Go Back to Germany...?

All you are doing here is illustrating the futility of trying to speak to the left with reason and logic. They aren't interested; like spoiled kids, they only think emotionally and only about what they want.
If people talk to you like you were 5 and disrespectful- that is why.

 

All those cities are controlled by Democrats and have been for decades. While Republicans certainly contribute to the problems in those cities, the primary responsibility lies with the Democrats who exercise local control. Your stubborn refusal to assign responsibility to the political machines in those cities is blatant partisan nonsense.

 

I took several courses in economics, finance, statistics, business, law, etc. I did that in addition to my primary education in science and mathematics. I would put my education up against yours any day.

Anyway, I'm not going to waste my time parsing your vacuous assertions. The simple fact is this: If Republicans and Democrats were equally responsible for the dysfunction in cities like Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, etc. then the entire country would be just as dysfunctional. The fact that the ONLY areas of the country with such rampant levels of crime and poverty are cities controlled by Democrats proves that Democrats are the primary cause of that dysfunction. You refuse to admit it because you're a pro-establishment partisan. And the Democratic machine is very much a part of the establishment. By defending Democratic malfeasance and incompetence, you are in essence defending yourself.

 

you did not answer the question, the one with a "?" - I will ask again in case you did not understand what a "?" at the end of a statement represents

do you condemn those chanting "blood and soil, Jews will not replace us"?.. I do and they are NOT "fine people"

 

Anyone who thinks I'm a leftwinger is dumber than a sack of hammers. How smart are you?

You're blaming the victims of racism who are, ironically, themselves, racist.

So, to my questions you avoided... So, what prompted people to make the choices they did--genetics or environment? So, Trump should have lectured the victims, many of whom didn't themselves contribute to the problem, on cleaning up the city?

Go ahead, give it a shot.

 

I bet you would. Apparently, you missed taking a course logic.

You don't have anything to back up your claim Detroit should have come up with solutions to the automation of the car industry. I highlighted my questions above. You're way too quick to blame the victims.

You...?

I see you have difficulty with the difference between correlation and causation.

I'm very much the opposite. Years ago I led the public fight against a $2b landfill in a suburban area. I wrote the PR and led the teachers' union to oust a radical right school board and replace them with a conservative board. For years, I taught adults and high schoolers how to start their own businesses (yeah, high school--and many of the high schoolers did startups). I ran an auto repair firm with 100 employees.

Of course, it is. So, too, the Republican Party.

I never voted for a Democrat in my life.

You blasted Detroit. What should the pols have done? The same goes for Gary, Indiana and St. Louis in states run by Republicans.

What should pols do in cities decimated by opioid addiction? A lot of white people are screwed over by this scourge.

There are a lot of people getting f*cked over in this country. Your pal Trump isn't doing sh*t to help them. The only reason he got a little traction with average folks is the Democrats abandoned them in favor of courting racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ, liberals primed to save the planet on the backs of average folks, etc.

 

What prompted the people to make those choices. That's an interesting question that makes me ask you-
Why do you think they are unable to think for themselves? I agree that many do not, but if you or anybody is ever going to have control of their own life, they had better learn to think for themselves, and to make their own choices. One of the best ways to get people to do that is to stop making their choices for them, AND let them deal with the consequences of their own choices- because that is how we learn. As long as they blame someone else, and someone else is stupid enough to take that blame- everything is somebody else's fault, and the only way they can control their lives.... is to control others.

Whose making your decisions for you- telling you what to think what to write, how to act? Do you just agree and follow- or can you generate your own ideas, make your own decisions, and follow through?
Someone there tells you every day to put your trash in the trash bin instead of throwing it in the street? Or do you follow the practices of people in Baltimore, because nobody told you to do otherwise?

 

I blame the management of the city. Not once did I mention race. That is your problem.

