“The gaps in after-tax income between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the middle and poorest fifths of the country more than tripled between 1979 and 2007,” according to the Congressional Budget Office. And while that gap has been growing, the tax burden has also shifted. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne noted how “the effective federal income tax rate for the 400 taxpayers with the very highest incomes declined by nearly half in just over a decade, even as their pretax incomes have grown five times larger.”
Think things are bad out there, based on the 9.5 percent unemployment rate? They’re even worse if you look at the “civilian employment-population ratio,” which measures how many working-age Americans have a job whether or not they are seeking one. “When the economy was at its Bush-era height, in 2007, a little over 63 percent of adult Americans had jobs. Friday’s report shows that only about 58.4 percent do, a decline of nearly five percentage points,” wrote Henry Olsen, vice president at the American Enterprise Institute, in the Wall Street Journal.
“There is only one instance since World War II of the U.S economy increasing the employment-population ratio by five percentage points in a decade: the recovery that followed Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts in 1983,” he wrote.
The moral of this story for the Obama White House? “An administration that pursued job creation — not ideology — would note this history and see how individuals and companies can create wealth and jobs quickly if they have the right incentives. Instead, we have policies that are uncertain and portend higher taxes and greater regulatory burdens.”
When state Rep. Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, got served in the GOP primary last week by 22-year-old Garrett Love of Montezuma, the former Kansas House speaker had just begun serving as president-elect of the National Conference of State Legislatures, with plans to be its president in 2011-12. “The relationship between the states and the federal government is at a critical juncture,” Neufeld said upon taking his new national role — apparently without realizing his relationship with his constituents was in critical condition.
It’s not every day that USD 259 would name a school after a dropout, or deserve praise for doing so. But it’s what Martin Ortiz did after being ridiculed by a teacher for speaking Spanish and dropping out of school in Wichita at age 13 that makes him an inspired choice as the namesake of a new elementary school to be built at 33rd Street North and Arkansas. Ortiz re-enrolled at North High, became its first Latino student body president, attended Friends University and went on to found the Center of Mexican American Affairs at Whittier College in California in 1968. Ortiz, who died early last year at age 89, led many young Latinos to become the first in their families to go to college. “Don’t just cry, qualify,” was a favorite phrase. In a Los Angeles Times profile headlined “The Guiding Light,” Ortiz said: “I tell parents that college is the future and their children belong in it.” How appropriate that Wichita children will soon walk his pro-education talk in a school bearing his name.
“Hey, finally, some good economic news. President Obama announced this month he created 70,000 new jobs. The bad news: They’re all vacation planners for him and the family.” — Jay Leno
“President Obama celebrated his birthday by playing basketball. . . . At one point, President Obama turned to LeBron James and said, ‘Man, you’re lucky. They only hate you in Cleveland.’” — George Lopez
