tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post308706369872414455..comments2024-01-18T16:20:09.743+01:00Comments on Nils' Blog: Money is a Flawed MirrorNilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-38556035707549539432012-02-25T04:32:49.595+01:002012-02-25T04:32:49.595+01:00Oh, I don't mean eliminating ghettos and trail...Oh, I don't mean eliminating ghettos and trailer parks by government order, or any daft thing like that. I do mean evolving them out of existence through better distribution of national wealth. There will always be poverty, but the steepness of descent between percentiles in the United States is staggering.<br /><br />I agree that poverty does breed a mindset of apathy and despair and that change will take longer than a single election cycle. That is what leads to people saying things like 'money has been thrown at the problem, and it doesn't work'. Well, it hasn't been thrown. Various programmes are introduced, thoroughly underfunded and cut again after having been given little to no chance to work. Schools doomed to fail on account of underfunding and recruitment difficulties (talented idealists who want to teach in the ghetto are few and far between) are subjected to evaluations and punished with further cuts or threat of shutdown. Never mind luxuries like education: something like 40 million Americans are still insecure about their next source of food, and programmes like Feeding America are constantly begging for more money.<br /><br />Give a poor neighbourhood secure housing, food security, smart policing, health care and prescription drug coverage, well-funded schools and preschools, micro-credit for small business and, hell, to stay on topic, a few government dig-a-hole/fill-a-hole jobs, and after a while, mentality will change. Spare me the churches and community leaders preaching to these people about how lazy, dissolute and procreatively short-sighted they are. Contrary to what conservative culture warriors, and sadly, occasional crypto-racists on American airwaves insist, taking a man out of the ghetto takes the ghetto out of the man.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-78010767384242813182012-02-24T21:26:10.196+01:002012-02-24T21:26:10.196+01:00I completely agree with this. You don't fix th...I completely agree with this. You don't fix these kinds of problems in years it takes decades or centuries.<br /><br />@ soresu.. It is up to our country as a whole but if you don't get community leaders onboard then how do you influence the community? National politics is great for wars and big things like civil rights. But local engagement is the key to fixing social issues.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08143435412222235822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-77023237593339603772012-02-24T21:20:06.013+01:002012-02-24T21:20:06.013+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08143435412222235822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-82587930112948046762012-02-24T21:18:19.972+01:002012-02-24T21:18:19.972+01:00Changing culture and morality is a long term proje...Changing culture and morality is a long term project at best. It is one of the protections and limitations of democracy that long term pressure to change in any way is difficult to achieve because you have to maintain a majority opinion in power to do it. <br /><br />I think our culture isn't as broken as some would believe. It's just that we have Cnn and fox sticking every bad thing that happens in our face every minute of every day. <br /><br />By most statistic(except money we are in a recession), teenage births, crimes, number of people getting educated.etc our society has had steady improvement in the US. It's a shame we keep obsessing about the things that still need work. But that's an American trait. Ignore the success and obsess about the failure. It helps us do incredible things but sometimes it makes us look like crazy people to the rest of the world. <br /><br />Seriously do you think 1950 was a better world than now?samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08143435412222235822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-23898580674275404862012-02-24T21:00:13.612+01:002012-02-24T21:00:13.612+01:00I think the problem is we have such an open societ...I think the problem is we have such an open society that all our dirty laundry is continually aired and it sometimes seems like everything is falling apart. Ironically it's a symbol of how strong we are that we can do that. And we are so relatively isolated from other countries we don't get to see how much better things are here than in the rest of the world. I've actually had people try to tell me China was run better than the US before because their entire world experience was out of Forbes and Business Week. <br /><br />I really wish there were some realistic way to make every American live in a third world country for one year once they become an adult. It would completely change most people's perspective on how broken things are. <br /><br />It's like listening to a child from a really wealthy family rag on how bad things are because the pool didn't get cleaned and the maid quit.