Comments by "Ōkami-san" (@mweibleii) on "David Pakman Show" channel.

  1. Jennifer Hunter This conversation is going to be too complex to do over a Youtube comment system. Firstly, the USA does NOT NOT NOT have ANY free-markets in anything. Nothing. None. Zero. Nadda. (sorry if that sound facetious but I really want to get the point home that the USA does not have ANY free markets - anywhere. THAT question alone is very complex so to talk about healthcare within context is nearly impossible).  1) "Why can these medical device manufacturers get away with gross extortionist pricing in the US unlike the AU or GB?  It's our free market that is our achilles heel.  We allow the market to set the price and then we pay over $10000 for a $350 medical device." The answer is competition. We do NOT have free market competition and so it's possible to charge this amount. This simply would never happen with free markets and competition because someone would offer a cheaper price as they'd still make a lot of profit. This would continue until the profit was minimal. Imagine if Apple had a total monopoly on Smart Phones - the price would remain high. We have a monopoly in healthcare.  2) "If huge insurance companies can't bargain effectively, how can a single patient. "  In my opinion they're going to use ObamaCare to force people to pay more. THAT will be their solution. AND, in a sense, they kind of have to. Because we don't have a free market, costs are high and they're being stuck with the costs. What is your opinion of this private hospital? A friend of mine (from 'free' healthcare Canada actually paid out of pocket and went there as he was almost killed off by the Canadian healthcare system [misdiagnosed as not having cancer and was waiting for 8 months and starting to worry so he found this place, made an appointment, was properly diagnosed in 3 weeks as having cancer and it was removed and treated with chemo.) The Surgery Center of Oklahoma: http://www.surgerycenterok.com They work very hard to provide the patient with the information up front. No surprises. I'm just curious as to your opinion. I don't know them, but you could write to them if you have a question. 
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  2. Jennifer Hunter This is where I see the problem and where we completely disagree: "competition exists in the US market." I see this as THE problem with healthcare in the USA (and elsewhere). We do NOT have a true free market. We have a limited amount of highly protected markets with a teeny tiny small amount of competition.  You may be correct that in the short term a public healthcare option will be better than the fascist healthcare system we presently have as the State could directly regulate costs. But, what will happen over time is this will be as horrid as public housing. Sure, it seems good at first, fast forward 25 years and it's horrid.  In Australia you have a 1 in 5 chance of being misdiagnosed in a public hospital. Those are not good odds. And it's getting worse.  Also, stop and think of this, there are hundreds of thousands of students who spend nearly their entire lives attempting to get into medical school and yet they aren't accepted and end up wasting 10s of thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of hours of study and maybe the best years of their life. This is insane. Most of these students would be perfectly capable of practising medicine. Let the free market decide if people would or would not like these people to provide them with goods and services. Allow different schools of medicine to flourish.  I know students who went to the Philippines got their MD and came back and practice in the USA. That is ridiculous. I mean, he's a GP and probably perfectly capable - but it's ridiculous he went overseas and it shows you how there isn't real competition in the USA. There's a huge limit to the people in the market not to mention the ridiculous number of regulations.  The only solution is to allow free market competition and slowly, over time, we'd have good high quality inexpensive medical care and insurance that would cover most people. Lastly, I'd just say this. It's not just healthcare. It's our entire society. The problems are fundamental and healthcare is just one facet of a much MUCH bigger problem. One I'm fairly certain the majority of the American public is not up to the task of fixing. I think we're going to see a slow decline in our living standards over the next 25-50 years. We are becoming poorer and this will continue as far as I can see. 
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  3. Jennifer Hunter Do you think DO's should be allowed to practice medicine? A DO did my friend's kidney transplant. That DO would never be allowed to practice medicine in AU.  As for medical standards, Many over seas doctors are not all that well trained. Yet an MD can get them a place in the US practising medicine.  So, I'm not talking about lowering standards. I'm talking about something much more radical. Total free market. Notice I didn't say 'free for all'.  Anyway, let's do it this way. Watch how ObamaCare is today and then compare in 25 years. Just wait for the public hospitals, public unions, public quotes, and holidays, and regulations, and etc.... You'll see.  In 25 years, I bet most Americans would rather take a chance DIY surgery with a iPhone app rather than go into a public hospital. It's not that I want it to go this way, but I'm 110% sure it will go this way. It's the natural progression - one could say, baked in the cake.
