Governors Scuttle Medicaid Reform
Stateline.Org previews this weekend's meeting of the National Governor's Assocation. On the agenda: the fiscal wreck that is Medicaid. The Bush administration offered states flexibility in how they operate this state-federal program (currently, most changes require federal approval) in exchange for a cap on federal matching funds.

Some governors have embraced the plan, and others have not, meaning that Congress hasn't warmed up to it either. It's not necessarily a good plan. Then again, states haven't been terribly inventive or wise in how they've responded, either: cutting services, restricting eligibility, or lowering payments to physicians and others. (They are unwise responses because they typically mean that spending is simply increased in another area.)

The National Center for Policy Analysis has outlined a more creative, and useful proposal for getting a handle on Medicaid expenses, and improving patient care. It requires moving from a bureaucratic-centered to a patient-centered approach to finance and selecting services.
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State Employees: Be Happy You HAVE a Job!
A confrontation between the Pawlenty administration and state employees could mean that Minnesota's state employees go on strike. As part of the current budget, pay for state employees was frozen. Governor Pawlenty's team wants to reduce from 90 percent (!) to 85 percent the subsidy it gives for health insurance of employee's dependents.

A message for state employees:
Be happy you have insurance.
Be happy you have a job!

Now, get back to work.
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The Blackout and Regulation
Northwestern University professor Lynne Kiesling says that yesterday's blackout did not come out of the blue. Rather, it stems from underinvestment in the electric grid, which can be blamed, to some extent, on the partly-regulated, partly de-regulated nature of the electric utility industry.
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That's an Understatement
Corruption in Illinois politics is legendary--and it extends, in a bipartisan fashion, beyond the Democratic party machine in Chicago to the Republican party elsewhere in the state. And that is one reason why the Republican party is in the tank, electorally speaking.

Speaking of the scandal-ridden administration of fellow Republican and former governor George Ryan (he did not stand for re-election, and Democrats regained the governor's office for the first time in decades), a state lawmaker told the Daily Herald, ""We had a little problem with ethics in the last election."
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Mandatory Treatment, Jail, or Simply Running Around?
Police in a Milwaukee suburb jail a mentally ill woman for stealing a shoppping cart. A few days later, she was released, and an official with the sheriff's department said "Clearly, she does not belong in jail."

No, but she--from reading the news account--clearly belongs in some sort of mandatory treatment situation, either residential or outpatient. Her family has promised to get help to her, but as the Journal-Sentinel dryly notes, "Whether Strasser stays in that new home or avails herself of those services remains to be seen."

Well, no foolin.' She's mentally ill. How likely is it that she will seek services? Some of the mentally ill do, but many--being, after all, mentally ill--do not.

When policy went overboard in deinstitutionalization, it also stopped, practically, mandatory treatment. A few years ago, City Journal, a magazine based out of Manhattan (a city that has had its full of the mentally ill wandering its streets), said "We've tried mandatory treatment--and it works."
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And Now for Something Totally Unrelated to Policy
A Wisconsin boy, 9 years old, rides on an inner tube-like float behind the family boat--all the way to Michigan, two hours and 15 minutes away.

Ah, summer.
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Are Sales Taxes a Better form of Finance than Income Taxes?
Chip Taylor, who has some good information on tax policy, looks at tax collections data from Oregon and Tennessee. Oregon has an income tax but no sales tax; Tennessee has an income tax, but no income tax. Tennessee's state finances in the last few years have been less of a roller coaster, and more of a steady-eddy. Oregon, by contrast, saw its revenues (and of course, spending--new revenue doesn't go unspent for long) rise and fall more dramatically than was the case with Tenneessee. As Chip says, it's dangerous to infer policy from just two data points. But a sales tax-only approach can be justified on other grounds as well (it encourages production, for example). Nice to know that there may be a "good government" (after all, who likes wildly fluctuating budgets?) argument behind it as well.
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More Borrowing
The State of Illinois owes medical providers $850 million for Medicare services. The pharmacist's association is complaining that some pharmacies are waiting as long as four months before getting paid. Governor Blagojevich says that borrowing money to get out of this jam--something the state did in July 2002--is not desirable, but given low interest rates, he may want to do it anyway.

