and has never been able to achieve what the original did. the REAL “Libs Candies” is now Stephen Libs Candies.)

         Mr. Libs was not college educated, but he raised his family and was able to claim success from his ingenuity and hard work. I loved that man; he even looked like a “candymaker!” As far as I know, Stephen never graduated college either, yet he’s been successful in his endeavors.

         Having said that, it’s a rare story of inborn talent, and not everyone can do such a thing. It never hurts to get an education. College does tend to open doors that would remain otherwise closed.

     • I have to agree Elkay. In my lifetime, I worked very hard as a waitress and bartender to support myself while earning a BS degree from UofE, finally graduating at the age of 27.

       I have always felt that I learned just as much about life, human nature and practical experience from those jobs as I did in any college classes.

       However, it was the degree that opened the door for me to obtain jobs that I’d never have been considered for without it. Having a degree is a good thing and opens up opportunity, but I know plenty of people who have done very well with just a high school education!

       It’s all about how hard you work, plus a little luck along the way.

       • All of the book-knowledge in the world doesn’t help people if they can’t deal with all kinds of people. Very few exceptions to that rule exist. Countryboy just has such a complex that he can’t grasp that was my point. He just wants to make a personal argument against me, even when we agree in general. I think educated women are a real problem for him.

       • A degree is about developing the basis for a professional skill. The value of a professional skill has always been that only a few people possess that skill and that the skill is needed by many. Take for example a heart surgeon. These people are paid very well but have to have years of training, self-discipline, and practice to be able to successfully practice heart surgery. A heart surgeon commands a high salary because of their exclusive skill. It would take a Marxist or a damn fool to think that a heart surgeon and a flag person on a highway crew should be paid the same. That is not to dis the honest work of the flag person it is simply to point out the difference in the value that they bring to society and the different level of difficulty of their professions. The heart surgeon could learn the flag person job and do it well in an hour or less. The flag person may not have the mind or the discipline to ever become a heart surgeon. Now if the heart surgeon decides to take a job as a flag person their pay should equal the pay of the uneducated flag person because they create the same value.

         What it really comes down to is this. If you develop skills that are in demand that are so difficult that few people can do those jobs you will be paid very well. Sometimes those skills are a result of education and sometimes they are not. If you are willing to do something that is repulsive to others like deal with hazardous waste you will also be paid well. The way to great wealth though is not in getting a “job” it is in entrepreneurship where you invent your way to wealth. Neither Steve Jobs nor Thomas Edison had a college education. Both were clearly intelligent enough to have gotten one had they chosen. LeBron never played college ball, he didn’t need college to hone his skills.

         The world is full of educated derelicts and uneducated creators. It is fuller of educated specialists with critical thinking skills who add much to society and uneducated people whose main goal in life is just to survive. A college education is but one path to success and it is not a guarantee. The reason that the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) graduates are in higher demand is because these courses are much harder than other degrees. The difficulty weeds out those that do not want to work as hard to learn these skills.

         The bottom line on financial success in America for now is that if you can be replaced in 10 minutes by an unskilled person your earnings will be low and you will have to rely on personality for job security. If your employer would go to hell in a hand basket if you disappeared your earnings will increase and you have job security even if you are a jerk. That has been the reality in this world since the dawn of recorded history and no laws will ever change it. Of course the .0001% who are born into wealth do not have to compete in this skills vortex but that has always been true too. What is amazing is that many of the ultra rich still get up everyday and work 14 hours employing the rest of us when they could just go to the beach. God help us if the employer class ever walks off the job.

         • Bingo, give that man a cigar !

         • Investing daddy’s wealth doesn’t qualify as work, just my opinion.

           • I never said it did. See last paragraph. I basically said that the .0001% are exempt from this competition. I just pulled up a bit of data and FYI there are exactly 9,170 people in the category of ultra high net worth individuals in the USA who got their wealth through inheritance. That works out to 1 person of every 34,000 so statistically speaking there should be 6 such people in all of Vanderburgh County. Some of these people will hire a money manager and let the checks roll in. Others may well take daddy’s $100 Million and invest in job creating activities that turn daddy’s 100 Million into a Billion giving folks like you and me an opportunity to better ourselves. That second kind of silver spoon person is a vital part of our economy. The first type is only vital as an ultra consumer that creates opportunities as well.

