October 23, 2000

Shaking Hands With N. Korea
GOP, Dems Expand Federal Role in Schools
The Cato Rally?

Shaking Hands With N. Korea

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held unprecedented talks with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, today, according to The Washington Post. With a firm handshake, Albright and Kim moved their two nations -- longtime adversaries -- a bit closer. Kim noted that Albright was the first secretary of state to ever visit North Korea. "This is a new one from a historical point of view," he said. "I am really very happy." Responded Albright, "I'm very glad to be here in your beautiful city."

The two spoke for three hours, with a 15-minute break, and during the meeting Albright gave Kim a letter from Clinton anticipating further developments in bilateral relations.

In "Leave Korea to the Koreans," Senior Fellow Doug Bandow writes that the U.S. should use the opportunity presented by Pyongyang's recent softening to reduce its involvement in Korean affairs. "The United States should leave the direction of Korean policy to Seoul -- the country most threatened by North Korea is South Korea," Bandow writes. "America should normalize its relationship with both countries. For the North, that means dropping economic sanctions and initiating diplomatic relations."

GOP, Dems Expand Federal Role in Schools

The Washington Post reports today that six years ago Congress approved $750,000 to start a modest new program to pay schools to provide study halls, tutoring and counseling after regular classes ended. By this year, the program had grown to $453 million annually.

Now, in an end-of-session showdown with Congress over next year's education spending bill, the Clinton administration is holding out for $1 billion instead of the $600 million the GOP has proposed for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

"We are moving in the direction of greater federal involvement no matter who is elected," said Diane Ravitch, an assistant secretary of education in the Bush administration.

In "12-Hour School Days? Why Government Should Leave Afterschool Arrangements to Parents," Director of Education and Child Policy Darcy Olsen writes that Community Learning Centers are "part of a strategic plan to expand government schools into one-stop shopping centers for social services."

The Cato Rally?

Stock prices rose strongly Thursday and Friday after Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's keynote address Thursday morning to the Cato Institute's 18th Annual Monetary Conference. According to The Wall Street Journal, Greenspan "painted a largely rosy picture of an economy that continues to reap the benefits of massive technology-driven productivity increases that show few signs of waning."

Greenspan also said he believes "most of us harbor doubts about whether the dynamics of the political process, some of which have been on display in the current budget deliberations, will allow the surpluses to continue to grow."

Video of Greenspan's address as well as conference papers from other participants are available at the Cato Web site.

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