Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

whereisjustice

whereisjustice's Journal
whereisjustice's Journal
May 18, 2016

Question submitted by whereisjustice

The text of this question will be publicly available after it has been reviewed and answered by a DU Administrator. Please be aware that sometimes messages are not answered immediately. Thank you for your patience. --The DU Administrators
May 9, 2016

7 Reasons You Might Not Want to Teach Anymore

Make no mistake ... what's happened to the education system is a crime against humanity. MBA and Graduate School efficiency experts decided that classrooms needed to be run more like corporations... with all the micromanagement, controls, interlocks, burdensome processes and so on. Brought to us by the 1%.

This is the result... a commodity culture of teacher as fast food worker where everyone is sure teaching is just a minimum wage drone job of spewing pre-digested pieces of information carefully vetted by Texas School Board and packaged in nice neat gel caps.

Of course it's not just teaching, it's other formerly professional occupations like nursing, engineering, legal, accounting.

The MBA is probably the most destructive credential developed in modern civilization. The MBA is just a know nothing middleman groomed with inflated ego, trained to not think twice about saving a dime in the short run even if it costs a dollar in the long run. Of course they don't know (nor care) about the social costs of their wealth grabbing, they are strictly data driven, saving pennies no matter how much it costs. And hell, it costs a fortune to pay MBA administrator salaries so that comes out of teacher salaries.

Most of the complaints here can be applied to those other white collar professions I've mentioned. We are becoming a society that looks down their nose at anyone who isn't in the 1%. Wealth and power are all we value.



I don’t want to teach anymore.

In the twelve years I was a high school English teacher, I watched people leave the profession in droves. The climate is different. The culture is different. The system is breaking, and educators are scattering to avoid the inevitable crushing debris when it all comes crumbling down.

I won’t go into detail about the budget cuts or the massive class sizes or the average salary, as that’s all been discussed ad nauseam. I’m not going to talk about the bone-deep exhaustion that comes from being onstage all day, or the drowning sensation that follows you home on nights and weekends when you have hundreds of papers to grade.

These are the other things — the stuff you might only understand if you have a key to the teachers’ lounge.

1. You are an “authority figure” with no real authority.

2. Your day does not resemble that of a typical white-collar professional.

3. Everyone thinks they know how to do your job. EVERYONE.

4. You wanted to foster imagination, not slaughter it.

5. The technology obsession is making you CRAZY.

6. All the entitlement and the trophies and the apathy and whatever.

7. There is no reliable way to assess who is ACTUALLY good at this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-bowers/7-reasons-you-might-not-want_b_9832490.html
April 24, 2016

Democratic Party to Shift Focus From Wall Street To Working Families

WASHINGTON, DC - Alarmed by voter resentment against the established political class, Debbie Wasserman Shultz announced a major policy shift by the Democratic Party to appeal to an electorate increasingly disenfranchised by the political elite. Referencing numerous studies which show the devastating economic effect of military intervention, off shoring, suppressed wages and increased costs for housing, education and health care, Wasserman Shultz said "Trickle-down, supply-side economic systems just haven't worked to the benefit of American families".

The change came as a shock to Democratic Party's standard bearer, Hillary Clinton. Clinton expressed alarm that her once popular economic and military views might soon make her an outsider in her own political party. In a press release, Clinton defended the Democratic Party's relationship with Wall Street by saying "I would not have gotten where I am today without the help of Wall Street. I want to make sure every woman in America has this chance".

Working families embraced the change. "We need to change direction," said temp worker Llamar O'Neil, currently earning $12 an hour as as a wellness coach for United Health, a large US based insurance company.

Most analysts believe that while there may be some growing pains for Mrs. Clinton, the transition would provide an opportunity for her to update her skill set to meet the demands of a more competitive political marketplace.

---------

If only...

April 24, 2016

Republican financier Koch says Clinton might make better president

Source: Reuters

Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, a key source of financing for conservative Republican causes along with his brother, said Democrat Hillary Clinton might make a better president than the candidates in the Republican field.

Koch, in an interview to air on Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program, said that in some respects Bill Clinton had been a better president than George W. Bush, who Koch said had increased government spending. Then when asked if Hillary Clinton would be a better president than the Republicans currently running, he said, "It's possible, it's possible."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-electon-koch-idUSKCN0XL01J



More signals that the Democratic Party's reconstruction, after 35 years of Wall Street investment, is nearly complete.
April 9, 2016

Tone deaf Hillary using noise maker to hide her policy positions from the public...

and we're not just talking about deploying Bill Clinton as a noise maker, but an actual machine blasting noise at people on the street in order to prevent them from overhearing the promises she is making to rich people in exclusive pay-to-play campaign events.

It would be easy to cheer this kind of arrogance as helpful to Bernie Sanders, and it is, however, the larger problem is how her behavior continues to damage the Democratic Party. It runs in the family. Her husband Bill doubled down on super predators, poverty and jailing young people for minor offenses.

Rope lines, secret speeches to Wall Street, private email, blasting noise at the public outside a campaign event, and Bill Clinton galloping around like a Blue Dog in a made-in-China shop.

What the hell is going on at DNC? Are they trying to hand Trump the election?

Although this occurred a few days ago, it's gaining traction as another example of why Clinton is a horrible candidate for the Democratic Party. Now, it's on front page of Huffington Post.

How can anyone defend this behavior?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-static-noise-speech_us_570930dae4b0836057a16748



April 9, 2016

Wisconsin and the Establishment Democrat

Anyone remember the horrible fight in Wisconsin as a right-wing teabagger fucked over the unions and working families in Wisconsin?

Madam Sec? Mr. President?

Where were you?

How about you, DNC? Debbie? At home in your comfortable shoes?

