I just figured out that I need to save $1000 per month for the next 16 years to send my kids to college. Tuition has been rising at an 8.4% rate for the last 10 years, 8.2% for the last 20 years (reference: College Illinois). This means that if current annual tuition is $15,000 (e.g., at the University of Illinois), then in 11 years when Ben starts college, annual tuition will be $36,426. Four years of college tuition for Ben will cost $165,000. For Anna, the first year is $46,398 and all four years will cost $210,000.
These numbers are so outrageous, it might seem like they are made up. I assure you the calculations are correct. And that doesn't even include the cost of books, room, and board (currently another $10,000 per year). That adds on another 2/3 of the cost. So the cost of sending my kids to college could be $625,000. And that's if they graduate in four years or don't go to graduate school. The average student is taking more than 6 years to graduate from college, according to the article College Tuition Keeps Rising from US News.
Why is the cost of tuition rising? University officials said one reason they were raising sticker prices was to counterbalance reductions in the subsidies governments (in other words, taxpayers) provide for higher education. The Pennsylvania State University's main campus, for example, received the same state grant this year that it received five years ago, said spokesperson Bill Mahon. So the school raised tuition 5.6 percent this year to cover increased salaries, benefits, energy, and other operating costs, he said. according to the US News article.
And there's more. Finally, many colleges say they are raising tuition to generate more money to hand back to students as financial aid, in part to make up for the federal government's reductions in programs like the Pell grant. But the College Board said that even after subtracting financial aid, the net cost of college has risen at least 2 percentage points faster than inflation over the past decade.
Thank you, state and local governments. It's a pretty simple formula. Politicians make the decisions. They are (almost all) rich. They can afford college tuition regardless, and will probably send their kids to private schools. And they decide how much money will go to education. I can hear the thought process now. "Hmmm, we can give the rich a tax break, or we can give more money to the colleges. I vote for the tax break." The result? Fewer middle and lower class people will get a college education. And that's just what the rich elite want. If you're scared and uneducated, you'll just keep falling for their same old tricks.
The sad part is that we continue to vote for these politicians. They are supposed to represent us, but really they just represent themselves. They make every election about one or two issues. Ignore the man behind the curtain.
Personally, I think education benefits everyone, not just the person receiving the education. We would be a better country if people were more educated. I don't know the root of the problems in this country, but it wouldn't surprise me if poor education was one of them.
- schneid
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Cheap stuff equals lost jobs
I've been ranting and raving about this for years. One of the biggest problems with our country is everyone's desperate need to buy everything as cheaply as possible.
My inkjet printer broke recently. It originally cost $100 about 5 years ago. My choices were: buy a new printer for $75, or buy a new printhead for $50. This is a very typical scenario these days. In fact, maybe it's not, when I think of my car stereo. When that broke, it would cost $100 to buy a new one, and more than $100 to get it repaired. So I bought a new one. But when the printer broke, I bought the new printhead instead. The printer was still perfectly good, it just needed a new printhead. Why send the printer to a landfill? Maybe I'm just a more responsible citizen now. I hate to see all the stuff people put by the curb to send to the landfill.
Suppose you could pay $200 for a DVD player guaranteed to work for 4 years. Or you could pay $100 for a DVD player that would last 2 years. What would you do? Most people would pay $100, with the justification that "Hey, I can get another brand new one in 2 years!" But there is a hidden cost, in the landfills, god knows what's leaking out of the electronics in the landfills into our environment, and the lost jobs.
I think that manufacturing quality parts and opening automobile repair centers that are reasonably priced could save the American auto industry. Instead of making cars as cheaply as possible, they could make them as reliable as possible, then make money when you buy parts to repair them. It's only a matter of time before the American auto manufacturers are sold off to the Japanese, Germans, or who knows. I think the unions are partially to blame because they insist on a certain wage, and when they get it (or near it), thousands of people get laid off. The unions are squeezing their own people out of jobs. Then who profits? The people who run the unions.
Sure, many people want to buy a new car every few years, or they want to buy more expensive cars. But these aren't the people who can save the American auto industry. I'm talking about the lower and middle classes. They are the ones who want to buy American cars. They are the people who will spend $500 to repair their car every year, rather than get fed up and buy a new one. They don't have a choice. But they aren't stupid, and they're probably buying a lot more cheap foreign cars these days.
