Sunday, April 03, 2005

Read The Next Post First, Then Come Back to This One!

For all of you that agree with the last post, seem to think that Clinton was better at this President thing than Bush and that things were so much better when he was in office, hey here's some facts for you to ignore and blindly believe that he was better......

March 1997 (Clinton 2nd Term)
5.2 = overall unemployment rate
4.5 = for whites
10.7 = for blacks
8.6 = for latinos

March 2005
5.2 = overall unemployment rate
4.4 = for whites
10.3 = for blacks
5.7 = for latinos

(Hat-tip: OPINIPUNDIT)

Just thought that you should know.

UPDATE: Having been called out for only providing a small portion of the picture with the employment figures, here's more....

Median Salary of all Academic Positions: $90,000.00/year in February 2001 (last year tabulated) FACT. Wonder why college costs so much?

Poverty: The number of people below the official poverty thresholds numbered 35.9 million in 2003, or 1.3 million more than in 2002, for a 2003 poverty rate of 12.5 percent. Although up from 2002, this rate is below the average of the 1980s and 1990s. FACT.

Seven states — Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia — showed increases in their poverty rates based on two-year moving averages (2001-2002 and 2002-2003), while two states — Mississippi and North Dakota — showed decreases. All others remained unchanged for 2002-2003.

While the debate can rage on and on about the ever increasing costs of health care, I personally believe that we have created a litigious society that loves medical malpractice. Hence, the fact that there are currently only two OB-GYN doctors on the Mississippi coast and only one in Northwest Mississippi. I'm guessing them folks ain't quit having babies.

Housing costs for lower income people is actually falling and has dipped below the rate of 1998 all the way back in 2002. FACT. This shows that the cost of housing has risen against the Consumer Price Index, but also shows that the percentage of portion of income has fallen.

Anyway, to put further spin to this housing costs thing, just think about the facts of the matter. Labor costs ARE higher, material costs increase because labor costs are higher AND the restrictions placed on harvesting natural goods.

Anyway, to answer the questions posed to me, I am incensed because all the topics are Liberal SCARE TACTICS (the way the questions were posed)that have been proven again and again to be detrimental to poor people, by none other than me.

UPDATE #2: This just in: In the State of Mississippi, education expenditure has risen just a bit since 1993. In 1993, the state spent just over 2.3 billion, yes with a "B". In 2003, the state spent 4.8 billion. Quite a bit of increase. Needed? Hell no. In 2003, the state spent an increased 131% over 1993 numbers in welfare and human services. Needed? Hell no.

As far as the rising costs of higher education is concerned, since there has been a 57% increase in the last 12 years, I am going to wager a guess, that idiotic things such as diversity colleges, increased costs of paying for every stupid little group that FEELS they are entitled to financing by the taxpayers. (READ THE SPECIALTY DEGREES THAT MEAN NOTHING, SORRY FOLKS. WOMEN AND MINORITY STUDIES ARE NOT DEGREES, THEY ARE A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. JUST AS IS ENGLISH, POETRY, HISTORY, AND LITERATURE.) To think that you shall attend a university, take out student loans and receive a degree in Women's Studies is quite frankly a stupid idea. However it is a feel good thing so we have to build a stupid taxpayer funded building to house a ridiculous college.

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15 comments:

Erik Grow said...

It's never as simple as the unemployment rate. Unemployment rate is the same. OK, good. How fast have housing costs, medical costs, and higher education costs been going up? How does that translate into quality of life? Of those that are working, what percentage are still under the poverty line? Are there more middle class now, or are there more upper and lower class now? Then you can start getting a true picture of whether we are really "better off".

I know you say you like things "simple" Two Dogs, and have said so before, and that's fine. However, most things in life are far from simple.

Paul Mitchell said...

Thanks for pointing out my obvious bias here, Erik. There is an update answer to your questions.

Erik Grow said...

I read the update. The first link I check? Your assertion that academic positions average 90K a year, which seemed outlandishly high. Damn, I thought, maybe Two Dogs is right? I went to the site to find that it is the average salary of CHEMICAL ENGINEERS, a specialized subfield of chemistry, in academia. That's right, you used the American Institute of Chemical Engineers site for a statistic on all academic positions in higher education.

Care to try again?

Erik Grow said...

That sounded a bit more harsh than I meant it to sound, but I was pretty surprised that you didn't look at the source info. If any one of my dozens of professors make or made 90K+, I would be shocked.

