South Carolina is one of the few states where school choice supporters have been working to pass a great education tax credit program that’s broad-based and well-structured (please excuse me if I sound like a cattle-breeder or wine-taster).

Senator Jim DeMint has been a real champion of choice for SC and the country, and he has a great new video promoting education tax credits (brought to you  by South Carolinians for Responsible Government, the guys in the trenches for good policy there).

The lead-in hits it perfectly; school choice is about self government, and public education means an educated public, not government-run schools.

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Here’s a new mini-documentary from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, narrated by Natasha Montague of Americans for Tax Reform, that explains why the process of tax competition is a critical constraint on the propensity of governments to over-tax and over-spend.

The issue is very simple. When labor and capital have the ability to escape bad policy by moving across borders, politicians are more likely to realize that it is foolish to impose high tax rates. And they oftentimes compete for jobs and investment by lowering tax rates. This virtuous form of rivalry helps explain why so many nations in recent years have lowered tax rates and adopted simple and fair flat tax systems.

Another great feature of the video is the series of quotes from winners of the Nobel Prize. These economists all recognize competition between governments is just as desirable as competition between banks, pet stores, and supermarkets.

The video also discusses how politicians are attacking tax competition. It mentions a privacy-eroding scheme concocted by governors to tax out-of-state purchases (how dare consumers buy online and avoid state sales tax!).

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Today, in 1961, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President.

Cross-Posts listed at: TobyToons.com (Conservative Political Cartoons)

(Amazingly intricate and complicated photo/map courtesy of Peer1.)

Public school teachers are at the forefront of protests against state budget cuts and restrictions on collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ohio, and elsewhere.

Teachers have a lot to lose. According to Department of Education statistics, in 2007-2008 (the latest year available), full-time public school teachers across the country made an average of $53,230 in “total school-year and summer earned income.” That compares favorably to the $39,690 that private school teachers pulled down.

And when it comes to retirement benefits, public school teachers do better than average too.According to EducationNext, government employer contribute the equivalent of 14.6 percent of salary to retirement benefits for public school teachers. That compares to 10.4 for private-sector professionals.

Those levels of compensation help explain why per-pupil school costs have risen substantially over the past 50 years. In 1960-61, public schools spent $2,769 per student, a figure that now totals over $10,000 in real, inflation-adjusted dollars. Among the things that threefold-plus increase in spending has purchased are more teachers per student. In 1960, the student-teacher ratio in public schools was 25.8; it’s now at a historic low of 15.

Among the things all that money hasn’t bought? Parental satisfaction, for one. Despite public teachers’ much-higher salaries, parents with school-age children in public schools report substantially lower satisfaction rates than parents with children in private schools. In 2007, the percentage of parents with children in assigned public schools who were “very satisfied” with the institution was 52 percent. For parents whose children attended public schools of choice, that figure rose to 62 percent. Parents sending their children to private schools, whether religious or non-sectarian, were “very satisfied” 79 percent of the time.

It’s little wonder that parents with little or no choice report the lowest-levels of satisfaction (about 90 percent of K-12 students attend public schools). Despite all the extra resources devoted to public school teachers and students, student achievement has been absolutely flat over the past 40 years. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is “the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas.” When it comes to 17-year-old students (effectively, high-school seniors), nothing has changed since reporting began in the early 1970s. In 1971, 17-year-old students averaged 285 points (out of 500) in reading. In 2008, that had risen to 286. For math in 1973, the average score was 304 (out of 500). In 2008, it was 306.

Public school teachers make about $14,000 a year more in straight salary than private school teachers; when you add in benefits, the gap widens even more. They teach fewer students than ever before and taxpayers at all levels spend increasing amounts of money on education. Yet for all that, the best you can say is that we’re spending more than three times as much money as we were 40 years ago for exactly the same outcomes.

The National Governors Association says that states are looking at $175 billion in shortfalls over the next two years. Local governments are in the red too. As legislators look for places to cut or reduce spending, there’s no question that public school teachers have a lot to lose in terms of compensation.

And there’s no question that, even if there were no budget emergencies, the nation’s public school system is failing to return much of anything on an ever-growing pile of tax dollars.

