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So Much Has To Do With Economics, Doesn't It. Last updated: Monday - April 14, 2008 This comment from Mary Manke, University of Wisconsin, River Falls. I appreciated Gene's book very much--hard to put down! The idea that I had not thought of before is that resistance to taxes/tax increases is founded in the high credit card debt that so many carry. One should also look at high fuel prices and the increasing cost of medical care and reductions in insurance coverage as important factors. Plus the constant theme one hears that each individual must save AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE for retirement (because we are all going to live forever? or because Social Security is about to dry up and go away, which is not necessarily true). None of these is aimed at education, but all suck up dollars that could go to schools. In my state, the cost of one prisoner for one year is the same as the cost of two teachers for one year. Thus the media- and politician-driven panic about crime takes away from taxes for schools. Most of these have a strong influence at the state level, where budgets have to be balanced each year or two. So much of the federal budget is being funded through borrowing, instead of through taxes, that it's hard to look at federal expenditures as CAUSING low federal funding for education. Thanks to Gene for helping me think more clearly about this. ~ Comment by Gene Glass: Mary brings up the interesting point of expenditures for prisons. These expenditures, at state levels, often compete directly with funds for public schools. Frankly, in my opinion, what is going on in the "prison industry" in this country is scandalous. Private prison builders and operators are lobbying state legislatures for mandatory sentencing laws to provide the industry with a ready supply of "customers." Drive across rural America and behold the landscape of chain link fences and razor wire. Currently in the US, there are 1.5 Million persons in prison, 1 Million in jail, and more than 4 Million on probation. At more than 6 Million persons, this means that 1 in every 50 persons in the US is "involved" in some way with the justice system. It is indeed a large and lucrative business. http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/glance/corr2.htm Send a Message to the Author RSS |
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