Right In The Middle

Father of 2, husband of 1. US Navy Nuke veteran. Currently full-time educator, part time political junky. 'For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then...'

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@mkhammer @thoughtsofjodi IYKYK

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@GividenRic78614 @SenBillCassidy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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[Mark Cuban @mcuban]

Ro, you just gave a nice little stump speech. Congrats.

I'm talking about how AI can be used to make government more efficient, less expensive and provide an option, where it makes sense , to private enterprise.

Enabling more of the revenue you collect from taxpayers to go directly to the people who need it.

Ask your GenZ and neediest constituents, if AI could reduce spending in your state and improve the quality of services offered, with some percent of those savings being deposited in their bank accounts annually, would they approve of the government using AI ?

You know the answer.

By focusing on technology that can allow government to provide better services at a lower cost, which AI will be in a position to enable, only then can you help provide for people who need help and support.

AI is new, and not easy to implement. Which is why your state and the federal government should be creating programs to give new grads, who know or can learn AI, jobs to work with existing staff to find ways to decrease costs and improve efficiency. It's an investment that will pay off.

And as far as all the things you want to subsidize, from homes to childcare to healthcare , you could take every dollar from every billionaire and trillionaire in your state and probably every state and territory, leave them broke and then eat them, and it wouldn't cover for a year, the cost of what you want to do

But

Since I know healthcare, let's start there and see how serious you are about Medicare for All ?

Who runs it and how do you choose that person?

Right now the proposed legislation from jayapal and sanders says ," at the discretion of the Sec of HHS"

What do you think would be happening right now if that had been passed ?

I'll tell you the same thing I tell Republicans who think removing government and regulation from any market will make that market bigger and more efficient ...

Ideology is not a strategy

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

Having five classes with five different personalities, I can attest to this. How I manage my fourth period vs. my first period is completely different. I have to do this or no one in my fourth period would ever learn anything. If I had fourth periods all day, I’d tap out. And I don’t blame the kids. They more than likely live in environments outside of school that make it hard for them to take school seriously. There base survival needs (Maslow’s) are not being met. It should make sense to most. But of course there are those who would rather blame the school/teacher.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

Teachers are human like everyone else. And they all try to do their best. Teachers have had their own personalities, gifts, faults, and the like since schools began. But 50 years ago, kids were held accountable. Their parents punished them if they skipped school. There were expectations and consequences for students at the administrative level. If kids knew this, they would have to put in more effort. And it wouldn’t matter if the teacher is “great” or not.

[Kevin Patrick Mahaffey @dropalltables]

Oh yes, I remember that Bond film where the villain decarbonized the auto industry, brought fast internet to everyone on the planet, and helped paralyzed people interact with the world again.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@ScreenSaverKyra @jenteach13 What I have noticed is that many, many absent or tardy students are at school. They just aren’t in class. What’s so crazy is parents are notified minutes after they are marked absent. And yet no consequences.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@GividenRic78614 @SenBillCassidy Exactly my point! They stopped spending it in 2020 because the SS taxes aren’t enough anymore. Read your second screenshot. The US can’t borrow from the trust fund because it peaked. Now the US is “paying” the trust fund back through deficit spending.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

Easy peasy

[Jessica Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 @JessicaBRiedl]

Showing that "uncapping the payroll tax does not fully fund Social Security" is easy and requires no complicated models or "just trust me." Its basic math you can verify yourself.

CBO projects Social Security to level off at:
- Spending around 6.0-6.2% of GDP.
- Dedicated tax revenues of 4.5% of GDP (from 4.2% in payroll taxes plus 0.3% in other small taxes).

Yet we also know that SocSec's payroll tax covers 83% of all wages. Eliminating the cap would cover 100%.

So if covering 83% collects 4.2% of GDP in payroll taxes ... then covering 100% would collect 4.2/0.83=5.06% of GDP in payroll taxes.

Add back that 0.3% of GDP from related taxes, and we're at 5.36% of GDP in Social Security revenues.

That covers half of the funding gap (see chart).

(We're giving the rosiest scenario, so let's ignore that a tax hike of this size would give back some revenues from disincentives - and we're also canceling any earned benefits from these taxes).

That's it. That's the math you can verify yourself. The key calculation is that the current payroll tax catches 83% of wages and collects 4.2% of GDP. So you can calculate what a 100% policy would collect (an additional 0.86%) and compare to the spending projections.

So, no, "eliminate the cap, problem solved" is not correct. You still have to address benefits and the eligibility age.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@komonews I’m pretty sure he said he wouldn’t raise taxes last year.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@GividenRic78614 @SenBillCassidy Social Security is already in deficit. So every dollar raised in SS taxes pays SS checks. Right now deficit spending is making up the difference. I doubt there will be Social Security tax revenue available for anything else in our lifetimes.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@stevemur @GovBobFerguson How will he enforce it?

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@GovBobFerguson How will you enforce it?

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@ModestTeacher Not just in the summer. Students knock out several during one period a day during the school year.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@MacSherbert @adamboxer1 EdPuzzle!

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

Three key things in my practice (or I try really hard to do).

1. I always give students to share potential responses with a partner.

2. I randomly pick students (popsicle sticks, cards, wheel of names, etc.) and

3. I don’t allow “I don’t know.” Instead if they don’t have an answer they can say “Can you repeat the question?” Or “Can I talk with a classmate?” Or “can yo give me a moment?”

And after that, if they need more time, I’ll keep the conversation going with another student and I’ll come back to that student after.

This is to encourage students to actually listen, discuss the prompt, and be able to actively engage in the lesson.

I love the idea of being more explicit about the why! Thanks for sharing.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

As someone who deals with phones on the classroom everyday, it sounds wonderful! Our school board banned them from classrooms and not a whole lot has changed as there isn’t really an enforcement mechanism. What I want to know is how the governor is going to enforce this? Is he going to have security check points in schools everyday? It sounding great but it’s magic wand thinking and magic wands don’t exist.

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

@educator4ever36 @Momaustinbradd3 WA

[Right In The Middle @MDHtoo]

When I think about our union (which I am a rep on for my district), I think they are best at negotiating salary and working conditions (class size). I think when it comes to the strict hours around our lesson planning and grading, our union is sometimes unrealistic about the resources our district has to pay us for all the extra time it takes. Again, if we can negotiate more money, I’m all for it!