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0 pointsesalman5mo ago0 comments

You cannot truly make anything locally these days. We had decades of free trade. It will take decades to roll back. And you will lose all the benefit that came with it.

Even if we pretend the policies are well-intentioned, it takes decades of investment to make the infrastructure and workforce ready to produce things locally at scale. With policies like the dismantling of department of education, I do not see any initiative being taken to prepare the workforce for the future.

Let's face it, tariffs are a disaster. The increased prices, hurt American businesses, caused job loss, and increased waste and bloat. The administration created a problem (tariff induced inflation), now they are selling the solution by rolling back tariffs to bring prices down. Anybody older than 8 years know this was the same playbook in previous administration. And they know their base is gullible eough to fall for it. It's just unfortunate that hacker news audience in included in there as well.

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WalterBright5mo ago

> With policies like the dismantling of department of education, I do not see any initiative being taken to prepare the workforce for the future.

The DOE was created by Carter, and there is no evidence in the last 45 years of it having any positive effect on education in the US.

esalmanOP5mo ago

Your argument is so baseless that even a template AI response can refute it.

Yes, the DoE has been planting decade-scale workforce seeds since the Carter years—mostly via STEM/CTE programs that outlive administrations. Core idea: build adaptable skills (problem-solving, digital literacy, work-based learning) so kids & adults can pivot when AI/climate/whatever nukes today’s jobs.

*Carter-era kickoff* - 1979: Science and Engineering Education Act (Carter signs) → first federal push for pre-college STEM pipelines. NSF/DoE joint grants still fund teacher training 45 yrs later.

*Reagan/Bush I* - 1983 A Nation at Risk → DoE launches magnet schools & AP incentives. Many still running.

*Clinton* - 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act → seed money for apprenticeships. morphed into Perkins.

*Bush II* - 2006 Perkins IV → “programs of study” with stackable credentials. Still the backbone of high-school CTE.

*Obama* - 2010 Race to the Top → $4B for state STEM/CTE alignment. - 2014 Computer Science for All → CS now in 70% of HS nationwide.

*Biden* - 2022 YOU Belong in STEM + 2025 DOL/DoE joint admin of WIOA/Perkins → less red tape, more training $.

*Impact numbers* - Perkins V: 8M HS students/yr in CTE; 1.3M postsecondary. - WIOA adult ed: 1.5M/yr gain credentials. - Meta-analyses show STEM exposure → +0.2σ critical thinking, +15% lifetime earnings.

*Caveats* - Funding is ~$16B/yr total—peanuts vs GDP. - 2025 DoE staff cuts (≈50%) threaten oversight. - Europe still laps us on apprenticeships (3-yr paid tracks vs US 6-month internships).

Bottom line: DoE’s been playing the long game since disco. The programs work, but they’re chronically underpowered and politically fragile.

WalterBright5mo ago

Test scores haven't improved since 1980. Funding programs is not an accomplishment.

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samtheprogram5mo ago

Indeed, it's directly contributed to burgeoning administrative costs in universities through the Federal Student Loan program, and related the devaluing of college degrees.

It's probably helped in some aspects too, but the student debt crisis was created by the DOE. And most everyone can agree that college costs have ballooned in the US while the value of the degrees have decreased.

It's a perfect example of the worst of both worlds of government guarantees in a capitalist society, like Amtrak and US health care. It eliminates many aspects of competition and blurs incentives while remaining in a economy where decisions are profit-driven.

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