Archive for January 3rd, 2013

Oink: Porking deficit reduction … say,what?

January 3, 2013

Nice recap  in the WSJ today outing the pork that was sausaged into the deficit-adding Fiscal Cliff Bill:

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Here’s a sampling:

  • Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow was able to retain an accelerated tax write-off for owners of Nascar tracks (cost: $78 million
  • New Mexico’s Jeff Bingaman saved a tax credit for companies operating in American Samoa ($62 million), including a StarKist factory.
  • Distillers are able to drink to a $222 million rum tax rebate.
  • Businesses located on Indian reservations will receive $222 million in accelerated depreciation.

The WSJ gave special recognition to Chris Dodd, the former Senator who lobbied for Hollywood’s movie studios … getting a provision that allows film and television producers to expense the first $15 million of production costs incurred in the United States … this Hollywood special will cost the Treasury $430 million in 2013 and 2014.

Consumers will get tax credits for buying plug-in motorcycles ($7 million).

Do the jabrones in Washington have no shame?

You can’t reduce the debt by adding to the deficit.

It’s that simple guys.

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Posted in Fiscal cliff, Gov't Waste & Inefficiency, Gov't Spending | Leave a Comment »

Nums: What % of kids have both parents present?

January 3, 2013

I was chatting with a friend of mine who  is a middle school teacher is suburban Baltimore.

He was telling me about his schools online grading system that regularly emails parents with detailed tracking of their kids’ performance – grades on tests, whether or not homework was turned in, etc.

I asked: What percent of parents are on the system – getting the emails.

He said about 75%.

The other 25% either don’t have internet access (a few) … or either don’t care or are single-parents stretched thin (a lot).

That got me wondering about the number of kids who are structurally disadvantaged by having only one parent present to raise them

Well, it turns out that the Washington Times just did an analysis of Census data to answer the question.

Since the answer may be a bit controversial, I’ll just stick to the facts …

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Drilling down, here are some details from the analysis …

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Posted in Demograhics, Education - Academics | 2 Comments »