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  4. Jennifer Hunter I've worked in a few countries and in both public and private enterprises. At the end of the say social structures are built on people. And people need to be motivated to continue to provide good quality at a reasonable price and improve. Without a free market the focus comes off the customer and on other bureaucratic bullshit.  As an example, a person teaching and training medical students who also does medical research - - would have it made extremely clear to them which is to be prioritized. Because there will always be million of students who want into a medical program, there's no need to optimize or improve that program. However, research brings prestige and money into the University - so that's always going to be more important. Anyway, as I said, let's see what ObamaCare looks like in 15 - 25 years. 
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  5. Jennifer Hunter Oh, and Happy New Year :)
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  6. According to the DoED, the average American reads at the 6th grade level. Trump knows what his target audience likes to hear. He's a reality TV star for Christ's sake. The race for POTUS is a TV reality show.
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  7. The solution is ending government subsidies for workers in companies like McDonalds. End benefits. This would force McDonalds to either alter their workforce demographic or alternatively raise the price they buy labor. The long-term solution is of course ending low quality public schooling and supporting high quality private and home schooling options. As well as deregulating the food industry allowing Americans to complete with their own products and goods and services. Most any American can produce a hamburger and french fries at higher quality and lower price compared with McDonalds. Unfortunately people such as David would never allow free market competition in the USSA because that would mean eliminating cherished progressive ideologies such as minimum wage and workplace safety and replacing these with private union contracts and laws on fraud and property rights.
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  8. Bernie Sander's is an Authoritarian Progressive. As an example, watch what he does AFTER he loses the race to control the State/State Authoritarianism. What will he do? Will he continue to gather the support of the 10s of millions so-called Progressive "Socialists"? IMO No. Because he really doesn't have any ideas OTHER than those that require Authoritarian Statism in the name of so called Progressivism to be implemented. If he does, then we'll see a fantastic set of Private Charities and other Private Institutions founded by Bernie Sanders to continue the "Revolution". If we do not, then you Progressives will finally understand, you're so called "Democratic" Socialism is in actuality: Statist Authoritarianism. It is fed and watered by State Authoritarianism and dies without it. It should be noted, David mentions Progressivism is about the Individual. What a load of crap. It is not. Progressivism is a form of Statist Authoritarianism that began with the Progressive Party of the late 1800s. Progressives gave us our Progressive Income Tax and Progressive Central Bank - which funds out never ending wars and bails out the richest 1%. It's about using the State to enforce morality Laws for the deemed Social Good. Such as Income Tax Law or our Central Bank. Or even the War on Drugs. All of these 'advancements' for the "Good of Society" are "Progressive".
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  9. As I said, if Bernie Sanders' ideas about a 'Social Revolution' were worthwhile, then they will stand and continue to be implemented. If not, if all he had to say hinged on the need for State enforcement (Authoritarianism) then we'll know he was your typical Statist Authoritarian (which he was by the way - they all are). Let's see how History plays out. My guess is, in another 4 years, Sanders will be a distant memory and so-called Progressives will be on to their next Statist. Progressives will never be happy until the finally get their Uncle Joe in as the POTUS.
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  10. As an aside, I find it interesting to see the Bernie Bro's out there enforce, spitting in people's faces, smashing private property, and etc... IMO this is your typical Authoritarian / violent behavior. Also, I'll also be interested to see how Sweden (Bernie's poster-child for "Democratic Socialism", plays out across the next 10 years).
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  11. MrBlackatheist 1) Sanders is an Authoritarian by definition - that's what Socialists are (Democratic or otherwise). They use the Government (legal Authority) to enforce laws they enact to implement the "social changes" they want implemented. They 100% depend on the Police State in order to enforce legal change for the "Social Good". Which is why I said: If Bernie doesn't win the POTUS, then you'll see the 10s of millions of his followers leave him and he will make zero social change. 2) Even Hillary has complained about Sander's supporters (AKA: Bernie Bros) - not to mention the Bernie Bros who have physically attacked the Republic candidate's supporters.
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  12. Nihlax That's somewhat correct, Buddhist by the way :) Anyway, I made my prediction, so we'll see. If Bernie's support evaporates with his ability to utilize State violence, then we'll see he was only a Statist Authoritarian after all.
