In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

And the truly ironic part is that Ralph "Unsafe At Any Speed" was a major
factor in putting an oilman in the White House by dividing the opposition
in
2000. And he's poised to repeat that trick later this year.

I heard the Green party has something to say about all this.

I betcha there were a LOT of resignations from that party when they saw what
happened in 2000.

At any
rate, they aren't backing Ralph. His support this year is likely to be
down in the noise. Without a party backing him, he's just another Harold
Stassen.

I hope so.

Another example is the expectation of a trained workforce without
investing the resources in education to produce that workforce.
"Resources" doesn't just mean "money", either, though money is a big
part of it.

Agreed. The cost of education is running out of control.

It has far exceeded the general inflation level, yet is more necessary than
ever.

If the cost continues at double digit increases every year, and the
graduate stands a pretty good chance of his/her entire field being made
redundant, the necessity of the education is going to go away. Granted
the would-be student is flippin burgers, but their job won't be made
irrelevant.

That's one possibility. Another is bankruptcy and the resulting defaults on
student and other loans.

Makes me think of the "They Might be Giants" Sone "Minimum Wage"

Here's one data point:

In the fall of 1972, when I entered the University of Pennsylvania, tuition
alone (no books, fees, etc.) was $3000/year. Which was very expensive at
the
time. Today the same school charges more than 10 times that. But will the
starting salary offered to a BSEE in 2006 be more than 10 times what it was
in
1976, when I graduated? Is fininacial aid 10 times what it was in my time
there? Nope.

Add to this the fact that a kid who worked at minimum wage during the weekends,
summer and holidays could make a sizable dent in that $3000/year tuition. If a
kid could take home $1.50 an hour, and manage to put in 1000 hours per year,
there's half the tuition. Today, if a kid can take home $5 an hour and put in
the same 1000 hours, the resulting $5000 is only about 1/6 of the tuition.

That's just not right.

73 de Jim, N2EY