Project Youthanize - Latest Comments

Re: Greening the Economy

sgsmcbride — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:09:20 -0000

The answer to the question my article above raises - on whether saving the environment and growing our economy are mutually exclusive - can be found in Van Jones' book, 'The Green Collar Economy'. This book is further supported by the work of groups like COWS, the Apollo Alliance, and the Center For American Progress.

Articles such as 'Green Collar Jobs in American Cities' (http://www.americanprogress... and 'The Clean-Energy Investment Agenda' (http://www.americanprogress... are excellent articles on the only way America, and the World, can move forward in a manner both sustainable and prosperous.

Re: The End of the American Dream: Part II

Sean McBride — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:21:27 -0000

David Leonhardt and Geraldine Fabrikant wrote a piece for todays New York Times called, 'After a 30-Year Run, Rise of the Super Rich Hits a Sobering Wall'. It is a fascinating piece on how drastic income inequality has become over the past 30-years - with 2007 being the year with the most unequal income distribution since the IRS has kept data (1913).

Check out the story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009...

Re: The End of the American Dream: Part II

Sean McBride — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:16:28 -0000

Hi Corey,

Thanks for reading and responding! And sorry it has taken so long for me to respond to your thoughts.

In Response to you thoughts on the rising costs of a higher education:

While I do not think the American Dream is over, I do think it is being severely threatened. You are right that more and more American's than ever before (as well as people from all over the world) are getting college degree's . As the economy has become a global economy, a Bachelors degree has become more of a necessary signal the labor market that a person is employable. This,as you mention, is increasing the demand for education and dramatically increasing costs.

Unfortunately we can not treat Education like a normal good and allow supply and demand alone to dictate its cost. If an Ipod becomes extremely expensive, so only the wealthy few can buy one, it is not a socially important concern. However, if the demand for education increases its cost so only those from the upper-middle and upper classes can afford it for their children, society itself is facing a problem. This will, and is, destroying the American believe of a meritocracy (aka the American Dream). Access to a higher education needs to be based on merit, not parental income.

In response to your thoughts on Inequality"

The United States has been a nation of immigrants from its very beginning and the dramatic rise in inequality since the 1980's can not be largely attributed to immigration. The other reason for the rise in inequality that you mention, the changing from a manufacturing to a service economy, is further reason for us to be concerned about the cost of education.

If we want to sustain the middle class, which is what truly makes America great, we need to ensure that every person has the chance to get into, or stay in, the middle class. And as you mention, manufacturing jobs are fleeing America to places with cheaper labor like China, Mexico, and India, making specialized service jobs more crucial to the American economy. Specialized service jobs however, almost always demand a fairly high level of education.

In summation, it is a meritocracy that makes America the land of opportunities and that makes our economy so dynamic and powerful. It is therefore crucial to find a way to contain costs and make education affordable for all those qualified.

Re: Advancing Human Progress

Sean McBride — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:18:39 -0000

The British and Canadian people I know have expressed to me general satisfaction with their health care systems and in turn mock the US Health Care as completely unaffordable. Check out this Op Ed from the Denver Post from a Canadian Doctor living in the U.S: http://www.denverpost.com/o...

Re: “youthanize” defined

ali e. — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:33:12 -0000

I don´t know what makes me cringe more.
The name, or the concept of dumbing facts down / breaking complex matters up into pieces deemed digestible by today´s facebooked bitesizecontentyouth.

Alas, the bitesizeification is happening everywhere, so no surprise hehe. But the name? makes me sick to my stomach.
Why would anyone go there - give themselves a name that might make remote sense in written, although feels terribly forced, but turns stomachs upside down once pronounced?
Bad, bad mistake. Common sense, anyone?

Re: Advancing Human Progress

BiMonSciFiCon — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:16:46 -0000

I bet the Canadians and English wish universal health care were negotiable.

Re: The End of the American Dream: Part II

BiMonSciFiCon — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:10:01 -0000

"The End of the American Dream." Really? Don't you think that's a little over the top? After all, a higher percentage of Americans are in college and getting degrees than ever before. In 2008, 29.4% of Americans 25+ had at least a bachelor's degree. In 1967 (I choose this year purposefully) a mere 10% had at least a bachelor's degree. I wouldn't make this argument, but shouldn't someone concerned with rising inequality condemn the increase in college educated Americans?

