dagblog - Comments for "Some Observations On Today's Osama Overkill Coverage"

The non-readers would be paid

rmrd0000 — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:25:52 +0000

In reply to But if students can't even

The non-readers would be paid to learn to read. Better reading leads to be understanding of math concepts, better love for reading via exposure to new experiences or views of the world, etc. You may even find out about someone with similar experiences who found a way to succss. You may find someone very much unike you but who is still an inspiration.

Eyeballing the graph, i see

rmrd0000 — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:20:10 +0000

In reply to "Both sides realized they

Eyeballing the graph, i see nothing that contradicts my statement. The employment rate for Black teens is 50% of Whites.

But if students can't even

Desider — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:16:06 +0000

In reply to ..........But what is your

But if students can't even read, there isn't a lot throwing money at the situation will do. There's a lot of hard basic work in there that money and testing and whatever's not going to fix.

Effectively people are paid to go to school - just they're paid when they finish, when they get that higher paying job. I'm not exactly sure how we start paying one batch of kids to go to school and not pay all the rest.

..........But what is your

rmrd0000 — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:08:56 +0000

In reply to Come on, entry level wages

..........But what is your solution? Just hand them money?

Welll, I'm actually open to funding schools to bring them up to 21st century standards which is giving money.

I'm even open to discussions of paying students to attend school. Although, I do admit that since academic performance would be required for paying the student, we are back to the question of whether we would trust a community to accurately grade the students. The more stuudents in a community, the more cash would go to the students. The community gains some economic benefit aand that cash might bias testing analysis.

I'm also not above considering paying students to go into engineering, sciences, math, etc. I guess the answer is yes, I might consider just giving them cash.

redundant military personnel

Beetlejuice — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:50:19 +0000

In reply to Interesting points as always

redundant military personnel ???

Sorry to burst your bubble there mate but for the past few years the USAF and Navy have been shearing their ranks...they're not active boots on the ground so they're not high on the totem pole for retention.In fact, the USAF is forcing many out. Their new fat boy program is set up to single out those not in tip top physical shape. Hell they discharge people with diabetes now...can't have anyone down range in need of medical supplies and resources that distract doctors and corpsman from their duties tending the wounded. They're becoming highly selective in whom they retain. That translates into just-in-time performance without the luxury of personnel overhead to compensate for sickness, leaves or temporary duty assignments.

Part of the outsourcing problem was as Rumsfeld put it...you go to war with the Army you have. The all volunteer force is made up of less than stellar candidates when compared to the Vietnam era with its draft. The draft forced many to volunteer rather than take a chance at Uncle Sam deciding for them either Army or Marines. So Rummy opened the forces to outsourcing to relieve military personnel of their drab, office duties and focus on fighting skills.

Chances are outsourcing will be around for some time because the civil component is reliable and not subject to troop movements, transfers or reassignments. As long as there's a need and money in the budget, contractors have nothing to fear, except their own. That being other outsourcing companies in dire need of more income to meet Wall Street expectations bidding on contracts driving the costs so low profit is sacrificed just to win the bid. It's great for the military, but someone has to take it in the shorts so the workers employed will see smaller pay and benefits to offset the lack of profit. Just a fancy way to get around wage theft.

As I see it, the military is adjusting to its role as a focused military fighting force. Office and administration jobs supporting the troops, such as medical records, personnel, finance, motor pool, civil engineering and so forth at post and base levels, is in the process of being turned over to civilians thus freeing soldiers, sailor, airmen and marines for combat training and duties. For example, I have heard many USAF personnel whose career fields aren't supporting aircraft operations are dispatched down range to convoys manning heavy gun mounts for supply runs...think of your typical office worker manning a 50 caliper to get the picture. Also, some bases and posts are completely run by civilians. For example, Fairford AB, England was reduced to nothing but civilians a few years back...all military personnel were reassigned...the base is operational, but no aircraft are assigned at the moment. At the most, there are small, token military contigents at remote locations, but the majority of the work force remains civilian. Especially the bomb dumps throughout Europe.

Outsourcing is here to stay in the military until something is done to increase troop strengths which will only occur if a draft is reinstated and Congress approves more funding.

But everyone wants to cut DoD funding now. So the dog is chasing its tail.

Come on, entry level wages

Desider — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:27:56 +0000

In reply to Since only a small segment

Come on, entry level wages for teens are usually not likely to support a family.

If these people will remain at that level for a lifetime or even 5 years, yes, that's a problem.

But what is your solution? Just hand them money?

Since only a small segment

rmrd0000 — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:35:50 +0000

In reply to "Having American high school

Since only a small segment will actually receive training that moves them far up the totem pole at the end of the day we're creating another large pool surviving on borderline wages for most of their lives. Wages that will not support a family is the long term goal?

"Having American high school

Desider — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:17:00 +0000

In reply to You didn't start out with

"Having American high school dropouts competing with illegal immigrants for low wage jobs seems short-sighted." Well, our whole immigration and border control approach is short-sighted.

And there's no way 18-year-olds are going to get jobs to feed a family as a general rule. We need entry-level positions that pay relatively shitty wages but allow some job training and just general work experience to let them build up value. (for example, Management skills are frequently more important than any specific job skill)

Presumably Clinton's welfare reform did away with the attractiveness of the "low-risk" direction as you put it.

Regarding education, there are lots of remedial students out there. Training them in high-tech areas is often a no-go, or certainly not at the emergency get-'em-into-a-job-quick level for the masses I think we're discussing.

You didn't start out with

rmrd0000 — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:30:52 +0000

In reply to The basic issue is that

You didn't start out with Bush policies, you started with Mexicans. Having employees fill out tax information forms might impact hiring of some not in the country legally. Having American high school dropouts competing with illegal immigrants for low wage jobs seems short-sighted. In fact , from an economic standpoint the American dropout might do better taking the low-risk route of collecting welfare/disability or the high-risk option of the drug trade. We need to work on getting the dropouts back in school and potential dropouts to be stay-ins. We need to focus on jobs that enable a person to feed a family after graduation.

I mentioned above how some school systems have achieved better test results, so I am somewhat of a skeptic above improvements in outcomes. A major question is what jobs are we training the students to perform? Are they training to rebuild cities, training in biology/medicine or other growth fields? Are they just training to compete for slightly better than low wage jobs?

Your duly elected Congress critters are fighting Elizabeth Warren tooth and nail on any reform policies. We need to work on cleaning the House. We also need to see if Harry Reid really has enough backbone to actually force Republicans to vote on the Ryan plan. If Reid caves, it will verify how little the President can count on Congressional Democrats for support. Stay tuned.

Are you kidding me? Dangerous

Obey — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:02:37 +0000

In reply to Yes, I meant Oleeb, the

Are you kidding me? Dangerous stuff! I only started on the meth to wean myself off that pixy dust...