<p>They ought to be walking out of class after considering the economics of their having pay the debt accumulated for benefits given to old people but not paid for by old people.</p>
<p>I recently heard someone who is a VP for a large bank tell her son if he were to be in NY he should participate in the protests for the college experience. I wanted to say, “But, you (bankers) are among the targets of the protests.” But, I refrained.</p>
<p>Ditto to Floridadad’s post #50. Gimme a break–most of these kids are the 1%.</p>
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</p>
<p>Is that a tax dodge (as in wanting currency and coin to keep it all off the books), or an insurance bureaucracy dodge (as in just wanting to avoid dealing with insurance, but check or credit card was fine)?</p>
<p>I have encountered discount offers at dental offices for self-pay patients, but that appeared more due to the reduction in insurance bureaucracy and payment delays that getting a patient’s dental insurance to pay would involve.</p>
<p>"If the Harvard students really want to protest something, how about they protest that government spending has increased dramatically in the last 10 years:</p>
<p>Federal government spending in 2000: $1.458 trillion
Federal government spending in 2011: $3.317 trillion"</p>
<p>This is the price for being in two wars for a decade. If you want to bring down spending then protest the war.</p>
<p>The protest is a sign of the times. It is not about a bunch of rich kids who have never had to work. That is a silly thing to say. If you have money you don’t have a right to a social opinion???</p>
<p>I was told on this board that Harvard and Princeton students do not come from families in the top 1%…but most are getting financial aid…and they are from the lower classes. ;)</p>
<p>I am glad to see that Mankiw is getting challenged. Policies that he supports takes from the lower and middle class and gives to the rich.</p>
<p>Actually Harvard students as a whole are not from the top 1% of household income earners (Household annual incomes 350K or more defined by the US Census Bureau). 87% of Harvard students receive financial aid. If their household income was >350k they would almost surely not qualify for financial aid.</p>
<p>Where are you getting that 87% number?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html</a></p>
<p>dstark. You are right – it is 70%, dyslexia kicking in. But the point is still the same. The majority of harvard students do not come from 1%'er families.</p>
<p>There are a number of quite poor students amongst the student body.</p>
<p>No the majority probably don’t come from the top1%…although…I would bet some families are getting need based aid because they have more than one kid in college…so these families getting aid are still pretty high income.</p>
<p>The other thing is in America…1% of Americans are in the top 1%…but at Harvard…20% of students come from families in the top 1%? We don’t know the exact amounts…but we are talking mutilples of difference.</p>
<p>I do like reading from posters who say the kids walking out of the Econ class come from families in the top 1%. </p>
<p>I would bet the majority that are walking out don’t come from the top 1%…
But I would bet the majority walking out come from the top 10 to 20%.</p>
<p>Harvard’s student body is skewed toward the wealthier side compared to the population as a whole…quite a bit skewed.</p>
<p>The problem with Mankiw’s free market theories is that Mankiw assumes that buyers and sellers have equal power…that employers and employees have equal power…he assumes this or doesn’t care…but these groups of people do not have equal power…so the notion of free markets falls on it’s face. In other words, Mankiw is full of s…</p>
<p><a href=“http://theoryclass.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/12/just-deserts.pdf[/url]”>http://theoryclass.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/12/just-deserts.pdf</a></p>
<p>“No the majority probably don’t come from the top1%…although…I would bet some families are getting need based aid because they have more than one kid in college…so these families getting aid are still pretty high income.”</p>
<p>I know of one family who had two children in school who were very wealthy, who received financial aid at Harvard. One needs to look carefully as to how to qualify for aid - there are games that can be played to get financial aid that do not just involve number of kids in school.</p>
<p>
I honestly dont know, but my guess would be the former not many health insurance plans cover orthodontist fees.</p>
<p>Emily, yes I am aware that at this particular time no one is talking an increase in tax rate of 20%, it was just an example to show how easily someone earning over a million could re-coup the lost $$$ by barely altering his/her lifestyle at the expense of those not as well set. And maybe someone with an AGI over a million is unlikely to make a change - but those earning 1/3 or 1/2 of that (still considered the top 1% of earners) might. My point all along was that the OWS and their supporters seem to believe increasing the taxes of the rich will somehow solve our nations problems. I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this issue and depending on large corporations and governments to create more jobs. Heck do you know any municipality or state govern that isnt cutting services.
[Unable</a> to pay bill, Mich. city turns off lights - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unable-to-pay-bill-Mich-city-apf-2920161472.html?x=0]Unable”>http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unable-to-pay-bill-Mich-city-apf-2920161472.html?x=0)</p>
<p>My kid always went to his lectures, labs, sections. He likes to go to stuff. And we made it pretty plain that if he skipped class, we’d skip tuition payments.</p>
<p>If it’s fine to just read the text and look at the psets online then why not just do a remote college experience from your bedroom? Certainly cheaper. </p>
<p>The value of class is the social experience. Hearing the old fart hold forth is just part of it. </p>
<p>I’m surprised so many parents would think it’s cool for college kids to skip class.</p>
<p>“Heck do you know any municipality or state govern that isn’t cutting services.”</p>
<p>No I don’t because that is what happens when you have a REVENUE problem. I figure eventually it will dawn on people that they don’t like living in a city/county/state/country which doesn’t have any services and vote for people who won’t be afraid of Grover Norquist. </p>
<p>When your town/city/county/state/country doesn’t fix that pothole I don’t want to hear anyone complain that it’s costing them $1000K to fix their car or the street lights have been turned off and there is more crime and your neighborhood is not safe anymore, or the ambulance can’t get to where it needs to go because the streets weren’t plowed and your grandmother died.</p>
<p>I can tell you in our county and state, when the coffers were flush and there was not a revenue problem, they created a SPENDING problem. Spending on all kinds of things (bridges, roads in vastly unpopulated areas, beautification projects that served no purpose, etc.). When tax collections became an issue, they had to cut the silly items as well as cut back on important line items.</p>
<p>I hope that governments as well as individuals behave more responsibly the next time the “good years” roll around.</p>
<p>I think only .000009% of the 99% are among the OWS crowd.</p>
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<p>We know how that went when the US government was running surpluses in the late 1990s. Cut taxes, raise domestic spending, start an optional war that would turn out to be much longer and more expensive than anticipated, and we went back to the “normal” situation of continuous deficit spending, even in good times. Of course, when the recession occurred, lowering tax revenues further while increasing social services costs, it went from deficit to even bigger deficit.</p>
<p>[McDonald’s</a> Job Applications Dumped On ‘Occupy’ Protesters By Chicago Board Of Trade](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>McDonald's Job Applications Dumped On 'Occupy' Protesters By Chicago Board Of Trade | HuffPost Impact)</p>
<p>CBOT members should have kept these applications. They are going to need these applications when a financial tax passes and they are out of work.</p>