Test gap

Back in the 1970’s and 80’s the schools began to deemphasize the importance of using phonics to teach reading in favor of something called the whole language method. Mississippi, a state that ranked last in reading skills went back to phonics in 2013. They had a special two-year training program for K-3 teachers and passed legislation that students who could not pass the reading test given to third graders would be held back. They would then be giving one on one training by specially trained teachers. The result is that Mississippi students now rank number three. Should this system be tried in other states? Should some states use AI for individual one on one teaching. The income gap and the test score gaps are two of the biggest problems facing the country. The test gap is particularly harmful since it impacts minority students the most.

GDP

The trade imbalance effects the GDP. The GDP combines the personal consumption, private domestic investment, government expenditures and net exports. Net exports are imports minus exports. For 2024 the situation looks like: Personal consumption $19.9 trillion Private domestic investments $5.3 trillion Government expenditures $6.8 trillion Exports $2.0 trillion Imports $4.1 trillion Total $19.9 plus $5.3 plus $6.8 plus $2.0 minus $4.1 equals $29.9 trillion. This shows how the negative balance of trade effects the GDP. If exports equal imports the GDP would be 19.9 plus $5.3 plus $6.8 equals $32 trillion. The US GDP per capita in 2024 was $85.810. If exports and imports were equal the GDP per capita would be $91.515. This is why the government is using tariffs to equalize imports and exports. US manufacturing is increasing in all areas. For example, GE appliances invested a historic $3 billion and Samsung and LG have expanded their US based plants in items like washing machines and refrigerators. This is all part of bringing manufacturing jobs back home.

AI teacher

Ask Google does smaller class size improve learning and you get Yes, fewer students per class generally leads to improved student learning and achievement, with the most significant benefits seen when class sizes are reduced substantially in the earliest grades and for disadvantaged students. Smaller classes allow for more individualized attention, increased student engagement, improved academic performance, and reduced achievement gaps. However, benefits are most pronounced with large reductions in class size (e.g., fewer than 20 students), and the effectiveness depends on maintaining teacher quality. This opens the door to AI teacher. All students have individual computers and the powers to be get together and taking the best parts from the best teachers devise the AI teacher. It will be designed to teach students how to thing not what to think. Every class, every lesson can be immediately analyzed with feed back and grading. Parents can be kept abreast on a daily basis. It will be two-way communication from student to the AI teacher. It is one on one education. There will still be a need for the classroom teacher especially in the lower grades but the teacher will have time to spend on things other than the fundamentals.

New jobs

In the recent past the US trade deficits have increased dramatically and today stands at $1.2 trillion. Up until the 1960 the US normally had a trade surplus but this changed as globalization became the new world economic system. The result was the decline in manufacturing and the rise of the financial industry. This meant stagnant wages for working people and high profits for big business and the executives that worked in these businesses. The income gap soared based not on productivity but on favoring the financial sector and this was not based on merit. While a specific average CEO salary for 1950 is not readily available, the average CEO's pay was about 20 times the salary of the average worker during that era. This was a period of lower income disparity between CEOs and employees, with CEO compensation increasing to more than 600 times the average worker's pay by 2020. It is not reasonable to assume that today’s CEOs are 30 times more productive than those in the 1950’s. The country and indeed the Western world is now reversing this trend and the US will once again become a manufacturing power house. A recent poll said that 25% of respondents feel they would be better off working in a factory. This would be a three-fold increase over the 8% who now are factory workers. These new factories will be using the latest technology and AI to increase productivity which means higher wages and benefits. High schools and tech colleges along with on-the-job training will increase the value of the employees and add to the efficiency of the operation.

Type of racism

The origin of modern eugenics (late 19th century) Francis Galton coined the term meaning good birth. Galton believed that human society was hindering natural selection by protecting the weak. He argued that selective breeding should be applied to humans to improve the race. Historical eugenicists used a range of methods to eliminate "undesirables," primarily by curtailing reproduction and, in the most extreme cases, through extermination. These practices, which were based on the pseudoscientific belief that complex human traits could be bred in or out of the population, disproportionately targeted marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities, immigrants, and racial minorities. Less than 4% of the population is represented by Black females of child bearing age and they have 40% of all abortions. Some might consider this a type of eugenics.

Murders

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was elected on April 2023. In 2024, Black Chicagoans were disproportionately affected by homicides, making up 78% of the victims despite being 29% of the population and 22 times more likely to be killed than White residents. Hispanic residents were also disproportionately impacted, making up 18% of homicide victims and being about 5 times more likely to be killed than White residents. White victims were the smallest group, representing the baseline for these disparities. This means that less than 4% of murder victims were White. This doesn’t seem to alarm anyone and could or should be considered racism.

Catch 22

Over-policing vs. Under-policing: North Minneapolis faces the paradox of historical over-policing, which can inflate crime data, alongside a reality of being under-protected and underserved by adequate police resources, notes the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the Department of Justice. Here is the dilemma. A new police chief is hired because crime is out of control. He finds out that 80% of the crime happens in 20% of the city so he assigns more police in that area. Over time crime decreases and the citizens are satisfied. A few years later some enterprising report does and in debt study which shows that disproportionate number of minorities are being arrested and convicted. This awakens groups like the ACLU and demands that changes be made so the police are moved to other parts of the city. In time crime increases in the minority areas and citizens demand that the police do something. It’s a catch 22.

