GOP Ignores Culpability of Its Own Education Policies

It's good to know the Bush administration realizes its economic policies have meant huge wads of cash for a very wealthy elite, and very little for most ordinary Americans. It is also good to know that the administration is suddenly realizing that has something to do with education. What's troubling, however, is that there still seems to be a complete disconnect on the administration's part about how its continued underfunding of education has a lot to do with the problem.

Since the signing of the much-touted No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush has underfunded that legislation by almost $40 billion. That includes an almost half billion dollar cut to the Department of Education this year alone. Meanwhile, he is cutting tens of thousands of students off of Pell Grants - the major federal grants that help low-income students afford college. These come on top of major cuts to job training programs.

Those policy decisions and others are making the economic situation in this country worse. And apparently, those at the highest reaches of government don't understand a simple truism: When you take money that should be used to invest in America's workers and instead fritter it away on giant tax cuts for a tiny handful of already-super-wealthy fat cats, you get the terrible economic consequences we are now dealing with.