Salvation of the Nation, and its Obstacles

I learned a few things from reading Niall Ferguson’s column in Newsweek (31 Oct 2011):

  1. The well-being of the nation depends on the generosity of the wealthy.
  2. Social mobility is lower in the US than in Canada and Europe.
  3. Teacher’s unions are the reason why students in poor neighborhoods can’t get ahead.
  4. Teacher’s unions are the reason why students in wealthy neighborhoods stay ahead.
  5. We know about the placebo affect, and we know that outcomes improve when we pay special attention to the matter. Neither of these has anything to do with the success of the Success Charter Network in NYC.
  6. Social mobility will be enhanced by a tax policy which favors the wealthy…hopefully they’ll give back some portion of what the tax policy saved them.

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