Getting Sick...Due to a Lack of Education

To some people education  is about getting degrees. For others like me, it is about developing one's thinking and awareness, and learning about everything.

Today's NYT had a rather moving story about the struggles of the elderly, especially those facing medical issues.  In "States Slashing Social Programs for Vulnerable" Erick Eckholm writes the following..."Battered by the recession and the deepest and most widespread budget deficits in several decades, a large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets — often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time....President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package is helping to alleviate some of the pain, providing large amounts of money to pay for education and unemployment insurance, bolster food stamp programs and expand tax credits for low earners. But the money will offset only 40 percent of the losses in state revenues, and programs for vulnerable groups have been cut in at least 34 states, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a private research group in Washington. Perhaps nowhere have the cuts been more disruptive than in Arizona, where more than 1,000 frail elderly people are struggling without home-care aides to help with bathing, housekeeping and trips to the doctor. Officials acknowledge that some are apt to become sicker or fall, ending up in nursing homes at a far higher cost...."

During the nineties a big chunk of the population got wealthy by playing the stock market. During the subsequent bust folks lost money but thanks to the "ownership society" of Bush and Rove the market again soared, all the while on very shaky terra firma. Many thinkers, including myself, have been sounding the warning but the majority of the populace were chasing the easy money and instant gratification. 

Folks seemed to have forgotten that the stock market is legalized gambling, that it is based on a future that no one can predict, and putting money in the market is a foolish thing unless one is extremely smart and gets incredibly lucky. More than fifteen years ago I happened to be visiting New Jersey and had dinner with AR, who is one of the smartest people I know (and an IITian like myself). He was working for Salomon Brothers at the time. We happened to talk about the market and he said that he never placed long-term bets on the market and at the end of every day he went home neither long nor short- he settled everything daily.

Now, individuals and states are paying the price for their wildly errant behavior. Unfortunately even the people who did not indulge in these crooked shenanigans will have to pay a dear price.

The NYT has another article on the careers that people might choose going forward. Its main point is that "The economy, other long-range policy issues and the new administration, according to David Ellwood, dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, add up to a “benevolent perfect storm,” which could lure talented people to public service in a way not seen in decades." We will see...