Seeing Stars: There's Good News?

Enjoy the links than enjoy the weekend. I'm sure everyone out there could use it.

Colorado

Looks like everyone took an early weekend. There are 30-some odd bills coming to the floor on Monday. I should be an interesting week next week.

Everywhere else

• President Obama called for more spending on green energy while at a campaign stop in Colorado. After all, it worked out so well for Solyndra and Ener1.
• The good news is that we're getting back all those TARP billions. Oh, wait.
• More good news. The debt "limit" is now $16.4 trillion.
• Obama: "If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down." He's got it backwards. Taxpayer support is going down leading to increased tuition.
• "There is no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to “decarbonize” the world’s economy."
• You thought SOPA was bad? ACTA is just as bad and few have even heard of it.

In-state Tuition for Illegals is a Bad Deal

I know this comes a shock to many of you but I'm opposed to rewarding people who break the law. I know, I know. I'm a radical but there it is. That's one of the reasons that I'm opposed to any law granting benefits to illegal immigrants. Today, though, I'm not going to talk about that aspect but about the financial aspect of the law that is being glossed over by nearly everyone.

Let's start with a couple of assumptions. First, let's assume that there exists a state university named Wassamatta U. Let's also assume that it costs Wassamatta U. $10,000 per semester to educate a student. Finally, let's assume that the Department of Higher Education gets their way and that is split evenly between an in-state student's tuition and taxpayer dollars. (In reality, students pay a higher percentage at some schools but this makes the math easy.)

To round out our assumptions, let's set our cast of characters. First we have Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel who are in-state students starting their first year. (Bullwinkle got a football scholarship.) Next is Peter "Wrong way" Peachfuzz who is a student from out of state. Finally, we have Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale who are illegal immigrants.

Rocky and Bullwinkle get in-state tuition and only have to pay $5,000 per semester. The state pays the other $5,000. Peter Peachfuzz, who wanted to get away from the coast, is paying the full $10,000 per semester. In each of the three cases, Wassamatta U. receives enough money to pay for the costs of educating the students.

Now come Boris and Natasha. If they are treated as in-state students, they'd each pay $5,000 per semester. Under the original plans for the DREAM Act and similar, the state would pick up the tab for the rest. Many people, including me, are upset that we giving taxpayer money to people who are actively breaking the law. The bill in the Assembly says, "Fine, that we won't do that," and does not pay for the other half of Boris and Natasha's tuition. That means that Wassamatta U. is only getting half the amount needed to pay for providing their education. Now, the university is losing money.

Since the state, correctly, isn't paying for Boris and Natasha, Wassamatta U. needs to do something to make up for the money it's losing on Boris and Natasha. The obvious solution is to raise the tuition paid by Rocky, Bullwinkle, Peter Peachfuzz and every other student to make up the difference. Oh, look! Now the cost to attend college is up. The more illegals get this deal, the more the university needs to hike their tuition to make up the difference. Not only can fewer students afford to go but taxpayers are having to pay more to cover their half. Let me restate that to make sure you get it. Taxpayers are paying more because illegal immigrants have been given in-state tuition. In effect, they are still subsidizing the tuition of illegals.

In short, there is now way providing in-state tuition to illegals doesn't result in taxpayer subsidies of illegals while in-state students pay less than the total cost of attending. Those students (and their parents) will be rewarded for breaking the law.

I have seen people argue that such subsidies are an investment in the future but remember that even after the students graduate, they are still illegal immigrants. (States cannot confer citizenship. Only the Federal government can.) That means that those new graduates cannot legally work in the United States. There will be no return on investment from those students.

Giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition is a bad deal. Everyone loses except illegal immigrants.

Seeing Stars: Who Needs to Compete When You Have the Government

There's so little going on nationally of interest to me that I have shared only a single link. There's even more Colorado news but you'll have to read my previous posts.

May your links be merry and bright!

Colorado

• Another version of the DREAM Act his the floor of the state Senate. No matter how it gets dressed up, it's still subsidized education for illegal immigrants.
• In a highly biased article, the Chieftain reports that Scott Tipton is leading Sal Pace in the race for the 3rd CD.
• "[Bureaucracy] grows because businesses, trades and professions are always asking government to help them limit competition and thus keep prices up."

Everywhere else

• Oh, lovely. Another "green" company has gone belly up.

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." -- Ronald Reagan

Senate Bill Pushed to End Forced Union Membership in Education

Okay, I'm cheating a little bit pulling two blog posts from the same link.

Also introduced Wednesday was Senate Bill 12-100, which would ban employers from requiring, as a condition of employment, employees to become or remain union or to pay dues to a union, charity or other third party. The bill would apply to school districts and higher education institutions.

