Free Republic

The Snyder administration's preliminary pick for a contractor to do a study on whether Michigan spends an “adequate” amount on public schools has a long history of coming to the same conclusion on similar questions: “Not adequate." The company’s 12 most recent state studies have all concluded that spending on public schools should be increased. The record includes a 2013 report which found "inadequate" school spending by the District of Columbia, which year after year spends more per student than all (or nearly all) the 50 states. Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative Republicans committed to buying what is known in...

President Ronald Reagan is invoked incessantly by conservative commentators and politicians, but never more so than when the subject is taxes. And so it was when Donald Trump released his plan for tax reform. Several conservative commentators have done Trump a favor (and the public a disservice) by vouching for the legitimacy of the plan and saying it is very much in the Reagan tradition. That gives Trump far too much credit. His tax plan bears a superficial resemblance to Reagan’s agenda, but Reagan would never have proposed something so transparently infeasible. Reagan is invoked too casually on taxes both...

He’s identified a bloc of culturally conservative voters who are to the left of the Republican Party on economics. But is it enough to win the nomination? A new Pew poll on the Republican race says several useful things about Donald Trump. For example: He’s still solidly ahead of the field in the race for the Republican nomination. The poll has Trump at 25 percent, followed by Ben Carson at 16, Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina at 8, and Ted Cruz at 6. Jeb Bush, meanwhile, has taken a beating—sliding out of the top five, only a bit ahead of...

Cutting taxes is great, but as I said, it must be done alongside genuine spending restraint — meaning serious changes to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are consuming an ever-growing share of the budget. Doing one without the other would just kick the can farther down the road, an exercise that politicians are very good at. The good news for the candidates is that a plan to cut spending isn't that hard — on paper, at least. Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell calculated that we could balance the budget by 2021 by capping spending growth at...

n August, Michigan public school teacher Stephanie Keiles became a folk hero when she went public with her story about why she was quitting her job. Keiles had spent nine years as a teacher in Plymouth-Canton Community Schools when she announced in an online essay that she was leaving the profession. The Michigan Education Association promoted her story as did prominent national websites, including The Washington Post and Huffington Post. A Michigan newspaper columnist recited Keiles' claims as if they were the gospel truth as an example of how teachers are not respected. National public schools advocate Diane Ravitch even...

Unions are trying to cut a deal with business groups to prevent a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage law, according to a news account out of Lansing. The idea is that business groups would use their influence on Republican lawmakers to halt a repeal measure that is likely to succeed in exchange for the unions dropping a proposed ballot initiative to nearly double the state’s main business tax. Michigan 50-year-old prevailing wage law prohibits the state, local governments and public schools from awarding construction contracts to the lowest bidder unless the contractor agrees to pay union-scale wages on the...

Emmet County is a vacation and retirement hot spot known for its scenic beauty. If you ask residents what needs fixing, as one recent survey did, they list preserving the area’s natural resources, creating a broader job base, and maintaining the roads. But the Emmet County commissioners appear to have other priorities, high among them borrowing and spending at least $15 million to replace a functioning nonprofit ambulance service and building an observatory for stargazing. Leaders of the commissioners’ own political party are among those expressing concern. “They think they don’t have to be accountable to the public. They think...

he past few days, the Internet has been filled with commentary on whether the National Science Foundation should have paid for my study on duck genitalia, and 88.7 percent of respondents to a Fox news online poll agreed that studying duck genitalia is wasteful government spending. The commentary supporting and decrying the study continues to grow. As the lead investigator in this research, I would like to weigh in on the controversy and offer some insights into the process of research funding by the NSF. My research on bird genitalia was originally funded in 2005, during the Bush administration. Thus...

“Every judge costs taxpayers $450,000 annually,” says Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is planning to introduce legislation this fall to save money by reducing the number of judges. “That includes everything,” Jones says of the $450,000 figure, “including the cost of the judge’s office. Obviously money goes to waste when some courts’ workloads are too small.” Jones' legislation would execute recent recommendations from the State Court Administrative Office to reduce the total number of Michigan judgeships by six. This is on top of the 45 judgeships the administrative office recommended cutting in 2011...

Michigan Democrats and a new ballot initiative campaign are promoting tax hikes to pay for road repairs. The union-funded Citizens for Fair Taxes is collecting signatures to place on the ballot an increase in the state’s corporate income tax from 6 percent to 11 percent. That would reportedly generate an extra $900 million a year, which the measure earmarks to roads. If the campaign gets the required number signatures, the measure would be placed before state legislators, and if they did not pass it (a virtual certainty) it would then go on the 2016 statewide ballot. Democrats are also pitching...

