Welcome to Atlanta, Mr. President. Now about pre-k . . .
President Barack Obama is expected in Atlanta today, to pitch a problem to a solution.
No, I don’t have that backward.
The president’s planned visit today to a Decatur pre-k school comes on the heels of his lauding Georgia’s preschool program during his State of the Union address Tuesday night. He wants to use it as a model for a federal effort “to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America.”
While I join Obama in applauding educational innovation in the states, I can think only of reasons a federal preschool program is a bad idea. Not least is the fact that the existing federal preschool program, Head Start, has been declared a failure by the very agency that administers it.
Head Start, a program for low-income children, has been around since 1965. But three years ago, after four and a half decades and $166 billion spent on the program, the Department of Health and Human Services concluded first-graders who had been in Head Start held virtually no advantage over their peers who hadn’t.
It’s an expensive failure, costing more than $7.5 billion per year to serve fewer than 1 million kids. At $7,838, Head Start’s cost per student in 2011 nearly doubled the $4,302 Georgia spent on each pre-k student that year.
But if Georgia is getting better results at roughly half the price, shouldn’t we want to see its model copied in other states?
Maybe so. Or maybe other states have different needs. Either way, they won’t match our success — and we won’t maintain it — if the feds take over pre-k.
As U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss put it to me last month: “There are too many people in Washington who are entrenched in the idea that if the federal government’s going to be involved in a program, we need to control it. And the way you control it is with money.”
Chambliss was talking about obstacles to devolving federal programs such as k-12 education and Medicaid to the states. But this fact of life in Washington is also a certain preview of how pre-k will turn out if it’s federalized.
There will be money, but also strings: regulations, stipulations, expectations. Even in Georgia the program won’t look like it does now, because the feds will craft policies for Savannah and Seattle, and everywhere in between. Successive agency heads for the program will want to put their stamps on it, if only to justify their jobs and budgets.
And, as clearly as Georgia’s elected leaders should see this coming, they’ll be hard-pressed to avoid it. The money will be too hard to pass up.
Georgia spends about one-third of its lottery proceeds on pre-k, about $312.4 million in next year’s projected revenues. The rest goes to the HOPE scholarship. How tempting will it be for a Georgia governor one day, if the value of HOPE continues to shrink relative to the cost of tuition, to take the federal pre-k dollars and devote all lottery revenues to college students?
But it will be fool’s gold, and not only because there’s no such thing as “free money” from the feds since taxpayers foot the bill sooner or later.
There’s also this: Those folks who rate government programs chiefly by how much money we spend on them will declare this a good deal — at first. Eventually, though, they’ll bemoan the falling quality of pre-k in Georgia and beseech Atlanta or Washington to cough up more money so that it can regain the effectiveness it once had … back when it was a cheaper, state-run program.
Washington this year is projected to borrow $7 billion (almost the annual cost of Head Start) every three days. Yet, Democrats and some Republicans are wringing their hands about the so-called sequester budget cuts that would trim that figure by barely one-tenth. So, you’d think this is exactly the wrong time for the feds to take on yet another role the states have proven themselves capable of handling.
That Obama is holding up Georgia’s pre-k program as a reason for Washington to get more involved in pre-k, rather than as evidence the states can handle more roles the feds can’t afford, shows just how backward he has it.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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418 comments Add your comment
Dusty
February 15th, 2013
11:06 am
md
Don’t mind Finn,
He can’t win.
He missed PreK
So that’s to say,
His brain cells neglected
And here that’s reflected.
.
It’s the best he can do, md.
Aquagirl
February 15th, 2013
11:07 am
All’s right with the world!
I’m glad you enjoyed your Valentine’s day Dusty, but the folks around Chelyabinsk might not agree with that statement.
JDW
February 15th, 2013
11:07 am
@CC…”Why make the simple complex unless your point is to make false claims? Look at the overall spending figures between the Bush and the Obama administration, including the huge payback slush fund laughingly referred to as ’stimulus’. How much is the federal government spending each year through the term of Bush compared to the term of Obama?”
