Study: 80 Percent of Lawmakers Lack Academic Background in Business, Economics

[bigcarlb66]

there is a reason why polititions are polititions. there is no way they could ever get a job by following all the rules and laws that themselves have created. now they are looking for ways to drop trillions of dollars off the national debt, which by the way has doubled since obama has been in office, but they don't know where to start. here's an idea. why dont they get rid of their pay for life after office deal. also limit terms to no more than 6 years consecutively in office. also freeze what they make. the president gets 350,000 a year to run the country, let them make 100,000 a year. they should also have to use their own money for health care, and their own money for travel reguardless where there going. this would save about 150 billion a year for tax payers. do you think this will ever happen? the only way it will is when the free people of this nation tell washington that we are sick and tired of being second class citizens in our own country. it's tine to take back the government for the people it was intended for,THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!! no more freebees for illegals in this country.close the damn borders and enforce immigration laws in this country. if the feds wont enforce these laws, then they need to step aside and lets the states do it. besides this is what the national guard was designed for. check the constitution. thats all i have for now, but there will be more to follow. and remember, lead don't follow.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

The real reason is because I'd be willing to bet 90% of all politicians lie, and are corrupt. Regardless if they're a R or D. Anybody who doesn't think so is blind.

What's really interesting is that most people would admit this-just not about their own politicians who represent them. It's a very strange situation.

 

[editec]

FWIW one could have an MBA and still know next to nothing about MACRO.

 

[rdean]

Study: 80 Percent of Lawmakers Lack Academic Background in Business, Economics

A report from the Employment Policies Institute finds that only one in five members of Congress has an academic background in business or economics.

55.5 percent majored in either a government-related field or "humanities." Just over 8 percent majored in economics, while almost 14 percent studied business or accounting.

...a congressional "supercommittee" is set to get to work finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. But that supercommittee may have the same education deficit as the rest of Congress. Just four of the 12 members on that committee have an academic background in economics or finance.

no wonder we're fucked.

Republicans, for the most part, don't like education. I suspect at least 70% of them lack an academic background on anything except Bible Memorization. Even then, they don't understand what they are reading. "Let him die"?

 

[jeffrockit]

"This research suggests that our elected representatives may want to dust off their Econ 101 textbook (if they have one) before trying to tackle the weighty questions about the impact of taxes, spending and debt on our economy and the labor market," the group wrote.

‘The group’ is seemingly ignorant as to how a bill becomes law.

‘Lawmakers’ don’t write laws, they’re written by hoards of nameless staffers who research the issue and the policy accordingly. The staffers specialize in certain areas, including economics. The ‘lawmaker’s background is irrelevant.

There is only one qualification that is required to fix the economy...an understanding government need only get the fuck out of the way. A separation of economy and state, as much as a separation of church and state. A plumber can do that.

An incorrect and naïve oversimplification – it isn’t the year 1800. You’d be well advised to abandon dogma and embrace fact.

And for whom exactly will government ‘get out of the way’? Corporations sitting on stacks of cash unwilling to invest or hire? Homeowners upside down on their mortgages and unable to spend due to excessive debt?

Whether you and others on the right like it or not, the government is the only player in the economy with the resources to get things moving again. And that’s not happening due to nitwit TPM House members refusing to do anything for perceived political gain and blind adherence to rightist dogma.

With almost a trillion spent on the 1st stimulus, govt has proven that while they may have the resources (tax dollars taken at the point of a gun and spent only to pay back unions and special interests), they do not have a clue as to how to get the economy going and stimulate job growth.
Corps are "sitting" on all of that money because govt has been completely incompetent in allowing the free market to work (with Obama calling the private sector the enemy), and feel that only govt can help. That has been a massive failure and the facts bear that out.

 

[CentristFiasco]

This is coming from Fox News and to be perfectly honest with you, this is unbelievable because you can't be elected into office regardless of votes without showing a college diploma in so and so. Moreover, you also have to go through a background check as well as some sort of an evaluation. The things that we're seeing in the Congress isn't about intelligence, it's partisanship.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right...

... dey a buncha do-nothin's...

... `cause dey a buncha know-nothin's...

... dat's what the problem is...

... we's like the blind leadin' the blind.

Congress' dysfunction long in the making
Oct 1,`11 WASHINGTON (AP) - How did it get this bad on Capitol Hill? Why does Congress barely function today?

The legislative branch of the world's most powerful nation is now widely scorned as it lurches from one near-catastrophe to the next, even on supposedly routine matters such as setting an annual budget and keeping government offices open. Congress is accustomed to fierce debate, of course. But veteran lawmakers and scholars use words such as "unprecedented" to describe the current level of dysfunction and paralysis. The latest Gallup poll found a record-high lack of faith in Congress.

There's no single culprit, it seems. Rather, long-accumulating trends have reached a critical mass, in the way a light snowfall can trigger an avalanche because so many earlier snows have piled atop each other. At the core of this gridlock is a steadily growing partisanship. Couple that with a rising distaste for compromise by avid voters. Unswerving conservatives and liberals dominate the two parties' nominating processes, electing lawmakers who pledge never to stray from their ideologies.

Instead of a two-party system, American government has become a battle between warring tribes, says Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma who has taught at several universities. When House and Senate leaders set out their goals and strategies, he said in an interview, "it comes down to the party first," with the public's welfare lagging behind. The parties have driven all but a few centrists from their ranks. House districts are ever more sharply liberal or conservative because both parties collude in gerrymandering to protect incumbents and because mobile Americans like to live among like-minded people.

For many Republicans, the biggest threat to re-election is from their party's right flank. For Democrats, the danger is being insufficiently liberal. "The problem in a nutshell is that most members are more worried about their primary election than the general election," said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., now a campaign strategist. "They ask themselves, `Why should I go out and be the next Bob Bennett or Mike Castle?' So they become very averse to compromise."

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