Free Republic

While much of the U.S. has returned to normal after the pandemic, the long-term academic harm to students endures. [cut] We can move forward rather than back. Doing so is a priority if the U.S. is to be a competitive nation in a competitive world. It also is a human necessity, as every student has God-given potential and deserves a great education. The solutions are simple. There are math and reading policies every state should immediately enact and there are ways parents can contribute. Start with a call to all parents, guardians and families—those who know their children best. You...

With this week’s “health care summit” between President Obama and the Republicans, one hopes that the GOP will do a better job than they have done thus far in promoting the benefits of Health Savings Accounts. If they had done so in the past, ObamaCare would likely never have come into consideration. While structured differently than traditional health insurance plans, it is precisely this structural difference that holds the key to reigning in runaway health care inflation. Health Savings Accounts should also have a nearly universal appeal to a particularly vital population in this debate, namely, doctors. Our present system...

Every child born in California would get a $500 savings account to start building a nest egg for college or down payment for a home, under a bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday in the state Senate. A similar program has increased savings in Great Britain since 2002, but California would be the first state in the nation to enact it, said David Lesher, California program director for the nonprofit New America Foundation, based in Washington, D.C. A national savings program has been pending in Congress since 2005. Under the bill, every child born in California after Jan. 1, 2008, would receive...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is crafting a sweeping election-year proposal to boost individual savings through two new tax-exempt accounts, which together would allow family members each to sock away as much as $15,000 a year, say people familiar with the plan.</p>