Democratic Think Tanks need hard factual studies on tax cuts

The Democrats need to conduct some objective studies on tax cuts. Some of the questions that need to be asked:

1. Are tax cuts for the top tax brackets stimulative?  How does this stimulation mechanism work?
2. Are tax incentives to businesses to hire workers more stimulative than tax cuts? 
3. Which government programs that use tax stims work and which don't work?
4. Advantages and disadvantages of a progressive tax system. 

The Democrats could build on the work of Mark Zandi form Moodys Analytics. We have published this table many times:

Permanent tax cuts do not appear to be stimulative at all. The Obama administration has used the payroll tax holidays for FICA payroll tax and provided refundable lump sum tax rebates.

However, the GOP approach with the Bush tax cuts and cutting corporate taxes is not effective according to Moodys. . 

The Democrats should use empirical data to attack the bad tax ideas of the GOP. Taxes are a numbers game.

Some of the work could be done by both the office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Accounting Office (GAO).  A Joint Report on tax effectiveness from the GAO and OMB would be interesting and tough for either political party to refute.

The GOP uses a lot of fuzzy math when they talk about taxes.

Show America the numbers!

graphic courtesy of: http://www.newsrealblog.com/

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GAO study finds academic dishonesty in "for profit" college online programs

During the course of undercover testing, GAO documented its observations related to enrollment, cost, financial aid, course structure, substandard student performance, withdrawal, and exit counseling.

Overall, GAO observed that 8 of the 15 colleges appeared to follow existing policies related to academic
dishonesty, exit counseling, and course grading standards. 

At the 7 remaining colleges, GAO found mixed results. For example, one or more staff at these colleges appeared to act in conflict with school policies regarding academic dishonesty or course grading standards, or federal regulations pertaining to exit  counseling for student loans, while other staff acted consistent with such policies.

GAO’s undercover students engaged in substandard academic performance by using one or more of the following tactics: failure to attend class, failure to submit assignments, submission of objectively
incorrect assignments, submission of unresponsive assignments, and plagiarism. 

At 6 colleges, instructors acted in a manner consistent with school policies in this area, and in some cases attempted to contact students to provide help outside of class. One or more instructors at 2 colleges repeatedly noted that the students were submitting plagiarized work, but no action was taken to remove the student.

One or more instructors at the 4 remaining colleges did not adhere to grading standards. For example, one student submitted photos of celebrities and political figures in lieu of essay question responses but still earned a passing grade.

Three of GAO’s students were expelled for performance or nonattendance. Eight of the 9 students withdrew from their respective colleges without incident. At the remaining school, GAO’s request to withdraw was never acknowledged and the student was eventually expelled for nonattendance. 

Three students did not receive federally mandated exit counseling, advising students of repayment options and the consequences of default.

Secular Human taught at three of these 'for profit" schools and two of them were terrible. Plagiarism was frequently ignored and the deans could  care less  about discipline. 

Because of these and other academic shortfalls, degrees from 'for profit" colleges are often worthless and the students gets stuck with a $20,000 plus debt that survives bankruptcy proceedings. 

As Austin Powers once said:

It's about profit, baby!


graphic source: http://www.collegesurfing.com/content/for-profit-colleges-are-gasp-making-profit/

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