Prez Obama cares about STEM so much he just threw $240m of other people's money at it

Some $240m from the private sector will be spent on boosting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in America, President Obama said on Monday. The President said the spending will hopefully increase diversity in STEM fields and improve educational programs in underrepresented communities. Of that nine- …

[Lars]

Stupid title

Should Obama spend only his own money on STEM and what about the army.

The USA does indeed need to spend more on education like any country.

[Jason Hindle]

Re: Stupid title

Indeed. It isn't even other people's money. It's the government's money. Once the tax has been deducted from my wage, the money is no longer mine. Same happens when I buy nice things (though obviously, buying nice things feels nicer than paying tax :-D).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Stupid title "Government money"

"Government's money"? Wow! That is why the US is going the route of Greece and Venezuela. Even the sheep think that once they give the money to the government they should have no further say in how it is spent. The politicians act as if they own the money. The tax payer acts as if the politicians own the money... So, the politicians should be able to do whatever they want with it... and they do.

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."

Look in history to see what blind faith in your god the government gets you.

[Jason Hindle]

Re: Stupid title "Government money"

""Government's money"? Wow! That is why the US is going the route of Greece and Venezuela. Even the sheep think that once they give the money to the government they should have no further say in how it is spent. "

You do get a say in how it is spent. It's called an election. We elect them, and have some reasonable expectation they'll do a good enough job.

"Look in history to see what blind faith in your god the government gets you."

I merely describe the world as it is. You appear to be confusing fact with opinion.

[tom dial]

Re: Stupid title

I realize that some government functionaries recognize no practical difference, but the article stated "$240m from the private sector", so the apparent intent is to omit the bothersome "tax and", going straight to the "spend".

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: Stupid title

Once the tax has been deducted from my wage, the money is no longer mine.

Arguably it's never "your money" in the first place. We have a money-based economy because we have a collective agreement to treat money as a proxy for value. That agreement persists only because we live in a functional state.

There are examples of "bottom-up" money operating in what are essentially anarchic conditions - for example in Somalia, where a large segment of the populace revalued the notes issued by the last functional government and agreed to treat them as valid tokens of exchange. But that doesn't scale; it's certainly not going to fly in international markets, where the best you can hope for is to have specie valued for its substance.

In short, we have money because we pay taxes, not in spite of paying taxes. And thus the government can't "take our money" because the money all always already belonged to the state as a collective.

Yeah, I know that's not going to be a popular view. Downvote away.

[Billl]

Re: Stupid title

Naive much? In the United States Education is "owned" by the states, not the Federal Gov. Ever since the Feds got into the education business, diversity has suffered (I mean diversity of thought, not necessarily skin color). The money that Obama is "giving" is not budgeted for, and is being stolen from future generations. The fact that the government thinks they are spending their own money, and not their employers money (tax payers) is why the US is in such debt.

Before you drone on about military, roads, etc... Of course the Feds should collect taxes on a limited scale, for such activities as defense (which includes immigration), interstate commerce (which includes roads), and those things explicitly outlined in the US Constitution.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: Stupid title

I mean diversity of thought, not necessarily skin color

You mean the "diversity of thought" promoted by the disproportionate buying power of the Texas Board of Education, for example? With diversity like that, who needs prejudice?

[Swarthy]

Re: Stupid title

The USA does indeed need to spend more on education

Not really, The US spends more per child on education than just about any other country. It just spends the money badly.

#1 in spending, #40-something in education, I think the US is still ahead of most impoverished 3rd-world countries.

[Craigness]

It's not about STEM

He doesn't care about STEM, he cares about "diversity". But he doesn't care about diversity in street sweeping because you don't win votes by encouraging women to do dirty work in unsafe or uncomfortable environments. And he doesn't care about diversity in rap or social work, because there are no votes in making black culture "inclusive" or in challenging women's dominance in any area. What he really cares about is being sexist and racist towards men and white people, because that's what the influencers call for and anyone else is a "troll".

Degree courses where women are >70%: Health, Public administration, Education, Psychology.

Degree courses where men are > 70%: Computer science, Engineering.

Degree courses which are being made "diverse": Computer science, Engineering.

Which countries have "diversity" in STEM? Those where women have fewer options. If you let women choose not to be scientists, they do so. Be fine with that, like we're fine with men choosing not to be psychologists.

http://imgur.com/5XqyNwz,avzUR7V,wASaasz,eKsY7ik,2djbM1S,cQ7wlgB,bwJxZ4E,EoziThx,VLAzpE6#8

[Tom Maddox]

Re: It's not about STEM

The point that you conveniently omit is that professions which tend to be mostly occupied by women are paid less and carry less prestige than professions which are mostly occupied by men. The push to diversity is in the interest of convincing women and minorities that they can, in fact, have careers in field which are traditionally dominated by white men and, indeed, convincing white men of the same thing.

[Britt Johnston]

evidence of ability

The STEM jobs are the ones which are most likely found by peer recognition and a good network, and least rely on formal training.

A good start might be to decriminalise an effective hack (see yesterday's news), then maybe to organise hackathons with some social aim.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just bribe money

While the U.S. needs to spend more on education, this money is just bribe money to keep the unscrupulous elected in office after Dumb Bama is booted out. It theory it sounds good but in reality it's a drop in the bucket. We have schools with leaking roofs, no school supplies, environmental health issues and yet this money is earmarked to pursuade woman to pursue careers in science. It's obscene to ignore the real issues in the U.S. education system and toss money at programs which will do little if any good towards actually improving the U.S. education system.

[slim_scsi]

What would you prefer the government spends money on? Fracking? Increasing tax loopholes for wealthy investors with top economists on the company dole searching for escape pods to paying into the system?

[Anonymous Coward]

I would prefer the government stop spending on stupidities like this. If we went back to the spending levels under Clinton, we would be running surpluses and paying down the debt. I don't recall people expiring in the street in any great numbers under Clinton.

[fishman]

It's all BS

All this talk about STEM, the STEM shortage, etc. is a bunch of BS used to justify increases in the H1B program so companies can hire cheaper foreign labor and treat them like near slaves.

[lowwall]

It's not my money

"Some $240m from the private sector will be spent on boosting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in America, President Obama said on Monday."

See the words "private sector"? The title implies, and several of the commenters above state, that this is about US taxpayer money. It's not.

What we have here is a typical White House (not just this administration, all administrations do this) bit of PR fluff that's not actually news. But El Reg recognized the clickbait potential and the "I hate Obama/Government/H-1B"-tards did their usual job of rising blindly to the bait.

[Billl]

Re: It's not my money

Good points, but don't forget the $25M of tax payer money mentioned in the body of the article. I'm sure this money has nothing to do with STEM, but it's still money that the Feds don't have to spend.

[thx1138v2]

Once you understand The Plan everything Obama does becomes clear and even predictable. The only thing not yet complete in the to do list at the bottom right is the last item.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-pod-1934-cartoon-pic,0,7114709.photo

[Anonymous Coward]

Um...

...our money?

[Billl]

Re: Um...

There is mention of $25M of taxpayer money, which is not much, but is still taxpayer money and should not be ignored. The Feds should stay out of the education business and the dept of education should be abolished.