In the State of the Union earlier this week, Obama said he wants "...debt forgiveness for people who have been repaying their college loans for at least 20 years."
“In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education,” Obama said in yesterday’s speech. “No one should go broke because they chose to go to college.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2…
Okay, let's THINK and find everything wrong with this.
1) We can't get kids to finish high school. Funding college is not the problem. Let's identify the problem and fix it. Obama's plan will help a very small percentage of kids in poverty.
2) Why is it a good message to say we should take a loan out and it will be forgiven in 20 years? What is my incentive to pay it off sooner? Why should others pay for my education?
3) Even if we were able to create this wonderful land of gum drops and candy canes, and every single person were able to then go on and get a 4-year degree, do you know what would happen? Do you understand supply and demand? If everyone has one, it's useless. Then you'd need at least a Master's Degree to deliver pizzas.
So why do the Democrats continue to push programs that sound nice to the politically ignorant public, yet will cause more problems than they will solve?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Some more health care info...more Democrat scare tactics
I keep hearing people throw things out like "Our life expectancy is way lower than those with nationalized health care." That must mean it's better, right? Well, unlike many sheep, I like to actually think critically and look at data. Here's some that I found:
Life expectancy @ birth
#8 Canada (81.16)
#10 Sweden (80.74)
#37 United Kingdom (78.85)
# 47 U.S. (78.14)
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_li…
Murder rates per capita:
#24 United States (4.2 per 100,000)
#44 Canada (1.5 per 100,000)
#46 United Kingdom (1.4)
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mu…
Also, Lowest annual motor vehicle death rate (per 100,000, so it has nothing to do with the U.S. having more people):
#1 Sweden (5.7)
#3 United Kingdom (6.2)
#8 Canada (10.4)
U.S. (15.4)
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml…
Lowest annual accidental death rates:
#2 United Kingdom (20.5 per 100,000)
http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/causes.ht…
"Investigators from the Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston compared the results of two large-scale studies of the US population in 1988-1994 and in 2001-2006. In the intervening 18 years, the percentage of adults aged 40-74 years with a body mass index greater than 30 has increased from 28% to 36%; physical activity 12 times a month or more has decreased from 53% to 43%; smoking rates have not changed (26.9% to 26.1%); eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day has decreased from 42% to 26%; and moderate alcohol use has increased from 40% to 51%. The number of people adhering to all 5 healthy habits has decreased from 15% to 8%."
http://www.prisonplanet.com/following-a-…
So in the U.K., they live months longer on average. In Sweden and Canada, a couple years. But our murder rate is roughly 3 times higher, our auto accident rate is at least 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 times higher.
Add in our overall unhealthy lifestyle, where we are exercising less, eating less fruits and vegetables, and drinking more...
Isn't it a testament to our great health care system that we are where we are?
Can we stop spreading ignorance and have a real discussion about what we can do to help bring down costs?
Life expectancy @ birth
#8 Canada (81.16)
#10 Sweden (80.74)
#37 United Kingdom (78.85)
# 47 U.S. (78.14)
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_li…
Murder rates per capita:
#24 United States (4.2 per 100,000)
#44 Canada (1.5 per 100,000)
#46 United Kingdom (1.4)
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mu…
Also, Lowest annual motor vehicle death rate (per 100,000, so it has nothing to do with the U.S. having more people):
#1 Sweden (5.7)
#3 United Kingdom (6.2)
#8 Canada (10.4)
U.S. (15.4)
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml…
Lowest annual accidental death rates:
#2 United Kingdom (20.5 per 100,000)
http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/causes.ht…
"Investigators from the Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston compared the results of two large-scale studies of the US population in 1988-1994 and in 2001-2006. In the intervening 18 years, the percentage of adults aged 40-74 years with a body mass index greater than 30 has increased from 28% to 36%; physical activity 12 times a month or more has decreased from 53% to 43%; smoking rates have not changed (26.9% to 26.1%); eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day has decreased from 42% to 26%; and moderate alcohol use has increased from 40% to 51%. The number of people adhering to all 5 healthy habits has decreased from 15% to 8%."
http://www.prisonplanet.com/following-a-…
So in the U.K., they live months longer on average. In Sweden and Canada, a couple years. But our murder rate is roughly 3 times higher, our auto accident rate is at least 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 times higher.
Add in our overall unhealthy lifestyle, where we are exercising less, eating less fruits and vegetables, and drinking more...
Isn't it a testament to our great health care system that we are where we are?
Can we stop spreading ignorance and have a real discussion about what we can do to help bring down costs?
Democrats' "scare tactics" debunked
Is it global warming? Is it global cooling, like the scientists predicted in the 1970s? Is it climate change? Yeah, climate change. That way, whether it goes up or down, we can blame it on CO2, in order to push an agenda.
Well, here are 4 of the most recognized scare tactics, and why each one is wrong.
