UPDATE 1:
With their votes, [the people] determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties. New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans. We will move forward together, or not at all – for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.But the challenges were "bigger than party, and bigger than politics" before, when you "move[d] forward" on your own, with only your party. Now, you're into togetherness, and it's togetherness with the party that isn't into "moving forward."
At stake right now is not who wins the next election – after all, we just had an election.Ha. What a lie! The next election is completely at stake. As for the last election, some of us think it was really important. But you're saying: Eh, it's over. Let's turn away from electoral politics. But we know damned well you're working on 2012, and you opponents want some attention paid to what just happened last November.
UPDATE 2:
Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown. You didn’t always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors. If you worked hard, chances are you’d have a job for life, with a decent paycheck, good benefits, and the occasional promotion....When was that true? Who is he talking about? I'm 60 and I don't remember that ever being true.
That world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I’ve seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts of once busy Main Streets. I’ve heard it in the frustrations of Americans who’ve seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear – proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game....Proud... and bitter, clinging to their guns and religion.
What we can do – what America does better than anyone – is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook....Edison? Can I have my incandescent light bulbs back?
UPDATE 3: I'm skipping a ton of stuff to get to health care:
Now, I’ve heard rumors that a few of you have some concerns about the new health care law. So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses.He'll work together with Republicans, but only if they offer little tweaks to the big overhaul he rammed through, with no consideration for their opinion, when they didn't hold the seats in Congress.
What I’m not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
UPDATE 4: Hey! I'm just noticing that Obama never says "The state of the union is [?]."
And now, what will I do when the actual speech comes on television? I don't know, but I feel so liberated! I'll just give you some chit-chat about whatever strikes me. The visuals. The screw-ups. The intonations. The hints of gray...
UPDATE 5: I've put up a new post for all the real-time style-over-substance chit-chat.
Posts
104 comments:
Is violating your own party's embargo part of the "new civility"?
"This is our generation’s Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven’t seen since the height of the Space Race."
And that is why I put NASA on mothballs.
According to CBS, the title of tonights speech is "Winning the Future"
WFT?
BUHWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!11!!!
Sorry, should be WTF...nothing like stepping on ones own punch lines.
According to CBS, the title of tonights speech is "Winning the Future"
Stolen from Gingrich.
Fuck a bunch of Togetherness. Make the Democrats eat shit sammiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
wv: mizers
"Winning the Future" is the title but he's asking us to not think about the next election?
These guys blow everything.
In the end, it's just Stimulus III, and even the use of the word, "investment", is just more recycling.
And freezing spending at current levels? Better learn the Greek alphabet unless a lot of people get their alpha from out of their omega.
I’ve seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts of once busy Main Streets.
When has President Harvard ever ambled down Main Street?
"When has President Harvard ever ambled down Main Street?"
When he's looking for more Joe the Plumbers to rape and pillage.
"At stake right now is not who wins the next election ..."
That's right.
At state right now is who is going to LOSE the next election.
And it's going to be you Mr. Thief.
Republicans have ALL the power in Washington, D.C. now because not one fucking dime can be spent on anything without Republican Party approval.
No spending occurs now (following the expiration of the continuing Resolution in March approved before Nancy Pelosi's firing) that does not have the stamp of approval of the Republican Party. No spending can occur unless it first is passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
If the National Endowment for the Arts produces some artwork of someone pissing all over Jesus Christ, they did so ONLY because Republicans funded the NEA.
The spies that inhabit the United Nations building in New York can only exist there because Republicans want spies in our country ... otherwise, they'll eliminate funding of the UN from our federal budget.
If you have your little child's vagina rubbed at the airport ... it's only because Republicans funded the perverts at the Transportation Security Administration.
When they fire the negro guy at NPR for appearing on Fox News (but let the white chick keep doing it) it's only because Republicans are funding NPR.
When they spend $400,000 watching bugs fuck at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ... they pissed away that money ONLY because Republicans kept giving the University of Wisconsin that money to piss away.
Republicans now have the purse with our fucking money in it.
Now it's time to see what they do with it.
I encourage the Republican Party to seek out every influence that the Democrat Party has had on the federal budget and to pass a new budget that does not fund those influences.
Starting with ObamaCare.
