Tom Deweese Speaks in Santa Cruz

Tom Deweese speaks in Santa Cruz. I heard Tom speak in the Albany area about two months ago (H/t Chip Mellor). He's a great speaker.  Will America awaken to escalating totalitarianism?

Why Academics are Pro-Fed Ideologues

"Tuition has been rising at leading institutions for the past quarter century at rates far ahead of inflation, reflecting the rising prosperity of the top 5 or 10 percent of the wealth distribution. Philanthropists continue to lavish large donations on prestigious institutions.  College and university endowments, fueled by the stock market boom of the past quarter century, have reached levels never dreamed of before.  In 1981 only one institution (Harvard) had an endowment exceeding $1 billion; as of 2007, more than sixty institutions had endowments in excess of $1 billion.  Harvard's endowmnet reached $29 billion in 2006.  Yale's $18 billion, Stanford's and Princeton's  $14 and $13 billion respectively.  Princeton's endowmeent is nearly $2 million per student, which effectively yields about $100,000 per student annually, a sum tht is more than double the annual tuition.  Many state universities, such as Michigan, Virginia, and Texas, have accumulated large endowments even though they receive annual subventions from the public treasury."

--James Piereson, "The American University: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" in Robert Maranto, Richard E. Redding, and Frederick M. Hess, editors, The Politically Correct University. 


Without the Fed, endowments would be at 1981, or perhaps 1937, levels. There would be much less income inequality because the only possible explanation for a rising stock market is subsidy from the Fed at public expense.  This occurs because consistent reductions in interest rates increase the present values of future corporate earnings--the chief determinant of stock prices. Hence, the Fed's low interest rate regime directly subsidizes stockholders at the expense of the general public.  Income inequality results from the same Fed policies.  The wealth consumed by stock and real estate investors, including universities, who produce nothing (in the case of universities, less than nothing) but enjoy increases in asset values, comes from wage earners in the form of an increasing gap between productivity increases and wages.  That gap cannot continue.  Eventually, the public will either stop working or vote the bums who have subsidized the super-rich, including university endowments, at the expense of the producers of wealth, out of office.  Or, perhaps, the nation will simply collapse due to public mismanagement.

Obama Proposes Gosplan Style Rural Councils

H/t Redeemer Broadcasting. The Democratic commentator on this video laughably claims that the Keystone Cops in Washington can  revitalize the Midwestern economy.  Maybe they'll print another $3 trillion and have Chicago banks lend it to a new group of poor home buyers.

Student is Offended By Grade

A Student Writes

Thank you for taking the time out to grade our group's paper. I just wanted to say that I was a little offended when you commented on us having  "Poor writing skills". I know that by no means are we perfect in writing. And it's probably a good thing neither of us are looking to become journalist. However, I personally, feel insulted to hear that in my senior year I confused words that would potentially be an embarrassment in business writing.

I would like to give you a little bit of a background on me:

I was once a high school drop-out and did not attain my GED until ...

I respond:

I’m very sorry you feel insulted as that was not my purpose. My purpose is to help you advance by pointing out a deficiency that you are capable of correcting. One of the very serious mistakes the educational system makes is emphasizing self-esteem at the expense of hard skills.  I don’t recall which paper is yours, but if I said that the writing needs work, that is my true belief. It has nothing to do with insulting you.  It is a way to help you achieve your goals.  I am on your side.  I could do what most others do and what I did for years:  ignore the writing issue and pretend that all is well. But that is not going to help you. 

If you look at your pique from my standpoint, you might consider that I pay a price for what I do with the grading. I could give everyone an A or B+ and say everyone’s paper’s great. Instead, I spend a week of my time thoroughly reviewing your work and giving you pointers as to how to improve.  I don’t get paid more for doing that rather than just giving everyone an A or B+ and doing little more.  

As far as your background, given the impressive gains you’ve made since returning to school, I would think that you would appreciate my selfless and unrewarded efforts in helping you improve. I’m not BSing you, trying to make myself into  a VIP, or building my own ego.  This is a painful, time consuming process for me that I do to help you. I get nothing in return for it. I could not do it. But that wouldn’t be of help to the students.