What Do Today's Students Think About the Future of Higher Ed? You Might Be Surprised
Jeff Selingo, Huffington Post, May 2012

"Do you actually believe in this stuff?" one of my colleagues at The Chronicle of Higher Education asked me last week.

The stuff he was referring to were the disruptive innovations that are supposed to revolutionize how higher ed is delivered in this country, a topic I've been writing a lot about lately.

I had just returned from the Education Innovation Summit at Arizona State University, a gathering that had attracted some 800 educational entrepreneurs, CEO's, and investors to hear talks about the future of education and see demonstrations from more than 100 companies promising to bring massive change to the tradition-bound industry.

As I considered his question, I started to tell him about recent campus visits that had much more of an impact on my thinking about this subject than the Arizona conference. In the last month, I have talked with students at six institutions that represent nearly every corner of our diverse higher-ed system: Arizona State, the University of Central Florida, Valencia College, Franklin & Marshall College, Southern New Hampshire University, and just this week, Georgetown University.

My conversations with the students weren't meant to be scientific survey, but rather a collection of anecdotes and ideas for this blog and my book on the future of higher ed. The students were randomly chosen by me in some cases, and by faculty members or administrators in others. I picked these colleges because they were on my travel itinerary for other purposes or were nearby.

My goal was to engage the students in the debates that seem to be swirling around them but so often don't include them in meaningful ways.

How did they pick a major, out of a passion or for its job prospects? How do they judge the value of a college degree and weigh it against its rising price tag? What's the purpose of a college education? Have they ever taken an online class or used online resources, like the Khan Academy, to brush up on certain concepts? Would they consider taking a massive online course with 100,000 other students if it led to an alternative credential, such as a badge, as well as a job?

And because Frank Bruni's column in Sunday's New York Times was fresh on my mind when talking to the Georgetown students this week, I asked if majors in philosophy and anthropology are career-relevant. Or, as Bruni suggested, should the federal government and universities use incentives to steer students "into the fields of studies that will serve them and society best"?

Their answers, in many cases, surprised me, based on what I have been hearing from both traditional leaders in higher ed and the people who want to disrupt the industry. And the students were much more nuanced in their thinking than they often sound in the news media, where sound bites and pithy quotes are usually favored over substance. So now at the risk of doing just that, here are three of the themes that emerged from my conversations (I'll tackle two other themes from these conversations in a post tomorrow):

Face-to-face education matters even more now. Because these students see the world through screens (mobile, tablet, and laptop), I expected them to embrace the idea of online education. Just the opposite. They want to engage with a professor and with their classmates, they crave the serendipity of classroom discussions, and they want the discipline of going to class. Even the adult students I met preferred a physical classroom. Online "you're pretty much paying to teach yourself," a Valencia student told me. "It's like text messages. There's no tone of voice."

That doesn't mean these students like everything about traditional higher ed. They're over the lecture, they like the idea of "flipping the classroom," and they do seek out online resources to brush up on certain subjects. "A lot of professors are petrified by online classes," one Georgetown student said. "They really want to improve the classroom experience."

More career exploration is needed before college. When describing how they picked their majors, many of the students described it either as a random process or a last-minute decision. That's in contrast to the extended, thoughtful plan some of them had for choosing a college.

"I had to pick something my last week of my senior year of high school to put on my college application," said one Valencia student. "So I said, What have I always liked to do? I knew as I kid that I liked Legos and always like to take things apart to see how they worked. I did research and put that into Google and engineering came up." So he's now a mechanical engineering major.

Some of the students described how they thought they had the perfect major selected only to discover that it required too much math or science for them, or that their parents wanted them to major in something more practical. As a result, a few switched their major and others hedged their bets and added a second major. The bottom line is that while college is for exploration, students shouldn't get to campus to discover something they want to do requires too much math or some other subject they struggle with.

Majors don't matter. Perhaps a better question is why we force students to pick a major at all. The number of majors on campus has proliferated in the last two decades, but some academics, such as Mark Taylor or Roger Schank, think we should abolish our traditional notion of majors and build the undergraduate curriculum around broad ideas or problems we face, like water and food production.

Sure, some of the students I talked with were focused on pursuing a specific profession (marketing, for instance) and wanted a degree that would give them a skill set to secure the right internships that eventually would lead to a full-time job. But most of the students said they were less concerned with picking the right major than they were with choosing the classes that would expose them to new subjects or help them connect ideas across disciplines.

"Coming out of high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do," said a student at Franklin & Marshall. He liked film and met the producer and writer Steven Bochco, who gave him this advice. "He said I didn't need to go to a big California school. If I came to F&M, he said I'd learn how to write well and learn how to learn anything, and that's valuable. I knew I could come here and live out my interests."

Several students talked about how they never viewed their major as preparation for a specific job, given the economy is in a constant state of flux. A few of the students at Georgetown who interned at banks, for instance, were struck by the fact that they saw English majors sitting next to finance majors doing the same job. "As information becomes rapidly irrelevant in the future, skill sets won't matter as much," a philosophy and psychology major at Georgetown told me.

A few international students who were part of the various groups said they specifically decided to study in the United States because they live in countries where students are tracked into specific majors and careers early on. "I loved studying everything, and I could do that here," said a Georgetown student from South Africa.

As you can see, the future of higher ed should not be a one-size-fits-all online world where students are directed to a small set of career-focused majors. That's an appropriate model for some students, particularly working adults, who might need just a few more credits for a degree or any credential to get ahead in their careers. We often talk about how diverse our higher-ed system is, but as we design the next-generation model, perhaps we should be listening more to this generation of students to ensure it remains that way.

How economic inequality harms societies: Richard Wilkinson on TED.com We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust. .___________________________________________________________________________

 

Radio used to bore me. Politicians would argue back and forth when I just wanted my music. There was alway a second opinion.

Being almost 70 years of age what some consider history seems like current events to me. By 1978 uncontrolled "stagflation" combined with the humiliation of having let Islamic fundamentalists bully us in Iran made Americans angry. It was also becoming obvious we lost the war in Vietnam. Before then we saw America as strong, benevolent and wise old Uncle Sam who no one messed with. America was experiencing what I believe can be defined as "angst."

Ronald Reagan to the rescue.

The "Great Communicator" had been a conservative talk radio host and actor and knew how to project a strong positive image. He made us feel powerful with his "America has the strongest militarily in the world" message. His message emerged from Hollywood as "greed is good."

Business owners worked with lobbyists to alter the tax code to favor speculation and make the wealthy wealthier. Companies quickly switched from "defined benefit" retirement plans that cost them money to "401k plans" that let them keep part of each employee's salary. Relocating an American business to a tax haven like the Cayman Islands became a "good business decision."

Government became a tool for change. "Deficits don't matter" allowed President Reagan to commission a 600 ship navy and strengthen the air force and ground forces. Deregulation of the airlines, union-busting and deregulation of Savings and Loans Banks quickly happened. It seemed everyone was making money. Americans were once again proud.

Collapse of the Savings and Loan bubble in 1987 made it obvious that the apparent new prosperity was an illusion. Invasion of Grenada and Panama went well but a similar invasion of Lebanon ended in disaster. Moving manufacturing to developing nations and out-sourcing jobs made it easy to reduce the American business expense of wages paid to workers. Closing thousands of factories destroyed communities and eliminated highly paid manufacturing jobs. The "rust belt" rusted from disuse as unemployment soared.