 

Yes we do have a problem with poverty in urban cities . And these politicians do try to make changes. Thing that is happening in Baltimore is homes that are boarded up are being practically given to people to renovate.blighted areas are improving
I am in Cummings District and it is fantastic. Do we give him credit? Or just blame

 

Wow...talk about not understanding poverty! Yes these people choose to live in low income housing projects. Why didn’t they make the choice to live in upscale condos? And what an insult to believe that these people are not able to think for themselves because that is what you are saying when you say we think for them. .what you don’t understand is poverty limits your choices and yes living in projects often is their only choice.
I taught in inner city Brooklyn It was hard for my students. When you are poor it’s hard to dream big, like college. Recently I met 16 “kids” that I taught more than 40 years ago when I was a new teacher and they are a living wonderful productive lives and would put you in your place in a minute.

 

If as you claim Democrats running cities are the problem, why are Republican state governments letting the disaster continue?

The problem is at all levels of government.

Do you think cities can overcome workers not getting their share of the pie, largely a problem created by state and federal government?





My suggestion to you--drop the partisan finger-pointing and put the blame on both parties at all levels where it properly belongs.

 

Absolutely. Exactly what I told my senior high school students, and why I taught a course on how to start a business. The message wasn't that they should start a business, but that they didn't need to line up with hundreds of unemployed workers looking for a job in tough times.

No, absolutely not. People need to be educated, not left to their own devices. You can see how people deal with the horrible conditions in inner cites, or rural poverty in the Appalachians. Most never "figure it out." Instead, it breaks them.

Relevant questions.

There are indeed entrenched special interests, across the political spectrum, doing whatever they can to keep us stuck in the status quo. An example ... I taught people how to start their own business by tossing out the curriculum in a marketing class where I was supposed to teach students how to clerk in a store. Geez, half of the students already had these sorts of jobs and didn't need a dumbed down class in how to clerk. The only people who complained about what I did? Other business teachers who had no idea how to start a business. Parents? Totally onside. Local businesses? Glad to get employees who could look at things from an employer's viewpoint. Students? Eager to get instruction they knew was a survival guide.

Another example ... I ran a short drug education program in all my classes, the curriculum be damned, where I showed them this film made by a Canadian police department.



The blunt message ... you may smoke pot and be tempted to try other drugs because pot didn't cause you to go haywire. But think again. All drugs aren't the same. (Seriously, watch a few minutes of the movie and you'll see why students had a "No sh!t!" response.)

Who objected? Parents? No, of course not. Students? They thanked me. Who? The school principal who said it might look as though our school had a drug problem. He said I might have to answer to the school board. I suggested he have a chat with the superintendent about me (I taught almost all of the super's kids years earlier). I got other teachers involved and we covered almost all of the school's 1,200 students.

 

Where is race mentioned in what you quoted?

 

Why teaching school is so emotionally satisfying.

 

We're not going to solve the homeless problem quickly, if at all.
But the place to start, and to concentrate resources, is on young people ... before
they're ruined.
It can be done. A friend of mine, a leader in the School Choice Movement, sent me this:

[ Full Article Here.]

 

And talk about distorting the facts!!
You live in property you can afford. That was never the point. But the question of whether you throw your trash in the street or in a trash can is not one related to your income- it's related to your attitude. If you hate the world because you aren't thriving and abuse it, that is your choice- nothing imposed on you. My wife is the daughter of an illiterate share cropper in southern Missouri- one of 13 children. She was picking cotton when she was 8 years old. But her family never went hungry, because they all worked to provide food. Her mother stayed up every night making clothes for the kids. Cleanliness was a requirement- they were never allowed to go to school dirty or unkempt. They kept a neat household, a neat farm- and by any standard, they were in poverty. Thanks to the character she developed by learning to do for herself, when I met her- she was a business owner/operator, financially successful and independent. I spent on winter living in a storage space- because I had been divorced, my first business went under, I cancelled health insurance to cut costs- then was diagnosed with cancer and needed surgery. All within one year.... So, I negotiated a deal with the hospital and surgeon, entered business again on a very small basis, paid off my own medical bills. went back to the bank who had lost money on me and arranged a loan to pay them back. Never at any time in my life have I borrowed from family, or taken a dime in the way of assistance- not even an unemployment check. Today my taxes are more than most people's income- and I do a lot for people in need, both in money and time. NOT for people who won't be responsible for themselves, but for people who can't. The difference between people like my wife and I and the people you feel sorry for is character- determination to stand on your own feet. Acceptance of responsibility- no matter what hand life deals you. You seem to think we are all entitled to some kind of guarantee, but the only people you expect to back that guarantee are the people who have done well without it. You are entitled to a chance to make the most of yourself- and that requires certain characteristics that anyone can muster, but many will never try. I don't feel sorry for that kind of people, or the endless excuses they have. Look up the history of Oprah Winfrey, and learn about what's possible no matter what your beginnings are.

