Just lost the election.
1> Captial gains taxes will increase, as part of the tax those who make over $250,000 initiative.
2> Give the wealthy incentives to invest.... see #1.
3> Education. Colleges are finding, more and more, that incoming freshman don't have basic math and English skills, thanks to so-called "progressive" education.
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innovation
Edited by Farm Show Jim
Updated - 8th Nov
Just
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I understand what you are saying, but..
Edited by Hates Idiots
Updated - 9th Nov
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The Three Ways To Empowering Innovation
Posted by bb_apptix
8th Nov
0
Votes
Is it really progressive education?
For years high schools have been teach only to the test, thats not progressive.
Posted by dspardoe
8th Nov
+1
Vote
A teachers union punch line to cover for progressive teaching.
"Teaching to the test" is what teachers call being distracted from teaching the crap they normally teach. Quoted from a former teachers union rep I know.
If our kids got the kind of well rounded education my generation received back in the 1970s and 1980s the teachers would not need to "teach to the test" because kids would already be armed with the basic skills needed to pass the standard tests.
Every kid I graduated with had basic STEM skills competency that most of todays high school graduates lack. I find it amusing that another post on this site discusses the importance of the English language in the global market place, yet far too many high school graduates in several major US cities including LA, Chicago and even Washington DC. have no better than a 10th grade reading level when they graduate.
Instead of teaching the basics we have high school seniors spend an entire semester on the history of black culture in TV and movies ( a great college course I took by the way), or the outrageous Mexican studies classes popular in Southern California and Arizona that are offered only to people of Mexican descent. Something already found to be illegal by more than one court.
Those are the classes where they teach a fictional history of how the American army enslaved the Mexican people for decades and stole half their country when they finally left. Teachers in these classes openly promote a violent Mexican led rebellion in those states to be inevitable.
If our kids got the kind of well rounded education my generation received back in the 1970s and 1980s the teachers would not need to "teach to the test" because kids would already be armed with the basic skills needed to pass the standard tests.
Every kid I graduated with had basic STEM skills competency that most of todays high school graduates lack. I find it amusing that another post on this site discusses the importance of the English language in the global market place, yet far too many high school graduates in several major US cities including LA, Chicago and even Washington DC. have no better than a 10th grade reading level when they graduate.
Instead of teaching the basics we have high school seniors spend an entire semester on the history of black culture in TV and movies ( a great college course I took by the way), or the outrageous Mexican studies classes popular in Southern California and Arizona that are offered only to people of Mexican descent. Something already found to be illegal by more than one court.
Those are the classes where they teach a fictional history of how the American army enslaved the Mexican people for decades and stole half their country when they finally left. Teachers in these classes openly promote a violent Mexican led rebellion in those states to be inevitable.
Posted by Hates Idiots
Updated - 9th Nov
0
Votes
Add to that, the cost of innovations when one has to apply for patents,
which are very expensive, and you don't want to spend 20,000 or more on just the patents, and then sacrifice towards the development and implementation of your innovation.
But, the biggest hurdle to innovation is government, which can issue so many regulations to industry, that it becomes too much of a burden to even get started.
The article above has it mostly wrong as to why innovation is not occurring. There are plenty of people with ideas around, but, they can't even get started when it's so expensive and the massive number of regulations make people disenchanted with the process. Innovators may have the ideas, but, the development and implementation of them is being outsourced to other countries that don't put up so many barriers to the inventive mind.
But, the biggest hurdle to innovation is government, which can issue so many regulations to industry, that it becomes too much of a burden to even get started.
The article above has it mostly wrong as to why innovation is not occurring. There are plenty of people with ideas around, but, they can't even get started when it's so expensive and the massive number of regulations make people disenchanted with the process. Innovators may have the ideas, but, the development and implementation of them is being outsourced to other countries that don't put up so many barriers to the inventive mind.
Posted by adornoe
8th Nov
+1
Vote
Innovation is tough
Could not disagree with this from experience. I have seven new patentable innovations and find it near impossable in this climate to find intrested support for ground breaking new technologies. My new drywall cutter has won numerous awards, This Old House magazine best new product and Popular Science Innovation of the Year Award, yet I find it near impossable to get it into the retail outlets. Visit www.wallboardersbuddy.com.