NPR, the Education Department, the Department of Energy, PBS, grants for bug-fuck studies, cow-fart studies and every other dumb ass university research grant that we can not afford at this time during this Great Recession.
ONLY Democrats are being funded by such money.
It's time to make public employee unions pay the cost of their health insurance and to reduce - not freeze - their retirement benefits. If they cut Social Security COLA's ... Congressional pay should be cut also.
Republicans now control our money.
It's now up to us to make Goddamned sure they don't waste it and that they return as much of it to us as possible.
Or else they're fucking next on the chopping block.
We don't need to make comments tonight cause Althouse, herself, is on fire.
But what color is his hair?
For Obama to even purse his lips to mention the name of Edison after the Eco-Stalinist left has banned his bulbs takes one HELLUVA lot of brazen contempt for the public and an unlimited supply of unmitigated gall.
Facebook?
Are you fucking kidding me?
This is the big future Obama has planned for America? Everybody sitting around updating their fucking Facebook profiles.
Twittering?
Jesus H. Christ ... this guy is a fucking buffoon.
"Who is he talking about?"
He grew up in Illinois. All 1% of the community he grew up in that worked hard would probably succeed over the 99% that didn't.
"What I’m not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition."
Really?
How does he plan on paying for all that shit when the House of Representatives refuses to cash Barack Obama's fucking checks?
Barack Obama has forgotten how America works.
The President can write checks ... but we get to decide whether they get cashed.
And the people, through their elected Representatives in the United States House of Representatives, have told Barack Obama to take his health care law and shove it up his ass.
We ain't paying for it, dude.
Get that through your thick fucking skull.
You tried to close Gitmo, but how far'd you get with that little stunt without any money to do it?
You can shove through laws while you have temporary power, but we don't have to fucking fund them when we get power and we have no intention of allowing you to destroy the best health care system the world has ever produced.
There's a new sheriff in town.
And his name is not Barack Obama.
Fun fact: the entire cost of the Apollo program, adjusted for inflation, was one-seventh of what President Shortpants pissed away with his failed, stupid and corrupt porkulus.
Also, "sputnik" is Russian for "little sput."
I have one word for his Facebook/Twitter mention:
Switchgrass
Right of center crowd here tonight.
Left of center types enthralled beyond multitasking capabilities?
2,100 pages of text in the health care law, and the ONLY positive thing they have to brandish--the one thing Democrats return to time and again--is the pre-existing conditions remedy. That could have been accomplished with a one page bill.
And bless you, Ann, for the line about Edison!
"Among the proposals Obama offered was tax simplification, eliminating taxpayer subsidies for oil companies and extending wireless coverage to 98 percent of Americans."
Yea, let's cripple our oil companies so the Saudi's can take over and we can pay $4.50 a gallon by the summer for gas.
And by God what this country really needs is fucking wireless internet access.
Holy god, almighty. He has no fucking clue how fucking stupid all this sounds.
They really think that internet access, Facebook profiles and fuckign Twitter are the future of America.
These retards are serious with this shit?
You have GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING. ME.
6,789 words from The Zero? With the first-person singular pronoun appearing every 141 words? No thanks. I'll wait for the synopsis.
AA When was that true? Who is he talking about? I'm 60 and I don't remember that ever being true.
Remember -- this is the guy who doesn't know squat about the average American or our history. Ditto Jon Favre (probably a Zinn man) or whoever.
BHO [anticipated]
Now, I’ve heard rumors that a few of you have some concerns about the new health care law.
If he's only heard rumors about a few people having some concerns he doesn't deserve to be the POTUS.
27 states are suing the Federal Government over this and the MAJORITY of American don't want this power grab and violation of their privacy and rights.
What planet is he visiting from?
This has to be a joke.
You've so been punk'd Althouse.
Democrats would never release this sort of shit.
This is a Republican hoax to try to embarass Obama.
I admit, I fell for it. I bought it hook, line and sinker.
Hahahahahaha.
Real funny.
Show us the real speech now.
"When was that true? Who is he talking about? I'm 60 and I don't remember that ever being true."
The most I ever had to wait before someone hired me was one month. That was in 1989. After that, it was easy, one job after another. I knew I could take breaks because there'd be jobs. Now, it's not as easy.
What do the republicans have to lose by holding firm? So the government shuts down for a week or two, then the democrats cave. If you aren't living of the taxpayers teat it's no big deal.