You have no idea what you are talking about- and until you can learn to think responsibly, you never will. I don't expect you to understand.

 

Many years ago a man working as a job superintendent for me was telling me how his brother couldn't find a job, because times were so tough. This conversation lead to a sort of challenge. I told him that I would find a job that same day- that I would use none of my qualifications or experience to get it- that it would not be with anyone I knew or knew me- and that I would do it without leaving my office. No parameters on wages; just have a firm job. By the end of the day- I had two. Plus a lot of people who wanted me to come in. Now you are going to say that's BS, but it's a true story. In today's business climate, I think I could get four.

Instead of telling people how bad it is, instead of criticizing successful people- try asking them how they did it. If you don't insult them before you ask, a great many of them will give you wonderful advice.
I know how to do it. It's not magic- it's attitude.

The prime factors needed to get a job aren't special skills, they are things that come before that- and every employer is looking for them. Now they don't list those things with the help wanted ad- but you can bet they are looking for them in the interview. We have cultivated the employee perception of employers as evil people wanting someone to take advantage of.

Imagine that instead, you saw yourself as a person in business (selling your own skills) to a customer, (the prospective employer) which is exactly what you are doing. Then, think about what you expect when you yourself are a customer, buying from some one else. Ever treat your customer in the way you want to be treated when you are a customer? Damn few employees do . Try that, and you find that there are all kinds of people wanting to buy it. Jobs are everywhere- including the places that have the "Not hiring" sign out.

 

My logic is just fine. You're the one who seems to be struggling.

Just because I refuse to engage with you on certain points does not mean I cannot back them up. I just don't want to waste my time endlessly parsing your obtuse attempts at a rebuttal.

Because nothing you say will distract from the fact that local politicians are generally the primary determinant of local political outcomes. I would have thought that someone so enamored of "logic" as you are wouldn't need to have that explained to him. I would have thought that in the course of earning your splendid educational titles and credentials that you would have, at some point, made a connection between local outcomes and local politics. Yet here you are, attempting to argue the exact opposite of reality. Perhaps your "education" was really just a convoluted form of indoctrination. What else could explain your obtuse denial of basic logic, which you claim to be conversant in?

I don't have hours of my life to waste responding to every vacuous statement made on the internet. I'm confident that any reasonable person who reads our previous exchanges will conclude that you've failed miserably to respond to my points with anything even remotely legitimate. I leave it to their judgement.

Local politicians influence local outcomes. No amount of sophistry or obtuse denial from you will change that fact.

Your pretensions at anti-establishment status are belied by your repeated attempts to deflect legitimate criticism of said establishment.

The Republican party is a nightmare. And they are partially responsible for the sorry state of large cities like Detroit and Baltimore. But Democrats are the most responsible because they are in control of the local political machines.

Voting for establishment Republicans is fundamentally no different than voting for establishment Democrats.

They should have adapted to evolving market conditions. Specifically, they should have considered making their tax and regulatory environment more competitive. Instead, they went in the exact opposite direction.

I find it funny that you think I have to answer for Republicans. Apparently, in all your years of education, you never managed to figure out that someone can be against Democrats AND Republicans.

Easy. End the disastrous, inhumane, and unscientific "war on drugs". Start treating drug addiction as a medical problem instead of a criminal problem, like they do in Portugal or Switzerland. Stop wasting billions and billions of dollars every year on imprisoning people for nonviolent offenses. I could offer up some more suggestions, but that is the most straightforward and effective means of dealing with drug addiction.