This is a fabulous idea. It will never make it through the Senate where the Democrats will kill it. After all, much of their financial support comes from the teacher's unions.

I hate forced unionization. There's nothing that justifies forcing a person to join an organization whose positions they don't agree with. It's even worse when that organization gets to pull a percentage from your paycheck without your say so. I know Colorado WINS would just love to forcibly take two percent of my income regardless of the fact that I need that money to feed my kids and in spite of the fact that I oppose their agenda.

Government unions are a prime example of government largess and cronyism. Government unions rob their members to pay to elect politicians who then pass bills to give the unions more money and power. The circle continues and it's the taxpayers left holding the bag.

In the private sector, companies that give in to union demands eventually collapse. See the recent examples of Hostess, American Airlines and General Motors for proof. When those companies disappear, smaller, more agile and more efficient companies take their place. That's not true of government.

Government unions must be stopped and killing off their food supply is best way to do it. Stopping the money from being automatically withdrawn would be best but it's essential that employees have the freedom to not be part of such organizations if they don't want to.

American Heart Association Wants to Live off Colorado Taxpayers

Colorado students would have to know CPR and how to operate automated external defibrillators in order to graduate from high school under a new bill introduced Wednesday.

Look, I support first aid training for everyone who wants it. I was even on the board of my local Red Cross chapter for a while but I can't support this. Schools are have been unable to successfully teach the basics and now someone wants to throw another requirement in? No, thanks.

There's something else going here though which is amusing.

The bill is being pushed by the American Heart Association, which is advocating such legislation in other states.

The "someone" who's pushing this bill is the American Heart Association. It's easy to see, on the surface, why they'd want CPR taught. After all, they're all about heart safety. In fact, they offer classes in CPR. If this bill passes, do you thing schools are going to hire a new teacher to teach CPR to the students? Not likely. Instead, they'll contract that out to someone else like, say, the American Heart Association.

That's right friends and neighbors. AHA is pushing this bill and ones like it in other states so that they can have a guaranteed revenue stream paid for with your tax dollars. Just because the corporation is non-profit, doesn't mean it's not corporate welfare.

This bill needs to die like so many others of its type.

(via State Bill Colorado)

Seeing Stars: Collapsible Schools

Yes, a number of Colorado schools are of the collapsible variety. Work is being done to shore up the poor design of an incompetent at Neenan Co. who designed the buildings. I wonder how many of these schools will be repaired before Neenan goes bankrupt.

It's linking time!

Colorado

• Every state funded school build by Neenan Co., including two in Alamosa, have serious structural problems.
• Colorado's high-risk health pool is running twice the cost of the US average. Count me among the unsurprised.
• Legislators are working up a bill that would give college credit for work and military experience. I have a better idea. Eliminate the general education requirements. That will eliminate at least a year of study unrelated to a student's future career.

Everywhere else

• The USDA has issued their new dietary rules for schools. Here's a great idea. Let's serve more food that kids won't eat.
• A memo from Obama's economic team shows that they knew exactly what they were doing.

Lt. Gov. Garcia: Kids Can't Learn Without the Nanny State

Colorado's Early Childhood Education Commission wants womb to workforce "guidance" of students.

“Early literacy, we know, is a key to long-term education success,” said Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, who was instrumental in developing the plan. “We also know it’s not something that begins and ends in third grade, or even begins in kindergarten. It really begins at birth.”

Okay, I'm with you so far. We started teaching our kids early and, by the time they were kindergarten age, they were doing second grade material. At that point, we decided that homeschooling would be a better choice but it goes to show that kids are ready for academic learning much earlier than people realize. They're not always ready for school but they are certainly ready for the ABCs and 123s at three and four.

It transcends digestion of the written word and hinges on the interplay of nutrition, health care and other support services government provides to families, Garcia said.

Wait, what? Did he really just say that kids can't be educated without huge nanny-state programs? It sounds like another round of "it's for the children" to create new government programs and protect existing ones from cuts.

The article goes on to talk, briefly, about the pros and cons of higher standards for childcare centers. Having high standards isn't a bad thing in and of itself but increasing the standards will almost certainly increase the costs of childcare. If a family can still afford childcare, they will have even less money for the rest of the family's needs.

The increased cost of childcare will then provide lawmakers with an excuse to create another big government program to confiscate money from everyone to help pay for childcare for "the poor". Don't forget Lt. Gov Garcia's claim that all of the other government support services are essential. The have to have more of your money, too.

This is sounding more and more like another big government power grab. Don't worry though. "It's for the children."