In his Sunday column, “Welcome to the austerity years”, Gil Smart opines: “Obama’s Keynesian approach kicked the can down the road, hoping things improved. Austerity, on the other hand, voluntarily accepts crisis now in an attempt to avoid an even bigger one down the road.”
WATCHDOG: In better times, the Watchdog would offer to pay Smart’s tuition for a summer course in Elementary Economics at Penn or Harvard. Out of exasperation, he may yet do so!
The following is from Chapter 1, “The changing of the guard” from “When China Rules the World, The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order” by Martin Jacques, published in 2009:
“Prior to 1960, the West and Japan enjoyed a huge economic advantage over the rest of the world, which still remained largely agrarian in character, but since then a gamut of developing countries have closed the gap with the West, especially those in East Asia.
Several bills awaiting House action, which leaders said had support in both caucuses, will now have to start over next session, including pension reform, Megan’s Law reform, the independent fiscal office and a bill to allow self-defense with deadly weapons in cars and other places.
According to an article in the New York Times, “Keith Olbermann, the leading liberal voice on American television in the age of Obama, was suspended Friday after his employer, MSNBC, discovered he made campaign contributions to three Democrats last month… Most journalistic outlets discourage or directly prohibit campaign contributions by employees.”
From BLOOMBERG: Employment in the U.S. rose in October for the first time in five months, a sign businesses may be starting to gain confidence in the prospects for a faster pace of growth. Payrolls climbed 151,000, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of economists and following a revised 41,000 drop the prior month that was smaller than initially estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.
From the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: …That crisis, though smaller in scope, is not unlike what President Obama faced when he took power. The difference is, the state can’t run a deficit. Pennsylvania’s constitution requires the state to balance its books with taxes or budget cuts.
Here is a list of many social service organizations that are wholely or partially devoted to assisting the poor, the needy and often the addicted. They are chronically underfunded and, by and large, their dedicated, selfless, and highly competent employees are underpaid in comparison with workers in for-profit companies.
With 97.1% of the ballots counted, 53.8% voted against Proposition 19 which sought to tax, regulate and control the sale of legal marijuana use in California. 46.2% voted in favor.
A month ago, the California legislators decriminalize the use of Marijuana, the only punishment for its used now being a citation for as much as $100.
History will likely credit President Barack Obama with extraordinary prescience, wisdom and character for his performance during the initial two years of his term. Obama recognized from history that there would be no way to maintain the large House majority and meet the 60% Senate threshold to enact reform after the 2010 midterm elections.
Education reform is tough, complicated business. Read Ravitch’s earlier works for more cogent analysis. In those, she saw the value of reforms she’s now abandoned.
I’ve not watched Waiting for Superman because I can’t bring myself to see it. I’ve heard from too many who have and been emotionally devastated by its story.
Article “Not making the grade” is super headed “Unhappy parents pull honor students out of a Lancaster school. Officials say concerns about behavior have been addressed, hope demographic changes aren’t driving complaints.”
WATCHDOG: This article about the perennially challenged Wheatland Middle School is an excellent piece of balanced reporting. Unfortunately, the heading “hope demographic changes aren’t driving complaints” is not representative of the thrust of the article and comes across as though the SD of L is blaming the victims.
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: An article by Diane Ravitch entitled “The Myth of Charter Schools” virtually dissects the recently released documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’” and what remains on the lab table appears to be one huge piece of propaganda.
An editorial “Able replacement for inept Sturla” states “ Whether it’s a severance tax on natural gas extraction from Macellus shale deposits….Sturla would tax Pennsylvania out of its financial mess…”
This week, the Lancaster County Transportation Coordinating Committee learned that it would not get any of the $31,055,000 in TIGER II federal funds to pay for “improvements” to Harrisburg Pike.
A committee, The TIGER II Stakeholder Task Force, had picked five projects for the TIGER II application, pulled from the list of 32 projects in last year’s unsuccessful TIGER I application.