University Financial Woes

Thanks, Kathy. That's a good article (link below).

There are a lot of things happening in the educational field, and not all are the result of the pandemic or political leadership of the state. Just as we're seeing the wholesale purchase of properties by investment firms that ends up driving rents up, there are other effects from a change in demands by students and future employers when technologies and international trade changes their worlds. There is also a huge shift away from higher education among young men. It's a complicated picture.

We already knew the Democrats in Washington were looking at higher-education costs as an issue they could address, and now Pres. Biden is trying to mitigate the effects on the economy caused by long-term educational debt, which drains money away from consumption. When you combine all these factors, the resulting mosaic is not easy to solve.

It's obvious they can look at both state and international sources of students and see the ups and downs ahead of time. That doesn't stop all the petty tyrants from trying to build bigger castles. So, the first part of the solution has to be administration and a reality-check on the numbers of future students and monies which will become available. As simple as that sounds, we live in times when political (and other) agendas can make it seem complicated. While it may sound draconian to shut down this and that, consider that some of this and that may be brand spanking new, rather than 30-year-old buildings or programs. It might just be pulling in the horns, back to real sound levels. Second, views of what a modern university should be doing are evolving, and it may be useful to reduce this thing, even as that thing holds steady or grows. Discussions on the Internet reflect that POV all the time. Should a college teach to some profession, or should it be a more general Liberal Arts type school? Should there be more sports or less? Should they recruit students to increase its size or should there be an ideal student body size?

Shaping a corporation has many similar questions and isn't very simple if it isn't a one-dimensional organization. How much money can schools expect from political bodies like the state legislature or the federal government? That is a very difficult question to answer, but they've somehow managed it in the past. Even our local school system has its ups and downs, some due to inept or criminal management. Leadership is a primary issue. Do the people of the state want all this? Has anyone even asked them what they want?

Start by answering some fundamental questions, and a lot that follows will be easier and more useful.

On 8/15/23 15:51, Kathy wrote:

This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education explains how WVU ended up so far in debt.

https://community.wvu.edu/~jokatz/ChronStoryWVU.pdf

 

Kathy

Monarchy, Wealth, Republican Crazies, and Émeutes

The man who was advised by an AI ChatBot to kill Queen Elizabeth with a crossbow may have been crazy, but in 1776 Americans would have killed the King of England without regret. The main difference was that the Americans had a large army and support from France. George Washington may have looked silly by today's standards, but in his day he was not considered a crackpot.

Man Caught with Crossbow in Windsor Castle Admits Trying to Harm the Queen

It's not unreasonable for the poor to seek an uprising against the wealthy and powerful. In fact, it is the only reasonable thing to do. We often adore the stories like Les Misérables or Dr. Zhivago (fiction) around the Russian Revolution. But, in those cases it wasn't about dividing the wealth and then carrying on, it was about devising a new political-economy system which would allow more people to have a chance at benefiting. In Russia and Cuba, the more extreme idea of equal wealth for all has failed. In China, they are trying to give more economic opportunity, but political power is still very controlled. In the "Western" world, the wealth gap which has developed is worrying. Will it cause revolution, unrest, violence? Well, it already has. Are the police shooting innocents in the street? Yes. Has the minimum wage increased to keep up with the growth in GDP or productivity? No. Are politicians doing enough to help their poor electorate? No. Are they at least doing enough to keep our Democracy afloat? Barely.

World's Wealthiest Individuals

Trends which go unchanged can be as dangerous as a single radical violent action. Would relations between Russia and Ukraine be better than this single violent war where Ukraine seeks independence and freedom? It might not seem so bad to the frog in the pot of warm water, but a trend is a trend.

In America, the trend is not good and the politicians who are easily bought off by a handful of magic beans (which will get them reelected) is not going to allow the trend to change. In fact, the Republican politicians who are most dedicated to helping the rich keep all their wealth are also the ones who do the least to benefit their voters. They seem to feel that keeping their voters poor and uneducated, not unlike slaves or ghetto-dwellers, is best to convince those voters that the big-government Liberals are their one and only enemy. So far, it's working. The rich are getting richer while everybody else makes little progress, rising as fast as unleavened bread dough.

Is it morally wrong to kill the oppressor(s)? Perhaps. It's hard to be certain. But, if there are millions who agree with you that the trend must be changed, then you can at least feel you won't end up with the wrong end of the crossbow. Is it wrong to "work within the system" to seek changes? Perhaps. It's hard to be certain. The peoples of this world who remain in monarchic political systems don't seem to feen bad about being in a warm pot of water if it doesn't seem to be getting hotter. Maybe their children will feel it's normal, or somewhere down the line one will ask why the water is so damn hot. "How much is too much?", that is the question.

Personally, I'd rather work within the system. I'm a bit idealistic that way, though I see signs that it may be a failing effort. The fascist-Right are acting out, and it's destructive with no idea of a better future. Who can say which kind of rational behavior (however crazy-looking it may seem in future generations) will be best.

