A Forum for Grinches and Ho-Ho-Hoes

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by baltassoc
And I'd note that the statistic compares apples to oranges. It's comparing tuition on one hand against cost of education on the other.

Comparing cost of education to tuition is ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure that the bricks and mortar fund for my Catholic elementary/middle school came out of the general bricks and mortar fund for the church it was associated with. There are a lot of people who really do give 10 percent of their income to their church. Additionally, the annual bazzar made a shit-load of money.

My private high school fundraises better than any of the colleges or universities that I've attended. They are a quarter of the way to their $2M goal for the annual fund (9% of the total budget). Additionally, according to the annual report, the endowment per student is at $36,000, which is much, much higher than tuition.

ETA: And the catholics will deeply discount tuition and give group rates, subsidizing through the general church fund. Their interest is getting the kids in while they're young enough to brainwash, and they realize that their own teachings lead to bigger families. They don't want high tuition costs to be to blame for someone using birth control.

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Comparing cost of education to tuition is ridiculous.

I thought of another, similar way this is ridiculous on my way to grab some coffee.

The tuition for my private university alma matter is lower per student per year than the flagship state school spends per year to educate the students who attend. Shouldn't the state just shut down the state school and start paying subsidies to send kids to the private school?

Oh yeah, they can't get in. I say this not in an elitest way, but rather in a the private school has an enrollment of aproximately 1/20 the state school. and thanks to its endowment, it spends even more than the state school per student, above and beyond the tuition, an advatage that's gone when the enrollment suddenly goes up by a factor of 20.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
The people I know who went to catholic schools are pretty well-educated, like "got into Michigan and I didn't" educated.

Now I'm confused. You got into Harvard but not Michigan? In-state penalty?

[andViolins]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
Now I'm confused. You got into Harvard but not Michigan? In-state penalty?

Hank's a closet Buckeye fan. Automatic GO BLUE! reject.

aV

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Note (and vote in) the new poll.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Rumsfeld's response to the troops was bad enough without this, but oh. My. God.

• Armor Holdings Inc., the sole supplier of protective plates for the Humvee military vehicles used in Iraq, said it could increase output by as much as 22 percent per month with no investment and is awaiting an order from the Army.
  
  U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday the Army was working as fast as it can and supply is dictated by “a matter of physics, not a matter of money.'’
  
  Jacksonville, Florida-based Armor Holdings last month told the Army it could add armor to as many as 550 of the trucks a month, up from 450 vehicles now, Robert Mecredy, president of the company’s aerospace and defense group said in a telephone interview today.
  
  “We’re prepared to build 50 to 100 vehicles more per month,'’ Mecredy said in the interview. “I’ve told the customer that and I stand ready to do that.'’

Bloomberg

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Rumsfeld's response to the troops was bad enough without this, but oh. My. God.

You don't understand, Ty. You can have all the armor in the world and a tank can still get blown up.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Rumsfeld's response to the troops was bad enough without this, but oh. My. God.

• Armor Holdings Inc., the sole supplier of protective plates for the Humvee military vehicles used in Iraq, said it could increase output by as much as 22 percent per month with no investment and is awaiting an order from the Army.
  
  U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday the Army was working as fast as it can and supply is dictated by “a matter of physics, not a matter of money.'’
  
  Jacksonville, Florida-based Armor Holdings last month told the Army it could add armor to as many as 550 of the trucks a month, up from 450 vehicles now, Robert Mecredy, president of the company’s aerospace and defense group said in a telephone interview today.
  
  “We’re prepared to build 50 to 100 vehicles more per month,'’ Mecredy said in the interview. “I’ve told the customer that and I stand ready to do that.'’

Bloomberg

I thought they made hot dogs.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
Rumsfeld's response to the troops was bad enough without this, but oh. My. God.

• Armor Holdings Inc., the sole supplier of protective plates for the Humvee military vehicles used in Iraq, said it could increase output by as much as 22 percent per month with no investment and is awaiting an order from the Army.
  
  U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday the Army was working as fast as it can and supply is dictated by “a matter of physics, not a matter of money.'’
  
  Jacksonville, Florida-based Armor Holdings last month told the Army it could add armor to as many as 550 of the trucks a month, up from 450 vehicles now, Robert Mecredy, president of the company’s aerospace and defense group said in a telephone interview today.
  
  “We’re prepared to build 50 to 100 vehicles more per month,'’ Mecredy said in the interview. “I’ve told the customer that and I stand ready to do that.'’

Bloomberg

Compare (from the Corner):

Mr. Lowry,

I can give you a partial answer to your query.

I friend of mine supervises the production of armor kits for trucks and Humvees here in Albany, GA. I can tell you for sure that they ARE working triple shifts and overtime to get the job done---and have been doing so for many months. They are also busy modifying existing designs in response to emerging threats and "customer" suggestions (e.g., increased height to improve head protection).

As for opening new factories: I have gotten the impression that there is some difficulty getting adequate supplies of armor grade steel. Such steel also requires special equipment to cut, shape, and weld, so maybe there is a shortage of facilities with the necessary capabilities. I do not know if Humvee armor incorporates ceramics (e.g. Titanium DiBoride) but, if so, there are relatively few companies capable of producing such materials in suitable sizes and volumes (e.g., Ceradyne Inc.).

I work for a manufacturer of parts for military aircraft. We are a small company that sells our parts to the large companies you have heard of (Raytheon, Northrop Grumman).

At least in my experience we are (now) working three shifts already. After a lull the business has really picked up and we are just about at capacity. I would say that there are several reasons that the production can't just be ramped up by adding factories.

The first is the byzantine nature of military purchasing. We usually hear about a job long before it gets to us... and by the time they get to us everything is already late.

The second is turf battles. If you have created a company that makes a specific part you are not particularly willing to share the engineering and process it takes to make that part with someone opening a new factory. It will take them a long time for any new entrents to the market to get up and running.

Thirdly - mil-spec. There are very demanding specifications for the manufacture of anything for the military. Many comapnies aren't particularly interested in, nor do they have the capacity to do the detailed work for the military. There are many hoops to jump through for every part. As each part is tested it may be approved - or it may be kicked back for repair or to be scrapped.

This is not like WWII when the nation was mobilized to build tanks for victory. I don't think the major automakers are going to shut down their minivan assembly lines in order to produce up-armoured Humvees.

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
I thought they made hot dogs.

That's Armour with a U. Now they are a subsidiary of ConAgra. http://www.conagrafoods.com/brands/armour.jsp

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Compare (from the Corner):

Ah, yes -- the "email from Fallujah" response.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Compare (from the Corner):

What does military aircraft have to do with armor for HVs?

Not that I have anything against anyone buying more military aircraft.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Not Bob
That's Armour with a U. Now they are a subsidiary of ConAgra. http://www.conagrafoods.com/brands/armour.jsp

What colour will they paint the armor?

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
What colour will they paint the armor?

Jesus fuckign christ, you fuckign moron, it's going to Iraq, so I'M GUESSING it will be painted desert camo.

God. The sheer idiocy.

(It's Friday somewhere.)

[Tyrone Slothrop]

In comments today, Bush ruled out raising payroll taxes to pay for Social Security reform. "We will not raise payroll taxes to solve this problem." (Income taxes are presumably off the table as well.) "White House aides said Bush also remained committed to making no changes in benefits for those at or near retirement."

So the plan is to borrow a lot.

A question for the conservatives among us: Is there some principled reason why it's OK to borrow government money that taxpayers in the future are going to have to pay taxes to repay (with interest) but it's not OK to collect taxes now to pay for the same thing?