School Choice: Now You See It Now You Don’t

So, the United States isn’t doing so well educating our kids:

Scores from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment to be released Tuesday show 15-year-old students in the U.S. performing about average in reading and science, and below average in math. Out of 34 countries, the U.S. ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math.

And, on top of delivering horrible results, we’re spending more money than ever while watching our performance lag:

…with the exception of Switzerland, the United States spends more than any other country on education, an average of $91,700 per student between the ages of six and fifteen.

That’s not only more than other countries spend but it is also more than better achieving countries spend – the United States spends a third more than Finland, a country that consistently ranks near the top in science, reading, and math testing.

This isn’t new.  We’ve known this for a long time now.  And, just as long as we’ve been watching spending go up and achievement go down, we’ve been debating how to change one or both of those trajectories.  And of all those debates, few have been more contentious than all the others.  That subject?  That topic?

Choice.

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Shock And Awe

Prepare yourselves for the Shock and Awe Obama style that is certain to come this week.

Prepare yourself for a message and bombardment of populist bullshit the likes you haven’t seen in a long time.

High gas prices.

Election season right around the corner.

A fading President.

All perfect ingredients.

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United States and Medical Care: We’re #1

Of course we are.  No one really REALLY thinks that we’re not.

Some people, like those crazy guys that just moved in down the block, they DO think other parts of the world rank better.

Well, given the peculiarity of the health care market, and the fact that all other industrialized countries have a much less expensive, much more effective, it seems that too much government involvement is not the problem with our current health care system.

The problem is, of course, that it’s just not true.

Now, to be sure, there ARE studies that show the United States coming in some other place than first, but I don’t think the measurement system is really one that can be trusted to measure medical care delivery.  Afterall, they’re measuring things not really associated with medical care:

Mean Minimum Maximum
Health 25 20 40
Health Inequalities 30 20 30
Responsiveness Level 12.5 5 15
Responsiveness Distribution 12.5 5
Fair Financing 25 15 35

To be sure, some of these are fair measurements.  Others, however, not so much.  For example, Fair Financing.  This metric doesn’t speak to the quality of care, simply the amount of income to purchase it.  Others again, fail to measure the qualify of care given.  They simply measure distribution of said care.  Without a doubt the inclusion of such characteristics may be acceptable from your POLITICAL position, but it in no way measures the quality of care being delivered.

But really, the point I wanna make is this.  The world comes here for care.  We don’t go there.

In the past five years, would-be parents from as far as Istanbul and Uruguay have turned to healthy, young American mothers to serve as surrogates, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The babies are born U.S. citizens, but surrogacy agency officials say that’s not a primary motivation for the parents, who typically come from European and Latin American countries where surrogacy is illegal or socially unacceptable. The parents have exhausted other options and are willing to pay about $50,000 to $100,000 — part of which goes to the surrogate — to have biological children.

The world, having exhausted all other options, are willing t pay money to come to America to take advantage of our medical delivery services.

So, is the fact that people are willing, and ABLE mind you, to pay $50-$100k for a procedure, impacting the amount of money spent in American health care costs by the way, a good thing or a dirty rotten example of how America just sucks at all things medical care related?

Yeah.  That’s what I thought too.

The Cost of Flying Just Went Up – Thank Government

Thanks to the United States Government, the cost of flying from here to there is about to go up.

Why?

Economics.

Just as sure as you can’t change the laws of physics, you are unable to change the laws of economics.

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On Birthers and Birth Certificates

I tend to think that this birth certificate nonsense is a waste of time.  I’m sure that Obama is a citizen and that he was born in Hawaii.  Further, if he DID present his long form certificate, the right wing-nuts would go crazy trying to prove that IT was a fake and a forgery.

It will be hard to put this whole thing to rest.

Heck, people still think we didn’t land on the moon.

But it certainly is fun.  So let’s see:

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I Hate Earth Day

I find it nauseating to be lectured by those on the Left regarding MY religion while they legislate theirs.

Oh The Shame

I’m a mutt.  I have parents that German and Swedish.  I can’t make the case that my whole heritage is contained within the Nordic states, but it can be said that half of me is.

Further, I’m from Minnesota.  A state dominated by Swedes, Fins, Norwegians and the like.  It’s who we are, don’tcha know?

And I’m proud that part of who I am has been chosen to represent the state’s football team.  Who wouldn’t?

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Oh To Be Young Again

The benefits of youth!  See, when you’re young, there is no foul-you’re young!  Only be becoming old do you gain the sufficient life knowledge to enable you to see things differently.

There is a certain truth in the old quote:

If you aren’t Liberal in your 20’s, you have no heart.  If you aren’t conservative in your 40’s, you have no head.

With all that said, college kids get it, they just can’t believe it.

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The Logical End

I am shamelessly lifting this AWESOME cartoon from Mr. Mitchell, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.

Obama Wants To Sell GM

If you needed further proof that the whole GM bailout thing was anything but political, you can check out the most recent news from Washington:

The U.S. government plans to sell a significant share of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. this summer…

On one hand, that’s great news.  The less productive assets we have in the hands of the government, the better off those productive assets are.

On the other hand, it’s kind’of a bummer.

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