President Reagan may have considered unfavorable reporting responsible for the 1987 recession. Whether or not that was his inspiration he used an Executive Order to "temporarily" rescind the "Fairness Doctrine." Before 1987 the Fairness Doctrine guaranteed that each political talk show host would immediately have his opinions rebutted by a spokesperson from the opposing political party. Knowing one's opinions would be rebutted made talk show hosts careful and respectful.

We are experiencing the logical consequence of
President Reagan's suspension of the Fairness Doctrine.

Republican dominated hate-filled talk radio has a huge angry audience. Middle income Americans have a legitimate grievance. Anyone not sharing in the financial economy generated wealth may be reassured by hearing that they're not being rich is the fault of "Democrats."

The brutal truth is that this nation now has a huge income gap. As recently as the mid-seventies America had a few poor people, a few rich people and a huge middle class. America has become bipolar with many poor people, many double-income wealthy households and a declining middle class. According to CNN Money our wealthiest Americans have seen their income grow more than twice as fast as middle-class Americans for almost 30 years. According to David Cay Johnston Americans with annual incomes near $350,000 are now receiving the largest share of national income since 1928.

Many people use talk radio as background noise while driving alone or at work. Thousands of "target market message" radio stations now make it easy to only hear opinions that reinforce what one already believes. Some of the people who support this nation's economic bipolarity may do so because they constantly hear that if congress will simply cut taxes on the wealthy, end social welfare programs that transfer "their" tax dollars to the poor, and let Wall Street Bankers invest their 401k retirement fund and the taxes they pay into Social Security into the stock market that they will become rich too.

One outcome of repeal of the Fairness Doctrine is polarization of the Democrat and Republican parties in ways that make cooperation impossible. No Senate Republicans voted for the recent Stimulus Package -- an attempt to restart an economy in large part stalled by Republican Party promoted policies. In fact Republicans demanded and got huge tax breaks that may prevent the stimulus program from working.

Bankers that accepted "Bailouts" to keep from going bankrupt are paying back those funds as fast as possible because keeping taxpayer money means they can not make more than a "paltry" $500,000 per year.

But repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has had an even more dangerous consequence.

• Radical Republican talk show host Glenn Beck is calling President Obama a fascist and calling for "revolution."
• Rush Limbaugh is denouncing "the statist tyranny crowd in Washington" and has said he wants the current administration to fail.
• The Department of Homeland Security has published a report warning that the current economic situation may attract radicals into terrorist organizations or to commit terrorist acts on their own.
• Large numbers of people are participating in commemorative "Boston Tea Parties" as a way to demonstrate against actions being taken to restore the economy.

There being no "Fairness Doctrine" makes it easy for right-wing radicals to ignore the brutal truth. It is the brutal truth that the "Greed is good" doctrine has driven the world into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. It is the brutal truth that using our military to launch a "Preemptive invasion" has bankrupted this nation.

My wiser than me wife says "Let them talk."

Restoration of the Fairness Doctrine needs to happen now. Knowing half truths and lies would immediately be rebutted might prevent reactionary talk show hosts from spewing irresponsible half truths and hate. Hearing both sides of each political argument might just make this nation more like the one of my youth.

 

BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
January 2011

Last year's controversies were starting to fade.

Last week only AARP magazine and one talk show host used passage of SB1070 and the well-publicized fact that anyone in Arizona can carry a concealed gun to explain why our economic recovery is falling behind that of sister states and the nation. Saturday January 8th a crazed gunman, with a legally purchased semiautomatic handgun, killed six and wounded eighteen as he attempted assassination of the Honorable Gabrielle Giffords.

A quick look at our elected officials' 2011 agenda makes obvious what is important to them.

Last week two Arizona legislators traveled to Washington in an attempt to force repeal of the 14th Amendment which grants citizenship to anyone born in The United States of America. Sunday January 9th, the day after the attempted assassination of an elected official, murder of a Federal Judge and five more innocent bystanders, our legislators' newly published their 2011 agenda. They intend to pass bills making it legal for anyone to carry a concealed weapon on a college or university campus and to forbid universities and colleges from prohibiting anyone with a permit from keeping a firearm on-campus in a private vehicle.

The young man, who murdered six innocent bystanders while attempting to assassinate Representative Gifford, was well known by local college officials. They recently expelled him from campus because of dangerously disruptive behavior and he was banned from returning until after having "a mental health clearance indicating, in the opinion of a mental health professional, his presence at the College does not present a danger to himself or others." Being a young man with serious mental health issues did not keep him from legally purchasing a semi-automatic handgun a month ago.

Once again we remind companies that carrying the Arizona brand might be bad for business and we remind tourists that Arizona is a dangerous place where crazies carry guns.

We are our own worst enemy.

 

 

WHAT AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM REALLY MEANS
December 2010

Last month several Republicans said "President Obama doesn't believe in American exceptionalism." Unfamiliar with the phrase I did a little research.

Many of us believe America is exceptional because it was founded by people with deeply held moralistic values, has a constitution that lets ordinary people elect their leaders and has been a land where ordinary Americans had unprecedented economic, political and personal opportunity. This is in sharp contrast to countries where leadership and wealth must be inherited. So many of us believe any honest hard working person can earn social respect, have an enjoyable career and own their own home regardless of social status that we refer to this as"The American Dream".

Many of us also believe our way of life is the envy of every rational human around the world, a belief reinforced by the large number of people trying to immigrate to the United States of America.

Republicans are using an off-the-cuff remark President Obama made last spring to fuel their attack. President Obama said…

"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I'm enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world. If you think about the site of this summit and what it means, I don't think America should be embarrassed to see evidence of the sacrifices of our troops, the enormous amount of resources that were put into Europe postwar, and our leadership in crafting an Alliance that ultimately led to the unification of Europe. We should take great pride in that.

And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality that, though imperfect, are exceptional."

Republicans twisted President Obama's belief that our core values provide America an opportunity to lead the world towards the light into a "code phrase" that implies the opposite of what he really said.

A few years ago Jim Collins published Good to Great, a report of why some companies thrive while comparative companies fail. He identified companies that outperformed what appeared to be equal counterparts over long periods of time to find out what made them great. He looked at leadership, how leaders were chosen, how they responded to adversity, their ability to remain focused on their core business, corporate culture and the impact of technology. Business and government exist for very different reasons so I tend to be skeptical of politicians who tout business experience as why they ought to be elected. However, this time there may be lessons to be learned.

Our most recent Republican leader was George W. Bush. It is common knowledge he led us into an expensive war in Iraq on false premises, squandered the healthy treasury he inherited by cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans and spawned huge deficits that make it impossible for us to take care of our most vulnerable brethren. Worse, in just published memoirs he states it was he who personally authorized torture in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. He led us in a direction very different from the values traditionally associated with American exceptionalism.

When it comes to "choosing" leaders it appears to me what we have are the best politicians money can buy. Huge campaign contributions from wealthy Americans Robert Kay Johnston referred to as "political donor class families" in Perfectly Legal, and from anonymous corporations looking for ways to shape public policy to benefit their shareholders and top executives, have turned more than half our members of congress into millionaires and corporate shills. There seems little exceptional about most current politicians.

