Poverty is a Choice for Most

It's really not complicated. As noted economist Walter Williams puts it (forgive me Walter, I paraphrase);

1. You CHOOSE to learn in high school and graduate, or not. (If you are unable to do government high school work in 2007, you need to be in special ed.)

2. You CHOOSE to get a job, even at minimum wage, or not. (Hardly anyone remains at minimum wage for long, if they even started at that level. A couple both earning slightly above minimum wage would be making about $30,000 a year)

3. You CHOOSE to show up every day and give your employer a good days work for a days pay, or not.

4. You CHOOSE to go to college, or not. Do not tell me you can't afford college. EVERYONE can afford college. It might take longer while working, but community college is cheap and totally doable for ALL.

5. You CHOOSE to get married before getting pregnant, or not.

These are all choices which are totally under your control. Do you know anyone who has followed these easy steps and is POOR? Let me know.

Welfare for the Wealthy

More than 53% of the national budget (and therefore, our taxes) now goes to entitlements. The majority of that goes out in "welfare" checks to social security recipients. They HATE being told they are getting "welfare" but that is the fact. If someone retires at 65, he or she gets back ALL the money they put into FICA, in about five years. From then on, they get OTHER PEOPLES MONEY. They may need it. Many don't. My father-in-law retired at 65 as a millionaire. He died at 84. For his last thirteen years of life, he received about $312,000 of other people's money. He "bragged" that he never spent a penny of it. It went into investments. It's not complicated. It's time to MEANS TEST social security. We do it with almost every other entitlement. You get back all of YOUR money and after that, if you NEED other peoples money, you get it. If not, you don't.

Gender Pay Gap Myth

Let me tell you a story. My brother-in-law, prior to his marriage, told his fiancé to never ask him to choose between his family and his job. He would ALWAYS choose his job first. He was true to his word. They lived well. He worked most weekends. They saw little of each other, but she had plenty of charge cards to keep her happy. Now I personally think he was a turd, but from his boss's perspective, he was a valued employee. He rose rapidly in the corporation and retired wealthy at fifty-five, never having known the two kids his wife raised.

When you hear these bogus statistics comparing male and female salaries/income, remember; these stats do NOT compare "apples and apples." They lump in the female checkout clerk at Food Lion with the male Fortune 500 CEO. Pay Gap? Duh! The fact is that when you compare two people with the same experience, in the same job, with the same level of productivity, there is NO GENDER GAP in pay. An employer would be an idiot not to reward the most productive workers. That company would not remain competitive.

You have two workers. The woman uses every personal leave and sick day. (She has three young children) The man NEVER takes off for ANY family-related crisis or responsibility. Who gets the promotion? Duh! The man may be a "jerk" and a lousy dad, but he is worth MORE to the boss. It's not complicated.

Diversity is Divisive

At my institution, we have recently hired two new administrators. Both appear to be competent. Neither was in the top tier of applicants. Both are minorities. I suspect that both will do well. However, we did not get the BEST people for the jobs. I was on one of the search committees. We scoured about 100 applications and listed our four best, as requested. We were told that we should add a minority to at least interview, because it would "look better." We consented. We added the best-qualified minority, who was not nearly as qualified as the four initially chosen. Guess who got the job? (We were suckered)

On the more general topic of diversity, it seems to me that too much effort is put into celebrating DIFFERENCES. I do not suggest that all national cultures become homogeneous. However, the "melting pot" was a good idea and it worked. There is less "melting" going on and too much emphasis upon differences; in language, values, appearance etc. This nation is the best on earth. It was no accident. Our common values (and language) have served us well. I do not want to lose that. English may not be the "best" language but it is still the ONLY language of maximum opportunity. We do citizens a disservice when we allow them to marginally function in a language other than English. They are economically "doomed." It's not complicated.

Death of the Stand-Up Lecturer

I am old enough to remember the joke. "Where did you get your degree? From correspondence courses?" Now we call such courses "on-line".(they are really e-mail courses but "on-line" sounds more legitimate.) Most of them are correspondence courses without stamps. Sadly, many people take them seriously now. Real-time, virtual classroom, multi-webcam courses are in our future, but not yet. Ever take an email course? Odds are you got either an A or an F. The A was simply for logging on. An F was because you never "showed up."

I have been a stand-up, lecturing college professor for more than thirty-five years. I am a dinosaur. I have never even given a SCANTRON test. At my institution we actually offer a course in (I kid you not) public speaking "on-line." I have never "taught" an e-mail course. Only my seniority saves me. Brick and mortar campuses will die out. (converted to mini-storage facilities?)

I understand the economic (cheaper) and convenience factors. A few courses can and should be offered via email. However, in my experience, it is usually the worst "teachers" who embrace this trend. I wonder if they ever really wanted to "teach". A TSA baggage-checker (no high school diploma required) could do what they do, and maybe better. It's not complicated. What are we paying these people serious money to do? They are certainly not teaching. I get "high" when I walk into a classroom. These email "teachers" cringe at the thought. If you have ever taken an email class, did you get your money's worth? How much did you learn, and if you DID learn, was it because of your self-discipline or because of the "teacher"? Thinking back, will your favorite professor be the one you never met?