The most interesting part, to me, is that I had absolutely, positively no idea this was going on- even until last year when the crash hit- and I guarantee you the 95% or more of our population that are tuned-out, videophiles had no idea either. Amazing.

Here is a funny problem… why is teacher pay so low (especially when we hear of shortages of qualified teachers)?

My guess is that the school system has a monopoly on pay. There are few opportunities for skilled teachers to increase their salaries by changing schools… there is only one employer. The school system can afford to underpay teachers and teachers have to take it. Some people get in the profession as kid-helping idealists, others like the hours. In any case, the state has managed to set pay that attracts as many people as possible for a low salary. Because the school systems have no competition for labor prices, they can keep salaries low.

Another consideration is that the most desirable teachers will be skilled in math or science. These skills are marketable outside the education industry… so few people will see suffiecient incentive to teach given the trade-offs.

Figures don’t lie, but liers figure.

A. Home prices in California are rising into the stratosphere.

B. Middle class workers can not afford to own homes because their pay would not support the mortgages required to own a home in California.

Solution: Make buying a home for middle class workers easier by reducing the initial cost to buy a home.

Why are home prices rising? Demand is greater than supply.

What to do? Create more demand!

Demand will create more supply.

Perpetual motion.

I’m sure that kinds of programs have nothing to do with California’s current financial crisis.

I also wonder whose idea it was. I assume it was someone in the teacher system and that Wells Fargo was just the vendor. Who wouldn’t bid on this when the state and federal government promised to take on all of the risk?

I wonder how many of these program loans went bad (foreclosure or workout) vs. other loans of a similar size, location and credit profile?

You said the word that I was just thinking about, union.

I wonder if there is someone posting here that can let us know down the road, or even at present, if there is a provision in this little plan that will require the teacher to be a member of the/a Teacher’s Union in order to qualify for this public trough; of if such a provision becomes the de facto hinge upon which the approval of this sweetheart loan swings.

The socialist would get double their (our) money if union membership is required.

But apparently not committed to anyone else. When I worked in California, I started off at $29,000. Apparently, I was not as imprtant as a teacher. I guess all men are created equal, until you join a union. Then you are definitely in a higher class.

“Doing it again, is not doing it again.”