Illinois would not be the only state trying to deal with its spending hangover by borrowing. Stateline.org reports that state and local debt across the nation is up over 18 percent this year.

Some of the money being borrowed is for long-term capital projects, such as school buildings or roads. Other borrowing, however, is to cover up deficit spending--something that Moody's and other investment rating services don't like. Stateline notes that Illinois' plan to juice its returns on its pension fund by using borrowed money--taking a margin loan, essentially, is "one of the year's riskier bond transactions."
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Jesus is Just All Right with Sweet Home Alabama's Tax System--or is He?
ChipTaylor.Org reviews two studies of the proposed tax reform/tax hike in Alabama. Both agree that it will destroy some jobs; the difference between the two is what effect it will have on creating other jobs.

Sometimes, economic development suffers because there is not enough government spending--on things such as a judicial system, roads, and elementary education. But that's likely not the case in most places in this country.
By the way, it's worthwhile to think through the ways that a socially-desirable good may be provided. Since Chip Taylor generated some discussion based on fire protection (would you build a multi-million dollar factory if there was no fire protection in town, he asks), let's use that. We could have

Taxpayer supported and government-operated fire departments (the smallest number of departments operate this way, but serve the most number of people)

Taxpayer supported but privately operated fire departments (as some communities in Arizona do)

Hybrid departments, in which taxpayer funds provide for capital equipment (trucks, a firehouse) and utilities (water, electric to the fire house), but in which volunteers provide the labor. This is the case for my former town of residence in the Chicago suburbs.

A privately funded and operated fire department that runs off of subscriptions or donations (the 19th century model of my former Chicago suburb, I believe). This resembles the way that people derive their consumer goods, such as food and clothing.

No fire department at all. (No consumption of fire protection services). The move towards taxpayer funded and government operated provision of any given service is in some ways inevitable in an age of specialization: most people don't want to commit to 5 hours a week serving in the volunteer fire department, after all. And it's promoted by union interests as well.

You could say that only privately operated and funded fire departments are good, and that anything else is a waste of economic resources. But if a government-operated fire department and a judicial system were as far as we went, I'd take it--even if it was unionized.
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Exit Exams Draw Criticism
Speaking of schools, Stateline.Org is running a story about exit exams--tests that students must pass to earn a high school diploma. Critics say that this has a disproportionate effect on minority students, who tend to flunk the tests more often. That's true--and it hides the fact that minority students tend to drop out more often, as well.

It's easy to be sympathetic to the critics--after all, in many cases, the students are dealing with the cumulative results of 12 years of poor school systems. Currently, 19 states require exit exams, and more are planning to introduce the tests. The article lets David Salisbury, of the Cato Institute, get in the final word. He argues that the dismal showing of many students on the tests strengthens the case for school choice.
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Charter School in Chicago Suburbs to Close
The Thomas Jefferson Charter School in the northwest suburbs will close after the Illinois State Board of Education failed to submit an adequate plan to measure student achievement as well as provide a plan for special education students. Given the onerous burdens placed on charter school operators (there is, I believe, a cap of 45 for the entire state), I'm not sure whether the state's determination is valid. But can you imagine a government-owned school going out of business?

Far from being a strike against charter schools, this development shows that alternative methods of schooling will be more accountable than their counterparts that rely on a geographic monopoly.
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Greens from Government?
No, not Nadarites, but golf greens. Facing a nearly $8 million budget deficit, Milwaukee County is considering closing some of its golf courses early this season, as well as not opening them next year.

Better that than police patrols or fire protection. But why are governments in the business of owning golf courses anyway? How about a municipal bowling alley, or city-owned baseball stadium? (Oops. We already have that.) The Reason Public Policy Institute offers a study against government-owned golf courses, and argues that privatization is a better way.
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The Lord's Work, at Your Expense
Berkeley East, otherwise known as Ann Arbor, Michigan, is going to tax residents even more, in the name of buying "green space." Thomas Bray worries that this will make the "American Dream" out of reach for some.

