That’s a small sum compared to the $1.25 million the Jennings School District spent on hand-held computers for students. Most of those computers ended up in storage. Jennings is now selling some of the devices for a fraction of what it paid, and it plans to distribute others to graduating students over the course of a few years.

It would be wiser for Jennings to emulate the Florida district and give away whatever computers it can’t sell, as soon as possible. If the district gives them all out at once, recipients may be able to find some use for them. If it waits to hand them out to graduates in a couple of years, they’ll be completely obsolete. By then, graduates won’t want to do anything with the computers — except maybe to display them with their caps and gowns as mementos.

There’s no need to attach a survey; just get rid of the devices. But if Jennings does give them to survey participants, I can imagine what a common response will be: “Stop wasting money on gadgets that students don’t use!”

The post One Way to Get Rid of the Jennings School District’s Handheld Computers appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

I have always done my own taxes, even when I had a small business in the ’90s, but that will end in 2010 because my wife and I decided to go with an accountant for the first time. Our taxes are not particularly complicated, but they are not particularly easy, either, and that is as much detail as I’ll bore you with. I always liked fighting through the details as a matter of pride, but now the benefits of that hard work are losing out to the time costs as the returns get more complicated.

More disturbing in the article is this ugly nugget:

The IRS this month announced it will be scrutinizing the tax preparer industry. Shulman said the IRS is looking to set “a minimal level of competence in the preparer community.”

Terrific. Now we get federal licensing rules for one more profession. That will raise the costs of using H & R Block, etc. I’ll admit that this is one field where more people doing their own work (as in their own tax preparation) might bring the great side benefit of leading more people to be upset about the tax code, but I still don’t want that benefit caused by higher costs imposed by the IRS.

The simple fact is that a lot of people can and should be doing their own taxes. If you have one job where taxes are withheld, you can work through it without too many headaches. The head of the IRS should be one of those people.

The post IRS Commissioners Should Have to Do Their Own Taxes appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

One reason advanced in opposition to the girl’s plan is that she would have to study by herself for two years rather than going to school. This is a scary example of a state imposing uniformity at the expense of someone’s dream. Schools as we know them have been around for only a short period of time, relative to the vast span of history. People have been exploring for thousands of years. Who is to say that the modern classroom constitutes a normal experience and sailing the open seas is aberrant?

As for the safety issue, the girl’s family planned her trip so that she would at most be at sea for three weeks at a time. Young teenagers have sailed solo on voyages of that duration. If a three-week journey is acceptable, then there should be nothing wrong with many three-week journeys in succession.

The post “On Life’s Vast Ocean Diversely We Sail” appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Somewhat more interesting is the decision by some coffee shops to force people who sit there all day to actually buy something. I have never had a cup of coffee, so I have not spent too much time in coffee shops. Nonetheless, during the little time I have spent in them, I have always been amazed at the people sitting there using the resources without paying anything (or paying barely anything). When I had my own small business in the ’90s, I tried not to do anything for free. I often gave extremely large discounts in certain situations (mostly for multiple legal papers being served at the same address), but I didn’t ever want to do anything for free. I certainly understand why some coffee shop owners no longer think its cute to have people taking up seats for hours without paying for anything.

This issue hits home because one of our favorite places to go after work here at the Show-Me Institute is C.J. Muggs in Clayton, where they set out excellent free appetizers during happy hour. They more than make back this loss from beer drinkers, but not everyone who works at the institute drinks alcohol. So, I wonder whether Muggs makes any money on the people who go there, buy a soda (they always pay for something), and then eat the free food? I have to guess that they make enough money off the beer drinkers to more than make up for a few people who just get a soda. But, if Muggs were to take away the free food, we would be really screwed.

The post Is This the Beginning of the End for “Free”? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Various Thoughts on the Stimulus Package appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Some highlights of the speech include Bush praising the free market as the best approach to promote business, and stating that smarter government — not larger government — is beneficial. Truly words to live by, as ironic as they may be coming from Dubya’s mouth. Say what you will, but the man has been the greatest cheerleader the free market has had of late.

Anyway, check out the article (link via Drudge) before getting into any yo momma battles in the comments section. There was once a time when I would not have had to give this stipulation.

The post Remove Foot, Close Mouth, Praise the Free Market appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

This is a fantastic idea. The organization’s teams will likely be able to have far more of a positive impact on these neighborhoods than squads of police officers, halls full of bureaucrats, or other "outsiders" could ever hope to have, simply by providing role models of socially responsible behavior to whom young people can relate. This is just one more example of how civil society can work together to improve communities without relying on inefficient and/or misguided government programs.

The post Kudos to “A Call to Oneness” appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

I also must recommend this amazing article about the changing political worldview of playwright David Mamet, written by Mr. Mamet as an essay in one act. While Mamet has never thrown anything at me for no reason whatsoever, I still loved the article, which briefly gets into the economics of Thomas Sowell and Milton Friedman. Link via Drudge. (Hey, Drudge, I have now linked to you, so I believe it’s your turn to link to me.)

The post Two Must-Read National Articles: One Hysterical, One Insightful appeared first on Show-Me Institute.