I just ran across the article Wal-Mart You Don't Know today and I feel vindicated. It says that not only does Wal-Mart want to sell the cheapest stuff, but they want to buy the products for less money every year, squeezing their suppliers for profits. This is causing the suppliers to outsource the labor, and is taking away American jobs.
This paragraph sums it up best:
It's Wal-Mart in the role of Adam Smith's invisible hand. And the Milwaukee employees of Master Lock who shopped at Wal-Mart to save money helped that hand shove their own jobs right to Nogales. Not consciously, not directly, but inevitably. "Do we as consumers appreciate what we're doing?" Larrimore asks. "I don't think so. But even if we do, I think we say, Here's a Master Lock for $9, here's another lock for $6--let the other guy pay $9."
If we keep outsourcing our jobs, who will have any money to buy all this stuff? The problem is that everyone only looks out for themselves, and few look at the big picture.
Here are some reactions to the article:
My inkjet printer broke recently. It originally cost $100 about 5 years ago. My choices were: buy a new printer for $75, or buy a new printhead for $50. This is a very typical scenario these days. In fact, maybe it's not, when I think of my car stereo. When that broke, it would cost $100 to buy a new one, and more than $100 to get it repaired. So I bought a new one. But when the printer broke, I bought the new printhead instead. The printer was still perfectly good, it just needed a new printhead. Why send the printer to a landfill? Maybe I'm just a more responsible citizen now. I hate to see all the stuff people put by the curb to send to the landfill.
Suppose you could pay $200 for a DVD player guaranteed to work for 4 years. Or you could pay $100 for a DVD player that would last 2 years. What would you do? Most people would pay $100, with the justification that "Hey, I can get another brand new one in 2 years!" But there is a hidden cost, in the landfills, god knows what's leaking out of the electronics in the landfills into our environment, and the lost jobs.
I think that manufacturing quality parts and opening automobile repair centers that are reasonably priced could save the American auto industry. Instead of making cars as cheaply as possible, they could make them as reliable as possible, then make money when you buy parts to repair them. It's only a matter of time before the American auto manufacturers are sold off to the Japanese, Germans, or who knows. I think the unions are partially to blame because they insist on a certain wage, and when they get it (or near it), thousands of people get laid off. The unions are squeezing their own people out of jobs. Then who profits? The people who run the unions.
Sure, many people want to buy a new car every few years, or they want to buy more expensive cars. But these aren't the people who can save the American auto industry. I'm talking about the lower and middle classes. They are the ones who want to buy American cars. They are the people who will spend $500 to repair their car every year, rather than get fed up and buy a new one. They don't have a choice. But they aren't stupid, and they're probably buying a lot more cheap foreign cars these days.
I just ran across the article Wal-Mart You Don't Know today and I feel vindicated. It says that not only does Wal-Mart want to sell the cheapest stuff, but they want to buy the products for less money every year, squeezing their suppliers for profits. This is causing the suppliers to outsource the labor, and is taking away American jobs.
This paragraph sums it up best:
It's Wal-Mart in the role of Adam Smith's invisible hand. And the Milwaukee employees of Master Lock who shopped at Wal-Mart to save money helped that hand shove their own jobs right to Nogales. Not consciously, not directly, but inevitably. "Do we as consumers appreciate what we're doing?" Larrimore asks. "I don't think so. But even if we do, I think we say, Here's a Master Lock for $9, here's another lock for $6--let the other guy pay $9."
If we keep outsourcing our jobs, who will have any money to buy all this stuff? The problem is that everyone only looks out for themselves, and few look at the big picture.
Here are some reactions to the article:
- Liberals: goddamn greedy corporate bastards
- Rich suburbanites: Wow, $2.97 for a gallon of pickles? I'm driving my Hummer to the nearest Wal-mart right now!
- Republicans: Awesome, every time they sell some pickles, my Wal-Mart stock goes up .00000001 cents
- Young people: OMG, NBD WCA ZZZZZ
- Libertarians: It's a free country
- George Bush: Terrorists hate our cheap pickles.
- Democrats: goddamn George Bush
- Everyone else: And this has what to do with me?
