International: The lottery of life methodology | The Economist

The Economist Magazine provides a world view on how countries are doing for their citizens …  The report speaks to quality of life and satisfaction providing an index that measures each country’s status, like a report card, on its population.

The USA used to be number 1 in this index as early as 1988.  Today it has fallen to 16th.

This precipitous fall during the last quarter century (1988 to 2012) is a result of the American obsession with taxes, healthcare and education… Not an obsession to fix these things but an incapacity to do so ..

Read the Economist report, it may be an important wakeup call to the 1% who seek more and more while the country cracks and crumbles…

 

“The life satisfaction scores for 2006 on scale of 1 to 10 for 130 countries from the Gallup Poll are related in a multivariate regression to various factors. As many as 11 indicators are statistically significant. Together these indicators explain some 85% of the inter-country variation in life satisfaction scores. The values of the life satisfaction scores that are predicted by our indicators represent a countrys quality of life index. The coefficients in the estimated equation weight automatically the importance of the various factors. We can utilise the estimated equation for 2006 to calculate index values for year in the past and future, allowing for comparison over time as well across …”

via International: The lottery of life methodology | The Economist.

Filed under: access to education, Aging, Blogosphere, Changing Media Paradigm, Children and Poverty, Civic Engagement, consumers, Culture Think, Demographic Change, Economic Recession, Education Policy, Education Reform, Energy Policy, Environmental Policy, ethnicity in politics, Family Policy, Federal Entitlement Programs, Health Policy, Job Sector, Maternal and Child Health, News, Policy ThinkShop Comments on other media platforms, The 47%!, The Audacity of Reason:, WeSeeReason

Saying No to College – NYTimes.com

Family incomes, markets and job prospects have all been crushed by over a decade of economic angst and dreary fiscal outlooks … This is now affecting the opportunity for families to send their kids to college and also dampening the desire of ambitious bright kids to stick it out in college …

The NYTs highlights the “Zuckerberg and Gates” dropout phenomena as the down economy pushes kids out of college early in their pursuit of  entreprenurial success and big bucks!

 

“BENJAMIN GOERING does not look like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, talk like him or inspire the same controversy. But he does apparently think …”

via Saying No to College – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: access to education, Blogosphere, Culture Think, Economic Recession, Economic Recovery, Education Policy, Education Reform, Job Sector, News, Public Policy, Unemployment, Access to College, Value of Education; Cost benefit analysis of education; Going to College; Should you go to college?;

Obama Wins New Term as Electoral Advantage Holds – NYTimes.com

America’s has chosen to stay on the path to fairness, embracing diversity and the working person … The 47% wins!

The New York Times reports Obama victory as “Mr. Etch a Sketch” goes down hard and for ever!

Mitt Catches Bad Loss … America’s 47% wins big!

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

“Barack Hussein Obama was re-elected president of the United States on Tuesday, overcoming powerful economic headwinds, a lock-step resistance to his agenda by Republicans in Congress and an unprecedented torrent of advertising as the nation voted to give him a second …”

More via Obama Wins New Term as Electoral Advantage Holds – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: access to education, African American, Arab Spring, Blogosphere, Culture Think, Demographic Change, Discrimination, Economic Recession, Education Policy, Education Reform, Election 2012, ethnicity in politics, Latinos, Medicare, Middle East Freedom, Minority Males, News, Public Policy, symbolic uses of politics, symbols as swords, Tax Policy, Teacher Power, The 47%!, The Western Imagination, Unemployment, Using Social Media, Vote, waging war, WeSeeReason, Women's rights, Etch A Sketch, Romney blunders

Daily Number: Education a Top Issue for Most Latino Voters – Pew Research Center

Education, jobs and the economy, and health care are the top issues for Latinos in this year’s presidential campaign. A majority (55%) of Latino registered voters say the issue of education is “extremely important” to them personally. This is followed closely by jobs and the economy (54%) and health care (50%).

