Short Quiz

[johnkarls]

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SHORT QUIZ -- "THAT USED TO BE US: HOW AMERICA FELL BEHIND IN THE WORLD IT INVENTED AND HOW WE CAN COME BACK"

1. Have we read/studied any of Thomas Friedman's books in the past?

2. How many Pulitzer Prizes has Thomas Friedman won?

3. Thomas Friedman appeared on Meet the Press 9/4/2011 (the day before the official release date for "That Used To Be Us") and posited "five pillars" on which America's economic success had been based historically -- if you didn't see Friedman on Meet the Press, what would you guess the "five pillars" were?

4. Does Friedman believe that it would be possible to restore the "five pillars" and, with them, American greatness?

5. Recent studies have shown that America ranks well behind Europe in social mobility -- is America's notorious lack of social mobility the inevitable result of its education system?

6. Jonathan Kozol, famous American educator, has chronicled America's refusal to educate its permanent inner-city under-class in a dozen award-winning books that have become classics over the last 54 years -- including "Death At An Early Age" (1967), "The Night Is Dark And I Am Far From Home: Political Indictment Of US Public Schools" (1975), "Illiterate America" (1985), "Rachel And Her Children" (1988), "Savage Inequalities: Children In America's Schools" (1991), "Amazing Grace: The Lives Of Children And The Conscience Of A Nation" (1995), "Ordinary Resurrections: Children In The Years Of Hope" (2001), and "Shame Of The Nation: The Restoration Of Apartheid Schooling In America" (2005). SEVERAL OF HIS BOOKS REFER TO THE PERSISTENT RESULTS OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STUDIES OVER RECENT DECADES THAT CONSTANTLY AND CONSISTENTLY SHOW THAT 30% OF AMERICAN ADULTS ARE ILLITERATE, AS DEFINED BY AN INABILITY TO READ THE WARNING LABEL ON A CAN OF RAT POISON!!! Is it any wonder that there is NO SOCIAL MOBILITY from the permanent American under-class/caste???

7. The upper end of American society is anchored by institutions of higher learning that are private (e.g., Stanford, MIT, the Ivy League, etc.) and that cater to children of alumni, especially if their parents have sent their children to one of the elite boarding schools (Exeter, Milton, Groton, St. Paul's, Andover). [Full Disclosure = Yours Truly played that game on behalf of his children and salved his conscience by recounting, whenever challenged, that Thurgood Marshall (US Supreme Court Justice 1967-1991 and, in 1954 as General Counsel of the NAACP, the prevailing attorney in Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court) always defended his decision to send both of his children to Exeter with the statement that every parent tries to do the best that s/he can by her/his own children.] BUT IS IT ANY WONDER THAT IT IS SO DIFFICULT TO BREAK INTO THE AMERICAN UPPER CLASS (AND UPPER MIDDLE CLASS) WHEN THE "ADMISSION TICKET" CAN BE PURCHASED ONLY BY THE WEALTHY WHO CAN AFFORD IT???

8. Would the French model for higher education be preferable?

9. Was the infrastructure that fuelled America's geographical expansion and industrialization financed/built by government?

10. In terms of economic stimuli, why do Congress and the Administration always talk about re-building "infrastructure" which they define as roads and bridges?

11. Why don't Congress and the Administration simply raise the motor-fuel tax to finance re-building roads and bridges (if there is such a need, which only seems to be perceived whenever there is an economic downturn) -- and devote "infrastructure re-building" economic-stimulus funds to re-building (and, in many if not most cases, building) America's inner-city schools?

12. If Congress and the Administration were willing to devote "infrastructure re-building" economic-stimulus funds to re-building (or building) inner-city schools, wouldn't the new jobs be created in geographical locations where unemployment is highest?

13. Why does Friedman think government-funded research was so important to America's greatness if the US government does not patent on behalf of America's taxpayers the inventions they have financed?

14. How can US government financing of so much basic research benefit the American taxpayer who foots the bill if the inventions are freely available to both US-based and foreign-based multi-national companies -- both of which immediately locate any manufacturing based on the inventions in low-wage countries such as China?

15. Why does Friedman think that immigration is one of the five pillars of American greatness? Isn't illegal immigration largely the re-institution of slavery over which we fought a Civil War???

16. On the other hand, many politicians and commentators have proposed that the US government should attach to every Doctorate awarded by an American university to a foreign citizen a "green card" -- is this a good idea?

17. Does Friedman understand the 2008-201? economic meltdown any better than Alan Greenspan doesn't???

18. Does Friedman recommend that President Obama honor his 2008 campaign pledge regarding exporting American jobs to low-wage countries such as China?

19. Has the White House "inkled" that it is willing to exempt from US corporate income taxation the $2 TRillion of profits from exporting American jobs to low-wage countries such as China, which profits have accumulated in tax-haven subsidiaries of American corporations since they were given an 85% exemption from US corporate income taxation for the $4 TRillion of such profits that had accumulated in the tax-haven subsidiaries by 2005-6???

20. Can the American economy survive another $2 TRillion reduction in the payroll and capital expenditures of the chump American companies that did NOT export American jobs???

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EXTRA-CREDIT QUESTIONS FOR FUN

Many of the 150 subscribers to our weekly e-mail graduated from the U/Utah which joined the Pac-12 this season. As an off-the-topic digression to Q-9 --

A. Why did Stanford University disallow the winner of the student referendum on what its new nickname should be when the old nickname "Indians" was deemed too insensitive toward Native Americans? How does the answer relate to Q-9?

B. If any of our members who are U/U alumni meet at Pac-12 functions Stanford alumni who seem overly conceited, what are the two best responses?