Then there is the way in which our leaders responded to the 911 attack. An exceptional response would have been to punish the perpetrators while preserving a way of life people in the rest of the world envy. Instead many civil rights were suspended and our leaders created an impossible to pay for never-ending "war on terror" that cannot keep us safe. Two years ago a suicide bomb failed to explode in a New York subway, last Christmas an underpants bomb failed to explode in an airplane over Detroit, last May a car bomb failed to explode in Times Square and last month bombs were found on cargo planes headed for America. Eventually a bomb will explode and terrorists will win if our leaders foment and exploit fear as a way to stay in office instead of rallying to our ancestor's belief that America is exceptional because it is "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

It is a sad fact that the "globalism" and "free trade" our politicians insisted would be good for us have in fact been bad for many middle-class Americans. Making it possible to buy high quality goods and services for less money than they can be produced by Americans in America is not of much benefit to people with no money because they do not have a job. Middle class American workers now have to directly compete for jobs with people in developing nations where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. America has lost its place as the "land of opportunity" and is becoming very like an old world monarchy where a few wealthy people live well at the expense of everyone else.

What has truly been historically exceptional has been the ability of a large numbers of ordinary people to attain the American Dream. Unfortunately America has become a "plutocracy" with 13,000 families at the very top doing quite well while most middle-class Americans find it increasingly difficult to make it unless two family members both work full-time. One thing Jim Collins learned is that great companies recognize and address "The Brutal Truth." In Collapse, a book written by Jared Diamond he describes historical reasons civilizations fail. In general, a society starts to collapse whenever a wealthy elite enacts self-serving policies that make it impossible for its middle-class to thrive.

There are many more examples that justify President Obama's position but there is no added-value in their illustration. Logical discourse was never why Republicans said "President Obama doesn't believe in American exceptionalism."

Racial relations have come a long way and polite Americans no longer tolerate open racism. Unfortunately racism still lives beneath a thin veneer of civility. In the last presidential elections candidates running against Barack Obama used code phrases like "he's out of step with the rest of us" to energize voters who were appalled that a majority of voters might elect an African-American president.

This is just another Republican Party attempt to popularize a "code phrase" that hands racists an acceptable reason to vote their true feelings.

 

 

ELECTION 2010
November 3, 2010

We know who to blame.

Americans just re-elected the same politicians who dug the economic hole we're in and they feel they have a mandate to dig it deeper.

In Arizona we just elected three ethically challenged men to congress, elected another ethically challenged man to the office of Attorney General, re-elected Russell Pearce (author of SB1070) to our legislature and made him Senate President. Worse we re-elected a governor who doesn't understand how allowing Arizona to be branded a racist police state might make it difficult to attract investors or tourists to Arizona. Republicans being in complete control remind me of the car-chasing dog that actually caught a car.

Arizona is a mess. Washington may or may not be.

Democrats still control the Senate and bills cannot become law without President Obama's signature. Newly elected Tea Baggers may also disrupt the party of "No" by fighting with senior more traditional Republicans. More importantly neither Republicans nor Democrats can now steam roller the other party. Cooperation will have to happen if anyone hopes to accomplish anything. But most importantly the Federal government is led by an intelligent man who accomplished things in twenty months no former president was ever able to accomplish.

"We met the enemy and he is us (Pogo 1971)."

 

DEATH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM?
October 2010

Growing up we Americans knew this was the most righteous nation in the world. We believed hard honest work would lead to personal success and a strong national economy wherein everyone would prosper.

We united to defeat Nazism and Japanese and Italian Fascism, to rebuild Europe and Japan, to build national highway and water systems that were the envy of the world, to pay for returning GIs to go to college and to build factories that paid high school graduates a living wage as they produced goods that were bought by people all around the world.

President Kennedy launched America's Moon Shot in 1960.
Nine years later Americans landed on the moon.

Last month the World Economic Conference convened in Tianjin, China. The 75 mile trip from Beijing International Airport to Tianjin takes 25 minutes on the new high speed train - a train that last week set a world record of 287 miles per hour. The conference was held in the new Tianjin Meijiang Convention Center. According to Thomas Friedman "A building so gigantic and well appointed that if it were in Washington, D.C. it would be a tourist site… Your host reminds you "It was built in nine months."

China used the 2008 global economic meltdown to fund a stimulus package twice as large as America's when the relative size of each nation's economy is considered. The difference in how each nation's economy recovered may be related to how each nation deployed stimulus funds.

Most American stimulus funds went to banks in the hope they would avoid bankruptcy and pass-through tax-payer funds in ways that let home owners keep their homes. American bankers used taxpayer largess to continue business as usual in ways that returned record profits to share holders and to pay huge bonuses to themselves. American stimulus funds were also used to save Chrysler and General Motors from bankruptcy. A relatively small amount was used to hire workers to fix decaying highways and streets and some was used to keep teachers and health care workers employed.

American stimulus funds made a few of America's wealthiest families wealthier. Nine years after terrorists brought down The World Trade Center all the City of New York has to show are huge holes where the twin towers used to stand.

The Peoples' Republic of China used stimulus funds to launch the equivalent of four moon shots. In two years China…

• Built an ultramodern high-speed rail system to connect major cities,
• Built a network of ultramodern airports,
• Ordered 128 American DNA sequencers to launch its own stem cell genetic engineering industry,
• Is providing the Chinese automobile industry with $15 billion in seed money to develop a practical electric car.

Chinese stimulus funds put laborers, construction workers, engineers and scientists to work building infrastructure and industries most Chinese will be using for decades.

According to Ma Jiantang, Commissioner, National Bureau of Statistics of China. "China's government responded rapidly to the crisis of 2008, taking the lead in achieving economic recovery." "China's GDP growth rate rose far more than expected, from 6.1% in early 2009 to 11.9% in 2010. Measures have since been taken to address rapid credit growth and fears of overheating. I am not worried about the speed of the economic recovery," he added. "China is looking to achieving 10% growth in 2010, with CPI less than 3%."

America has a less than 2% jobless recovery
because most economic benefits went to the wealthiest Americans.

An ABC/Yahoo News poll conducted during September 2010 found 40% of all Americans no longer believe in The American Dream. There are good reasons to be pessimistic.

"The 10-year period between 2000 and 2010 was an utterly lost decade for most Americans. In inflation-adjusted dollars of white families declined 5%, the incomes of Hispanic families dropped 8% and those of African-American families 11%, an almost unimaginable reversal after steady decades of progress. More than 12 million people fell into poverty. Even though the population grew by 25 million fewer Americans held jobs at the end of the decade than when it began." Ronald Brownstein, National Journal.

America has been transformed from being a nation wherein ordinary honest, hard-working people could earn a good living to a nation wherein the wealthiest Americans are doing fabulously well at the expense of everyone else.

Is the American Dream dead?

 

ANGER-STOKED ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM
September 2010

Academically gifted students just received invitations to join Phi Theta Kappa, the International Honor Society. A nasty-gram from an angry recipient read something like "I need a job. What makes you think I would spend $75 for a piece of paper that buys nothing but association with snobs - if you don't have an answer you're obviously one too so quit wasting my time."

There is a growing anti-intellectual movement in America partly because people like Sarah Palin are trying to incite class warfare and partly perhaps because many college students, like the writer of the above nasty-gram, have been forced to enroll in college against their will. Careers these unwilling students planned to devote their life to have been outsourced to India, off-shored to China or are no longer in demand. I just read more than 25% of all Arizonans now live in poverty. That the world narrowly averted another Great Depression is of little solace to people who don't have a job.

But what many people do not understand is that anti-intellectualism is also anti-job development. China, where most leaders are scientists or engineers, just passed policies that will translate global warming into green Chinese jobs. Here opposition from religious leaders, businessmen who are getting rich selling natural resources (like natural gas being mined in a way that pollutes the drinkable water supply: eg. T Boone Pickens), and politicians who pander to such groups as a way to stay in office have stalled green job development. The wind turbines sprouting up across America were made in Germany and Spain.