JAL said, "What planet is he visiting from?"
The one to which he is sending the new Sputnik.
Russia lite.
"We are part of the American family. We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found ..."
Speak for yourself, Holmes.
I am not your family and you are not my family. I want nothing whatsoever to do with anything related to you and yours.
And I do not believe we live in a country where Muslims who have the point of view that they can fly airplanes into our building are welcome here.
They're not.
All is not sweetness and light. There is evil in the United States and we do need to root it the fuck out.
We are not going to be one happy family as long as you have consigned my children to buy insurance from your fucking campaign donors you corrupt douchebag.
There will be no civility as long as you hold public office in my land.
Got it?
"Now I've heard rumors that a few of you have some concerns about the new health care law."
He either thinks playing it stupid is charming, or he really lives in the isolated echo chamber many assume he does. When 48% of Americans think the law will be bad for them (versus 33% who believe differently) and 53% want it repealed outright, to say you've "heard rumors" that "a few" people have concerns is a display of abject incredulity and willful ignorance.
WTF? Hee!
"I've heard rumors". Gag. I hate folksy nonsense like that.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3039646/2011_SotU
Obama is reading this thread and will edit his speech in vain hope to retain the Althouse vote
"98% get internet!" [yes I know 90%of you pay for it with your own money while the other 8% get it for free from the govt and yes I know it always seems to be the same 8% clueless dipshits but hey they are my most reliable voting bloc].
When was that true? Who is he talking about? I'm 60 and I don't remember that ever being true.
My parents are well into their 60s. It hasn't been true at any point since before they entered the workforce.
I'm not sure when it was supposed to have been true. The 50s, maybe? So people in their 70s would have a dim memory of working under those sorts of conditions. Then again, they're also retired, so why would they be worried about finding a job?
"You used to be able to have a job for life" is one of those persistent American myths. It was never true. It used to be *promised* to people, sure, but it was never true.
"So the government shuts down for a week or two, then the democrats cave."
That would, of course, be the stupid way to do it.
What Republicans should do is to pass a budget that has no line items for NPR, the Smithsonian, anything for education (since that money all goes to union scumbags associated with the Democrat Party).
Pass a budget that forces all federal employees to pay 100% of their health insurance premiums ... and then sit back and watch as the pressure builds for real insurance reform.
Pass a budget that pegs politicians salaries to the median income of the average American worker. No more, no less .... and then sit back and watch how fast they close the fucking boarders to the slave labor that is depressing your earning power today.
Pass a budget that doesn't include ANY money for anything that has the name of a Democrat attached to it.
The entire government doesn't have to be shut down ... only the Democrat parts of it.
And if the Senate doesn't want to pass that budget - fuck them. Then Democrats shut it all down and we'll finally have what the country needs: a bunch of politicians without a pot to piss in.
Gov. Abercrombie wasn't invited. For obvious reasons.
"98% get internet!"
What about coupons?
Is Barack Obama going to be handing out coupons for toilet paper and other sundries down at the Safeway?
Isn't Groupon in the same league as MySpace in the economic future of America?
I know I could use just a little help at the grocery when I'm filling my basket.
How about you, Mr. and Mrs. America?
Couldn't you use just a little help at the checkout from your friends at the Democrat Party?
I really, really hope this "leaked" speech is edited or bogus particularly this section:
Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80% of Americans access to high-speed rail, which could allow you go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying – without the pat-down. As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway.
This will be the biggest, most obvious lie.
Really terrorists don't bomb trains?
I've got two answers for that immediately;
1) London
2 )Madrid
What's the promise?
If you buy the train you'll get to ride on them-
Pat down free is that the bargain?
Florida, you should pause, compose your thoughts, condense them to a comment or two, and then interact with the replies.
"Obama is reading this thread and will edit his speech in vain hope to retain the Althouse vote ..."
I'll be amazed at his oratorical abilities if he manages to get through this entire speech with a straight fucking face.
I mean ... if he actually delivers this turd he deserves the electronic ynching he's about to get from the members of his own party.
I doubt you'll be able to find one Democrat who will defend this moronic "vision of America."
Here we go, the national embarrassment.
"Florida, you should pause, compose your thoughts, condense them to a comment or two, and then interact with the replies."