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  13. Roberth Pilesund Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. ALL of these politicians lie through their teeth. They'll promise anything to get elected. Which is why it's better to have a SMALL government such that these scum have as little to do with most of our lives as is humanly possible. You know, the whole 'LIMITED' government concept that the nation was founded on.
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  14. Roberth Pilesund The North Korean government owns everything - there is no private property in North Korea. It's composed of much more than one dictator and is in fact, one of the largest governments left.  You may want to read a bit more before posting your next strawman. 
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  15. Roberth Pilesund Then you're misusing the word 'Government' because North Korea has a large government. One of the largest in the world. Having a Dictator does not preclude a Government from being large. The USA also has a massive Government, it will grow even larger in the coming years, and we will all be much poorer for it. You like being told what you can and can not do by a 'Regulator'? Well, you're in luck, because we're getting even more regulations. I personally know these regulators. They want to control every single aspect of your life. It makes them uncomfortable to think you're doing stuff that they don't know about. They're probably OCD and a bit nuts. So they pass millions and millions and millions of regulations each year.  End result? Government Schools giving diplomas to functional illiterates (1 in 5) and boiled in ammonia off cuts and animal ears and snout / pink slime 'food'. What does our hyper-regulated future hold for us? Well, you can expect an even lower quality graduate (1 in 3 functional illiteracy) and FDA regulated edible shit sold as food. Oh, and much more War. Never ending war. As well as a loss of all personal Privacy.  You'll see.
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  16. Roberth Pilesund The vast majority of FDA regulated food in the grocery store will make you ill - possibly even kill you. And pink slime is legally bought and sold (and ate) in the USA. If you think there's some Dr. Evil out there buying off the hundreds of thousands of food inspectors you're living in a fantasy. Our poor foods are a result OF regulation.  Secondly, the Department of Education is a massive $80 - $100 BILLION dollar a YEAR bureaucracy. And, again, there's no Dr. Evil (other than Teacher's Unions) that are buying off the teachers and ensuring American Government Schools graduate functional illiterates at a rate of 1 in 5.  As for 'For Profit' schools. Are some scams? Yes, and they specialize in securing Government loans. That's their whole scam - getting the Government to buy their bullshit, sticking us with the bill. That said, the top universities in the World are Private American universities. And YES, they MUST make a profit or they will go bankrupt.  Here's a list of 'Private' for profit Universities in the USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University Stanford University California Institute of Technology  Princeton University Yale University The fact is, we DO have hyper-regulations controlling every aspect of our lives. This is a fact. Regulations on who we can marry, what we eat, who we can seek medical advice from, who can sell flowers, who can drive taxies, what we wipe our butts with. We live in a Nanny State run by psychopaths. We live with never ending War. The USA government imprisons more non-violent humans than any other entity in history. The USA government creates more pollution and uses more limited energy than any other entity in human history. It's destroying our lives and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.  You'll see, expect Government run Schools to produce 1 in 3 function illiterate graduates in the coming decade. 
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  17. Roberth Pilesund RE: SSI Good question. There is no answer. It's the end result of Government. There's no good solution.  I can say this much, it's totally unfair sticking the Gen X - Millennials with Generation Baby's bills. 
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  18. Roberth Pilesund If you think removing money from politics is going to change they system you're wrong. Again, the Sultan of KSA can not be bribed. KSA has the same problems as any other State - including using 'democracy' to enforce 'morality' for the 'good of society'. You think money in politics is the reason why 1 in 5 graduates... GRADUATES, are functionally illiterate? Give me a break.  The problem is Government. It's the Government in KSA making women wear burkas. It's the Government here in the USA producing functional retards and calling them graduates. Want to know why minimum wage is so low? Because there's an over supply of low skilled labor-hours on the market. Millions and millions and millions of functionally illiterate labor-cogs are crapped out of Government Schools into hyper-regulated markets where they have no hope of opening their own business and are stuck taking low skilled work, if they can get it.  Don't worry, money or no money in politics, we're getting many more regulations and our Regulators are more than happy to put a bullet in your head if you so much as sell a   0.50 cent smoke. THAT is the State. Pure evil.  So you better stand in line, cross your T's and dot your i's. You'll be let out to pull the Left/Right lever once in awhile - and then back into your tax pen you go; where your State Regulators can keep a good close eye on you, for your own good. After all, you want regulations, you obviously can't be trusted to do the right thing. Let's see what the USA looks like in the next 20 years. My guess is we'll have something kin to a Dictator in all but name. You'll see.
