Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[faberryman]

At this rate, USA will record half a million C-19 deaths before Feb 15th.

As Trump himself said:

“So if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000, it’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 [thousand] and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job.”

[Alan Klein]

Compared with the $1 million+ salaries for university presidents in USA, Germany pays on average €200,000. The entry level presidents (1-3 years experience) get €75,000. Again, a huge difference.

American students owe around $1.5 trillion dollars in tuition loans.  That's the reason for the difference.  This is all going to end soon when we go broke. 

[LesPalenik]

As Trump himself said:

“If we could hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000, that’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000 — so we have between 100- and 200,000 — we altogether have done a very good job.”

So, first he was downplaying the numbers, and then stating that USA is rounding the corner. Maybe he meant rounding the total toll. After all, 500,000 is a round number.
The current high death numbers are indisputably a result of the Christmas travel activities. Hopefully, those numbers will subside in the coming weeks.

[PeterAit]

This is, once again, simply not true. 

Saying something is not true does not make it untrue.

Are you seriously claiming that solar/wind produce zero energy on 70% of days? I don’t know that I have ever heard a more moronic claim.

And as for solar and wind producing more at non-peak times – did you not read the part of my post about batteries and smart grids? Or not understand it? So it seems.

As for your mysterious 8% target, I do not have to go far to find an example – it is happening right here. We (North Carolina) get almost 9% of our power from solar and wind yet our power costs are well below the national average.

But this is all beside my original point that we do not need the oil that the Keystone pipeline would provide. There is no better proof of this than recent oil prices, which – just before the pandemic – were one-third of a few years ago. And this is despite the great decrease in Venezuelan production. Then there’s the fact that the tar sand oil production is a complete environmental disaster.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/alberta-canadas-tar-sands-is-growing-but-indigenous-people-fight-back/

So bully for Biden, cancelling this idiotic pipeline.

[jeremyrh]

They must be very important if they increased tuition four-fold compared to the rest of the economy.  After all, if other services went up 1x or 2x like the regular economy, why was it necessary to increase tuitions 4x?  Where did all that money go if not for professor and administrator salaries and plant expansion and services?  They aren't sending me a check.

Poor Alan - nobody is sending you any cheques it seems. Where does the money go? Teaching and research?  These figures are available online. Google is your friend.

[faberryman]

In fairness, Ivy league schools in the US are not representative of all universities and colleges.  We have government-financed State colleges in most if not all states. Taxpayers subsidize tuition.  In NJ where I live:  Rutgers University yearly tuition for NJ residents $11,619.  Students who come from out-of-state tuition is $27,560 USD.  Princeton, private college is about 5x Rutgers resident costs.  Room and board for both schools extra.

Princeton's financial aid policy:

"Reflected in Princeton’s financial aid program is our commitment to access and affordability. Princeton admission is need-blind — there is no disadvantage in the admission process for financial aid applicants. This ensures a continued and growing enrollment of a diverse group of students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. If offered admission, Princeton will meet 100 percent of your demonstrated financial need with grant aid.  Princeton is one of a handful of universities that applies the same policy to international students.

"Princeton’s financial aid program is recognized as one of the most generous in the country. We determine a family's ability to pay using our own need formula, with fair and generous individual results. Princeton’s no-loan policy replaces student loans with grant aid that students do not pay back — this makes it possible to graduate with little to no debt."

https://admission.princeton.edu/cost-aid

Do you have any personal experience with applying for or receiving financial aid at a "top university" in the last decade?

I think you are looking at the wrong end of the scale for the villains. You might want to do some research on "educational" entities with names like Acme Auto Diesel College and Digital Institute of Technology which charge high tuition and have lousy student placement records.

[Alan Klein]

Saying something is not true does not make it untrue.

Are you seriously claiming that solar/wind produce zero energy on 70% of days? I don’t know that I have ever heard a more moronic claim.

And as for solar and wind producing more at non-peak times – did you not read the part of my post about batteries and smart grids? Or not understand it? So it seems.

As for your mysterious 8% target, I do not have to go far to find an example – it is happening right here. We (North Carolina) get almost 9% of our power from solar and wind yet our power costs are well below the national average.

But this is all beside my original point that we do not need the oil that the Keystone pipeline would provide. There is no better proof of this than recent oil prices, which – just before the pandemic – were one-third of a few years ago. And this is despite the great decrease in Venezuelan production. Then there’s the fact that the tar sand oil production is a complete environmental disaster.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/alberta-canadas-tar-sands-is-growing-but-indigenous-people-fight-back/

So bully for Biden, cancelling this idiotic pipeline.

The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) provides much of your state of North Carolina's electricity subsidized by the US government who paid to build the plants. That's one of the reasons your electricity is so cheap. I'm paying for your electricity.

Oil prices went down because the US and other countries were overproducing oil.  America was oil independent due to fracking.  Prices went down during Covid because there was less demand. Planes weren't flying and people weren't commuting and travelling as they normally do.  As Biden shuts down our capacity, we'll have to import more oil from the Middle East (ME) and pay more.  Plus we're opening ourselves up to more ME adventures as we now have to protect that oil.  I don't think we have to worry about protecting oil coming from Canada except from American presidents who want to shut it down. In any case, why do you want to hurt one of our economic partners, Canada?  Weren't you one of the people who complained about that when Trump did it with NAFTA? Or is it OK because Biden is doing it?

