[OPINION] What's Wrong with America!

Discussion in 'Political Opinions & Beliefs' started by Minoru, Jan 14, 2012.

  1. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    So here it is. What I see as the core problems in America, on an individual level. I came to America a few years ago to get a PhD after completing a BS and MS at a Japanese university.

    I was offered accelerated and assisted citizenship, free off-campus housing, free dining and meals, top choice lab reservations, and so forth. Anything I wanted, I got. I loved it. Worked the summer and winter sessions and finished in less than 3 years. I then planned to go back, but the offers just kept coming.

    I now work at the university medical center. I also work as a teaching assistant and tutor under the university. My entire salary, from working as at the university hospital, is direct deposit to an overseas fund. My housing and food is STILL paid for by the university; they can't find a replacement. I work as a lab coordinator under a chief researcher, and get paid for that too. I live off the free stuff and the money the university pays me for things not combined in my 6-figure overseas salary; tutoring and so on.

    But the tutoring and lab work does get taxed. But between being able to deduct my 'education' expenses, I paid $14 last year in federal income taxes; my reported income, everything but my actual job income, was more than a thousand times that. I get paid to put scantron forms into a machine to auto-grade them. By policy, they have to have a person who completed the subject to do it. The university doesn't have many so i get paid well. I deduct everything because I can, your tax code is a joke. I deduct the housing that I don't even pay for.

    But I hate the lab work. Why? I'm in charge of idiots. Pure idiots. I was an average student out of one of Japan's semi-top tier universities. Nothing special. But because of how government money is handed out, I'm tasked with employing "persons underrepresented with biochemical research". You know what that means? Blacks, Hispanics, and even Whites. Out of the 23 in my lab, I'm "allowed", literally that's what they told me, "allowed", 5 or 6 Asians and Indians. The more diverse the lab, the more grant and research funds we get. It's that simple. By credentials, GPA and prior lab experience, about 15-16 would be Asian or Indian.

    I am very close with my medical department and my lab group. Most of them are middle-class Americans. All of them suffering. Education is wasted on the English majors, the history majors, the sociology majors. Kids get free money from the government, much like I, but get useless degrees.

    Meanwhile, pre-med students, or biochemical engineers, or whatever; are struggling under the long programs they're in that cost a lot. Why? Why does the government give money to majors that are completely useless? Why are there economic incentives to these students? There are GPA requirements for most forms of aid, why not major requirements too?

    Now what do I do? I trade in my dining credits for actual produce and stuff from Whole Foods or something that won't kill me. I use the gym, enjoy the large screens for private movies with friends, and work towards advancing my own rank in the lab. Why? Because everything else is paid for, what else do I do with my money? I have a full salary paid overseas, where the rate is about a flat 15%; not the 34% or whatever it'd be here.

    I have to try pretty hard to spend my stipends and credits. I honestly have to look for ways to spend money come the Wednesday, as I get paid the following day. Wednesday night, actually, I usually go out for a nice dinner and a movie. Every other weekend, just because I can't spend it enough, I go to the city and hit up the high-end clothing stores; buying a few pieces of Prada or whatever to build up a wardrobe.

    Your taxes are going towards my wardrobe. Why? You're not clothing me. You're making me chic and fashionable, borderline pretentious. You're not paying to nourish me. You're paying to glutton me. You're feeding me $200 meals and first-run movies weekly. I think I've seen every movie that's come out since I've been here, the week it came out.

    This same job in Japan is inexplicably competitive. More so than the typical MD or RN. I probably would struggle to find employment. I actually went back and tried, got an offer. It pays less than half what it pays here because of that supply problem you have. I'd barely make over 100k USD in Japan. Hospitals in America also offered me great salaries; but I can't beat the University's offer. Free housing, free food, free research opportunities with hopefully publications.

    But it's an election year in America. All I see are Americans struggling. Factories closing, screams of out-sourcing, corporate greed, government over-spending, etc. This is all true. So with Americans screaming about no jobs, why was I offered an untouchable job with such unreal benefits? Why are so many of these jobs open? The university medical center I work at is still desperately looking for more people.

    This is way too long, no one will read this. But the ending is, I just got offered a five-and-a-half contract to keep me here. It consists of contract-locked massive raises every year, job security, and the best healthcare a healthcare professional could buy. I don't know if I want to spend that much time away from my family, even though I'm only working for 9 months, with a one-month break in the Winter while the students are off.