From Part I: The question conspicuously missing from your first post is "Why are college education costs rising?" It's all well and good to want something to cost less, but without analyzing why, you might as well be yelling in a vacuum.

You took plenty of economics courses at UW, so I know you know the main reasons the cost of a good rises- rising demand or shrinking supply. In the U.S., the problem is clearly rising demand.

The data I cited above is from the Current Population Survey. As more Americans demand a college education, the cost is necessarily going to rise. And it's not just Americans who want to come to U.S. colleges. Students from all over the world come to the U.S. to get an education, because they know that U.S. schools are basically unrivaled. Rising demand for college education isn't really a sign that the American Dream is over. I'd say it's just getting going.

The above is relatively politics free, but so let me take a moment to inject some libertarian sense into the debate. While I read these two posts, I couldn't help but think "what's the answer?" The typical answer from liberals is government intervention. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but if government is the answer, then what course should government pursue? Give more money to students to help cover tuition costs? This seems to be the Obama administration's plan (to be fair, it's pretty much every administration's plan). The problem is that government money is precisely the problem. (http://www.cato.org/pub_dis.... Subsidizing higher ed costs incentivizes colleges to keep raising tuition- and why not? The government will keep paying for the increase.

Lastly- Inequality. The difference between the top 20 quintile and bottom quintile has indeed increased since the 60s. But it doesn't follow that this is necessarily a bad thing. One reason income inequality has increased is immigration. I love immigration. I think America should let in just about everyone who wants to come. But a side effect of immigration is that people who are relatively poorer than most Americans will come to the U.S., by definition increasing income inequality- but not for any sinister reason. What's important is that absolute standards of living rise, and for immigrants, coming to the U.S. absolutely does this.

Another reason for the increase in inequality is from fundamental shifts in the U.S. economy. We moved from a manufacturing economy where jobs were pretty homogeneous to a services economy where jobs are often specialized. Specialization - as Smith and Ricardo taught us - is good for wealth creation. Liberals characterize this differentiation as the result of shifts in governmental policies, but really, it's just the natural result of a dynamic economy. If you're really interested, check out Brink Lindsey's "Nostalgianomics." (http://www.cato.org/pub_dis...

The American Dream isn't over. As long as the government stays out of the way of the market, it's just getting started.

Data on education: (http://www.census.gov/popul...

Re: Don’t Be Such a Dick!

Leonidas — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:19:44 -0000

If you can impeach Nixon, you can investigate Chaney. NeoCons should not be allowed sanctuary.

Re: The Tomb of the King AND the Unknown Soldier

David — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:27:09 -0000

I agree with your sentiments and yet I wonder why when you had the chance you did talk about the soilders. Who they were ect...seems like you perpetuating what you are criticing!

Re: The Tomb of the King AND the Unknown Soldier

gaylenehaver — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:24:31 -0000

I agree with Charlie Berens I also am the mother of two Army Soldiers. These brothers are deployed and will be gone for many more months with every day danger facing them. To bad Michael Jackson threw his life away when my sons are putting theirs on the line to give him this pleasure. Thank you to all the mothers and fathers that have brave soldiers protecting us all.
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS...

Re: The Tomb of the King AND the Unknown Soldier

gaylenehaver — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:12:27 -0000

Re: The Tomb of the King AND the Unknown Soldier

John — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:14:20 -0000

If you care so much then tell us the story about those 2 soldiers who died in Iraq. Instead you decided to talk about Michael... just like the media you are complaining about. Got to love being a hypocrite!!!

Re: The Tomb of the King AND the Unknown Soldier

rachel — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:48:14 -0000

I agree with Mr. Berens. As a mother of two military soldiers, I think of the countless soldiers(sons,brothers, and dads) that we are losing in this War. I bite my lip when a new body count of our soldiers rise, and wonder what their families( moms, dads, sisters brot hers, and so on. are going through). My prayers are with the Jackson family . Give Memorial and Prayers to our lost soldiers and never forget that they ARE OUR HEROES and to the ones that are still doing ,what we cant for our selves in the foriegn lands( Protecting Us from Foe). Keep them in Prayers and Our hearts. To the Michael Jackson fans, lets remember his music, love and campassion. Not on the factors of his death.

