Quote of the Day
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
General George S. Patton
Quote of Year 2011
I'm starting a new feature called the "Quote of the Year", which I'll repost on a periodic basis throughout the year.
I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution[: ]
taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 11/26/1798
Lame Duck Illinois Legislature Passes a 66% State Income Tax Increase: Thumbs DOWN!
The Illinois state income tax is a flat 3%. On literally the last day of the lame duck session, 60 all-Democratic state house members voted for a 66% rate increase (it's supposed to drop back to 3.75% after 4 years, but if I was an Illinois resident, I wouldn't count on it--because I expect, if anything, their financial woes will be worse). It beat the opposition by 3 votes--but here's the outrageous part: 10 of the yea votes were lame-duck Democrats. This is unconscionable: a lame-duck legislator should not be voting on something as seminal as a huge tax increase, taking that decision out of the hands of the new representative-elect. Businesses will also be hit with higher rates and a 2.5% personal property replacement tax will send cumulative tax rates to the third highest in the country (can I see a show of hands of how many people think Illinois can meet its revenue goals with anti-business growth measures?)
Technically, as I write this, the state senate hasn't yet voted tonight, but they needed to get 30 out of 37 Democratic state senators, which makes passage all but a done deal.
Congratulations to the NCAA Football Champion Auburn Tigers!
The Auburn Tigers defeated the Oregon Ducks 22-19 to win their first national title since 1957. But for many of us, one of the best moments was at halftime. I think we've all seen the surprise reunion script so many times on talk and news shows that if the family members assembled on the field didn't have a reunion with their returning Middle East tour military family members, the moment would have been anticlimactic.
As a former Air Force brat, I remember. My all-time favorite military family reunion video is this one; but I love the genuine emotional response etched on the face of the young girl unexpectedly seeing her father in the following video. (There is also a website which regularly posts videos of welcome home videos: click here.)
William McGurn: "A Tale of Two Democrats":
Thumbs Up, Cuomo! Thumbs Down, Quinn!
In an earlier post over the past week, I noted that Governor Pat Quinn (D-IL), whom barely beat his GOP opponent, had cut a deal with Democratic legislative majority leaders (the lead story above occurred during my update on this brief summary). What you are seeing is many progressive Democrats insisting to continue their pit bull grip on tax-and-spend policies, just like Washington state which tried to link income tax surcharges to the rich to socially popular spending (so long as the other guy is buying, why should we care?) Quinn is putting lipstick on a state legislative pig; it's the same same old. He can't see the forest for the trees: tax increases on both individuals and business have no economic impact. The problem is that the Democratic House over the past 8 years in Illinois spent in a manner which couldn't be sustained. All the usual gimmicks--raise taxes on cigarettes (yeah, let's freeload off all those iniquitous smokers...), increase gambling operations (as if voters haven't gambled enough already on spendthrift Democrats frittering away the people's money on frivolous, ineffectual programs...)
The last thing I expected to hear from Andrew Cuomo, New York's new Democratic governor, was that state and local governments had gotten too big, they needed to downsize and coalesce, property taxes will killing the average New Yorker, and younger people were looking for better economic prospects elsewhere. (My gosh, what has inspired him? Is he one of the few people reading my blog?) I suspect Jerry Brown on the West Coast may also at last realize that Big Government is intrinsically economically unsustainable...
Don't get me wrong; I understand that Andrew Cuomo continues to fight for gay marriage (not domestic partnerships). (Most experts believe about 10% of the American population is gay, and the 2000 Census Report estimated that the number of gay couple households at less than 1%, so clearly this issue is clearly worth the time and effort of government remedy...) I'm not sure he's willing to take on the public unions like he'll need to in order to get New York's fiscal house in order.
Many people seem to think that Democrats may be able to do what Republican want to do but lack sufficient political power, just like it took an anti-Communist President Nixon to reopen diplomatic channels with China. The fact that Illinois Democrats like Pat Quinn and Barack Obama pay little more than lip service to living within one's means proves that more fiscally responsible Democrats are the exception than than rule; when you hear only 19 Democrats failed to support Nancy Pelosi as Speaker/Minority Leader, we shouldn't see Andrew Cuomo as a philosophic convert. Maybe he's seen how well the people have responded to NJ Governor Chris Cristie has politically connected with a traditionally blue state ready to tackle tough issues head on.
Michelle Rhee: Students First: Thumbs UP!
My favorite education reformer, the former chancellor of the DC school system, is CEO of a new advocacy group called "Students First". She recently published a Wall Street Journal column called "In Budget Crises, an Opening for School Reform". I recommend reading the full article; I'll summarize in my own words: The article focuses on three key agenda items: (1) teacher administration reform; (2) education market reforms; and (3) education budget reforms. The first item focuses on the difficulty of reforming education without addressing, for instance, bureaucratic, union-supported constraints against firing poorly performing teachers or allowing merit/market-based compensation. The second item deals with providing real parental choice, not local public monopolies, and forcing local public schools to compete against, e.g., charter schools. The final item notes that given the reality of limited public income, it is more important than ever to address the long-term financial viability of our school systems, including moving away from unsustainable pension systems.
I saw an interesting clip of Megyn Kelly with Michelle Rhee (I couldn't find the video posted online), where among other things, Michelle talked about differing measures of teaching performance. She briefly talked about peer evaluations where, unsurprisingly, the teachers have a higher opinion of their own performance, regardless of the fact our students on with uncompetitive test scores. (It reminds me of unrealistic "fitness reports" or evaluations in the military where the "upper 1/5/10%" had a lopsided distribution, rather like a teacher giving a class mostly A's.)
She also explored the idea of students evaluating teachers. Now I personally have strong reservations about using student opinions (at least in the college context, which it de facto becomes the primary appraisal); I don't have problems with students choosing their own music, fashions, etc., but it's not like they're taking 6 different classes of introductory calculus and are rating which teacher they felt they learned more from. What inevitably happens is that some professors openly pander to students before the evaluations. For example, in my graduate cost accounting class, the professor mentioned literally seconds before evaluation forms were distributed that if they scored a 95 or better on the final exam, they would earn an A in class, regardless of prior class exam performance. A lot of students didn't think they had a chance to get an A given the formal course evaluation scheme, so they were ecstatic. (Of course, scoring a 95 was easier said than done...) I was earning my A the old-fashioned way; I liked the professor (in fact, he was teaching using his own textbook), but I considered his manipulative gimmick to be a breach of professional ethics. I felt as a fellow or professor, it was not my role to be one of the students; it was important to judge each student's effort strictly on his or her efforts. However, I do agree that students should be part of the equation, hopefully providing objective, constructive feedback. If a teacher is intimidating in a class or acts in an unprofessional manner, it can be counterproductive to student learning. (I deliberately sidestepped rude comments from students, didn't complain about having to answer the same question twice, and avoided directly criticizing students in front of their peers among other things.)
Fox News has posted a couple of other interviews with Michelle Rhee; the one I've embedded below is from the Fox News morning show, "Fox & Friends".
Musical Interlude: One-Hit Wonders/Instrumentals
Shawn Mullins, "Lullaby"
