The economic-stimulus plan under consideration by Congress would include, according to the New York Times, $150 billion in new–and from what I can see, nearly accountability-free–federal spending for education.

The most perceptive prediction about these profligate goodies, from which the higher-education status quo stands so richly to gain, comes from E. J. McMahon, who writes:

House Democrats have rigged the bill’s language to ensure that most of the money flows straight to local school districts and public colleges, where it can insulate unionized teachers and faculty members from the chill winds of a global recession.

Such “stimulus” is likely to greatly retard, in the foreseeable future, the reforms PBC generally advocates.