Jay Gould, a 19th-century railroad tycoon and unrepentant rapscallion, said he was a Democrat when in Democratic districts and a Republican when in Republican districts but that he was always for the Erie Railroad. Gould, emblematic of Gilded Age rapaciousness, was called a robber baron. What should we call people whose defining constancy is that they are always for unionized public employees? Call them Democrats.
This week, when Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess, many Democrats, having gone an eternity -- more than a week -- without spending billions of their constituents' money, will try to make up for lost time by sending another $23 billion to states to prevent teachers from being laid off. The alternative to this "desperately" needed bailout, says Education Secretary Arne Duncan, is "catastrophe." Amazing. Just 16 months ago, in the stimulus legislation, Congress shoveled about $100 billion to education, including
While the nation remains preoccupied by the drama of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, which consumes an inordinate portion of time and attention in the media, a struggle of potentially greater consequence for most American families is taking place with far less publicity.
I am referring to the scenarios being enacted in legislatures across the land as the final strokes are being applied to state budgets and the fate of thousands of teachers and pupils is being decided.
As noted here more than once, the arguments over taxes and borrowing that have become louder and more pointed in Washington are nothing compared with the fiscal mayhem in capitals from Sacramento to Boston. State economies have barely begun to recover from the wreckage of the Great Recession. And since taxes are mostly collected retroactively, after individual incomes are earned and spent, it will be well into 2011
As noted here more than once, the arguments over taxes and borrowing that have become louder and more pointed in Washington are nothing compared with the fiscal mayhem in capitals from Sacramento to Boston. State economies have barely begun to recover from the wreckage of the Great Recession. And since taxes are mostly collected retroactively, after individual incomes are earned and spent, it will be well into 2011