When President Barack Obama signed the latest bailout for spendthrift states and government unions, he claimed the $10 billion earmarked for education spending would save the jobs of 160,000 teachers. But as we pointed out before the bill was signed, this number was completely made up. Since local governments always exaggerate the number of government workers they will lay off, only a tiny fraction of teacher jobs was ever in real jeopardy. And even then, layoffs could have been avoided if teachers unions would have just agreed to pay freezes …
The House of Representatives rushed back to Washington yesterday in the middle of their six-week vacation to pass yet another bailout. This latest one, $26 billion in total, temporarily saves state governments that have overspent for years from fixing their chronic budget problems. The newest bailout spends $10 billion for education funding in the states. This money is on top of the $100 billion in education funding the states got from the stimulus. The remaining $16 billion will bailout states’ bankrupt Medicaid programs. Claims that this newest round of bailouts …
On July 21, when President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, he promised: “There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.” How long will this Obama promise last? Well, The New York Times reports today that “the Obama administration on Wednesday pumped $3 billion into programs intended to stop the unemployed from losing their homes,” including a program announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that “will draw on $1 billion authorized by the new financial overhaul law.” That’s right. The Dodd-Frank “no more taxpayer-funded bailouts …
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs did not give the White House daily press briefing yesterday. The stated excuse was a bad cough. But there was no mention of any flu-like symptoms when The Hill reported yesterday that Gibbs believes the “professional left” should be “drug tested” since they will only be satisfied “when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon.” After an outpouring of leftist protests over the article, including a call from Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) that he resign, Gibbs walked back his criticism, releasing …
Analysis: The House adjourned a week ago, but due to a last minute passage of additional bailout funding to states for being unable to manage their own finances, they will come back for another round of spending. On Tuesday, they are set to vote on the Senate amendment to H.R. 1586 that was originally a House FAA authorization bill replaced now with a $26.1 billion bailout that includes $10 billion to teachers’ salaries and $16.1 billion for extension of Federal Medicaid matching rates. The House will take up the measure on Tuesday as …
The taxpayer-funded, $10 billion public-education bailout moved one step closer to reality today when the Senate voted 61–38 on a cloture measure, clearing the path for bill consideration toward the end of the week. Since the House has already left for recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have to call members back for a vote, which she has promised to do. Do teachers need lawmakers to leave the beaches and head back to Washington? Not if we’re to believe reports from school districts about their summer hiring. Mike Antonucci of the …
Brace yourselves – America is about to fall into an “education catastrophe,” says Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. Up to 300,000 educational workers may receive pink slips this coming fall. The only solution is the same solution to all our other economic problems. Yes, you know the drill. It is time for another bailout, this time to save our education system. Last Sunday, President Obama wrote a letter to Congress urging members to provide $23 billion in relief to state and local governments to supposedly prevent the layoffs of thousands …
In perhaps President Obama’s most stealth campaign to date, the federal government has been slowly tightening its grip on the education sector to little fanfare. Rather than working through the democratic legislative process, this Administration has circumvented Congress to enact an ill-conceived education agenda that will weaken accountability, reduce transparency and minimize choice while only adding to the national deficit. For close to four decades, the federal government has operated under the seemingly simple premise that increased spending on education will translate into academic achievement. This line of thinking has resulted in …
The tragic events unfolding in Greece, where at least three people have died in political rioting protesting austerity measures being imposed as part of an EU and IMF financial bailout, is a vivid reminder of the danger when the line between government and commerce is blurred or destroyed. In a free market economy, individual firms rise and fall, individual banks succeed or fail, and individual employees prosper or struggle, depending on their own effort and ingenuity. Individual failure, while painful, is not a threat to society, and a well functioning …
It must not be easy being Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, these days. His latest task is to sell a skeptical Congress on the Obama Administration’s $90 billion bank tax with something of a convoluted snake oil sales pitch. He tried to make his argument to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. You see, Geithner explained, “Banks should bear the costs for bank failure,” and the tax is really a “too-big-to-fail tax” designed to recoup funds used to bail out banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Unfortunately for Geithner, that …