Monday, December 03, 2007
Dec 3 update
187. Don't know how that happened, haven't exercised a lot due to work and been eating badly. I'm probably dehydrated. Forgot my gym stuff today so I can't work out, but someone scheduled a meeting right up until 12:00 anyway that is sure to run long, so I probably wouldn't have time.
I installed some cabinets (salvaged from a neighbor's remodeling job) in my laundry room with the help of Greg T this weekend. OK, mostly Greg did the work and I watched. It's awesome to have a friend that knows how to do all this stuff. Our laundry room is 30x7 so we really needed some cabinets to get it organized. Plus those cabinets were taking up space in the garage where I wanted to park my car.
I hate winter! I have lived in Illinois every day of my life except for vacations. I grew up here, went to college here, still live here. And I hate the weather. On Friday, it snowed, then it rained for 5 or more hours, and everything was covered with ice. Walking from your car to your front door was a dangerous experience. Then, strangely, by morning everything had melted. I really want to move somewhere warmer, but we're committed to staying here near our relatives until the kids go to college...so guess I'll be moving to Florida in 2021. Only 14 years to go! Hooray!
Illinois is going to the Rose Bowl? That's surprising. It's great, but I guess the Rose Bowl doesn't mean as much as it used to.
- schneid
I installed some cabinets (salvaged from a neighbor's remodeling job) in my laundry room with the help of Greg T this weekend. OK, mostly Greg did the work and I watched. It's awesome to have a friend that knows how to do all this stuff. Our laundry room is 30x7 so we really needed some cabinets to get it organized. Plus those cabinets were taking up space in the garage where I wanted to park my car.
I hate winter! I have lived in Illinois every day of my life except for vacations. I grew up here, went to college here, still live here. And I hate the weather. On Friday, it snowed, then it rained for 5 or more hours, and everything was covered with ice. Walking from your car to your front door was a dangerous experience. Then, strangely, by morning everything had melted. I really want to move somewhere warmer, but we're committed to staying here near our relatives until the kids go to college...so guess I'll be moving to Florida in 2021. Only 14 years to go! Hooray!
Illinois is going to the Rose Bowl? That's surprising. It's great, but I guess the Rose Bowl doesn't mean as much as it used to.
- schneid
Friday, November 30, 2007
November 30 update
188. I gained about 3 lbs over Thanksgiving. We went to North Carolina to visit Dad and Kay. Debi and David came in from Boston too. We had a good time and had a lot of great food and wine. I did go running one time...
Once again, I'm sorry for lack of updates. November was a really tough month. Ever had a bad day? Well, I had a bad month. Just one thing after another. And when I'm stressed, there are two things I want to do: 1. nothing, like sit around and watch movies, and 2. eat eat EAT! I had to work late from home last night, so to ease the pain, I ate a pizza (yes, a whole one) for dinner plus almost an entire huge Hershey bar for dessert, and I watched Minority Report while I worked. I worked until about 2:30 AM. When I'm up late working on metrics, it reminds me of a quote from Friends. Chandler says "Alright kids, I gotta get to work. If I don’t input those numbers...doesn’t make much of a difference." I also had a huge cheeseburger and fries for lunch. And Starbucks for breakfast. Funny, it didn't help.
I've had very little time to do anything enjoyable, and I have to manage my stress very carefully, which is why I avoid stress. So when don't have time to exercise or have fun, it's twice as bad.
I ran about 3 miles with Tim on Monday. I'm so disgusted with myself. Tim has lost 30 lbs so far (gained a few back over Thanksgiving). My best is down 16 lbs, and now I'm only down 12. I had to work through lunch yesterday and today so no exercise. Things will get back to "normal" next week, but December is always hard since there's so much to do for the holidays. If it wasn't for Tim, I'd probably have gained 12 lbs by now instead of losing it. It's good to have a running partner.
Poker-wise, I'm going to start playing on Full Tilt and maybe Poker Stars because Ultimatebet is a drag. We'll see. I may need to build my bankroll before moving. People are winning a ton of money in the big Sunday and other tournaments, and I'd like to try to get a cut.