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08143435412222235822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-11232558666061991292012-02-24T20:53:46.495+01:002012-02-24T20:53:46.495+01:00The voucher system is only in some states, will no...The voucher system is only in some states, will not cover the more expensive private schools and doesn't take into account that most people who are truly poor and need the vouchers can't afford the transportation and other costs to get thier children to another school district. <br /><br />My wife teaches in a very poor district and I find most people in the US far underrate the factors that make poverty so hard to escape. The biggest being parents with no education who don't have a clue what their children should be learning or have any skills to help them learn. <br /><br />Children born into poverty do not have equal opportunity in the US or any place on earth. <br />There is a huge difference between enjoying the same constitutional protections and enjoying the same opportunities. I think you've conflated the two.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08143435412222235822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-45614583261237258772012-02-24T18:04:06.822+01:002012-02-24T18:04:06.822+01:00Nils, actually we are exttremely close on this top...Nils, actually we are exttremely close on this topic. I'm not saying to cut off all money and I'm not saying that simple platitudes will change the culture (or as you put it the choice to have a baby).<br /><br />I'm saying that some of the money is incentive to have the baby and I agree that we need to make it so her life would be better without the baby. That can be accomplished with incentives and disincentives. No more glorifying the baby mama. Instead highlighting how those that didn't get pregnant have better lives.<br /><br />Money is just a tool here. The culture, government, statem famaily, church has to make it clear that not having the baby is the way to go.Goodmongohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10116895654322387056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-67487874561734493802012-02-24T17:37:03.990+01:002012-02-24T17:37:03.990+01:00It's more than just culture, but I certainly a...It's more than just culture, but I certainly agree that throwing money at the problem doesn't work. <br /><br />This stereotypical girl you describe has nothing else in life that looks interesting at this point in time. This is one major reason why she wants a baby. Oh - and then she might argue that she didn't want it when it turns out that it wasn't such a good idea.<br /><br />As much as just handing out money is useless - and harmful, so is depicting this stereotypical girl as an irrational player. Humans are very rational; especially when it comes to their future. Similar to alcohol and drugs (yeah, sorry for the comparison), there is this one sentence that is very true for most of the people we are talking about:<br /><br /><b>Not having a baby at this point in time isn't going to make her life better, either.</b><br />If you can change this truth, you can solve the problem. But to conclude that, just because trowing money at the problem didn't solve it, you have to cut all programs and just hope for a sudden change in 'morality' is ridiculous. I hope you agree with that.Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-56756818041615896782012-02-24T17:02:02.612+01:002012-02-24T17:02:02.612+01:00In the US since the 1964 the US government has spe...In the US since the 1964 the US government has spent between 8-10 trillion dollars in its war on poverty. For those that argue that the government needs to help the poor and that government is the right tool to do this I ask a simple question.<br /><br />Recent articles say there are about 30 million people living in poverty. Just giving the money to those 30 million would have resulted in 333K per every man women or child. Someone please tell me how this is working, productive, or efficient?<br /><br />let's face it. Our problem isn't lack of money its culture. The culture that allows uneducated teenage girls to get pregnant and have baby after baby with no idea how they will support them. This is not a race issue. It is a culture issue.Goodmongohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10116895654322387056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-23617561650772691122012-02-24T15:17:08.865+01:002012-02-24T15:17:08.865+01:00Eliminate Ghettos and Trailer Parks? And replace ...Eliminate Ghettos and Trailer Parks? And replace them with what? More rent controlled housing? The idea is to enable people...not coddle them. Giving people enormous amounts of welfare to bring them out of the "Ghetto" or "Trailer Park" will not change their Ghetto or Trailer Park mentality. Its just the same people living in a better neighborhood, which as seen degenerates back to ghetto status. If someone from the Ghetto really had the strong desire to get out of the Ghetto it is very possible. It just requires an enormous amount of work and dedication. Its not that the resources aren't there, its that the guidance (especially to the youth) does not steer them in that particular direction.