jmossis: You make a good point on the taxes. I have read studies that suggest there is a positive correlation but my rant was pretty cheap.

Shiftless: You apparently failed to check the part of my post where I included the links showing an easier time getting ahead if other countries. Or you could have done some searching and found the other documents I did not include that had simular findings. I just picked the easiest to follow summary.

Yes, I did manage to break even in class.... You see as a kid my family plunged from the upper middle class into poverty. The American system is ruthless to anyone who happens to have debt dumped on them through divorce, medical emergencies, legal proceedings, etc.

The American safety net is pretty thin and once you fall through it is extremely hard to get up again. The studies I linked are evidence. Fixing the medical system and then the court system might go a long way to fixing the problem since those are usually what bankrupt families.

Before any claims that "you have never traveled so you don't know jack". My immediate family has visited every continent bar Antarctica and I can recall 28 countries off the top of my head. (3 new countries this month) Most of the world is not the hellhole that Americans believe. There are some awful places (Zimbabwe right now) but even that country was quite nice under a decade ago.

As a family member recently went to the best specialist at the best place to treat his disease I can say we have a great system if you can afford the 55 thousand dollar copay required for the hospital visit. Most people are poor enough that they would just die instead of raising that kind of money with a few weeks notice... (Condition onset was fast with no family history)

Nothing say that their will not be paid specialists even if we go to fully socialized coverage. There will always be expert surgeons who treat athletes, royalty, and politicians. Honestly most Americans do not get access to the best coverage. It is too expensive, it is hard to get a booking between the Sultan and Rich millionaire. We were only seen because we knew his protege and happened to be at Mayo hospital when a cancellation occurred.

But I guess everyone knows the top surgeon in the country for the form of cancer they are suffering and has enough money to pay for the treatment... right?

1. After cutting the upper-class taxes there was a recession. Regan did it in the 80s and Bush did it in the last decade. Each time the economy stagnated. Progressive policies are very good for the economy as Poor people spend money. That money revs up the economy and keeps it going. People saving money or investing money does not actually rev the economy in the same way but they get all the benefits (see link on growth of economy later in this post)

2. I agree that there is some problem in American school systems. But most of the problem is that American culture of apathy and short attention spans. Kids don't have the attention span to finis...

3. You talk abut how socialism is such a weak systems but Russia had essentially 3rd world infrastructure and yet was a superpower on par with the US for most of our lifes. I don't think we could have done the same given the same infrastructure as them with government that we have. Also most of Europe does quite well with higher standards of living. Also I grew up on welfare. None of my family is on welfare anymore but it was a critical service when dad walked off and refused to pay child support. Since my family has worked directly with the poor (Health services and counseling) I think I have a better idea of who receives welfare than you do. It is often those with medical problems, mental problems, or even drug problems. Drug problems you say? Well let them rot! Well that is the problem. You have a drug conviction and suddenly you can't get many jobs, or and you can't get funding for college. How and the hell do you handle these people? You either put them on welfare or you throw them in jail which is still state funded living. But yay you are still hard on crime and the war on drugs goes on! Rah rah!

But what really incensed me with your post was your assertion that people have an easier time getting ahead in America. BZZZT! Nice try the US is harder to advance out of poverty and it is getting harder all the time. For all our vaunted freedom you can move around in the middle class, but if you want to be an executive you really NEED be in the right class or society to get your funding or to land that job due to your uncle's connection. There are some people who manage to found a company and build it to that level, but what are we talking about one in ten million? I get better odds at the lottery.... Every company founder I personally have known has gotten kicked out when the company stabilized and an interm CEO (who gets along with the VC and board) has been appointed to manage the continued growth of the company. I have yet to personally meet someone who actually manages to fight off the wolves and make it past upper middle class. But hey, they exist, I mean we see them on TV.

And before you rip on my liberal ideal with no real world backing let me drop some links. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_03.html I see those darn Scandinavian countries are more upward mobile despite their socialist trends and higher standard of living! Yes click around on that link and you will see the US is actually HARDER to climb out of poverty. But don't worry your capitalistic master are having a great time jerking your leash. You know that when the economy is growing rapidly the middle class still shows no upward mobility? http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/04/b1579981.html but I guess the upper class sees great returns on their investments.