1) Sea levels will rise and flood the coasts.
Quick multiple choice. If the entire Arctic Ice Pack melted, how much would sea levels around the world rise?
A) 4 inches
B) A foot
C) 2 feet+
D) Exactly zero because I’m not an idiot and I understand Archimedes Principal
Hope you picked D.
http://www.seed.slb.com/v2/FAQView.cfm?I…
2) Himalayan Glaciers are melting.
“The UN’s top climate change body has issued an unprecedented apology over its flawed prediction that Himalayan glaciers were likely to disappear by 2035.”
“The 2007 report, which won the panel the Nobel Peace Prize, said that the probability of Himalayan glaciers “disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high”. It caused shock in Asia, where about two billion people depend on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for their fresh water supplies during the dry seasons.”
“It emerged last week that the prediction was based not on a consensus among climate change experts but on a media interview with a single Indian glaciologist in 1999. That scientist, Syed Hasnain, has now told The Times that he never made such a specific forecast in his interview with the New Scientist magazine.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/en…
3) Polar sea ice levels are decreasing
Although the website claims these numbers are below normal, we only have to look at the recent numbers.
Arctic sea ice extent averaged over December 2009 was 12.48 million square kilometers (4.82 million square miles), 210,000 square kilometers (81,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which occurred in December 2006.
I don’t know guys, looks like they’re now INCREASING.
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
4) The Polar bear population is decreasing due to loss of Arctic Ice.
"In the 1950s the polar bear population up north was estimated at 5,000. Today it's 20- to 25,000, a number that has either held steady over the last 20 years or has risen slightly. In Canada, the manager of wildlife resources for the Nunavut territory of Canada has found that the population there has increased by 25 percent."
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/a…
“Not so fast. According to a U.S. Senate and Public Works Committee report, the “alarm about the future of polar bear decline is based on speculative computer model predictions many decades in the future. Those predictions are being “challenged by scientists and forecasting experts,” said the report.”
“Harry Flaherty, chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in the capital of Iqaluit, says the polar bear population in the region, along the Davis Strait, has doubled during the past 10 years. He questions the official figures, which are based to a large extent on helicopter surveys.
“Scientists do a quick study one to two weeks in a helicopter, and don’t see all the polar bears. We’re getting totally different stories [about the bear numbers] on a daily basis from hunters and harvesters on the ground,” he says.”
http://www.examiner.com/x-32936-Seminole…
Well, here are 4 of the most recognized scare tactics, and why each one is wrong.
1) Sea levels will rise and flood the coasts.
Quick multiple choice. If the entire Arctic Ice Pack melted, how much would sea levels around the world rise?
A) 4 inches
B) A foot
C) 2 feet+
D) Exactly zero because I’m not an idiot and I understand Archimedes Principal
Hope you picked D.
http://www.seed.slb.com/v2/FAQView.cfm?I…
2) Himalayan Glaciers are melting.
“The UN’s top climate change body has issued an unprecedented apology over its flawed prediction that Himalayan glaciers were likely to disappear by 2035.”
“The 2007 report, which won the panel the Nobel Peace Prize, said that the probability of Himalayan glaciers “disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high”. It caused shock in Asia, where about two billion people depend on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for their fresh water supplies during the dry seasons.”
“It emerged last week that the prediction was based not on a consensus among climate change experts but on a media interview with a single Indian glaciologist in 1999. That scientist, Syed Hasnain, has now told The Times that he never made such a specific forecast in his interview with the New Scientist magazine.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/en…
3) Polar sea ice levels are decreasing
Although the website claims these numbers are below normal, we only have to look at the recent numbers.
Arctic sea ice extent averaged over December 2009 was 12.48 million square kilometers (4.82 million square miles), 210,000 square kilometers (81,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which occurred in December 2006.
I don’t know guys, looks like they’re now INCREASING.
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
4) The Polar bear population is decreasing due to loss of Arctic Ice.
"In the 1950s the polar bear population up north was estimated at 5,000. Today it's 20- to 25,000, a number that has either held steady over the last 20 years or has risen slightly. In Canada, the manager of wildlife resources for the Nunavut territory of Canada has found that the population there has increased by 25 percent."
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/a…
“Not so fast. According to a U.S. Senate and Public Works Committee report, the “alarm about the future of polar bear decline is based on speculative computer model predictions many decades in the future. Those predictions are being “challenged by scientists and forecasting experts,” said the report.”
“Harry Flaherty, chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in the capital of Iqaluit, says the polar bear population in the region, along the Davis Strait, has doubled during the past 10 years. He questions the official figures, which are based to a large extent on helicopter surveys.
“Scientists do a quick study one to two weeks in a helicopter, and don’t see all the polar bears. We’re getting totally different stories [about the bear numbers] on a daily basis from hunters and harvesters on the ground,” he says.”
http://www.examiner.com/x-32936-Seminole…
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