Campus

In today’s world many people wonder why colleges and universities have changed and there are number of reason but one rarely discussed is the increase in women in academia. In the past 50 years the number of female professors has doubled from 25% to 54%. In 2020, 85,230 male and 104,950 female students earned a doctoral degree in the US. In a nut shell women have become the majority of teachers in universities. If you agree there are differences between men and women you would expect some changes when the percentage of women in a position increases rapidly. In 2020 women earned 74% of the PhD’s in psychology and 20% of the PhD’s in physics. In some ways these two careers require similar skills like critical thinking but in other ways the skills are quite different. A physicist needs a strong background in math whereas a psychologist needs a strong understanding of human nature. How do these differences change the culture on campus?

Medical abortions

The abortion pill came out in 2000, a year in which there were 1.3 million abortions. By 2023 that number had decreased to 900,000 even though the population had increased by 50 million. During that time the number of medical abortions (using the pill) increased to 63% and many of these are not recorded so it is assumed that the number of abortions is not decreasing only the reporting. Many medicated abortions go unreported, especially self-managed abortions conducted outside of the formal healthcare system. This is a well-documented issue that affects the accuracy of abortion statistics in the United States and other parts of the world. Some states offer legal access to these pills without a prescription from a doctor and as those spread to other states it will become more difficult to count abortions because many will occur in the privacy of a woman’s home with no doctor involved. Many suggest, that in the future it will be a common practice for women to have amniotic fluid tested early on and medical abortions to be used to discard any fetus with potential problems.

Courts

People are often concerned about the court system becoming political. This has been in the news since the Supreme Court now has 6 six judges who are considered more conservative. Since Trump 2.0 the lower courts have been active in blocking presidential executive orders but they too have been somewhat political Of the 30 judges who partially or fully blocked a Trump administration's executive actions in 38 cases, 26 were appointed by Democratic presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. The result is that liberals are complaining about the Supreme Court and conservatives are complaining about the lower courts.

European migrants

Mismanagement of immigration policy can lead to a quick decline in a country. A good recent example is Sweden. This was a country that industrialized, had natural resources and high levels of professionalism in its workforce pushed forward by exports. It was a high-tech capitalist country with a solid welfare system providing good education that enabled entrepreneurship an innovation. The Swedish people were compassionate and welcomed Muslim immigrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000’s. These were people fleeing war torn countries and the Swedes open their doors. The Muslim population increased to 12% but the new immigrants failed to assimilate and this led to neighborhoods where police were not welcomed. In these areas there is poverty and gangs leading to unrest. Sweden is now changing its immigration policies to become more restrictive, shifting focus from asylum-based to mandating that migrants adhere to honest living to avoid deportation. The rationale is to address issues such as crime, fraud, and the rise of undocumented migrants. Similar situations are happening in other European countries like France and Germany. Migrants with criminal records are being deported across Europe with Germany deporting 20,000 in 2024.

Data centers

The genius of Elon Musk is on display in Memphis, TN. He took 100 acres that was formally an Electrolux appliance factory and in 122 days converted it to the largest data center in the world. Then in three weeks he installed the computers and the entire one-gigawatt plant will be operational by early 2026. These plants use so much electricity that the power source must be set up before the plant can operate. Memphis could not supply that much power so Musk purchased a nearby abandoned power plant. He brought in gas turbines from closed plants in Europe and installed them at the old power plant site. The future of data centers depends on adequate power supplies and this means providing a private power source for each new plant. They will start with natural gas turbines but in the near future small nuclear reactors will take over.

SMR's

As many of the dire predictions regarding climate change have failed to materialize it is time to take a closer look at renewable energy and at wind and solar in particular. First off wind and solar are intermittent since the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow which means a backup source of energy is needed. Some feel this can be batteries but current technology is inadequate. Second both wind and solar take up lots of space. A one-gigawatt solar field requires 4,500 acres, a one-gigawatt wind farm 8,000 acres and a one-gigawatt natural gas power plant about 8 acres. Third since the solar fields and wind farms are installed many miles from the use points, they require long cross-country transmission lines. Forth the mining, processing and disposal of the materials needed for wind and solar is detrimental to the environment and thus most of these materials currently come from China. Fifth, batteries cannot be used for airplanes, ocean liners, heavy construction and farm equipment and rail trains which means there will still be a need for the diesel and jet fuel. The only realistic solution to climate change is nuclear power. Small modular reactors (SMR’s) cam be produced on and assembly line and shipped to the use point on semis. This removes the need for long transmission line and they operate 24/7 and need no backup. Using the latest gas turbines both uranium pellets or thorium can produce both electricity and heat. The reactors can be used to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water and diesel and jet fuel can be produced by using hydrogen and carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere and returned to the atmosphere when burned for a carbon neutral cycle. Cars and small trucks can use hydrogen for fuel and the only biproduct is water. The reactors have walk away safety meaning no meltdowns and the government is fast tracking the approval process which was the main reason for high building cost.