Basically the American dream is a great PR piece to help insure there is cheap labor to fill factories. But Rah Rah for Capitalism. The idea that giving the money to private companies is also fallacious they tend to be very good at maximizing profit. (FOR THEM) Right now there are plenty of private companies in medicine but they do not cover people who are sick, need coverage, lose work, etc. That is why we need a public plan as companies have already shown they do not cover these people. We can pay the current companies the prohibitive rates to cover the "un-insurable" but the healthcare analyst I spoke with today at lunch said public institutions are almost always cheaper than outsourcing. But hell, what does she know?

Yeah I would feel much safer with that drunk jerk behind me packing heat. And when you get delayed on the tarmac for 6 hours I am sure he won't take out his frustration on the staff. It isn't like they already have to land planes to drag off people who freak out...

Lets look at some gun stats - http://www.metro.us/us/article/2009/06/16/03/5431-82/index.xml Looks like big pro-gun southern states see 300-500% more gun related deaths than states with strong gun control like Massachusetts. Problem with giving everyone guns is that obnoxious bully or mentally damaged teen also want guns, and when one person fires or misfires do you think grandma will keep her cool and not accidentally shoot the guy who stands up to look around pulling his own gun out? As a cope I wouldn't want to enter a plin with a couple hundred panicked gun toting passengers.

The last thing they need is a pitched gun battle with 30-40 people on a plane all trying to help by shooting at that other guy who must be a bad guy, I mean everyone can spot an Afghan/Saudi. No one will mistake that darkskinned guy, or jewish lady. No one will shoot that Arabic dude "just in case". Hell, only half of Americans know who was involved in 9/11 attacks and most of them couldn't identify a Saudi Arabian on sight.

Anyone Jewish, Arabic, Dark-skinned, would be an "obvious" threat. And it isn't like that bullet will go through multiple chairs and people before stopping... http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/theboxotruth.htm I mean their tests only went through a dozen plywood walls and its not like anyone would miss while panicked and shooting at a human for the first time.

*shakes head* Keep the guns off the plane. Carrying in public is asking for trouble... People may panick when they see you packing heat, and if something does happen the right response is almost always to not use the gun. Yet that wasn't your first justification for bringing one, was it? It was to use in case of an attack , not as a deterrent. And hundreds of people shooting towards the cockpit won't cause any issues, right? I mean avionic electronics are not sensitive machines with wires running all over the plane... /end rant

This study is comparing apples and oranges.

The study assumes you are getting rid of your car to use public transit. There are so many things that are not public transit accessible that still require a car that they are not putting any replacement cost in for.

In Boston, a rental car for a weekend with insurance is ~$300. I use my car 3 weekends a month to travel outside of public transit range. Adding in the cost of getting a rental each weekend and suddenly 12.6k I'm saving is reduced by 7.8k (plus fuel costs and a lot of overhead dealing with rentals). The study is assuming depreciation of the car -- which likely means its assuming a purchase of new car. The cost conscious folks are either purchasing used cars or driving cars for far longer than a normal depreciation period.

And this doesn't even count the opportunity cost of travel time. I live in a near suburb (Arlington) and work in Cambridge. I can walk/bus to the T, and take the T to work. It takes about 1.25 hours each way. It takes me 20 minutes each way driving. I value the ~2 hours per day I save by driving pretty highly. Admittedly, if I have to drive during rush hours, my commute goes to 45-50 minutes each way and public transit becomes much more attractive.

As someone who grew up in the south I saw my classroom go from 50% black to 20% to 5% as I went from normal classes to Honors, and then AP classes.

There were plenty of smart African-Americans in my school but there was immense pressure on them to "conform". Anyone with good grades was labeled an "Oreo (white on the inside and black outside) and excluded from black social activities since they were "trying to be so white". I saw many good friends drop out of classes so they could keep their friends, and each year the pressure was worse as fewer and fewer kids were left to resist peer pressure and the classes became more and more white and the insults rang more and more true.

I believe one person in our graduating top 10 was black in a school that was half black. This girl was in most of my AP classes and lost ALL of her friends. She was not really accepted by whites for dating or being close freinds (this is the south after all) and blacks didn't want to hang out with someone so "white".

