RichC | March 17, 2024
Going to college after high school has always seemed expensive, but by working, borrowing and getting help from parents … it was do-able, and by today’s standards, seemed affordable. I can’t help but smile noticing that when I finally paid off my student loan that I could start saving to put my kids through college. […]
RichC | April 2, 2022
The longer I live, the more I ask the question: “What is wrong with people?” While reading “The Coddling of the American Mind” last week, just before chatting with my son Taylor, the synopsis of the book came to mind. We were discussing a variety of current issues and ties to history (behavior, greed, crime, […]
RichC | March 16, 2021
Support for socialism has been on the rise in America as I have previously noted and according to trend we have seen and the acceptable rhetoric/terms politicians have been willing to adopt this past decade. Liberals, who now prefer the “progressive” label, have decidedly shifted from resisting the status quo, traditional “right and wrong” norms, […]
RichC | March 12, 2020
Question: How old do you have to be to identify this widely recognized sound from our automotive past? What is this sound? My first “real job” was as a Shell gas station attendant when I turned 16 years old (although cut lawns, did odd jobs and worked as “boy” labor for a commercial fishing […]
RichC | August 11, 2019
As the cost of education, health care, cars, etc. goes up, it should be no surprise our financing habits change in order to pay for priorities like higher education … or luxuries like newer and more reliable cars. Paying for semi-essentials is significantly more expensive than in the past and we now extend paying for […]
RichC | July 7, 2019
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RichC | April 9, 2019
There aren’t many things that makes a mom and dad prouder than realizing their parenting efforts have paid off. We are now regularly seeing our children as productive professional adults and realizing that our being positive examples, and prioritizing school and providing a college education, has paid off. Besides Katelyn and husband Drew being accomplished […]
RichC | March 24, 2019
Maybe it is my age … or just the latest swing to the radical left by Democrats staging themselves for a presidential primary to challenge President Trump in 2020 … but this whole anti-free market socialist tilt has me concerned for the direction of our country. It is no longer the political quarrel over the […]
RichC | June 19, 2018
I generally do not read longer Facebook posts, but while scanning a few friends comments on Father’s Day remembering their dads, Kathy Pangborn (good friend and neighbor of my inlaws) reposted a story that had me remembering the different father-types that I knew. Neither my mother or father-in-laws’ or mother or fathers’ parents (my grandparents) […]
RichC | January 26, 2017
My answer: Rarely does the pendulum find the middle. Neither the fiscal or social policy balancing coming from Washington DC makes much sense to me. There have to be moderates who see validity in each others positions? Rather than the black and white collisions between the liberal Democrats and the conservative Republicans’ points of view, […]
RichC | December 14, 2014
A discussion between the host and guest on CNBC this week concluded that instead of saving college students money on their student loans that the government was using the repayments in other areas amounting to BILLIONS of dollars – ie. $19 billion for deficit reduction and Obamacare! It seems the take-over by the Federal Direct […]
RichC | September 6, 2014
A very telling graph discloses three things (see story in Fortune) : A college graduate will on average make $1 million more than a worker with a high school degree over the course of his lifetime … even though the cost of education has gone higher. Wages across the board, adjusted for inflation to 2013 […]
RichC | July 2, 2014
I’ve been doing some reading lately from those concerned about an uptick in inflation. Since many of the writers are the same people who have been warning for years about inflation, it is easy to take their analysis with a yawn and a bit of skepticism. Still, my commonsense indicator has also kicked in […]
RichC | April 30, 2014
Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs often offers some pretty solid commonsense advice that should be like the infamous NCIS Leroy Jethro Gibbs smack in the back of the head. I wonder how many asking Mike for advice ever bother to correct their mindset or change their actions when it comes to looking for work (or […]
RichC | February 23, 2014
Ocean and marine life preservation is a noble cause and something I’ve supported and have been part of since the 1970’s, but I’m not fond of sending misleading messages. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s ecommerce “shop” website is using an attention getting image (artwork) portraying a diver swimming face to face with a Great White […]
RichC | December 4, 2013
We are anxiously waiting to find out where Drew and Katelyn will be living next year, but more importantly … I suppose [grin] … which Hematology fellowship program my son-in-law will be in. After talking with him about each of the interviews, there are pluses for each medical program (of course he’s a positive guy). […]
RichC | July 31, 2013
My son Taylor shared a bunch of eighth grade exam questions and wondered if I thought today’s high school graduates could even pass this test. Not only were we shocked with what students from 1912 were expected to learn, we were doubly impressed that the test was from a county school in Kentucky (no offense […]
RichC | July 9, 2012
I’ve struggled with the “teachers are underpaid” debate arguing that we are often talking apples and oranges when comparing teachers, school district employees and management level administrators to the private sector. Those working in small businesses, corporations and the self-employed entrepreneurs make up the states private workforce and their taxes pay public sector and school […]
RichC | June 9, 2012
With the inflated sense of self showered on many American kids throughout their schooling, with the intent of building up their self-esteem, it is interesting to read a bit from Wellesley High School’s commencement address offering a more realistic message. It might bring a few graduates, and parents, back to the reality that exists in […]
RichC | August 23, 2011
Hopefully this will be the last year we’ll be paying for college expenses. This may make me a bit more in-tune to the high cost of college. Unfortunately for many students planning or going to college, the continual rise in tuition and living expenses has made it impossible without taking on significant debt. Some financial […]
RichC | September 9, 2010
Governor Christie does a pretty good job of justifying his budget cutting measures to a in New Jersey teacher when it comes to dealing with sharing the economic pain. His state (like many others) have taxed and spent their way into insolvency and has agreed to contracts that will strangle taxpayer unless something is done. […]
RichC | February 5, 2009
My daughter emailed me an article (also below) in the February 6th issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education which debates accelerated medical school programs. It caught her attention because one of the medical schools mention is Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine — NEOUCOM, her school. For the most part, the article does a […]
RichC | May 23, 2008
This past weekend my son and I went to freshman orientation at the University of Akron in preparation for his fall semester. The The full day started at 7:45 and ended at 4:30, but the time was well spent in that he’s registered for fall classes and nearly ready to start … and high school […]