Utah considering cutting the 12th grade

Sen. Buttars from Utah has proposed an unorthodox strategy to cut $60 million from the state's current $700m deficit*.

Just take out the 12th grade. Everybody knows that senioritis kicks in, kids skip class, and the last year of college prep ends up being a waste. Utah could cut teachers, roll back funding to schools, and best of all, gain more laborers earlier.

In fact, why not cut high school out completely? Everybody knows that 14 year olds make excellent laborers, not to mention wives. Student achievement and teacher quality haven't made many improvements over the last year, so let's just scrap it.

Hmmm... I'm not buying it, Buttars.

*Note: To put this into perspective, Utah's deficit comes out to a little over $230 per resident. Michigan's deficit comes out to $92 per resident. We get Michigan's problem - a fledgling auto industry based on tradition and not innovation fails and lays off the entire SE corridor of the state. Utah... well, I'll leave it up to you to decide if bleeding the beast has anything to do with their fiscal reality.

Teresa Sullivan to Become UVa President

Former University of Michigan Provost, Teresa A. Sullivan, will become the University of Virginia president (their first female prez!) this August. A great choice for U.Va., but a great loss for Michigan.

Speaking of losses for Michigan, my alma mater's Sociology program seems to be coming up dry on their recruitment efforts this year. In the last few weeks, two candidates have declined, choosing positions at relatively similar schools. Are they getting better deals somewhere else, or is Michigan doing something unflattering to its (phenomenal) program?

This news, combined with at least half a dozen declines since 2008, plus Michael Kennedy's move to Brown last year, is stirring up a bit of unrest in those of us who have a vested interest in preserving the reputation of our school.

Here's a related report from the American Sociological Association on boosting recruitment efforts to attract the best faculty.

Taxes Are NOT Political

I am so bloody sick of taxes.

Not taxes themselves. Taxes, I get. We need schools, social services, parks, cops (debatable). But could we PLEASE simplify the system?

Last year, I was a resident of Michigan for the entire year. I worked in Michigan, but I also spent 3 months in Baltimore. Evidently, this time I was working in Baltimore created such a mass of chaos that I have still yet to escape from underneath that cloud. Why didn't the State of Michigan just continue taxing me? I was working for an International Organization. I'm pretty sure we could've worked that one out. But instead, I was taxed by both DC and Maryland, and only partially by Michigan, and even though my take-home was less than $20k, I still have to pay Michigan. (Although, they aren't answering their phones, so we'll see...)

So, let's see, poor people get taxed but they won't be able to figure it out. Young people are taxed because we're NOT trying to build a life for ourselves? Am I Republican because I hate paying taxes to an over-inflated, cumbersome and pointlessly convoluted system? No. Taxes Are Not Political, as much as politicians want you to think otherwise. A flat-rate system creates predictability, stability, helps poor people, helps recent grads, streamlines the system and ELIMINATES loopholes. Which, by the way, corporations and rich people use.

Well, anyway, enough angry rambling today. Here's the letter I wrote to my congressman. (I'm big on letters to congresspeople.)

*****
Dear Congressman Camp,

Although I tend to be a more liberal Independent, I support you, and agree with a lot of the work you do.

Recently your newsletter addressed the Energy Tax. Then today, I received an EXTRA tax bill from the State of Michigan. While I made under $30,000 last year, I traveled extensively, and so paid Maryland AND DC Taxes out of my paystub. The amount I took home was far less than the $30k salary, and I had personal financial struggle because of it, including credit card debt and repaying my (University of Michigan) student loans.

So now I have to cough up an additional $700 for the State of Michigan, when I'm struggling to build a life for myself at 23, including planning a wedding.

I don't necessarily mind paying taxes. I know that good education and social services require taxes. I just wish the system was simpler.

Why can't we assess the poverty line, and for every dollar you make above the poverty line, you're taxed a flat rate, like 8%? This would solve a lot of problems created by the recession in two important ways, in my opinion.

1. Clarity: People who could NOT afford a company to do their taxes (like me) would have a simple process that was understandable, and not so complicated that you had to pay penalty fees when you don't understand what you're supposed to do.

2. Stability: In uncertain times, why continue to dump stress on people struggling to make ends meet? If people can prepare, plan for their taxes, without requiring a calculus degree to predict how much they'll have to pay, it would create one little factor of stability in a time of uncertainty.

I believe Oregon does this. And I believe that they have Tax Estimator on their state website. Do we have anything like that? Can't we try helping out Michiganders for once? It takes a lot of guts to stay in a state that has such a high unemployment rate. But for some people, like my family, it's not an option, Michigan is their home.

Thanks for listening.

Michelle O'Brien