I don't really think that racism was the problem, but more a perception that being smart was "turning white" and the very real problem that successful blacks that come out of this system were ostracized by their community and feel very little need to help out a community that has essentially pushed them away. This makes it hard for the community to drag itself up as truly the most successful members are those that cut ties and gave up on being "black".

But I personally feel that ALL of America has a problem with learning. We glorify being wealthy but not being smart. I also saw smart cheerleaders drop out of AP classes because being seen as intelligent made them somehow less attractive to their boyfriends. I saw people pretend to be stupid to fit in, and after a few years you couldn't tell it was an act anymore.

TV and movies portray smart people as nerdy and hard working, but attractive people as rich and successful. It is no wonder most people try to get by on looks or popularity and not hard work and intelligence. Until we see hardworking and intelligent as desirable qualities we are in for a lot of mediocrity.

No not bitter at all

There was a great NPR article a year or so ago that stated it was actually easier to become rich in Europe than in the US. For all we tout how one can get ahead in America there are very few people that have made their own fortunes. (I think you 1 in a million number is still right though)

I can not find that article (it was a radio program) But this article by J Mooneyham claims to become rich in the US you must be born rich, marry into money, or be a criminal. http://www.jmooneyham.com/your-true-chances-of-getting-rich.html and echoes what I remember hearing.

Basically self made millionaires are a statistical anomaly. America is a land where you can come and make your own moderate success, but becoming wildly rich is just not gonna happen.

I completely agree that the companies currently have more protection against competition than we consumers have guarantee of fair trade price. What are dvd-zones except a tool for creating artificial pricing structures.

Why can I not buy a zone free player and 2 dollar disks? Why can I not run an import/export company that imports cheap products to eliminate pricing imbalance? (See Lik-Sang being shut down over importing Sony products)

Problem is money is treated as free speech and a company can give more and can pursue a more targeted agenda than an individual.

Actually I have been a proponent of the opposite system of law for a while. Basically make punishments fit the financial impact of the crime.

Steal a loaf of bread? That is a fine. Get caught with $100 of weed is a ticket. (proposed as a law in MA) Caught embezzling a million dollars is death sentence.

Now let me explain the last part. Basically crimes should be judged against the impact to society. You kill a man then his family loses Avg Salary (45k - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States) * 20 years = 900k

Add in 30% as emotional damages and you get 1.2 million as the damage done to the family by killing the father. Now I argue that if you receive kickbacks or run a Ponzi scheme that loses 1.2 million you have done as much damage as if you walked out and killed a man on the street but the damage is distributed across more people.

Bernard L. Madoff destroyed people retirement funds. There are people who will be eating dogfood instead of hamburger. He has effectively killed 50,000 people with the damage he did to society. He should be tried and judged accordingly. Where this gets weird is the SF case, is this man responsible for shutting down the gov't? Is his crime millions of dollars in damage? At worst I think it woudl be 2 weeks salary of a competent admin resetting passwords on routers and systems. 30k should cover it. The problem here is his bosses understood nothing of the systems involed and he wasn't gonna fix things for them after being fired.

Your right on the official recount Bush won. Even the recount that Kerry requested and was denied had Bush winning.

However any statewide recount would have had Gore winning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_election_recount

But what I find most interesting in the results was that the "certified" recount that was performed had Bush winning by more than any other recount that could have been performed. Especially when combined with other factors,

1) Bush's brother's influence in the state
2) Pre-election removal of blacks (mostly-democrat) from voting records (96,000 names, 1% of total electorate. Very simular to practice Bush had done in Texas a few years before.)
3) Roadblocks were placed in heavily democratic areas of the state making it hard for democrats to get to polling stations to vote
4) when race was too close to call there was the Volusia error where Gore was given -16022 votes by a diebold machine.
5) manual recount in Miami-Dade County was halted when republicans flown in from other states rioted (pretending to be locals angered by the recount).

If anything I am shocked that after that election fiasco that heads did not roll. This is corruption only short of banana republics. Whether you are Democrat or Republican this type of fraud has no place in a free nation. It makes me disgusted that anyone of ANY political affiliation could do some of these things and still think of them selves as an American.