Ours is a republic and we hope the men and women we elect to represent us are intellectual instead of emotional when it comes to policy development. Unfortunately in Arizona most majority Republican Party leaders seem more interested in sending nasty-grams to Washington than economic development: Self-destructive like the student who doesn't understand being branded "smart" might be an economic advantage when looking for a job -- on a grand scale that impacts all Arizonans. Our elected leaders do not seem to understand that acting in anger creates unintended consequences. Legislators in both the Arizona House and Senate and the Governor admitted being surprised that passage of a law that makes it legal for almost anyone to carry a hidden gun, and an anti-immigration law much of which was quickly ruled unconstitutional, created an anti-economic development firestorm.

Anti-intellectualism is especially anti-job in Arizona where so much revenue comes from tourism. By definition, when it comes to tourism perception is reality. Recent statements by the Governor of Arizona and Pinal County Sheriff make it appear tourists here are in imminent danger of being kidnapped by Mexican drug gangs even as actual crime rates have dramatically declined. It should not be a surprise that Europeans who read travel guides, and Americans who watch the news, avoid Arizona.

But conventions are the biggest source of tourism revenue by far. Rightly or wrongly laws passed last year resulted in Arizona being labeled a "racist police state" by citizens and governments across America and around the world. Most businesses do not want their company's brand associated with racism and violence. According to the Arizona Tourism Bureau more than 30,000 jobs, 55,000 room rentals and $2 Billion in revenue have already been lost and it is also reported that few conventions are being scheduled for future years.

And it is going to get worse unless Democrats win control of at least one legislative house or the governor's office.

If Republicans once again control all three entities they plan to challenge the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Their intended goal is to force the United States Supreme Court to declare babies born in the United States to parents who are foreign nationals to not be considered citizens of the United States of America. The likely unintended consequence, which our elected representatives seem unable to intellectualize; will be more fuel on the anti-Arizona firestorm with an increased and even longer-term loss of tourist revenue and an even greater hesitation by companies to invest in Arizona.

I appreciate the power of anger for there is much to be angry about. Sending jobs to places that pay highly educated locals 10% of what American workers would receive has made 13,000 American families fabulously wealthy to the detriment of the American middle class. National policy has favored the wealthiest Americans since the early 80s.

But the student in question is letting anger lead him towards a bad career decision. I am convinced that the decision regarding those with whom one chooses to associate is the most important decision anyone ever makes. In the words of my colleague Fred Maihofer, "Joining Phi Theta Kappa will be the best $75 you will ever spend because for the rest of your life you will be branded smart." Belonging to Phi Theta Kappa provides license to associate with smart people.

Furthermore, while I would never recommend joining an Honor Society as a way to land a job because that will rarely happen, the Northern Arizona University Dean who hired me in 1978 and I were both President of the same Honor Society; Him fifteen years before me.

 

RESULTS OF THE PRIMARY ELECTION
August 2010  

Last week Arizona Republicans elected candidates for this fall's general election. About 40% of all registered Republicans voted because Republicans from the left, middle, and right ran for many offices. Very few Democrats voted because most races only had one Democratic candidate.

Jon Stewart recently said something like "Our nation is so ideologically divided we no longer consider what is right or wrong, just what is right or left." Republican right wing nuts won several races.

Republicans elected candidates in favor of the policies that resulted in Arizona being "branded" a "racist police state" by governments and citizens across America and around the world. Tourism is important to this state's economy; More than 40 conventions have been cancelled and very few are being booked for coming years. Arizona businesses are also being boycotted.

Republicans voted out Rick Romley who was called in to clean up the legal and ethical mess Andrew Thomas made of the Maricopa Attorney General's Office. Yet almost a majority of Republicans voted for Andrew Thomas as their candidate for Arizona Attorney General even though he may well be disbarred which will disqualify him from serving should he be elected.

Republicans elected Brock Landers (aka Ben Quayle) who is running on a "family values" platform to represent Arizona in Washington. Brock/Ben finally admitted it was he who financed and was a regular contributor to a pornographic website site called "Dirty Scottsdale." He is also famous for saying "Barak Obama is the worst President in the history of the United States of America."

Brock/Ben may be right in preaching invective to the party faithful if all the Republican Party wants to do is "Take Back America" by winning elections. In less than two years, President Obama steered the economy away from what could have become another Great Depression, saved General Motors and Chrysler and the almost two-million jobs those companies represent, forced BP to set-aside $20 billion to pay people damaged by the oil spill BP caused, withdrew combat troops from Iraq, shepherded passage of Republican watered-down versions of Medicare for All and Finance Reform - while under constant Republican attack.

Arizona has a Republican majority. It appears most of those who voted cared less about ethics and economics than ideology. My hope is wing-nut candidates will keep talking until enough Arizonans of both parties understand how bad domination of both houses of the Arizona Legislature and the Governor's Office by wing nuts is for everyone who lives here - and that they then vote in our best interests.

 

"HAVING CLOUT IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING SMART;
HAVING A FANCY TITLE IS NOT THE SAME AS COMPETENCE"
Dr. Rachel Madow, Annual Phi Theta Kappa Conference
May 2010

Our elected officials have been busy telling the rest of the world who Arizonans are ever since Janet Napolitano departed for Washington. The 2010 legislative session just ended. Thanks to our Senators, Representatives and Governor every Arizonan can legally carry a concealed weapon which is excellent since Arizona has the worst financial crisis of any state within this United States of America. Our elected officials have made their priorities perfectly clear.

• With the exception of a one-cent temporary sales tax increase, to be voted on later this year, our legislators' plan is to cut programs and tax cut their way out of this fiscal crisis.
• Arizona legislators dislike health care reform so much they gave the Governor of Arizona permission to spend as much money as she wants to sue the federal government.
• Kris Kobach who works for a white-rights organization named FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform) assisted Senator Russell Pearce, who recently apologized for associating with neo Nazis, to draft the law requiring anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant to carry papers. The new law also makes it mandatory that law officers check immigration status of anyone who they think might not have papers.
• JD Hayword, Republican candidate for the United States Senate, wants to ban all immigrants and is especially concerned about people who look Chinese.
• Arizona legislators introduced a "Birther Bill" to force candidates for federal Office prove they were born in the United States of America before their name can be placed on Arizona ballots. Fortunately that bill never made it to the Governor's desk for her to sign.
• Most Arizonan's think it is alright for police to stop and require anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant to produce papers that prove he or she is a citizen or legal immigrant. Bishop Tutu of South Africa, an expert on Apartheid, explained the danger of that slippery slope.

  • "We lived it -- police waking a man up in the middle of the night and hauling him off to jail for not having his documents on his person while he slept. The fact that they were in his nightstand near the bed was not good enough. Of course if you suggested such a possibility today to an Arizona policeman he would be adamant that he would never do such a thing. And I would believe him. Arizona is a long way from apartheid South Africa.The problem is, under the new law, the one or two who would do it are legitimized. All they have to say is that they believed that illegal immigrants were being harbored in the house. They would be protected and sanctioned by this law."

It is frightening that this new law will be enforced by Sheriff Joe Arpaio; An elected top county law officer who sweeps into one community after another with his army of deputies to arrest hundreds of legal and law-abiding citizens most of whom are simply guilty of being brown. The top law enforcement official in the most populous County in Arizona is more interested in cultivating his "Toughest Sheriff in America" image, and establishing a political empire, than in using his resources to take criminals off the streets.

