The price of higher education is rising — rapidly — and yet a) individual universities do not have strong incentives to take in larger classes, and b) it is hard to start a new, good college or university. The key question is how much a) and b) are remediable in the longer run and if so then there is some chance that the current structure of higher education is a bubble of sorts.
I never see the authors utter the sentence: “There are plenty wanna-bee professors discarded on the compost heap of academic history.” Yet the best discard should not be much worse, and may even be better, than the marginally accepted professor. Such a large pool of surplus labor would play a significant role in an economic analysis of virtually any other sector.
When it comes to solving the access problem, the word which pops up is “financial aid,” not “increased competition.” Why might that be?
There is, apparently, no problem that cannot be solved through increased government subsidy.
HISTORY: Flashback: Democrats go un-democratic when they lose, and then they lose some more. “The mess in Wisconsin has happened before. In 2003, faced with a new Republican majority intent on redrawing an electoral map that preserved power for Democrats that the voters no longer gave them, the Texas Democrats fled the state. And in 2009, rather than allow a vote on an election security bill that they didn’t want, the Texas Democrats brought the state legislature to a halt — killing the voter ID bill and everything on the calendar that followed it. . . . So the Democrats are trying to bring both houses of the legislature to a full halt to kill the union bill. It may work, at least temporarily, just by running out the clock. But if what has happened in Texas is any guide, it will be a pyrrhic victory. Democrats in Texas have won very little since the 2003 run to the Red River. And after they filibustered the voter ID bill in 2009, which a heavy majority of the voters supported, they suffered an unholy beating in 2010. The Republicans now have a super majority in the House, and the man who led the filibuster, state Rep. Jim Dunnam, was defeated. He didn’t lose just because of that filibuster, but having that on his record certainly didn’t help him.”
UPDATE: Leslie Graves of Ballotpedia notes this difference between Wisconsin and Texas: “In Texas, there is no provision for recall of state legislators.”
TURN YOUR IPAD INTO A LAPTOP: So I saw a kid at the mall with one of these the other day, and although I don’t own an iPad — I like my 11″ MacBook Air — it’s pretty cool. Slip the iPad into the hinged case, the keyboard connects via bluetooth, and you’ve basically got a superlight laptop. Nice for those who sometimes want to do more with the iPad than its virtual keyboard is good for. He said that he’d had it for a while and that it worked perfectly.
UPDATE: Reader Harry Williams emails: “My job involves looking at new technology for the college. I’ve had an iPad for sometime now, looking at where it fits in our plans. It is a great content consuming device. In my personal use, I’ve found 2 deficiencies, the lack of SMS (text messaging) and the lack of a tab on the soft keyboard. I’ve been using the Kensington KeyFolio Keyboard you mentioned to solve my tab key function for several months now. I can confirm that the Kensington is great. I’m extremely happy with it. In fact, at the beginning of February, I gave a demonstration to the college’s Board of Trustees about the iPads, the machines they all used were in the Kensington. My only complaint about the folio is that the holes in the folio force the home button on the iPad to be on the right side in the landscape orientation.”
REPORT: Handing out bogus medical excuses to striking Wisconsin teachers. If the doctor involved is actually signing these, he should be brought before the medical licensing board. I would imagine that criminal prosecution is possible, too. And if his name is being forged, then somebody else is a criminal. Either way, if teachers turn in excuses signed by Dr. Shropshire, further inquiry is merited . . .
UPDATE: Another physician finds this unprofessional. “Is it really his position that he is conducting medical examinations in the midst of thousands of people while attaining a right to privacy? One of the most important things in a genuine patient/physician interaction is honesty and this dude is dishonest! . . . He has abrogated his professional responsibility for political expediency.”
It has the trumpet call of WISCONSIN LEADS WAY. Then it gives the sign of the down-trodden and wretched of the earth, WORKERS. Humm, “workers?” Would that be the teachers sucking up around $100K a year from the public trough while working, what?, seven months of the year? Well, I guess it would.
And what do these wretched and over-exploited teachers do while “lying” to their schools that they are “sick?” Why they FIGHT, of course.
And who do these sad wretches with only a fat salary, fatter benefits, and obscenely obese pensions fight? Why they fight that big, bad buggaboo, the STATE!
And what is that evil STATE doing? Well, it could be shooting them down like rabid dogs in the streets (see Libya headline right and photo center), but since Wisconsin is more evil and fascist that the dictator of Libya, it is asking them to actually contribute something approaching the rest of America to their health benefits. Those BASTARDS!
But read the whole thing to see where they got it.
FROM BILL QUICK, an I-Told-You-So, delivered with his customary delicacy.
LOADS OF MADISON TEA PARTY COVERAGE from Ann Althouse. Just keep scrolling.
A LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED WITH NIR ROSEN: “It seems that Rosen has been getting away with making outrageous statements for so long that it’s no wonder that he felt emboldened to tweet away and mock Logan with impunity. This time, though, he happened to have hit on a subject that was offensive to leftist sensibilities as well as those on the right — and he discovered that there are finally consequences, even for Nir Rosen. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”
How many of these anti-American hacks are out there doing allegedly factual reportage? They keep turning up. See, e.g.,Chris Hedges. And as was noted after Toby Harnden’s revelations about the Baghdad press corps, the journalistic omerta that keeps these things from being reported only serves to undermine the entire profession’s trustworthiness.
