South China Morning Post (August 3)
“Plummeting scores in English-language tests among Japanese lower secondary school students have triggered concern that future generations will be unable to communicate in the world’s lingua franca. In nationwide tests conducted in April, just 12.4 per cent of 15-year-olds were able to reply correctly to five spoken questions in English.”
Tags: Communicate, Concern, English, Future generations, Japan, Language, Plummeting, School, Scores, Students, Tests
Washington Post (September 6)
“Federal debt incurred to fund current consumption…is in effect a tax on future generations….But debt incurred to finance infrastructure modernization and repair is different. It creates… a long-term asset (the highway, railroad, energy transmission grid or airport such spending buys). It’s perfectly fair to spread the financing costs of those assets across the generations of taxpayers who will enjoy their use.”
Tags: Asset, Current consumption, Fair, Federal debt, Financing costs, Future generations, Infrastructure, Tax