• The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office eliminated the unit that was charged with finding and apprehending tens of thousands of wanted felons who have outstanding warrants for their arrest.
• One of his Deputies violated attorney-client privilegeduring a trial in court by removing papers from a defendant's legal file. The arrested and sentenced Deputy was then treated like a hero by fellow officers.
• The Maricopa County Sheriff, County Board of Supervisors and County Attorney are spending millions suing each other.
• The Sheriff spent half a million dollars on a bus his office is not allowed to use because it was illegally purchased.

Add all the above together and Arizona appears to be inhabited by racist, litigation-happy gun-toting vigilantes, or that at least that is who the majority of Arizonans have elected to represent themselves. That the majority of Arizonans elected these people is troublesome. Most Russians supported Lenin, most Germans supported Hitler and most Chinese supported Mao and look where that led. We are on a slippery slope.

The evidence of collective irrationality appears to have acquired critical mass. The Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association reported that 19 national conferences representing 15,000 rooms were cancelled because of the new immigration law as of Saturday May 1st. More cancellations, lost jobs and cancellations are surely on the way. Yet a poll published May 2nd still shows that when asked "Do you think Arizona's new immigration law will hurt the economy?" 63% of all Arizonan's answered "No."

It will be impossible to calculate the true cost of this state's damaged reputation. There will be no way to count the people who will quietly choose to shun Arizona. No one has to call for a boycott - many people with money to spend or invest will choose to avoid Arizona on their own. I wonder how having Arizona license plates on my car will affect how I am treated as I drive around the United States this summer?

"We have met the enemy and it is us (Pogo 1970)."

 

 

ESTRELLA WINS NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR
STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP, LEADERSHIP & SERVICE EXCELLENCE
April 2010

Six months ago Marylyn and I notarized “do not resuscitate” living wills, ordered and etched our names and dates of birth onto a gravestone and Marylyn spent hours trying to teach me how to manage our finances. We put our affairs in order because Marylyn had only a few months left to live.

January 18th, while everyone else was celebrating Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, we miraculously received the gift of life in the form of a new kidney for Marylyn.

Marylyn and I spent last weekend in Orlando, Florida watching Marylyn’s Phi Theta Kappa officers receive the lion’s share of awards at their national convention. Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honor society in America with tens of thousands of members in more than 1,200 chapters and millions of alumni. More than 4,000 honor student officers and advisors were treated to pageantry as only Disneyworld does it.

Not only was Monika Groomes' stellar performance as an international officer onstage amazing but Estrella’s Beta Alpha Xi Chapter won recognition with an almost unheard-of four major International Hallmark Awards:

• Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Chapter,
• Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Chapter President (Yvette Moller),
• Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Service (Lucas Byrnes-Norton), and
• Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Scholarship (Kevin Riley, Anita Padilla, and Jose Gonzales).

In addition, Lauren Hansen, Yvette Moller, and Kevin Riley, who also serve on the Arizona Region Board, were recognized for being leaders of one of the entire Phi Theta Kappa organization’s Top Three Regional Boards.

And Marylyn was feted on stage “For your dedicated support to Monika Groomes” in her election to and year as Region IV International Vice President.

Estrella Mountain Community College is now known for excellence in student scholarship, leadership and service.

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 As Published
Students Accomplish International Success with the Support of Advisor in Medical Crisis

On the morning of April 12th, Estrella Mountain Community College’s faculty and staff were greeted with an email with the subject line: “Congratulations to our PTK students!” The email was sent by the advisor of the campus’ Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Beta Alpha Xi Chapter, Marylyn Bradley. The students of PTK and Bradley had just returned from the Phi Theta Kappa International Convention in Orlando, Florida where they were victorious with an unheard of win of four Hallmark awards and a spot on the top 100 chapter list for the fifth consecutive year. Accomplishments like these are never easy to accomplish, but Bradley, and her never-ending support of her students, led the group to success. However, during the preparations for this event, Bradley was fighting a war with her own body, a war that her students knew nothing about.

Bradley was facing End Stage Renal Disease at the beginning of 2010; her kidneys were working at a 15 percent capacity and she and her doctors had already concluded that dialysis would not work for her. Through this, Bradley and her family had come to terms with the fact that she only had a few months to live. “Marylyn and I notarized ‘do not resuscitate’ living wills, and ordered and etched our names and dates of birth on a gravestone,” writes Bradley’s husband John in an email telling the little known story of his wife’s illness. “January 18th, while everyone was celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, we miraculously received the gift of life in the form of a new kidney for Marylyn,” he said. Until that day, the students of PTK knew nothing of Bradley’s condition.

“Imagine my surprise when I got the call that Marylyn was going into surgery and getting a transplant. I was dumbstruck! I didn’t know she was that sick,” said PTK President Yvette Moller. “If anything, this shows her dedication to our success as students. She never once places the students or PTK in second to her own personal health.”

This is because during Bradley’s fight for her life, she had changed nothing in her regular work routine. She still attended every meeting and answered every email, call, and text, almost instantly. Moller believes that Bradley knew if the students would have known about her condition, they would not have focused to achieve the awards received. “I think she knew that we would have placed PTK on the backburner for her, and that’s what she didn’t want.”

At the 2010 Phi Theta Kappa International Convention, students won four awards, something that has never happened before at the international level. Beta Alpha Xi received the following awards; Scholarship Hallmark honoring Kevin Riley, Anita Padilla and Jose Gonzales; Service Hallmark honoring Lucas Byrnes-Norton; Distinguished Chapter President award honoring Yvette Moller; and a Distinguished Chapter award. Beta Alpha Xi also received these awards on a regional level in addition to $900 to be used toward student scholarships.

“I have a missionary spirit to what PTK and community colleges can do in the life of a student. In many cases, this experience creates a turning point in the life of students,” said Bradley. While she is still going through the recovery process, Bradley continues her work as a faculty member and advisor to students at Estrella Mountain Community College. In the telling of her story, Bradley wishes to bring more attention to student success and the leaders that she has been able to see come out of PTK, but the students of PTK would like to honor Bradley for all the work that she has done for students and thank her for the inspiration that she has provided. “God not only gave her a gift with that kidney, he gave a gift to everyone whose lives Marylyn will continue to affect in a positive way,” said Moller.

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THAT WHICH HURTS INSTRUCTS (Ben Franklin)
 October 2009

I love learning new things. Saturday morning Marylyn and I learned "to canvas" means knocking on strangers doors to ask "Do you have any concerns about health insurance reform?" We also learned..

• Few people are home Saturday morning. Those who were, were a lot more polite than me. I need to clean up my act.
• Most people aren't paying attention. Most are probably too busy earning enough money to buy food and keep a roof overhead to pay attention to anything else.
• Canvassing is a young person's job. Even on a relatively comfortable day just three hours on the street "washed us out." I fell asleep with an Illini football game on when I should have been screaming at the television.

Reform is needed.

Eight years ago our daughter went to the Emergency Room in acute pain, the doctors took one look and wheeled her into surgery and removed her appendix. Our insurance company refused to pay since the doctors didn't call and ask the high school dropout who answers our insurance company phone for her permission to operate before they operated: we finally paid-off the last installment of her medical bill this month. Insurance companies can't be trusted.

Republicans openly talk about killing reform as a way to regain control of Congress: which is nothing new. In his just released book Senator Bob Dole describes sabotaging health insurance reform in 1993 in a self-serving effort to defeat the Clintons and set himself up to run for President. Bob Dole now supports President Obama's health care reform initiative. I voted for this hypocrite.

I wish Saturday had been less a lesson in brutal truth.

Almost everyone agrees that failure to curtail health care insurance cost increases will bankrupt this nation.

In Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond explains how once a society's rich and powerful make decisions that benefit themselves, at the expense of everyone else, their society is doomed. In Perfectly Legal David Kay Johnston describes how this nation's 13,000 member "political donor class" used access to politicians to acquire control of more of this nation's wealth than controlled by us less fortunate 95% combined.

This week the bipartisan Senate Finance Committee unveiled a nearly $900 billion over the next decade plan that included health care coverage for nearly everyone. In Tax Cuts Offer Most for Very Rich, Edmud L. Andrews of the New York Times explains that retaining Republican awarded tax breaks for the rich will cost more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

Is paying for health care insurance reform that simple - just eliminate tax cuts for the rich? More than a trillion dollars over the next ten years would allow nearly 50 million presently uninsured citizens access to decent health care, would protect uncounted additional millions who will lose their current health care coverage over the coming decade as double-digit health care inflation makes it increasingly impossible for employers and anyone but the super wealthy to afford quality care. It would also slow this nation's slide into plutocracy.

Will this nation's "super rich," who benefit most from "Tax Cuts for the Rich," follow the lead of Warren Buffet (richest man in America) and do what is right for the rest of us since they also have a vested interest in survival of our society.

Can we count on this nation's super wealthy to do what is in their own best interest?

Alan Greenspan, whose laissez faire management of the Federal Reserve Bank facilitated the recent economic debacle, admitted that the destructive extent of greed recently demonstrated by this nation's super wealthy, that almost destroyed the entire global economy, never occurred to him.

So much for "trickle-down" economics.

 

 

THE LURE OF EASY MONEY
August 2009

It's the lure of easy money, It's gotta very strong appeal. Glenn Frey, Smugglers Blues.

The only way I see beneficial health insurance reform happening, without creation of a competitive public program like Medicare to keep private insurance executives and owners honest, is to turn private insurance companies into regulated Public Utilities.

Health insurance executives just spent more than $400 million lobbying Congress to end health insurance reform (It is reported there are six health care industry representatives in the lobby trying to buy every single congressman).

The health care insurance industry has a lot of money to spend because they pay themselves more than 25% of the revenue they receive (Medicare administrators spend less than 5% of the revenue received on themselves). Health insurance executives have a huge monetary interest in maintaining the status quo.

 

WERE WE ROBBED?
July 2009

When the Republican led "lame-duck" economy crashed last year Secretary of the Treasury Paulson and former CEO of Goldman Sacs coerced congress into letting him use up to $700 billion of the money in our Treasury to "bail out banks". Congress and President Bush agreed that there were to be no records kept as to where the money went and that Secretary Paulson would not be held legally accountable for what happened to our money.

According to The New York Times (July 15, 2009) Goldman Sachs just posted a record $11.4 billion profits with $3.4 billion of that earmarked for bonuses averaging $770,000 per employee. Goldman Sachs can legally do this because they paid off their "bail-out" loans and are no longer restricted in terms of executive compensation.

Is this the most blatant looting of the United States of America Treasury in the history of this nation? Is this the finest ever manifestation of the "Greed is good" mantra? Did Secretary Paulson use our money to bail-out his friends?

We need The Republican Party. Unfortunately the abuse of power that became possible by their being in charge of all three branches of government for a few years turned so many people against them that The Republican Party has become irrelevant. To put it quite simply most Americans are not better off now than they were ten years ago. If you are a Republican these past eight years has been an unmitigated disaster.

Sarah Palin says she quit her job as Governor of Alaska to save the Republican Party. "I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation," Palin said. "People are so tired of the partisan stuff-even my own son is not a Republican." I wish it were that simple.

Thirty years of public policy favoring this nation's most wealthy citizens has created a bipolar United States of America. Forty years ago we had a few poor people, a large middle-income citizenry and a few wealthy people. Today millions of poor people barely survive on a combination of welfare and minimum wage jobs and the manufacturing jobs that supported this nation's middle class have been exported to third-world nations where people are happy to earn 40 cents an hour. At the economic top are millions of well-educated two-income professionals who appear to have nothing in common with, or little sympathy for, the majority of Americans who have not benefited from trickle-down economics.

It is the disenfranchised to whom Sarah Palin appeals. Many of them feel robbed by a wealthy well-educated minority who used the housing bubble and Wall Street schemes to become fabulously wealthy as those not in on the scam lost their homes to foreclosure. Many of the citizenry to whom Sarah Palin appeals listen to inflammatory and loose-with-facts Republican Party spokesmen like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity - rich self-serving tools who preach that mainstream media is nothing more than liberal propaganda. The citizenry to whom Sarah Palin appeals believe racists who shout immigrants have taken their jobs and hate the fact that an African-American is President of the United States of America.

Sarah Palin's simple, happy and pretty face provides an attractive alternative vision to those angry Americans who believe they have been betrayed. Young Republicans, to whom Sarah Palin appeals, just elected 38 year-old Audra Shay, a person who responds favorably to racist comments and "Facebook Friends" racists, to be their President.

This nation needs The Republican Party. While a few years of Republicans being in charge of all three branches of government led to their demise careful reading of recent history makes it clear Democratic Party leaders are no smarter. Many of the most onerous policies enacted these past thirty years were sponsored by Democratic Party leaders, passed by a Democratic Party controlled congress and signed into law by a President from the same party.

This nation needs a two-party system wherein proposed policies are openly discussed, debated and presented in the worst possible light by an opposing party before they become law.

Unfortunately Sarah Palin appeals to the worst instincts of those disenfranchised Americans who are not as well off as were their parents, who have lost their homes and chance of ever retiring while wealthy Americans cashed-in as the artificially created housing bubble burst.

I have read most people affiliate with a political party before age 25 and while they may become a bit more conservative as they age pretty much remain loyal to the party chosen in their youth for the rest of their life. The Republican Party has a serious problem. Almost all of the young people I know, and being a college professor I know many, obtain their political news from television programs like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher. They do not listen to old men like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity -- or Sarah Palin.

For The Republican Party to survive it needs a positive role model like Meghan McCain who inspires and brings out the best in people.

This pretty, positive young woman is not afraid to appear on controversial programs like Real Time, smart and tough enough to use her intellectual skills and feminine wiles to deflect attack and a good enough communicator to be featured by a well-respected news organization like The Daily Beast. More importantly she doesn't appear to have compromised her integrity by engaging in hypocritical sexual politics like so many male Republican Party leaders.

It is important for this nation that The Republican Party recovers from its current malaise. In my opinion being represented by extremists like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Audra Shay will delay that recovery. It is time for a refreshing new voice and so far Meghan McCain is the most credible youthful voice I hear.

I'm an old veteran. Enlisted in the Navy -- drafted by the Marines. When a helicopter crashes killing 12 Marines and a sailor the "sailor" was a Medical Corpsmen in a combat marine uniform. You have to have been there to understand.

My name's John Bradley. You know me as a professor. I'm really just a poor farm kid: Sixth of seven children. I'm here because...

I was born to the right parents at the right time in the right country.

Anyone raised on a farm knows it takes a lot of hard work and long time to grow anything important. No one here built this college, city or nation. Everything here is gift from those who came before.

Vietnam was my war. The two times I made it into Danang the streets were lined with crippled beggars whom I assume were veterans of that 40 year-long war. They were used up worthless trash.

But I live in America. Thanks to those who came before I received a free college education. The GI Bill paid for my bachelor's degree, my master's degree, got me started on my doctorate degree and helped me buy a house.