I know ... but there's just so much material to work with!!! This is truly such a buffonic speech that it's hard to stop.
OK. I'll take a breather.
I am gonna estimate that of the families on my block as a kid starting in 1958, it seemed most of the fathers had steady jobs with the same employers from late 1950's to the early 1980's or so. The employers included USPS, School District of Phila, Sears, Some Trucking company, PSFS Bank, two self-employed, Otis Elevator, some Engineering firm.
Of course, I don't remember all the families or situations but these reflect the ones I was closest too.
And I don't remember hearing of many out of work.
"Left of center types enthralled beyond multitasking capabilities?"
They're too busy masturbating with both hands to type.
Madawaskan:
I wish he'd define what he means by "access" to HSR. Ten miles, 100 miles away?
It reminds me of when they say "affordable housing" or "affordable healthcare", they never define affordable. I guess they know if they said "free" the taxpayers would wise up and revolt.
So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved.
No. You're not the first.
You are the historically unprecedented first-ever in history black President to dishonestly deny public opposition to your signature piece of legislation, though. Nobody can ever take that away from you.
"That world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I’ve seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts of once busy Main Streets. I’ve heard it in the frustrations of Americans who’ve seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear – proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game...."
UNIONS. UNIONS killed those factory jobs. Unions were once important and worthy, but not any more. Unions have become unfair, corrupt poison. Since democrats and unions are indistinguishable bedmates, democrats killed those jobs too. Hey Obama - you're a democrat.
And now we all have no choice; we are held hostage as tax payers. We all must pay for our own retirement AND the retirement of the democrat pimped /money laundered/ no different from the mob/ - UNION. NOW We must bailout the UNION with our children's future; The same UNION whose uncompetitive bloat forces jobs over-seas. That is the history of the lost factory job in America.
"You are the historically unprecedented first-ever in history black President ...
Barack Obama is not black.
His mother was white (makes as much sense as saying he's black merely because his father was Kenyan.).
He is not the "first black President."
The first black president will be black.
Florida rimshots off Ann's question about "finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown. You didn’t always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors" are only half the story.
Ann is remembering, like all us Boomers, all the ads that said, "When your child is ready for college, will college be ready for him?".
It was assumed you would need at least high school and some technical training, but, more likely, college to compete for a decent job.
The Zero is hoping we've forgotten that. He would know what an article of faith that was - if he'd lived here.
But then he wanted us to believe living in Indonesia between the ages of 6 and 10 qualified as foreign policy experience.
Who the fuck even asked for "access to high speed rail"? Did he hear rumors that people wanted it or something?
AJ
That's what is better known as a-
"loophole".
Maguro-
He might have heard it in Chicago. Most likely because "the plan" has about seven separate rails leading into Chicago-
"The Neo-Rome".
If you have ideas about how to improve this law . . .
And Obama will be the one to judge whether something will "improve" the law or not. And, by definition, anything that conservatives would have to offer would not "improve" the law, thus, Obama does not want to hear it.
This is the exact same condescending disingenuous crap he says every time.
It is also why I will NOT be watching. It would be a near occasion of sin, leading me to all sorts of uncharitable and angry thoughts.
JFK trumpeted the idea of being the best when he launched the space program and race to the moon. I don't remember him lamenting the Sputnik being first in space. But I was only 7 years old then. Do the history books play that up and is that why Obama thinks that way?
Keep in mind that "going back to when people could be kicked off health insurance for a preexisting condition" refers to healthcare legislation passed during the Clinton Administration by Republicans.
His claim that his bill does that? A lie.
Irene said:
"that is why I put Nasa in mothballs".
Bingo- wonder how the residents and workers near Cape Canaveral will react to this part of Obama's speech?
The emphasis on everybody getting a college degree is part of the problem. As my wife says, "Half the population has IQs of less than 100."
There is not enough emphasis on vocational training. It's the old BS. No surprise, though, as professors and school teacher unions are solidly behind him.
In 1957 Sputnik looked down on us and inspired America to beat the USSR's ass to the moon.
In 2011 Obama looked down on us and inspired us to kick his ass out of the WH...
