Archive for April, 2016

National Financial Literacy Month: Teaching Financial Literacy In The “Debt Age” (April 25, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Consumerism, Economics, Economics Nobel, Federal Courts, Kleptocracy, Nobel Prize, Noble Prize, Schooling on April 25, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “But do they really want them to be financially literate.”

J          “Who wants a citizenry to be financially literate.  Illiteracy is so profitable.”

K          “What would they teach.”

. . .

K          “For a few hours, they should teach them simply to consume less.  That is the answer.  Devour less.  That goes against the spend and spend and spend and consume and consume and consume mantra they are fed every waking moment on every medium everywhere they venture.”

J          “The same corporations and institutions that ceaselessly propagandize them to spend then underwrite a few hours of instruction advising them, in effect, not to spend.”

. . .

K          “You could teach supply and demand, yet supply and demand no longer drive or dictate price.”

J          “Price/earnings ratios remain a sound financial metric in an economy with accurate price discovery.  With all the government and private sector manipulation and intervention, they are not relevant or reflective metrics of reality.”

. . .

K          “Markets do not exist.  The ‘stock market’ is a Racket.  What few insider trading cases are prosecuted are overturned and repudiated by obliging federal appellate courts doing their job protecting the Kleptocracy.”

. . .

K          “Personal finance courses would at core contradict all the carpet bombing saturation advertising inflicted on the public.  And look how the consequences define our age.  We have evolved from the ‘Stone Age’ to the ‘Bronze Age’ and now to the ‘Debt Age’.”

J          “Still prudent to avoid debt at any cost unless the return is nearly certain.  The debt one assumes to spend time around a college may not be worth the return.”

K          “To the individual and also to society.  Buying a used car and not eating at a restaurant are sound pieces of financial literacy advice.  However, someone must buy new cars and frequent restaurants on occasion.”

J          “The loans for new cars exceed the expected life of the cars.  Restaurants are moving to computer ordering and eliminating the wait staff.” 

. . .

K          “All prices are manipulated and manufactured.  What would you teach.” 

J          “Most current economic curricula in America’s colleges and universities is a secular religion built on inaccurate assumptions and the conviction that growth can continue forever.”

K          “To educate the Nobel Prize winners in Economics in economics, night classes in financial literacy could be offered.”

J          “The classes for them would need to be scheduled around their daily teaching schedules propagandizing the religious orthodoxy.”

. . .

[See the discussions of the “Save” program and the “Credit Abuse Resistance Education” program.]

[See the e-commentary at “Consume, Don’t Invest (Nov. 9, 2009).”]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“The more flak you get the closer you are to the target.”  World War Two bomber’s observation

First Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2016 (April 18, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Journalism, Movie Reference, O'Bama, Politics, Press/Media, Pulitzer, Pushitzer, Race on April 18, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

          “The envelope please.  . . .  This year’s Pushitzer Prize in Commentary is awarded to . . . all the unnamed, unknown and unheralded commentators not working for the Herald who are pushing the envelope and pushing against the absurdity, insanity, dishonesty and hypocrisy that envelops us from every direction every day.  For distinguished commentary in a print or digital or any format.  For good and honest stuff.”

. . .

[Please send nominations for the Pushitzer Prize in Commentary for 2017 and a supporting letter by January 27, 2017 to e-ssay@gci.net and send the entry fee to your favorite charity.]

[See the e-commentary at “Pulitzers Are Pro-War?  Pressing The Pushitzers (April 22, 2013)” and last week’s e-commentary.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

For good and honest stuff

Will the public respond to Ken Burns, Jr.’s production of “Barack Obama” in 2046 the way the public responded to Ken Burns’ production of “Jackie Robinson” in 2016?  Mitch McConnell is today’s Ben Chapman.  (Senate Majority leader) Chapman wielded a baseball bat; (Coach) McConnell a gavel.  See the e-commentary at “‘I Hate Obama.’  The Trip Hammer Of Hate Tolls Without Toll And With Toll (March 10, 2014).”]

April 22:  “Happy Birthday Earth Day (April 23, 2012).”

Pulitzer Prize In Commentary For 2016 (April 11, 2016)

Posted in Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media, Sports, Wall Street, War, War and Wall Street Party on April 11, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

x          “They have strayed off the reservation for two years and rewarded commentators in the hinterland.  From Detroit to Houston.  Now they must return to the ranch.  This is the year for either the Post or the Times.  This is the year that the two divisions of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ pick their puppets.  This is the year that someone who champions the interests of the ‘R’ division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ gets the nod.”

y          “Brooks or Douthat.”

x          “Or their ilk.  Someone who challenges fundamental assumptions is lost.”    

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

April 15:  In 1947, Jackie Robinson took the field at Ebbet’s Field as the first Black major league baseball player; in 1997 Major League Baseball retired his number 42.  A fine and felicitous recognition.

The Donald:  Enough; Bastante; Basta (April 4, 2016)

Posted in Education, Elections, Health Care, Voting, Wall Street, War on April 4, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

X          “Dangerous.”

Y          “Enough.  Bastante.  Basta.  In any language, enough is now more than enough.”

X          “Danger has caught fire.  Those who kindled a small fire are fighting their fire with another fire.  Fighting fire with fire is more likely to create a great conflagration than to contain the fury.”

Y          “For a time, in his own twisted way, he challenged the war and Wall Street memes.  Now he is at war with decency and civility.  I have had enough, but his followers may have not gotten enough yet.”

. . .

X          “Both the Donald and the Cruz are dangerous, very dangerous.”

Y          “General elections are always about choosing between the lesser of two evils.  Primaries and caucuses are not supposed to present such a bleak choice between evil and vile.”

. . .

Y          “The current Senator and the former Senator are ratcheting up their spat.  However, the undemocratic process of the Democratic Party machine dooms Sanders.  Even their system is rigged.”

X          “Everything is rigged.  Sanders is proposing time-honored first-world public policies.  The country cannot afford a rational and efficient single payer health care system and cannot afford not to adopt a rational and efficient single payer health care system.  The country cannot afford a system of affordable education and cannot afford not to adopt a system of affordable education.  The country cannot afford to adopt what it cannot afford not to adopt.”

Y          “We could pay for it by paying for it the way we pay for war.”

. . .

[See “Physicians For A National Health Care Program” for some perspective on health insurance.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been.  The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”  Isaac Asimov, “A Cult of Ignorance”, Newsweek, January 21, 1980.