<br /><br />The middle and upper class can't be expected to open doors AND walk through them at the same time. There needs to be a sea-change in the attitude about education and hard work in these communities. Again, throwing money at the problem doesn't work. Its been tried.Leonidashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05992851507675916719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-19724002304331223922012-02-23T22:43:36.652+01:002012-02-23T22:43:36.652+01:00The Russian perspective is interesting, and fairly...The Russian perspective is interesting, and fairly similar to what I recall from my time of living in Eastern Europe myself. The draft isn't a bad whip to get people to stay in school, is it. :)<br /><br />Though I don't think an institution of higher education would ever be allowed to fail in practice in that part of the world. There is a tremendous amount of sentiment attached. <br /><br />I'll have to be less gentle than Sam and say that the language of racial distinction with regard to school performance leaves a foul taste in my mouth. American test scores track far better with socioeconomic background than with race. I disagree that it is up to black leaders to try to inspire inner city kids to achieve, and all the rest of that saccharine pass-the-problem dreck. It's up to the United States as a whole to become more equal, eliminate ghettos (and trailer parks) and the poverty-begotten anti-intellectual culture that festers within them. Your country will be better for it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-61664808441432737592012-02-23T20:43:50.801+01:002012-02-23T20:43:50.801+01:00Oh, and one more thing - school education is not o...Oh, and one more thing - school education is not optional. If your kids aren't going to school, and aren't getting home-schooled (usually by paying same teachers from nearby school for private lessons), you WILL be charged with child neglect and get your parental rights revoked.Shalckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04929708411856414654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-45431327068462776562012-02-23T20:00:18.592+01:002012-02-23T20:00:18.592+01:00Let's give you Russian perspective on educatio...Let's give you Russian perspective on education! It's always fun to know where things are different, and how different :)<br /><br />First, our constitution states that everyone has right for basic education (school) free of charge. This is unlikely to change anytime soon. Overwhelming majority of schools are financed by government, but there are some private schools too. Teacher pay in public schools is considered to be on low side - often below regional average, even though government has taken some steps to improve situation lately (mostly by telling regional governors "teacher pay should not be below regional average", with each governor doing different creative accounting to rise it as little as possible by interpreting this as broadly as possible). As a result, school jobs are unpopular - it's a lot of work for fairly low pay. It's hard to lose such job though since there might be no replacement available at all.<br /><br />School education takes 11 years, and starts at 7. Technically you can opt out after 9 classes (getting your "certificate of middle education"), and go to "technical college" (used for blue-collar jobs), but this is quite unpopular. Most take all 11 classes then go to university.<br /><br />And when i say most i mean pretty much everyone coming out of school and willing goes to some kind of university. Universities become extension to "16-year school" shielding people from joining workforce. As extra benefit, while studying in university you cannot be drafted (huge bonus if you're male - draft evasion in Russia is on same scale as tax evasion in Greece)!<br /><br />Transition is simple - at the end of school you take country wide assessment exam (hugely unpopular innovation, btw, taken from "west" and only a few years old - things weren't MUCH different before though, each university just had their own set of exams), and results of that exam decide universities you're eligible for - with universities modifying their thresholds according to national averages of the same exam. Our demographic collapse in 90s means that universities cannot be too choosy on applicants - there are government-mandated suggestions on how many students there should be per professor, and if your university drops below that (by being so unpopular that noone goes there even as last resort to avoid draft), funding might be cut accordingly. Even if your grades aren't great, you can still join university of your dreams with additional payments - usually universities set up their "thresholds" so that they can get some "free" students with good grades (their education gets paid by government), and fill remaining spots with paying ones for extra cash.