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Bidens Fourth-Grade Economics - Steyn
Since 1970, public-school employment has increased ten times faster than public-school enrollment. In 2008, the United States spent more per student on K12 education than any other developed nation except Switzerland and at least the Swiss have something to show for it. In 2008, York City School District spent $12,691 per pupil or about a third more than the Swiss. Slovakias total per-student cost is less than York Citys current per-student deficit and the Slovak kids beat the United States at mathematics, which may explain why their budget arithmetic still has a passing acquaintanceship with reality. As in so many other areas of American life, the problem is not the lack of money but the fact that so much of the money is utterly wasted.But thats no reason not to waste even more! So the president spent last week touring around in his weaponized Canadian bus telling Americans that Republicans were blocking plans to put teachers back in the classroom. Well, where are they now? Not every schoolmarm is down at the Occupy Wall Street drum circle, is she? No, indeed. And in that respect York City is a most instructive example: Five years ago (the most recent breakdown I have), the district had 440 teachers but 295 administrative and support staff. If youre thinking that sounds a little out of whack, that just shows what a dummy you are: For every three teachers we put back in the classroom, we need to hire two bureaucrats to put back in the bureaucracy to fill in the paperwork to access the federal funds to put teachers back in the classroom. One day it will be three educrats for every two teachers, and the system will operate even more effectively. Its just about possible to foresee, say, Iceland or Ireland getting its spending under control. But, when a nation of 300 million people presumes to determine grade-school hiring and almost everything else through an ever more centralized bureaucracy, youre setting yourself up for waste on a scale unknown to history. For example, under the Obama stimulus, U.S. taxpayers gave a $529 million loan guarantee to the company Fisker to build their Karma electric car. At a factory in Finland. If youre wondering how giving half a billion dollars to a Finnish factory stimulates the U.S. economy, well, whats a lousy half-bil in a multi-trillion-dollar sinkhole? Besides, in the 2009 global rankings, Finnish schoolkids placed sixth in math, third in reading, and second in science, while suffering under the burden of a per-student budget half that of York City. By comparison, America placed 17th in reading, 23rd in science, and 31st in math. So the good news is that, by using U.S.-government money to fund a factory in Finland, Fisker may be able to hire workers smart enough to figure out how to build an unwanted electric car that doesnt lose its entire U.S.-taxpayer investment. In a sane world, Joe Bidens remarks would be greeted by derisive laughter, even by fourth graders. Certainly by Finnish fourth graders. Posted by: Beavis 2011-10-23 |
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