O yes by all means lets look at data in a vacuum…
Point is not always what the numbers are…point is how they got there and more importantly how they get back (your remember the surpluses Clinton left Duhbya) which is what I have pointed out. If your mind can’t wrap around such basic concepts then by all means blather on…you will find yourself in a vacuum.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
11:16 am
Dusty
Thanks for the poem it made my day. Probably made JDW retch however, hah, which in itself might be good.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
11:27 am
indigo
Glad you admit that it took WWII to get Roosevelt off the hook. So, everything he tried did not work, none of the regulations, chickens in every pot, make work programs, government stimulus, etc. Obama seems to have missed the part about, it not working.
As Finn points out almost daily, it is demand that drives the economy. No demand, no jobs, no discretionary spending by consumers. Seems to me the only way government can have any positive effect on the economy is to stimulate demand. You can only do that on a temporary basis and hope it is enough to kick start the economy. In my opinion, the best way to temporarily get the economy moving is to let people keep more of the money they earn. They then have a little “extra” for some wants, vice needs, and go out and spend, which creates demand, which creates jobs, which creates revenue for the government.
Obama seems to spin his wheels arguing over how to divide the pie, rather than trying to grow the pie. Just my opinion, I’m not some economic savant, but those who are advising Barry aren’t doing so well either.
Dusty
February 15th, 2013
11:28 am
Now comes JDW
Who elucidates on his repudiates!
He says the economy does accelerate
Yet it seems to slowly deliberate!
But let not worry enter your mind.
In 75 years, it will all be fine!
So says our JDW.
JDW
February 15th, 2013
11:29 am
@Rafe….”Thanks for the poem it made my day. Probably made JDW retch however, hah, which in itself might be good.”
Nah that didn’t faze me…however, the continued obstructionism from the Repugnicans in Congress…why that does it everytime.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
11:30 am
It took WWII to finally get us out of it.
wrong, look at which year (1936) GDP was back to pre-crash levels. What happened at that point was that FDR scaled back his spending programs and went to austerity and then it dipped again. After that we were already in our military build up for WW2 (and really took off with the lend-lease program)
md
February 15th, 2013
11:31 am
“year on year growth is not as you say “guaranteed” however based on past experinance one can say with complete certainty that over the long term it will in fact happen.”
Yep, Japan has been saying the same thing for 2 decades. And I don’t know if you noticed, but the world economy isn’t quite like it has been for the past 75 years. We now have bigger players coming onto the scene and it is and will remain a fact that growth is NOT a guarantee, regardless of past history.
Past and future have 2 totally different definitions……
As for Obamacare being included, that was the point. They missed BIG on ONE program and we are to believe the numbers for ALL the programs put together are going to be right??
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
11:34 am
the best way to temporarily get the economy moving is to let people keep more of the money they earn. They then have a little “extra” for some wants, vice needs, and go out and spend, which creates demand, which creates jobs, which creates revenue for the government.
Depends on which “people” you are talking about. The poor, working, and middle class will spend the majority of what they keep. The upper class will just toss that money into the market. That tossing of the money into the market is what causes the casino effect we see within several years of any big tax breaks. 1929, after Reagan, after W.
md
February 15th, 2013
11:35 am
“It’s the best he can do, md.”
Probably, but I try to point it out with a bit of hope that s/he may see the absurdity of that type comment and in which direction that absurdity points.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
11:37 am
After that we were already in our military build up for WW2
What I mean is, his programs worked the first time. After he switched to austerity and saw the economy sinking again, he couldn’t act faster than history (the beginning of WW2) to make his changes bail him out a 2nd time. World events took over.
JDW
February 15th, 2013
11:38 am
Awwwww…you didn’t have to “Right” one for little ole’ me…
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
11:38 am
in which direction that absurdity points.
it’s just meant as a dig. Absurd, maybe, but in the case of Raife, spot on.
md
February 15th, 2013
11:39 am
“That tossing of the money into the market is what causes the casino effect we see within several years of any big tax breaks. 1929, after Reagan, after W.”