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  19. Roberth Pilesund Compare East and West Germany. What do you think the difference was? Certainly not culturally. The difference was the West had a much more limited government and much freer markets - which is just another way of saying 'freedom' to form relationships with others.   Of course there's subtle nuances that come from living in a free society that benefit that society. For example, can you tell me how much I value my tea cup? You needn't see it, just tell me how much. You have no idea do you? Of course you don't. No one does. This is another problem with government attempting to control the value of currency - which it does through the central bank and back stops by using the Police State to force us all to pay in order to work. When the Chinese buy 30 year T-bonds from the US Government... what exactly is it they're buying? They're buying labor. They're buying on the expectation that, should push come to shove, the US government will pay with interest through forcing a price our of us when we work. The Chinese are buying the labor of the unborn.  You think we live in a Democracy? Think again. 
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  20. Ochipwa Greenspider 1) You're the one cherry picking data. 2) My family isn't white.  3) I don't have an utopian ideals, as a matter of fact, what 'I' think is irrelevant. The fact is, using force against innocent people for 'the good of society' is, by any reasonable person's definition, NOT good for society. 4) You needn't worry, we're not going back to limited government. Exactly the opposite, we're getting much more government. My advice to you is to obey. Obey your Government Regulators. Obey the State. You'll be given a chance to vote for the person who promises you the most, then back into your pen you'll go.
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  21. synapse131 "And so many of the policies that led to the conditions you describe were put into place by Republicans and sometimes their lackeys, the Democrats:  The War on Terror, the War on Drugs, the police state, etc.  While we do have a lot of state and local regulations that are onerous, many of these have been put into place by corporations and their lobbyists; often ostensibly for health and safety reasons, but really to provide companies with monopolies." I'd pretty much agree with you here. Except for the notion of monopolies, there has only been one true private monopoly in the USA and that was aluminium. As soon as it was busted up, the price went up. Same thing with oil, as soon as Standard was broken up, the price went up. The only way to maintain a monopoly in a free market is to keep the price extremely low. Good for the consumer. Bad for the competition. The other monopoly in society, one you seem to overlook, is the State. It has a monopoly on the use of legitimized legal violence against innocent people. THAT monopoly is why both the Rethuglicans and Democrips work hand in glove with the worse aspects of the unfree/fascistic markets to maintain (even to the point of bailing out) our ruling oligarchy.  Solution? Limit government. IF we had a limited government, then the rich wouldn't have been bailed out, and there'd be a much more level playing field. You can't have it both way. You can't dance with the devil and call the tune. It doesn't work like that.  Yes, the rich buy can Licences - this is because of the State having the right to determine who can and can not give someone a ride. Anyone should be allowed to offer their services as a cabby. It's up to adults to determine if they want to get into a car with some creepy guy or pay a premium and take a ride with a highly respectable cab service. 
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  22. synapse131  RE: It's much easier for the elites to propagandize us when we only have so many sources of information. And what good is propagandising us? To .... what exactly? Imagine if we had a limited State, one that could not initiate wars against a Noun. Just what good is a propagandist with no State there to use once the public is on side? Also, I didn't say we should live in a lawless society - fraud is illegal. Therefore, this propaganda better not be fraudulent. Because, if it is, and there's no State there to write special 'regulations' that allow for a degree of fraud, then that company is up to the mercy of a jury.