Being oil independent makes us more secure, less involved in ME wars, all at lower prices at the pump.

[TechTalk]

I am skilled, know my worth, am not afraid to ask for it,

How would you feel if someone went online and wrote complete falsehoods about your professional background, knowledge, experience, and abilities?

[Alan Klein]

Poor Alan - nobody is sending you any cheques it seems. Where does the money go? Teaching and research?  These figures are available online. Google is your friend.

That's right - teaching.  the professors getting higher pay than they would have due to government paid-for student loans.  What do you care. You're British.  You don't have to pay for the taxes required when students don't pay back the loans.  Maybe you can send me a check.   

[chez]

Your analogy reminds me of the guy who drowned in a lake that had an average depth of 3 feet. 

The 10 Highest-Paid College Professors in the U.S
https://thebestschools.org/magazine/highest-paid-college-professors-america/

You can always cherry pick anything to try make your points. Why not look at medium or average salaries?

I think if you'd look up the 10 highest paid in any profession...I think you'd get the same picture. The damn photographers making huge wages...look at the 10 top earning photographers. Get the picture.

[chez]

The annual tuition fees at the top universities run over $50,000 in USA, £9,250 in UK (more for international students), $1,660 in Switzerland, and only €500 in public universities in Germany (more in private universities). Huge difference between USA and Germany.

https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/student-finance/tuition-fees-worlds-top-universities
https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/student-finance/how-much-does-it-cost-study-germany

And free in Cuba.

[faberryman]

The oil's going to get shipped regardless.

It depends on the cost of extraction and transportation to the refinery, and the prevailing cost of a barrel of oil.

[Alan Klein]

You can always cherry pick anything to try make your points. Why not look at medium or average salaries?

I think if you'd look up the 10 highest paid in any profession...I think you'd get the same picture. The damn photographers making huge wages...look at the 10 top earning photographers. Get the picture.

Salaries for instructors and professors have gone up.  But additionally, and not mentioned before, there are many more college teachers and professors than before.  Even more colleges.  More student loans mean more kids going to college.  So keeping those loans going means a lot to the teachers or they'll get laid off.  If it wasn't for these loans, Trump University wouldn't have happened.  You can even get loans for photography schools.  Everyone is jumping on the gravy train.  And millions of kids are into huge debt in their early twenties before they even get started in life.

Many never get any value from it because they aren't college material but were sold a bill of goods, borrowed the money, and then dropped out or completed near the bottom of their class.  They would have been better off becoming a plumber. It just cost me $170 for a half hours work to stop a little leak in my sink.    Then they could have borrowed to buy a house and start a family instead of being stuck with school debt.  Now they can't even afford to buy the engagement ring.

[Alan Klein]

And free in Cuba.

Free?  They're still living in the 50's driving old Chevy's.  And what do they read in college?  Certainly not anything on western democracy. 

[faberryman]

That's right - teaching.  the professors getting higher pay than they would have due to government paid-for student loans.  What do you care. You're British.  You don't have to pay for the taxes required when students don't pay back the loans.  Maybe you can send me a check.

Do you know what chaps my ass? Seniors getting discount meals at restaurants when they eat dinner early. Why should I subsidize their meals? And discount haircuts. Why should I subsidize their haircuts? I mean a lot of them have more hair than I do. Then there are senior discounts at the movie theater. Why should they pay less? Because they sleep through part of the movie? And discount green's fees. What's that about? They are usually high handicappers. More strokes, more divots, higher turf maintenance costs. And then some of them can't bend over to repair their ball marks on the greens. Not to mention discount hotel rates and car rentals. Old people are more likely to wet the bed and have car accidents. The list goes on and on. All those senior discounts. I've got to pay more so they can pay less. What a bunch of freeloaders. Maybe you can send me a check.

And why are seniors getting stimulus checks? They're already getting social security checks. Those haven't stopped or been reduced. And they don't need to buy anything anyway. They're just going to forget where they put it. And they've been buying stuff all of their lives. Let somebody else have a turn for a change. It's just free money for old people. It's double-dipping. And I have to pay taxes to cover it. Maybe you can send me a check for that too.

[faberryman]

It just cost me $170 for a half hours work to stop a little leak in my sink.

That sounds like the going price in a free market. I thought that is what you were for?

[jeremyrh]

That's right - teaching.  the professors getting higher pay than they would have due to government paid-for student loans.  What do you care. You're British.  You don't have to pay for the taxes required when students don't pay back the loans.  Maybe you can send me a check.   

So much ignorance. Professors (and other staff) pay depends very little on what is received in tuition fees. As for the situation in Britain - you're behind the times. Maybe you should stick to posting about things you know about. Oh. Hang on a mo...

[jeremyrh]

Free?  They're still living in the 50's driving old Chevy's.  And what do they read in college?  Certainly not anything on western democracy.

Perhaps they do, if they are keen on fiction.

[faberryman]

Free?  They're still living in the 50's driving old Chevy's.  And what do they read in college?  Certainly not anything on western democracy.

A lot of American college students don't read anything on western democracy either. What's your point?

[jeremyrh]

I think you are looking at the wrong end of the scale for the villains. You might want to do some research on "educational" entities with names like Acme Auto Diesel College and Digital Institute of Technology which charge high tuitions and have lousy student placement records.

Not to mention ... Trump University.