GA... it is no surprise that you oppose education, clearly you got little to none yourself...

How do I oppose education, education no, propaganda yes and what would
an education ever be needed for in a argument with a liberal?

dude whats your real point?

Sounds like you have been peeking at Obama's speech notes.

Or are you arguing that the school building itself is a public good, but the opportunity to actually attend class inside the building and get an education not a public good?

I will, building good keep head dry, liberal teacher bad keep head stupid.

The worst case natural disaster, Katrina, killed 1,836 people.

Worst case natural disaster is the comet or meteor impact that kills us all. It's about as likely as dying in an airplane crash

Anyway, there are also some more likely cases that would be worse than a category three storm hitting New Orleans. An 8.5 earthquake in LA? And I'm guessing you are focused on disasters that happen in a few hours, but climate change could bring about much much worse cases.

And I'd recommend ditching the comparison of how many U.S. deaths equals a Chinese death. If you are living in some of these Chinese cities where 75% of the people died, it is totally frickin irrelevant that the millions of people living thousands of miles away on the coast just so happen to be governed by the same government. Not to mention that while some mother is sleeping outside tonight realizing that her husband and kids are almost certainly dead we're sitting at our computers eating fruit loops arguing about which is the numerator and which is the denominator in our pointless arbitrary equation.

And that, I suspect, is a big reason why schools in China fall down. Because the kids' parents didn't vote for the people who make spending decisions and they can't vote them out.

Don't we have a dept. of Health, Education and Welfare that is part of the executive branch?

Actually, no. HEW ceased to exist in 1979 when it was divided into HHS and Dept of Ed.

Infrastructure like schools are public goods while health insurance is a private good.

Public goods are those where "consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce the amount of the good available for consumption by others;

OK...schools/education is a "public good" and consumption of the good by one does not reduce the amount available for others, this is your point.

There are a limited number of spaces for incoming freshmen in the University of California (or any other public university) system. If I am admitted, somebody else is not getting in. There are only so many slots. How then is education a public good that cannot be reduced by my burning up one of the limited openings?

A 4.0 GPA no longer automatically gets you in to UC, so I assure you that this "public good" is used up by some and therefore not available to others...

Or are you arguing that the school building itself is a public good, but the opportunity to actually attend class inside the building and get an education not a public good?

Who defines what "public/private goods" means? You?

No, they have longstanding meanings. Public goods are those where "consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce the amount of the good available for consumption by others; and no one can be effectively excluded from using that good." Private goods are the opposite.

That's not what public/private goods means.

Who defines what "public/private goods" means? You?

So far your responses on this matter have a semantic value of zero.

Our military has socialized medicine, is the health care of our troops not a matter of public good. It is paid for by taxpayers, that sounds public.

You should consider not talking in sound bites. I hope you gave your students a better effort that this when you were teaching...

How is education a public matter and health care not?

That's not what public/private goods means.

And while we are on the subject ...

That's a good one anjin-san. If you can be counted on for anything it has to be staying on the subject.

Oh, please. Infrastructure like schools are public goods while health insurance is a private good.

Really? What stone tablet is that little bromide carved upon? Do you have an actual thought process to back this statement up with?

How is education a public matter and health care not? Don't we have a dept. of Health, Education and Welfare that is part of the executive branch?

Roughly half the homeless in this country are people who are mentally ill and receive inadequate or no health care. When they turn our sidewalks into toilets and shooting galleries that seems pretty public to me.

How many kids in this country die each year because of inadequate health care? I guess the GOP position is "Who cares? Let's talk about whats wrong in China">

Well if we value life so much, while other, bad countries don't, how come 40 million + Americans don't have health insurance?

Because liberals eat their weight in taxes every 3 hours.

How many American die each year due to inadequate care and failure to catch potentially lethal health problems in the early stages when they could be cured?

you mean like abortion?

Well if we value life so much, while other, bad countries don't, how come 40 million + Americans don't have health insurance?

Oh, please. Infrastructure like schools are public goods while health insurance is a private good.

As to health care, Americans either pay their own way, have their own insurance, or rely on the state. We've got Medicare and Medicaid to take care of the elderly and poor and mandate no-questions-asked emergent care. There are inefficiencies there, to be sure, but it's hardly the same thing.