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Spinning the Polls
By: John R. Graham
6.30.2009
Perhaps humbled by its shellacking for hosting and broadcasting the Obama-infomercial on Wednesday, ABC and its collaborators at the Washington Post put a very different spin on a health-reform poll that has essentially the same results as the New York Times' one a few days ago. While the Gray Lady promoted the notion that the American people are ga-ga for a so-called "public option" for health insurance (actually a swamp of new federal bureaucracies, if Sen. Kennedy's bill is any indication), the WaPo/ABC folks are close to pushing the panic button on the plan for a government take-over:
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Robert Reich on Public Option
By: John R. Graham
6.26.2009
President Obama and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, whose biographies indicate zero experience in the private, wealth-producing sector of society, believe that they can launch a new "public" health plan to "compete" against the private sector. They claim that this will keep private insurers "honest." It's an interesting position for a President who also claims that he is not interested in running a car company. Imagine if he proposed a new Government Motors, in order to keep Toyota and Honda honest! What's so unique about health insurance, that it needs government "competition," an idea repellent in other areas of American life?
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Perpetual Myth
By: Thomas Tanton
6.16.2009
The recent suggestion by some in the Legislature to raise taxes on in state oil production has resurrected, almost Phoenix like, the myth that California gives oil companies a free ride. Writing in the LA Times, Michael Hiltzik writes "The most persistent misconception about Californians is that we hate to raise taxes. The truth is that we adore raising taxes -- as long as someone else is paying, that is." That part is mostly true. Hiltzik counteracts that perception with the 'persistent misconception' that California gives oil companies a free ride on oil production. "The 2006 defeat of Proposition 87, which would have steered the tax proceeds to alternative fuel programs, preserved California's status as the only one of the 22 major oil states to give the industry a free ride. And we're the third-biggest producer in the country."
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Energy Pathways? Let’s Take A Closer Look
By: Thomas Tanton
6.16.2009
California is grappling with a $24.3 billion deficit, record unemployment, and disastrous foreclosure rates. In these conditions, Energy Pathways for the California Economy, a new study sent out last week by Next10, examines the economic impacts of different energy strategies for California. Along the way it manages to sidestep some key questions.
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Arne Gets One Right
By: Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D
6.16.2009
California has already received more than $5 billion in federal education bailout funds, compliments of the American taxpayer. Another $2 billion is on its way this fall. Last month during a visit to San Francisco, Education Secretary Arne Duncan asked whether California was going to lead the way or retreat in K-12 education reform. Duncan was referring to the $4.35 billion in "Race to the Top" state incentive funding for groundbreaking reforms, including data collection about teacher performance and preparation.
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Why I Expect Serious Stagflation
By: Carol Aregger
6.15.2009
When doing interviews for my new book on the Great Depression, a natural question comes up: will the present crisis turn out as bad as the 1930s? My standard answer is typical for an economist: "yes and no." On the one hand, there were very specific reasons that unemployment broke 25 percent in 1933, and we don't have those factors in place today. So I don't think the official unemployment rate will get anywhere near that catastrophic level, though it could very well come in at the #2 spot in US economic history.
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Want Better Teachers? Improve Working Conditions
By: Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D
6.8.2009
A recent report warns that more than half of veteran teachers nationwide (1.7 million) will retire in the next decade. New teachers won't fill the gap because a growing number leave the profession within five years. In places like San Diego, critical teacher shortages could be just two to three years away. But until public schools improve the professional working environments for teachers, don't expect to attract-much less retain-top talent. While unions and other groups purporting to represent teachers have focused on such things as class size, sick days, and collective bargaining agreements, little has changed since 1983 when A Nation at Risk concluded that the "professional working life of teachers is on the whole unacceptable."
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