“To Surly, With Love” was written and produced by Nick Gillespie and Meredith Bragg. Go toReason.tv for downloadable versions of all our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Like a cowardly cockroach scrambling out of the light, presumably Leftist elementary school teacher Jack Senzig of Racine, Wisconsin’s Gifford Elementary School evidently deleted his political hate blog now that it’s been exposed. His school blog, which directed others to his political blog, is now marked private.

Presumably he could still provide a password to his students, so we don’t consider the issue resolved. Given the distasteful nature of his political blog, there is now no way of telling what he may be posting at his home blog in full view of his young students if he opts to provide them the password.

Furthermore, as already pointed out, initially, he didn’t seem the least bit concerned about sharing his ugly political hate speech with elementary school students, parents and colleagues at Gifford Elementary - until it began making news.

Unfortunately for Senzig, we have full screen caps of the blog.

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Wisconsin, like my home state of Illinois, is facing a serious budget crisis. Unlike Illinois, Wisconsin has a bold chief executive in Governor Scott Walker willing and able to confront a crisis with straight talk and serious solutions. Meanwhile, 14 Democratic Senators from Wisconsin have been enjoying some of Chicago’s fine dining and playing hide and seek all across our fine state. While most other states in the union are tackling public employee pensions, cutting taxes and razing roadblocks to prosperity, Illinois remains the last bastion of fiscal foolishness as legislators – from not only Wisconsin but Indiana and Ohio – cross our border to avoid responsibility back home.  Interestingly, Illinois has lost taxpayers, employers and jobs to each of these surrounding states for years.  In return, Illinois is gaining big government legislators unwilling or unable to confront reality. This is what is referred to in international policy as a “trade imbalance.”

This week I was a guest on Chicago Tonight to discuss the Wisconsin budget crisis and standoff that has made national headlines over the past month. Bob Edgar, president and CEO of Common Cause joined me on the panel.

The debate in Wisconsin distills and highlights two crucial issues that weren’t fully fleshed out during this segment: the involvement of money in politics and the new class warfare. Common Cause, Mr. Edgar’s organization, is a highly vocal critic of political activists and philanthropists David and Charles Koch. The brothers have invested millions over the years in various charities and public policy organizations. They believe in certain causes (as do most people) and invest in them to educate and empower people in the democratic process. Billionaire George Soros and wealthy liberals fund Common Cause and other like-minded groups and they, too, have the right to do this in our wonderful democracy. There is plenty of money on both sides of the political spectrum. There is an important difference, however, between free market activism and groups like Common Cause: the latter seeks change not by choice, but change by coercion.

The Wisconsin debate also brings into focus the new class warfare, one we’re seeing right here in Illinois. On one side of the issue are the public employee unions that advocate for unaccountable, unsustainable government. On the other, hardworking taxpayers who subsidize these public employees’ lavish compensation and pension packages. Too often what’s lost in these discussions is that for every public employee complaining about having to forgo a raise or pay a little bit more for their health care benefits, there are thousands of private sector workers who haven’t had raises in years, have always paid much more than public sector workers for their health care benefits, and whose hard work and wages pay for government. It is time for someone to advocate for taxpayers at the negotiating table.

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Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) voted for the two-week continuing resolution this week even though his amendment to defund Planned Parenthood was dropped from the bill in a compromise with Senate Democrats. But now he’s put his foot down: It’s time to end taxpayer funding for abortions and defund Obamacare as well.

“The time to put our fiscal house in order is now,” Pence said this morning on the House floor. “No more delays. No more kicking the cans. Let’s have the debate. Let’s hash it out. Let’s defund Obamacare. Let’s defund Planned Parenthood.”

Only six House Republicans voted against the two-week spending plan, which President Obama signed into law yesterday. Two of them were Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Steve King (R-Iowa), who cast their votes against the measure because it did not defund Obamacare or Planned Parenthood.

But if Pence joins the fight in the next round, he could bring a substantial following with him. As former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee and member of Republican leadership last year, he has the influence to persuade other members of Congress.

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From Wisconsin State Journal:

Senate Republicans Thursday ordered the arrest of their 14 Democratic colleagues, who fled the state two weeks ago to avoid a vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget repair bill.

It’s unclear whether the resolution to force the senators back to the Capitol is constitutional. The state Constitution prohibits the arrest of legislators while in session unless they’re suspected of committing felonies, treason or breach of the peace.