"But," he says, "never underestimate the ability of some folks to persuade themselves they are doing the Lord's work, especially when it's at somebody else's expense. " Make that the line of the day.

Meanwhile, the ever-useful Mackinac Center for Public Policy reports that the state's existing "land preservation" program to "stop sprawl" is already a failure.
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Some Sanity in Airport Security Screening
At the Gerald Ford Airport, in Grand Rapids, Mich., you no longer will lose your pocket knife if you forget to take it out of your carry-on. The standard procedure has been so seize all knives, but now people will be able to go to a gift shop and mail them home, or turn them over to friends or family not traveling. (This is assuming that such people can even get close to the security checkpoint; in many airports, that's not possible.)

Hurray for some common sense. The new policy allows screeners to keep knives off of planes (possibly a good idea--if you think that screeners can catch all the bad guy's knives, as well as those belonging to ordinary folk) while not seizing small objects that may be, as the Detroit News article says, of sentimental value. (For example, I have a Swiss army knife that I bought in Paris some 20 years ago. I'd be quite unhappy if it disappeared into the black hole of bureaucracy should I forget to remove it from my carry-on.)
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"Public education shouldn't cost anything"
The state of Michigan has told the Avondale School District that it may not require all students to pay a $35 activity fee, saying that it amounts to an illegal tuition charge. The Detroit Free Press says that the school will "continue requesting voluntary payment of the money, which would raise $81,000 for clubs and activities if all students paid."

A spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education says that "There are many parents who will just shrug their shoulders and pay the fee. Because [the school's] not communicating it fairly, this becomes a mandatory fee."

On the other hand, one parent tells the Freep "Public education shouldn't cost anything."

He's right--schools ought to make do with what they have rather than load up parents with fees. But education isn't "free"; it costs a great deal. But we tend to forget that by financing schools, to a large extent, out of monthly properly taxes that are rolled into a larger mortage payment. Perhaps we've come across another virtue of vouchers: it would let parents (and everyone else) know that schooling isn't free. Maybe then we'd start paying more attention to fiscal management and academic performance.
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"We should not have to put ourselves at risk to have fun."
If there's one thing that threatens sound public policy, it's lack of personal responsibility, which is manifested in lawsuits ("McDonalds made me fat!") and demands for more bureaucracy ("I'm out of work, Mr. Dole. What will you, as president, do to get me a job?")

Certainly, the threat of a lawsuit is a useful prod to good business behavior. But lately, it's gotten out of hand. Today I came across a company--a personal injury law firm, naturally--that feeds into this thinking. In explaining its involvement of cases suiting sporting goods manufacturers, it says

While many recreational activities carry some degree of risk, it is the duty of the sporting goods manufacturer, the event organizer, or the facility owner to minimize or warn about the foreseeable dangers. We should not have to put ourselves at risk to have fun.

Think about that. "We should not have to put ourselves at risk."

Hello? Getting out of bed is putting yourself at risk (the extra strain on the body may cause a heart attack). Now, I'm a skiier (and beginning snowboarder), so I know there's risk in any activity. Again, there's a place for lawsuits (say, if the product disintegrates during its first use and causes substantial injury). But asserting that risk can be avoided--even in the context is marketing material--is bad for the legal climate, and public policy.
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A Government Office for the Obvious
Radio commentator Paul Harvey's stock line is "Self-government won't work without self-discipline." I'm reminded of that thought as I read through "A Glossary of Fiscal Terms & Acronyms," a publication of the Fiscal Analysis Department of the Minnesota House of Representatives. (If you really need to see this online, write to me.)

Boring stuff, right? Yes. But you also find some items that startle, that make you ask "Have we fallen this low, that we need yet another government office for the obvious?" The answer, apparently, is yes. Here's one entry from the glossary.

Male Responsibility Program. Created in 1994 to educate young people, especially males ages 10-21, about the responsibility of parenthood.

This has replaced another, longstanding program -- somewhat in disrepair and out of favor -- that used to do the same thing, and, in some circles, still does. I think it was called "fathers."