Did he really say "For some trips, it will be faster than flying – without the pat-down."? Without the pat downs? Heck in 2002 and 2003 I remember the Chicago Police with dogs greeting the Northwest Commuter train from Harvard Illinois. Like some Mohammedan terrorist was going to ride the commuter train into Chicago to blow something up. Not. So that's the strategy behind sexually assaulting innocent travelers with the TSA: make flying so odious that they clamor to take the train. (Or drive.) Only thing is Janet Napolean wants to do searches on buses and trains. Didn't anybody clue her about that?
Ann, maybe it's the lights in the Chamber, or in my living room, but I think his hair is just a little bit grayer than it was a few days ago. Sort of makes him more Presidential, doncha think?
If high speed rail is such a bit deal, why aren't the giants of industry clamoring for a chance to get in on the action? Damn the torpedoes, they could buy up property rights and start building the thing right now. I think I can see construction crews from my window.
There is not enough emphasis on vocational training.
Not nearly enough. Skilled blue-collar work is fairly lucrative and stable. You can't outsource the wiring on your home to India.
Without the pat-downs, huh?
How about saving some money by closing down the TSA.
And we could all cheer when Big Sis' ass hits the street.
(I predict a 5 on the Richter...)
our President is embarrassingly stupid -
please tell me, if things are so disorganized and redundant in the Federal government, why we spent 18 months trying to f-- up the health care system MORE with Federal government intervention, and NOT...
streamlining (and downsizing) the Federal government...
I can understand Obama's commitment to socializing health care. He feels that he was cheated by an insurance company that refused to pay to repair his car merely because he had only purchased liability insurance. /sarc
"We are part of the American family"
Then Obama is the abusive creep against whom we need an order of protection.
I don't know what's worse - that he is consciously lying, or that he actually believes the BS he is saying...
Milwaukee
I've got a feeling a union somewhere is bitterly clinging to their bullet trains...
No pat downs on high speed trains, AQ, FYI.
He is not stupid but he certainly thinks we are.
"Who the fuck even asked for 'access to high speed rail'?"
Please don't get me started on the large number of liberal fools I know who think it would be a good idea.
I'm curious WHY there wouldn't be pat-downs on trains. I'm guessing because there are so many easier ways for terrorists to blow them up that there's no point.
enough already - shut him up and put Paul Ryan on..
if we support Tunisia - why were/are we so silent on Iran, or China?
on the other hand, it is almost worth watching a little of this to see Nancy Pelosi in the audience and not in the speaker's chair...
spake the wanna-be dictator...
Revenant-
Like miles and miles of track.
Thing is suicide bombers are a dime a dozen... so when a guy or gal does get on board without the screening and blows it to smitherins-[as they did in London]-would Obama want to accept responsibility?
I'd hazard that the answer is -
No./
Bright shiny new bullet trains would make a hell of a tempting target.
Revenant said...
I'm curious WHY there wouldn't be pat-downs on trains. I'm guessing because there are so many easier ways for terrorists to blow them up that there's no point.
If Big Sis has her way, there'll be pat-downs when you get in your car.
How about we build high speed moving sidewalks like at airports only bwteeen towns & cities.
Then you could just jump on and off as it passes by your house! No tickets, no conductors or drivers etc. That's the way to go- I even heard China has one already.
AA when was that true? Well I am 69 and come from a blue collar background of truck drivers, carpenters, firemen, factory foreman, and some sales folks most all of whom worked at the same place, or had steady employment until they retired. Many of them now have little cottages "up North" and live on their pensions and social security. The inhabited a time when their were manufacturing jobs for those with a high school education, but of course today many of those jobs are shipped over-seas and have been replaced by service jobs.
I thought roesch said he was a twenty-something college guy.
Must have missed this week's handout on which Lefty is fronting which demographic.
I thought I'd pop in to see some considered right-of-center opinion on tonight's speech. Hadn't been by in a while. I guess I'd have to say it just ain't what it used to be. This blog (authoress and commenters) is outstanding for its juvenile petulance, lack of anything of any real import to add to the national conversation and general smarmy unpleasantness. Peace out!
Nah RV has always been honest about his being an experienced, past middle age, college prof like Althouse.
BTW RV- prior to soc sec, workers had an extra 12% in the net paychecks. I sometimes wonder if it that made saving money easier back then before the govt decided it was going to "save" the money for you.
"I'm curious WHY there wouldn't be pat-downs on trains."
