Watching him on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher and Bernie The Red makes a couple of great points about the USA and their f'd up economy.
Point one is that they, the USA, are the only major country in the world without a national health care system and that has contributed to the demise of General Motors. According to the only sitting Senator who is neither a Republican or a Democrat, General Motors spends more money on healthcare for retired workers than they do on steel. That doesn't happen in Japan, Korea, etcetera, etcetera.
Point two from Bernie The Red is that the top 1 per cent of American wage earners make more than the bottom 50 per cent combined. President Obama has just raised the tax rate for the uber rich from 36 to 39 per cent; fifty years ago under President Eisenhower, in the greatest period of United States economic history, the top rate was 90 per cent. In fact the top marginal tax rate was 91 per cent until 1963. The alleged trickle down economy doesn't work because they, the ones at the top, don't trickle down. As Bill Maher says, they buy antique commodes. But, if the government has the money, they are more likely to trickle it done.
Food and fact for thought.
WFDS
Showing posts with label Bill Maher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Maher. Show all posts
Friday, May 29, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
138...Teachers and Corey Booker
When is the last time you heard of a teacher getting fired? Seriously.
Corey Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, late last summer at the Democratic convention, made the point that once a teacher is hired he is never fired and that the reason is because their union is way, way, wayyyyyyyyyy too strong.
This isn't new of course. I cannot speak for you but I had at least as many bad teachers as good ones. I don't recall anyone getting their ass fired. And my high school, St. Pius X in Ottawa, had teachers that molested kids, not fired; teachers who punched kids in the head, not fired; teachers who were drunk, not fired; and on and on and on. According to HBO's Bill Maher, out of 43,000 teachers in Los Angeles last year, 11, e l e v e n, were fired. One would have to think that number would be a bit, and by a bit I mean a lot, low.
WFDS
Corey Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, late last summer at the Democratic convention, made the point that once a teacher is hired he is never fired and that the reason is because their union is way, way, wayyyyyyyyyy too strong.
This isn't new of course. I cannot speak for you but I had at least as many bad teachers as good ones. I don't recall anyone getting their ass fired. And my high school, St. Pius X in Ottawa, had teachers that molested kids, not fired; teachers who punched kids in the head, not fired; teachers who were drunk, not fired; and on and on and on. According to HBO's Bill Maher, out of 43,000 teachers in Los Angeles last year, 11, e l e v e n, were fired. One would have to think that number would be a bit, and by a bit I mean a lot, low.
WFDS
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