A common saw these days is to proclaim oneself as "socially liberal but fiscally conservative." Isn't that nice? Tolerant ("socially liberal") and not one of those self-righteous folks, and prudent ("fiscally conservative.")

As it turns out, though, social liberalism--e.g., no-fault divorce, destigmatizing divorce, a "find yourself" philosophy of life that encourages a man, such as Bishop Robinson, to leave his family, and liberalized sexual mores--often leads to fiscal liberalism, as the state responds to pressures to pick up the pieces of lives broken by the decline of personal responsibility.

Fiscal liberalism doesn't have to follow social liberalism, if libertarianism of a Randian sort were to be widely accepted. But somehow, I think that a comeback of oldtime, religiously-based social conservatism has a better chance of being adopted.
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Government Pays
The Indianapolis Star is crowing about the economic and image boost the city expects from hosting a meeting of the National Governor's Association.
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Don't Try This at Home
An Indiana family bought some "lawn darts" -- remember those? -- at a garage sale. While playing with the things, the family's 11-year old boy was punctured in the skull by a dart. Apparently, he was on the receiving end of a toss (bad idea--competitors should be standing on the same end of the lawn), and lost his view of the dart in the sun. He got hit by the dart, which resulted in surgery removing a small part of his brain.

Obviously, one must feel some compassion for the boy and his family. I can't help noting, however, that this being America, the solution to the dangers of the dart was not careful use, but a federal ban on their sale, enacted in 1988. Again, this being America, I wonder who is going to be on the receiving end of a lawsuit: the dart company, a government agency for not doing more to eliminate the product, or the people who sold the things at the garage sale.
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Gun Lawsuits Rejected in Michigan
Last week, a Michigan appeals court dismissed lawsuits filed by Detroit and Wayne County against gun makers. The two governments had sought at least $400 million in compensation for law enforcement and medical costs. The court ruled that a Michigan law granted immunity to gun makers.

Well, yes. The blame lies not with the manufacturers of a legal product, but with those who misuse them. The Detroit Free Press notes that not one of the 30 lawsuits filed by governments against gun manufacturers has succeeded--at least in court. The National Center for Policy Analysis argues that these lawsuits are bad public policy, anyway.
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More Bald Eagles
The number of bald eagle pairs in Michigan has increased from 53 in 1960 to 405 last year, a sign of cleaner lakes and streams. Commentators credit the ban, years ago, of DDT and PCBs. I've seen so many bald eagles in northwest Wisconsin that it's not a big deal anymore.
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Property Tax Cap Effort Fails in Wisconsin
An effort by Republicans to override the veto by the state's Democratic governor, Jim Doyle, failed by one vote. As a result, there will be no property tax caps. All 18 of the Senate's Republican members voted for the override, but only 3 of the Democrats crossed the aisle.

As a result of the veto, property taxes are expected to go up, on average, nearly 6 percent this year.

Opponents cast this as a vote against local control, while proponents said that taxpayers had reached a limit on their ability to pay.

Actually, both are right. Ideally, tax and spending caps should be applied at all levels of government. A cynical--and perhaps correct--view of the debate in Madison is that Democratic officials at the state level want to push the responsibility for tax increases down one level of government (so they aren't seen as "pro-tax"), while Republicans, ... well, want to do the same thing.
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Should Have Tried This When Jordan was Still Playing
The Chicago Public Schools is trying a new approach in trying to get children to show up to class: give them tickets to pro sports events. The district, which could gain another $55 million in state aid should it increase attendance by 2 percent, may be handing out tickets from the Chicago Bears, White Sox, and Bulls. Years after Michael Jordan, and now they come up with this ..... In my day (old guy warning), I had several years of perfect attendance at school. My reward, at best, was a 6 by 9 inch certificate from the principal.
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No Means ... Try Again Next Year
The Park District (a local government body with its own taxing powers) of Carol Stream, Ill., has asked voters four times in the last three years for a tax rate increase. Four times they voters have said "no."