I think the rationale is this:
(1) There have been a number of terror bombings of trains in Europe. Not only the recent commuter train bombings in Spain, but I remember some years ago there was a bombing of a train in the Netherlands.
(2) Airports are better protected, so terrorists will be looking for softer targets, i.e. trains.
(3) Pat-downs and screenings are what these officials understand best: Profiling is politically unacceptable. Dealing sensibly with opening hostile individuals and groups like we did with the German-American Bund during WWII is also politically unacceptable.
Just wait until next year, when somebody suggests pat-downs at in parking garages: A John Candy look-alike can star in a bizarre remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. /mostly silly but with today's leaders you never can tell
"I'm curious WHY there wouldn't be pat-downs on trains."
Oh. Sorry. I just realized you wrote "wouldn't", not "would"!
edutcher said...
I thought roesch said he was a twenty-something college guy."
That's not true. Roachy said he was a college professor trying to indoctrinate young minds with his communist babble. He is very upfront about it.
Give the man his due.
Sorry, should be WTF...nothing like stepping on ones own punch lines.
"What fuck, the" sounds way more Shakespearean.
Aj interesting point about the savings, but I also think the cost of living was much less, for example I was able to work my way through college, but the tuition at UW was only $125.00? for a semester when I started. At today's cost of tuition that is almost impossible and thus the need for student loans.
Favorite nonsensical quote: "We must win the race to educate our children."
As if there someone else racing us to educate our children before we do.
Second favorite nonsensical quote "We will create countless jobs."
You can't even COUNT the number of jobs? Doesn't he keep a running tab on the number of jobs "created or saved"? Is he admitting that his jobs "created or saved" statistic is completely phony or is he pledging to create an INFINITE number of new jobs.
RV:
Some serious economists say the soc sec tax decimated the ability to save. Think about it - there are only 100 cents in every dollar of your paycheck; 106 cents when you count the amount the employer pays in. So Uncle Sam takes the first 12 cents, thentakes some more for FIT, state, city and sales taxes and still they wonder why Americans don't save enough money.
Re cost of living, the cost of Harvard tuition has increased from $600 in 1952 to $40,000 or more. That is a 6,000% increase or so.
Home prices grew by maybe 2,500% Cars by 1,000% Postage stamp 1300%.
You teach at a college - why did the cost of education increase more than almost everything else?
roesch-voltaire said...
...for example I was able to work my way through college, but the tuition at UW was only $125.00? for a semester when I started. At today's cost of tuition that is almost impossible and thus the need for student loans.
You got sooooooooo close! You almost figured it out. But you got the cause and effect backwards: the availability of easy, government-backed funds has lessened competitive pressures that might have kept the cost of tuition down.
Aj interesting point about the savings, but I also think the cost of living was much less...
And here you made a mistake -- perhaps understandable for an academic -- of equating "cost of higher education" with "cost of living". Many years back, CNN showed a graph of higher education, medicine, energy, and other costs over roughly 30 years. Up until very recent spikes, energy actually rose less than cost of living. Medical care rose about 3x the cost of living, but at least medical care is indisputably better than it was 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, higher education costs increased 5x the cost of living. So "cost of tuition" isn't a good proxy for "cost of living". (I leave it to others to debate whether the value has kept pace with the cost, since I'm not a consumer in that market.)
Martin:
Once he learns that free money like aid to college is far from free, he will convert to the conservative side.
I'd take the college aid moneys and turn into a flat subsidy paid directly to the kid to use as he sees fit. He can spend it on school, drugs, booze, girls, motorcycles but after it's spent, that is all he will get. I predict this would help to lowerthe cost of college quick.
What I’m not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
Right. He wants to just change the entire definition of what insurance IS.
We didn't watch the speech and instead bounced back and forth between Harcore Pawn (pawn shop reality store in Detroit dealing with the absolute dregs of humanity) and the President's never ending speech.
Hardcore Pawn is a view of what our society under Obama and the Liberal's vision has wreaked. Welfare dependant, totally ignorant, beligerant people pawning all that they own because they have spent OUR taxpayer provided welfare checks at the local casino.
Welcome to Detroit all over America if Obama gets his way and if the Republicans do not stand up and stop this runaway train.
"Edison? Can I have my incandescent light bulbs back?"
