The Forum Archives | Georgia Public Policy Foundation

Foundation Testifies at Federal EPA Carbon Standards Hearing

posted 5 years ago on October 31st, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

(Foundation Vice President Benita Dodd addressed an Environmental Protection Agency listening session on carbon pollution standards for existing power plants on October 23 in Atlanta. This is the transcript of her remarks.) Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this listening session. My name is Benita Dodd and I am Vice President of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. The Foundation is an independent, state-focused think tank that proposes market-oriented approaches to public policy to improve the lives of Georgians. The Foundation believes that tougher standards on carbon dioxide emissions being proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and under discussion at the EPA’s 11 listening sessions around the country will have unfortunate consequences for the United States. This nation holds… View Article

Justice David Nahmias: “We All Feel Blessed to Be Americans”

posted 5 years ago on October 30th, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

(An excerpt from Georgia Supreme Court Associate Justice David Nahmias’ address to the fourth annual Georgia Legislative Policy Forum. Watch his address on the Georgia Public Policy Foundation YouTube channel.) By Justice DAVID NAHMIAS I think we all feel blessed to be Americans. I feel particularly blessed because it could easily have been different for me. My father comes from Egypt and my mother comes from Germany. They came to this country after World War II. They arrived here with almost nothing. They met in medical school. They moved to Atlanta in 1964 when I was born. They had very successful medical careers, helped a lot of people and raised several successful children and gave a lot back to… View Article

We can STOP the “You Can’t” Firewall in Higher Education

posted 5 years ago on October 29th, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

(Excerpt from Richard DeMillo’s address to the Georgia Legislative Policy Forum. Watch his address on the Foundation YouTube channel.) By RICHARD DeMILLO The conversations we’re going to have today are conversations being held 100 times in the U.S., 1,000 times around the world. No matter where you go everyone is worried about the status of their own university. If you go to Europe, if you go to Asia or Africa everyone is looking at American universities and saying, that’s the gold standard, that’s what we want to be. The Times of London publishes an annual ranking of world universities, mainly research universities. They rank maybe 1,000 universities around the world. In the top 100, sixty percent are American universities. … View Article

Digital Learning Task Force Should Resist Safe, GO BOLD!

posted 5 years ago on October 28th, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

By Mike Klein Go bold or go safe? Those are two very different directions. Soon we will see which direction a state digital learning task force chooses when its report is released next month. The task force created last year by Governor Nathan Deal was told in specific executive order language that technology and digital learning are the future. What does that mean? Far-reaching, shoot-the-moon strategies that shove aside traditional obstacles could become transformational – that is, they would forever change the landscape. Less aggressive but politically safe thinking would become largely transitional – that is, tweaks around the edges. Georgia has recent experience with both transformational and transitional. Three years ago the state empaneled a special council to recommend… View Article

Friday Facts: October 25, 2013

posted 5 years ago on October 25th, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

October 25, 2013 It’s Friday! Quotes of Note “We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.” – Frédéric Bastiat “If a government resorts to inflation, that is, creates money in order to cover its budget deficits or expands credit in order to stimulate business, then no power on earth,… View Article

Proposed CO2 Standards: Expensive Hot Air

posted 5 years ago on October 25th, 2013 by admin 2 Comments

By Benita M. Dodd (This commentary is the basis for testimony by Benita Dodd on behalf of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation at the EPA Listening Session on 111(d) Carbon Pollution Standards for Existing Power Plants in Atlanta on October 23 and was submitted in full to the EPA.) The Foundation believes that tougher standards on carbon dioxide emissions being proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and under discussion at the EPA’s 11 listening sessions around the nation will have unfortunate consequences for the United States. This nation holds the world’s largest estimated recoverable reserves of coal; in fact, the United States is a net exporter of coal. In 2012, 81 percent of the coal produced in the nation was… View Article

Behind the Scenes in the Making of a MOOC

posted 5 years ago on October 23rd, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

By Michael Horn The emerging world of K–12 blended learning remains a young field full of promise for personalizing learning and boosting outcomes for all students. More and more bright spots are emerging every day. But there are also challenges. With the buzz surrounding 1:1 device programs and new classroom apps, there are risks that people might just take education technologies and layer it over the existing monolithic classroom processes and not fundamentally change the way students learn. The hype around and cramming of technology remains a serious risk to the field. To help educators make the shift to blended learning that truly moves the needle for students, we’ve been working for the past few months with Silicon Schools Fund… View Article

Checking Up On Health: October 22, 2013

posted 5 years ago on October 22nd, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

Health Policy News and Views Compiled by Benita M. Dodd If you want a job done right: Does your doctor’s gender make a difference? A Canadian study found that found female physicians outperformed their male counterparts on certain metrics of care. Researchers studied physicians who treat elderly patients with diabetes and measured compliance with three parts of standard treatment: prescribing periodic eye exams, scheduling annual physical exams and keeping patients on a mix of three specific medications. It found that 75 percent of women required patients to undergo an exam compared with 70 percent of males; 71 percent of female physicians recommended the three specific medications compared with 67 percent of the males, and 39e percent of women asked… View Article

Friday Facts: October 18, 2013

posted 5 years ago on October 18th, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

October 18, 2013 It’s Friday! About 200 people attended the Georgia Legislative Policy Forum on October 11. Visit our Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/k7xd84g to view photographs of the event; view video of the sessions on our YouTube channel at http://tinyurl.com/l8mswe7. Quotes of Note “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of… View Article

The False Promise of Universal Health Insurance

posted 5 years ago on October 18th, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

By Greg Scandlen There are many things that might have been done to reform health care in the United States after Barack Obama was elected. The Affordable Care Act does begin to address some of these problems: It begins to break the bond of employers being the primary provider of health insurance coverage. This was always an odd idea that exists as an artifact of the wage and price freeze of World War Two. Employers were not allowed to raise wages to attract workers, so they began offering “fringe” benefits instead. Obamacare relieves smaller employers (under 50 workers) of any expectation of providing coverage and gives larger employers an affordable way out. It begins to move away from the regressive… View Article

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