         • A degree CAN be about developing a basis for a professional skill, but it doesn’t HAVE to be.
           STEM classes are harder for some people, but are a snap for others. I have a son who had more problems with classes in the humanities. I have a son-in-law struggling with STEM classes, and he is very intelligent. When I decided to go to Nursing School at age 55, I had a real “hang up” over the STEM classes, but once I got over my fear it wasn’t as terrible as I had built up in my mind.
           My point is that maybe there should be more distinction made in “job training” and “college educations”. I think that those who want the job training without the “frills” should be able to come out of 12th grade with entry-level skills, and community colleges should be available and affordable for those who wish to further those skills.
           Universities need to be accessible to those who want they offer, with the knowledge that what they learn may or may not prepare them for the job market.
           A well-rounded education and professional credentials are two different things, IMO. The two certainly enhance eachother, but employability should not be dependent on that broad education.
           Btw, Joe, plenty of those “ultra rich” go to the beach and hire people to run their businesses.
           I recommend Lincoln’s first inaugural address as some food for thought, Joe.

           • I agree with every word of your post. My background is engineering so I have experienced the 60 hours of homework a week necessary to satisfy the professors. I also was fully aware that some of my friends with other majors had much more time for socializing during college and took full advantage of it.

             I did have a classmate that failed differential equations 3 times and was kicked out of engineering. Today he is a doctor. I was in the differential equations class with him his third time around and I will tell you that he was lazy. He certainly had the brainpower to do it but didn’t want it enough to work. My guess is that he found his passion in medicine and eventually learned to work hard. At least I choose to believe that because the alternative would be to believe med school is easy and laziness will get you through. But as the old joke goes, “what do you call the person who graduated last in the medical school class?”. The answer is Doctor.

             I think that a degree that comes with a price tag in 6 figures and a student loan payment that is as much as a house payment SHOULD prepare one for a career that will pay enough to cover the loan and provide a good lifestyle. Of course “good” is relative term. The colleges get in a bind when they sell their products as tickets to a prosperous career and then can’t deliver. Educated people who fail to keep themselves current can become as obsolete as a buggy whip maker. Education is a lifetime process and the last 40 years or so are only done well with personal initiative.

             As for the ultra rich at the beach, I do not really care. There numbers are too low to have statistical significance. If they are lazy or incapable the best thing they can do for the rest of us is to hire someone to keep their businesses thriving. At least we live in a country that someone’s work equates to financial success even if it is a grandfather. Hopefully these gilded ones spend lots of money and tip well. Even the ultra rich play a roll in keeping people employed providing personal services that most of us do ourselves.

         • Joe
           The couple that are working 2 jobs and struggling are the ones we really need to give an extra boost, they still have a chance to make it. If a little boost will keep them struggling and in the workforce everyone is ahead. I’m a proponent of a guaranteed annual wage and this drives my liberal associates crazy. Simply do a needs assessment and give the folks the money. Do away with all subsidized housing,food stamps, tanf and other programs. Years of experience in the social services industry and I never met a food stamp recipient who didn’t sell some of their benefits. Also met very few who didn’t have some sort of hustle on the side.

           • That was the intention of the Earned Income Tax Credit. I know of some cases that it does exactly that. I know of other cases where it gets gamed. You hit the nail on the head with the “hustle on the side” comment too. Many of the statistically “unemployed” have a job that pays cash on the side. Your idea is intriguing. I expect that it may be cost effective and would result in eliminating lots of government jobs that just shuffle paper around. If incentives are needed they should go to those who genuinely try to be self sufficient or those who are disabled too badly to do anything. For one it is a safety net but for the other it could well be a trampoline to self sufficiency. At any rate there should never be a situation where refusing to work pays better than working.

