How to put America on the Right track. It Will take 20 years.

To make education a priority you need to invest in teachers and offering professionals in other fields the option of a teaching role that includes benefits and a salary that is class leading, look at what Finland did. They made being a teacher as prestigious as being a Lawyer or Airline pilot with qualifications to match but a salary that is exceptional. That is after you actually fix the system that is designed to cause stress and anxiety for the student that intern inhibits their learning.

Drugs are indeed a massive problem, I have not nor never been a user of any type of drug so I have little experience. I am currently in the Philippines and since the new president was elected they are having a massive clamp down on drug dealers with a open vigilante approach that offers high rewards for the death of a drug dealer, since this has been in place hundreds have been killed for ransom. Not saying it is the best way but here it is working (sort of) as drug dealers are handing themselves into police for fear of lynching..


RA

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: dukeofjive696969

I am so confused as to why more states are not legalizing weed....after seeing the money Colorado etal are making on sales.
My state is short of cash....drug sales could fix a lot of budget problems.

You need to be careful with that.

The reason that Colorado can get away with it is precisely because so few have legalized it. If every other state legalized it, then states that undercut Colorado's tax rate would bring in that business and Colorado's weed business would risk going bust or being undercut by black market weed from other places much like black market cigarettes do in certain places.

If every state standardizes to Colorado ... then you open the door back to the cartels to undercut the legal stuff with their own illegal weed.

And the hits keep on rolling ...

a reply to: slider1982

It isn't going to be cheap. But as pointed out in the OP, there are avenues to use that will already pay for this. You have to have a "hope" if you're going to take away someone's "despair". Maybe that's all they have. Think about it. Give them an option.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I am so confused as to why more states are not legalizing weed

You know why. Public perception (at least one very large segment) is that drugs are bad, mkay. Combine that with money generated from it being illegal: money for the state via fines and conviction, plus money from privatized businesses contracted to the state (rehab, counseling, probation, jail, etc). Revenue from legalization (which would also be huge) aside, that's the bottom line.

a reply to: ketsuko

OTOH.....the liquor industry seems to have figured out a way to make money in all 50 states.
I'd say they're part of the reason many states are slow to legalize.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: ketsuko

OTOH.....the liquor industry seems to have figured out a way to make money in all 50 states.
I'd say they're part of the reason many states are slow to legalize.

That's part of it. Also BIG lobbies. Big Pharm and Big Christ(not going to win this one). The Federal gov't says, "Do what you want" and it'll be done.... except Utah. I have feeling about that state.

originally posted by: Blueracer
No thanks. You can't throw money at a problem (education) and expect it to get better. Also, ALL drugs should be legalized.

Other countries have proved you can provide better education for cheaper. It's an American falacie to think you have to throw money at something to fix it. Sometimes effort is more effective.

We're 27th in the world in education and the social norm is that's acceptable, but yet we don't understand why we are struggling to compete with the global market. At least we can blame it on our education.

Of course, I think one of the best ways to break the teachers unions' monpoly would be to offer vouchers. If we are already taxing parents to educate their children, then let the parent choose where their kid gets educated and let the money follow the child so long as the child demonstrates that he or she is meeting the necessary benchmarks.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

When was the last time you heard this or that ballot initiative bring pushed to raise taxes on liquor to fund the children, too?

Don't get me wrong ... If you want to pass a sin tax on something, fine. But what I dislike is the idea of linking that revenue to something that you have to have funded no matter what.

My reasoning behind this is because the basic premise of the sin tax is that you are taxing a thing to "punish" people into avoiding a certain behavior by artificially increasing the cost with the sin tax ... hence the name. So when you link sin taxes to necessary funding items like education or health care, you run the risk that one day, your sin tax hike actually does work and you kill off that activity you claim you are sin taxing to prevent. And when that day comes, everyone else in the state is left holding the bag for that missing revenue.

For that reason, I would never vote for a sin tax that wasn't linked to directly related, closed loop programs: cigarette taxes linked to smoking cessation programs and.or smokers health services for example.

Either suggestion for drugs is an improvement over what we have. Either make all drugs legal, else make a clear division that makes sense, with no or harsh punishment.

I think ketsuko is correct that the problem stems deeper than a lack of funds for education, but tend to think figuring out a solution for drugs goes a long way to repairing the culture. There would need be more, but it's perhaps enough for people to start enlightening their selves through a general expanded capacity for self-awareness. What I know with certainty is addicts lack insight and self-awareness to the same degree as a mentally ill individual (the two are often entangled as well).

a reply to: ketsuko

Not a "sin tax". A tax on non important materials. I would have a problem with a tax on basic food. Prepared? That's a different thing. Booze isn't important to life. Neither is sushi. Cereal is.