Since 2008, these three issues have ranked highly for Hispanic registered voters, though their relative rankings have changed. In 2011, jobs ranked at the top, followed by education and health care. In 2010, education ranked at the top, followed by jobs and health care. In 2008, as well, education ranked at the top, this time followed by the cost of living, health care and jobs.

via Daily Number: Education a Top Issue for Most Latino Voters – Pew Research Center.

Filed under: access to education, Blogosphere, consumers, Culture Think, Education Policy, Education Reform, Election 2012, Health Literacy, Health Policy, Healthcare Reform, Latinos, News, Public Health, Public Policy, The 47%!, Unemployment, Vote, WeSeeReason, Election 2012 and Hispanics, Latinos and the election, Latinos value education

Romney’s Stance on Obama Reprieves Worries Young Immigrants – NYTimes.com

An immigration stance that Mitt Romney took with little fanfare this month has created turmoil for many young immigrants living in the country illegally, lawyers and immigrant advocates …

More via Romney’s Stance on Obama Reprieves Worries Young Immigrants – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: access to education, Blogosphere, consumers, Culture Think, Discrimination, Education Policy, Education Reform, Election 2012, Immigration, Minority Males, News, Parenting, Public Policy, Educating all children, immigrants, People without papers, The Dream Act, The dreamers

The Long Battle to Rethink Mental Illness in Children – WSJ.com

Since infancy, Max Brown, 11, has flown into a rage at the smallest of slights, such as being told ‘no.’

Holed up in windowless hotel conference rooms near Washington, D.C., scientists have been busy rewriting the bible of American mental …

More via The Long Battle to Rethink Mental Illness in Children – WSJ.com.

Filed under: access to education, Behavioral Health Outcomes, Blogosphere, Child Abuse, Children and Poverty, Culture Think, Discrimination, Education Policy, Education Reform, Health Literacy, Health Policy, Healthcare Reform, Kid Power, Maternal and Child Health, Medical Research, News, Parenting, behavioral health for children, mental health and children, mental health for teens, youth and mental health

For richer, for poorer | The Economist

IN 1889, AT the height of America’s first Gilded Age, George Vanderbilt II, grandson of the original railway magnate, set out to build a country estate in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. He hired the most prominent architect of the time, toured the chateaux of the Loire for inspiration, laid a railway to bring in limestone from Indiana and employed more than …

More via For richer, for poorer | The Economist.

Filed under: access to education, Blogosphere, Children and Poverty, consumers, Economic Recession, Education Policy, Education Reform, Feminization of Poverty, Job Sector, News, Philanthropy, The 47%!, income inequality, rich man poor man, rich vs. poor

Seeing a Homosexual Agenda, Christian Group Protests an Anti-Bullying Program – NYTimes.com

On Mix It Up at Lunch Day, schoolchildren around the country are encouraged to hang out with someone they normally might not …

More via Seeing a Homosexual Agenda, Christian Group Protests an Anti-Bullying Program – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: access to education, Blogosphere, Child Abuse, Children and Poverty, Civic Engagement, Culture Think, Discrimination, Education Policy, Education Reform, ethics, faith-based, Gender, Gender Policy, Kid Power, News, Parenting, Public Policy, Racism, Religious freedom, Teacher Power, bullying, Romney Bullying, Romney Prep School Bully

The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent – NYTimes.com

IN the early 14th century, Venice was one of the richest cities in Europe. At the heart of its economy was the colleganza, a basic form of joint-stock company created to finance a single trade expedition. The brilliance of the colleganza was that it opened the economy to new entrants, allowing risk-taking entrepreneurs to share in the financial upside with the established businessmen who …

More via The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent – NYTimes.com.

Filed under: access to education, Blogosphere, consumers, Culture Think, Economic Recession, Education Policy, Education Reform, Election 2012, National Debt, News, Parenting, Philanthropy, Political Economy, Public Policy, social protests, Tax Policy, Teacher Power, The 47%!, Unemployment, WeSeeReason, America's Inequality, corporate pay; leadership and wealth; exorbitant privilege; corporate profits; Executive Pay; Rich and Poor; Income Gap; income inequality;, income inequality, rich man poor man, rich vs. poor, The 1%, The 99%

Textbooks round the world: It ain’t necessarily so | The Economist

PARISIANS are in a tizz about capitalism. New Yorkers get stressed about sex. In Seoul and San Antonio, Texas, 11,000km apart, citizens fret about the relationship between humans and apes. What goes into school textbooks—and, even more, what is left out—spurs concern …

More via Textbooks round the world: It ain’t necessarily so | The Economist.