So because I hold Democratic politicians responsible for what happens inside their own cities, I must be pals with Trump.

Stellar logic.

I agree. Democrats are idiots. And that is why their cities are so dysfunctional.

 

I don't give politicians credit for much. Humans, when left to their own devices, are generally peaceable and orderly. So when I see a place that is peaceable and orderly, I don't automatically credit politicians with the outcome. Granted, there is some room for nuance there, but not much. Evolution has designed humans to be cooperative. That's not some naive hippie sentiment, it's a survival strategy that emerged through natural selection. Cooperation is almost always preferable to conflict. Only a tiny percentage of a human population actively seeks conflict with other people. We tend to call them "psychopaths" and "sociopaths". Incidentally, a disproportionate amount of politicians tend to meet one or both of those definitions. At any rate, I can acknowledge that some anti-establishment Democrats are advocating for policies that are genuinely helpful. And I congratulate them on it. But that does not change the fact that for decades, the local Democratic machines have miserably failed to address the dismal rates of poverty and crime in their cities. And that is because the ideology and practices of the Democratic establishment are extremely regressive, repugnant, and corrupt.

 

Probably more than four unless you're in a tiny town.

Teachers in some subject areas have a hard time getting a job. I offered all the student teachers I taught help on how to get a job by paying for their salary and more by teaching them a variety of ways a school can raise money from the community. Essentially, it's bringing the school community together with local retailers. Everyone wins. A school with a thousand students can easily generate $100,000 from local businesses happy to get a whole new set of potentially loyal customers.

The teacher would put a proposal together for potential employers and promise to get the program going. Because teachers are on probation for at least a year, if the new teacher doesn't deliver they can be let go any time. Schools are always hungry for money, so a teacher who can more than generate their salary is in essence a free staff member. Maybe two free staff members. And a lot of great PR in the community.

Some of my student teachers got primo teaching jobs as a result.

Most of the young people I taught weren't into negative mode yet--figuring the world owes them--and were receptive to learning how to make themselves useful to employers.

Some employers are heartless a$$holes, but you don't have to work for them if you have something on the ball. It's a two-way street.

My auto repair firm years ago ... the first 100% of our profit target went to the company, the next 100% was split-50-50 with the employees, and everything after that went to staff. We made money hand over fist. The employees regularly went way over the 200% target. It was a damn good income for the employees and they got on me if someone wasn't doing the job and I didn't deal with the guy.

I supervised employees according to the Golden Rule. How would I like to be treated?

 

Now I don't have any problem with any of that. A lot of people do, and from your prior posts I felt you were probably one of them. It sounds like your own experience has shown you some good answers.

One thing I'm very certain of is that most teachers get into teaching more as a calling than for money. I feel the motivations are generally strong and sound. Are there some poor ones? Of course, True in every field. Biggest problem for teaching (Speaking of public schools here) is low compensation, poor support from political administrations, and weak parenting. I have considerable sympathy for the challenge teachers face. It's a bit different in the things I taught in that people asked to enroll and paid out of their own pocket. But I feel public school teachers are grossly under-appreciated and supported.

 

Aren't you being exactly as racist as Donald Trump by your standards by telling him to go back where he came from?

Do you not realize the hypocrisy in that?

 

Soooo, what was Detroit and other industrial towns supposed to do to fight the job losses of factories moving to the South or overseas? You're chuck full of criticism, but that's all you have. Are there things cities can do? Yes, but I rather doubt you know what the are.

Maybe a few Trumpites think you make sense, but that's about it.

You focus on Democrats while I look at both.

You think it's easy to cut spending when they're swamped with unemployed folks?

You're going to blame cities for the "war on drugs?" ROFL

This from the guy who goes on and on about Democrats and sounds like a Trumpite?

 

The sad thing for society is that way too many of the more motivated teachers quit in total frustration. I told you what I did with the absurd marketing curriculum and more teachers should take matters in their own hands. Teaching political pap is more than caring teachers can stomach.

You're right about the pay, too. I had enough money when I began teaching that I could have worked for nothing. The pay is low enough that I would never have subjected my family to doing without.