<br /><br />And even if you started as "free", if your grades aren't good, you might be required to become "paying" student as well. As long as you pay though and maintain at least some effort at studying, you're highly unlikely to get kicked out.Shalckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04929708411856414654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-14830770056190984322012-02-23T16:18:46.620+01:002012-02-23T16:18:46.620+01:00Goodmongo's statement is quite accurate for th...Goodmongo's statement is quite accurate for the most part. The problem is that there is a culture in the lower classes to shun education. This happens largely in households of african american and hispanic descent but not exclusively. Asians and whites tend to be the highest performers in public education America(in that order). This is especially true for Math and Sciences.<br /><br />Its a double edged sword. If you allow them (low performing students) to have a premium education, most (not all) tend to take it for granted, achieve low marks, and resources are wasted. If you make it restricted based on grades etc, it becomes a racial/class war. <br /><br />Individuals from that segment of US society need to step up and do whats best for their own good. It requires them to do a lot of work, but our society is willing to meet them half way. The attitude about education in communities of low socio-economic status needs to change in order for them to take advantage of education that is being provided.Leonidashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05992851507675916719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-54443901344059958572012-02-23T16:14:59.718+01:002012-02-23T16:14:59.718+01:00My point was merely that the college bound student...My point was merely that the college bound students that are tested in the high schools in Germany are the cream of the crop, vs our entire pool of students. The comparison of our schools vs their schools never takes into account the differences in the groups of students. I just used Germany because I lived there for 4 years and have some idea of how their school system works.(though I'm sure it's changed some since I lived there) I wasn't throwing it up as a model of perfection. Just using it to illustrate that comparing a German High School that is prepping kids for college to an American High School is at best a flawed comparison and thus of little value. Both the right and the left do this to push their own issues but they unfortunately ignore the reality that with all its flaws our system isn't as broken as they'd like us to believe. I'm sure the German system has many problems as does ours. But they sky has never been falling. <br /><br />In the US if you crunch the data without partisanship it always breaks along poverty lines. Impoverished children perform worse than middle class and rich children. And poverty in the US has been growing since the 1980's. No surprise then that students scores have dropped. Till you fix that fundamental problem no amount of money or change will help. I suspect no one wants to touch that because fixing poverty is a daunting challenge.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08143435412222235822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-48424266030763205302012-02-23T15:58:50.293+01:002012-02-23T15:58:50.293+01:00I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to ma...I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to make money in the market, But why are you taxed less for money you've done nothing with? It makes no sense to reward people for doing less work. It sends the wrong message. Tax incentives are supposed to be for those companies and individuals who do things that are good for society. The current system at least in the US is a perverse reward for taking the least risk.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08143435412222235822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-85873213390476960622012-02-23T02:51:19.325+01:002012-02-23T02:51:19.325+01:00That comment was half-ironic, Azuriel ;)
In fact, ...That comment was half-ironic, Azuriel ;)<br />In fact, it amazes me to what extend US commenters on this blog think that their country is broken.Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-71494292188832814222012-02-23T02:48:03.796+01:002012-02-23T02:48:03.796+01:00Much of this corruption is due to public sector un...<i>Much of this corruption is due to public sector unions and here is why.</i><br /><br />Oh, please.<br /><br />Hey, could you explain the difference between how you claim unions work, and how lobbyists in general work? Let's see... big companies give millions of dollars to politicians for loopholes and earmarks. The money for these *cough*bribes*cough* campaign contributions come from somewhere... but where? Oh, yeah, from the dollars that <i>could</i> have been paid to the employees, but was withheld for this express purpose.<br /><br />The big, glaring difference is that within the unions themselves, you can vote the officers who determine policy in or out. If you have a grievance at a private company, you get fired.<br /><br />@Degrin <i>Third, the jobs that were available were distiributed based on who the applicant knew inside the system and not based upon their ability to teach or their expertise with the subject matter.