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Wall Street's High-Speed Gambling
Just saying I think the bailouts were very much against the principles of Rand. I can't imagine John Galt or Howard Roark accepting a bailout - they would have died first.— August 24, 2012 1:56 p.m.
Wall Street's High-Speed Gambling
"I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." - John Galt in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Lots of people believe in the first part of that pledge. Not too many believe in the second. Ayn proposed a moral code which is more than just purely take whatever you can get by any means. However, very few leading traders or Wall Street executives truly believe in the entirety of Ayn Rand's moral code. If the leaders on Wall Street believed in the pledge above then they would have adamantly refused any bailouts.— August 24, 2012 11:37 a.m.
Wall Street's High-Speed Gambling
I think the "Robin Hood" term for a transaction tax is a big misnomer. To me "Robin Hood" implies the primary intent of the tax is to sharply redistribute wealth from the upper classes to the middle and/or lower classes. The proposed 75% income tax rate in France is an example. I think the transaction tax is more specifically geared to curb one particular activity - the way that cigarette taxes are designed to curb smoking.— August 23, 2012 1:31 p.m.
San Diego Wants to Extend Red Light Camera Ticketing, Bid Document Reveals
The cameras have nothing at all to do with safety. If cities wanted to reduce the number of serious injuries and deaths due to red-light runners they would target the most dangerous intersections - instead they target the most profitable interesections. Also, if the motivation was safety they could adjust the yellow-light time and delays between red and green lights in order to make things safer.— August 22, 2012 9:26 p.m.
San Diego Wants to Extend Red Light Camera Ticketing, Bid Document Reveals
Maybe we'll all have to start wearing gorilla masks to drive like that dude in AZ. http://jalopnik.com/5355617/man-avoids-37-speed-c…— August 22, 2012 3:26 p.m.
H-1B "Body Shop" Wins Whistleblower Suit
I kind of doubt if QCOM gets in any trouble over this. I think it's really hard to prove violations of the visa system. Any job description can always be tailored so specifically that it's basically written for one person (the person they want to hire) and anyone else is "unqualified".— August 21, 2012 9:35 p.m.
Screw U: The Next Bubble May Be Higher Education
One of the key issues in the article is the question of the economic value of higher education. For foreign students from less wealthy nations (e.g. India and China) the economic value of a U.S. college degree is MUCH higher than for U.S. students. For a U.S. citizen/permanent resident a college degree means, most likely, a somewhat higher paying job than without a degree. For a foreign national a U.S. degree - particularly a graduate degree - means a path to a U.S. job which is much higher paying than the job they might have without a degree in their native country. This is particularly true at the graduate level - in many fields the pay difference in industry for someone with a master's vs. someone with doctorate degree might not justify the extra education. But for a foreign student the effective payoff is much higher because a PhD degree means a better chance to work in the U.S. Thus, there is a much better return-on-investment, so to speak, to a foreign national working towards a PhD degree than to a U.S. resident.— August 10, 2012 9:40 a.m.
Screw U: The Next Bubble May Be Higher Education
In theory, college was supposed to be a way to enable those from poor families to have a chance to better their lot in life. But I think in many ways college is turning out to be a way to keep rich families rich.— August 7, 2012 2:23 p.m.
Screw U: The Next Bubble May Be Higher Education
I think that a study removing the effects of family income and intelligence would be relatively easy to do. Of course, some other factors affecting income like ambition, drive, ability to work with others may be difficult to quantify. But family income and intelligence are both quantifiable. I can only think that the reason it hasn't been done is that the educational establishment doesn't want prospective students to be fully informed regarding the value of education.— August 7, 2012 8:45 a.m.
Screw U: The Next Bubble May Be Higher Education
So back to the original question - is higher education a bubble? Is a college degree (and advanced degrees) worth it - at least in purely economic terms. Seems to me the correct study hasn't been done - or at least I haven't been able to find it. A study needs to compare net lifetime earnings in real dollars - basically incomre minus taxes and tuition, taking into account effects of interest and inflation. And the study needs to statistically remove - as much as possible - differences between college graduates and non-college graduates such as intelligence and family income. Has anyone seen such a study?— August 7, 2012 6:29 a.m.