    ---------- Too Long, Skip to Here ----------

    So onto the problems I see:

    Americans have a strong distaste for hard sciences. Pre-med enrollment at this university among declared first and second year students drops by about 60% before the third year. Why? It's what expands technology, they're also guaranteed upper-middle class jobs.

    The US government pays for ridiculous things. The university pays me all these outrageous things, yes, but they do that with money they get from the government. All the benefits I get are from research and university project money that mostly comes from the government.

    Reverse-discrimination is real. Whether or not you believe in it or in racism at all, it exists. Asians have a harder time getting into university than whites while blacks have an easier time; that's an admissions statistics fact. They also strong-arm their way into laboratories, forcing out more qualified groups. I literally have to sit at a desk with 60 or so applicants, pick a handful of the best (from the best) and then be forced to pick the best of the average and the best of the worst. That's stupid, as far as I'm concerned.

    Tax policy needs to be simplified. It's truly hilarious. I've never had such a laugh at 'the system' as I've had with the taxation policy. I went to the university's people, of course, and they already knew what to do. It's all legal. Whether it should be or not, is another thing. Technically, it's all legal. Deductions for working on government-approved research topics, deductions for healthcare you don't pay for, deductions for foreign tertiary teaching, deductions for teaching 'under-privileged students', and the list expands infinitely.

    The White middle-class is too picky with employment. So it's alleged that the whites don't want the labor-intensive jobs that Hispanic illegals (or even legals) do, like harvesting crops. They also don't seem to want top medical or research jobs; as the vacancies are so bad that there are even rewards, in some department, for referring a valid employee. It's hard work to get a PhD in a hard science, but you're guaranteed a job and a 6-figure salary. And it's not even only those top jobs. My employer is looking for 16 registered nurses, the hospitals I looked around at were all (each and every single one of them) looking for at least 10 nurses and a half dozen or so doctors with various specialties. The jobs are there.

    Grants and financial aid needs to be completely reworked. Why are useless majors being given full tuition while hard-working middle-class students are suffering and struggling under debt to finish a useful MD? Why is the government blindly giving out money? Why do these, likely drunks, deserve to be given any money to attend college? Why are many of them failing to finish in 4 years? How do you not finish a liberal arts degree in four years? The middle class gets so screwed by the current system. The under-class gets in because of their under-representation in universities and then gets their tuition paid for by the taxpayer while they get a meaningless job paid for by the Federal Work Study program, probably raking leaves for $10 an hour to buy booze, and struggle to complete a psychology degree than a high schooler could do.

    Political Parties in America are too strong. In Japan, and most other places, there are either individual candidates or coalitions of ideas, not two-rooted parties. Campaign finances are strict and limited. Candidates usually vote on their constituency, because money is limited and they have to worry about elections. In America, money dominates. People can't run without the funds given to them by the party. The GOP or DNC is a machine that demands people follow in step. How did Obamacare pass? Because nearly every Democrat voted. How did Republicans vote? Almost entirely against it. Is that truly what every one of them believed? Or did the political whips twist arms and make campaign threats? The party shouldn't control finances and political futures.

    Lastly, your movies suck. They're so cliche. Either cg and action or universal romantic comedy. What's with that?
     
  2. jor

    jor New Member

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    So...You commit tax fraud?
     
  3. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    All legal, AFAIK.
     
  4. jor

    jor New Member

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    "I deduct the housing that I don't even pay for."

    Not so sure about this.
     
  5. Daybreaker

    Daybreaker Well-Known Member

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    It's because they're designed to make money, not to be art. But I disagree -- American cinema is great, as long as you don't just watch what everyone else is watching. If you can't find a great movie on a given week, chances are you just didn't look at anything except whatever Michael Bay put out.
     
  6. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    The university gives me housing credits, which I then 'spend' on housing... the only thing they can be spent on. So by tax code, I do 'pay for it', but not by traditional sense. I suppose. The tax code assumes it comes out of my salary, it doesn't.
     
  7. SiliconMagician

    SiliconMagician Banned

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  8. JME

    JME New Member

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    We're a nation of laws. Billions of them. The difference between American Democrats and socialists in other countries is that American Democrats don't mind bureaucracy. Oh sure, they say they don't like it but ask them what they'd eliminate. In other countries, you have your capitalists and socialists but they both agree that bureaucracy is bad.