The problem is at the top of the biggest buildings in any major city. Lets "intervene", climb the Ivory Towers and arrest everyone up there in mega corp, tar and feather them, seize their assets and put them in jail. See how they like it. The assets of the one percent will more than pay for rebuilding this country on a more equal footing, including infrastructure, Education and Agriculture.

People don't need much prompting to work hard if they have an opportunity and good income.

a reply to: intrepid

No, that's what it is. It's not different than a tax on tobacco and for the same reason. The government is banking on people being hooked enough that they will pay any extra rate to continue to get legally high just like smokers will pay any abusive rate to get their next pack of smokes.

Are you going to bet that marijuana is that addictive?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: intrepid

No, that's what it is. It's not different than a tax on tobacco and for the same reason. The government is banking on people being hooked enough that they will pay any extra rate to continue to get legally high just like smokers will pay any abusive rate to get their next pack of smokes.

Yeah..... not getting the beef.

Are you going to bet that marijuana is that addictive?

It's not addictive. It's as social as booze and ciggys though. Thus the tax. Not essential.

a reply to: intrepid


I leaned towards legalizing all drugs, then saw what an invitation that would be for big pharma/Monsanto types to 'invent/create a super addictive drug and own the patent on it and really clean up. I would lean towards legalizing pot, but certainly not hallucinogens. Period


As far as education goes, I'd get the federal gov't out of education/indoctrination and leave it individual states and counties. Money didn't help whatsoever. My daughter homeschools and they are FAR beyond the norm in education. It takes a love of kids, a dash of passion and a lot of patience....not psycho-tropics.....

We need to teach our kids Computer Sciences- Hardware and Software.Plus,term limits for Congress,end the Fed and leave the ME just for kicks

a reply to: intrepid

I don't think it's a solution. Just because you make education available (and I'm not so sure your plan accomplishes that) doesn't mean people are going to take the option. Even if people do choose the education path, there's no guarantee the majors they take will line up with the jobs we need.

Furthermore, just because the schools are funded doesn't mean students have the opportunity to attend them. Caring for kids/parents, working to put a roof over your head, working to stay fed, and education options where you live are all factors. Not to mention, not everyone needs a formal education. The need for plumbers is going to be a crisis in 15 years, but that's not an education related career path, it's much more of a guild just as lawyers are.

a reply to: intrepid

I get that, and if it's not addictive then all the more reason not to start relying on it to find necessities. You cannot count on people being happy with taxes added to it indefinitely. Eventually, they'll stop buying it just like people do anything else that gets too expensive.

And as I pointed out, Colorado gets away with their expensive pot because they're one of only a handful of states and the only one in the Midwest that's legal. When and if others go that route, they lose that status and that exclusive market. They'll be undercut and the revenue will drop.

This is an economics argument, not one of morality at this point.

If Colorado is the only one selling tomatoes, then Colorado can charge whatever it likes and tax whatever it likes because tomatoes are a scarce resource and highly desirable, but as soon as every other state also decides to start selling tomatoes because they see Colorado rolling in the cash, they have two choices - they can either charge as much as Colorado and split that market out so both states take a lesser share of the market or they can sell tomatoes for slightly less and try to bring in a larger share of the tomato market.

This is how free markets operate. The guy willing to both charge less and tax less will likely make the most and win the battle of the pot revenue up to a point. And the more states join that fight, the less overall revenue share any one state will actually get.

And if pot isn't addictive ... it gets that much worse because if the states try to get abusive with their tax rates like they have with cigarette taxes, then people will simply either stop buying pot or just go back to buying illegal pot.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: intrepid

No....I say take the feds out of it completely.
That is a whole level of admins....who all make salaries....have offices....staffs....and take money away from actual teaching.
It should be a local and state issue.

And then when your local area lacks the resources to run a legitimate education system, what do you do? Do you just condemn certain towns to never properly teaching their kids? What do you do when Texas, for the sake of political expediency redefines science so they can teach creationism but the rest of the world laughs at the science education of those from Texas? That will prevent anyone from Texas from actually getting a science job/university slot elsewhere in the country unless they move away, give up their say in Texas politics, and start all over again in their education from step 1.

a reply to: Aazadan

Somehow, the US landed people on the moon before we ever worried about stuff like this.