LawTalkers - Know new taxes!

Sell government land. The federal government owns massive portions of the country, including the majority of Western states. Like the NY Times or other troubled companies, the government should begin an orderly sale of unused or unneeded assets, in this case, land."

Further to what Burger said, to the extent that this land has economic value, the government leases a lot of it.

sebastian_dangerfield

12-11-2008 03:16 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 373911)

you said the best schools are full of non-thinking automatons. GGG claims to be from one.

Whoa, there... I said a lot of corporate lackeys get by on unfounded perceptions about the abilities of people with high-fallutin' schools on their resumes. I didn't say Ivy = Automaton. I know lots of normal people from Ivys.

sebastian_dangerfield

12-11-2008 03:18 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.) (Post 373935)

Sebby's ignoring the competition mentioned earlier to be an attractive destination for profs. The inefficiency that raises the costs of teaching students arise precisely from the competition to attract academic talent on the basis of inefficiency (i.e., tenure).

I'm not ignoring it. I don't think it's nearly as big a part of the cost bloating as you do.

ThurgreedMarshall

12-11-2008 03:20 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Phoenix (Post 373923)

That I carried you through the class participation part of college?

And the time I got you laid isn't thanks enough?

TM

Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)

12-11-2008 03:23 PM

Re: The Plot Thickens

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 373938)

Further to what Burger said, to the extent that this land has economic value, the government leases a lot of it.

And other economic value isn't leasable. For example, I'm sure a developer could make a pretty penny selling condos in Yosemite Valley or overlooking Old Faithful, but I'm not sure that's the way we want to pay off the debt.*

*On the other hand, why wasn't the Presidio converted to residential real estate? That could have paid off the national debt by itself.

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

12-11-2008 03:24 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 373937)

What kind of backwards ass school did you go to? The professors who would drink did not schedule morning classes. And I only took morning classes when forced to. I hate morning.

TM

I had one morning class in four years (literary theory). I only made it a couple of times, once in my bathrobe, but I did catch up with the professor later in the day, over coffee or drinks.

Generally, I have little experience with morning classes, but that one experience does not bear out your hypothesis.

Hank Chinaski

12-11-2008 03:25 PM

Re: The Plot Thickens

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.) (Post 373942)

i love it when the "smart" people post what i said, just five minutes later than me.

ThurgreedMarshall

12-11-2008 03:26 PM

Re: The Plot Thickens

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.) (Post 373926)

Huh? The stuff that is valuable we do "sell" or lease, and the problem is the government gives it away. The rest of it has extremely limited value, unless you have nuclear bombs to make California plus half of Nevada fall into the sea.

Helloooo? Somebody already owns the most desireable land under that scenario.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...Hackman200.jpg

TM

ThurgreedMarshall

12-11-2008 03:29 PM

Re: Jimbaran Bay

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penske_Account (Post 373929)

Good idea. It avoids the possibility of upstaging you.

Only the penske from '95 would have the balls to say something like this. Did we go back in time? Are you at iron man weight? Is black white? Is down up? Are cats and dogs living together?

TM

Replaced_Texan

12-11-2008 03:38 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 373936)

To answer your question -- why aren't private universities competing, if the problem is so bad? -- differently, the fact is that private universities open all the time. Very few succeed. A huge part of that is because they lack the established reputation to attract top faculty and students. Another huge part of it is the money issue that we were talking about before -- if you don't have any endowment, how exactly do you build the classroom and research facilities you need to attract top students and faculty?

The University president guy who spoke to my cle last week said he's losing a lot of faculty not only to other schools throughout the country, but also to places that have opened in the last ten years in places like Singapore and India. Turkey, for some reason, apparently has a lot of new Universities with a lot of money to throw at faculty. I wonder if those places are funded by the state, local corporations, or some other source. Hell, NYU is building a campus in Abu Dhabi.

Also, there is a lot of interesting and controversial discussion about corporate investment in the Unversity. Some universities for example, have interesting business deals with business school classes. I think one of the UCs has an engineering department that's funded in very large part by a computer company.

Penske_Account

12-11-2008 03:45 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 373941)

And the time I got you laid isn't thanks enough?

TM

The most I ever got from you was a short grop of my midsection. I feel cheated.

Penske_Account

12-11-2008 03:47 PM

Re: Jimbaran Bay

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 373946)

Only the penske from '95 would have the balls to say something like this. Did we go back in time? Are you at iron man weight? Is black white? Is down up? Are cats and dogs living together?

TM

Not true. the Penske was from any era would have the balls to say it, having the balls et al to back it up is another matter..........although I would offer that there was a brief period in the spring of 01, when I made weight. Even August of that year, when I took a dip in the Hudson ala Kramer, I was close.

Adder

12-11-2008 03:54 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 373930)

If that theory turns on entry barriers, then you can either regulate existing schools to achieve desired market outcomes, or have the government assist entry.

Aren't the only barriers reputational? How does government assist?

Quote:

although it may also be that what's needed are more schools and that the incentives to start a new non-profit are not enough.

Perhaps, but it seems extraordinarily unlikely given that (1) there is lots of entry, and (2) there is even more expansion.

Tyrone Slothrop

12-11-2008 03:57 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 373936)

It's a little less clearly defined than the number of players on the baseball field. And the number of discipines regularly expands (how many universities had Computer Science departments 25 years ago? How many had biotech research centers?)

And the number of faculty in those departments, or adjuncted as research faculty, can expand quite a bit.

My point was that there is no reason for most schools to get into a bidding war with Harvard. They don't need those stars to provide a good education, and charging less should make them more attractive, not less so, at least in theory.

Quote:

Please. In higher ed, reputation is everything. Relatively few people know whether Yale has the top history, math, bio, or French department. Yet everyone knows that Yale is an Ivy League school, a great school, whatever. That reputation took a very long time to build. And the donated assets on which it is based took an even longer time to build.

To answer your question -- why aren't private universities competing, if the problem is so bad? -- differently, the fact is that private universities open all the time. Very few succeed. A huge part of that is because they lack the established reputation to attract top faculty and students. Another huge part of it is the money issue that we were talking about before -- if you don't have any endowment, how exactly do you build the classroom and research facilities you need to attract top students and faculty?

I don't know that the entry barriers are all that high, but because entrants have to compete with a bunch of non-profit institutions, no one who is looking for a return is going to make an investment there. That limits entrants to the rich, and the government. Fewer rich people are starting universities lately.

Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)

12-11-2008 03:59 PM

Re: Are you rich?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 373952)

That limits entrants to the rich, and the government. Fewer rich people are starting universities lately.

Maybe the rich aren't starting universities because they want to stay rich, and because the market is competitive they can get better returns elsewhere.

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