2012 September

J'Accuse

-- The US healthcare pricetag has been slowly creeping up to 18+% of GDP. Comparable nations spend 8-10% of GDP.
Third parties (government & employers) paying have killed market forces. We overspend $1+T/year.
Plus: US healthcare does not score at the top in international comparisons due to varying regional quality.
It is the least cost effective healthcare system in the world that prevents individuals to pay for their own premiums.
The press ignores this misallocation of 8% of GDP.

-- We have now 'failing schools' after a century of public education.
Assessing schools was never done in the 20h century.
There was a good reason for that: their 'inputs' differ.
Each school gets children with a different IQ potential distribution.
Standardized testing - while a step forward over not testing at all, without taking into account these IQ potential distributions - is wacko.
The press keeps ignoring this absurdity.

-- IT, the next offspring of the Industrial Revolution, has been automating, as usual, jobs away.
Wages in the middle class have stagnated since 1970.
The top 10% income share has increased from 33% to 48% during 1972-2007.
Structural unemployment is creeping up.
This time around (re)educating the workforce to a higher level fails.
Hence, during the last decades::
- Those having no relevant skills are increasing
- Those having sought after skills are decreasing
- Those in between still consume more in social services than they contribute in taxes
The press does not want to deal with the root causes of the growing abyss in the US workforce.

-- The US population grew from 212M to 314M during 1970-2010, starting from less than 80M in 1900. There is the persistent belief that employment will always keep up with this growth and we expect always increasing prosperity. Our leaders avoid for decades addressing unsustainable dysfunction in the US society (and beyond).
The press avoids shaking them out of their delusion/ deliberate avoidance.

-- Ignoring what has been consumed away since 1900: the planet's resources per capita are now 1.6/7 = 0.23 of what it was in 1900.
Nasty side-effects of population growth are off limits for the press.

In summary:
     Our press is paralyzed by self-censorship.
     Or: they perpetrate white lies.

Thereby, effective democracy is .... lost.

The Washington Post wanted to charge me $20K to publish a critique on the press. Ludicrous.