Where do our education tax dollars go?

I have always been suspicious that as we pay more and more for education, but have been getting the same or worse results, that the money had to be sucked up by someone. Well, in this case, its administration. As Michael Barone points out:

Via Tom Elia of the New Editor, here’s a list of the top 100 pensions of Illinois school administrators. The valuations represent the worth of the pension assuming the beneficiary retired at age 56 with a life expectancy of another 29 years. The average value of these pensions is $8.879,257.90. The number one pension goes to Neil C. Codell of Niles Township Community High School District (a suburban area just north of Chicago and just west of the lakefront). Mr. Codell’s salary is $885,327 and his estimated first-year pension is $601,978. The pension is valued at $26,661,604.

Wow. What a nice gig, if you can get it. Retire at 56 with $600K a year.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Does-Neil-C-Codell-deserve-a-26-million-pension--96402639.html#ixzz0r8NXqq3E

Hey Arizona! Slow down a bit, OK?

The proposed bill to deny citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in Arizona is just going too far. I supported the last bill, as I saw it as a reaction to the lack of action by the Feds.

Supporters are trying to re-interpret the 14th Amendment, but that is nothing but hypocracy, in my opinion. If you are a Constitutionalist, like I am, you can't do this for some issues and not for others and remain credible.

If the 14th no longer serves its purpose (which was the emancipation of slaves in the 19th century), then propose a change to the constitution. I might support a change to the amendment, if it was reasonable and made sense. But this ain't the way to go.

This law, I would hope, will not pass. While I haven't read it, it sounds unconstitutional. If the Constitution can't stand on its own, then we no longer are a nation of laws, but a nation of anarchy.

To those in Arizona, take a deep breath. Chill out a little. Your actions so far have been good, but don't take it too far.

Obama: getting his "facts" wrong again

During his speech last night, one thing he said that struck me was this statement:

"We consume more than 20% of the world's oil, but have less than 2% of the world's oil reserve. And that's part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean -- because we're running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water."

Nancy Pelosi said that same thing in 2008, but it was not true then, and is not true now.

Two things here: The United States has much, much more than 2 percent of the world's reserves. It is estimated we have over 2 trillion barrels sitting idle, enough to keep us going for 300 years. But we can't touch it, thanks to left-wing environmental nutjobs.

That's why oil companies have to drill 40 miles out to sea in mile-deep water, which just increases the risk and chances of accidents. If they could drill in safer places, we wouldn't be in the bad position we are in today.

Even our own government has admitted that there is more oil under North American than previously thought. See the U.S. Geological Survey report from 2008.

But just try to convince your liberal friends of that. It is hard to have a discussion with any clarity of thought when facts are twisted or ignored to fit one's political agenda.

Are we a nation of laws? Or a nation of victims?

So why, when the executives of a huge financial company make bad business decisions, we feel the need to "bail" them out, and they walk away with millions? And the executives at Freddie and Fannie -- in tight with their buddies on Capitol Hill -- got millions too.

Can you imaging running a multi-billion dollar agency, run it into the ground, and walk away with $80 million? Let me introduce you to Franklin Raines, a past CEO of Freddie Mac.

But the little guy has to tighten up or go broke. No bailout there. Main street suffers. Small business (which employs about 80 percent of this country's workforce, I believe) has to cut back. At our company, at the beginning of 2008, we had 120 employees. We still only have 84. The owners took no pay during 2009. Where was their bailout. Nobody is too big to fail. In fact, if you're that big, and fail, you ought to fail.

When Arizona has to pass its own immigration enforcement laws because the federal government won't enforce the laws on the books, you know there is something gravely wrong.

And in the mortgage meltdown, when tens of thousands who took out responsible loans and are still struggling to stay afloat, the feds offer bailouts to those who have defaulted. Why? It's those greedy bankers. And don't forget the evil corporations.  It's not the fault of the home owner who made bad choices. Oh no.

We don't live in a society where actions have consequences -- anymore. Everyone is a winner. There are no losers. Kids are taught that as soon as they start school, thanks to leftist education policies. And it is always someone else's fault.

In other words, it has become part of our society that everyone can be considered a victim in some way. This type of mindset is destroying our society, and it will get even worse, unless something drastic takes place. When 50 percent of the people support the other 50 percent, we will be certainly on our road to failure as a country and a society. And it's the baby boomer generation that will get blamed by future generations, and rightly so.

I grew up learning that this is a nation based on the rule of law. But it seems to have changed.

An interesting read on this is Do laws even matter today? at USAToday. Scary stuff.

We are at a crossroads, and from here, the American dream will either die, or survive to go on as a dream that all the world wants. That's why they come here.

Gasoline too expensive? Maybe not

My corner Exxon station just raised gasoline prices to $2.49 a gallon, from $2.45. Still better than what we paid in 2008, but not a lot more than we've paid, in real dollars, since the 1950s.

Inflation Adjusted Gasoline Prices

Year - Price

1958 - $2.24

1968 - $2.11

1978 - $2.16

1988 - $1.75

1998 - $1.35

2008 - $3.23

2009 - $2.28

Another measure would be how many hours does the average worker need to work to pay for a gallon of gas. I'll be looking for this information. Until then, happy motoring.

Say that again?

"Brazil has the highest tax-to-GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere and guess what — they're growing like crazy," Clinton said. "And the rich are getting richer, but they're pulling people out of poverty." -- Hillary Clinton, 2008

Total growth as a percentage of GDP (1990-2008) and tax revenue as a percentage of GDP (2008)
	Growth	Taxes
Panama	189%	10.7%
Chile	168%	18.9%
Costa Rica	154%	15.2%
Peru	121%	15.7%
Argentina	111%	24.5%
Brazil	63%	35.5%
United States	51.7%	28.3%
Canada	48.5%	33.3%

How's that again, Mrs. Clinton?

Sources for this came from the World Bank and the Heritage Foundation.