History and civics are not useless, if they were actually taught, and not the bullshit we receive their might not have been a Tea Party and it's offspring MAGA.
George Santyana said He who does not remember the past will relive it.
George Orwll: He who controls the past ,controls the present, he who controls the present controls the future.
History and civics are not useless, if they were actually taught, and not the bullshit we receive their might not have been a Tea Party and it's offspring MAGA.
George Santyana said He who does not remember the past will relive it.
George Orwll: He who controls the past ,controls the present, he who controls the present controls the future.
In Russia the people are taught about the Great Patriotic war and the NAZI threat is kept alive and as real as yesterday.
In Arab countries the crusades are not ancient history, they are yesterday.
History is very important, civics even more so, but the question is whose history and whose version of civics.
I agree William as Americans have very short attention spans and our general knowledge of history seems to consist of Hollywood movies. And as for knowledge about other countries, that is at best spotty and certainly doesn't extend to how other developed countries have succeeded with "socialized" medical care and higher education available to all. Also, science is barely understood by many, which was certainly evident during the pandemic and as well as in how climate change is not being addressed.
But what else is needed is an understanding of economics. Biden seems to have been blamed for the inflation of the last few years without any public understanding of the Fed's role in putting money out during the pandemic...but then the Fed isn't understood either. (The Democrats should have addressed this whole topic head on, but they didn't.) Of course if people knew how to manage money they wouldn't get high interest loans and maybe they would control their spending much better, taking on less debt. So I guess there's a reason why personal finances isn't taught well either.
docrhw I am going to be trite here, but all one needs to understand is supply and demand and marginal utility., fixed and variable costs, all the rest is mumbo jumbo and my Bachelors is in Economics.
People don;t manage their budgets because they are addicted to and expect immediate gratification and pass it on to our children. Look at the mad rush for Christmas Shopping. Your child won't love you unless they have an iPhone and an iPhone 16 at that.
It has nothing to do with personal finances. shit people don't even balance their checkbook, they overspend and get hit with fees, and even buy food on the credit card. They pay interest on shit, created 8 hours after they eat, but pay the interest for years.
Your right about the Fed, and I bet you don't understand it either.
Why is it the Fed uses interest rates to cool inflation?
That is because our money supply,responds to supply and demand.
Raise interest rates and theoretically you reduce the money supply, however theory doesn't hold, in a society that is addicted to debt.
Browse the floor of a casino and you will see what I mean.
What people don't know and are not told by economists or the "experts" on TV,is that ours, and the worlds mostly, is a fractional reserve system.
What that means is that lending institutions must have on reserve a fraction of the money that the create when they loan money for a mortgage, a car loan or even credit cards.
Reserves, in the U.S. are Government Securities. Corporate Bonds and check accounts (demand deposits, not savings accounts or time deposits)
If they have, say $100 in reserve, they can create money by loaning $1,000
It is just a book keeping entry,and as the debt is paid off or paid down, the portion of the principle is paid off.
However the loan does not include the interest that is to be paid, the interest is not paid off and paid down, and that is what causes long term inflation that is why a candy bar that cost $.25 cents in 1978, and costs $.05 cents in 1968, costs $1.50 today
Short term inflation, the price of gas, eggs,bread and milk, are the result of supply and demand, as well as price gouging by middlemen and producers.
Price gouging only works if the item is perishable (milk, eggs) and supply exceeds demand (gasoline).
I am not sure about bread, manufacturers can store cereal grains, but they can't store eggs. the only way to affect the price of eggs is to slaughter the chickens, but that is financial suicide.
Yes that can happen but when my students don't understand that they can get cheaper car loans from credit unions than large banks, or don't realize what their mortgage is going to cost them over time then clearly there is a gap in their education. And forget about using credit cards to pay off last month's luxuries with next month's salary! Compound interest and how to make it work for you (like an IRA) rather than against you (bad debt) should be studied in high school. It rarely is.
History and civics are not useless, if they were actually taught, and not the bullshit we receive their might not have been a Tea Party and it's offspring MAGA.
George Santyana said He who does not remember the past will relive it.
George Orwll: He who controls the past ,controls the present, he who controls the present controls the future.
In Russia the people are taught about the Great Patriotic war and the NAZI threat is kept alive and as real as yesterday.
In Arab countries the crusades are not ancient history, they are yesterday.
History is very important, civics even more so, but the question is whose history and whose version of civics.
I agree William as Americans have very short attention spans and our general knowledge of history seems to consist of Hollywood movies. And as for knowledge about other countries, that is at best spotty and certainly doesn't extend to how other developed countries have succeeded with "socialized" medical care and higher education available to all. Also, science is barely understood by many, which was certainly evident during the pandemic and as well as in how climate change is not being addressed.
But what else is needed is an understanding of economics. Biden seems to have been blamed for the inflation of the last few years without any public understanding of the Fed's role in putting money out during the pandemic...but then the Fed isn't understood either. (The Democrats should have addressed this whole topic head on, but they didn't.) Of course if people knew how to manage money they wouldn't get high interest loans and maybe they would control their spending much better, taking on less debt. So I guess there's a reason why personal finances isn't taught well either.
docrhw I am going to be trite here, but all one needs to understand is supply and demand and marginal utility., fixed and variable costs, all the rest is mumbo jumbo and my Bachelors is in Economics.
People don;t manage their budgets because they are addicted to and expect immediate gratification and pass it on to our children. Look at the mad rush for Christmas Shopping. Your child won't love you unless they have an iPhone and an iPhone 16 at that.
It has nothing to do with personal finances. shit people don't even balance their checkbook, they overspend and get hit with fees, and even buy food on the credit card. They pay interest on shit, created 8 hours after they eat, but pay the interest for years.
Your right about the Fed, and I bet you don't understand it either.
Why is it the Fed uses interest rates to cool inflation?
That is because our money supply,responds to supply and demand.
Raise interest rates and theoretically you reduce the money supply, however theory doesn't hold, in a society that is addicted to debt.
Browse the floor of a casino and you will see what I mean.
What people don't know and are not told by economists or the "experts" on TV,is that ours, and the worlds mostly, is a fractional reserve system.
What that means is that lending institutions must have on reserve a fraction of the money that the create when they loan money for a mortgage, a car loan or even credit cards.
Reserves, in the U.S. are Government Securities. Corporate Bonds and check accounts (demand deposits, not savings accounts or time deposits)
If they have, say $100 in reserve, they can create money by loaning $1,000
It is just a book keeping entry,and as the debt is paid off or paid down, the portion of the principle is paid off.
However the loan does not include the interest that is to be paid, the interest is not paid off and paid down, and that is what causes long term inflation that is why a candy bar that cost $.25 cents in 1978, and costs $.05 cents in 1968, costs $1.50 today
Short term inflation, the price of gas, eggs,bread and milk, are the result of supply and demand, as well as price gouging by middlemen and producers.
Price gouging only works if the item is perishable (milk, eggs) and supply exceeds demand (gasoline).
I am not sure about bread, manufacturers can store cereal grains, but they can't store eggs. the only way to affect the price of eggs is to slaughter the chickens, but that is financial suicide.
I agree except a family emergency sometimes requires debt and interest is too high.
Yes that can happen but when my students don't understand that they can get cheaper car loans from credit unions than large banks, or don't realize what their mortgage is going to cost them over time then clearly there is a gap in their education. And forget about using credit cards to pay off last month's luxuries with next month's salary! Compound interest and how to make it work for you (like an IRA) rather than against you (bad debt) should be studied in high school. It rarely is.