February 2009 Volume 16 Number 2
- McCullough Presses for Restructured Workers' Comp System
- February 01, 2009
- By Patrick B. McGuigan
Efforts to reform Oklahoma's costly workers' compensation system were made in 1992, 1994, 1997, 2001, and 2005. All were well-intended, yet all those measures retained the fundamental litigation-oriented bias of that system.
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- Content and Character
- February 01, 2009
By Patrick B. McGuigan
An Oklahoma City educator reflects on education, sports, and President Barack Obama.In a recent interview, Oklahoma City educator Tracy McDaniel reflected on his feelings and emotions as he watched the first black American president take the oath of office on January 20. McDaniel told me, "Pat, I'm 52 years old. After it was all over, I walked away from the Mall in Washington. For the first time in my life, I no longer felt inferior."
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- Young Obama Used Scholarship to Attend Private School
- February 01, 2009
The Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) is a philanthropic organization providing partial tuition assistance for low-income families to send their children to private schools.
According to the folks at CSF, "One of the most exciting outcomes of the Obama presidency for us is his unique position as a role model for so many children helped by our scholarships (and many more like them across the nation).
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- Bernie Madoff and Government Failure
- February 01, 2009
- By Scott A. Beaulier and Joshua C. Hall
There is no question that fraud is undesirable. It increases uncertainty in the marketplace, it erodes wealth, and it ruins lives. The recent news of investors being duped by Bernard Madoff's "Ponzi scheme"-to the tune of more than $50 billion-is sad and tragic. But the Madoff debacle is just the latest example of corporate scandal, and it has led to fresh cries from lawmakers for greater oversight and regulation of financial markets.
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- Bernie Madoff for Social Security Commissioner
- February 01, 2009
- The SEC needs to be abolished. It has repeatedly failed in its primary mission-investor protection-as has been all too evident in the world-record Madoff Ponzi scheme, while at the same time destroying the U.S. Initial Public Offering market, which is the engine of future economic growth. There are plenty of federal and state laws against financial fraud, which makes the SEC redundant at best. Read More >
- BMI Screening Smacks of Big Brother
- February 01, 2009
- By Sheldon Richman
Should Oklahoma's state-run schools monitor kids' body mass index (BMI)? Even if BMI were a reliable guide to health and even if the program is to be voluntary, as its sponsor insists, the answer is surely no.
To understand why, we must look at the full context.
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- How Many Oklahomans Does It Take to Fund One Government Job?
- February 01, 2009
- By J. Scott Moody and Wendy P. Warcholik
It takes 16 Oklahomans in the private sector to fund one Oklahoma state government job.
In 2007 there were 83,709 state government workers in Oklahoma earning a total of $3,759,351,000-or an average of $44,910 per job. As a result, it would take a total of 1,339,344 private-sector jobs to fund Oklahoma's state bureaucracy-slightly more people than were employed in the private sector in 2007 (1,290,594).1
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- State Government's Overhead Overload
- February 01, 2009
- By Brandon Dutcher
"My sister-in-law came to visit me last week from her new home in Silver Spring, Maryland," World magazine essayist Andrée Seu wrote in November. "When the economy threatened, she left a good job in the private sector in Florida for the greater security of a job with the Department of Veterans Affairs."
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- OCPA President Hopper Smith Steps Down
- February 01, 2009
- On January 15 Hopper Smith resigned his position as OCPA president to pursue other interests. He will, however, continue to participate with OCPA as a valuable member of the organization. Read More >
- On Responsibility
- February 01, 2009
- By Brett A. Magbee
It seems there is a new national call for a "culture of responsibility." The implication, of course, is that our people haven't been very responsible lately. Well, as with every generality there are exceptions. With this one I believe the exceptions are most profound.
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