I'm sure it is not just the GOP, but this is a good depciton of the money cycle.
I keep hearing a strange word over and over in my head, reinvention. Frankly, it’s just a word but it seems to be the “buzzword” this year in politics. Governor Rick Snyder used it in his “State of the State” address and President Obama used it in his State of the Union” address. It sounded interesting that both politicians have chosen to give such similar speeches when they are supposedly from opposing political parties. The word reminds me of those “born again virgins”. It’s almost like an oxymoron to me. How do you reinvent and invention? I also find it interesting that when anyone thinks of the word “invention” it usually draws to mind some kind of product. Since we aren’t exactly making any products, what are we trying to reinvent?
I’m picturing the sleazy ex-husband that is desperately remaking his image for his next conquest. How did that saying go? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I think that buzzword, reinvention, is nothing more than corporate speak for “privatizing government”.
We have been told so many times that government doesn’t work and private industry does a better job that many of us actually believe this myth. I see our country being sold out to private industry more and more. Here in Michigan we better think hard about that bridge the governor wants to build. I’m all for the bridge but not if it is put in the hands of some private company that controls what goes in and out of our country. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704590704576092881920953952.html
The details seem a bit fuzzy to me. I remember fuzzy math and it usually adds up to a headache for the little guy.
My son complains all the time about how the government of Illinois handles licensing. It seems that they have very few state offices open. However, you can purchase your license plates, etc. through private industry, but it will cost you much more. You are paying for the convenience of not having to travel the distance to find an open state office.
This push for privatization has been going on for some time. Republicans have been trying to privatize Social Security for years. The military has been holding hands with private corporations for years. The one thing that I notice about all of this is the high cost of doing business with these private military corporations. Our politicians seem ready to feed that dragon for a long time to come without worrying too much about how the money is spent or how much is laid to waste in Iraq and Afghanistan. They don’t even seem too concerned about the millions and millions of missing dollars that have been reported about.
Now the latest trend is to take public education and sell it out to private corporations that are for profit businesses. This is being done in a rather sneaky way. First, the schools have privatized everything from janitorial service and food service to substitute teachers. Its’ all happening and inch by inch it will happen on an even bigger scale. The push right now for getting rid of tenure for teachers is all part of this plan as far as I can tell. The past ten years has been an out right assault on public school teachers and their competence. What ails education is being blamed on the teachers. The teachers are the scapegoat but it is really just part of the plan to destroy the teachers’ unions. Truthfully, there are many factors that have had an influence on education. The biggest factor in my mind is poverty. The rise to the top of the chosen few and the loss of the middle class have created a growing lower class of people that have probably lost hope for the future. Unemployment is staggering and many people are also under employed. Their main priority right now is simply survival.
With all of this in mind what does the president do? At the state of the union he called once again for the push for science and math education. The funny thing about this aspect is something my sister mentioned the other day. She told me I should do a post on what the senators, representatives and other politician’s children are doing for jobs. She figures they aren’t working in science and math. We talked about it. I know Chelsea Clinton works for a hedge fund. Most of these politician’s kids are probably going where the money is. I don’t think the money is in science, math and certainly not in education. The young people that can manage to find a decent job are working in business. The other ones are doing service jobs like waiting on tables, working in a retail store or working in senior citizen’s homes. Our young creative minds are left under utilized in a country that sees more value in private industry than in people!
Early this morning I was watching C-Span. It was some kind of educational meeting that took place this week. There was a man from Sweden who was part of a private business that had created schools in Sweden that were for profit businesses. He was over here because he is starting a school in New York City. I found this all very interesting. He said people were unhappy with the school system in Sweden. This must be a world wide phenomenon. When he opened his first school he had something like 900 people sign up, even though he had no prior proven success. He said that just showed how ready for change people were. He wants to do for America what he did for Sweden. There was also a young college graduate student from Chile. Chile also has been starting schools created by businesses.
Watching this today made me really think about what’s going on here in our country with education. The drumbeat has been going for quite some time that teachers are not qualified, that they are inept. Much blame has been placed on the poor quality of the teachers. I’m not going to say all teachers are great because obviously there are imperfect people in every job category. However, it has been my experience that most of the teachers I know are dedicated individuals that want to do the best job they can for the students. It’s apparent to me that it’s not so much about the teachers as it is about business controlling every aspect of government. Business has been able to infiltrate into everything we do. It really is about the bottom dollar.
The common person only has their vote. Business has lobbyist that caress the politicians and give them the money they need to keep their seats. What we end up with are corrupt politicians that sound more like businessmen than like statesmen. The most recent push for business was the health care bill. Real people don’t seem to be happy with it. However, insurance companies will be happy with all the new customers they are going to have after all the penalties kick in. Business has a special seat in our government. Don’t let them destroy public education with a for profit business plan where the bottom line is profit, not students. President Obama using a word like “reinvention” is meant to inspire us with nothing more than business laced useless rhetoric. Don’t be fooled!
By the way according to Dyson he reinvented the vacuum cleaner!