“We want to grow our own new businesses in Indianola, and Simpson College is home to an entire group of potential entrepreneurs who we hope will find support for their efforts here and some day choose to locate their businesses here,” [Jerry Kelly, former Indianola mayor and executive director of the city’s development association] said. ‘What … Read More
With public schools under attack everywhere, a inspiring victory came out of Wisconsin last week. The American Federation for Children (AFC), a pro school privatization group funded by billionaires from Michigan and millionaires from several other states, entered a slate of candidates in Democratic primaries for the state Assembly and Senate. The battle was joined when … Read More
On this, the 20th anniversary of the opening of the first charter school, kudzu comes to mind. In the 1930s the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) paid farmers $8 per acre to plant this Japanese vine whose deep root structure helps reduce erosion and enrich a depleted soil. Farmers planted more than 1.2 million acres. Twenty years … Read More
Still one more empirical study finds that privatization costs taxpayers dearly. This time the issue is school bus transportation. In a new report, Runaway Spending: Private Contractors Increase the Cost of School Student Transportation Services in Pennsylvania the Keystone Research Center concludes, “Contracting out substantially increases state spending on transportation services. We estimate that if all … Read More
Step across the county line in Thomas County, Georgia and you will be in Florida. Its county seat, Thomasville, has been chosen as a one of the best places to retire. Thomasville’s website is filled with pics of grand white pillared porches, rose gardens, and long winding paths lined with graceful oaks. It strikes me as … Read More
This is the giving season and we Americans are prodigious givers. Nearly two thirds of us donate to charities each year. This year we will send more than $225 billion to charities. More than a quarter of this giving will occur in December. Those are the bare facts. But this year, when the stark divide between … Read More
“Unlike the public sector, the private sector is bred for efficiency. Left to its own devices, it will always find the means to provide services faster, cheaper, and more effectively than will governments,” said James Jay Carafano. I suspect the vast majority of Americans would agree with Mr. Carafano. They probably consider the statement self-evident. The facts, however, lead to the opposite conclusion. When not handicapped by regulations designed to subsidize the private sector, the public sector often provides services faster, cheaper and more effectively.… Read More
Business Forum: Teaching People to Think – Badly by David Morris Originally published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 25, 2004 In 1998, with much fanfare, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis formally launched its “Economic Literacy” initiative. As President Gary Stern explained: “Economic literacy is crucial because it is a measure of whether people understand … Read More
Would Republicans Destroy Even Good Government Programs? by David Morris November 21, 1995 When President Clinton assumed office he promised to reinvent government by making it smaller, more efficient and more responsive. Washington skeptics laughed. Undaunted, Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore set about their task. And although they would be the first to admit … Read More