Is he signaling the return of the real light bulb? It won't buy my support for amnesty, but it would be great.
Free the Bulb! Free the Bulb!
We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses.
Mr. President, why did your party put that flaw in the bill, and would it have been corrected had the Democrats not lost the congress? How many other flaws remain to be discovered if your bill is not overturned?
The trouble with Obama is that, like all leftists, he is all for prosperity, but only in the abstract. In the real world, he will push for ever more taxes, regulations, disparate impact lawsuits, environmental edicts, unfunded mandates, pro-union legislation, etc., until the economy grinds to a dead halt. And even then, he'll accept absolutely no responsibility.
The president is right that Edison, the Wright brothers and Google were all big deals. But "Facebook"???
The president has been watching too many movies. Facebook is for people with too much time on their hands and poor social skills.
"Florida, you should pause, compose your thoughts, condense them to a comment or two, and then interact with the replies."
No, Florida is on a roll and going strong and in any case is a mensch, so back off the censorship. Who are you to advise him or her? Althouse owns this blog.
And he's making me smile in approval!
"I'm curious WHY there wouldn't be pat-downs on trains."
Yes, that was a curious piece of information to pass along to the Muslim terrorists in a State of the Union speech, wasn't it.
I'm sure they'll be glad to know that this is the soft target they've been looking for.
I think Barack Obama is projecting here. A few weeks ago, someone at Newsweek suggested that what Barack Obama really needs to turn around his electoral prospects is a really deadly terrorist attack.
The writer was almost pining for it.
And now Barack Obama himself is telling the terrorists that if they go to Penn Station in New York, there's thousands of unprotected targets milling around and no Transportation Security Administration pat-downs.
If a terrorist sets off any bombs at any of our train stations, then we know who we can blame for tipping them off that security is light in our train infrastructure.
It was Barack Obama told them.
Tweaks?
As someone who designs electronics for a living, I consider myself qualified to recommend the proper tool for tweaking the health-care legislation ...
... a 12-lb sledgehammer.
Dust Bunny Queen, your comments about re-defining insurance are spot-on ... what we really have to day are subsidized-service plans, not insurance ... and one look at your EOB's and the disparity between billing and reimbursement amounts will show you how the normal economic incentives are being stripped out of the system to foster the illusion of getting something for nothing.
Your comments re: Detroit are also quite prescient ... and let me add that not only with respect to domestic policy, but with respect to international relations ...
... with Obama we will party like it's 1979!
Welfare dependant, [sic] totally ignorant, beligerant [sic] people
Well played.
AJ I think that Americans don't save much because they have bought into the consume at any cost culture and not so much the amount of sec tax deducted from wages. But then I come from the old school-- you only buy things,outside of your home, when you have the cash to pay for them. It is true the cost of living is not tied to the huge rise in tuition costs, which happened because of many complicated reasons including expanding to accommodate the baby boomers. Hey Troop thanks for sticking up for this old commie :)
Score card:
Dream(s) - 12
Challenge(s) - 6
Jobs - 31
Competition - 4
Education - 11
Science - 5
Investment - 8
Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown. You didn’t always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors. If you worked hard, chances are you’d have a job for life, with a decent paycheck, good benefits, and the occasional promotion.... You ask when did that happen...oh I don't know...how about straight through from 1950 till about the end of the 70's. I grew up in Warren, Michigan in a sea of single family incomes provided by mostly blue collar employees. Don't act like you don't remember...it's demeaning to us both...sugar
Approval numbers for this SOTU are through the roof - which tells me he's very good at learning the GOP's populist tricks but falling short as a real leader.
He either can't or won't tell America what it really needs to hear: that decades of hubris & apathy have put their backs against the wall & that without major changes in how they live & do business right now, Americans are in for a very parlous future indeed.
Austerity in a weak economy?
Pandering to people that'll never support him yet again - not to mention an Econ 101 no-no. Roosevelt tried the same thing in 1937 to placate the right, & killed a nascent recovery from the Depression doing so.
Right now I get exactly the same sense of knee-jerk cynicism, somnambulism & complacency from America that I saw in the summer of 2001, & again my intuition says something really vicious & ugly is approaching - but I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever it is that's coming this time isn't going to be nearly as easy to sanitize, mythologize & bounce back from as 9/11 was.
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