Paul Mitchell said...

Even though I produced the charts from the government to prove that actual wages are in fact up, you still don't believe me, Imara?

I was actually doing fine during the Clinton Administration. It had nothing to do with Clinton either. SINCE PRESIDENTS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SPENDING OR TAXES OR BUSINESS TRENDS. Just as the fact that statistics show the financial situation is better today than it was in 1998. Sorry folks, the economy is much better.

Sorry, Erik, I do these cursory searches and I did mis-read that site. I thought that was too easy. However the point in my rebuttal was that you made the comment about education spending or costs. Check new update about Mississippi.

Erik Grow said...

Noted. That is a huge increase for MS, certainly far more than inflation, though I'm not sure that I would drop much if any of that at the feet of specialized degrees. Also, I suspect MS lagged behind most other states in spending before, and some of the increase was possibly catch-up, but that's just speculation on my part for now. I will do some digging around.

English is a waste of a degree? History too? Teachers need these degrees to teach!

Paul Mitchell said...

Erik, Erik, Erik, teachers no longer major in a specific field for the most part, they major in education. I actually had an English teacher ask me how to spell 'architect'. And Mississippi is about to pass legisaltion that all teachers must pass the GED in order to teach. Guess what, the teachers are pissed! They all have college degrees and are worried about passing the GED.

Wayne World said...

I must say that Eric is the man. Not because of this exchange , but because I frequently read posts on his site as well as his comments and he always keeps his cool and makes his points . He supports his views with facts as well as check out other people's facts. If only I had the discipline to do these things, maybe I too could debunk Two Dogs!!!Good points Eric, and I think you're right about MS spending extra because of them playing "catch up". Two Dogs has admitted this to me in the past , but he would NEVER admit to it NOW!!!Two Dogs is a Fraud!!!Two Dogs must have studied under Sigmund Fraud!!

Paul Mitchell said...

I actually believe that our Mississippi schools were much better in the past when we were spending about six dollars per student per year. That is why I took my son out of public school.

As far as the other links are concerned, what about 'em? So, I blew one damn link; big fat hairy deal.

Wayne World said...

Two Dogs IS a Fraud!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute, Two Dogs. I agree with you on women's studies (where would it ever end?), english, poetry and literature. But History? No way. Young minds need to know what has happened to us so they will learn to do things better. If History is taught correctly, and not revisionist, it is worthy of a college degree. Who else would teach it to others but those who get degrees? Now English, that should be over and done by the time you get to college.

Erik Grow said...

Thanks for the vote of confidence Imara and Soundboyz. I do what I can. *:-) While debating Two Dogs can be fun, don't ever let his blustery personality stop you from confronting him! To his credit, he will sometimes fix his goofs and come back with a correction.

Erik Grow said...

Oh, and also a stat on the evening news just last night which I committed to memory so I could tell you, from HUD I believe, was the the average house price is now 191K, up 12% from two years ago. That is a few times higher than inflation, and this is what Democrats, Edwards specifically during the campaign, referred to as the "middle-class squeeze". It is difficult to build personal wealth without property ownership, and every year it is out of reach for more people. I'm not saying Dubyah is to blame particularly for this, but it speaks to my argument that joblessness by itself is not all that telling when it comes to overall quality of life. It is but one factor.

Paul Mitchell said...

You also have to take into account on home building exactly what are the trends. I do have a little bit of familiarity with this topic. It seems that people are beginning to have a taste for a little of the odd in the current home designs. Anything that adds to the difficulty of home construction also adds to the price.

HUD is notorious for having whacked out figures and they still count places that have rent control in their calculations, much like San Francisco.

By the way, what in the Hell can a multi-millionaire tell you about the middle-class "squeeze"? To think that that sleasy Edwards actually came from a hard-working family and turned into the severe piece of shit he is now, probably makes his father roll over in his grave.

Boudreax 64, I don't mean that studying history or poetry for that matter is a bad idea, I think that to actually work towards degrees in these topics is just a bad idea. If these things are interesting to you, take some elective courses, there are plenty.

Imara said...

Two Dogs, I have to go by my own experience, and the experiences of those I know. It's not that I don't "believe" you... I don't believe the numbers. Sorry!

Soundboyz, I agree with you about Erik. I, too, wish I had the discipline/time to arm myself with all of the facts before confronting Two Dogs. Thank you Erik for taking up the argument with such poise and eloquence. Your points are well put.