Naked Capitalism Link of the Day

Today's link: Public Schools Increase Fees Charged To Students, at the Wall Street Journal:

Budget shortfalls have prompted Medina Senior High to impose fees on students who enroll in many academic classes and extracurricular activities. The Dombis had to pay to register their children for basic courses such as Spanish I and Earth Sciences, to get them into graded electives such as band, and to allow them to run cross-country and track. The family's total tab for a year of public education: $4,446.50.
"I'm wondering, am I going to be paying for my parking spot at the school? Because you're making me pay for just about everything else," says Ms. Dombi, a parent in this middle-class community in northern Ohio.
Public schools across the country, struggling with cuts in state funding, rising personnel costs and lower tax revenues, are shifting costs to students and their parents by imposing or boosting fees for everything from enrolling in honors English to riding the bus.
At high schools in several states, it can cost more than $200 just to walk in the door, thanks to registration fees, technology fees and unspecified "instructional fees."

This is a pretty sad state of affairs.  The public school system made this country great.  I can understand the conservative case that teachers and administrators are highly compensated.  That came about because of economic growth in the 1990's allowed public sector pay to grow while private sector pay stagnated.  But much of the budget shortfalls results from tax cuts to make states more "competitive."  I hate to tell you, but poor education won't make us more competitive.  The schools featured in the Wall Street Journal article are fairly well-off suburban schools, where parents can afford add-on fees.  Other areas aren't so lucky.  The Republican policy over the past thirty years has been to slowly cut back on the levelling effect of taxation by centralized government, putting more on the backs of local officials.  That works great for their constituents in wealthy suburban areas, but screws folks in rural and inner-city areas.  It also boosts property values in the suburbs, while cutting them in the other places.  Those are features, not bugs.  Not too many people in the inner-cities vote for Republicans, and folks in the rural areas will, even if Republicans come to town and burn down their schools.  Got to cling to the religion and guns, ya know.

This slow motion decrease in civil society will continue as long as nobody calls the Republicans on this.  Scott Walker, John Kasich, Mitch Daniels and other tyrants are cutting the burden on the wealthy and decreasing services for the working and middle classes.  Paul Ryan proposed getting rid of all taxes on dividends, capital gains, interest and estates.  In other words, if you already have money, don't work, that way you don't pay any taxes.  That goes directly against Republican claims to incentivize work by lowering taxes.  The consequences of this plan are that normal people, who don't have great wealth, won't be given the opportunities of a better life which were given to their parents.  One of the good things which came out of the Depression was a genuine feeling that those with more would help those with less.  That altruism has been eroded by the Republican campaign to teach selfishness as a virtue.  Ayn Rand would be proud, nearly half of the country espouses her vile philosophy of cruelty.