    As for movies, there hasn't been a good live action Japanese movie since they started using color. I'd take Inception or Dark Knight over any of the recent artsy Japanese movies these days. Note to Japanese: Regular people sitting in a room is not a movie! Internal sadness is not drama! Even your action movies suck. You know a movie still needs a story right? Or at least something besides "samurais fight bad guys."
     
  9. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    Why? Who do you fault? Parents? Grammar school educators? Culture? Mass media? Who is dropping the ball here? Why are these classes so preferred? Why are your youth gravitating towards these hilarious majors?

    And why do tax payers keep agreeing to this? Is there no end? Can they get away with such ridiculous absurdities? And racially spoiled? I thought it was just pity reverse-racism for blacks and Hispanics.

    So he/she wants to help people but doesn't want to enter a healthcare or research field? I don't understand that about Americans, then. Lazy, but wants a job. Isn't that counter-logical?

    I admire the 'old' American "go forward" attitude. The work-hard and do something with one's life, be a proud man or woman, lifestyle. It inspires many. But I don't know if you think it still exists in such strength, or at all.

    I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, but I'm assuming throughout all of this as if you're not. I think America still has the brightest people; it's just that so many aren't and yet expect jobs. It's truly a class of educated and hard-workers and then a class of uneducated lazy people. The middle class may truly be disappearing... as the latter's manufacturing jobs are rightfully disappearing.

    What's your suggestion to get students to embrace more profitable majors? What's your advice for getting the focus back onto actual subjects? Is there no hope!?
     
  10. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    I loved Inception and the Dark Knight, but there's a flood of others.. as already mentioned, Bay movies. Edgar was good, as was the Planet of the Apes remake, sorta. But Cars 2, Smurfs, Pirates, Transformers, that Panda movie, etc.
     
  11. Taxcutter

    Taxcutter New Member

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    My take on MinoruÂ’s comments:



    1.Americans have a strong distaste for hard sciences.

    Taxcutter agrees. You should see the attrition rate in engineering schools.




    2. The US government pays for ridiculous things.

    Taxcutter agrees, but notes Minoru has only scratched the surface.





    3. Reverse-discrimination is real.

    Taxcutter agrees. It is simple racism for political purposes.




    4. Tax policy needs to be simplified.

    Taxcutter whole-heartedly agrees. Dozens of proposals are out there but until somebody is willing to admit the purpose of taxation is raising revenue and not half-baked egalitarianism, tax simplification goes nowhere.




    5. The White middle-class is too picky with employment.

    Taxcutter agrees. This is why the “illegal alien” thing rings hollow.





    6. Grants and financial aid needs to be completely reworked.

    Taxcutter agrees completely.





    7. Political Parties in America are too strong.

    The US system needs political parties to deal with the built-in “friction” of the system.



    8. Â…your movies suck.

    Taxcutter agrees for the most part.




    Minoru left out a few things.

    A.America has too many regulations
    B.America encourages too much litigation.
     
  12. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    A, haven't really had much of a problem with personally.

    B, there isn't a healthcare professional that doesn't support legal reforms, 'tort reforms'. Unless they've been bought by the legal lobby. Not sure if that's what you meant.
     
  13. robster644

    robster644 Banned

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    Ah my Asian friend, let me enlighten you to the greatness that is being white in America.

    America is full of 'networks'. You work for a university on medical research. Therefore, you make money for the university. However, the university keeps all the money you make for them, no matter how you make it for them. That money is distributed to employees; some who work, and some who don't. You are an example of someone who works. An average like me, who has a BA gets the same six figure salary as you from the same type institution. My job? I received a job as a 'market analyst'. Most days I don't go in, and when I do, my boss, who is a longtime family friend, takes me to his house wih other whites for drinks. Here, we tell him it's a good idea to advertis on Facebook. He agrees. We have the rest of the week off. Can't wait for my $3k check coming in every week! Luckily, my boss has Indians and Adians like yu do the grunt work. The 'white guys' have fun. Everyday.

    In terms of taxes, upper and middle class whites get so many tax cuts end exemptions, we're nearly tax proof. 8% of what I get paid a month goes to taxes. I'm not complaining.

    Are liberal art degrees problems? After the USA develoLoped the nuke, ya know the one we dropped twice on your country?, we didnt aggressively pursue medical sciences as much. Why would we? Let the Asians do it. They keep their heads down, do what they're told, and don't complain. Perfect employee.

