This screen shot was taken from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm
The United States is absolutely ridiculous in its apparent pursuit of building a world empire.
Imagine if even a portion of that money went toward education, global warming, health care, or even tax breaks for everybody.
We need change, and we need it badly.
College is expensive. It's a poorly kept secret, and it is a cost that the typical American swallows for the hope of a better life. But another fact that is often overlooked is how quickly tuition costs have risen. In fact, tuition has risen three percentage points faster than inflation every year in the past 25 years, while the services and quality of many schools have improved much slower. Why? Because colleges have no reasons to cut costs. As tuition initially increased, the federal government began putting more money into student loans and other forms of aid. Instead of having the student pay for college, the federal government slowly started becoming a third-party tuition payer, thinking it was doing the students a favor. Ironically enough, the government didn't help, but actually made the situation worse. As colleges increased their tuition and budgets, the government began covering the difference. Thus, colleges began raising tuition without qualms, knowing that the government would be there to cover most of the difference. In case you were wondering, the money that the federal government uses to cover these rising tuition costs come from the taxes that you and I are subject to, and from the Federal Reserve who prints more money out of thin air, devaluating the value of the dollar, thus robbing us of our money. Today, professors teach less than they have in the past, and there are much more administrators per student than ever before, while overall service and impact of these administrators are arguable. College feels as if it is becoming less of an educationally centered institution as it is a premier club where only current students, faculty, and paying alumni are welcome. Even worse, the financial-aid system punishes the typical American family. Parents who save their money for their child's college education find that, by the magical calculations of the FAFSA that we religiously fill out like taxes, they are forced to pay more for college than if they had blew their money for a sweet ride. Why does it matter how many assets we own, or what our income is? Imagine if we were asked what our income was before buying a house or a car, we would be outraged because the level of service and haggling leverage would vary based on something like income. Unfortunately, colleges hold a monopoly on the average persons "window of opportunity". It is the college degree that often gives an individual the foothold needed to enter their desired career. But maybe it is time we start looking at colleges based on the best value, rather than best reputation, especially if we are attending colleges beyond our means and which require us to take out multiple and costly loans. And maybe it's time the government stopped trying to moderate everything, and let the free market do its job. After all, if the government did not help you pay for that USC diploma, you wouldn't be able to attend, forcing USC to decide what's more important, adding those luxury boxes to their basketball arena that the students won't ever use, or lowering tuition to allow the qualified, lower-middle class student to attend and perhaps one day be a graduate that would impact the world.
The internet is under a political revolution, and it's over one man, Dr. Ron Paul. For those living under a rock, or another hard object, Dr. Paul is considered to be a long shot presidential candidate by the Mainstream Media (referred to as MSM henceforth). Just don't try to tell that to individuals on digg, youtube, and other social sites or you will risk your on-line image and reputation. Dr. Paul has become increasingly, and even annoyingly, popular due to his fierce and consistent opposition to winless wars in Iraq and Iran. Dr. Paul has also always been against the Patriot act, a move that allows the government to spy on all your communications and should you prove to be a "terrorist", they can immediately freeze all your assets and take you into custody without a fair trial first. Dr. Paul also has plans to revive our floundering economy, and save the falling dollar. Dr. Paul also plans on removing any form of an income tax, a move obviously popular among many Americans. However, there are policies that Dr. Paul has that remain unpopular due to a lack of understanding by the general public. One popular criticism of Dr. Paul is his plan to limit the influence of the federal government. This would include the removal of the IRS, Dept. of Education, social security, the Federal Reserve, the Food and Drug Administration, and many more federal institutions; minus the Dept. of Defense, which Dr. Paul plans to use them for border security rather than military invasions. Let's take a look at the effect of removing one of these departments. Let's hypothesize what will occur upon the removal of the FDA. The FDA is responsible for the safety of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, and radiation emitting products. And yet, we can see their failure in these aspects quite easily. E coli ran rampant, quality drugs take forever to be approved causing people to die, while FDA approved prescription drugs have killed over half a million Americans since September 2001, obesity have tripled in three decades, and many more failures. And yet, the FDA is alive and well, operating with a budget of well over 2 billion dollars. Agencies such as this don't deserve to exist, and should be well into bankruptcy. But the FDA will never go away. Why? Because it's a government run monopoly that you and I pay for out of our own pay checks. Now imagine for a moment the FDA ceased to exist. With the giant monopoly out of the picture, the nation will turn to private consumer groups to replace the FDA. If the FDA messed up, and approved a harmful product, nothing will happen. Maybe an employee will be reprimanded, but the agency still exists. If a consumer group messes up, they will go out of business and lose credibility. Therefore, only the best businesses such as "Consumer Reports" will exist and ensure the safety of the public because the nation will have the highest confidence in that group. Furthermore, citizens today have become oblivious to what they are using. If the FDA approves the product, more than likely, people will trust the product, and use it freely, rationalizing, "hey, if the government approves it, it must be safe". Yet, we see recalls go up on a daily basis. But, if we institute a free market system, buyers will be responsible for what they buy based on their own research, increasing the amount of careful purchases by an informed citizens. Furthermore, monopolies will be difficult to establish because if the group makes a single mistake, it will open the door for the competition to step in and capitalize. Similar to what has fallen upon the presumed behemoth Microsoft (of whose dominance Apple and Google are starting to eat into), no group will be invincible as long as the government is not assisting them (cable companies). What we will likely see is a number of groups to inspect and approve consumer products, some specializing in certain categories. And the mark of a solid product will be one that has passed many groups, not just one (the FDA). Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Confused? Please let me know.
Welcome to yet another blog. Blogs have always held a certain curiosity in my mind. It's a revolutionary medium that allows an individual to express their thoughts, however superficial or intimate they may be. As a long time observer of the growth and evolution of blogs, it has become clear that blogging is not just for the geek or journalist; furthermore, it is a manifestation of the future of widespread communication. Over the course of reading and digesting a number of blogs, it became clear, everyone is a critic. Everybody seems to have an opinion about everything. Some may find that their particular feeling regarding a subject may vary among people, but the opinion is still there. As we grow and mature, we being to refine our ability to think critically and evaluate the realm we call life. And as this happened in my life, I began to realize that I held opinions as well, strong ones in fact. But there was no suitable place to store these thoughts. The pen is outdated and difficult to copy onto other mediums. My oral platform remains small due to my current economic and social position in life. I needed a world where everyone is equal. Where it doesn't matter if you're 15 or 50. Where no one judges or forms bias based on your appearance. Where no one cares if you make 20k a year or 200k. I needed an area that would translate seamlessly across various applications. That would allow me to reach a broad and diverse group of individuals. I am, of course, speaking of what you and I call the internet. So here I am, publishing my thoughts for literally the world to see. You can expect this page to be updated every so often, with variable frequencies. Some posts will be short and others will be long. Some will be serious, others will be light-hearted. But everything will be of interest, in my humble opinion of course. Multimedia will be in effect, as images and videos assist in delivering the message of the moment. I am also currently experimenting with importing posts onto Facebook to generate traffic initially. Now it's up to you. The beauty of this process is that it allows for others to provide immediate and significant feedback. I welcome your thoughts and contributions. Knowledge develops through conversation, and understanding happens through communication. Everyone is a critic, what will you have to say?