The tossing of that money into the market is called “capital”, of which is the fuel that runs our economy……….we are dead in the water because that capital has been on the sidelines or offshore (2T). If the dems had a clue, they would do everything in their power to repatriate that offshore capital and run it through OUR system, but alas….they are clueless.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
11:47 am
The tossing of that money into the market is called “capital”
yes, but an influx of new capital chasing an existing supply of products/investment vehicles which are already priced out and stable. That “new capital” wants to be spent on those existing products so the prices on those investments balloon causing bubbles. The market dynamics goes into absolute flux and everyone scrambles to make money on the discrepancies. The normal, everyday, investor saving for retirement or a rainy day is left to watch since they don’t have an inside track. And this usually leads to them getting the short end.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
11:49 am
I guess I could try to go a full day without the needless digs at the Cons but….but….but, what fun is that?
JDW
February 15th, 2013
11:50 am
@md…”Yep, Japan has been saying the same thing for 2 decades. ”
That’s almost as bad as yelling Greece…way too many strucural differences for Japan to be an apples to apples possiblity…did we learn from it sure…are we in danger of repeating…not unless we make critical errors like for instance forced austerity or jacking up interest rates.
“We now have bigger players coming onto the scene and it is and will remain a fact that growth is NOT a guarantee, regardless of past history.”
While our percentage of world GDP may decline I think the next 75 years will be more fruitful than the last…we aren’t at the end we are at the beginning.
Bottom line is you see the glass half empty and spend your time worrying that you will lose more. I see it half full and spend my time looking for another glass to have handy when it starts overflowing.
JDW
February 15th, 2013
11:54 am
@md…”The tossing of that money into the market is called “capital”, of which is the fuel that runs our economy”
Nope that is what is called gambling…capital is money that goes directly into companies not markets. As for the repatriation argument, this has become systemic…companies leverage the infrastructure of the US to build products then shelter the profits abroad and wait for folks like you to beg them to repatriate the money. The only way to really fix it is to create a VAT which I think we should do.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
11:57 am
That influx of new capital chasing too few established assets/investment vehicles leads to poor investment vehicles rising in value as well. This is where the mortgage crisis enters: the desire of that new capital to find investments with good returns led to the bundling of subprime mortgages into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO’s). Not only were these toxic, they were sold as “safe investments” and were given the seal of approval by the rating agencies. It was one big scam and we all payed for it – and we are all still paying for it.
Dusty
February 15th, 2013
11:59 am
Dear Aquagirl,( our Russian minsk?),
Now worries about Chelyabinsk.
And there is much to worry
Ten flaming tons in a mighty hurry!,
THAT valentine was OVERDONE
A meteorite, heaven’s stun gun!
So our hearts go out to each Russian friend
And hope their sad travail will quickly end.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
12:00 pm
Follow the money trail on the savings and loan scandal in 1988-1991. Influx of capital mixed with gambling and shady bankers. Bingo, we bought a bridge in Brooklyn.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 15th, 2013
12:10 pm
“I guess I could try to go a full day without the needless digs at the Cons but”
. . . you’re incapable of doing anything but, Finn.
indigo
February 15th, 2013
12:15 pm
Rafe – 11:27
The Great Depression was a worldwide one. And, it took the outbreak of a world war to get us out of it. No American President, FDR or anyone else, could have done it.
Finn – 11:30
“The arms buildup of 1939, and the war which began in Europe later that year, ended The Great Depression”
Source – History of The American People
Author – Norman J. Risjord
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
12:15 pm
however, the continued obstructionism from the Repugnicans in Congress…why that does it everytime.
Well you see JDW, what you call obstructionism, I see as a guard rail. When the car is speeding toward the grand canyon (of debt), a guard rail serves to divert the car and avoid the calamity.
