How to Increase U.S. Competitiveness (High Education Spending/Low Results)

Human Events ^ | 6/12/06 | Dan Lips

[GSlob]

I would question his understanding of politics - after the fall of Florence in 1530 he had to hide for his life till he was pardoned, and he got pardoned by Clement VII only on account of his genius - he was needed to do what nobody else could. Regular rules are for regular mortals, and this probably is a large part of genius' appeal - to transcend the rules and to be able to disregard them. Most of poor wannabes fall woefully short in the genius department, though.

[mission9]

Point well taken, however if you look at the S&P500 vs. the inflation rate, you will see that equities always do better over time. Because of the magic of compound growth, over a lifetime, you are dramatically way ahead. I invite you to do a job that most Americans won't do - plug my Conservative estimates into a financial calculator, adjusted for inflation. Then try numbers that are even more realistic, such as the true per pupil spending in the average school district ($8,000).

The reason that my proposal will not work is not because my insights are wrong. These are some of the same arguments on the social security debate. The problem is that too many liberals (and people who don't think of themselves as liberal) will have to give up too much power, too many cherished delusions, and subject their lives to the insecurities of the market for their ideas, and products.
But it is fun to hit the same old suspects with "outside the box" thinking, and watch them squirm. Counter arguments will revolve around increases in juvenile labor law violations, juvenile crime and illiteracy rates, incomplete "socialization" of the child, etc. The problem for the liberal is that these worst case hypotheses about the result of redirecting education dollars, assumes that people are basically stupid and incompetent, which is contrary to the goodness in mankind that liberalism ostensibly posits.