It’s Friday!
Events
TODAY’S the Deadline! Your $75 Early Bird Rate ends today for the 2019 Georgia Legislative Policy Forum. The agenda is online for the daylong event on Friday, November 15, at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly. The theme: “Wisdom, Justice, Mobility.” Read about it here; register here.
September 26: “The Student-Loan Debt Dilemma” is a Higher Ed Happy Hour discussion on student loans and college debt at No Mas! Cantina in Atlanta, with keynote speaker Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. $10. Register here.
September 24: America’s Future Foundation and DonorTrust’s Novus Society seek to engage young professionals, entrepreneurs and philanthropists in the liberty movement. They host “Who Killed Civil Society?” a luncheon event in Atlanta featuring Howard Husock, vice president at the Manhattan Institute. $10. Information, registration here.
September 26: Health Connect South 2019 at the Georgia Aquarium brings together health leaders and innovators across disciplines for collaborative conversations focused on meeting identified health needs. Foundation members can register for 50% off regular admission using the code GPPF. Find out more and register here.
Quotes of note
“The power which a multiple millionaire, who may be my neighbor and perhaps my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest functionaire possesses who wields the coercive power of the state, and on whose discretion it depends whether and how I am to be allowed to live or to work.” – Friedrich von Hayek
“A new wave of educational specialists is increasingly influencing medical education. They emphasize ‘social justice’ that relates to health care only tangentially. … These educators focus on eliminating health disparities and ensuring that the next generation of physicians is well-equipped to deal with cultural diversity, which are worthwhile goals. But teaching these issues is coming at the expense of rigorous training in medical science. The prospect of this ‘new,’ politicized medical education should worry all Americans.” – Stanley Goldfarb, Wall Street Journal
Energy and environment
Shale game: U.S. shale oil production is projected to grow by 74,000 barrels per day in October to a new record of 8.843 million barrels per day, according to the Energy Information Administration. Source: Reuters
Fracking impact: A ban on hydraulic fracturing, as proposed by many Democratic presidential hopefuls, would bring U.S. oil production back to 2008 levels of 5 million barrels per day, according to Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield. He warns the nation would need to import 7 million-8 million barrels per day of oil from the Middle East and would lose up to 10% in gross domestic product if the drilling sector collapses. Source: S&P Global Platts
Auto manufactured outrage: The Trump administration has announced that it will revoke the Obama-era waiver under the Clean Air Act that enabled California to set its own vehicle mileage requirements. Notwithstanding the protests from California’s governor and others, the waiver “clearly is illegal,” notes Benjamin Zycher of the American Enterprise Institute. The Environmental Policy and Conservation Act preempts states from adopting or enforcing laws and regulations “related to” fuel economy.
Just business: There are three main reasons “big oil” is investing huge sums into renewables, Ronald Stein explains in NewGeography.com. “First, it’s a great public relation move. Second, it’s a fantastic business investment, as every wind and solar site generating intermittent electricity needs a natural gas backup generating plant to provide continuous and uninterruptable electricity. Third, if they fail, the government incentives are ‘no take back’ guarantees and the loss is a tax write-off. So, they basically get to dabble for free.”
Opportunity
Farm to table to no: The city of Forest Park has shut down a preschool’s home-grown farm stand, citing zoning code violations and alleging it ties up traffic in the residential area. The principal said the stand operates just two days a month to sell the excess produce the children have learned to grow, along with some farm produce brought in. Source: News reports
Polishing your resume? In case you missed it, the state of Georgia has an upcoming vacancy for a U.S. senator. Gov. Brian Kemp has decided, in the interests of transparency, to create a website for applicants to post their resumes. Browse (or add your) submissions here.
Education
Up and away: The Georgia Department of Education announced this week the state graduation rate rose again in 2018, to 81.6% from 80.6% in 2017 and an all-time high since the state began using the adjusted cohort calculation now required by federal law. Since 2012, the state’s graduation rate has increased by 12 percentage points.
Charters and charges: Opponents often charge that public charter schools increase racial segregation. An analysis in Education Next points out an important caveat: “A large number of charter schools were founded and specifically tailored to serve students from vulnerable backgrounds, out of which a good number have been successful at improving student outcomes. Patterns resulting from black and Hispanic families choosing schools that they feel meet their children’s needs should not be interpreted with the same lens as the government-mandated segregation that was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education.”
Choice: More than 19,000 students in five states are served by parent-controlled Education Savings Accounts. They exist in Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee, but efforts to establish such education-choice accounts in Georgia have thus far been unsuccessful in the Legislature. Source: EdChoice
Healthcare
Vaping: The number of confirmed and probable cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarettes and vaping products has climbed to 530 in 38 states and one territory, and federal officials are launching a criminal investigation into possible causes. Seven people have died. Officials emphasized that “no consistent e-cigarette or vaping product, substance, additive, or brand has been identified in all cases; nor has any one product or substance been conclusively linked to lung injury.” Source: Medscape
Friday Flashback
This month in the archives: In September 15 years ago, the Foundation published, “Traffic, Trolleys and Density: A Commonsense Approach.” It noted, “The bottom line is that if we give people reasonable alternatives, alternatives that are safe, convenient and affordable, we can squeeze more use out of the infrastructure we have in place.”
Media
Social media: The Foundation has 3,527 Facebook “likes” and 1,404 Twitter followers, Join them!
Visit www.georgiapolicy.org to read the Foundation’s latest commentary “The Empty Promise of ‘Democratic’ Socialism,” by Dave Emanuel.
Have a great weekend!
Kyle Wingfield and Benita Dodd
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