I've always paid my debts but this time I owe too much. There is no way I can ever repay those who came before. All I can do is "pay it forward."

Sylvia Dominguez told me there are more than 300 veterans enrolled here at Estrella. We veterans understand the honor that comes from doing one's duty. It's my duty to do as much as I can for those who follow me. That's the only way I can repay those whom I owe.

We veterans are an honorable force. It is our duty to use what this college and country have given us to keep this nation great. We will be honored when our children look back and say...

"We were born to the right parents at the right time in the right country."

That will be our legacy.

 

"Arizona teens leaning left" (Arizona Republic, March 3, 2009).

The Republican party won big in Arizona this fall probably because Senator John McCain, their favorite son, ran for President. Republicans are a solid majority in the legislature where they are using the current economic crisis to "Starve the beast."

For years an extremely popular Democratic Governor made it impossible for Republican Legislators to eliminate kindergarten, social services for the poor and to make it illegal for a woman to choose abortion. With former Governor Napolitano in Washington Republicans are completely in charge in Arizona and cutting all budgets. Actually that's not perfectly true.

The Arizona Legislature increased Sheriff Joe Arpaio's budget and kept prison funding steady as they used the current crisis as an excuse to gut the kindergarten to university budget and slash social services budgets when stimulus funds made most such cuts unnecessary. It also appears safe abortion by medical professionals will soon become illegal.

Actually our legislature was consistent: Arizona ranks number four of all states by spending almost 10% of its entire state budget on "corrections" while ranking close to last when funding education. Are these facts are related?

Democrats are in charge in Washington. Arizona's Republican Senators and Representatives are doing their best to keep President Obama's plan from bringing relief to this nation and the world. Arizona's Republican delegates are largely irrelevant which is probably good if one wants to retain the two-party system that served this nation well for almost two centuries.

Older Arizonan's may stave off their children's leftward lean for awhile but their children are not ignorant and it is the natural order of life for children to outlive their elders.

Thanks to The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Bill Maher our youth know increasing taxes of persons who make more than $250,000 per year, and making it impossible for these wealthiest Americans to hide their money in tax-shelters in the Cayman Islands and secret bank accounts in Switzerland, will not be bad for America. Our youth know less than 3% of all small businesses, and 5% of all Americans, make more than the $250,000 per year.

According to the Morrison Institute "75% of Arizona's youth are in favor of giving illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens;" "65% say women have a right to choose abortion" and "60% say religion should not play an important role in public policy." In direct contrast to many of their money driven elders 60% chose "a job you enjoy" and "a happy family" as essential to a good life with only 20% saying "lots of money" is what they need.

"The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23): An improperly used quote taken out of context seems strangely appropriate given the Republican propensity to use Biblical quotes to silence anyone who questions their ideology. I sincerely hope Republican party leaders become more in tune with what our youth consider important. Otherwise they will lose any ability to influence public policy and a one party system will be bad for Arizona and America.

 

February 2009

How things look depends on where one sits.

This month I had the privilege of meeting Joy Feng, a Professor of Finance from Wuyi University in China. She is here studying the current world-wide economic crisis. One of a ten faculty member seven graduate student team it is her job to learn how Americans feel about the current economic meltdown.

We were able to connect our Chinese colleague with economics professors and local business people. University of Nebraska colleagues connected her with nationally known financiers in Omaha, Nebraska.

The most significant finding was unexpected - but probably should have been anticipated. Economics professors and business people have a completely different understanding of what needs to be done to solve the problem.

Economics professors, as illustrated by the CATO Institute, do not think government ought to use increased government spending to stimulate the economy. On February 9, 2009 members of the CATO Institute printed a full-page advertisement to espouse that view. Their message was "…we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance."

None of the CATO Professors were from prestigious business schools. Economists have well paid ivory tower academic jobs where they are insulated from the real world comfortable with their theories. Business professors deal daily with people who are being hurt by the recession. Business people want positive action now. Local business people are "making safe investments and tightening their belts."

Some of this nations' wealthiest corporate culprits, who's reckless greed created the current crisis, are still spending like drunken sailors. ABC reported that Bank of America sponsored a five-day "carnival" outside the Super Bowl Stadium, Morgan Stanley held a three-day conference for bankers at the Breakers in Palm Beach, Sandy Weil, CEO of Citigroup used a company jet to fly his family to San Jose del Cabo to vacation at a $10,000 a night luxury hotel and Wells Fargo planned a series of "Employee Recognition Outings" in Las Vegas.

Tonight I listened to Dr. Jared Diamond, author of Pulitzer Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel in which he describes why some nations succeed while others remain poor; and Collapse wherein he describes why nations fail. According to Dr. Diamond the historical record is clear. When a nations wealthiest citizens and leaders are as impacted by decisions as ordinary citizens nations thrive; when leaders and the wealthy are insulated from the consequences of their decisions, their society eventually collapses.

It appears this nations most wealthy citizens and economics professors see nothing wrong and want to let the economy self-correct. Lets hope that the fact that our leaders are elected makes them accountable to the ordinary citizens who are bearing the brunt of this crisis.

 

January 2009
THE SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY

Christmas break three generations of Bradley men drove an old Geo Storm 1,500 miles from Phoenix to Seattle. A demonstration of faith because we weren't sure that old car, with more than 235,000 miles on it, would take us where we wanted to go. We didn't relax until safely parked in Seattle.

Cars are simple physical things. People are much more complex being both physical and spiritual. Twelve year-old Canaan's body is near adult in size. He can't legally drive but he can read a map and carry on sophisticated conversation. Thirty-two year-old Eirean is physically powerful, an excellent driver and a world-class poet. Oldest, I'm physically the Geo in that some of my parts are showing wear but spiritually I'm still fit.

Physical things have limited life because parts wear, seals leak and fenders rust away. Spirituality outlasts physicality; Ideas are more powerful than things.

Like three Bradley men our entire world is on an economic journey of a never before experienced scale. The economy, like human-beings, is both physical and spiritual. All economic indicators are as scary as an odometer showing 235,000 miles on it. Is there enough economic resilience left to return us to prosperity? I believe the answer is more spiritual than physical.

Seven decades ago there was a similar economic crash. Factories and farms were still in place, need for the food and clothing farmers grew and products factories produced continued to exist. The great depression was primarily caused by a world-wide loss of faith. The world was spiritually, not physically, bankrupt.

The Great Depression occurred when all around the world fear overcame people's faith in their respective governments' ability to maintain a stable economy that would provide them an environment that would carry them safely into the future. Loss of faith led to despair, anger and an irrational search for villains. World War II was the result.

Franklin Roosevelt rallied this nation with "… (it is) my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." A wise and charismatic leader he understood the spiritual nature of the economic crisis. President Franklin did not change the physical world of factories and farms. What he changed was peoples' belief that the economy would improve - so it did.

Ken Griffin, CEO and founder of The Citadel Investment Group, LLC, one of the world's biggest and most successful hedge funds, may have expressed this best. Mr. Griffin uses both the mechanical precision of mathematical formulas and human intuition to run his firm. According to Mr. Griffins… "It comes down to having to make a judgment call." "…People who are really good at this have great intuition and instincts." "…The mathematics are important because they demonstrate you understand the problem but ultimately the decision about whether or not to take a given risk is really a human judgment call in every sense of the word."

We now have a young and inspirational president. Barack Obama's understanding of what inspires modern Americans, and people around the world, and use of computers and the Internet to communicate his vision, have rallied billions of people to his message of hope.