- schneid
Once again, I'm sorry for lack of updates. November was a really tough month. Ever had a bad day? Well, I had a bad month. Just one thing after another. And when I'm stressed, there are two things I want to do: 1. nothing, like sit around and watch movies, and 2. eat eat EAT! I had to work late from home last night, so to ease the pain, I ate a pizza (yes, a whole one) for dinner plus almost an entire huge Hershey bar for dessert, and I watched Minority Report while I worked. I worked until about 2:30 AM. When I'm up late working on metrics, it reminds me of a quote from Friends. Chandler says "Alright kids, I gotta get to work. If I don’t input those numbers...doesn’t make much of a difference." I also had a huge cheeseburger and fries for lunch. And Starbucks for breakfast. Funny, it didn't help.
I've had very little time to do anything enjoyable, and I have to manage my stress very carefully, which is why I avoid stress. So when don't have time to exercise or have fun, it's twice as bad.
I ran about 3 miles with Tim on Monday. I'm so disgusted with myself. Tim has lost 30 lbs so far (gained a few back over Thanksgiving). My best is down 16 lbs, and now I'm only down 12. I had to work through lunch yesterday and today so no exercise. Things will get back to "normal" next week, but December is always hard since there's so much to do for the holidays. If it wasn't for Tim, I'd probably have gained 12 lbs by now instead of losing it. It's good to have a running partner.
Poker-wise, I'm going to start playing on Full Tilt and maybe Poker Stars because Ultimatebet is a drag. We'll see. I may need to build my bankroll before moving. People are winning a ton of money in the big Sunday and other tournaments, and I'd like to try to get a cut.
- schneid
Monday, November 19, 2007
Lazy Blogger
Sorry I've been so lazy blogging lately.
I have been maintaining my weight pretty well (185) but haven't lost any more weight in the last few weeks. I've been consistently running 1-2 times per week and playing basketball 1-2 times per week. And I've been eating healthily about 2/3 of the time.
This past Saturday was a total wash. I attended the Illinois game with Justin and Steve, and it was a total blast. We had a great time and the Illini crushed Northwestern 44-21. We went to a great tailgate party that had an awesome barbecue spread, and later went to Murphy's and Brother's (formerly Mabel's). I had about 8 pints of beer, 3-4 servings of barbecue, a bratwurst, and a mega cheeseburger with cheddar, everything, and extra pickles, and fresh cut fries. Whew.
And now it's Thanksgiving. I'm going to enjoy myself but try not to overindulge too much. I might even get in a run or two. We'll see.
- schneid
I have been maintaining my weight pretty well (185) but haven't lost any more weight in the last few weeks. I've been consistently running 1-2 times per week and playing basketball 1-2 times per week. And I've been eating healthily about 2/3 of the time.
This past Saturday was a total wash. I attended the Illinois game with Justin and Steve, and it was a total blast. We had a great time and the Illini crushed Northwestern 44-21. We went to a great tailgate party that had an awesome barbecue spread, and later went to Murphy's and Brother's (formerly Mabel's). I had about 8 pints of beer, 3-4 servings of barbecue, a bratwurst, and a mega cheeseburger with cheddar, everything, and extra pickles, and fresh cut fries. Whew.
And now it's Thanksgiving. I'm going to enjoy myself but try not to overindulge too much. I might even get in a run or two. We'll see.
- schneid
Monday, October 29, 2007
Oct 29 update
186. I ate a huge dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill on Saturday and didn't eat very well the rest of the weekend either. I played basketball on Friday.
Exercise:
- schneid
Exercise:
- ran 4.75 miles today with Tim R (ran 3.75, walked 1)
- 2 granola bars and coffee
- lentil soup
- 20 oz diet Pepsi
- dinner will be taco salad - I'm going to have spicy fish in my salad instead of ground beef.
- schneid
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Swimming kids
Ben and Anna have been taking swimming lessons for a few years now. They are doing really well. Ben can swim freestyle the width of the pool. Anna can swim with some floaties or other aid. Both of the kids are moving up to the next level, but the best part is that they will have class at exactly the same time. For at least two months, our lives will be a little easier. And it's the same day as Suzette's class, so she can take them to swimming, I can pick them up, and she can drive directly from there to school. Two of our difficult weekday evenings will be combined into one.
- schneid
- schneid
Thursday, October 25, 2007
New computer!
