Mythbusters!
Hello All,
For the record, I don’t mean the show!!
I’m going to list a couple interesting things that my new mentor has revealed to me about the world. (CHEAP PLUG ALERT!)
This of course can be read in Mr. Stossel’s new book Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity in stores now. check Amazon.com or Chapters.com for more information.
Myth #1 - Gas prices are going through the roof.
In truth gasoline is a real steal according to Mr. Stossel’s research. Media reports don’t do little things like take into account inflation meaning that gas today is cheaper than it was decades ago. Even bottled water is more expensive than gas.
In his report; Water for sale at a gas station was $1.29 for 24 ounces or $6.88 per gallon. Wow!
Myth #2 - Men make more than women do in the workforce.
Not true.
According to U.S. Census data and other studies, the wage gap is due to men taking different types of jobs and not sexism. Hours worked also factored in the study, as well as; jobs that require longer commuting times, safety risks and frequent travel.
The research was by one Warren Farrell who told Stossel, “It’s no sexism. Women make less because they want different things.”
While feminist critics seemed reluctant to believe this data, Farrell’s point was that women have better priorities in the workforce, while men only want money and power. If equality means being as stupid in their priorities as men, then equality seems the way to go.
Myth #3 Republicans shrink government.
One big whopper of a myth.
Republicans are as entrenched in Washington as the Democrats. True, Reagan did try to curb growth of state but his VP’s son vetoed no bills in his tenure (so far) and has spent more than the Democrats ever have.
True, Dubya and his oil company handlers used the war in Iraq as a smokescreen for their political agenda. But according to the data, despite any money sent to the military spending is still up by, on average, 30% in other government departments.
A weakness in all politicians is their over inflated ego, especially when someone hands them several hundred million dollars. That’s what we call pork spending. Republicans can be piggy with the best of them and so numerous conservative talk makers, like Glenn Beck, don’t apologize when going after someone on their side.
Myth #4 Public schools are underfunded.
This is a wierd one. Shocking too.
We all know the oil companies own the Republicans, but it’s the all powerful teacher unions that control the Democrats. People always assume that public schools have no cash, unfortunately for our wallets that is incorrect. Once again referring to the data from Mr. Stossel’s book states;
In 2004, the U.S. had a military budget of $454 billion and public schools had a budget of over $536 billion. A curious quote;
“America spends more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on the international tests.”
Why is that, you say. Well the school system is as entrenched as the politicians whom they’ve bought. It’s a vast bureaucracy which uses that money to give them inflated raises, buy off their pedophile teachers and well give themselves more raises I guess.
There’s also the accountability factor.
Private schools are held accountable by the students and the parents and if the administration fails, they are fired. In public schools the politicians are the ones the administration report to when they screw up.
And lucky them, no matter how bad they perform or how awful the school is the unions have saved themselves and made it impossible to fire anyone or close any school. So there you go, the unions and idiot politicians get to spend $536 billion on themselves and let the students suffer.
I think I shall stop for now. The book has many more myths, some I agree with and some I don’t. Though I wouldn’t want to take away someone’s chance to enjoy this book. Go buy a copy or visit your local library.
I bid adieu,
your Origami reporter,
L.Manly
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Topics: Sex, Jobs, Law, Politics, Kids, Family, Health, In the News, Books |
One Response to “Mythbusters!”
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September 27th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Warren Farrel wrote The Myth of Male Power, which I read somewhere around 1998, along with Christina Hoff Summers’ book, The War Against Boys.
http://www.warrenfarrell.org/
http://www.amazon.com/WAR-AGAINST-BOYS-Misguided-Feminism/dp/0684849577