Anyone?

Right.

We deserve better than Hillary.

People are starting to realize it and they are doing something about it.


April 9, 2016

Rather than highlight the necessary changes and fresh thinking the Democratic Party needs...

DU keeps legitimizing Republicans by featuring their picture on the front page every single day.

Democratic Hipsters might think this shit is funny. It isn't. Every day Republicans are plastered on front page with their dumbshit antics, on the surface it seems funny. Haha.

Underneath it masks the horrible conditions in BOTH political parties that enable Trump.

As the hipsters party on, the nation is suffering with poverty, injustice, racism and disparity.

And here we have a website supposed to be devoted to democratic ideals putting assholes like Trump on the front page everyday. It just legitimizes him, desensitizes everyone to him, and enables him.

God help us. The Democratic Party seems to be more and more conservative/Republican thanks for the refusal to promote needed reform and change. As our intolerance to new ideas and fresh thinking grows, people like Trump and Cruz will be the beneficiaries because our only two political parties are pushing solutions farther and farther out of reach.

And here, on a website devoted to Democratic Party principals (as ever changing as they are) everyday we see only the picture of a Republican on the front page of the Democratic Underground.

We need to spend less time helping Republicans and more time fixing the Democratic Party to be a REAL agent for needed change and reform so that people can get on board.

As it is this funny picture bullshit is just showing how immature we are at recognizing and dealing with our own problems of right-wing policy infecting a political organization which claims to oppose Republicans.

How about promoting good liberals (from anywhere) and those who represent good values instead of shitty Republican celebrities?

Oh wait, I know. Liberals aren't welcome. We're NEW Democrats. A lot like the OLD Republicans. Which is the only reason I can think of for having a Republican plastered across the front page every day.

Its an infuriatingly wrongheaded strategy that is just enabling the Republican Party and alienating the young and disenfranchised voters being hurt by the conservative polices advocated by our political elite.

If you want to change America, you won't do it by promoting Republicans.

April 9, 2016

Debbie, Paul, Bill and Hillary...

WTF? Seriously, it just keeps getting worse for the middle class and below. The only good thing about it is that we are getting closer to the real soul of the Democratic Party elite who are now in a position to defend strip mining the middle class and below to feed the children of the 1%.

Seriously, that's EXACTLY what is happening.

From the bullshit premise that locking up kids for minor offenses is reducing poverty, to worrying about Donald Trump's college age kids when the real issue that it can cost $100K for a 4 year degree at a state school, (does he even have any?), to the defense of our horrible, awful medical system propped up by the Democratic Party elite who are happy to see us suffer while they suck down $300,000 speaking fees, to the pay day loan scams set up to take advantage of the Wall Street sleaze and corruption defended by Bill, Hillary and now Paul - he's attempting to rewrite history in an almost hilarious, backfiring effort to align it with Hillary Clinton's made up story about the virtues of Wall Street. The dude may be smart, but it's a mistake to assume we are all that fucking stupid. Jesus, the arrogance of these guys!

In Debbie's case, she's supported the policies driving education, medical and housing costs out of reach and then gets on her knees in front of Congress to beg for the Pay Day Loan scammers charging 100% interest and more. Notice any conflict of interest there?

And you wonder where Trump gets his power?

The Democratic National Committee is enabling him. We ARE being held hostage with Hillary Clinton as a candidate - the pragmatic lesser of two evils, a false choice.

Goddamn it Bill, its our turn to tell you to STFU. Go spend your money, paint your toes in the bathtub, just stop making things worse for American families.

How can we possibly sustain a government system so transparently corrupt?




SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Idaho, Nevada and Utah have among the nation's highest interest rates for payday loans, according to a new report.

The study, released this week by the Pew Charitable Trusts, found their rates are so high mainly because they're among only seven states that impose no legal limits on them.

Idaho payday lenders charge an average 582% annual interest on their loans to lead the nation, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

That's followed by South Dakota and Wisconsin, both 574%; Nevada, 521%; Delaware, 517%; and Utah, 474%.

Among states with storefront payday lenders, the lowest average interest charged is Colorado at 129%, which matches its legal limit. The next lowest are Oregon at 156% and Maine at 217%.

Fifteen states either ban payday loans or cap interest rates at 36%. None of them has any storefront lenders.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/04/20/id-nv-ut-have-among-highest-payday-loan-rates/7943519/
March 26, 2016

The Only Thing Up on Wall Street Is CEO Pay

Nothing can stop the rise in Wall Street CEO pay, not even poor performance.

Last week, the last of the nation’s six big banks, Bank of America and Citigroup, disclosed what they paid their CEOs for 2015. Both awarded their CEOs, Brian Moynihan of BofA BAC 0.66% , and Michael Corbat of Citi C -1.01% , a raise. Moynihan got a $3 million bump to $16 million, a 23% increase from the year before. And Corbat was paid $3.5 million, or 27%, more than the year before.

That must mean 2015 was a pretty great year for BofA and Citi, right? Not quite. The shares of the two banks fell, dropping 6% and 4%, respectively.

...

J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon was the biggest winner of the big bank CEOs in terms of pay raises. Shares of J.P. Morgan JPM -0.77% rose last year, by 6%. The bank’s operating profit, though, fell 2%. What’s more, the bank sent a fair amount of its employees packing last year, cutting 6,671 positions in 2015. None of that stopped J.P. Morgan’s board from awarding Dimon a hefty 35% raise. Dimon got a $7 million raise, to $27 million for 2015.

http://fortune.com/2016/03/22/wall-street-ceo-pay/

Profile Information

Member since: Tue Jul 8, 2014, 09:43 PM
Number of posts: 2,941
Latest Discussions»whereisjustice's Journal