{"id":3316,"date":"2011-04-24T16:37:25","date_gmt":"2011-04-24T16:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=3316"},"modified":"2013-03-26T16:52:11","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T16:52:11","slug":"failure-is-very-much-and-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/failure-is-very-much-and-option\/","title":{"rendered":"Failure Is Very Much and Option"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n

NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n

Lost in the furor over the\u00a0budget<\/a>\u00a0is any discussion of the fact that, after a certain baseline point, redistributive payouts might be making things worse for those on the receiving end.<\/p>\n

Black middle-class flight from northern big cities, failing public schools like nearby Fresno City College, where yesterday it was announced that 70 percent of students (the majority of them on some sort of federal and state loan support) fail to receive a two-year AA degree \u2014 these are just a few indications that increasing reliance on government subsidies does not eliminate, and may well perpetuate, such ills as illiteracy, poverty, and hunger.<\/p>\n

Here in California, the CSU system \u2014 the largest university system in the world \u2014 cannot explain why 46 percent of entering freshmen in 2001 needed remediation in math and English, still less why that number has soared to nearly 60 percent after a decade of record spending on campus budgets. Only about half of students graduate within six years, even fewer within five.<\/p>\n

In a surreal interview with Neil Cavuto yesterday, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D., Texas) insisted that all sorts of federal entitlements were \u201cinvestments\u201d that, in a time of record deficits, could be paid for by going after the wealthy. The argument comes full circle when we remember that Johnson was revealed to have steered Black Caucus Foundation scholarships to her own grandsons and other relatives and friends.<\/p>\n

At some point, this historic debate must address the real pathological origins of federal debt: Congressmen, senators, and administration officials of both parties have steered public monies to chosen constituents and causes, without any worry whether the\u00a0money<\/a>\u00a0helps or harms, because by doing so they can build a political base and, in many cases, gain personal profit while in office and real riches when out of office.<\/p>\n

Right now, Democrats are arguing that record-level social spending programs are absolutely necessary; that when they fail to achieve promised results, it\u2019s because of too little money; and that anyone who questions these premises is a cruel megaphone for the wealthy and want to throw the ill out on the street. This is the familiar circular logic of big government: When massive infusions of cash fail to produce results, the reason is insufficient funding \u2014 not that it creates complacency and dependency in lieu of self-reliance and personal responsibility.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a92011 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner Lost in the furor over the\u00a0budget\u00a0is any discussion of the fact that, after a certain baseline point, redistributive payouts might be making things worse for those on the receiving end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[571,187],"tags":[1081,1014,221,165,440],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Ru","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3836,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/jerry-brown-modern-sisyphus\/","url_meta":{"origin":3316,"position":0},"title":"Jerry Brown, Modern Sisyphus","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services California Gov. Jerry Brown must rapidly close a $25 billion budgetary shortfall. But right now it seems almost a hopeless task since the state's disastrous budget is a symptom, not the cause, of California's much larger nightmare. Take unemployment. It currently runs 12.6\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10472,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-california-cracking-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":3316,"position":1},"title":"Is California Cracking Up?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 With poor education, a budget deficit, and crumbling infrastructure, Californians shouldn\u2019t be focused on idealistic social programs. \u00a0 Corporate profits at California-based transnational corporations such as Apple, Facebook, and Google are hitting record highs. \u00a0 California housing prices from La Jolla to Berkeley\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education"","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5707,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/krugmans-california-dreaming\/","url_meta":{"origin":3316,"position":2},"title":"Krugman’s California Dreaming","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online It is rare, even in the case of Paul Krugman, to read a column in which almost everything that is stated is either wrong or deliberately misleading. But his\u00a0recent take\u00a0on California\u2019s renaissance is pure fantasy. I wish it weren\u2019t. Krugman starts with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":890,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/california-tuition-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":3316,"position":3},"title":"California Tuition Blues","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services In so-called March in March protests, thousands of students in California universities recently demonstrated in outrage over spiraling tuition costs. At both the California State University and University of California multi-campus systems, tuition hikes in recent years have far exceeded the national average.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11778,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/california-has-become-americas-cannibal-state\/","url_meta":{"origin":3316,"position":4},"title":"California Has Become America\u2019s Cannibal State","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness For over six years, California has had a top marginal income tax rate of 13.3 percent, the highest in the nation. About 150,000 households in a state of 40 million people now pay nearly half of the total annual state income tax. The state\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6467,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-myth-of-a-california-renaissance\/","url_meta":{"origin":3316,"position":5},"title":"The Myth of a California Renaissance","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Sacramento's strategy for recovery is more taxes, more regulation, and more government. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 Are the recent raves about a new California renaissance true? Rolling Stone\u00a0magazine just gushed that California governor Jerry Brown has brought the state back from the brink of \u201cdouble-digit unemployment, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/SF_From_Marin_Highlands3-300x211.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3316"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3318,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3316\/revisions\/3318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}