Paying to Lie to Children, and More

I. James A. Haught, "Your Tax Dollars Are Paying to Lie to Children," peaceworkers.org, January 20, 2020.
"In violation of the separation of church and state, American tax dollars are funneled to fundamentalist private schools  teaching crackpot absurdities -- such as a claim that Noah probably took two baby dinosaurs onto the ark."

"Under the banner of 'school choice,' vouchers are a device to pour taxpayer money into religion, despite the First Amendment's prohibition of it. Pious parents who don't want their children exposed to public schools obtain government vouchers to pay for religious schooling -- some of it Catholic but more of it evangelical. The born-again schools provide shabby education.

The 'Orlando Sentinel' examined 151 private schools with 140,000 students -- most of them funded with tax dollars through  voucher plan passed by Republican legislators, The 'Sentinel's' report began:
   *Some private schools in Florida that rely on public funding teach students that dinosaurs and               humans lived together, that God's intervention prevented Catholics from dominating North                  America, and that slaves who 'knew Christ' were better off than free men who did not.

It says some evangelical schools use texts from three fundamentalist publishers -- Abeka, Bob Jones University Press, and Accelerated Christian Education -- adding:

   *The books  denounce evolution as untrue, for example, and one shows a cartoon of men and               dinosaurs together, telling students the Biblical Noah likely brought baby dinosaurs onto his ark."

 "The books teach Religious Right politics, saying the historic civil rights movement occurred because 'power-hungry individuals stirred up the people' -- and that the Endangered Species Act is part of a 'radical social agenda' -- and they hint that gays are evil, and European  whites are superior.

The 'Sentinel' said some evangelical schools 'hire teachers without degrees and with criminal records, and forge fire and health inspection forms, and... hold classes in aging strip malls where some face eviction for nonpayment of rent.

The 'Huffington Post' likewise studied fundamentalist private schools and concluded that they 'teach lies. These schools teach creationism, racism and sexism. They're also taking your tax dollars. It says one teacher called  environmentalists 'hippie witches.' "

"Regardless, the GOP and DeVos [Secretary of Education] want to increase tax money for religious schools, despite the separation of church and state. Here's an ominous court case: Conservative Montana legislators passed a 2015 law letting religious parents donate to private church schools and write it off their taxes. In 2017, Montana's Supreme Court struck down this taxpayer funding of faith. Right-wingers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is to hear 'Espinoza v. Montana' soon, on January 22.

Secular groups filed briefs against the Montana travesty. But Republican appointees on the highest bench may ignore the First Amendment's command that government must stay out of religion."

II. Statelessness
70K - Children born into Statelessness each year.
12M - Potentially stateless people in the world,according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
218K - US residents who are 'potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness,' according to a new estimate from the Center for Migration Studies.
45% - Percentage of potentially stateless people or those potentially at risk of statelessness who have come to the US in the last five years -- many from Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, and Myanmar.
$17.6K - Average annual income of a potentially stateless person in the United States. (Source: Emily Berch, "By the Numbers," The Nation, February 17, 2020.)

III. High Costs, Low Returns
The U.S. health care spending per person is $10,739. The nations of Switzerland, France, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. spend from $4,000 (the U.K.), to $7,000+ (Switzerland). The U.S. life expectancy  at birth is 78.5 years. All the other nations listed have life expectancies of more than 80 years. ( Spending in 2017 U.S. Dollars. Sources: Authors' Calculations Based on Data From Max Roser at the University of Oxford, World Bank, OECD.)

IV. Who Deserves Government Help?
Trump's cash bailout of the farm industry dwarfs the money he wants to take away from the poor. 2019 Farm Payouts -- $19 billion. Net Annual Savings From Proposed Cuts: Pushing people off Social Security disability insurance: $80 million --- Stricter food stamp work requirements: $1.3 billion --- More difficult food stamp enrollment: $2.5 billion.

Portion of the bailout that went to: White farmers - 99% --- Wealthiest 10% of farmers - 54%.