Thank goodness for the GOP House, or our freedoms, economic and otherwise, would be in for a crash landing.
Dusty
February 15th, 2013
12:18 pm
Well, I hope KYLE has finished his lunch
And bringing fresh meat to this rowdy bunch!.
I’m leaving to munch on some chocolate crunch
(And I confess, you are really…… a respectable bunch!)
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
12:20 pm
indigo, even tho you are Finn are liberal blood brothers, you are not going to get far trying to school Finn.
Finn says that Roosevelt had us turned around temporarily by 1936, and permanently by 1941, hope Obama doesn’t take that long, but I see no sign that we are making any progress. 11 years of “recovery” is a long one, but Obama would be pushing to snatch that record if not for the 8 year limitation on his “service”.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
12:23 pm
Dusty, it must be that Valentine spirit, that has provoked this rhyming inspiration. Glad you had such a good one!!!!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
12:24 pm
hope Obama doesn’t take that long
this is exactly why Krugman was upset the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was big enough.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
12:29 pm
err, “wasn’t” big enough
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
12:32 pm
I don’t see anything on the horizon that could turn around all the economies of the world like a WW2.
Maybe we need to attack Canada……?
“Hey, Canuck’s, we don’t need a pipeline. We’ll just take over those fields and set up some refineries right there.”
indigo
February 15th, 2013
12:41 pm
Rafe
Eight years of GW Bush is what got us into this mess in the first place.
“Thank goodness for the GOP House” indicates you are an incredibly slow learner.
sailfish
February 15th, 2013
12:47 pm
JWD twisting cons
into a knot
Lower IQ’s and bluster is
is all they’ve got
Fiction is their
truth,
stupidy is there
creed,
Keep blowing them up
whenever you feel
the need!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
12:47 pm
Indigo, I wasn’t talking about the rest of the world. Germany and a lot of other countries spent the entire 1920’s in a depression due to WW1. For Germany, the arms buildup during the Third Reich was what led to nearly 0% unemployment and led them out of it – again, a jobs/work program not totally unlike what Roosevelt did with his WPA/New Deal stuff.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
12:48 pm
Kyle enjoying that 3 day weekend life of the roving reporter?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
12:51 pm
uh oh:
A documentary aired in Germany and flagged by British newspaper the Independent claims that Amazon employed security guards with neo-Nazi ties to oversee immigrant workers in its German packing and distribution centers.
where will this end up?
JDW
February 15th, 2013
1:06 pm
@Sailfish…now that was funny.
JDW
February 15th, 2013
1:16 pm
@Rafe…”Well you see JDW, what you call obstructionism, I see as a guard rail. When the car is speeding toward the grand canyon (of debt), a guard rail serves to divert the car and avoid the calamity. Thank goodness for the GOP House, or our freedoms, economic and otherwise, would be in for a crash landing.”
O’ dear you aren’t going to like this…seems that in some quarters of the Repugnican Party there is a resurgence of sanity…
From Politico titled “Behind closed doors, GOP tries to find its way”
“It’s simple: House Republicans say that if they spend the next two years like they spent the past two, they’ll become irrelevant. So for the past few days, GOP leaders have met behind closed doors to both craft an agenda that confronts the ghosts of Congresses past and figure out a way to sell it to the American people.”
Darn I was kind of hoping they weren’t going to figure that out until 2015.
Wait there’s more….
“There are some widely accepted fixes emerging from the weeklong talks.
Rule one: Stop talking like the world is going to end. Budgetary politics is important to the GOP, but voters are going to stop voting for a party that talks about gloom and doom around the clock.
Rule two: Stop repealing regulations no one has heard of. It’s nice to be the party of cutting red tape, Republicans say, but no one has heard of boiler MACT or utility MACT. So spending time throwing these bills on the floor is absolutely useless.
