Are Claims of a Crisis in Child Care Overblown?
Our view of a widely reported, COVID-caused child-care “crisis” is almost entirely driven by anecdotal evidence promoted by advocacy groups. To make good policy in a crucial area, we need more reliable data.
Emphasizing an “acute, immediate child-care crisis in America,” President Biden included $40 billion in his recently-proposed $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” aimed to save thousands of struggling child-care businesses and enable millions of women now stuck at home to return to work.
As I suggested in a recently-published article, though, we know too little about the child care problem we’re planning to spend billions of dollars to solve. That’s because our view of a widely reported, COVID-caused child-care “crisis” is almost entirely driven by anecdotal evidence promoted by advocacy groups. To make good policy in a crucial area, we need more reliable data.
Last Updated:
Iraq Strikes $2 Billion Prepayment Crude Oil Supply Deal With China s Zhenhua
Iraq s SOMO signed a deal with China’s ZhenHua to supply 130,000 crude oil barrels per day, upto 4 million barrels worth $2 bn with an upfront annual payment.
Iraq on January 2 struck a multibillion-dollar oil-supply deal with a Chinese firm after Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi approved the rare contract in the Iraqi parliament. China’s ZhenHua Oil Company finalized a deal with Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) for the monthly purchase of 4 million oil barrels worth $2 billion in a 5-year annual contract. The Iraq-China crude supply deal will bolster Iraq’s economy which is in shambles due to the coronavirus pandemic. Iraq is the latest with the prepayment settlement among the Chinese state-owned trading companies that struck similar deals with Angola, Venezuela, and Ecuador, previously to rescue the cash strapped economies.