It’s Friday!
Events
February 18: Monday is the last day to register for, “Transportation Money Matters,” the Foundation’s February 18 Leadership Breakfast. A panel discussion by Kelly McCutchen and Baruch Feigenbaum of the Reason Foundation will tackle Georgia transportation and funding solutions. The event is open to the public. $30. Find out more here; register online here.
March 18: “Federalism, The Rule of Law and Regulatory Excess,” is the topic of the Foundation’s Leadership Breakfast with Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens. $30. Register online by Monday, March 16, here.
Quotes of Note
“The thought that a federal bureaucrat knows better than parents what they can feed their own families is condescending and reprehensible.” – Diane Douglas, Arizona state school superintendent
“Failing schools keep the cycle of poverty spinning from one generation to the next. Education provides the only chance for breaking that cycle. When we talk about helping failing schools, we’re talking about rescuing children. I stand firm on the principle that every child can learn, and I stand equally firm in the belief that the status quo isn’t working.” – Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal
“If our goal is to improve the environment or reduce congestion, then declining [gas tax] revenue is a good thing. But if our goal is to improve the transportation network, which I argue it is, declining gasoline tax revenue is a bad thing. We can use mileage-based user fees or tolls to manage congestion.” – Baruch Feigenbaum
Education
School choice: Our sister think tank, the James Madison Institute of Florida, launched a video highlighting the meaning of school choice to one child. Watch here to learn about Valentin Mendez’s experience with the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program.
Transportation
Keep in mind: The growth in the commuter workforce is declining as the American worker ages and fewer young people enter the workforce, reports a brief by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). “This … reduces the challenge for transportation planners and operators and suggests that commuter growth will remain important but perhaps be less of a factor impacting national transportation needs in the future.”
Climate impact or crash impact? If everyone bought 40-mpg cars, greenhouse gases would decline by less than a negligible 0.5 percent, H. Sterling Burnett, Research Fellow for the Heartland Institute, wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Land use
Historic districts: The Heartland Institute reports on a study that shows bad zoning policies, including historic preservation ordinances, can lead to economic stagnation.
In-town not so in: The people in the trenches say the age of the city-dwelling millennials may be coming to an end. Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko finds what movement there is shows that those who do want to move want to get to a more rural place five years from now. Source: Businessinsider.com
Friday Flashback
This month in the archives: In February 2005, the Foundation published, “Patient Safety is the Important Issue,” noting: “There is something fundamentally wrong with the medical liability system if we are paying over a thousand times as much and we are no safer than we were 30 years ago.”
Media
Foundation in the news: Kelly McCutchen’s op-ed on clearing up the confusion surrounding transportation funding was published by The Athens Banner-Herald, The Citizen and Watchdog.org. His commentary on alternatives to Medicaid expansion in Georgia was shared by the Columbia County News-Times.
The Forum: In Benita Dodd’s, “Checking Up On Health,” read about vaccination vacillation and U.S. senators “misremembering” their views on the Affordable Care Act.
‘Atlas Shrugged:’ The movie trilogy based on Ayn Rand’s epic novel, “Atlas Shrugged,” is now available on DVD, Blu-ray and online streaming.
Social media: Please “like” us (Facebook), join us (twitter.com/gppf) and share us (Friday Facts)!
Visit www.georgiapolicy.org to read the latest commentary, “The Economics and Politics of Tax Reform,” by Kelly McCutchen.
Have a great weekend!
Kelly McCutchen and Benita Dodd
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