I finally bought a new computer. The old one is 7 years old with a 600 MHz Pentium 3 processor. I was due! I just found a great deal on an HP Pavilion Media Center with Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q6600 2.4GHz. Ohhhhh yeahhh. I found a deal for $400 off. It has 1 GB of RAM because I can buy RAM really cheap for it. I bought 2 GB extra from Crucial for only $60. I'll probably use some Christmas money to buy an additional monitor to have a dual monitor setup. And I'll need a decent video card and an external hard drive. I can't wait to get my hands on it.
I need to buy a print server so that I can print from our laptop. But most of them sound pretty unreliable or expensive. If anyone has experience with a print server, I'd like to hear about it.
- schneid
I need to buy a print server so that I can print from our laptop. But most of them sound pretty unreliable or expensive. If anyone has experience with a print server, I'd like to hear about it.
- schneid
Oct 25 update
185 today.
Exercise:
- schneid
Exercise:
- Ran 4 miles with Tim
- 2 granola bars
- 16 oz coffee w/ equal and h/h
- vegetarian lentil soup
- 20 oz diet Pepsi
- 1 slice supreme deep dish pizza
- schneid
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Oct 24 update
185.
Sorry, I've been slacking badly on updates.
Tim went out of town from Fri-Mon and couldn't run Thursday either. I lifted weights on Wed, played basketball Thurs, lifted weights on Friday, and carried Ben 3/4 of a mile for what turned out to be a very scary Haunted Hike on Saturday.
On Sunday, Mom and John came over for John's birthday. I've been dying to cook some good food for awhile, and here's what I made.
Sunday's Provencal menu
I really didn't feel like running on Monday, and fortunately they needed another guy to play basketball at the last minute. I had an awesome game, hitting a ton of shots, which is rare. I played bball again on Tuesday, not as well.
So, as far as food...I ate way too much of Sunday night's yummy dinner. Then a little too much of the leftovers on Monday. Today is my birthday and I treated myself to a sausage-egg-cheese biscuit for breakfast, but didn't eat lunch. Tonight we are going to Gino's East for stuffed pizza and Oberweis for ice cream sundaes (I love turtle sundaes).
So I missed my birthday goal by 5 lbs. I'll set a new goal of losing 8 lbs by Thanksgiving - that's 2 lbs per week. So I'm shooting for 177 by November 22. I've been keeping up with the exercise but not eating as well, so post-birthday, I'm going to watch what I eat more carefully.
- schneid
Sorry, I've been slacking badly on updates.
Tim went out of town from Fri-Mon and couldn't run Thursday either. I lifted weights on Wed, played basketball Thurs, lifted weights on Friday, and carried Ben 3/4 of a mile for what turned out to be a very scary Haunted Hike on Saturday.
On Sunday, Mom and John came over for John's birthday. I've been dying to cook some good food for awhile, and here's what I made.
Sunday's Provencal menu
- spinach quiche
- goat cheese toasts, aoili toasts
- mesclun salad with mustard vinaigrette
- baguettes with aoili or herbed butter (fresh rosemary, fresh basil, fresh parsley, fresh garlic, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, mmmmmmm!)
- potatoes au gratin
- ratatouille (minus the eggplant)
- Provencal chicken
- pork loin stuffed and crusted with cherries and bread crumbs, cooked in rose wine with anise seeds
- chocolate cake - well, Anna and Mommy made that!
- French rose and red wine, Cotes du Luberon, Cotes du Rhone, and one Moulin a Vent.
I really didn't feel like running on Monday, and fortunately they needed another guy to play basketball at the last minute. I had an awesome game, hitting a ton of shots, which is rare. I played bball again on Tuesday, not as well.
So, as far as food...I ate way too much of Sunday night's yummy dinner. Then a little too much of the leftovers on Monday. Today is my birthday and I treated myself to a sausage-egg-cheese biscuit for breakfast, but didn't eat lunch. Tonight we are going to Gino's East for stuffed pizza and Oberweis for ice cream sundaes (I love turtle sundaes).
So I missed my birthday goal by 5 lbs. I'll set a new goal of losing 8 lbs by Thanksgiving - that's 2 lbs per week. So I'm shooting for 177 by November 22. I've been keeping up with the exercise but not eating as well, so post-birthday, I'm going to watch what I eat more carefully.
- schneid
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