So what's the park district thinking of doing next March? You got it. Putting yet another tax proposal on the ballot.

You'd think they would get the mesage by now.
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"Learn Some Economics, You Morons!"
To outsiders, Iowa must seem like the typical conservative, Republican state. Solidly midwestern farm-belt state, right? Well, not exactly. Among other things, there's some statist thinking going on at the Des Moines Register, the paper of record in that state's capital city.

On a regular basis, David Hogberg critiques the faulty reasoning of the Register's editorial page, in his blog, Cornfield Commentary. Today, he takes on the Register for its embrace of socialized medicine. [Actually, the headline he uses is "Learn some economics, you morons!"] The Register blames high administrative costs in the private sector for health care inflation, and thinks that a government-run system would provide for lower administrative costs. (Have they ever heard of cost overruns in government-led capital improvement projects?)

As Hogberg says, "A system of government-run health care could get administrative costs as close to zero as possible, and overall costs would still go up." Why? Thanks to a third-payer system for health care, "the health-care system in the U.S. provides no incentive for consumers to economize."
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GPS for the military, cars, sportsmen, and now, for criminals
Wisconsin is gearing up to use GPS (global positioning systems) technology to track certain criminals. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 27 states use GPS to track 3,500 offenders. Roughly half of those wearing the monitoring bracelets, which can track offenders within 20 feet of their actual location, are sex offenders.

The idea is two-fold. First, it's an alternative to placing people behind bars, and two, it's a way to deter them from entering certain neigborhoods or areas. The most obvious example is to keep sex offenders away from schools and other places where children congregate.

Oddly enough, the ACLU, which one would think opposes such devices, supports the use of the device--as an alternative to incarceration. A spokesman does, however, warn against it being used after a criminal has "paid their debt to society."

The only way to ensure that pedophiles--who are rarely "cured"--do not repeat their vicious crimes is to lock 'em up and throw away the key. Perhaps such crimes ought to be of the kind where the person is under supervision for life. GPS monitors, then, could--if accompanied by an aggressive police response to those who breach their limits--provide some acceptable level of risk at a minimal cost. Of course, it can be said that letting criminals out, knowing that some will repeat their offenses, is cruel. But lifetime imprisonment for all crimes is a foolish approach, and for now, GPS monitoring may be as good as we can get.
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Workers Comp Crisis
Stateline.org has a story on crisis in workers compensation insurance across the country. The problems, and proposed solutions, are familiar to those who have followed health care: rising costs cut business competitiveness, insurers under financial pressure, state governments squeezing medical providers through low reimbursements and tapping tobacco settlement funds, and consumers who, not seeing that the money being spent is "theirs," over-using services. Incremental reform of anything dealing with medical care is the most likely the best we can hope for, though we may perhaps stumble into something like the 401k, which has revolutionized retirement planning.
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Megaprojects, Cost Overruns, and Political Games
Cost overruns are a given when dealing with large public works projects. The Chicago-area based Daily Herald has a lengthy story today about the subject, and a study that says Chicago officials are underestimating the true cost of expanding O'Hare International Airport. If true, O'Hare expansion would follow in this tradition:

The Big Dig, a road project underneath Boston Harbor, quadrupled in cost, to $15 billion.

The new Denver International Airport, which doubled in cost from the six years from voter approval to startup.

Other projects in Chicago that have had significant overruns, including the renovation of Soldier Field.

In his book, "Megaprojects and Risk," Brent Flyvbjerg studied multibillion-dollar construction projects worldwide and found about nine out of 10 went over budget, with many running 40 percent over original estimates

A consulting firm hired by suburbs that oppose O'Hare expansion says that the cost of the project will be $16 billion; the city of Chicago says the true cost will be closer to $6 billion. The differences come from the way that the suburbs and the city label different projects. The suburbs count some projects as part of the expansion (and thus, presumably, optional), while the city says the same projects would have to be done with or without the expansion going forward. These include

$3.8 billion for the "World Gateway Program" to expand current terminals and add two more.

$2.1 billion for an ongoing capital improvements programs.

$2.7 billion for additional operating costs that would be required during the expansion process.