Democrats say the Republicans have overreached, and have consulted an attorney for an opinion on whether the GOP actions are legal.

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When Americans voted in Barack Obama in 2008, they thought they were getting a “post-racial,” “post-partisan” President.  For Barack Obama himself had declared that having merely won the Democratic nomination, “the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”  What Americans didn’t realize however was that Barack Obama was only to be President for certain subsets of the population; this new era of good feeling was only to be for those of a select few classes, races and ethnicities.  This was to be a world in which all of the old injustices would be righted not by tolerance for all, but with intolerance for the presumed intolerant, with the vengeful Barack Obama correcting past wrongs with his redistributive justice.

And so in America today if you are black, a union member, Muslim, Hispanic, gay and/or profligate you can expect preferential treatment from this administration.  For most everyone else, tough luck.  I know of no other way to interpret the pattern of the words and actions of this President and his cronies.  We need not judge Obama on the Bill Ayers, Edward Said/Rashid Khalidi and Jeremiah Wright influences.  The true instincts of this administration show quite clearly in its deafening silence on so many true injustices, only to be outdone by its knee-jerk reactions to issues either not germane to it, or on which it consistently sides against the majority of Americans.

Witness the fact that the President cannot help but interject when it comes to the actions of a white cop in Cambridge, a mosque being built by Islamic supremacists near Ground Zero, a Governor trying to return his state to fiscal sanity by taking on an obfuscatory union or the evil fat cats trying to make their undeserved profits, nor can Eric Holder admit that perhaps even the word “jihad” exists, let alone that the nightstick-wielding Black Panthers in Philadelphia were anything more than “inappropriate,” though they threatened the citizenry in the very way that his “people” were threatened decades ago.  The notion of the keeper of justice defending above all his “people” poses a challenge to Justice Sotomayor’s wise Latina women quip in the volumes it speaks with regard to the “soft” bigotry of this administration.

This administration does not represent the people, but only the narrow majority which elected it, save for a handful of Independents they have thrown under the bus along the way.  But as Lenin said, “if you want to make an omelet, you have to be willing to break a few eggs.”

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In order to get new union contracts signed, of course. From Fox6 News:

Before protesters stormed the capitol, the mayor of the city of Madison tried to pull a fast one. The governor’s budget repair bill was on the fast track, and Madison Mayor Dave Ciesliewicz was racing against the clock to pass new union contracts first.

E-mails obtained by the FOX6 Investigators show that the mayor enlisted the help of State Senator Mark Miller. They both tried to convince the Secretary of State to hold up the bill by taking the maximum 10 days allowed by law before publishing the bill.

They were trying to buy some time so they could ratify new contracts to protect workers from benefit cuts. Citizens for Responsible Government Rep. Chris Kliesmet says, “This suggests, and this is a harsh word, collusion. There is collusion between some politicians and public sector employee unions. Period.”

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h/t the Underground Conservativeand Real Debate Wisconsin for bringing this to my attention via Twitter.

The teacher is Jack Senzig, music teacher at Gifford Elementary School. Senzig runs a blog for the Gifford choir as well as parents of choir members.

The quote and image below are from elementary school music teacher Jack Senzig’s political blog “WI The People.” Not content to spew his hate anonymously, Senzig acknowledges his identity and links the political blog from another blog - his home blog based upon his role as a music teacher and available to his young students.

Senzig’ home blog, “Jack Senzig’s Weblog,”  with the raw url of http://joinchoir.wordpress.com/ is based upon his work as choir director at the Gifford Elementary School in Racine, Wisconsin.

On February 20th Senzig used the blog to announce the cancellation of certain music activities and directed readers to his hate-filled political blog. No doubt the same union that continues to fight for the ability to compel membership and extort dues from every current, or future teacher in Wisconsin will now fight for the right of a Jack Senzig to expose Wisconsin elementary school students to violent, blood filled cartoons and accusations of rape against sitting Governor Scott Walker.

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Apparently, President Obama likes to ignore his advisors. Either that or some agencies in Washington missed the President’s speech when he said he wanted job creation to be his number one priority.

You see, one would think that, if the President really wanted to create jobs, he would listen to his economic advisors, like former National Economic Advisor Larry Summers, who wrote:

Another cause of long-term unemployment is unionization. High union wages that exceed the competitive market rate are likely to cause job losses in the unionized sector of the economy.