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  23. synapse131 RE: " It's free, public schooling that allowed modern nations to thrive, become more financially stable and to get rid of public schooling would take us back to the times where we had few skilled, educated workers and mush less ability to compete economically. " What are you talking about? The second industrial revolution occurred prior to 'free' Government schools. The entire modern world came into being before Government schools; electricity, movies, lights, cars, rail, engines, etc.... ALL of that happened before Government schools were common. Also, the first Government schools, were obviously run by people NOT educated in a Government school (fact from necessity). Therefore, I'd argue, the first Government schools were run much better than 100 years later when we have the effects of Institutionalization (which happens to ALL organizations - and is why we need a free market so bad players go bust and leave us alone).  Literacy rates were higher in some Black neighbourhoods 100 year ago! Stop and let that sink in. THAT is how crap Government schools are. Are you going to argue that Blacks in 1910 had MORE resources compared with today? I mean, come on. "Only those who are well off would be able to get a good education; and this would cripple our productivity" That's not true of Apple iPhones - super computers that fit in your pocket and can access almost ALL information in the world, pretty for very reasonable rates. I's argue we're wasting $80-100 BILLION a year on Government schooling. With that much money we could really get some good alternative educational institutions operational.   -- Lastly, Government schooling was created with one idea in mind - to create labor cogs to work in Aristocratic owned factories (started in Prussia/Germany). This worked well when mind-numbing mundane factory jobs were common. Well, now they're not common. We no longer have jobs for the functional illiterate (yet compliant) low quality education that Government schools produce. So, yes, in that sense our future was derived from Government schooled factory cogs. It didn't have to be that way, but it was.  I'd argue Government schools don't produce quality. The bar is just so low it appear like quality. But it's not. It's mediocre at best. The entire structure of Government schools, classes, age based, grade based, etc.... is all antithesis towards learning. A much better system would be flexible and allow for children of different ages to be educated to their strengths. Basically, the entire structure of a Government school hinders learning. Thank the Gods we have some competition in the form of Charter Schools.  I'd also say this, when something is 'FREE' it has no value. If something is valuable, then people pay for it.  Also, the USA spends much more than most nations on Education, yet does much worse. It spends more than Japan, as an example, and has much lower outcomes (at least according to standard literacy and numeracy testing). 
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  24. synapse131 RE: Baby with the Bath Water What about Religion? Should we maintain some level of superstitious thinking just because it's been a part of human tradition for so long? Of course not. Likewise, humanity must progress past the use of force against innocent people. Which is to say, past government. Government is a return to the jungle. It's a return to might-makes-right.  In an ideal society there'd be no government. We'd live in an Anarchy (Kant). I'm not suggesting that, I'm suggesting a LIMITED role for violence against the innocent. A small constrained role for Government.  This IS what our Nation was founded on. Oh, and I'm of the opinion we cannot progress with Government. It retards advancement and progress. It wastes our limited resources and skews the public towards pursuits that we personally have no interest in. Like the trillions wasted on War instead of medicine and better education.
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  25. Roberth Pilesund Violence against innocent people is initiating violence against a person who is morally innocent. Taking a vote does not change the immorality of initiation of violence against innocent people. In the early 1800s Americans voted to maintain Slavery 'for the Good of Society' and used violence against those innocent people. It was legal. It was immoral. 1) A ponzi scheme is fraudulent and so no that would not be legal as it would be a breach of contract law. 2) Pilots with bad eyesight could be illegal. It depends on the extent that their vision endangers passengers. I could see a couple aspects:  (a) breach of contract (the tickets) - people buy airline tickets with the unwritten rule that the pilots are competent. (b) One could argue fraud, again, breach of contract. (c) Airline insurance companies would obviously have contracts (outside of ours) that would require pilots can see. Here we're have all sorts of insurance (i) bank loans (ii) airsafety (iii) the airports themselves So, you can see, in a free society, it'd be pretty difficult to unknowingly end up on a plane with a pilot with insufficient eyesight.   3) Manufacturing toys for children with poison would be a violation of property rights. Children are a special instance of property and normal property rights would be more stringent because, until consciousness is achieved at a proper level, the owner is the parent. Also, if the toys were sold as safe to play with, then this would be fraud. 4) If a person doesn't want to sell me a cake because I'm an atheist, that is perfectly fine. So long as they didn't enter into an agreement before knowing so. Which is good, that way I don't patron bigots. The last thing I want to do is trade with bigots. 5) Anyone offering Medical services would not have to attend school. But, they would not be legally allowed to call themselves 'Doctors' as this is a claim to formal education and they would be engaged in fraud and, assuming they harmed your body - which you own, in violation of property rights. If should be noted, thanks to the near monopoly the AMA has on Rx and thus medicine, the medical field is totally f#cked. Not only is the price astronomical (due to Government regulated shortages) but the quality is dropping like a rock. In 1990 about 90,000 Americans died of medical errors. In 2010 about 240,000 were killed due to medical error and 3 - 5 million seriously injured. This would be like nuking mid-sized US cities each year. Yet, not a peep from our illustrious 'Regulators'.  6) Pipes would be insured or you'd fix them yourself. If you were buying a service (say water) then the company would pay to fix. As for the roads, while private roads would be idea, my guess is this would remain under control of limited State government and would be repaid through gasoline sales tax (as is the case currently).  7) Internet companies could try to charge you $9000 a year. They'd go bust soon. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure the bank loans secured to open their business would be violated by such incompetence.  8) No a 9 year old has not reached a mental state to sign a contract and therefore can not engage in legal transactions such as buying beer. 
