November 2006 Volume 13 Number 11
- Oklahoma Needs Transparency Website
- November 01, 2006
- President Bush recently signed into law the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. This law creates an easy-to-use website that will allow citizens to track the recipients of all federal funds - "to Google their tax dollars," as President Bush memorably put it at the bill-signing ceremony. Every year the federal government dishes out nearly one tr... Read More >
- The Costs of American Education
- November 01, 2006
- More than 50 million children across America returned to school this fall, so now is a good time to consider how much we spend on public education and whether we're getting good value for that money. This big-picture view is disheartening. How much does K-12 public education in America cost? One way to answer that is to look at direct taxpayer expenditures ... Read More >
- Educrats Fudging on Performance Measures
- November 01, 2006
- Oklahoma leaders have no more important obligation than ensuring that schoolchildren receive a world-class education. A big part of that responsibility involves setting high educational standards. But when it comes to implementing the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the state is falling short. NCLB is often described as a one-size-fits-all federal m... Read More >
- Real Do-Gooders
- November 01, 2006
- If you wanted to become really rich, yet at the same time help your fellow man, what would you do? There is no contradiction. The answer is: start a business. You'll provide employment to others and also provide a new or improved good or service, or an existing good or service at a lower price. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, and hundreds of other thing... Read More >
- Antitrust for Government: Reform Through Competition
- November 01, 2006
- In a moment of apparent epiphany, Mario Cuomo is recorded as having said "It is not government's obligation to provide services, but to see they're provided." However sensible and straightforward this notion seems, it remains heresy in much of American public administration. The Indiana state government our crew inherited a year ago was still doggedly cooking it... Read More >
- 'Moral' Minimum Wage Increase Hurts Minorities
- November 01, 2006
- It is important to remind ourselves that a government-mandated minimum wage helps no one in the long run. Parents of high school students and advocates for the poor should be outraged at a proposed increase because it discourages employers from hiring teenagers and low-skilled minorities. A proposed hike in the federal minimum wage would increase the minimum wag... Read More >
- Inhofe Correct on Global Warming
- November 01, 2006
- U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) has been taking a lot of heat lately for his skeptical stance on global warming. He's been called a "social dinosaur" for his failure to accept the politically correct view. But in my opinion, Senator Inhofe is absolutely correct to be skeptical. As the Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot said, "skepticism is the first step t... Read More >
- Grow Up, Already: Resist Statism
- November 01, 2006
- A few months ago, I walked into a restaurant in Naples, Fla., and said "A non-smoking table for two, please." The greeter replied, "No problem. All restaurants in Florida are non-smoking by law. Follow me." For a brief moment as we walked to our table, I thought to myself, "Good. No chance of even a whiff of a cigarette. I like that!" And then I felt sham... Read More >
- Higher Education Has Been Oversold
- November 01, 2006
- It was the autumn of 1980 when it first occurred to me that higher education in America had been oversold. I was new to the college teaching ranks and didn't know just what to expect from students. A few days earlier, I had handed out copies of a chapter from a book that I wanted the students to read and be prepared to discuss. It was an eight-page assignment... Read More >
- National Newsmakers Drop In For a Visit; OCPA Continues Statewide Tour
- November 01, 2006
- You never know who you might see at the OCPA headquarters. Recently President George W. Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, stopped by for a visit. He spent the afternoon at our offices and upon departing called our headquarters "absolutely beautiful." Thanks, Karl! In addition, former OCPA trustee and current U.S. Senator Tom Coburn participated in an OCPA pres... Read More >
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