I have a revolutionary new solar energy system (www.orionsolartech.com) that increases efficiency,longevity and makes solar an integrated part of the structure. Banging my head against the wall on this one.
The next seven inventions will change some of the most basic tools in construction along with three more revolutionary solar inventions that will all work and can be game changers in themselves.
Imagine a simple solar desalinator that produces power instead of consuming it. SERIOUSLY
I hope these ideas to not go to the grave with me when they could all change the world for the better.
Every one I talk to wants proven sales and security. If I had the sales they wanted I would not be knocking on their doors. Ford had a difficult time getting his model T going so there is still hope.
I have a revolutionary new solar energy system (www.orionsolartech.com) that increases efficiency,longevity and makes solar an integrated part of the structure. Banging my head against the wall on this one.
The next seven inventions will change some of the most basic tools in construction along with three more revolutionary solar inventions that will all work and can be game changers in themselves.
Imagine a simple solar desalinator that produces power instead of consuming it. SERIOUSLY
I hope these ideas to not go to the grave with me when they could all change the world for the better.
Every one I talk to wants proven sales and security. If I had the sales they wanted I would not be knocking on their doors. Ford had a difficult time getting his model T going so there is still hope.
Posted by Gary McCallum
8th Nov
+4
Votes
innovation
I'll probably raise some hackles with the following, but I get tired of the type of bashing I see here and all too often elsewhere.
I think the argument the author makes takes precedence over teacher bashing, tax law, regulation and the rest of the straw dogs tossed out here. The fact is that if you look at corporate America, it is like much of the rest of America, addicted to quick returns. We are all looking for the pill that solves our problems instantly. Until companies start investing in the long term and we as stockholders start backing them instead of paying out oversized salaries to "cost-conscious" managment, things won't change.
Take education for example. If you want to see kids better educated, demand that education be the focus...not sports...not extra curriculars...and certainly not after school jobs. We require our teachers to do the work that families used to do and parents used to be responsible for doing. Back in August, ABC news reported:
According to a new survey, teachers spent an average of $448 of their own money on instructional materials and school supplies for the 1998-99 school year.
The survey conducted last summer by the National School Supply and Equipment Association a trade group representing the school supply industry found that teachers pay for 77 percent of the school supplies needed in their classrooms. The rest comes from the school, parent-teacher groups and other school funds."
In any other self respecting industry, the employee is taking pencils home, not buying them at Walmart and bringing them into work.
How many who complain about teachers have supported them in their efforts to teach and demanded the administrations back them up in rigor. How many have gone to school boards and administrators and demanded more rigor in the classroom and more support for teachers who try to do their best? Instead we pass "No Child Left Behind".
As for innovation in this country, I write for a magazine called Farm Show. We run no ads, sell no editorial space. Instead, we have 199,000 (at last count) subscribers who pay us to find interesting stories (some wacky) about new products and innovations by their fellow readers and neighbors. I am forever amazed at the creativity I am exposed to when interviewing sources. I am also forever heartened by the interest and dedication of our readers for the magazine's mission. (Gary: visit www.farmshow.com and submit your products. Our readers want to hear about them.)
I am equally heartened by all the small companies, some start-ups and others long-term who are making high quality products right here in the U.S. of A. BadBoy Mowers, Batesville, Ark. is a great example. They have expanded like crazy over the past 10-12 years from a garage shop to a large, highly automated facility, high quality products, terrific workforce and management that understands the importance of all three.
Innovative and creative companies (and individuals) are alive and well. So are good teachers. We as citizens need to notice and reward all the above with our support.
I think the argument the author makes takes precedence over teacher bashing, tax law, regulation and the rest of the straw dogs tossed out here. The fact is that if you look at corporate America, it is like much of the rest of America, addicted to quick returns. We are all looking for the pill that solves our problems instantly. Until companies start investing in the long term and we as stockholders start backing them instead of paying out oversized salaries to "cost-conscious" managment, things won't change.
Take education for example. If you want to see kids better educated, demand that education be the focus...not sports...not extra curriculars...and certainly not after school jobs. We require our teachers to do the work that families used to do and parents used to be responsible for doing. Back in August, ABC news reported:
According to a new survey, teachers spent an average of $448 of their own money on instructional materials and school supplies for the 1998-99 school year.