Re: Youthanizing Iran

Louise Hendricks — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:57:13 -0000

Thought provoking!

Re: Thursday’s Late Night Laugh

Anon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:58:03 -0000

Took him long enough.

Re: The End of the American Dream

richard j brookman — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:11:25 -0000

congress should pass a law,with guidelines for banks and lending institutions who offer loans to students.

Re: Health Care For The Young And The Restless (On CNN)

Dan Reich — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:39:59 -0000

The future may reside in privatized health care with entrepreneurs that apply innovative business models to a broken government systems. Next few years will be interesting.

Re: What is the Economy?

Sean McBride — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:50:59 -0000

Hi JB, I could not agree more. While I think sometimes Krugman overstates the need size of the stimulus packages, fixing the economy needs to be approached in a holistic manner. I also agree with you that in many ways (as Emmanuel has pointed out) this economic crisis is an opportunity for Obama to remedy many of the social ills and inequalities that have been growing in the U.S. since the 1980's. He has the chance to create programs and implement policies that can help define America for many decades to come.

Re: Reversing Bush’s Policies: Obama and the War on Terror

GCP — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:38:57 -0000

Couldn't disagree more. Chaney calls for the declassification and release of information garnered from torture sessions that he insists saved lives and averted various attacks against the US and US interests. I'd like to see the administration take him up on that, as I believe we'd discover that while we may have learned a lot from the interrogations of prisoners, very little useful information was discovered as a result of the application of torture during these sessions. As an example, Abu Zabadah, who the article referenced as having been waterboarded at least 83 times, is cited by CIA interrogators on the scene as having given up all the useful information they got from him before the second waterboarding session. Seems like that the other 81 sessions of torture were punative, doesn't it?
But really, what we learned or didn't learn from the application of torture techniques is technically irrelevant, because the bottom line is that in torturing prisoners of war, the previous administration broke domestic and international law. Period.

Re: What is the Economy?

JB — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:10:04 -0000

Paul Krugman, the Nobel-winning economist, also points out that Obama is correct to group his initiatives together and that they will, as a whole, have greater and more beneficial impact on the recovery when undertaken as one initiative. He also states that FDR initiatives under extreme economic stress were even broader and more ambitious, and many of those institutions still stand today. Great article, and once again, thanks Project YOUTHanize!

Re: Reversing Bush’s Policies: Obama and the War on Terror

JB — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:02:18 -0000

These are some of the most difficult and divisive decisions we as a nation face. Difficult because they involve the classic moral dilemma of the ends justifying the means. In the excellent summary above, the writer hones in on the essence of the issues, and correctly points out that our nation will be defined by the decisions we make in the next year, just as we were defined by the decisions we made in the last eight. Project YOUthanize: fantastic forum for young and obviously talented thinkers/writers! Thank you for your activism!

Re: Gay Marriage- Making Moves?

JB — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:24:38 -0000

Excellent headline. Perfectly describes what our country has historically done regarding all human rights issues, we inch towards equal rights, one right at a time, one minority at a time. It sometimes seems that the key phrase in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, was more of an aspiration and not a statement of fact. And it seems that since then, we've spent so much time and blood and treasure fighting the fearmongers, in an effort to make it come true.

Re: Reversing Bush’s Policies: Obama and the War on Terror

Chris — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:39:06 -0000

Although I don't agree with every technique that the US has used to interrogate prisoners of war. I do agree that on certain occasions that these techniques have saved lives, not only US but the lives of people all over the world. One thing we never see is what information was gathered by using these interrogation techniques as most of it is classified as Top Secret. And to be honest, I'd rather be water boarded than the alternative Middle East torture technique of beheadings and having parts of my body chopped off. We do need to look at what we're doing to these prisoners, but condemning all of these techniques is ridiculous and dangerous. Much love for Project Youthanize. Always good to keep the youth on their toes, and just giving an alternative look at the topic.

Re: Obama’s Message to Millenials

Jeremy — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:48:48 -0000

Insightful, informative, and well articulated. What else can you ask for in an editorial.

Re: Still a Barack Star? (Video)

Dan Reich — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:28:39 -0000

I'm waiting for Obama to appear on...family guy, simpsons, south park, eastbound and down, 24...that would be the day.