</i><br /><br />And the difference between that and how the private sector works is...? Or do we assume that, by default, whomever a boss hires is the <i>de facto</i> most efficient use of company resources?<br /><br />@Nils<br /><br />Yes, you should definitely rely on internet comments to inform your opinion on the corruption inherent in US institutions, especially when it comes to unions.<br /><br />I belong to a union by default; you get charged union dues either way, so you may as well get the protections. Has this led to poor performers getting away with <i>months</i> of shenanigans? Yes. Have weaker employees gotten promotions over stronger ones due to seniority? Yes.<br /><br />At the same time, the Executive Director of my department tried to blacklist me after a... particularly honest new employee interview. She went so far as rewrite my manager's 6-month evaluation of me, extending my probation period by 75 days. Under a private company, I'd be fired, no questions asked. At the time, I was the second highest performer in the department, out of 20 individuals.<br /><br />Everyone is for meritocracies when they think they have merit, and for unions when their boss screws them over for personal reasons. The only real difference is the diffusion of power - would you prefer one guy to have all the power, or a bunch of people? Which is more corruptible, more prone to abuse? You tell me.Azurielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16581263347888757710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-83174532690307833592012-02-23T01:46:44.138+01:002012-02-23T01:46:44.138+01:00How do you feel about Stanford University? They ha...How do you feel about <a href="http://credo.stanford.edu/" rel="nofollow">Stanford University</a>? They have a longitudinal study (<a href="http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/MULTIPLE_CHOICE_CREDO.pdf" rel="nofollow">PDF</a>) published in 2009 showing 17% of charter schools performed better than public schools, 46% did the same, and 37% <b>did worse</b>.<br /><br />The main website links to some more recent (2011) news articles showing that X charter school in Y state is doing Z% better than public schools. But each article also notes how there is a persistent gap in equity when it comes to charter schools accept kids with special needs.<br /><br />I'm not against the idea of shaking up the education system, or even teacher unions for that matter. What I am against is exactly what your article mentions:<br /><br /><i>Voucher programs specifically target the academic needs of low-income (frequently minority) students, who often live and go to school in high-poverty areas. These children are frequently stuck in persistently low-performing public schools that are not meeting their educational needs.</i><br /><br />It's great that (presumably) low-income minority students are "spared" from persistently low-performing schools. But... what of the kids without vouchers? If everyone had vouchers, the good schools would get filled up, and everyone else is still stuck with bad schools, assuming a private company would even run such a low-performing school. Or maybe they <i>would</i>, to service people without any other option, and run it like the companies importing lead-laced Chinese toys and toothpaste.<br /><br /><i>And in that case they will collect unemployment. but you still have the same problem as to who is paying for it since you don't have a private sector anymore.</i><br /><br />Err... what? They would quit their jobs and collect unemployment when they can't get government jobs? Would you quit your job if you found out someone was getting paid more than you for less work?<br /><br />I don't know why you persist in your implicit, false premise that the public sector is incapable of producing something. Either make the argument, or don't.Azurielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16581263347888757710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-26781587191765673472012-02-22T22:33:00.831+01:002012-02-22T22:33:00.831+01:00And if that system happened in the US we would nev...And if that system happened in the US we would never hear the end of it. it would be called racist and unfair and an attack on the poor. See I guarantee that the first part would be mostly white/asian students while the other parts would be mostly black/hispanic (percentage of race total wise).<br /><br />And then things like affirmative action would be put into place where different races would be guaranteed a certain percentage of the top part regardless of grades/marks.Goodmongohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10116895654322387056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-29273224084438073962012-02-22T21:02:49.091+01:002012-02-22T21:02:49.091+01:00For example in Germany, well before High school th...<i>For example in Germany, well before High school they start identifying the children that will most likely go to college and then the rest of the children are funneled into vocational programs and work study programs etc. </i><br /><br />Children in Germany all go to one school for the first 1-4, sometimes 6, grades. Then they divide up in three parts. The upper part can go on to university after the 13th grade. The two other parts can't - unless they switch, which they can if their marks are good enough. One can also gain the right to visit university later in life in various ways.