Wisconsin policy makers have made increasing the number of four-year college graduates a strategic objective. Yet, the state's aggressive policy of incarceration is crowding out investments in higher education, undermining its ability to accomplish this goal.
Between 1987 and 2007, Wisconsin actually cut its support for higher education by 6%. Only 6 states reduced their investment in higher ed by more. During the same period, Wisconsin increased corrections spending by 251%, 8th highest nation, despite a declining crime rate.
Wisconsin's incarceration rates are higher than the neighboring states of Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa and the state's African American incarceration rate is the nation's highest.
A recent study released by the Pew Center on the States reports that the U.S. prison population has tripled over the past 20 years. The United States now holds the distinction of imprisoning more of its own citizens, both in total number and share of the adult population, than any country in the world.
In 2007, the United States had a record-breaking one out of every 100 adults in prison. Policy changes in sentencing and parole revocation, rather than increases in crime, have largely driven the increase in incarceration rates.
States, like Wisconsin, shoulder the vast majority of the costs associated with these policies. While states struggle with gaping budget shortfalls (see the recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities), incarceration rates and costs continue to escalate, consuming growing portions of state general funds and forcing cuts in high education and other programs.
As Wisconsin's higher education funding has declined, the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) have been forced to raise tuition, shifting the cost of post-secondary education to students and their families.
The WTCS's adult basic education tuition increased 54.6% over the last ten years; collegiate transfer tuition by 57.3%. Two-year UW colleges have increased their tuition by a whopping 82.6 and UW Madison by 83.8%. Rapidly rising tuition costs have made it even more difficult for lower income residents to pursue post secondary education.
Recent studies conducted by the University of Wisconsin System concluded that students from lower income families were increasingly under-represented in the state’s public baccalaureate education institutions. Between 1992 and 2002, the percentage of freshmen reporting family incomes in the lowest quintle (less than $30,000) fell by nearly one-fourth, from 14.5% to 11.0%. At the same time, the percentage of freshmen reporting family incomes in the state’s top quintile (greater than $87,000) rose by nearly one-fifth.
The WTCS/UW Committee on Baccalaureate Expansion concluded: "...Wisconsin students from lower income families have less access to a college education than in the U.S. as a whole."
Unless Wisconsin addresses its escalating incarceration costs, it will not be able to meet its objective of increasing the number of four-year graduates or train the next generation of technical and skilled workers.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
McCain was wrong about the war in Iraq!
Republican operatives have been desperately trying to undermine the public's support for Barack Obama by insisting he was wrong about the "surge."
This desperate approach could only work if the public is afflicted with historic amnesia since as
Frank Rich notes the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has been wrong about the entire war and occupation!:
It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”
Rich also notes that Germany's enthusiastic reception of Obama had less to do with what he said than that his candidacy represents a clear break with the Bush's failed unilateralism in foreign policy.
"We have one president at a time,” Mr. Obama is careful to say. True, but the sitting president, a lame duck despised by voters and shunned by his own party’s candidates, now has all the gravitas of Mr. Cellophane in “Chicago.” The opening for a successor arrived prematurely, and the vacuum had been waiting to be filled. What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them.
The entire column is linked.
This desperate approach could only work if the public is afflicted with historic amnesia since as
Frank Rich notes the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has been wrong about the entire war and occupation!:
It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”
Rich also notes that Germany's enthusiastic reception of Obama had less to do with what he said than that his candidacy represents a clear break with the Bush's failed unilateralism in foreign policy.
"We have one president at a time,” Mr. Obama is careful to say. True, but the sitting president, a lame duck despised by voters and shunned by his own party’s candidates, now has all the gravitas of Mr. Cellophane in “Chicago.” The opening for a successor arrived prematurely, and the vacuum had been waiting to be filled. What was most striking about the Obama speech in Berlin was not anything he said so much as the alternative reality it fostered: many American children have never before seen huge crowds turn out abroad to wave American flags instead of burn them.
The entire column is linked.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Foreclosures will hurt 1/3 of Wisconsin's homeowners!
The Pew Center on the States reports:
Wisconsin's anticipated foreclosures are expected to negatively affect more than one third of the state’s homeowners and their property values.
Their analysis of Wisconsin is linked.
Wisconsin's anticipated foreclosures are expected to negatively affect more than one third of the state’s homeowners and their property values.
Their analysis of Wisconsin is linked.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Republican oil man challenges McCain's call for off shore drilling
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is betting his proposal to reduce gas prices by ending the ban on off shore drilling for oil will reap big political dividends.
McCain has begun running an advertisement on drilling (including in Milwaukee), is discussing drilling at campaign appearances and was planning a trip to an oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday until weather conditions postponed that visit.
His proposal has been rejected by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama who argues that we can't drill our way to lower prices; that the solution to rising crude oil prices is developing alternative forms of energy.
Obama's position has received support from a surprising source-none other than billionaire oilman and long time Republican operative T. Boone Pickens..
Timothy Egan writes about these strange bedfellow developments in today's New York Times:
T. Boone Pickens says, in a $58 million campaign,...that we can’t drill our way to lower gas prices. By implication, anybody who tells you otherwise — including the fellow Texan he helped put in the White House — is a fraud...
Totally misleading” is the way Pickens describes Republican attempts to convince the public that if we just opened up all these forbidden areas to oil drilling then gas prices would fall. He’s not against new drilling, but he is honest enough to say it wouldn’t do anything...
Pickens was a geologist before he found a deep pool of money, so when he says “the geology just isn’t there” to reduce oil imports through new drilling in offshore areas, he has some cred...