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  26. How long was Dr. Spenser IN West Africa David? I'm going to guess he was there for all of what? Two, maybe three weeks? Why would someone fly to Africa only to spend 3 weeks working with patients? Maybe he wanted to put it down on his Resume' to help his chances of being admitted into one of highly competitive surgical rotations for training? I'm sure it would look really great on a CV to say "I worked to help cure Ebola on the front lines - sure, I didn't stick around long enough to know what I was doing, got infected due to incompetence, and then nearly infected all of New York City. But hey, I was on "The Front Lines" man, now give me the surgical rotation I deserve! They guy's facebook page seemed to be taking light of the disease. He was gowned up and had posted a selfe - apparently in an attempt to show ... what exactly? I know plenty of MDs, none of the good ones take selfies of themselves and post them to facebook as they're too busy doing work. 
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  27. lol
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  28. Functional Illiteracy averages 20% for Government School graduates. Black Americans are higher than average. Pretending this isn't the case, isn't helping anyone.
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  29. NUTCASE71733 Funding isn't the issue. Public schools are structurally unsound. We have kids graduating functionally illiterate in the USA. We're talking 50% of some graduates. That's lower literacy than in 1910. It only takes a book, a pencil and some paper to learn to read and write. As a matter of fact, many children learn to read without being taught - simply by reading to them. Also, who said I was referring to the USA? I've lived in three countries in both the West and East. The problem is the pedagogy itself. Schools are structured, not around how best to learn, but how best to babysit while parents go to work or have "me time". It's well known formal test taking is actually detrimental to long-term learning outcomes when started before the age of 7. Yet, in Australia some people want to start testing from age 2. AU is hardly the "right-wing" bastion.  This whole right-left paradigm is a marketing tool to keep people wasting their energy watching the news. It's a good scam for those selling the bullshit.
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  30. TheDrune You are absolutely correct. The skills needed in today's hyper-regulated market are never going to come out of a Public School as none of the people working there have any experience IN the private workforce. How can they teach children the skills to succeed in the private markets (example: start a new business) when they've never had the experience themselves (and actually the exact opposite). Worse still, many Public School teachers instruct children the opposite skills needed to succeed in the private markets! Which is why many can't find work (low skills) and don't know how to open a business. IMO Public Schools have destroyed the very fabric of America. They were invented to create factory workers 100 years ago. To train people to do repetitive mindless tasks. Absolutely the LAST place you want your child is in a Public School if possible.
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  31. NUTCASE71733 Supplies have been cut is the reason children do not know how to read and write? What planet do you live on? A pencil and some paper costs $1.25 cents. In 1910 you needed to know how to read and write BEFORE you were allowed to attend Public School. But hey, don't let empirical data get in the way of a good story.  Anyway, I suggest you stick with your Left-Right paradigm, its simplicity suites your personality. Oh, do me a favor and don't write back to me. I'll delete your message without reading. I have no time for people who think slander is acceptable behavior. 
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  32. whyamimrpink78 Once we have a free market in education, then we'll know the price per educators. The Internet will store most lessons and free educators up to work personally with children. 
