A couple of charts illustrate keenly how costs in education, both at the K-12 and post-secondary levels, have escalated. The first is from Carpe Diem (hat tip: Business Insider):
The second chart is from the Cato Institute (via American Thinker):
Perhaps the writer who has most exposed this bubble related to higher costs vs. quality of results, is Glenn Reynold of Instapundit. See for example, this article in the Washington Examiner.
Many have begun to write about the education bubble and I thought from time to time I would add a post about it. Education is one of the sectors that show how badly government can wreck something given a chance. I for one don’t think that taxpayers should have to pay for public education when the product is as bad as what is coming out of our schools–mind you, as a childless person, I feel it is unfair for me to pay for it at all.
Let’s consider this video of high school graduate, Kellie Pickler, and tell me whether the taxpayers got their money’s worth:
The Toronto Star reports that residents of Shamattawa, Manitoba, sighted a polar bear on the edge of town far south of the tree line. We have learned from Dr. David Suzuki that the bear was apparently confused and wandering. The famous zoologist stated to the Righteous Investor: “He seems to have been dismayed because of the lack of ice up north, and is searching too far to the south for unmelted ice upon which the species typically hunts for seals. Then, as he wandered south, the intense Manitoba summer began to give him heat-induced insomnia and insanity. Over-heated polar bears are dangerous animals and we warn people not to approach the bear and try to pet it.”
This is alarming news, just as many in Canada who drive hybrid vehicles were becoming smug about their reduced carbon footprint. While it is true that children and others concerned about the environment throughout the world have become sensitized to the plight of the polar bear which often drowns in the Arctic ocean due to the scarcity of ice–the story of Nanooky, the young lost bear far south of his home, is a parable of the dangers of driving cars and turning on electric lamps equipped with the deadly incandescent light bulb–the root causes of global warming. Suzuki said further, “It is time that people woke up and did something about their personal carbon footprint. I recommend turning off your lights at night between 8:00 and 8:30; in addition, it could have immense benefits if every 5 minutes people held their breath for 30 seconds. It is not that long, and most people, even the very young and the elderly, can achieve such a goal with practice. But imagine the reduction of carbon emissions if a significant percentage of the world’s 6 billion people held their breath for 10% of the time! It could end up saving the life of a young polar bear like Nanooky.”
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which is emitted by cars, electric lights and human beings. It is toxic to the environment, especially to polar bears. This is because it traps heat near the surface of the planet like an overcharged electric blanket. After the polar bears become extinct, humans will be next. But that would actually be good thing, as then the number of carbon emissions would be greatly reduced and the planet will begin to heal. But we at the Righteous Investor only regret that the polar bears will probably become extinct first.
I first began to fear hyperinflation in my post “Obama and Inflation in Zimbawe“, on February 6, 2009, after learning of the absurd $1.4 trillion budget deficit. These days, however, there are many economists and investment advisers warning of deflation. The current pullback in the stock market seems to vindicate their position, though the current price of gold and Wallmart’s decision to increase its prices would not. Meanwhile, my friend Keith is asking when is the inflation going to happen in earnest. I don’t know when, but I am going to hazard a guess about when inflation is going to make its presence known.
Today in the American Thinker Anthony Kang points out a video from Opinion Journal, in which Jason Trennert says that the US government could be the next Bear Stearns because over 60% debt of the USA is due within one to three years. What happens if the creditors decide not to rollover their treasury notes? The Federal Reserve will have no choice but to monetize and that will likely put more of the debt back into circulation which will require printing more money (with real printing presses this time). Will creditors continue to rollover their debt? If so, then inflation may not hit in earnest until these creditors choose stop funding the US deficit.
The AP reports that a hitherto unknown species of bacteria is eating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This seems to be a miracle, because the media had propagated the notion, along with Nobel Laureate, Dr. Barack Hussein Obama (who is a Christian not a Muslim!!!), that the Gulf oil spill was the worst environmental disaster of all time (well, at least since the moment he became President). The Righteous Investor has learned, however, the bad news that these oil-eating bacteria are bad for the environment, and the damage done by them after eating the oil is worse than the oil itself. These microbes are reported to emit more carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide–both noxious greenhouse gasses–than all the combined emissions of all the cows in Brasil and the over-populated human population of the entire earth (which numbers currently about 600 trillion people in China alone!!). Who would have thunk that the flatulence of bacteria could be so bad? Anyway, don’t try to deny it, or we will call you Hitler or a Holocaust supporter, or both. Leading scientists are now predicting that the emissions from bacteria eating the BP oil spill will cause the planet to heat up at least 400 degrees Celsius (=10,000 degrees Farenheit) over the next decade to two million years.
The Righteous Investor 