Given Mr. Obama's penchant for recycling old speeches and old campaign promises, look for at least one reference to spending money on education, or at least on his fellow travelers in the teacher's union, as an "investment in the future". When he gets to this point, remind yourself that money spent is not always an "investment". Every time someone want to sell some big ticket item to my dear sainted mother, they would couch the expense in terms of "an investment". I remember one time, she told me she thought she was going to "invest" in new drapes. Now, I don't know about you, but of all the drapes, curtains and window coverings I have ever purchased, not one has ever produced a dividend over and above covering the windows I purchased them for.
The US Department of Education is one of the ugliest set of drapes you have ever seen. With a price tag of over 100 Billion dollars a year, hung upon the curtain rod of ever declining and failing test scores, if this were something you had to stare at every day, you would get rid of them in a heartbeat. Possibly burn them.
When Obama stands up once again, to tell you he wants to spend money we do not have, for full employment of his friends at the teachers' union, who obediently kick back a portion of those "investments" as contributions to the Democrat Party, because it is an "investment" in our country's future and necessary to turn the economy around, remember that every dime we spend on education, will take an entire generation to find itself into the workplace. Consider the billions upon billions spent since 1980 on the Department of Education: Did the generation that was supposed to benefit from that "investment" find themselves trained and prepared for the jobs of the late 20th and early 21st. centuries?
Beware! When Obama and his fellow Democrats speak of "investing" in the future, they think along the lines of balancing your risk from Enron with this up and coming new company called "Solyndra".
Caveat emptor.
Cross posted at LCR.
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