If only things were this simple! What about externalities? If Country A creates the low priced product by destroying their environment, does it make sense for Country B to buy that product? In the short term, yes... it's the lowest price. Of course, Country B's ability to produce the same product will probably be reduced to zero, and start up costs may bar it from easily producing that product once Country A exhausts its ability to produce that product. If Country A allows Country B to manipulate it's currencies such that Country B's products always "appear" cheaper, then Country A's manufacturing base erodes and Country B gets a trade surplus, allowing it to further manipulate it's currency.

Expulsion data would be interesting, but inconclusive. The THREAT of expulsion would make a world of difference. Today, expelling a student from a public school entails a long trail of documentation for lesser behavioral problems, or swift removal for larger ones (fighting, throwing desks/chairs, and in general, anything where safety is imminently compromised). The real way to solve this problem is through behavioral leveling - beginning in the elementary school. Those that cannot behave should be removed from the classroom and put in special behavioral remediation classrooms regardless of the cause. This would allow students who behave to get a real education, while students that can't would no longer be able to ruin their classroom

I love you John, but you're wrong on this one. Force the private school to suffer under the same rules we make public schools do, and you'll see the same outcomes. Vouchers only work because: - Only engaged parents choose to use the vouchers - Students who don't behave in the new school can be kicked out - Severely mentally or emotionally handicapped students don't have to be taken - Byzantine regulations and testing don't apply to private schools. I'm not suggesting that we force private schools to suffer under the weight of the burden the public schools do. I'm suggesting that we relax the rules under which public schools operate.

It's funny. Have you forgotten how to laugh? In the immortal words of Sgt. Hulka... "Lighten up, Francis"

I could not agree more with the sentiments in this article. At one time, my extended family had 3 minivans in the fleet - my dad and my brother and my own family. My wife drove ours, but for health reasons had to replace it as she couldn't climb up into it. I kept the van anyway. So much utility. On the way back from a recent camping trip, the van died. It was the last of the 3, and now we had no "hauler" in our extended family fleet. So, I bought a late model used one from Hertz. And I drive it now. My dream car? Sadly, no. That would be either a Chevy Volt or a Dodge Charger AWD. But neither of those can carry 7 people, gear, and/or a 3500 lb trailer. So I drive the "man van" and I don't care what people think.

I'm thinking of buying a shot gun for home defense, but have gone all over the place trying to figure out the best gauge and ammo choices. I was interested to see that Mike chooses 2 birdshot rounds before the buckshots... Some websites say this is a bad practice - birdshot not being suitable to bring down a bad guy, depending on what he's wearing (heavy leather jacket?) Also, I've gone back and forth between the 12 and the 20... I have two daughters in the house, and don't want to risk too much over penetration through walls... and so would gravitate toward birdshot and a 20 gauge... but I also don't want to take chances on not bringing down the bad guy - thus the dilemma... Comments?

Pat - You should stick to politics and foreign affairs... Inflating and deflating the money supply is something the Fed has been doing for decades - almost a century in fact. The reason that Bernake is doing what he's doing is simple... they've lowered discount rates to zero, and still we have trade deficits and an overly strong dollar. So the only alternative is to print money (which as you point out, is what they are doing)... Deflation hasn't been seen for decades, but its affects are just as perverse as hyper-inflation. Nobody buys or sells anything and horde dollars because the money becomes an investment in and of itself. With less money changing hands comes more and more slowdown in economic activity. Take a Macro-Economics...

Don't ban BPA - ban what's in it! Dihydrogen Monoxide has proven to be lethal in many instances - it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state, frostbite and lost limbs in it's solid state, and it's liquid state can be fatal if inhaled. Dihydrogen Monoxide is completely unsafe and the EPA should ban it immediately. Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?

Defunding NPR means defunding PBS... which means defunding Elmo and Big Bird... That's what stopped the last defunding attempt... Those calling for defunding will be cast as the evil people (Evil Bert?) who want to take Sesame Street, Arthur, and Caiou away from the children. Please, won't someone think of the CHILDREN? /sarcasm

I've served on a local BOE for 9 years. It is correct to say that we've had increases for the last 5 years... However, those increases were BELOW THE RATE OF INFLATION... Labor costs continue to rise, especially the health care part... this is no different than any other employer, except that the unions are strong and the laws favor them in binding arbitration. However, it is unfair to talk about raw increases without adjusting them for inflation. By that measure, investment in education has been declining for at least 3-5 years.