Are you for (or against) the economic stimulus plan?

I'm sure if they pulled the troops from Iraq, we'd start getting ourselves out of the current mess that is our economy. I don't know. I just don't see how spending more money and giving me my money in the form of a check from the U.S. government is going to help me.

from U.S. Newswire ..

To: POLITICAL EDITORS

Contact: Jonathan Oglesby of Center for Education Reform, +1-800- 521-2118

$150 billion to subsidize existing structures rather than seek reform

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While a broad base of national educators, leaders and policymakers have agreed that the nation's education system requires fundamental operational changes, the federal government is poised to subsidize the systems that have failed American students, allowed them to fall behind their international counterparts and left a yawning achievement gap that sees barely 50 percent of African-American males graduating from high school.

"The achievement gap between white kids and most children of color is downright scary... alarmingly, as one study reveals, a growing number of the largest school districts are showing African- American male graduation rates of less than 40 percent. Across the country, the numbers are grim." - This according to Mandate for Change, a new monograph from the Center for Education Reform (CER) edited by Senior Fellow Samuel Casey Carter.

Unlike Washington's financial band-aid, CER's Mandate for Change offers a five-part cure for education in America that unites federal and state policies with substantive proposals for school improvement.

As another Mandate for Change contributor, former three-term governor of Michigan John M. Engler, makes clear, the problem starts with the public not having access to enough performance information about what we're getting for the money currently being spent before we even discuss whether more money can solve the system's ills. "If we can verify the quality of a product every step of the way as it moves along the manufacturing process, the education of our children deserves the same careful attention."

Journalist Richard Whitmire argues that without varied teacher compensation systems, there can be no improvement in teacher quality, writing, "Teachers should be hired, promoted, or fired based on their effectiveness in educating children. That simple formula, however - judging employees by the outcome of their efforts - although commonplace in the rest of society, remains elusive in the teaching profession... Effective teachers make a difference and the current system does next to nothing to reward effective teaching."

The proposed education aspect of the forthcoming federal stimulus package seeks to fund the continuance of all teachers' jobs, not ensure that our best and most effective teachers are rewarded for elevating the performance of the system as a whole.

"The stimulus package is supposed to be a tonic for the nation. Instead this may be just another quick infusion of cash to keep the status quo afloat. While teachers' unions, school districts and construction companies may benefit, this plan will not directly improve education for America's children. Money alone, not focused on student performance, will not improve the results," says Center for Education Reform president Jeanne Allen.

Mandate for Change can be downloaded from CER's website dedicated to the project, http://mandate.edreform.com.

The Center for Education Reform drives the creation of better educational opportunities for all children. CER changes laws, minds and cultures to allow good schools to flourish.

SOURCE Center for Education Reform

(c) 2009 U.S. Newswire. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

It's only recently that the Federal government even stuck its nose in education, and it hasn't exactly helped! The Federal government can't have the answer to every social ill there is. And, throwing money at education won't make up for the the deprived backgrounds that many of these kids come from.

Our schools waste so much money, its unreal. People who do homeschooling on limited budgets often do a better job.

Does anyone know where to find it? I thought it was online and I can't find the website.

I hope this helps.



Saturday, January 31, 2009

Economic stimulus refers to the use of fiscal policy -- government spending or tax measures -- to support or revive an economy in recession. In February 2008, as signs of a slowdown emerged, Congress passed a $168 billion package of tax cuts and rebates. Later in the year, after Wall Street crumbled and economic activity contracted sharply, Democrats called for a far larger stimulus, and after his election as president, Barack Obama declared that what he preferred to call a "recovery'' package would be his top priority.
On Jan. 28, 2009, the House of Representatives passed an $819 billion stimulus plan by a vote of 244 to 188. The measure passed without a single Republican vote in favor.
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/ref...lus/index.html

Thanks. I thought the bill was online somewhere but couldn't find it. Here's the full text of the bill...all 600 and something pages of it...yikes. http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/111_hr1_text.pdf

It's not a "stimulus" plan as it will only tank the economy. Keynesian economics don't work. Think Hard: In what year did the New Deal end the FDR Depression? If passed, the Depression that results is, you guessed it: Obama's fault.

This is a Great Rip-Off and nothing more. It's a Democrat goodie package valued at 1.5 times the entire Defense Budget for 2010.

And that defense budget? Obama told the Joint Chiefs this weekend that he wants to scale back that $512BN budget by $55BN.

Nice. Gut the Defense Dept while granting every Democrat Wish-List of the past 30 yrs.

Obama is on record saying we will have $1,000-2,000BN deficits for the next several years. But. We must gut that $55BN from Defense; that would be a 'budget buster'. Right?

Not a Single Republican voted for it in the House. When the Democrats break the economy with this disaster of a bill; they'll own it.

~faith,
Timothy.