Re: [xmca] American Values

Very helpful Karen.
It speaks to how the issue looks from inside the Beltway, and goes to tony's
point about the broader ideological forces at work in such prioritizing.

As an old guy who thought that Roosevelt was not a demon, what most
impresses me is the disappearance of the progressive income tax and the
willingness of working people to allow sales taxes as major revenue raisers.

FDR was trying to prove Marx wrong. Reagan and those who followed are making
him look real smart about Capitalism. now if only someone had a clue about
how to do it better......

Feudalism?

mike

On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 6:49 AM, Karen Wieckert <wieckertk@mail.belmont.edu>
wrote:

> In 1984, I spent a year working on the Science Research and Technology
> Subcommittee of the Science and Technology Committee in the US House.
> During that year, many policy makers were concerned about what would
> happen
> if the TV protocols were updated. The issue had been around for a number
> of
> years even before 1984. The protocol was over 30 years old at that point.
> The major concern was the change and the effect upon the public, that is,
> instantaneously making all TV sets obsolete, and therefore requiring their
> replacement. In 1984, there was no cable of course, but the importance of
> TV for the US was pretty clear. I do not know the differences in numbers
> of
> TV sets from then until now.
>
> I can tell you that I bought my first TV set in 1985 for a cost of $250
> 1985
> dollars. It was a 9 inch or some such tiny thing. In 2003, we needed to
> replace our TV set, and could not fathom paying for a flat screen. We
> paid
> less than $250 in 2003 dollars for a 21 inch screen.
>
> I agree that when put into the context of our budgetary decisions, it
> looks
> horrible. But, that is probably more of an issue because of our federal
> spending priorities in general as well as some pretty substantial changes
> in
> governmental revenues. Even under Reagan, taxes were substantially higher
> than now.
>
> Karen Wieckert
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of Tony Whitson
> Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 5:22 PM
> To: mcole@weber.ucsd.edu
> Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] American Values
>
> I don't know about a common thread between ideology & profiteering. The
> latter could be no more than cynical opportunism. Nobody cares if the
> folks at Halliburton are themselves neo-conservatives.
>
> The links between ideological commitment to phonics, fundamentalism,
> abstinence-only, etc. are more interesting.
>
> Some would suggest genetic factors. See
> http://curricublog.org/2008/05/06/politics-genetic-factors/
>
> On Tue, 6 May 2008, Mike Cole wrote:
>
> > What is the common thread?
> > Fundamentalism in one case, hedonism in the other?
> > Maybe a new social formation? Fundamentalist hedonism?
> > mike
> >
> > On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 1:44 PM, Tony Whitson <twhitson@udel.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> Besides which, the "Reading First" program is now shown to have been
> >> ineffective, after it's been known that this was driven by ideology and
> by
> >> profit interests of Administration cronies.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Tue, 6 May 2008, Mike Cole wrote:
> >>
> >> Passed from a local source:
> >>>
> >>> Interesting fact . .
> >>> The U.S. government has allocated $1.5 billion to inform 17 million
> >>> citizens
> >>> about the digital TV transition. The total proposed budged for
> literacy
> >>> education in 2009 stands at a paltry $574.6 million.
> >>>
> >>> Source: Gizmodo.com (5-6-08)
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> xmca mailing list
> >>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >>>
> >>>
> >> Tony Whitson
> >> UD School of Education
> >> NEWARK DE 19716
> >>
> >> twhitson@udel.edu
> >> _______________________________
> >>
> >> "those who fail to reread
> >> are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
> >> -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
> >>
> >
>
> Tony Whitson
> UD School of Education
> NEWARK DE 19716
>
> twhitson@udel.edu
> _______________________________
>
> "those who fail to reread
> are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
> -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
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Received on Wed May 7 09:55 PDT 2008