tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post2280106632223028766..comments2024-03-25T00:17:27.682-07:00Comments on The Tortoise Taught Us: The Budget Debate: America at a CrossroadsDavid Schildkrethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-16872482510662166072011-02-18T18:44:50.190-07:002011-02-18T18:44:50.190-07:00Well, here in Texas, the solution seems to be to c...Well, here in Texas, the solution seems to be to cut all the funding to the public schools. Easy! Forget that now every teacher in the state feels like their job is in jeopardy, that the schools are struggling to make ends meet as it is, and that the only thing these kids are learning is how to pass a standardized test. In the high school I've been teaching a residency in, they're firing 8 teachers and 5 support staff. Already the majority of students in the school are on free or reduced lunch, and they have one of the highest ELL populations in Austin. When I was there on Wed, I found out that they're firing the ELL specialist. <br /> We're not a crossroads, we're at a cliff, and we've already jumped. It's like Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons, We just haven't realized there's no ground under our feet.Elizabeth Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07082865571683968143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-24635119892720231782011-02-18T08:43:01.777-07:002011-02-18T08:43:01.777-07:00Bill, I agree. Madison might well be the next Tun...Bill, I agree. Madison might well be the next Tunisia. It's certainly a vivid example of the confrontation and conflict we're talking about here.<br /><br />Whatever happens, I agree with the historian who compared what we're seeing now all over the world to 1848.David Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-80619869904885302682011-02-18T08:26:51.313-07:002011-02-18T08:26:51.313-07:00i think push came to shove 30 years ago when reaga...i think push came to shove 30 years ago when reaganism swept the country. reagan famously railed against medicare because it would drive the u.s. into "socialism" - and his ideology of "the best government = no government (but spare no expense on defense)" has played itself out ever since. remember when jimmy carter's biggest priority was to wean the country off foreign oil? think of the kind of america--and world--we'd have today if...but in 1980 we hit that crossroads and took a severe right turn.<br /><br />taxes actually went up during the reagan administration, but nobody bothers to recall that now--it would spoil the nostaligia of the true believers. yet one thing is undeniable: reagan's acolytes have been systematically dismantling the new deal programs from the '30s and the great society programs of the '60s, while enabling an astounding expansion of the defense sector (which, after all, chiefly benefits the military industrial complex). under their philosophy the big entitlements would ideally function at the mercy of the free market - social security would be "privatized" and medicare would become a voucher system that would hugely profit and empower the insurance cartel. there would be no federal investment in education, research or new start-up industries; infrastructure maintenance would be left to states and localities; social safety nets would disappear except those funded by wealthy municipalities; the poor would largely be left to their own devices. but the plutocrats would make out like, well, robber barons, and they'd have plenty of (untaxed) funds with which to purchase elected officials who would protect their interests.<br /><br />this dystopian vision of the future is actually coming to pass right now. by every measure--income inequality, job instability, rate of incarceration, education, life expectancy-- our quality of life is declining, trailing behind the rest of the developed world and even some developing ("third world") countries. this is the reagan revolution three decades on: a diminished middle class, earning less in real dollars than in 1980 and watching their benefits evaporate (bust those unions! cut those pensions! slash that health insurance!), whose taxes support an enormous stew of military contractors, subsidies for corn growers and oil companies (the most profitable corporations on the planet), and the biggest growth industry of all-prisons. how do we turn this around, especially given the rhetoric emanating from our elected officials? does it take a counter-revolution? where is our tahrir square?<br /><br />pay attention to what happens in madison, wisconsin. how this plays out will be a harbinger of the new normal.Bill Mitchellhttp://metscapes.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-88827935105043980662011-02-18T08:26:04.867-07:002011-02-18T08:26:04.867-07:00If only Dave Ramsey would teach Financial Peace Un...If only Dave Ramsey would teach Financial Peace University to our government.Jen_Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17477405873452012771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-28051871206835371092011-02-17T15:08:03.673-07:002011-02-17T15:08:03.673-07:00Wow. It changed in 1976. Both Don and I were in ...Wow. It changed in 1976. Both Don and I were in college then...David Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-90165190316249639942011-02-17T15:06:21.859-07:002011-02-17T15:06:21.859-07:00Thanks to Don Lewis for helping me get the start a...Thanks to Don Lewis for helping me get the start and end of the fiscal year correct. I'm old enough to remember when it started in July... I've got the correct information in the post now.David Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.com