         • Joe, your story statement of “…he found his passion…” is the core of the issue. Employment has a functional element of producing income and a higher level element of producing personal satisfaction. Think of it as the Maslow’s Need hierarchy of employment. Your ultra-wealthy who are not on the beach are seeking more from employment than additional income.

           The shift in the educational system and its funding logic also has weakened because of its simplistic foundation via the weak minds of social engineers and politicians. If the route to success was more limited and selective, only those with substantial commitment would jump through the hoops; it was historically a tougher course to follow. Now inject a social redistribution of wealth to allow more to pursue this higher education and some educational route options actually become easier than going out and getting a job; deferral of work via goofing off in school. There will be people in every field who have a real motivation and still benefit from what classes in their field offer. The challenge for employers is to find those who graduate with skills, AND motivation; don’t count of the ‘business of education’ to bother doing this because they want the money from either type of student.

           There are substantial changes beginning to totally shift the foundation of education. They will NOT, however, come from the current institutions of higher education. New businesses just starting in the Valley will likely see light of day within 12 months and form the crystal of a major paradigm shift. As this occurs, I am working in parallel to leverage the underlying functionality in expertise identification to make the shift in knowledge transfer approaches. As that unfolds, you might expect to see substantial changes in education which will shake the foundation of the peripheral universities more anchored to knowledge delivery than research for knowledge creation.

           One of the keys we all must remember is that most successful technology businesses have leveraged scaling to lower costs by orders of magnitude while broadening usage exponentially. Once we see the economics of knowledge transfer shift in extreme ways from antiquated higher educational institutional models, we are back to that core point of the motivation role. Purest selection by motivation to learn and achieve with near elimination of cost barrier will see changes nearly unfathomable. Unleashing the human spirit to purse our passions unconstrained by knowledge access barriers is an absolutely exciting future on the near horizon.

         • Joe, this reply is why we see eye to eye on economic issues. You hit the nail on the head. This world is completely about honing one’s natural aptitudes, whether under the umbrella of formal education or real world experience, it doesn’t matter. Marxism kills the motivation to excel, to create, to better oneself and, by so doing, better the world.

           It’s sad that so many young, intelligent, idealistic, but impressionable people don’t learn this sooner in life and gravitate toward this Marxist fantasy.

     • Jobs are there if you have the required skill set and as a country have a willingness to develop those industries that would employ the blue collar workers (say the energy sector). The primary driver of poverty is the single parent household, which has grown in no small part due to various welfare programs. China did not cause our single parent household growth. We need to stop institutionalising people on government programs and get them into the work force. This of course assumes you have pro growth job policies. I have not seen much of that over the past 5 years. As such, the entitlement state and mentality grows. China and India are too busy trying to promote growth than to find blame.

       • Two parents working full time can’t afford basic necessities in some cases.

         • You are correct but that is location dependent. Two minimum wage jobs in Evansville at 40 hours per week works out to $31,200 per year. This is of course not the ticket to easy street but will meet basic necessities. That $31,200 in New York City or San Francisco (both have a higher minimum wage) will not even pay the rent on a studio apartment.

       • I get really frustrated with those who seem to think they have some greatly intelligent insight when they point a finger at the single parents of the country as the root of all evil that has befallen us, but offer no “solutions”. What would all of the purveyors of this great “insight” suggest to help correct the situation? It is as though they want to just “erase” those people from the face of the earth and send there nasty little “taker” children with them.
         That jobs bill that has been languishing around Congress for the five years of obstruction appears to be pretty pro-growth to me. With interest as low as it is, we absolutely could “spend” our way out of debt and do it rather quickly. Investment in infrastructure is a necessity for maintaining our place in the world.

         • Building roads to no where or rebuilding infrastructure currently existing is futile. Where you going to drive with $3.30 gas and rising food costs becuase of buring hour food for fuel. Spend your way out of it..what pray tell has been going on for the last 5 years? Have you look at the national debt lately. Morganthau, FDR’s Treasury Secretary, stated this idea does not work.

