If you thought that no one else was coming after your money,
think again! America's universities, already deeply on the
federal dole, want an extra dose of taxpayer money.
Reports Barbara Hollingsworth in the Washington
Examiner:
Just before Christmas, the Carnegie Corporation of New York - a
philanthropic organization set up by steel baron Andrew
Carnegie, who in his day was the richest man in the world -
took out a rare double-page ad in several prominent newspapers.
The ad, an open letter asking President-elect Barack Obama to
put them on his economic stimulus list, was signed by the heads
of 54 academic institutions, including UVA president John
Casteen.
Like most investors, UVA lost $1 billion in the recent stock
market meltdown due to the fact that if followed the so-called
"Yale model" - shunning safe, traditional investments such as
Treasury bonds to pursue much higher yields in risky hedge
funds and then-popular private equity offerings.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine also says that the commonwealth's own
worsening financial condition will force him to cut $23 million
out of the $160 million UVA typically receives.
So like many of his peers, Casteen is now publicly begging for
a federal bailout. Does the man have no shame?
For one thing, UVA had a $4 billion endowment as of October 31.
Watching it lose $1 billion in value was no doubt a most
unpleasant experience, as millions of workers with much smaller
401(k)s can attest, but when you still have about $3 billion
left over, it's survivable.
And despite the fact that UVA will receive $23 million less in
state funds, the university has no plans to lay off any
employees - even though payroll accounts for two-thirds of
UVA's operating budget.
Besides his reported $797,048 university salary, Casteen
himself also made $220,000 annually for serving as a part-time
director of Wachovia Bank. He's apparently okay with the
federal government taking even more money away from single
mothers and truck drivers, but won't even consider scaling back
his own lavish lifestyle.
I keep arguing that the best thing we could do is load up B-52s
with $100 bills and carpet bomb America. Then at least
everyone would have a chance of getting their hand on some of the
loot!