Finally, the Illinois Department of Transportation estimates that road projects, including laying in an access from the west (I've lived in the western suburbs, and think this would be a great idea) will cost another $2.3 billion. The city says this shouldn't be part of the expansion numbers either, since that's a state responsibility. But clearly, the utility of those projects depends heavily on whether or not O'Hare is expanded.

The Herald digs out an academic who give us the obvious (but necessary to hear, again) truth: big projects get out of control. Alan Altshuler, a professor in the Kennedy School of Government, says that when (as is usually the case) they face uncertainty, project boosters pick the most optimistic figure. "There are such powerful political incentives to underestimate costs when you're trying to sell projects, that people just come in low."

The suburbs have a bias towards inflating the numbers; the city has a bias towards lowballing the estimate. I'm inclined to go with the suburb's numbers.

Does O'Hare needed to be expanded? Probably. But Illinoisians--and airline passengers generally--ought to know what they're getting into ahead of time.

By the way, the Reason Public Policy Institute reports on a proposal to turn the operation of Atlanta Hartfield Airport over to a private contractor.
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Buying Votes
Tim Graham notes that presidential candidate Richard Gephardt called the Bush tax cuts "handing out candy" and "buying votes."

Two thoughts: One, the "candy" being "handed out" came (for the most part) from the people who "gave" (let's keep with the simple, child-like metaphors) the bulk of the money to the public treasury.

Two, as cynical (and successful) as buying votes is, I'll take tax cuts over expanding the scope of an already-bloated government every time.

Candy! Candy!
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The Ownership Society
Some good goals, as enunciated by Vice President Richard Cheney: ""We want to continue creating an ownership society. We want to make it possible for Americans to own their own homes, own their own health care, and own their own retirement."

As public policy goes, we've done a good job of promoting the first goal--home ownership is at or near record levels. But the second and third goals--ownership of health care and retirement--are far off. Health care is characterized by third party payments, which result in wasteful spending, less-than-useful scrutiny of expenses, and a "freebie" mentality (especially with respect to prescription drugs). On retirement, the 401k revolution has gotten millions of people to think about owning their retirement, though the bursting of the Internet bubble has tested the perservence of many. But Social Security still rules as the default form of retirement planning; its fiscal situation is a disaster in the making.

(Thanks to John Andrews for the emailed link to the Cheney remark. Andrews is the President of the Colorado Senate.)
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Judgment Day in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's legislature voted to freeze the ability of local governments to increase taxes, a measure the governor vetoed. With a veto-override attempt underway in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel weighs in with an indictment of state politicians and a defense of local ones.

The JS advocates pressuring local officials to hold the line on increases, but the editorial reserves its harshest words for the legislature and former governor:

It's clear that Republican lawmakers and other advocates for a property tax freeze imposed by state government have struck a nerve in Wisconsin's body politic: A lot of people are very upset over the tax burden in this state, particularly the bill homeowners receive in their mailboxes every December. That's why some local officials have begun to fall all over themselves and pledge to hold the line on property tax levies next year and beyond.

Their constituents should hold them to these promises and vote them out of office if they sharply increase tax levies. That strikes us as preferable to a legislated property tax freeze, which goes against Wisconsin's long tradition of home rule and which focuses on only one part - a significant part, to be sure - of this state's nasty claim on its citizens' pocketbooks.

Wisconsin's fiscal problem is no great mystery. From the mid-1980s to 2001, state spending increased at an annual rate that far exceeded both inflation and the growth in personal income. For most of that period, especially during the 1990s, a buoyant economy generated the tax revenue to pay for all that spending; when revenue did fall short, lawmakers resorted to gimmicks to balance the state's books.

Lawmakers set aside nothing for a rainy day - or even a cloudy day, for that matter. They just kept spending tax dollars, about 60% recycled back to localities as school aid and shared revenue, with little thought about the day the music would stop. When it did, recession and a reluctant recovery cut deeply into revenue and left the state with a $3.2 billion budget hole to plug.