Meanwhile, looking bravely to the past, Bush and McCain are trying to convince us that more oil drilling will save us from $5-a-gallon gas. History says otherwise. The number of oil and gas permits on federal land doubled in the last five years, with no effect on price or supply. And Bush’s own Energy Information Administration says increased drilling wouldn’t move the market in the short term.
McCain knows this, despite the brazen lie in his Obama gas ad. He now says drilling offshore would have “a psychological impact.” Just like that “mental recession” his former chief economic adviser Phil Gramm spoke of. These guys need to get off the couch.
The entire article is linked.
McCain has begun running an advertisement on drilling (including in Milwaukee), is discussing drilling at campaign appearances and was planning a trip to an oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday until weather conditions postponed that visit.
His proposal has been rejected by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama who argues that we can't drill our way to lower prices; that the solution to rising crude oil prices is developing alternative forms of energy.
Obama's position has received support from a surprising source-none other than billionaire oilman and long time Republican operative T. Boone Pickens..
Timothy Egan writes about these strange bedfellow developments in today's New York Times:
T. Boone Pickens says, in a $58 million campaign,...that we can’t drill our way to lower gas prices. By implication, anybody who tells you otherwise — including the fellow Texan he helped put in the White House — is a fraud...
Totally misleading” is the way Pickens describes Republican attempts to convince the public that if we just opened up all these forbidden areas to oil drilling then gas prices would fall. He’s not against new drilling, but he is honest enough to say it wouldn’t do anything...
Pickens was a geologist before he found a deep pool of money, so when he says “the geology just isn’t there” to reduce oil imports through new drilling in offshore areas, he has some cred...
Meanwhile, looking bravely to the past, Bush and McCain are trying to convince us that more oil drilling will save us from $5-a-gallon gas. History says otherwise. The number of oil and gas permits on federal land doubled in the last five years, with no effect on price or supply. And Bush’s own Energy Information Administration says increased drilling wouldn’t move the market in the short term.
McCain knows this, despite the brazen lie in his Obama gas ad. He now says drilling offshore would have “a psychological impact.” Just like that “mental recession” his former chief economic adviser Phil Gramm spoke of. These guys need to get off the couch.
The entire article is linked.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Fed reports economy continues to stagnate
The Federal Reserve beige book for June and July, a snapshot of the economy, reports that Americans are cutting back on everything from cars to food to brand-name products, in another sign that the economy is slowing.
The report raises concerns that as money from the federal stimulus checks dries up, the recession could become even more severe.
The Fed highlighted fears that economic growth will continue to stagnate as Americans cut back in the face of a weak job market and higher gasoline prices. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the nation’s total growth.
The Chicago District (7th) which includes Milwaukee reported that:
Economic activity...was sluggish in June. Consumer spending was mixed and labor market conditions weakened some...Residential construction declined further and nonresidential construction showed signs of slowing. Manufacturing activity weakened slightly. Consumer lending declined, while business lending was stable. Cost pressures from rising material and energy prices remained high, while wage pressures continued to be low. Flooding and cool weather further set back crop conditions in June, although they improved toward the end of the month and in early July.
The full report is linked here.
The report raises concerns that as money from the federal stimulus checks dries up, the recession could become even more severe.
The Fed highlighted fears that economic growth will continue to stagnate as Americans cut back in the face of a weak job market and higher gasoline prices. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the nation’s total growth.
The Chicago District (7th) which includes Milwaukee reported that:
Economic activity...was sluggish in June. Consumer spending was mixed and labor market conditions weakened some...Residential construction declined further and nonresidential construction showed signs of slowing. Manufacturing activity weakened slightly. Consumer lending declined, while business lending was stable. Cost pressures from rising material and energy prices remained high, while wage pressures continued to be low. Flooding and cool weather further set back crop conditions in June, although they improved toward the end of the month and in early July.
The full report is linked here.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Buzz Bissinger's college world series vacation
Buzz Bissinger, the author of "Friday Night Lights," writes about his recent trip to the college World Series in pursuit of the pure sports experience. Not only did Mr. Bessinger learn that historic Rosenblatt Stadium will fall victim to the wrecking ball, but he got arrested.... for bringing a camera to the game no less!
This account about "progress" and the NCAA is just too good to be true.
This account about "progress" and the NCAA is just too good to be true.
Friday, July 18, 2008
U.S. healthcare: poor quality, high costs!
A new study reports that the U.S health system is the most expensive in the world, yet its quality among the industrialized world's worst.
The report, the second national scorecard from this influential health policy research group, shows that the United States spends more than twice as much on each person for health care as most other industrialized countries. But it has fallen to last place among those countries in preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care, according to the report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York.
The report highlights how inefficient the U.S. system of private medical insurance is documenting that administrative costs are much higher at about 7.5 percent, than in other countries.
Bringing those administrative costs down to the level of 5 percent or so as in Germany and Switzerland, where private insurers still play a significant role, would save an estimated $50 billion a year in the United States.
Read more here.
The report, the second national scorecard from this influential health policy research group, shows that the United States spends more than twice as much on each person for health care as most other industrialized countries. But it has fallen to last place among those countries in preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care, according to the report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York.
The report highlights how inefficient the U.S. system of private medical insurance is documenting that administrative costs are much higher at about 7.5 percent, than in other countries.
Bringing those administrative costs down to the level of 5 percent or so as in Germany and Switzerland, where private insurers still play a significant role, would save an estimated $50 billion a year in the United States.
Read more here.
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