Above: Brother, can you spare a dime?

- Protect jobless fund: Unemployment is still a threat - Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

A bill now hurtling through the Utah Legislature has an odor of irrational exuberance about it. Lawmakers would be wise to stop and think about the plan to cut the rate of taxes Utah employers pay into the state’s unemployment compensation fund.
The world economy remains in an extremely shaky position. The unemployment rate, in Utah and nationally, seems to have halted its horrible climb. But the Republicans who dominate Utah politics cannot be unaware of the political hay their national brethren have been making by noting that joblessness is still too high.
Meanwhile, eurozone finance ministers are engaged in a never-ending series of emergency summit meetings where they search for a solution to their debt crisis. The likelihood of another European recession, which would inevitably drag the rest of the world’s economy down with it, remains frighteningly high.
Yet, spurred on by a request from Gov. Gary Herbert, the Utah Senate has already passed, with no dissenting votes, a measure that would undermine the soundness of the state’s unemployment trust fund. ...

Related:
- The austerity debacle - Paul Krugman, New York Times/Salt Lake Tribune
- Canada chops employment insurance staff, leaving jobless in the lurch - The Toronto Star
- Obama cooks the unemployment books - Washington Star Editorial

- Removing hurdles: All students should take the ACT - Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

For some high school students nearing graduation, the fee they must pay to take the ACT is the first financial hurdle standing in their path toward college.
For these teenagers from low-income homes, the $34 minimum cost to take the test one time is hard to come by. Still, it’s in their interests and the best interest of the state for all high school students to take the ACT. That’s why the Legislature should pass Sen. Margaret Dayton’s bill to make the ACT the required standardized test for high school juniors, at state expense. ...
... Utah is starting a downward spiral toward mediocrity in education, with fewer high school graduates ready for college and a smaller percentage of the population holding college degrees.
Helping remove financial barriers to college should begin to encourage Utah’s youths to, first, take the courses they need to get ready for college, and second, realize that the goal of a college degree is attainable.