2012 Presidential Election

no, i realize that...i don't usually watch him, but i saw that vid and it made me laugh...this whole topic just enrages me because the fact of the matter is no matter who wins, we're still going to be screwed, the only way to fix the problem is to fix Congress.

 

Unfortunately, the only way to get elected to congress is with good financial backing from some corporations.

 

Good luck with that.

 

f*** you guys, im going to play kelly slater pro surfer on my gamecube

 

I wasnt old enough to vote when Christie ran for gov and back then i didnt give two shiets but after seeing what hes done in jersey i hope he runs for president one day

 

screwed me over after 16 successful years of teaching in the same district,yeah,it's all my fault new jersey sucks.that's what he's done.

 

Wow! I go surfing in the Pacific Northwest for 10 days and Swell Info looks like a tsunami has blown through.

Personally, I would be more than pleased to put on the table the Sen. Coburn (R-OK) plan for reducing the debt by $9 trillion, let each side peal off $1.5 trillion and go with the rest. And be done with it! There is a hurricane season coming up soon...

 

ever hear of term limits. that goes a long way to fix the problem. Most pork is the result of the need to get re-elected, same with shilling for donations from special interests. Take away politics as a career and the problem is lessened.

 

And here all this time I thought "Newts" lived under rocks and were generally slimey.

 

I thought Newt's staff all resigned a few weeks ago because Newt went on vacation in the middle of campaigning and didnt agree with him. It didnt seem like his organizational skills were all that.

He's always struck me as more of a policy guy than an administrator.

 

First off, I don't think Christie should run for or be president. Second, I think he's doing a great job in NJ. How did he screw you over? My understanding is that he offered the NJEA a deal where you would have to pay a bit more for your benefits or he'd have to let teachers go and the union chose the latter. My mother is a retire teacher from NJ and she left the NEA years before she retired because she saw how screwed up they were.

 

right,us teachers are terrible,rich and are solely to blame for all of new jersey's problems.teachers jobs are not being saved,pensions are being screwed over,and it's a lot,not a little we're having to contribute to pension and health care,since we have it so easy and make such exorbitant salaries.why would a gifted talent want to teach in nj,and how does taking away what little they have give anyone the incentive to,and so how does this improve our education system?i think illegal alien mexicans should teach your children in the nj public schools

 

I'm surprised they're not already!

 

You answered your own question...INCENTIVE. Pay teachers based on merit and provide bonuses to performers. get rid of under performers and tenure. nothing like extra money combined with competition to motivate people.

 

Regardless of your political affiliation, make sure to Stay Above the Weather!!

 

Wow, what a fun thread....Is it August yet?? But seriously this thread shows exactly why mindful discussion can degenerate into name-calling. I believe most people lie somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum, but its the fringes on both sides that fan the flames of hate. Class warfare, us vs. them, rich vs. poor, etc. And even though they are in the minority as far as numbers, they get all the attention. And the media is guilty of giving these candidates exposure over say middle of the road types. Additionally, the media likes to exaggerate the differences between John Doe from NY and John Doe from Texas. They like to make us appear further apart then we really are. It's just like the Weather Channel coverage of a blizzard, 90% hype and 10% substance. Its just the ones screaming that the media pays attention to. And its a shame really because in the mind of the media it's like the 80% in the middle don't exist. And this becomes perception of people who only receive their news from say cable news sources.

Really? I think NJ is a pretty blue state for the most part. I mean the northern counties of Bergen, Sussex, and Warren are usually red, and the southern Cumberland, Cape May, and Salem are red, but always red? I don't think so. I mean just cuz we elect a R governor sometimes, doesn't make us red. We can be a swing state when Burlington, Ocean, and Monmouth go red, but for the most part with our proximity to New York and Philadelphia, we're typically blue. My guess is we'll be blue for 2012 just like, 2008, just like 2004, just like 2000, etc.

 

Pay for Performance aka Merit Pay can be a mixed bag. The law of unintended consequences comes into play. It is extremely difficult to establish and measure outcomes (more difficult than measuring and evaluating outputs). Not sure where the extra money comes from when the money is being cut. Despite all the lip service on merit pay it is one of the first things to go when budgets are tight or reduced.

Come to think of it, one of the things that really motivated merit pay in the housing industry was selling as many mortgages as possible regardless of the qualifications of the borrower to carry the mortgage. There was merit pay (aka commissions) for every loan made, not every loan default.

On the other hand, since the topic is teachers and schooling, the Tea Party platform is to eliminate public schools, privatize public education and repeal the requirement for mandatory schooling. Public education is not considered to be a "common good."

 

My wife is a teacher. I agree with incentive pay because she's the bomb! Instead she gets the same pay as teacher X, Y & Z who may not be the bomb....like her!!

 

Agreed Lost. The bad teachers (which we all know are plenty) go which makes room for younger teachers who start with less pay but get a chance to prove themselves. Rod, look at what Indiana just did with their budget. They cut spending but still gave out bonuses to their top producing state workers. Also, as a Randian Objectivist, I reject the concept of a common good

 

Merit Pay in many settings sounds like a great concept. A utopian concept. Capitalist idealism. In practice it can create as much bad as good. Widely applied it simply isn't the answer.

P.S. As a self-proclaimed Randian Objectivist and in rejecting the concelpt of the common good, then you reject the overall precept of the U.S. Constitution, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."