Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ Links (030306)
Free Links:
- At OpinionJournal.com yesterday, Katherine Kersten, last seen here defending the free-speech rights of returning Iraq War soldiers and the families of those killed in action, set her sights on the Minneapolis public school system:
Something momentous is happening here in the home of prairie populism: black flight. African-American families from the poorest neighborhoods are rapidly abandoning the district public schools, going to charter schools, and taking advantage of open enrollment at suburban public schools. Today, just around half of students who live in the city attend its district public schools.
Black parents have good reasons to look elsewhere. Last year, only 28% of black eighth-graders in the Minneapolis public schools passed the state’s basic skills math test; 47% passed the reading test. The black graduation rate hovers around 50%, and the district’s racial achievement gap remains distressingly wide. Louis King, a black leader who served on the Minneapolis School Board from 1996 to 2000, puts it bluntly: “Today, I can’t recommend in good conscience that an African-American family send their children to the Minneapolis public schools. The facts are irrefutable: These schools are not preparing our children to compete in the world.” Mr. King’s advice? “The best way to get attention is not to protest, but to shop somewhere else.”
They can do so because of the state’s longstanding commitment to school choice. In 1990 Minnesota allowed students to cross district boundaries to enroll in any district with open seats. Two years later in St. Paul, the country’s first charter school opened its doors. (Charter schools are started by parents, teachers or community groups. They operate free from burdensome regulations, but are publicly funded and accountable.) Today, this tradition of choice is providing a ticket out for kids in the gritty, mostly black neighborhoods of north and south- central Minneapolis.
More states need to build the same tradition to give parents an escape valve from failing public schools.
- French protection of native companies reaches an absurd level (HT on-hiatus EU Rota) — It’s using what is supposedly a private pension fund, known as the CDC (technically Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, which is why I prefer using “CDC”), “as a domestic buffer to ward off foreign takeovers.” Entrenched, underperforming native company managements should be the only ones pleased at this.
- 85% of a pretty small sample of CEOs thinks the economy is going to keep growing for the next 6 months, and the CEO Economic Outlook Index rose.
- After all the rate hikes by the Fed, it’s surprising that mortgage rates haven’t moved up all that much. The averages for 30- and 15-year fixed-rate loans last week were 6.18% and 5.84%, respectively. The 30-year fixed percentage is only 0.71% higher than last June’s 5.47%.
- It’s hard to imagine Ford and GM recovering until they do something about this (for them) debacle. European car makers won’t be pleased either.
Consumer Reports has seemed slanted toward Japanese marques for years. Of course now that I’ve bought an Accord I tend to agree with that assessment.
American cars often look great on the outside but downright cheap on the inside. The Chrysler 300 my brother-in-law rented last October is a great case-in-point. I don’t think they could have used cheaper plastic for the interior surfaces.
Comment by eLarson — March 3, 2006 @ 8:23 am