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  33. The entire structure of public school is a problem - placing children in grades based on age and not competence is idiotic, all it does is hold back each student in their respective strengths and poops out class after class of obedient mediocre worker-cogs (which is what public education is designed to do). I'm sometimes shocked at the way an actual adult will regress into a child-like state when placed in a 'classroom'. The problems of public schooling go WAY beyond the Oligarchy and Teachers Unions that help ruin the education of million of children each year.   Sorry, I'll take a pass and will personally be looking for a privately run Montessori for any education my daughter receives. I'm interested in educating a free-thinking self-confident young adult not a mindless test-taking cog that has to raise their hand to go pee and sit in assigned seats. Public Schools have helped to destroy everything that made America, America. Some schools are now graduating classes with 50% illiteracy rates.  In summery, public schools are structurally unsound. There's no way at all to remove entrenched Unions that protect near-illiterate teachers who barely graduated with a BS/BA from a low ranked University and there's no way at all to do anything about the oligarchy. We need to end the Dept of Edu ($50 billion dollar a year waste of money) return to private schools that are in competition and then MAYBE we can climb out of this educational black hole in another 10-15 years (maybe).  In the mean time, I suggest any parent who really gives a rip to choose a private alternative education like Montessori that has received positive reviewed from parents you've personally met with and asked about the pro's and con's.
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  34. That's great to hear. I sometimes worry about the religious facet of homeschooling and I also wonder as to the aptitude of a parent to teach around topics such as syllogistic logic and contextualize the scientific method historically, I do think the internet is a great resource and if taught to 'think' then a young child should grow up into a critically thinking adult. You may be interested in Unschooling - a privately run alternative school. I think there'll be a lot of growth in alternative forms of private education that will reach right up into the University sphere. Now all we need is to deregulate the markets and make them 'free' again so that these kids can go out there and compete. 
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  35. They go all the way through to high school in the USA. In AU I think they end at grade 6. In Japan they don't exist (that I know of). Yes, my friend's mother owns a Montessori and she found public highschool to be a total bore. He sister is fortunate enough to attend Montessori through to grade 12 and is in "grade" 10 and taking universities literature classes on-line. Which seem to suite Montessori in that way (as I understand). My other friend's two kids went to Montessori to grade 6 and entered public school at grade 7 and struggled with the boring repetitive nature (they were the equivalent to grade 9). She said they sort of had to go backwards in their learning to adjust to public school grade 7.  I think it's a structural problem - as well as the Teachers Union problem.
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  36. Phoenix540 I'll tell you what, IF you have some novel evidence that Trump is violating the US Constitution, then you go on and put forward a lawsuit, because if there is one thing we can agree on, millions of Americans would donate millions of dollars to support your claims. Heck, Stein scammed about 10 million off idiots trying to recount Michigan due to 'Russian Hackers' when we use a paper ballot - oh, and get this, when the big slummy Democrat votes were recounted (See: Detroit) they found all sorts of inappropriate violations, in Clinton's favor. That aside, I personally like Trumps relationship with Russia, and with Putin, see, unlike the War Hawks who supported Hillary, I'd prefer we not start WWIII. I mean, it was us, here in the USA, who made up lies about WMD and invaded 5 countries killing, and displacing 10s of millions of people. Not Russia. WE support the dictators who run the KSA, who murder gays, atheists, Christians - not Russia. So, I'd worry a little less about what Russians are going to do to you, and start worrying more about what our Politicians, the CIA, NSA / Police State is doing to us. Right now.
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  37. Phoenix540 With the exception of Ron Paul, they all wanted to go to war. Also, I'm not a Republican.
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  38. omegapointil I didn't say the stock market wasn't important (pathetic strawman if ever there was one). My argument was that most Americans don't own stocks. And, most don't. Obama's (and the DNC's) policy failures are evident by their crushing defeat. It should be noted, Obama's vacations alone will cost the tax payer over 30 million.
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  39. SJW and far left socialism (which go together like hand in glove) is a trend - one that YouTube and other internet companies are responding to. Thus, as I stated, SJW are getting their way. Luckily, Japan has much more personal freedom (ironically), and we don't need YouTube and don't want SJW or far left socialism. How ironic, we in the East are more liberal, have freer markets and are (again) reclaiming our place at the top of the social hierarchy :)
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  40. SJW are considered left-wing. Google, along with Facebook, Twitter and other so called social media outlets are beginning to pander to the SJW by modifying their platforms through censorship. The good thing is, other networks are springing up to fill in the space.
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  41. SilortheBlade While SJW is not a synonym for left-wing, most SJW are left leaning politically. Exampled here: http://www.reaxxion.com/6185/how-the-far-left-is-taking-over-video-games-to-push-a-socialist-agenda That said, I will agree, it may be that Google is taking action to censor and it just coincidentally coincides with SJW, in which case, the SJW are getting their way, even if inadvertently. Perhaps their way of thinking have infected all levels of society.