           You want to get things moving, then solve the energy issue. Encourage coal and natutral gas to compete with oil to fuel transportation in order to reduce inelasticity. Reduce corn ethanol; burning corn only increases food cost across the enitre production chain.

           And yes when you have 4 out of ten births to to single moms that is just a tiny problem. I don’t care how that makes you feel. This has to change as these births are seriously handicapped from the start. How to avoid this is common sense.

         • EKB, “Investment in infrastructure is a necessity for maintaining our place in the world”

           BINGO!….Smack on the tack that hangs this centuries most important proclamation for jobs creation and nationwide community economical, well-being.

           And while pondering that with the dwindling clean water situation in your area think about this minor tid-bit of information worth another “tack,or two.”

           Think about the toxic coal washing chemical spill in Charleston WV that’s causing the water crisis in the nine county service area along that “Kanawha river basin’ the coal wash chemicals spilled into. “Google it” look at its entry confluence into “the Ohio river basin.” Those people there are being told to not even have skin contact with the water supply,none the less drink or wash with it.

           It enters the Ohio river at “Point Pleasant WV.”,which is “upstream from Ashland Ky’. and the next major affected areas of the extremely toxic chemical slug is Cincinnati OH,then Louisville,and the water intake there in Evansville IN,on down to the whole center of the country below Cairo Ill.and the Gulf.

           I haven’t heard whether or not your service areas reservoirs are caught up on being filled after all the main waterline failures yet.
           No,local media coverage for down river Ohio river basin systems affected,and planning for such,as well

           They at the ESWU stated yesterday they perceived that catch up would be monday,hope so, because if this rain system hasn’t diluted the stuff,the projected passage could be cause for a concern in any clean water treatment facility downstream of the spill. Shut down the intakes, or further contaminate your infrastructure?
           I haven’t heard or seen anyone elude to the fact that this could be a major infrastructure issue forward.
           This is another reason why while building for Climate Change sequestration and the 2012 clean water act we can create more effective viability with sustainable balances in our affected infrastructures.
           This is a concern,if the chemical release not diluted enough,those intakes in your town should be shut down until the danger is observed tested and confirmed to have passed downstream.
           Hopefully the flood water is out of the lowland farm fields and the backwater sedimentation factors won’t come into the equation.

           “bovina sancta!”

           “holy cow!”

           “a posse ad esse”

           from possibility to actuality

         • To cdad: I made reference to doing needed investments in infrastructure. Nowhere did I suggest just doing “make-work” projects. In case you hadn’t noticed, the skeleton of the nation is crumbling. If we don’t do a lot, and do it soon, we will not be able to maintain even the appearance of being a leading nation in the 21st century world.
           Try to get out and see some of the world!

         • V to R,

           Proper govt. infrastructure spending that nets an adequate ROI is ok; however, shoveling for shoveling sakes, is one reason why Rome fell.

           Clean coal tech works and unfortunately we have auto accidents but we don’t out law cars. Cost of neglecting coal use and further developing clean coal in the US will be 1) increased energy prices that result in grandma deciding if she dies due to sickness because she has to pay Vectren or dies of heat stroke or freezes like a popsicle, 2) we all die of increased pollution because India and China are not going to worry about developing clean coal tech and they have a couple billion to feed and could care less what you or I think and 3)we all learn to speak Mandarin and Kingfisher replaces Bud at all major sporting events.

           “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong…somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…And an enormous debt to boot!”

           Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury, FDR, Morgenthau Diary, May 9, 1939, Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library.

         • I have seen enough of the world to know when I hear someone mention infrastructure, the new stuff is what gets built and the old stuff just rots. As far infrastructure for roads, the interstate highway system is how old on average? It is hardly falling apart except when someone from Washington says so or it is a slow news day; I find it insulting to construction workers that maintain it to say it is falling apart. I mention this because this is where the bulk of spending on infrastructure would be done. It sure as heck would not spent on water/sewer projects, which are primarily owned by municipalities and paid from revenue of the utility (if you live in Evansville this will be apparent soon enough). Same thing for electrical systems, except the mix of ownership is different.