As the paper concludes, now is a great time for lawmakers to cast a critical eye on everything the state does. Lawrence W. Reed, of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, could help out here. He would have legislators apply the "yellow pages test." In other words, if a service the state operates can be found in the yellow pages, it ought not be in that business.
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Concerned About Media Diversity?
In recent months, the FCC and Congress have gone head-to-head on the issue of how many media outlets any given company can own. From the perspective of congressional critics (and some others), there are not enough diverse voices out there.

Way back in years, when I was a high school student, there were two major newspapers in Detroit (and indeed, the state of Michigan). The Detroit Free Press was liberal and Democratic; the Detroit News was conservative and Republican.

It looks like that's not the case any more, if the headlines on the two papers' websites is any guide. The New's web site has featured a series of articles about affirmative action that would make you think the days of Jim Crow were coming back should the U.S. Supreme Court decide against the U of Michigan's social engineering plan. Several articles last week criticized pharmaceutical companies (with little or no voice given to people who realize that "free" prescription drugs shouldn't be considered a birthright). And today's News laments the effects of rising tuition at Michigan's colleges and universities (never mind that this is nothing new).

Odd, but it looks as if the News is trying to outflank the Free-Press on its left.
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Student Activities Fees Hit Parents
The Detroit Free Press reports that the Avondale School District (most notable tie-in: the Detroit Pistons play in or near the district) is imposing an activity fee on each students in grades 5-12, regardless of whether the student participates in such activities. The money goes to -- you guessed it -- faculty advisors.

A spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education questions the legality of the charge, saying it is nearly charging tuition. The district stands by its policy, which is expected to raise $81,000 from the all-student fee, which is in addition to fees charged to members of sports teams.

This plan does have one upside--making parents an active consumer in paying for their children's education. On the other hand, it stems from administrator's inability to properly manage their budgets.
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Word of the Day
Today's word (phrase, actually): "tax eaters." Thanks to Greg Blankenship's blog, A New Can of Worms, for this. (It may come from tax-fighter Grover Norquist; Greg applies it to Illinoi's Secretary of State office.)
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Road Screw-Up Costly
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has a reputation for poor management, and its reputation is not getting any better.

VDOT has been widening I-64 in the Hampton Roads area, and motorists who had hoped for traffic relief are going to have to wait longer. Department officials are figuring out how to deal with 2.5 miles of new road (not yet in service) that does not meet safety standards. The roadway is improperly graded, meaning that water could pool on the road, causing cars to hydroplane.

Inspectors first noted the problem in December, but VDOT's top leader, Philip Shucet, did not hear about this until June. Shucet is not in danger of losing his job. The $85 million project is already over budget; this could add another $5 million to the costs.

Keep this in mind next time you hear someone argue that privatization shouldn't be tried because private companies can't be trusted to manage public projects.
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One Cheer for Arnold
A lot of folks at National Review's blog, the Corner, are talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger's candidacy for California governor.

Here's one good thing to say about Arnold: he knows that America is still the land of opportunity.

"I come from Austria, a socialistic country. There you can hear 18-year-olds talking about their pension. But me, I wanted more. I wanted to be the best. Individualism like that is incompatible with socialism. I felt I had to come to America, where the government wasn't always breathing down your neck or standing on your shoes."

At first, this sounded good: look towards the future, think about how you're going make things for yourself, and don't spend your time thinking about a comfortable retirement at such an early age?

Then again, why not think about retirement in one's youth? Thinking of that is a sign of individual responsibility if by "pension" we mean not some ponzi scheme such as Social Security (which is probably what Arnold's Austria has), but real, personally owned retirement accounts such as an IRA.
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Thank You, Norm
I'm back from a few days out in the rustic north. The hotel I stayed in was a throwback to the 1970s. There was no shag carpeting, but the phone was burnt orange, which contrasted sharply with the faux-walnut paneling on the walls.

Thanks to Norm Fisher for keeping the light on at the PolicyGuy blog. I wrote a few things ahead of time, and he posted them for me. Of course, he's capable of much more complicated computer work. If you need any web design, give a look at his website, KNFA.net
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