And in the short-run, the wealthy get richer, the federal debt is over $30 trillion, George Floyd is dead, innocents in Baltimore were killed, there are shootings everywhere and no end to it in sight. And in the short-run, people are not happy with their employers. Just today, I mentioned to a check-out clerk at a grocery store that I was disappointed in the company and the clerk said, "I'm disappointed every day when I come to work".

If people aren't overly angry at the super-rich or at their employers or at their elected officials, then what will make them angry enough to vote differently or to do violence? What is the breaking point?

Émeutes en la France

https://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/uprising-lemeute

Supreme Court Strikes Down Goodness

The United States Supreme Court of Appeals has decided that America is now fully equal for all the races, and we need not provide any support (or presumably regulation) on that issue. This ruling is most likely going to result the way the erasure of voting rights protections has gone — racist states will immediately take advantage and show racism is still quite real and damaging.

https://jabberwocking.com/supreme-court-strikes-down-affirmative-action-for-good/

To be sure, if we are to eliminate assistance to minority groups, who face damaging racist behaviors, then we must ensure that all government-created racism in schools is also eliminated. It means we have to back that up ruling with enforced equal funding for all students around the country. That would be a statement that we are no longer racist, but I doubt it's what the racists on the Supreme Court intend.

America faces some dark days ahead, and the forces of Evil are enjoying every minute of this.

The Left in America must respond forcefully. Individuals must be called to take a side in this war. Many individuals benefit from policies the Liberals put into law and then forget. They may think they aren't part of that movement, but when the Right strike down laws, they need to be reawakened to their position in this struggle.

Constitutional changes happen slowly, so we will suffer from this Court for a long time. The people who enabled this or stood by and watched it happen will suffer for their laisser faire attitude.

When the Tax System Works for the Rich

The story in this article is infuriating, perhaps surprising to some people, and an indicator of how our political system is severely harmed by big money.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-ways-rich-save-big-023512497.html

When the tax code is written by the money people, it will benefit ONLY the rich and this article indicates several ways it happens -- and most people don't have any reason to become familiar with these techniques/loopholes. But we need to know. When some people pay most of the taxes (as a percentage of their incomes), it's not fair, people lose faith in their government, people become confused and angry, and even our adversaries can laugh at us with cause.

We need to fix these when they come to light, but when do they come to light? This article is the first I've read since ProPublica or Vox did an investigation of the issue. It's not every day. Too many other things take our attention and time. Perhaps now, with one of the biggest tax cheats in history being charged with federal crimes in the news every day (Donald Trump), we can see how the tax system is used and abused.

The Rich, They Are Different

One of the big problems with our system of federal government taxation is that the super-rich do NOT take a big salary. They use trickery to avoid taxes. It's legal, but the laws should change to make sure all their "compensation" is taxed.

Watch this short video to hear a nice simple explanation. It's a "short" on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/shorts/f3-EKY7CBds?feature=share

For someone making $50,000 a year and paying taxes, this is unbelievable and unacceptable.

Warning to Washington: Don't give CA Investment Banks to Wall St.

If Washington lets Wall St. banks take over CA investment banking, they
will control the ups and downs of CA and a lot of the well-being of the
Democratic Party. The octopus will have its tentacles into too many
parts of the U.S. economy and politicians will be trapped. Already most
investment goes to a small part of the country and it divides America
into "fly over country" and power centers. We need greater diversity in
America and a fuller coverage of the map for investment and ideas.

Diversify is a word used to divide the interests and sources of debt or
incomes. It reduces your overall risks. Letting Wall St. banks take over
too much of the US economy would be the worst outcome of the SVB collapse.

It's Time to Raise the Minimum Wage

Worker productivity is up! I borrowed a couple of graphs from Kevin Drum's blog to show it and to use that as strong evidence the federal minimum wage should be increased.

My source:  https://jabberwocking.com/chart-of-the-day-productivity-was-up-in-final-quarter-of-2022/

Can corporations afford to pay better wages? It would appear so.

My source:  https://jabberwocking.com/war-profiteering-how-about-pandemic-profiteering/

How much should wages go up for minimum wage earners? It seems $13.00 / hour is pretty common (from chatter on reddit.com) and the current minimum wage is at $7.25, so maybe $10.00 would be good.

Since 2010 it appears wages have gone up about 12% while the minimum wage (last set in 2006) is still $7.25 / hour. Raising that wage rate 12% would be $8.12, but it hasn't been raised since about 2006 and productivity has gone up rather a lot since then.

What's the longer-term trend?

Labor productivity has gone up dramatically from 1973 - about 2008 and slowed a bit. Hourly compensation began rising at a slower rate around 1998. This indicates that if the common wage is around $13.00 / hour and hourly compensation hasn't kept up with labor productivity increases then the hourly rate should perhaps be more like $15.00 / hour. But, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 and a large increase from $7.25 to $11.00 (for example) is nearly a 50% increase and that may be too sudden and too much. Many would even argue that from $7.25 up to $10.00 is too much, but the minimum wage has increased several times at a 50% increase and $7.25 x 1.50 is $10.86. (nearly $11 / hour). So, any increase would be appropriate from up to $11.00 / hour. I suggest $10.00.