Food for thought - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

elchivito · #1 08-21-2013, 09:06 PM

rs899 · #2 08-21-2013, 09:35 PM

...oh that's a relief. I thought you were going to complain about the broken and corrupt health care system.

Mike D · #3 08-21-2013, 09:55 PM

Apples and oranges.

Sweden 9.5 million.

USA 313+ million.

Swedish Immigration to North America | Augustana College

Couldn't find any significant numbers regarding US immigration to Sweden. Wonder why that is? Let's send 1.6 million citizens over there and see what happens to the numbers.

The original poster does make good points but I find it hard to take the advice of a nation who was "neutral" during the WWII conflict but jumped on the NATO bandwagon when its security was threatened by the Russian expansion.

What is it they say about pointing fingers?

TwitchKitty · #4 08-21-2013, 10:04 PM

"An educated population equals a strong, stable state, ready for the future. So the investment is well worth it".

Can't have that. Strong, stable state? Unh, Uh. Answered your own question. The war to consolidate, industrialize and incorporate plantations took care of all of that. 14th ammendment gave it all to the corporations, made it law.

The US is fine as it trends, just ask the FED.

Need proof? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Everything is just as intended.

layback40 · #5 08-21-2013, 10:08 PM

Australia tried the free university thing back in the 1970's. Very quickly the universities were a magnet for dole bludgers & druggies. Now that there are moderate fees, there is a much better cohort that are more career focused. Its hard to get the balance right. Scholarships can be a good thing ~ If students dont come up with good results, send them walking. Over here you can enter the military at 18 & get a uni degree while enlisted, you are contracted for a number of years to them though.

t walgamuth · #6 08-21-2013, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elchivito

Food for thought indeed.

pj67coll · #7 08-22-2013, 12:10 AM

On the face of it it seems like a good argument and I agree with much if it. But it doesn't stand up as well under scrutiny. I can think of Ikea, Nokia, Volvo, Saab and Maersk as significant Scandinavian contributions to modern civilization. Of course Saab is defunct, Volvo is owned by the Chinese or some such and while we have a bit of Ikea furniture in our home I'm afraid I don't think that's particularly impressive to show for all that investment in education. One might think if everyone was as highly educated and debt free as they claim they should be contributing a lot more to the world than they seem to be doing.

- Peter.

Jorn · #8 08-22-2013, 12:23 AM

Yeah, that sounds all great; but do those vikings have the trickle down effect?

cmac2012 · #9 08-22-2013, 01:59 AM

People don't tend to emigrate to Sweden because learning Swedish doesn't have much of a payoff beyond living there forever. I would agree that giving free tuition, no questions asked, no conditions would be whack. For students who demonstrate serious performance, a good break on cost could be a good idea.

One part that was definitely right on is this whack notion we have of making students into a huge profit center for money lenders.

spdrun · #10 08-22-2013, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj67coll

On the face of it it seems like a good argument and I agree with much if it. But it doesn't stand up as well under scrutiny. I can think of Ikea, Nokia, Volvo, Saab and Maersk as significant Scandinavian contributions to modern civilization. Of course Saab is defunct, Volvo is owned by the Chinese or some such and while we have a bit of Ikea furniture in our home I'm afraid I don't think that's particularly impressive to show for all that investment in education. One might think if everyone was as highly educated and debt free as they claim they should be contributing a lot more to the world than they seem to be doing.

They're doing a lot of quality medical and scientific research among other things. The number of mega-corporations with headquarters in a given country also does NOT directly correlate with contributions to society.

BTW, Nokia is Finnish, not Swedish. Saab and Volvo are not defunct at all. Saab is primarily an aircraft company (ever flown commercial in a Saab 340?), while Volvo mainly builds trucks and earth-moving equipment. They both sold their auto divisions to American companies in the 90s, which proceeded to mismanage said divisions into the ground.

And personally, I'd rather live in a happy society than one that measures itself by the amount of trinkets it can sell.

TwitchKitty · #11 08-22-2013, 07:49 AM

"Contributing" to society is a mixed bag at best. If you believe that technology is the ultimate pursuit in life, you do. Not all do.

Read the points about the "Western World" in the strip. Would "contributing" be good? Printing more green paper and breeding more consumer slave babies may not be seen as progress to everyone. You can shlt where you eat only for so long, welcome gets thin.

catmandoo62 · #12 08-22-2013, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

One part that was definitely right on is this whack notion we have of making students into a huge profit center for money lenders.

agreed.the student debt on some of them is so high they will probably never retire.just die with a debt.i remember a yr or 2 ago someone on here was renting out an apt or a house.they took apps from prospective renters.one of them was i believe in his middle to late 30's not married and had like 300k in student debt.this poor guy probably can't even make the interest payments,and all for what??an education.he should have just flipped burgers at mcd's he would be alot better off.

TwitchKitty · #13 08-22-2013, 08:29 AM

George Carlin on Fat People - YouTube

George Carlin on why education is not the answer for the US.

aklim · #14 08-22-2013, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

One part that was definitely right on is this whack notion we have of making students into a huge profit center for money lenders.

I'm not sure it is as huge as you think. The money POTENTIAL is there for the lenders, I agree but I would like to see what the real earning is. If you take a payday loan shop and say that every 2 weeks you charge $20 per hundred, it looks profitable. OTOH, all it takes is a $100 loan default to cause problems. So now I have to loan out no less than $600 to make enough profit to wipe out that bad loan and overheads. Also, if I have to take legal action, well, that changes that equation even more and now I have to lend out $1000 to MAYBE break even.

So what happens when these lenders default? What is the true profit made by the lender after all is said and done instead of just looking at what the potential is?

aklim · #15 08-22-2013, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdrun

And personally, I'd rather live in a happy society than one that measures itself by the amount of trinkets it can sell.

So you keep sayin but yet you obviously cannot and/or will not since if you could really do it, you'd be there. I'd rather sleep with different supermodels too but that ain't reality.