Todd G. Simpson

It strikes me that the Republicrats (the Democrats and the Republicans) form an unfair monopoly.  While antitrust law is typically associated with corporations, it could, conceivably also be applied to government (the FTC is an independent government body). Triggering the antitrust laws typically means that you have a monopoly (hard to argue against that for the Republicrats) and that you abuse that position.  It has become abundantly clear over the last year that both parties are abusing their positions by focusing all of their energies on "win at any cost" as opposed to "do something for the country."  This is also why they can be considered a single entity (for the purposes of a monopoly)...they are not really two parties; just one inward facing machine. Unfortunately, it appears that there will not be any real third party, yet again, in the next election....so there is no motivation for either party to change their behavior.   It also appears that you ...

It was interesting, although not a surprise, to  read that some Chinese students fake their applications in order to get into USA Universities.  I expect that the second half of this story is that many Universities turn a blind eye to the practice (or, to be fair, don't have strong ways to identify cheaters) because foreign students pay premiums to attend, and this makes up an increasing amount of University revenue.  The following was reported in September: California has reduced funding for the university system by $650 million this year .....most dramatic shifts have taken place at some of the UC system’s more popular campuses, such as UC-Berkeley, where out-of-state residents and international students make up 30 percent of this year’s freshman class, up from 23 percent last year. The negatives (beyond the moral aspects of cheating) are: 1) The overall quality of students decreases, as a higher percentage of unqualified students are accepted. 2) The education...