2014 postmortem…
We’re into 2015 a few days now, so two questions come to mind: Will you look back on 2014 positively? Will you look forward to 2015? Depending on your political proclivities, you’ll believe Congress will be worse, stepping up its war against the middle class and poor, now that the GOP controls both Houses; Obama and the rest of the executive branch will muddle along and maybe the economy will improve in spite of what anyone does; and the Supreme Court will continue to wage class warfare too by hiding behind an 18th century interpretation of the Constitution. Or not. So, let’s not worry about the political world. Many of us, in fact, would prefer to ignore ALL the politicians. More a look ahead to what needs to be done, the following topics are more interesting than pure politics…and politicians.
Economy. Despite handwringers and naysayers, the economy in 2014 did pretty well. The horror felt by big oil and gas stockholders at plunging gas prices, mirrored in giant swings on the NYSE, couldn’t match Putin’s as Russia’s oil-based economy started to tank. (Maybe the Soviet Union only fell because Russians, including their inept, Mafia-don-like leaders, don’t understand capitalism?) Why the American economy even worries about big oil and gas now is beyond me. The real JRs of our country are rapacious, energy dinosaurs, so their companies deserve to go under, but that shouldn’t affect the rest of the American economy anymore. I smell a conspiracy. The Wall Street bankers’ celebration of too-big-too-fail might be contagious.
Get ready for another recession, though. 2014 killed any chances of giving teeth to Dodd-Frank, so Wall Street banks have carte blanche to repeat their sleight-of-hand with mortgages and securities that led to the implosion of 2008-2009. Wall Street is greedily chomping at the bit, and bank mergers have increased its number of institutions that are “too big to fail.” Déjà vu can be a real bummer for the people who do a real and honest day’s work, unlike big oil execs and Wall Street bankers. With the GOP controlling Congress, good times will roll for the rich elites at the expense of the middle class and poor—you can bank on it.
Healthcare. Obama may have to sharpen his veto pen, but Republicans’ attacks on the Affordable Care Act might become more stealthy and insidious. They’ll be defunding everything they can—“no funding, no program!” will become their general anti-Robin-Hood battle cry, and attacks on Obamacare will continue in that way. Their spin doctors are already spinning out stupid refrains like “It was cheaper when people not covered just showed up at ERs.” Sure. Dying is even cheaper! In other words, look for some new GOP mantras in 2015 as they continue their attacks on middle class and poor’s healthcare options.
Education. I thought I’d see a revolution in 2014 about how to finance higher education in America. Silly me! The situation will become worse in 2015. Hopefully, we don’t have to wait for presidential elections in 2016 for it to become a key issue. Clearly, something has to be done. There exists a good role model for us to follow. While diehards eschew anything associated with the big S-word, most European countries have success with a multi-tier system that is religion-, class- and color-blind…and public, not private. We also need to back off on the idea that four years of college represent the key to success in America—they often don’t, independently of how you measure success. We need more service schools, trade schools, technical schools, and retraining programs, and fewer four-year programs that spew out people with huge loans and non-marketable skills and knowledge.
No one should be entitled, but everyone should have a chance. That’s a golden rule for democratic education. We have to recognize that there are innate skills and proficiency (read “some people ARE smarter than others” if you will), but we should always emphasize human resources over economic power and privilege. Testing and performance measures should be the democratic filters, not old wealth and rich-elitist leverages. Your son or daughter’s chances for an interesting and productive scientific career, for example, should depend on their brains, skills, and drive, and not on the fact that their Daddy donated a building to Harvard. And, speaking of buildings, campus infrastructure improvements should emphasize what’s important for education, not sports. Labs and computers are more necessary than football stadiums and gymnasiums.
We should also tone down our anti-teachers rhetoric. Excellent teachers should be rewarded; deadwood should be fired. And those in between should be put on notice of this new policy. This goes for administrators too. And this should happen at all levels. No other profession has tenure—eliminate it. I spent many years in academia. I never had tenure. I never checked my ranking at my old day job either. I just did my job. Teacher and professors’ health and retirement benefits should be brought more in line with those in other professions—that could be done by changing both, improving those of other professions and/or lowering those of teachers. And ways to finance education that are fairer than the onerous and recessive property tax system (grade school and high school) and government subsidies doled out by good-old boys’ networks (university) should also be found.
Unless all the above (and probably more) occur, the U.S. will continue its slide down the slippery slope to economic irrelevance in the world. It’s been happening for the last twenty to thirty years, and now, like lemmings, we’re headed for the cliffs. Many countries do a better job of educating their citizens. We have to wake up to the fact that the global economy is highly competitive, that “small science” is just as important as “big science,” and that our nation’s future is strongly linked to how educated our population is and its ability to compete globally. Maybe 2015 will be that awakening.
Defense. With troops mostly gone from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of 2014, we can expect major cuts in Defense, right? Don’t bet on it! Although the GOP loves to slash social programs, there are few military programs they don’t love, and they especially love unnecessary ones that allow them to “take home the bacon” to their districts and states. Many Dems are guilty of this too. The swines feeding at the public trough are numerous and insatiable. But the bottom line is that the country needs to continue to streamline the Defense Department. More bases need to be closed in 2015, boots on the ground need to be cut and Special Forces emphasized, and drones and other unmanned systems deployed to minimize human casualties. And don’t forget our veterans! If we send men and women to fight (something we need to worry about more), we need to take care of them when they come home, both in mental and physical care and getting them integrated back into society. Education and other social programs are good alternatives for the savings obtained from defense cuts, and vets should benefit there too.
Sports. The college football playoffs are a waste. We’ve morphed the bureaucratic nonsense of ONE committee determining by fiat which ONE college football team is the best in the land to that committee determining by fiat which FOUR college teams are the best, and then letting them duke it out during three “championship games” via sudden death. Combined with college players receiving pay, along with their coaches receiving more than university presidents, we’re trending to the NFL playoffs at the college level, all in celebration of the almighty dollar. What a farce! If you want playoffs, the only fair way is to have a tournament like we do for college basketball, letting all major conference winners duke it out. Think of the profits then!
And so it goes….
