Must-Reads for September 21
Investor's Business Daily: Fed stimulus goes from 'shot in the arm' to 'QE4-ever'
Bernanke skipped right over QE3 and went straight to QE4-ever. After four years of aggressive interventions, there is still no discernible strategy for the Fed to extract itself from the market, prevent inflation, or address the high costs of financing our ever-increasing deficit.
National Review: How the teachers’ union robbed Chicago, again
So far as I could tell, the union’s choice was overwhelmingly portrayed in a negative light, with even the New York Times editorial page calling the strike "unnecessary," positing that union president Karen Lewis "seem[ed] to be basking in the power of having shut down the school system."
Chicago Tribune: Show of hands, please, on support for open teacher talks
When I made the argument here in February that the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools should fling open the closed doors concealing their negotiations, detractors patted me on the head and said I clearly didn't understand the elaborate, subtle dance of labor bargaining and that performing it in public would lead to bitter, messy, prolonged talks.
Must-Reads for September 20
RealClearPolitics: The fallacy of redistribution
Among the most valuable assets in any nation are the knowledge, skills and productive experience that economists call "human capital." When successful people with much human capital leave the country, either voluntarily or because of hostile governments or hostile mobs whipped up by demagogues exploiting envy, lasting damage can be done to the economy they leave behind.
Forbes: Will Ben Bernanke's QE3 work? no, it's already failed
On September 18, 2012, the Real Dow stood at 7.65, the same level as it was in August 1951. This means that the disastrous Bush–Obama–Greenspan–Bernanke economic policies have wiped out the real value of 61 years of work, saving, and investing on the part of the American people.
Education Week: Rahm gets rolled: Chicago's winners & losers
In a strike where Rahm appeared to have the upper hand, he came out with very little. The three-year deal calls for raises of 3 percent, 2 percent, and 2 percent, over and above regular step-and-lane increases (which it preserves). This will cost CPS hundreds of millions a year in new salaries by 2015. What did Rahm get in return? He basically got the teachers to comply with state law.
Chicago Tribune: The future of Chicago's schools
There's already a waiting list of 19,000 students for Chicago charter schools. Those are students seeking a better education. They are the children of parents desperate to find improved opportunities for their daughters and sons. The mayor and his schools team need to cut that charter waiting list number to zero — soon.
Must-Reads for September 19
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel lauds end of strike
Even after factoring in other savings achieved through contract provisions, including not letting teachers cash out future sick days at retirement, the cost this year is expected to total about $74 million, according to district estimates.
Springfield Journal-Register: Closer look: Illinois' credit crunch
Financial analysts said that compared to top-rated states, Illinois is paying somewhere between 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent more in annual interest on long-term bonds.
RealClearMarkets: Having 'built it, entrepreneurs must talk about it
Tax burden, complexity, and changes make up half of the top 10 items marked this year by the National Federation of Independent Business's survey of the problems small business owners face. The cost of health insurance remains the number one concern-just as it was in 2008.
Must-Reads for September 18
Chicago Tribune: Classrooms or chaos
Chicago Public Schools has offered teachers substantial raises and protections. CPS has asked for contract language that merely helps Chicago keep pace with education reform. Much of it carries out reform measures that have been established by state law.
Reason: Chicago teachers strike on for a second week
Someone's gonna get a haircut in Chicago and the fact is that taxpayers have been wearing buzz cuts for decades now. Public-sector compensation is unsustainable for many if not most municipalities. That doesn't mean change is easy, but it also doesn't mean it can keep being forestalled.
RealClearPolitics: The great tax divide
This has not always been either a partisan issue or an ideological issue. John Maynard Keynes said in 1933 that "given sufficient time to gather the fruits, a reduction of taxation will run a better chance, than an increase, of balancing the budget."
Must-Reads for September 17
The Wall Street Journal: The magnitude of the mess we're in
Did you know that, during the last fiscal year, around three-quarters of the deficit was financed by the Federal Reserve? Foreign governments accounted for most of the rest, as American citizens' and institutions' purchases and sales netted to about zero.
Chicago Sun-Times: You’re showing yourself to be a union out of control
You’re not showing you have a democratic union. You’re showing you have a union that is as tone deaf as all those national commentators have been saying for the past week. You’re showing yourself to be a union out of control.
National Review: Police chief Rahm Emanuel
Chicago experienced 250 murders in the first half of the year, a 38 percent increase over last year’s figure. The murder tally in the city has fallen every year since 2008, but 2012 is on track to reverse that trend. So what’s going wrong in Chicago?