The survey conducted last summer by the National School Supply and Equipment Association a trade group representing the school supply industry found that teachers pay for 77 percent of the school supplies needed in their classrooms. The rest comes from the school, parent-teacher groups and other school funds."
In any other self respecting industry, the employee is taking pencils home, not buying them at Walmart and bringing them into work.
How many who complain about teachers have supported them in their efforts to teach and demanded the administrations back them up in rigor. How many have gone to school boards and administrators and demanded more rigor in the classroom and more support for teachers who try to do their best? Instead we pass "No Child Left Behind".
As for innovation in this country, I write for a magazine called Farm Show. We run no ads, sell no editorial space. Instead, we have 199,000 (at last count) subscribers who pay us to find interesting stories (some wacky) about new products and innovations by their fellow readers and neighbors. I am forever amazed at the creativity I am exposed to when interviewing sources. I am also forever heartened by the interest and dedication of our readers for the magazine's mission. (Gary: visit www.farmshow.com and submit your products. Our readers want to hear about them.)
I am equally heartened by all the small companies, some start-ups and others long-term who are making high quality products right here in the U.S. of A. BadBoy Mowers, Batesville, Ark. is a great example. They have expanded like crazy over the past 10-12 years from a garage shop to a large, highly automated facility, high quality products, terrific workforce and management that understands the importance of all three.
Innovative and creative companies (and individuals) are alive and well. So are good teachers. We as citizens need to notice and reward all the above with our support.
Posted by Farm Show Jim
Updated - 8th Nov
0
Votes
I understand what you are saying, but..
There are problems with your argument regarding schools.
For example. A few years back the state of Maine was among the highest average amount spent per student in the country. They had one of the lowest ratios of students to teachers, yet on average it had among the worst performing school systems in the country.
The money was being poorly spent. All those teachers hired to give the great student/teacher ratio came at a cost. The quality of the teachers hired fell as the priority was on hiring bodies to fill quotas, not hiring good teachers. School system bureaucrats were making exorbitant salaries while negotiating agreements with teachers unions that left them nearly powerless to fire incompetent teachers.
The new governor flat lined state education spending, they were already spending plenty, and he has focused on better accountability for how the money is being spent. There are literally dozens of states, thousands of cities and towns and millions of parents that need to come to this realization.
If teachers are having to buy supplies their school systems priorities are messed up. Why parents have tolerated such behavior from elected and unelected school bureaucrats is beyond me, but blaming companies that have to deal with, reeducate and train, the graduates of these diploma mills is misdirected anger.
Your last 3 sentences say a lot. "Innovative and creative companies (and individuals) are alive and well. So are good teachers. We as citizens need to notice and reward all the above with our support. "
So I ask. Why are teachers unions against annual teacher reviews and merit pay? Why is it so hard for cities like NY to fire bad teachers that they pay dozens of them to sit around all day and do nothing because they are harmful to students. This mob of chair warmers includes teachers that have assaulted and sexually abused students. Yet the city cannot fire them.
We all agree that the good teachers should earn more money and not have to pay for supplies. We SHOULD all agree that bad teachers need to go. We SHOULD all agree the bad school administrators need to go.
The fact is our kids are better off being one of 30 students to a class with quality teachers at the head of those classes instead of one of 20 students to a class with nothing better than a warm body filling the teachers seat.
Sadly we have just warm bodies for teachers in too many of the nations classrooms. The overall poor performance of our students is proof of that.
For example. A few years back the state of Maine was among the highest average amount spent per student in the country. They had one of the lowest ratios of students to teachers, yet on average it had among the worst performing school systems in the country.
The money was being poorly spent. All those teachers hired to give the great student/teacher ratio came at a cost. The quality of the teachers hired fell as the priority was on hiring bodies to fill quotas, not hiring good teachers. School system bureaucrats were making exorbitant salaries while negotiating agreements with teachers unions that left them nearly powerless to fire incompetent teachers.
The new governor flat lined state education spending, they were already spending plenty, and he has focused on better accountability for how the money is being spent. There are literally dozens of states, thousands of cities and towns and millions of parents that need to come to this realization.