Presumably, the President realizes that unions cause long-term unemployment and, if his number one priority is job creation, one would think that he might consider sending a note over to the union-controlled National Labor Relations Board and tell them to stop trying to cripple companies. Especially since the NLRB has become the de-facto union organizing committee for union bosses and is intent on cramming unions down companies’ throats by any means necessary.

In addition, since the national debt is so high and cutting spending is allegedly a priority, one could also expect the President to tell his union-controlled NLRB to stop spending tax-payers’ money to advertise for unions.  Literally.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Andrew Malcolm to discuss the 2012 GOP field, the power of the hat, and more. Then Pejman Yousefzadeh talks about Newt Gingrich’s bid for President.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

For political leaders like Moammar Kadafi, ruling power is really all about The Hat
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Malcolm: Top of the Ticket
Newt Gingrich Set to Throw His Hat in the Ring to be 2012 Republican Nominee for President
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“If there are doctors and teachers doing that sort of thing, abusing the system, that’s outrageous.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Governor, you are absolutely correct. Sadly, it’s not a question of “if”, but rather, HOW MANY?

Dr. Adam B. is one of twelve Wisconsin doctors who have been accused of or have admitted to such actions. How do I know? Not only did he sign his name and medical license number to a form which allowed me to miss the work week of 2/21 to 2/25, he even helped me come up with a sickness and explained why I wouldn’t get in trouble. There was one problem: I used a false name, birth date and willingly acknowledged I wasn’t sick. He didn’t care about the truth, however. He had a political agenda.

I am not an investigative journalist in the mold of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. It’s just not my thing. I don’t even own a camera…

So how did I end up on the corner of Mifflin and Hamilton playing the role of an elementary school custodian looking to join the “sick” teachers in protest?

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Who runs our government? It may be hard to tell when looking at Wisconsin and Indiana. But, in New Jersey, the state’s SEIU firefighters’ union, New Jersey State Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association (FMBA), President Bill Lavin appears to think that forced-unionism power has given him complete control over New Jersey firefighters on and off the job.

New Jersey State Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association (FMBA) President Bill Lavin "DO NOT EXPECT HELP FROM THE FMBA EVER AGAIN IF YOU DON'T ATTEND THIS RALLY"

“DO NOT EXPECT HELP FROM THE FMBA EVER AGAIN IF YOU DON’T ATTEND THIS RALLY!!!”

Ocean City Fire and Rescue Services Captain James P. Smith sent, at taxpayer expense, the verified e-mail below demanding that firefighters attend a union political rally on Thursday, March 3rd at 11:00 a.m. His e-mail manifests the tyrannical power that monopoly bargaining power over government employees creates for union bosses:

The legislators in Wisconsin have left their State because they support their working class. We need to show our legislators that we care about our benefits. If we don’t show up, why the hell should they care about our benefits? A paltry turnout does not help President Lavin to stand up as our leader. If our numbers are small then the legislators will chuckle at us.

This rally is MANDATORY for all members. To quote President Lavin “I expect EVERYONE of our members to be in attendance. The only excuse is that you are on duty in the firehouse or that you’re in the hospital!!! Your second job is not a valid excuse!!!”

President Lavin was strong in his message “YOU SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED IF YOU DO NOT ATTEND” and he was adamant when he stated “DO NOT EXPECT HELP FROM THE FMBA EVER AGAIN IF YOU DON’T ATTEND THIS RALLY!!!”

Allow me to repeat how strong President Lavin feels about your attendance at this rally next Thursday. … “DO NOT EXPECT HELP FROM THE FMBA EVER AGAIN IF YOU DON’T ATTEND THIS RALLY!!!”

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Administration officials estimate that securtiy costs for the first two weeks of the protests could be as high as five milliion dollars.

Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch announced that figure when testifying in a court hearing Wednesday. Union leaders have gone to court to force the state to remove the securitiy measures put in place this week.

The $5 million figure is for the period before enhanced security measures were established this week–measures that have been of little help to lawmakers like Senator Grothman, who speaks from experience when talking about the unruliness of the protesters.

Wow, a lot has happened on March 3rd. We’re going with this: Today, in 1924, the 1,400+ year Islamic Caliphate came to an end. (Really, they had dined out on that algebra thing a bit too long.) God Bless Kemal Ataturk.