         • Can’t reply to cdad in logical order, but:

           “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong…somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…And an enormous debt to boot!”

           Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury, FDR, Morgenthau Diary, May 9, 1939, Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library.”
           ###
           Big whoop! This is America and we can say nearly anything we want.
           Paul Krugman and I disagree with you and Morgenthau.
           It’s sort of sad when people whip out some obscure quote and consider it to be “proof” that they are right.

       • That’s alright Linda, Friedman and Hayek agree with me. I like this company better.

         • Who’s “Linda”?? My name is “Laura.”

         • Typo on my part.. sorry for the mistake.

4. wealth taken away to expand the federal government……right on right on CCO…….one way the federal government can grow is to take from the producers……and when there are not enough producers to support the ever expanding government print and borrow like there is no tomorrow…….like what is happening now……..

   • Have your taxes been raised since Obama took office, not including the temporary cut that Obama tried to extend but the republicans overuled? That’s why I was flabbergasted by that comment in the IIT column. That’s a lie worthy of the hacks at fox news.

     • I doubt that tommy has ever really paid any taxes, but the FNC hacks HAVE convinced the tommies of the world that their taxes have gone up. I am no longer flabbergasted at anything that comes out of the far right lie and hate machine.

       • I’ve seen idiots on this site go as far as to blame property taxes on Obama. It’s just more proof of blind hatred.

         • Indeed, it is!

     • obamacare is the biggest tax increase in America history it hits the poor the rich and the middle class……now go sit down kid you slept through the whole show……..

     • obamacare is the largest tax increase in Americas history ii hits the poor the rich and the middle class……..now go sit down kid you missed the whole show

       • a list of barrys new taxes…..no wonder in obamas economy 92 million Americans are out of the work force…..http://www.atr.org/full-list-ACA-tax-hikes-a6996

       • And what would you call a medical bankruptcy that ruins the lives of about 1.5 million Americans each and every year?

         A tax cut??

         Here’s a tissue you poor thing.

         • They’re you have it, medical bankruptcy,ruins the lives of 1.5 million Americans/yr.
           So what are the root causes of the conditional infrastructure,that say,could be the environmental conditional that leads to the medical condition numbers, as diagnosed/per/person/per area per/year.
           If we were just social machines this would be referred to as a preventative maintenance point/dot connection. So.
           Dilemma,”We can improve our social economical environmental infrastructure to improve the conditional medical numbers forward.” 😉
           Can we fund evolutionary changes in an viable environmental footprint signature/medical cause actualities/locations? Thus, creating forward numbers and funding from advancing jobs and career path numbers while doing so?

           Or do we hold the present course and create more unrecoverable dept…..? 🙁

           And, EKB, if your in or downstream from Charleston WV,today,don’t even try to hold that water in your hands,healthy?…”not so much”.

         • no not a tax cut….it is called obamacare………..and is not 1.5 it is over 5 million and growing……….

5. “Investing daddy’s wealth doesn’t qualify as work.” Investing my daddy’s wealth was such hard work for me I had to quit work to do it.

6. The single parent household is a problem, having children is not a “right”. Why should additional compensation be given because someone decides to have more children? I saw a sign at check-out of the grocery, “You have to spend $5 in order to get 20/ 30 dollars cash back”. I thought ebt’s were for purchasing food, not cash.

   • What are you blathering about? I’m sure you can’t get cash back with a snap card. Just how much of that fox kool aid did you drink?

     • Actually, TANF recipients do get their cash payments via the same card the SNAP benefits are on, but the SNAP amount is limited to food purchases and the TANF benefits are available to be spent as cash, just like any debit card.
       I only recently learned that from a single mom I am lucky enough to get to help with some mentoring efforts.

     • The sign is on every register at Wesselmans. I’m more of a Bloomburg, google, Wiki news searcher, never considered fox news.