This is corroborated by Ann Althouse: “I saw these people myself today. At first I thought it was some sort of comic street theater, but it was, apparently, real doctors, defending what they were doing. I’ll have my video interview up soon. I asked if it was dishonest or unethical, and the answer was that everyone has symptoms, perhaps a migraine, diarrhea, or insomnia. I suggested ‘activitis.'” Someone should complain to the medical licensing board.
UPDATE: A physician reader emails:
Medicolegally, passing out sick notes to anyone (much less strikers walking by) implies the creation of a physician-patient relationship. This means, for example, that it could be construed that you are legally responsible for any medical issues related to said relationship. In Florida, and presumably in WI, you must have an official medical record for all patients that you evaluate and care for. Technically, my writing an antibiotic prescription for my child’s ear infection is forbidden if I don’t have a record kept on file documenting an examination and treatment plan.
There is no doubt that ethically, and presumably legally, the MDs in Madison are committing multiple violations of their regulations in order to further a political goal. Certainly this isn’t nearly as egregious as what has transpired in Philly recently, but I worry that it might help further erode the image of my profession. I do feel that I have the right to voice my opinion in the political arena, but feel that it should be done as an ordinary citizen and not as a physician (as when I was in the military and knew that attending political events in uniform was wrong). Otherwise I might give the impression that I speak for all physicians or that my opinions carry more weight than others.
Sadly, casual abuse of power and position in the service of leftist politics seems to be the norm these days. And Dr. Steve White emails:
I noted the Althouse blog reference at Instapundit.
I’m a physician. I take care of patients. Yes indeed, if I were to give a doctor’s note to someone without conducting a proper medical evaluation (however brief), I’d be guilty of improper behavior and ethics and could be brought before the medical licensing board.
However, there’s another name for this: FRAUD. The teachers will use these notes to justify their absences and collect their pay. Both the doctors and the teachers are perpetrating a fraud.
Wonder if the Wisconsin attorney general could be motivated to look into that? At the very least, demand that any teacher turning in a doctor’s note over this work action also turn over the record of the medical ‘evaluation’. That would put a stop to this real quick.
I wonder what the physicians’ malpractice carriers think about this?
MORE: Here’s Althouse’s video interview with one of the doctors:
FINALLY: Reader Bryon Scott emails: “They told me if I voted for John McCain the health care system would be slanted for a select few, and they were right!”
And reader Matthew Bowdish emails:
I am a physician and I am extremely troubled by Ann’s video, which seems to confirm that these doctors are committing fraud. I did a little searching and it looks like the doc she interviewed is a third-year resident in Family Medicine at the Univ of Wisconsin. His name is Patrick McKenna MD. According to his bio, it looks like he has a “strong interest in politics.” Well, yeah!
I dunno — the name matches, and it could be him, but he sure looks more clean-cut in the photo on his bio page.
And in another cold, snowy place — Cornell — Prof. Jacobson writes: Obamacare Starts Early In Madison – Free Sick Notes For Progressives! “We have seen the future of the health care system, and it is the doctors on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, handing out free sick notes to public sector union members so they can fraudulently collect their pay for missing work. Boy, oh boy, I can’t wait for Obamacare. Politicized medicine, massive fraud in the name of progressive politics, and a callous disregard for the law free from fear of prosecution for those aligned with the Democrats.”
You could hardly ask for behavior better tailored to lower respect for the medical profession.
CHANGE: Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short. “The median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401(k) account has less than one-quarter of what is needed in that account to maintain its standard of living in retirement, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve and analyzed by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College for The Wall Street Journal. Even counting Social Security and any pensions or other savings, most 401(k) participants appear to have insufficient savings.” Part of this, of course, is not putting in enough all along, part is lousy performance by the markets over the last 20 years, and part is desire to retire early. Me, since I don’t have one of those golden defined-benefit pensions that state employees in other states have, I’ve maxed out contributions to my defined-contribution plan every year for quite a while and my prospects for early retirement nonetheless look poor. Actual performance since I started my current job has been around 4% overall; if I’d relied on those rosy 8-10% forecasts I’d have put in less. Oh, well: Maybe markets will boom when the next administration shrinks government dramatically. If not, well, I wasn’t planning on retiring until at least 70 anyway . . . .
VIDEO: ANDREW BREITBART AT THE MADISON TEA PARTY RALLY TODAY. “The violence has come only from the Left. . . . The country cannot afford for public-sector unions to be in control of the budget. . . . I’m a little bit nervous, but I’m more nervous for the country if we don’t stand up to this form of collective bullying.”
UPDATE: “I paid for your pension and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” Sent by a reader via iPhone:
ANOTHER UPDATE: Herman Cain speaks: “Maybe the ten percent has forgotten that we pay the bills.”
UPDATE: Reader Gerald Hanner emails: “Having served in Strategic Air Command for the last twenty-five years, more or less, of the Cold War, I really don’t want to see us back in the deterrent business. That takes hard-nosed discipline. I’m not the least bit convinced that anyone in politics today is up to enforcing a deterrence policy let alone funding and maintaining the weaponry needed to support a credible policy.”
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