This chart compares K-12 education expenditures per pupil in each of the world’s major industrial powers. As we can see, with the exception of Switzerland, the United States spends more than any other country on education, an average of $91,700
How much more stimulus money is spent in swing districts? A lot. Using the data from Recovery.gov and data about swing districts, we see on the chart below that swing districts on average have reported spending $13.5 million more of
The debate agitating many in New Jersey right is whether or not the state’s Governor, Chris Christie, is actually doing much to reform the state as it needs to be. I have to say that I wasn’t impressed with him
That’s because when the entire country is hurting and the private sector continues to lose jobs, bureaucrats are being hired. The following chart makes that case. Since the beginning of the recession (roughly January 2008), some 7.9 million jobs were
Violent protests by public employees in Greece who are upset that they might have to give up their 13th and 14th months salary is the ultimate sign of dependency. The private sector behaved slightly better but still opposed the changes
During recessions, people lose their jobs,see their salaries reduced or frozen and find that life is harder than it used to be. Well, that’s if you work for the private sector. As I am mentioned here, since the beginning of
The Associated Press has a story this morning called “Unemployment challenges Obama’s economic narrative.” No kidding. I never get tired reminding stimulus advocates that before the stimulus bill was passed, the president scared the bejesus out of many people by
On Wednesday, I testified before the Congress about the biggest Rip-Off of the century. And I can’t say that anyone really cared. I was arguing that the deceptive accounting techniques used by the federal government–techniques that would send anyone to
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, it’s not happening. The Hill reports “Taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay roughly $3.9 billion more in taxes–in 2019 alone–due to healthcare reform, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation,
I received many emails on Friday and this weekend about the data published here showing that on average Democratic districts are getting almost twice the amount of stimulus money than Republican districts. Republican districts also received smaller awards on average.
Yesterday The Hill reported that Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that “keeping a Democratic majority in the House is ‘too important to the country,’” which is why “she had no intention of ceding control of the House in this fall’s elections,
Here is an idea: Greece is getting ready to sell some of its assets to pay for its gigantic debt (Corfu and the Parthenon are not on the auction block yet), and the US should do the same. According to
Based on the Recovery.gov data, more than two third of the 594,754.3 jobs “created or saved” with the stimulus funds were “created or saved” in the Department of Education (see chart). Basically, what the administration meant by shovel ready projects
Study this USA Today chart and cry: According to USA Today: “Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Based on this data , I am thinking that the good life starts the day one gets a job as an employee of your local Labor Union and in fact those overpaid financial sector people might want to change jobs!
Okay, I will admit that I am obsessed with this one particular truth: The stimulus bill and all the stops that the federal government pulled to save the economy and create jobs didn’t not help the private sector employees. On
Last week, the Huffington Post (here) was all over this new study showing that low-income workers got hit more severely during the recession than high-income workers (low-income workers suffer an over 30 percent unemployment rate, workers making about $138,000, only
Greece is in big troubles. Its economy is in bad shape, its debt is massive and its future is quite bleak. Interestingly, other European nations do not seem very eager to come to its rescue. The 27-country EU block, led
The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different outcomes. The different versions of the jobs bills circulating in Washington DC these days are perfect example of that point. See for
Wednesday, the Washington Post reported: “For months, economists and government watchdogs have warned that the job-creation reports should be taken with a heavy grain of salt. . . . Trying to count the number of jobs created or saved may
Think big. Gigantic. This is the latest from Charles Shumer, the Democrat from New York: When he found out that Adidas was planning to outsource manufacturing of NBA jerseys he “called on the league to terminate its contract with the
Well, it’s hard to choose these days. The resurgence of Keynesian economics shows how fragile and insecure economists are in general. They are, of course, important exceptions. But while I have a special dark place in my economist heart for
Because it wasn’t painful enough to know that the “stimulus” money is heavily used to pay for the union-inflated salaries of thousands of bureaucrats in the states, or paying for jobs in phantom districts, or even better, going to recipients
On Friday, in the name of holy transparency, the White House released the list of jobs created or saved with the stimulus funds. Now, let’s assume that the government can create jobs even though it can’t. Let’s assume that “job
We should be happy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a 3.5 percent growth in this year 3rd quarter. Yet, most of us aren’t. At least I know I am not. Why? Because I have no faith in the numbers.
As mentioned earlier (here ), the financial crisis was fueled by the government’s obsession with home ownership. Yet, last year the Bush administration decided that it was wise to continue to encourage people to buy houses that they couldn’t afford.
Charles Gasparino does a very nice job exposing Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and their advocates for the destructive forces that they are. Everyone, even Obama for a while, recognizes that at the heart of the financial markets meltdown was the
A year or two ago, only the most radical leftists would have dreamed that we’d be living in a country where the government owns a majority share in GM, bailed out private insurers, took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
Don Boudreaux of George Mason university had a great article in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday defending insider trading. “Prohibitions on insider trading prevent the market from adjusting as quickly as possible to changes in the demand for, and
In a surprising development, the Washington Post discovers that Congressmen make promises of funding in exchange for votes: “It takes a while for most start-up companies to gain the confidence of a U.S. congressman and the promise of federal funds.
While Nancy Pelosi is excited that health care reform is only going to cost us $900 billion over ten years, I wonder how we are going to get out of the current fiscal mess we’re in. Seriously. The GAO has