   • I still wish somebody would come up with an idea on how to handle the problem of low income, single-parent households. Do you think the “takers” and their “post-fetal” offspring should starve? Poor kids go from being “innocents” to being “worthless takers” the minute they exit the uterus and enter the world. They’re here, so do you want to pack them up and ship them out of the country? Euthanize them? Maybe we could bring back debtors prisons, or indentured servitude. How about slavery? It doesn’t take any brains to figure out that their existence contributes to poverty, but it will take some to solve the problems. What do you want to do with them??

     • Single mothers have the most difficult row to hoe and I for one have compassion for them. I am going to ignore your extreme statements of euthanasia to slavery because they are nothing but rash generalizations meant to misrepresent what conservatives believe. Further more, someone’s choice does not put society on the hook to pay for that choice, but it is what civilized people do.

       One of the best changes would be to change our laws which penalize single parents for improving their economic status or marrying. I know of a single mother of three who was disqualified from SNAP because she earned $81 to much.

       Single mothers are often faced with the choice of taking a better job would mean they would have less income. But then that is what happens anytime with grant subsidizes.

       Further more, raising the minimum wage does not lift a person out of poverty but raise the cost of being poor around them. The last increase only served to change low wage earners into minimum wage earners. If it had a positive affect, then why do we have more on aid and higher unemployment?

       On a personal note, I do things like car repairs for free to help these struggling parents. The church where I am a member will often pay for the parts and I donate the labor. I prefer working through an institution and always donate to an individual through one.

       If you haven’t already, I encourage you to perhaps buy an occasional tank of gas for a single mother when you see one. To be honest, I would be more surprised to hear that you don’t already do things like that.

       Despite you being wrong on most everything, I suspect you are a good and generous person. 🙂

       • So, what do you suggest, IE? That single mothers be left to the “luck of the draw” and hope that some individual comes to their rescue, with an occasional tank of gas or bag of groceries? What about the ones who, for whatever reason, aren’t lucky?
         Trying to grasp the crux of what you are saying is like trying to pick up a handful of water.

         • The only way you missed what I said and came up with your “luck of the draw” response is that you read what I said with your bias rather than an open mind.

           Now hold out your sippy cup and I will pour some sips of wisdom in it. 🙂

           We help people not because their choices demand it but because it is what civilized people do.

           It would be better if we changed laws so people are not penalized for doing better. Many single mothers find that they are trapped by the very aid they are given.

           What has been done as the pretense of helping, raising minimum wage, has in reality hurt more than it helps.

           We should as individuals help others, especially single moms, and I believe that you are the type of person who is generous enough to help others.

       • I never really took you for someone who just passes out fish, instead of teaching people to fish.
         Maybe you should consider teaching those folks whose cars you work on how to do some regular, preventive maintenance on those cars. You know, checking fluid levels regularly, keeping tires properly inflated, even how to change oil and tires.
         There are a lot of young parents in this world who have not been taught the “basics” of existence, things like planning nutritious meals that kids like, how to stretch their money at the grocery, or even how to read a label on what they are buying. Some don’t care to learn to do better, because they have addictions or other issues. Most do want to learn, and that is where we are failing.

         • You can’t teach a starving man to fish, he will eat the bait, but being a little hungry will motivate him to learn how to fish.

           I do teach those I help, but changing your oil and filling your washer fluid does not fix bad brakes, broken AC or blown head gaskets.

           I am not a mechanic by trade. I can only contribute that skill as a talent from God. I feel that I must share that talent to honor and thank God like one would tithe.

           “There are a lot of young parents in this world who have not been taught the “basics” of existence, things like planning nutritious meals that kids like, how to stretch their money at the grocery, or even how to read a label on what they are buying.”

           AMEN sister LKB!

         • Replying to myself, but this is meant for IE. My belief is that we, as a nation, need to educate the parents that are here, now, in the things they missed out on. I do not believe an effective job of that can be done without government-run social programs. We need to offer the learning opportunities and offer incentives to those who take advantage of those opportunities.
           Doing such a thing will, of course, be fought tooth-and-nail by right-wingers, but I believe that if we fail in that task, the US is toast.