If teachers are having to buy supplies their school systems priorities are messed up. Why parents have tolerated such behavior from elected and unelected school bureaucrats is beyond me, but blaming companies that have to deal with, reeducate and train, the graduates of these diploma mills is misdirected anger.
Your last 3 sentences say a lot. "Innovative and creative companies (and individuals) are alive and well. So are good teachers. We as citizens need to notice and reward all the above with our support. "
So I ask. Why are teachers unions against annual teacher reviews and merit pay? Why is it so hard for cities like NY to fire bad teachers that they pay dozens of them to sit around all day and do nothing because they are harmful to students. This mob of chair warmers includes teachers that have assaulted and sexually abused students. Yet the city cannot fire them.
We all agree that the good teachers should earn more money and not have to pay for supplies. We SHOULD all agree that bad teachers need to go. We SHOULD all agree the bad school administrators need to go.
The fact is our kids are better off being one of 30 students to a class with quality teachers at the head of those classes instead of one of 20 students to a class with nothing better than a warm body filling the teachers seat.
Sadly we have just warm bodies for teachers in too many of the nations classrooms. The overall poor performance of our students is proof of that.
Posted by Hates Idiots
Updated - 9th Nov
+3
Votes
Innovation
My observation is that innovation does not come from the top, the wealthy have everything they need and the means to get it. Innovation comes from an ability to find a solution to a problem.
My uncle was stationed in South Korea in the 60's. He said that the villagers would gather the spent shells and make artwork out of the brass. The villagers would sell the art as a way to pay for food and shelter. This is true for a lot of famous artists who in many cases died poor just before their art became valuable (think Van Gogh). These people had to innovate to live. The best bit of innovation by modern big companies has been to buy smaller companies that have done the hard work to truly to make a better product.
Innovation comes when there is an unfilled need that can be filled by creativity and improvisation. History shows how crude tools are used to make better tools; going from chipped rock to high carbon steel to make better tools.
Innovation when it is at its greatest extent creates wealth. A good example is the personal computer going from an intelligent terminal to being a stand alone device that can perform different functions from documents, spreadsheets to education. The changes in 30 years from the early crude devices to the current range of devices that have computerized telephones and even automobiles. This is innovation at its most disruptive infuence.
My uncle was stationed in South Korea in the 60's. He said that the villagers would gather the spent shells and make artwork out of the brass. The villagers would sell the art as a way to pay for food and shelter. This is true for a lot of famous artists who in many cases died poor just before their art became valuable (think Van Gogh). These people had to innovate to live. The best bit of innovation by modern big companies has been to buy smaller companies that have done the hard work to truly to make a better product.
Innovation comes when there is an unfilled need that can be filled by creativity and improvisation. History shows how crude tools are used to make better tools; going from chipped rock to high carbon steel to make better tools.
Innovation when it is at its greatest extent creates wealth. A good example is the personal computer going from an intelligent terminal to being a stand alone device that can perform different functions from documents, spreadsheets to education. The changes in 30 years from the early crude devices to the current range of devices that have computerized telephones and even automobiles. This is innovation at its most disruptive infuence.
Posted by sboverie
8th Nov
-1
Votes
In today's world, the rich are the ones that drive innovation, because,
they are the risk takers and the ones who can finance a project. Most innovators are not producing things that will revolutionize an industry, and in reality, those innovators are just being resourceful in finding solutions to immediate needs, such as, how to cross a river to get to the other side, in which case, one gets a boat or builds a bridge, where both solutions are not "innovations".
Innovations are where an industry is impacted towards doing things in entirely different ways or in ways that save a lot of money or make people's lives more efficient.
The people who have the dough, are the rich and powerful, and those who know how to get the funding for a project. Without those people, the U.S. would still be back in the horse-and-buggy era of economics. I may come up with an idea or a whole new invention, but, if I don't have the means to fund a project to get that innovation off the ground, it's just going to stay locked away inside my mind. Uncle Sam might be able to fund a project, but then, it's not a free-market method, which will always be the most efficient, where the investors and inventors know best how to develop and implement and grow that idea into a business. Government doesn't know how to run businesses, and what they do best, is waste our resources and our time, and put up barriers with huge numbers of red-tape and regulations.
