Were Americans naive to believe...?

Education can help,

But what really leads to prosperity is being born to rich capitalists. Or at least marrying into a rich capitalist family.

We live in a capitalist society, thus it isn't what you know, it is who you know. Wealth and the ability to make lots of money is largely based on your "connections" and not your ability or intelligence.

If we lived in a socialist society, it would be about your ability. People would be paid what they were worth and would reap what they sow. But in our capitalist society, the rich owner/capitalist reaps what his workers sow. Thus, it only matters that you get into the capitalist class, and escape the worker class.

Unfortunately, capitalism is a members only club, and you are not invited.

The US ranks amid the top 5 for paying education, per child. What have we got for it? We rank in the 30s, globally. If that isn't proof that feeding a leech doesn't work, what more could there be? We can keep pumping money (that we don't have) into a broken system, expecting miracles to come from it, and continue down the road or change it? You can't do both.

Considering all the other nations we've had to bail out in recent years, I don't think we're doing too bad. No one bails us out.

Edit: I would simply end 90% of foreign aid and stop bailing other countries out, primarily those running social programs that aren't sustainable. We have the virtual classroom, private school vouchers, and a host of other education solutions that would not only actually benefit the children (who never get thought of in such discussions as these), but would reduce the costs considerably.

I feel sorry for anyone who must delve into the politics of another nation instead of their own, for no apparent reason than to simply incite.

Compassion for the unfortunate doesn't do the ultra-poor any good. In every situation a poor family is given 15 days worth of food, to last one month. All Americans pay immense taxes from our purchases, including the poor. It is righteous to give them structure and not insufficient groceries. Hopefully in ten years from now there will be a sharp decline in poverty.

Everytime I see two-head babies on the news, guess where they have come to get it fixed?

My uncle is a pediactric orthopedic surgeon that is part of a group that goes every year to do free surgery somewhere in the third world.

The list goes on and on. So how selective is your analysis exactly?

Do you some know of some better place on this planet to take a kids with cancer other than St. Jude's hospital? How much does the treatment cost their families and who pays for it? Those horrible Americans do in their hateful private capacity through donations.

Everything big gov says it's going to fix and get the power they want, they destroy, because the fix isn't in line with their real goals. Power comes from issues, fixing kills their issues, so they just milk it and hold it hostage as an issue.

The US was on top in Education until Jimmy Carter created the Dept of Education, now we suck ... well the Feds sucked the life out of Education. The government doesn't deal with those things for us, they do it for them.

i feel sorry for american people sometimes. they get judged as liberals or republicans when neither represent the average american. half of america are latinos anyway as if they give a hoot one way or the other. yet here we are judging all of america because of these power cabals

just an observation ..

An educated, compassionate population is what every country should aspire to ... if the zillions spent on war were spent on education, infrastructure, health etc ... the USA would be a safer, kinder place for everyone ... profits at the expense of others aren't everything ... !

No. Knowledge still brings considerable benefits to those who possess it, and compassion toward the less fortunate is still an admirable quality.

"America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” - Tocqueville

We aren't naive, we are no longer Good. We have thrown out our moral barometer and we are slowly eroding toward self destruction. The constitution was never setup for a non-believing unmoral people.

Liberals killed public education, congratulations.