         • What right wingers are fighting this tooth and nail? The right is the ones that gave Clinton the welfare to workfare program that the left fought so hard. Clinton told the left wingers, I know you’re angry but it works. The right wingers came up with the ebt card to fight the stigma and take a dent out of fraud and abuse. But I agree that the low/no income situation with generational entitlement families will be solved by the left wingers if it is ever solved. The problem is so great that only mean spirited left wingers are ruthless enough to solve the problem. The everyday down and dirty is being found by the local Christian community.

7. I shelled out roughly 70 grand for a degree from a flagship university and it was a complete waste of time and money. I don’t expect it to ever pay off either. I’ve seen too many ppl who don’t know their head from their rear making over 50k with nothing but a lousy high school diploma.

   I’m soo glad ky took that stupid moto ” where education pays off their entrance signs” . That’s a flat out lie.

   • I’m sorry that your education didn’t take you where you wanted it to, but why be upset about those HS grads making $50,000/yr? Maybe you should get one of those jobs.
     I suspect you either got bad advice or didn’t heed good advice in planning and financing your education. That being said, it is what it is, get over being angry and move on.

     • What’s wrong with someone looking back and playing a little woulda, coulda, shoulda? I think colleges and universities over sale and under deliver in some degrees. Not only does a person pay a nice sum for a 4 year degree that because of scheduling takes 5 years, but they lose the income they would have made at a full time job. Playing woulda, coulda, shoulda in a productive fashion can be good for the soul and help you develop some good insight.

   • J.
     You must be having a bad week. You are bright. You have the energy to work hard for the city in which you live. And I think you have a good future. Sometimes when you decrease the intensity and mellow out, that’s when you life falls into place. LKB is right. Anger keeps you static, not moving forward.

   • Maybe you’re just “bummed” about the Colts. I am. You do have a lot going for you, so “buck up.” There is always next year for the Colts, and tomorrow is there for you.

     • I can’t stand the colts. They’re in the same division as the Titans and Jaguars. You’re about as accurate on that as you are with this notion that my view of education is anger instead of truth. The fact remains that undergraduate degrees have been so saturated that they are worth nothing. And those who don’t go to college just sit in these bottom feeder positions and work their way up using nothing but tenure as experience. I turned down a position with GOP organizations in Seattle and a position with the Nashville sounds to finish my degree. It was a mistake.

       • Jordan,
         I can tell you honestly that after living in the Indy area for over 30 years, I am no Colts fan either but I am a fan of your integrity and your hard work for all of us in Evansville. You are right to some extent that undergrad degrees don’t get one what they used to. It is simply the way society and the economy was at the time you graduated and the changing demands of the times. No one can predict or change that. But what happens now is in your hands. What are you looking for? Are you open to all kinds of ideas and interests? What are you best at? What is your strongest skill and your second? Then third? Have you looked into the non-profit arena? There is much need there. I am thinking that your degree was in city planning but that may be all wrong. In that field things happen slowly and I know you well enough to know that you want things to happen quickly.

         If it helps to know that others have been and are going through your predicament. When I graduated from college with a teaching degree (which I later did not enjoy pursuing) it was right in the middle of a huge teacher lay-off and the only job I could find was in a small private school making $5000.00 a year. Had to take it because I was the bread winner for the family since my husband was in school full time and with classes and clinical time, had no time for much of a job. Slogged through 3 years hating teaching but at least I found out definitely that I was in the wrong place. Every experience has its lessons.

         You will survive this and learn a lot about yourself and your character doing it. I will again say that your place may be in the non-profit sector. There are many needs and it takes great passion and hard work which you have the capacity for in spades. It doesn’t pay grandly except in your heart but that is not a bad thing.

         • Martha, thank you for the kind words. It’ll be interesting to see what opportunities arise in the next few years. Hopefully we’ll get a new mayor which will open up a world of new opportunities.

   • Jordan, I think many people feel that way sometimes.

     You’ve made a lot of progress and will continue to do so.

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