Press releases that glazed our eyes: “National Jewish Theater Presents Midwest Premiere of Broken Glass, Arthur Miller’s Shattering New Play.”
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“There is a real danger that higher education, even at public universities, will become the preserve of the rich,” Illinois public university faculty senate leaders say in a recent news release. In 1994 dollars, state funding per student has dropped from $5,415 in 1970 to $3,448 in 1995. In that same time, tuition and fees at Illinois public universities have increased almost three times as fast as inflation.
Why the middle class has lost its work ethic. Henry Rose, director of Loyola’s Community Law Center, reminds us in a press release that the biggest government subsidies don’t go to poor people: $70 billion in home-mortgage-interest tax deductions and $90 billion in tax-free employer contributions to health-care coverage. “When we talk about dismantling the welfare state,” he suggests quixotically, “let’s examine all subsidy programs.”
Government help for people who neglect to spend their hard-earned money on their needs. From a People for the American Way letter to the press: “While cable programming is purely consumer-focused, public broadcasting’s mission is to serve the needs of citizens and communities.”