Complete Headline: Mitch McConnell Gives Fiscal Conservatives The BIG MIDDLE FINGER – Announces Plans To “Work With” Obama On Budget…. In the unlikely event you can’t hear the sound of the Rhinoceros marching on bubble wrap directly behind you, it might be worth while getting a firmer grip on both your ankles [Snip] […] The Kentucky Republican said he would work with the White House to come up with budget levels to keep the government open past Sept. 30, conceding that President Barack Obama won’t sign a measure with a rider defunding Planned Parenthood.

We recently spoke with Dr. Claudette Lajam, NYU Hospitals for Joint Diseases, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, as well as Adult Reconstruction and Joint Replacement Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center. She does pediatric, assisted in the lauded robot knee-replacement procedure, affiliates with Cornell Medical and the Alpha Award Club, and hosts Sirius Radio, Monday evenings. These will do for a start. Lajam was speaking on “The Myth of Choice” to the NY County Republican Women’s Club. We stayed afterwards to schmooze and exchange views on reproductive topics and related hot-button topics. “Choice” means more than pregnancy termination....

In the four Michigan budgets approved by a Republican-controlled Legislature under Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, revenues at the Dexter Community Schools have moved in line with many public school districts throughout the state: The Washtenaw County district gets more state dollars now than it did under Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s last budget in 2010-11, even though it now serves fewer students than four years ago. However, Dexter Community Schools Superintendent Chris Timmis says his district isn’t experiencing any real spending increase. Timmis calls the total of $1.8 million extra the district has collected from the state in those four years a...

It may have escaped the attention of Baltimoreans but things have gotten a little testy in the New York-New Jersey area in recent weeks over the state of century-old rail tunnels running under the Hudson River. The deteriorating condition of the tunnels is threatening Amtrak and other rail service, but how to pay for a $14 billion-plus replacement has proven a challenge. Unfortunately, that's not just a problem for New York City but for Baltimore and other stops along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, the nation's most heavily traveled railway handling more than 750,000 passengers a day. The stations in Baltimore and...

Though "schools are underfunded" is a popular belief, per-pupil funding in Michigan has increased substantially over the past 20 years. Even so, the current state budget includes a $500,000 line item for an “adequacy study" that could lead to even more school spending. The declared purpose of the study is to determine how much taxpayers must spend for public schools to educate students sufficiently well to meet state graduation requirements, presumably with no substantive changes to the status quo system. The study expenditure was authorized as part of a legislative deal last December to get Democratic legislators to support the...

Did you see what just happened? The devaluation of the yuan by China triggered the largest one day drop for that currency in the modern era. This caused other global currencies to crash relative to the U.S. dollar, the price of oil hit a six year low, and stock markets all over the world were rattled. The Dow fell 212 points on Tuesday, and Apple stock plummeted another 5 percent. As we hurtle toward the absolutely critical months of September and October, the unraveling of the global financial system is beginning to accelerate. At this point, it is not...

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton will unveil a $350 billion plan aimed at making higher education more affordable at an appearance in New Hampshire Monday. The proposal centers on a $200 billion federal incentive system aimed at encouraging states to expand their investments in higher education and cut student costs. States that guarantee so-called "no-loan" tuition at four-year public schools and free tuition at community colleges will be eligible to receive federal funds.

Medicare at 50--Still Flawed, After All These Years ST. PAUL, Minn.—This Thursday, Medicare will mark a milestone—50 years since it was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 30, 1965. Designed as part of LBJ’s “Great Society” initiative, Medicare was intended to provide low-cost hospitalization and medical insurance for the nation’s elderly. But the program has been in crisis for years and needs an escape plan, not a rescue plan, says Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org), a national organization dedicated to preserving patient-centered health care and protecting patient and...

Some controversy is swirling around the new Vikings Stadium, as some are saying the project could be millions of dollars over budget. One member of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority is speaking out on the issue and facing opposition from other members. Duane Benson has served as the MSFA treasurer since the group's inception back in 2012, however, he is preparing to leave the group in light of recent turmoil and says the $1.1 billion project's finances are anything but in order at the moment. As the groundbreaking project continues to break the bank, Benson says there is a problem--perhaps...

Goose Creek resident Kelly Schuler said he was earning a six-figure income in corporate sales when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and after his symptoms became apparent and he lost his job, Social Security Disability Insurance payments became his financial lifeline. Now he finds himself among the 11 million Americans who could see their monthly checks slashed by 19 percent next year, unless federal lawmakers address a looming shortfall in the Social Security fund that pays disability benefits. The main Social Security fund that pays retiree and survivor benefits is not expected to run short for another two decades,...