More Money, Less Education
WalletHub's recent 2014 snapshot of the Best and Worst States for Teachers may be the best ever quick snapshot of why more spending does not always translate into better public education, as we're told over and over again by government lifers, liberals and lobbyists.
The highest public school spending per capita among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., is in the District of Columbia. However, among the worst ranked school systems, Washington D.C., is No. 51, at the bottom.
Lest you think the nation's bureaucrats decided this year to do something about their lagging school system and opened their wallets to support it, D.C. has been at or near the top of spending per pupil for years. Yet, their graduation rates, achievement scores, and math and reading scores continue to be below national averages.
Data used to create the rankings came from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Education Association, the National Center for Educational Statistics, the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, Indeed.com and WalletHub Research.
What About Us?
Black Americans gave President Obama 95 percent of their vote in 2008 and 93 percent of their vote in 2012, but he hasn't returned the favor.
When he took office, unemployment for blacks stood at 12.7 percent. By April 2014, it had only declined to 11.6 percent. However, for black teens ages 16-19, the unemployment rate grew from 35.3 percent to 36.8 percent. And the labor force participation rate for all blacks fell from 65.7 percent when he was inaugurated to 62.8 percent in April. For black teens ages 16-19, it fell from 29.6 percent to 27.9 percent.
Now, Obama is considering a plan that would hurt their economic conditions even more, according to public policy experts with Project 21.
If the president decides to grant amnesty to all or many of the estimated 11.3 million illegal immigrants, probably after the November election and runoffs, it only would increase the jobless rate for black Americans.
Throughout United States history, Project 21 officials say, increased immigration -- legal and illegal -- has hurt the job prospects of black Americans because of increased competition for the same jobs, especially among low-wage workers.
An influx in immigration between 1980 and 2000, for instance, increased the number of workers in the U.S. by nearly 10 percent, jacked up the number of high school dropouts by more than 20 percent and reduced the employment rate of low-skilled black men by about 8 percent, according to testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
And since 2000, the Center for Immigration Studies, using data compiled from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, found virtually all of the net jobs created have gone to legal and illegal immigrants as opposed to native-born citizens. In the first quarter of 2014, 127,000 fewer working-age (16-65) natives held jobs than in 2000, but immigrants with jobs were 5.7 million above the 2000 level.
Citing supportive, impassioned words concerning the immigration situation over the past 120 years from abolitionist Frederick Douglass, educator Booker T. Washington, labor activist W.E.B. DuBois and longtime U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, Project 21 officials implored Obama not to throw "his most loyal constituency over a cliff."
Docs: Thumbs Down On Obamacare
If they were to grade the Affordable Care Act, almost half of all doctors would give it a D or F, according to a new survey of 20,000 physicians commissioned by the nonprofit Physicians Foundation.
Indeed, 56 percent of doctors say they are somewhat to very negative about the current state of the medical profession.
If the respondents are to be believed, government is certainly more a part of the problem than a part of the solution.
However, as more and more private-practice physicians retire and are replaced with younger doctors who are employees of a hospital or medical group, the satisfaction with the state of the profession and the Affordable Care Act rises, the survey found.
That's understandable but extends to professionals in many careers. Minus the headaches of ownership, responsibility and financial pressures, plus a good salary and benefits, life is good.
The survey also found 39 percent of doctors say they will accelerate their retirement plans due to changes in the health care system, 38 percent do not see any, or limit, Medicaid patients in their practice, 24 percent do not see any, or limit, Medicare patients in their practice, and physicians report they work an average of 53 hours a week and see approximately 20 patients a day.