Rule three: Sand down the party’s rough edges. Pass education bills and immigration legislation. Stop screaming about red ink and spending too much. ”
Interesting…wonder what else they got going on…I am sure this is causing heads to burst all over…why look there goes Rush now…
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/behind-closed-doors-house-gop-tries-to-find-their-way-87712.html#ixzz2Kzccf9mX
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 15th, 2013
1:35 pm
JDW links to a puff opinion piece from Politico with absolutely NO substantiation of what is going on behind closed doors – just PAST random quotes cherry-picked from a few Republicans.
In short (as usual), JDW doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.
No surprise there.
JohnnyReb
February 15th, 2013
1:38 pm
Where’s that Water Girl ? No, I was belittled because its not what Libs want to hear. The AJC had an article that stated pre-K no help once at 3rd grade level. The same has been on the National News stories. Very few clapped at the STOTU speech when Obama stated how great is pre-K. Kyle repeats it here, yet you and your Moonbat buddies think pre-K is the best thing since sliced bread.
Pre-K is baby sitting, especially for dead-beat parents and/or single mothers. It’s not something taxpayers should be paying for.
I know that hurts your tender, bleeding heart, but it’s reality.
What does your champion want to do? Create another entitlemment program to make up for all the “wrongs” inflicted by white people.
JDW
February 15th, 2013
1:55 pm
Ahhhh….the view from Tiberiusville…now that is how I was hoping the Repugnicans would attack thier problem…without even reading the link.
Psssttt….it wasn’t “PAST random quotes cherry-picked from a few Republicans.”
Please do continue to embrace your destiny…as part of the problem
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 15th, 2013
2:17 pm
You can always tell when the libs have been thoroughly outclassed intellectually, because they high five and grab each others rear ends -
JWD twisting cons
into a knot
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 15th, 2013
2:18 pm
Kyle must be up in his asteeroid shelter, which must not have the internets.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 15th, 2013
2:22 pm
NASA missed that Roid by a hour and fifteen minutes, aren’t these the same jackasses that say we’re all gonna burn up and drown in the sea?
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
2:48 pm
JDW,
Your article bears no resemblance to this one. I think this is more accurate.
http://news.yahoo.com/unyielding-gop-politicians-doing-voters-ask-084659707–politics.html
They can do whatever makes them feel is right, but if they are going to become Little Barry Democrat, they can prepare for a primary fight.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 15th, 2013
3:05 pm
fan the flames:
Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 should be a no-brainer. Republicans say it will cause employers to shed jobs, but that’s baloney. Employers won’t outsource the jobs abroad or substitute machines for them because jobs at this low level of pay are all in the local personal service sector (retail, restaurant, hotel and so on), where employers pass on any small wage hikes to customers as pennies more on their bills. States that have a minimum wage closer to $9 than the current federal minimum don’t have higher rates of unemployment than do states still at the federal minimum.
salon.com
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
3:14 pm
States that have a minimum wage closer to $9 than the current federal minimum don’t have higher rates of unemployment than do states still at the federal minimum.
Blue state dwellers all. Their competition for jobs, all have moved South, for the lower taxes and lower cost of living.
Rafe Hollister preparing for an Obamanist America
February 15th, 2013
3:22 pm
As usual Finn doesn’t provide any information that he doesn’t personally agree with.
Only two states with minimum wages above the federal level have youth unemployment rates that rank among the best-performing 10 states in the nation. Of the 10 states with the highest teen unemployment rates, six have higher minimum wages than the federal standard. About 30 percent of teenagers are out of work in Washington state, the only state with a minimum wage above $9 an hour.
http://freebeacon.com/destroying-jobs-to-save-them/
JDW
February 15th, 2013
3:26 pm
@Rafe…yeah…good thing most places aren’t like Podunk Utah…I especially like that part about “damaging the GOP brand and pushing the nation repeatedly to the brink of fiscal chaos.”
Well I guess in thier mind they accomplished something…something not very laudable but something.
Jefferson
February 15th, 2013
3:39 pm
I guess work is subjective, is this the same subject as yesterday ?