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  42. SilortheBlade Or, perhaps you should do yourself a flavor and take your own advice? Particularly given your post opens with an ad hominem. As for SJW, most have shown themselves to be supremacist ideologues. Often aligning with the far left.
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  43. SilortheBlade I'm not throwing around the SJW term. SJW follow a supremacist ideology. As for an inductive argument regarding their political ideology, unless you have a statistical data set, then we cannot make a strong argument one way or the other. I provided evidence that SJW often align on the left to far left politically. So, if you have counter evidence then present it. As it is, you appear to be attacking me, and not my argument. Which isn't going to get you very far.
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  44. SilortheBlade SJW are well known for trying to use DOXing to silence people who disagree with their positions. Even full Professors have been terminated and/or had their careers ruined by SJW and their ilk for daring to disagree with the Narrative. You may believe that SJWs and censorship are miles apart, in reality, they fit together like hand in glove. And, in my opinion, it looks to me like the far Left SJW socialists are finally having their way. Thankfully, other platforms, even entirely different Internets offer alternative means by which to freely, and anomalously (which is why individual votes are private and why pamphletting was so common in the 1700s) express an unpopular opinion. But, make no mistake, SJW and others of their kind, are working tirelessly to undermine the right to free expression.
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  45. SilortheBlade Okay, I got up until: Make no mistake now I am insulting you. 'When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.' — Socrates Now, we're not even having a debate. I am stating my opinion which is that it LOOKS LIKE (to me) the far Left SJW socialists are finally having their way.... You wrote: "A husky is considered a type of dog, but if someone asks you what breed it is you don't answer "dog". To use YOUR argument from analogy I am not addressing what type of breed SJW are - I have already listed the breed / category "far left". And I am not suggesting SJW are all far left, but commenting on the temperament of far-left SJW, which is to support censorship of dissenting opinion.
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  46. Golgotha_Mythos69 I like to play video games, when I have free time, which is increasingly rare. That hardly categorises me as a Gamer. I'm not sure why you include capitalism with 'far right'? Wouldn't you mean Fascism? Unless you're suggesting all economics programs in the USA are far-right? Because they study capital - that's pretty much the entire degree and it is offered at nearly all universities. Further, I do not disagree that some far right Nationalists want to censor the Internet, just as do far left Nationalists. As well as many radical SJW, who tend towards the far left. It's not an either or. IMO, Nationalism is not a problem in the West, we are (if anything) the definition of open societies. The problems are from the far left, SJW often presenting the worse of their ideology given they are a supremacy group.
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  47. Lastly, only the executives at YouTube know why they are beginning to censor their platform. It may be they want to change the character and brand they represent to be more family friendly. That said, this will fall in line with what many far left SJW socialists view as 'Progressive". #not-all-far-left-SJW.
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  48. SilortheBlade Firstly, I have not made an argument. I stated my opinion. Secondly, far left SJW are a supremacy group - this is a matter of definition. See, supremacy groups judge individuals based on arbitrary characteristics like skin tone, eye shape, gender, etc... Thirdly, if I were to make an argument, I would make an inductive argument based on statistical inferences, and while I'm not going to do that, it is reasonable to hypothesise that far-left SJW whom align politically with socialists, support censorship. Some certain do. The percent total is unknown. It should be noted, not all support censorship through outright banning speech, they also use intimidation and appeals to emotion and other fallacies to rally support against dissenting ideas - ideas such as this one: All people should be treated as individuals based on their individual characteristics of character and not arbitrarily. If you want to disagree, feel free to. The only way you are going to alter my opinion is to find data on far left SJW socialists and their opinion on censorship. Find that published in a journal, I will read the article, then perhaps my opinion will be changed. Until then, I will maintain it based on the ample anecdotal evidence I have read.
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  49. Shadepariah Biologists refer to gender by four different categories: genetic (XY, XX, XO, XYY, ect...); phenotype, brain structures, subjective experience (self-identification). 
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  50. *****  Millions of white Irish were sold into slavery and shipped out of Ireland by the English - many ending up in the USA. Likewise, many free Blacks owned slaves in the USA. What about them? 
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