<br /><br />It's not a perfect system as the lower part (Hauptschule) is suffering from <b>very high</b> unemployment even today. There are constant reforms happening there.Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-79704773907379425072012-02-22T20:54:33.446+01:002012-02-22T20:54:33.446+01:00Well, the safe company still has to make its money...Well, the safe company still has to make its money somehow. And usually that's investments. I would agree, though, that the financial sector might have developed a life on its own during the last decade. That would be a very bad thing.Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-82531960779396195992012-02-22T19:19:27.450+01:002012-02-22T19:19:27.450+01:00In "socialist" Germany, by the way, '...In "socialist" Germany, by the way, 'Beamte' (=~ civil servants), which teachers usually are, are forbidden to go on strike. There is no teachers' union here.<br /><br />Being a teacher is like being a soldier: You can't strike, you can't resign (in a proper way), you are completely at the whim of the government. The government, then, gives you a generous wage and a quite generous pension, which you, btw, lose completely should you quit the job for any reason other than retirement.<br /><br />Consequently, "Beamte" are people who consider safety, predictability and hopefully duty more important in life than the rest of the population. And that's quite the intention. <br /><br />If you want to make lots of money you need to go to the private sector. If you want to be dependent just on the state and not dependent on anybody else, you try to be become a "Beamter". The independence from the private sector is considered necessary to keep corruption down. And, maybe I am blind, but it seems to work pretty damn well.<br /><br />There are sometimes people who argue that "Beamte", since they can't (realistically) be fired, don't work as hard as they could - and that may be true. The possibility to be fired, however, would be useless without a good way to measure how hard somebody, e.g. a teacher tries. And I don't think there's a good way to do this with teachers.<br /><br />---<br />And, of course, campaign contributions are very limited here. We don't want rich people or organizations to have more influence on our elections than anybody else - neither unions, nor billionaires.Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-19142517029785819832012-02-22T17:44:40.299+01:002012-02-22T17:44:40.299+01:00If you take private investment and put it into pub...If you take private investment and put it into public investment, like checking the drinking water, you often have this effect: the GDP drops. <br /><br />That's quite obviously so because checking the drinking water isn't something that creates lots of GDP, while some private investment usually does.<br /><br />This is exactly the reason many governments, including the German one, want to move away from the sole focus on GDP. It's just not the only thing a society should want. For example, if a society polluted its environment as much as it wanted, this would raise GDP. But it certainly wouldn't raise the well-being of the population.<br /><br />Of course, reducing taxes while keeping spending has a different effect: taxes are substituted with debt. And, thus, the money is still not available for the private sector. <br /><br />However, in contrast to taxes, debt is private money given to the government <b>voluntarily</b>. And that's good in the <b>short-run</b> because only the investors who can't find a better investment would give money to the government; while taxes take the money from everybody - no matter how good his investment ideas are.<br /><br />It's even better if the debt comes form other nations, like China. In this case the debt that results from tax reductions, directly translates into higher GDP because you can spend other peoples' money; look at Greece.<br /><br />Look at Greece again to see the problem ...Nilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06468755466492675831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801344413612447717.post-14763926662266761142012-02-22T16:51:47.451+01:002012-02-22T16:51:47.451+01:00Welcome to how the US really is Nils. Much of thi...Welcome to how the US really is Nils. Much of this corruption is due to public sector unions and here is why.<br /><br />Public sector unions give big comapaign dollars to politicians that they get elected. These dollars come from union dues. Now to keep the union members happy since they have large union dues they need big rasies and benefits. The politicians give them it and get releceted due to the union campaign funds.<br /><br />See the problem is the union dues are paid for with tax dollars and these tax dollar union dues go to politicians who keep raising taxes to get more union dues and campaign dollars.<br /><br />Now why would anyone ever suspect corruption in this type of scheme?Goodmongohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10116895654322387056noreply@blogger.com