“[E]ven after his two terms were over, when left-wing news sources sourly continued to portray his administration solely in terms of its faults, as nothing but a big deficit and the Iran-Contra scandal, I cannot remember Reagan ever ‘defending his legacy’ with anything more than a quip and a smile. Compare and contrast Clinton… ‘And […]
Archive for September, 2006
Sep29th2006
Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, shows how self interest goes much further than charity:
What human motivation leads to the most wonderful things getting done?
How about the charity and selflessness we’ve seen from people like Mother Teresa? What about the ceaseless and laudable work of organizations like the Red Cross, Habitat for […]
Sep29th2006
“From behind the benign facade and the tranquilizing smile, the real Bill Clinton emerged Sunday during Chris Wallace’s interview on Fox News Channel. There he was on live television, the man those who have worked for him have come to know — the angry, sarcastic, snarling, self-righteous, bombastic bully, roused to a fever pitch. The […]
Sep28th2006
Where Historians Often Go Wrong
Published by in (modern day) Liberalism, Academia and General. 0 CommentsHistorian Thomas C. Reeves gives us the details of a talk that Alan Charles Kors, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, gave on the often incorrect paradigm of historians:
Secondly, Kors contends, ideologically driven historians misunderstand reality. They “imagine that goodness, wisdom, order, justice, peace, freedom, legal equality, mutual forbearance, and kindness are the […]
Sep28th2006
Quote Of The Day
Published by in Economics, General, HealthCare, Hispanics (Minority Issues) and Immigration. 0 Comments“Now, let me zero in on #3. Because I think that health care is a major, major portion of why we spend so much time complaining about not being that much better off than we were in the 1970s. Contra “99″, health insurance hasn’t declined dramatically since 1973. Since 1987–the earliest year for which I […]
Sep27th2006
What Happens If A Company Pays Engineers The Same As Technicians
Published by in Books, Economics, Education, General and Unions. 2 CommentsWhat would happen if an engineering company decided to pay engineers the same as they pay technicians? You would get technician level engineers, that’s what would happen.
The same is true with regard to our public education. Because of unions, our public education system pays science teachers the same as english teachers, and given that science […]
Sep27th2006
“One of the variables James and I have included in our model is the educational attainment of teachers. The expected result is that where a high proportion of teachers have at least a master’s degree, teaching should be better and drop-outs fewer. After all, a large percentage of the master’s degrees earned by teachers are […]
Sep26th2006
When I lived in Compton it was common to hear horror stories of what went on at the city hospital, Martin Luther King Jr. hospital in Los Angeles. This was the go to hospital for families in Compton, Watts, and parts of LA, all areas with a very high concentration of gang violence. Many in […]
Sep26th2006
“When I talk to legislative groups, which is fairly frequently, I often claim that one reform that would improve K-12 schools significantly would be to make it a felony for a principal or school superintendent to knowingly hire a graduate of a college of education. Everyone laughs, and I am not entirely serious, but the […]
Sep25th2006
Global Poverty Is Not What It Used To Be
Published by in Capitalism, Economics, General and Poverty. 4 CommentsHans Rosling, a Swedish professor on international health and economic development, did a presentation on global poverty. Along with great visuals, the presentation is both an uplifting and shocking view of how global poverty has changed and what it now looks like at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
It is a must see: Click […]
Sep25th2006
“Altogether, spending on all elementary and secondary education topped more than $500 billion in 2003-04, or about 4.7 percent of the entire economy as measured by GDP. The U.S. spends more on K-12 education than the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, or Sweden spends on everything”. –Dan Lips, an Education Analyst at the Heritage Foundation
Sep23rd2006
“It is staggering that anyone could be so self-infatuated as to single out their own particular policy preferences as “anti-war.” Anyone who is not a sadist or an idiot is anti-war. The only serious issue is how best to limit, deter or conclude war. But responsibility for confronting this issue is evaded by those preoccupied […]
Sep22nd2006
Will the Problem Fix Itself? by Stephen J. Trejo
Published by in General, Hispanics (Minority Issues) and Immigration. 1 CommentStephen J. Trejo gave the final response on the Cato Unbound discussion Mexicans In America. I quote his article in full:
Given how hard it seems to forge a political consensus over what to do about Mexican immigration, I find some comfort in the indications that immigration flows from Mexico to the United States could decrease […]
Sep22nd2006
“It’s true that the middle class is shrinking — but that’s because more families are better off. The share of prime-age adults in households with real incomes above $100,000 rose by 13.1 percentage points from 1979 to 2004. The share of households making less than $75,000 dropped by 14 percent”.–Stephen Rose at the American Prospect
Sep21st2006
Tie Up NAFTA’s Loose Ends by Douglas S. Massey
Published by in General, Hispanics (Minority Issues) and Immigration. 1 CommentContinuing the discussion at Cato Unbound on Mexicans In America, Douglas S. Massey responded to Victor Davis Hanson article. Here is a teaser of what he wrote,
It is clear to me that repressive immigration policies toward Mexico have failed at great cost to taxpayers and that a different approach is called for. I believe that […]
Sep21st2006
“I think part of the problem is that nominal inequality is confused with material inequality—differences in material living conditions. But while nominal inequality is increasing, material inequality continues to decrease. As market competition pushes prices down, goods at the bottom of the price range more and more closely approximate goods at the top of […]