Filed under: Blogosphere, Civic Engagement, consumers, Culture Think, Education Policy, Education Reform, Literature & Literati, News, Parenting, Teacher Power, church and state, improving schools, national culture, public education, public schools

Daily Number: Majority Rejects Use of Preferences to Help Minorities – Pew Research Center

While the public continues to see discrimination against African Americans, majorities continue to reject preferential treatment to improve the position of minorities.

About six-in-ten (62%) disagree with the idea that “we should make every possible effort to improve the position of blacks and other minorities, even if it means giving them preferential treatment;” 33% agree. Over the past 25 years, sizable majorities have consistently rejected the use of preferences to improve the position of minorities.

Since 1987, there have been wide racial differences over this issue. In the political values survey done this spring, 62% of blacks and just 22% of whites say every possible effort should be made, including the use of preferential treatment, to improve the position of minorities. In the first values survey 25 years ago, 64% of blacks and 16% of whites expressed this view.

 

The partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans on this question has widened, largely because of increased support for minority preferences among white Democrats. There also are sizable age differences in these attitudes. Young people – who are more racially diverse than older age cohorts – are far more likely than older Americans to say that every effort should be made to improve the position of minorities even if it means preferential treatment. Read more

via Daily Number: Majority Rejects Use of Preferences to Help Minorities – Pew Research Center.

Filed under: African American, Blogosphere, Children and Poverty, Civic Engagement, Culture Think, Discrimination, Education Reform, Election 2012, ethnicity in politics, News, Public Policy, The 47%!, Civil Rights, individual rights and group rights; discrimination; special privileges;, Minorities, Social justice

National Health Service Corps: Public Sector Choice for Minority Physicians

National Health Service Corps

The full-time National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program offers up to $60,000 in tax-free loan repayment for 2 years of service, and up to $140,000 for a total of 5 years of service.

National Health Service Corps scholars commit to serve in the Corps upon completion of their training — 1 year for each year of support (at least 2 years).

The Students to Service Loan Repayment Program provides loan repayment assistance of up to $120,000 to medical students (MD and DO) in their last year of school, in return for a commitment to provide primary health care services in eligible Health Professional Shortage Areas of greatest need for at least 3 years.

The State Loan Repayment Program provides grants to states to operate their own loan repayment programs. Similar to the NHSC Loan Repayment Program, participants in the state programs provide primary health services in Health Professional Shortage Areas in exchange for repayment of their qualifying educational loans.  States are required to match federal grant funds dollar-for-dollar with non-federal funds.

According to self-reports by the nearly 10,000 Corps clinicians currently providing care – 13 percent are African American, 10 percent are Hispanic, 7 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 2 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native.

In FY 2012, African American physicians represent 17 percent of the Corps physicians which exceeds their 6.3 percent representation within the national physician workforce. And,

Hispanic physicians represent 16 percent of the Corps physicians, exceeding their 5.5 percent representation in the national physician workforce.

According to self-reports more than half of by the nearly 1,000 Corps scholars in the pipeline are minorities – 26 percent are Hispanic, 19 percent are African American, 12 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 2 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native.

via National Health Service Corps.

Filed under: access to education, African American, Blogosphere, Culture Think, Discrimination, Education Policy, Education Reform, Election 2012, ethnicity in politics, Health Literacy, Health Policy, Healthcare Reform, Job Sector, Latinos, Medical Research, News, Public Policy, Public Sector, Racism, Unemployment, Hispanic Physicians, Latino Doctors, Latino hiring by the National Health Service Corps, Latino Physicians, US Health Service Corps and Latinos