Innovations are where an industry is impacted towards doing things in entirely different ways or in ways that save a lot of money or make people's lives more efficient.
The people who have the dough, are the rich and powerful, and those who know how to get the funding for a project. Without those people, the U.S. would still be back in the horse-and-buggy era of economics. I may come up with an idea or a whole new invention, but, if I don't have the means to fund a project to get that innovation off the ground, it's just going to stay locked away inside my mind. Uncle Sam might be able to fund a project, but then, it's not a free-market method, which will always be the most efficient, where the investors and inventors know best how to develop and implement and grow that idea into a business. Government doesn't know how to run businesses, and what they do best, is waste our resources and our time, and put up barriers with huge numbers of red-tape and regulations.
Posted by adornoe
8th Nov
+2
Votes
Innovation vetting
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently found that the EPA "could benefit from more information on treatment technologies." http://www.gao.gov/assets/650/647992.pdf Technology assessment is not a factor in effluent guidelines. Previously, the GAO found that DOE, unlike NASA and other technical agencies, has no database of technology assessment. The result is that new ideas regarding air and water pollution technology have no way to be heard and evaluated. The "proven" technology may be laughably primitive (e.g. the API separator (1933) used at refineries), but there is no way to suggest improvements. There is no way to get a new idea validated for further development
ARPA-E (which is supposed to be for disruptive innovation in the power industry) has a 20% cost-sharing requirement. Startups don't have the money for cost-sharing, so the grants become more corporate welfare and academic subsidies for old thinking.
As for private funding, conventional econometrics punish innovation. The treatment of expenditures for technology development "disadvantages every capital-intensive platform investment and supports anything that prolongs the life of aging assets." See p. 14 at http://www.khoslaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/InnovatorsEcosystem_12_19_111.pdf
Purported technology experts defend the old stuff because that is what they know. Like the drunk looking for his keys under a streetlight because there the light is better, the experts and government agencies tasked with developing new ideas are effectively blinded by the limitation of their search.
There are no prizes for new ideas. There is no way to discuss and evaluate new ideas. Inventors are shunned like lepers and called trolls.
They say even a dog knows the difference between being tripped over and being kicked, and with regard to technology development policy in America, the evidence inclines toward kicked.
ARPA-E (which is supposed to be for disruptive innovation in the power industry) has a 20% cost-sharing requirement. Startups don't have the money for cost-sharing, so the grants become more corporate welfare and academic subsidies for old thinking.
As for private funding, conventional econometrics punish innovation. The treatment of expenditures for technology development "disadvantages every capital-intensive platform investment and supports anything that prolongs the life of aging assets." See p. 14 at http://www.khoslaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/InnovatorsEcosystem_12_19_111.pdf
Purported technology experts defend the old stuff because that is what they know. Like the drunk looking for his keys under a streetlight because there the light is better, the experts and government agencies tasked with developing new ideas are effectively blinded by the limitation of their search.
There are no prizes for new ideas. There is no way to discuss and evaluate new ideas. Inventors are shunned like lepers and called trolls.
They say even a dog knows the difference between being tripped over and being kicked, and with regard to technology development policy in America, the evidence inclines toward kicked.
Posted by Wilmot McCutchen
8th Nov
0
Votes
RE: Innovation Vetting (and EPA)
Having dealt with the EPA...not only is there no real way for new stuff to be heard but there are some loggerheads that will NOT listen and summarily turn away any technology that might shake the empire. It's like a train coming down the tracks and they've discovered they're on the wrong siding ...but keep going because that's the direction they're headed - right or wrong. Very frustrating.
Posted by GregGold
8th Nov
0
Votes
Yet, new and innovative ideas, have found a way to get into our lives,
and into our everyday way of doing things, both at home and at work.
Your post is a nice read, and with a lot of truths to it, but, one has to look around and wonder how we became so technologically advanced. We probably would be a lot further along, if it were not for the many obstacles that need to be overcome.
Your post is a nice read, and with a lot of truths to it, but, one has to look around and wonder how we became so technologically advanced. We probably would be a lot further along, if it were not for the many obstacles that need to be overcome.
Posted by adornoe
8th Nov