The IRS's Bad Credit
Subject:
The Texas Plan as Desegregator
From:
Josh Pollack
Re:
""
Date: Thu
Dec 9
I'm surprised that Bruce Gottlieb is so troubled by
the Texas-California-Florida quasi-affirmative action collegiate admissions
plans. If one accepts the need for a corrective (or, depending on how one views
it, is willing to live with a mere palliative), why not design one that
operates in direct proportion to how segregated a state's schools are?
Of course, affirmative action has never been
intended as a corrective (or palliative) for segregation. Yet there is surely
some considerable connection between segregation, school quality, and student
performance. One could argue that, absent school segregation, any kind of
affirmative action admission plans are that much less necessary. Thus, three
states now have automatically self-adjusting policies. Surely that's not such a
terrible outcome.
(To reply, click
here .)
Subject:
Texas Plan About Class, Not Race
From:
Walter L. Williams
Re:
""
Date: Fri
Dec 10
In reality, it takes more work and more character
for poor student "X" to finish in the top ten percent of his or her public
school class and obtain a mediocre SAT score than it does for rich kid "Y" to
finish in the bottom half of his private school class and score slightly higher
on the SAT. Unlike affirmative action, high school quotas avoid giving an
advantage based on something other than merit in those situations where student
"X" is white and student "Y" is a minority.
(To reply, click
here .)
Subject:
Connerly No Fan of Compromise
From:
John Archer
Re:
""
Date: Thu
Dec 9
It is not true that the Texas, Florida and
California plans, which guarantee the top 10 percent of each high school
graduating class admission to a state university, have been "heralded" by Ward
Connerly, as reported in this article. Mr. Connerly strongly criticized Gov.
Jeb Bush's Florida plan in a Nov. 18 Wall Street Journal op-ed
article, "Why I'm Still Fighting Preferences in Florida." "Part of me applauds
Mr. Bush for trying to reach a compromise on this issue," he wrote. "... But
some things can't be compromised, and equality under the law is one of them.
Mr. Bush's initiative falls short in several areas."
Slate
should
correct this misrepresentation of Mr. Connerly's views.
(To reply, click
here .)
Subject:
Visa: The Tax-Cheat Helper
From:
Daniel Thomas
Re:
""
Date: Wed
Dec 8
I am not a lawyer but I can understand why Visa
won't accept tax payments by credit card. If you fail to pay your taxes the IRS
can seize your assets. But if a credit card company pays your taxes and then
you don't pay the credit card company what measures can the credit card company
take to get its money? I can't imagine that in court the debt you owe to the
IRS is equivalent to the debt you owe your credit card company. This seems like
a real good deal for the IRS and a horrible idea for the credit card companies.
In effect, the IRS is using them as a collection agency.
(To reply, click
here .)
Subject:
The Measure of Subjectivity
From:
Tom Stevens
Re:
""
Date: Wed
Nov 10
In the "Everyday Economics" article of Nov. 8,
Landsburg cites an October 18 th
New York Times editorial in
which I am quoted as an environmentalist who is skeptical about the concept of
existence value because the "numbers might not add up in our favor." This
statement is then used to argue that I do not value intellectual consistency. I
would simply like to set the record straight. I was partially misquoted by the
Times , and Landsburg's interpretation of my "statement" is not accurate.
My concern about existence value is that it is very hard to measure and one can
generate almost any number one wants to. So I am concerned that some groups
will attempt to measure existence value in such a way that they do, in fact,
come up with a number that is in their favor. This is my concern, it is
not what I advocate. As a University Professor I make every attempt to
be objective. I value intellectual consistency highly. I am therefore quite sad
that the opposite impression is being conveyed. With respect to existence
value, the real problem is that its measurement often becomes subjective.
(To reply, click
here .)
[ Tom Stevens is a
professor of resource economics at the University of Massachusetts. ]