    You need to understand America better before you identify our problems.

    AmErica cinema is a problem? Have you sen Japanese films? Everyone looks the exact same, unless they're trying to look American, and they're always running from some monster. Like, he US monster.

    Welcome to America, jap
     
  14. montra

    montra New Member

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    I have my own theories as to why the US ranks around 48th in math and sciences. In short, I think the US is run by a bunch of globalists who wish to see.....well....one big happy global family. So how is this to be done if the US has all the wealth and great jobs? I know, lets dumb them down a bit and hire foriegners to come and take over all the jobs and/or send the jobs overseas. Ding, ding, ding, ding!! Now we can all be "equals".

    Now where is that fabulous one world government we all know can work.

    Yes we can!! :-D
     
  15. jhffmn

    jhffmn New Member

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    I can't say I disagree with you.

    I'll add one more thing, after all your education there is a good chance we will deport you too.

    When I was earning my masters, I partnered with a PHD student from China who couldn't get her visa renewed.

    Yeah, our country is going to hell in a hand basket.
     
  16. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    Oh the ever inevitable racist post. Let's see where to start. My research head is Chinese, his boss, the program director, is Chinese. Her boss? The head dean of the Life Sciences department, is Japanese. I suppose the university president is white. The director for my hospital department, is me, and my boss is Japanese as well. His boss is Chinese and his boss would be the board, which of the 7(I think), 4 or 5 are Asian.

    I do biochemical research and act as a makeshift toxicologist director in the university medical center. Hospitals don't exactly make money off their doctors in that sense, one would think. My research would indeed make the school more famous, if I ever were to have some kind of massive breakthrough, but they don't get profit from my research... not directly.

    I don't know much about how the marketing industry goes, so I can't speak on that; nor do I drink casually, not my thing. But on average, Asians make more than whites across the board, with the exception being those with minimal education- where whites are statistically favored.

    But that's a part of the problem I see. Your enjoyment of fun doesn't produce anything. Perhaps it's that attitude that sees Asians and Indians as the highest earners in America; most of which are within the first three generations of immigration.

    Actually, after the development of the nuke, America focused more on the hard sciences; to compete with the Soviet Union, perhaps these liberals arts degrees aren't teaching basic history, I don't know. There are tons of problems in all of this.

    As for the rest of your racism, I couldn't care to respond to it. If this weren't my thread, I wouldn't even have responded to your filth.
     
  17. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    I don't believe in some vast conspiracy, I just think your school system is horribly letting your youth down. Maybe teachers unions truly are too powerful. Maybe parents no longer encourage more rewarding studies. Not sure, hence the thread, but there are some serious problems.

    Many of my friends from Japan have come to America. It's difficult to find a job in Japan, but you come here and you're instantly promoted and given a 'gift basket' as we call it, of benefits. But unlike Japan, there is no sense of loyalty (which ironically is why everyone in Japan tends to start at the bottom regardless). Just earn a bit, build the resume, and leave. International work experience is loved in Japan, you just made fast money and got a good job back home. Win Win.

    My friends warned me about then when I first came here, so I had the university help me with citizenship and so forth. I just think it's sad when, to fill PhD spots and fill labs with capable researchers, American universities literally poach foreigners from other universities.

    Though in Japan and most of Asia, you see companies getting American MBAs, but that's usually for middle management and appearance. Having a white member of your hierarchy makes you look like a global company.
     
  18. montra

    montra New Member

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    There is no question but that our leaders are globalists. That is beyond doubt. The question is do they scheme against its citizens in some cases to achieve their goals?

    It could be that it is just dumb luck as they say.......but I'm not so sure.
     
  19. Minoru

    Minoru New Member

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    I wouldn't think the globalists, which in reality most world leaders are, want to intentionally dumb down Americans in order to fit them in with the rest of the world. If they did, they wouldn't have gone this far. They would have kept America around the top 10, not half way down the OCED list.

    The problem, it seems, is math. Your reading and science rank around 15, your math is about 25th of the 30 or so. Most in America, apparently, graduate without calculus. I started secondary school with a year of calculus already done, and started with another year of it.

    Also, I should add, Shanghai was used as a sample (as opposed to the whole of China) and it ranked #1 internationally. Of course you could look at Seoul or Tokyo and do something similar, but children in Shanghai were, on average, smarter than the average of any other nation. Why don't you test students only in NYC, or Chicago, or Detroit and tell me what results you'll get. Why are the cities such under-performing hotspots? When in most other nations, they're the brightest centers! The brain-drain, they say, is starting to reverse in China. I wonder who labs across America will look for now..
     
