April 2007 Volume 14 Number 4

The Beauty of Tax Cuts

April 01, 2007

In a recent "Wizard of Id" comic strip, the king informs his subjects, "I'm pleased to announce that I've balanced the budget." One subject then asks another, "What does that mean?" The all-too-true (and thus only mildly funny) response is: "He spent every dime we gave him." This is a dead-on accurate description of how the Oklahoma budget process works. The ... Read More >

Retribution and Reform

April 01, 2007

In December the FBI reported that for the second straight year violent crime was on the rise in the United States. At the same time that violent crime is increasing, several high-profile court cases have challenged the involvement of religious, specifically Christian, groups in the reform of criminals. In June, a federal judge in Iowa ruled that the reductio... Read More >

Teacher Unions Harm Public Education

April 01, 2007

If there was the slightest doubt that Steve Jobs is one of the most courageous men of our time, it was dispelled dramatically on February 16th. There he was at a high-profile education conference when, in what I believe was a spontaneous outburst, he decided to take on teacher unions. The Associated Press memorialized the moment, quoting Jobs as saying: "I b... Read More >

'All Kids' is All Wrong

April 01, 2007

Relaxing Medicaid?s eligibility requirements has caused program costs to explode and has diverted resources away from the people the program was created to serve. The ?All Kids Act??which is just another step toward universal, ;vernment-funded health insurance for all citizens?discourages personal responsibility and crowds out private health insurance. Oklahoma can ac... Read More >

Where the Twain Meet

April 01, 2007

Frosty Troy, the crusty former publisher of The Oklahoma Observer, takes an absolutist position on the use of public dollars in education: "Public schools, public dollars; private schools, private dollars; and never the twain shall meet." But as Mr. Troy probably knows, the twain meet all the time. News stories about Oklahoma's pre-kindergarten ... Read More >

GI Bill Proves That School Choice Works

April 01, 2007

As the movement for full school choice continues to make headway, the usual counter-arguments continue to be heard: separation of church and state, harm to the public schools, the dangers of for-profit school managers, and so on. But a large-scale voucher program answered these arguments long ago. It was the GI Bill. Actually, there have been f... Read More >

Games People Play

April 01, 2007

Most Oklahomans know very little and care even less about the State Board of Equalization. But when you consider the board's ability to affect state spending and to promote or hinder tax cuts, this is a group whose work deserves closer scrutiny. Here's who sits on the board: Governor Brad Henry, Lt. Governor Jari Askins, State Treasurer Scott Meacham, Attorne... Read More >

Survey Results Bad News for VLWK

April 01, 2007

In 1998 Hillary Clinton famously complained about the "vast right-wing conspiracy" that was out to get her sainted husband. But what Oklahomans should really be concerned about is what I call the "vast left-wing kleptocracy" (VLWK), the good-ole-boy system at 23rd and Lincoln wherein bureaucrats and taxpayer-funded special-interest groups take your money and use it to lobb... Read More >

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