The world is now on a high-risk journey. Returning to economic prosperity will depend more on people believing in our new president's ability to lead us out of this crisis than in this world's bankers being able to control capital in technicaly rational ways. Spirituality trumps technicality.

Crisis brought my ancestors to America. It was from starvation that my father's family fled Ireland in the 1840s. Confiscation of their property and the certainty of prison made an uncles' family flee Cuba in the early 60s. The beacon of hope that led both families here was belief in the American dream.

For years I've heard that the Chinese characters for "Crisis" are a combination of "danger" and "opportunity." Even if not literally correct that is how this world works. I am an optimist who chooses to focus on how reaction to our current crisis can take us to new heights.

There is nothing new about this economic meltdown. Seven decades ago stock market speculators created a horrific mess when the bubble they artifically inflated popped. A charismatic -- visionary new president named Franklin Roosevelt seized the opportunity, put people to work building needed public structures, parks and bridges many of which still proudly stand. More important he also put financial safeguards in place that kept another economic collapse at bay more than seventy years. Because of his leadership the American Dream beacon glowed once again.

This nation has been in recession for more than a year and there is real danger of another great depression. According to Warren Buffet, wealthiest man in the world, "Geeks with formulas" created the current crisis. Recently I heard the economist Paul Samuelson say something like it was mathematical geniuses who caused the current economic collapse. I think they have it wrong. While the geeks in question are certainly smart I believe they were simply tools in the hands of this nation's "Political donor class" and the politicians whose campaigns these wealthiest of the wealthy financed.

In Perfectly Legal David Cay Johnston describes how members of the "Political donor class" have worked since the early 70s to "…rig our tax system to benefit the super rich - and cheat everybody else." By 1970 only the old remembered how unregulated greed led to the great depression of the 30s. Financial safeguards installed during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency were systematically weakened by politicans and financiers in the belief that our nations' wealthiest people would make so much money a "trickle-down economy" would increase everyones' wealth. President Reagan accelerated the processs when he declared "Government is the problem."

Deregulation, and complicated new investment schemes have worked to the extent that many of the rich have become "Super Rich." The rest of us did not fare so well, The income gap between wealthy and poor Americans has widened until America has become "bipolar." Chief Executive Officers also benefited and many now make 400 times more than their average employee. Political and financial leaders have once again taken unmitigated greed to its logical conclusion.

In the words of the great Yogi Berra "This is like déjà vu all over again."

We have a world-class crisis and a charismatic -- visionary new president. Lets hope President Obama can grab the steering wheel back from those who led us astray and drive us towards a world wherein honest, hard-working people can once again attain the American Dream. Good things can happen. President Obama's audacity to hope for a better new world, and ability to inspire people to change what needs to be changed, are America's best chance to return to what it was at its best.

The paradigm shifted. Barack Obama won a higher percentage of the popular vote than any non-sitting presidential candidate since Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. Persons older than 65 overwhelmingly voted for John McCain; persons under 30 asserted their power by overwhelmingly voting for Barack Obama. People in the middle split their votes. It was our youth who swung the vote towards Obama.

This old guy is hopeful that his children, and others of their generation, are up to the task ahead. They are the most highly educated, most culturally open and most economically vulnerable generation in more than seven decades. They are more like Barack Obama's generation than my generation.

First it is a know fact that adults remember 90% of what they teach. Barack Obama has been teaching Constitutional Law at The University of Chicago. His teachers from Harvard Law School say he was best student they ever taught -- he knows our Constitution. He will be tested by difficult circumstances. I am confident he will decide in favor of The Constitution of the United States of America, a stance often lacking in recent years. I am hopeful we can return to our roots.

Second, Barack Obama is surrounding himself with experienced Washington professionals; many from the Clinton administration which has to be judged a success if economic prosperity, winning a war without loss of a single American life and international respect count for anything. President Bush squandered a balanced budget, international good will that soared when this nation was attacked in 2001, and has seriously impaired our ability to protect ourselves should we be attacked again.

Although the paradigm has shifted which means "…everyone goes back to zero, past success guarantees nothing" (Joel Barker), tapping into Clinton era wisdom is good because eight years of Bush leadership has bankrupted this nation. I am comfortable having a well-advised and highly intelligent Barack Obama being what President Bush crudely described as "The Decider."

Restoration of fiscal solvency must come first since the entire world is now economically intertwined and another great depression could lead to another world war. Six decades of progress will be destroyed should that happen.

Restoration of moral solvency and the rule of law must occur simultaneously since it was our current administration's moral bankruptcy that created the current fiscal disaster. We are not an island. We need the wisdom of allies. It has been English and French leaders who proposed and implemented in Europe what our leaders now consider practical solutions to this nation's current economic crisis.

I also appreciate the fact that this father of young children made it clear he understands having earned a puppy is what is most important to his young daughters. It is refreshing to me that President-elect Obama knows what really matters. I want everyone to enjoy the same solid foundation my family has provided me.

It took eight years to create our current crisis; it will take years to restore moral and fiscal order. President Obama will be tried both domestically and internationally by events we cannot now imagine. What I have seen of him these past two years leaves me convinced that whatever happens, "No Drama Obama" will react thoughtfully without anger and with constitutionally-based wisdom which is all we can hope for from any president.

We Americans inherited an economically strong country. I sincerely believe we are strong enough to make it through the current meltdown without sliding into another great depression. We just need to make money available and keep hope alive.

Making money available may be the easier thing to do. In the 20s less than 3% of the economy was government spending, government spending now accounts for 21% of today's economy plus we have large numbers of health care and education workers still being paid. Our leaders have also taken steps to "bail-out" banks so they can loan businesses the money needed to meet payrolls and purchase equipment and supplies.

Keeping hope alive may be more difficult. Our economy is driven by millions of Americans believing they are personally economically secure. Taxpayers distrust banking executives and some leaders are making things worse. The $250 billion bank buyout proposed by our Secretary of the Treasury allows "Existing golden parachutes to remain in effect." He had to include that bribe because otherwise banking executives would not agree to go along with the plan. His plan also proposes bank bailouts be overseen by Boards of Directors that include no government watchdogs. Many of us taxpayers find it hard to imagine the people who got us into this mess will do anything but take our money with them into tax-sheltered Cayman Islands retirement.

We can weather this storm if strong leaders emerge who understand economics. This is really about ordinary citizens regaining hope which will happen once we see our leaders more focused on taking care of us than in making sure wealthy bankers retire to tax free havens with too much of our money to count.

Angry men at a recent McCain for President rally screamed "Off with his head" when Barack Obama's name was mentioned. I think I know why some people are so angry.

This nation is changing from one they understand to one they don't know. People are worried about how this new reality will impact them, their children and their grandchildren. I wonder about that too.

John McCain represents the past. Everyone my age understands military discipline, remembers when white people were a large majority, when "Made in America" was on everything we bought, when America led technological innovation and when America had the strongest economy in the world.

Barack Obama represents the future. Less than one in 200 persons now has military experience, the Southwest Valley is a "minority-majority" community as soon will be the entire nation, U.S Army berets are imprinted with "Made in China," Germany leads the world in exports because they produce the best wind and solar energy equipment in the world and last year the European Common Market produced more gross domestic product than The United States of America.

John McCain represents my generation and the world that was. Barack Obama represents my children and the world to come.

Last October I was amazed to watch a niece, who now lives in Hong Kong, sitting on her bed using her laptop to simultaneously instant message friends in Hong Kong, Mankato, Minnesota while listening to an economics lecture from London. I can't do that.

We oldsters may win this time but youth will prevail.

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