  20. SiliconMagician

    SiliconMagician Banned

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    All of the above. Take the "American Pie" movies, or "Stomp the Yard" or other such college films that make college look like the place to go and party down. College administrators, who only care for money, funnel kids into these programs because they know the kids will stay in them and keep that Government Grant/Loan money flowing into the University Coffers.

    Also College Sports, the Absolute Monarchies of most Universities, have much to do with it as well. Instead of educational institutions, they have become Minor leagues from which the professional teams recruit and the kids are not there to educate, but to play "minor league" and hopefully get picked up for a multi-million dollar contract. The universities dumb down subjects in order to allow the athletes to remain in school.



    We don't agree with it, but the Academic Intelligentsia completely own the entire K-12 and Secondary School system. It isn't about education, its become and "industry" for spreading political thought and social theory. Political Activists run our Universities, not educators. Since relatively few Americans go to college, they don't understand the upper level politics of the University system or how much control it has.



    It isn't just "pity", its an actual self hatred and sense of racial guilt inflicted intentionally by social theorists who, because of being so isolated, literally live in a dream world of theory. Disbelieve the theory and you'll find yourself ostracized by the community. The upper crust of many Universities are a very exclusive club. Honestly I'm suprised that you are able to express these views openly with your peers without suffering the ostracization of the rest of the University Culture.



    It is a result of our "get rich quick" instant gratification culture and an arrogance bred into our children from an early age. For example, one of the University of California's most popular courses are "Certifications in Diversity and Social Justice".

    Our Colleges are not institutions of higher learning, but centers of political activism.



    It no longer exists within our urban centers, or our academic institutions. It only exists among the working class, of all races, who live outside the major cities within the suburbs and rural areas. The problem is population density is low and largely non-influential.



    You listen to Obama's rhetoric right? What is his rhetoric?

    "You are not at fault, some rich man sitting in a golden executive chair at a golden boardroom table is intentionally hurting you to make money."

    Much of our political culture divides America up into neat little demographics and exploits class envy, racial antipathy, and cynicism to get votes. In short, our entire culture, our movies, our commercials, our politicians, all pander to the worst instincts of Americans.

    The middle class is not disappearing, the educated hard workers are still middle class/upper middle class and see wealth and social mobility. Those that are uneducated and lazy are pandered to and taught divisive class/racial politics from politicians and activists who gain by appealing to the worst instincts of Americans. They want a cushy manufacturing job that pays $40 an hour with benefits without much in the way of actual labor.

    I've given up hope for the majority of America. I can only worry about my own success and hope that I can achieve some serious financial gains over the next decade and escape to another nation where my skills will be in high demand and I will be paid extremely well for them, which will allow me to bribe local officials into giving me the same sense of freedom I enjoy in America.
     
  21. Albert Di Salvo

    Albert Di Salvo New Member

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    Bakayaro...:)
     
  22. SiliconMagician

    SiliconMagician Banned

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    I think Minorou should be careful, he may find himself in trouble for expressing contrary views to certain segments of the faculty and find himself penalized.
     
  23. Professor Peabody

    Professor Peabody Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    He could always do what Charlie Rangel, Tiny Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle did, just don't pay 'em.
     
  24. Surfer Joe

    Surfer Joe Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You are apparently one of the welfare parasites that the right-wingers hate.
    If you had any honor, you would not abuse the system.
     
  25. loong

    loong Banned

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    WRONG !!! .......as usual.

    I happen to be what the braindead liberal scum call a "right-winger" ( a non-religious one).

    And, while it's true Minoru is a "welfare parasite", in sense, Minoru is a PRODUCTIVE "welfare parasite" who CONTRIBUTES to the welfare of our country and therefore I do not hate him. I admire his intellect.

    As opposed to the majority of the "welfare parasites" who may be Caucasians because there are presently (but not for long) more of us.....but the TRUE "welfare parasites", proportionally to their own race or ethnicity are overwhelmingly Black & Hispanics.......and whose "achievements" are confined to increasing crime stats, categories of dopers and prison populations.

    Bottom line: What's wrong with America?

    Answer: too many negroes and hispanics.....and, if this racial, or ethnic result does not please those involved.....tough......them's the facts.
     

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