Greg Johnson

Greg Johnson writes with a worldview shaped by an Appalachian heritage, a global perspective from ministry work in Russia, Kenya and the Caribbean, an eye on economics from years in the financial services industry and a foundation in his faith.

• Greg Johnson: TVA a model of failed progressivism Published 8/24/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 31 comments

  The Tennessee Valley Authority will have a new leader. President and CEO Tom Kilgore announced his retirement last week, giving hope for change at the New Deal relic. In our dreams.

• Greg Johnson: Paul Ryan's entry gives voters a clear choice Published 8/17/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 34 comments

  Paul Ryan's selection as Mitt Romney's Republican running mate was slightly painful for Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. "I was reading the papers from around the country, seeing what was happening around the world Saturday morning," Corker said in a CNBC ...

• Greg Johnson: Romanians can teach about dangers of collectivism Published 8/12/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 12 comments

  A small demonstration greeted us when we stepped into the Piata Mare in Sibiu, Romania, a couple of weeks ago. The mostly mature crowd in the large square was peaceable, croaking slogans I couldn't understand, waving signs sporting a word ...

• Greg Johnson: Clayton nomination nadir for state Dems Published 8/10/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 15 comments

  To repurpose a 1990s post-Soviet era joke about communism, the Democratic Party is dead in Tennessee — it just hasn't been buried yet.

• Greg Johnson: Romania instructive about big promises Published 8/3/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 19 comments

  TIMISOARA, Romania — Now this is austerity: President Traian Basescu and his center-right colleagues, in an effort to appease European Union fiscal hawks and firm Romania's budgetary footing, fired more than 100,000 government workers, cut the pay of remaining public ...

• Greg Johnson: Scores show many teachers aren't special Published 7/27/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 105 comments

  Maybe the Tennessee Department of Education should bring in David McCullough Jr. to evaluate its evaluation process. When 75 percent of teachers receive top rankings but only 2.5 percent of teachers score the lowest rankings while student test scores repeatedly ...

• Greg Johnson: Obama's insults make politics personal Published 7/20/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 283 comments

  Now, it's personal. Our naïf of a president has again insulted every American who has worked hard and attained some measure of success. President Barack Obama last week again belittled business owners, diminishing their industry, dismissing their perseverance and deriding ...

• Greg Johnson: Bredesen, Perry right on Medicaid's woes Published 7/13/2012 at 3:00 a.m. 1 comment

  Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced this week the Lone Star State will reject the Medicaid expansion offered under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam stayed mum on whether the Volunteer State will opt out of the ...

• Greg Johnson: Medicaid expansion could hurt higher education in Tennessee Updated 7/8/2012 at 1:55 p.m. 12 comments

  Inspired by a surprisingly bipartisan 7-2 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, 15 or more governors have indicated they may opt out of the Medicaid expansion at the core of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam ...

• Greg Johnson: TCAP scores show achievement gap Published 7/6/2012 at 4:00 a.m. 34 comments

  Gov. Bill Haslam rightly celebrated educational improvement last week when the state Department of Education released the 2012 results of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program. "The continued success of students is a testament to how much work Tennessee teachers have ...

• Greg Johnson: Health care ruling contains a true gift Published 6/29/2012 at 4:00 a.m. 194 comments

  Chief Justice John Roberts stunned conservatives yesterday by upholding the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act. Roberts joined the Supreme Court's four perpetual liberals, including Justice Elena Kagan, who worked as solicitor general in the Obama administration when the ...

• Greg Johnson: Rogero's hybrid pension plan fails Published 6/22/2012 at 4:00 a.m. 29 comments

  President Barack Obama's consigliere, David Axelrod, tried to explain away Republican Gov. Scott Walker's big win in the Wisconsin recall election, a recall sought by public employee unions when Walker made good on campaign promises to right-size public employee benefits.

• Greg Johnson: No turning back on teacher evaluation reform Published 6/15/2012 at 4:00 a.m. 28 comments

  The most important sentence in a report on Tennessee's new teacher evaluation process is easy to miss. With media reports focused on shortcomings and the kumbaya call for collaboration, teachers, principals, administrators, legislators and parents shouldn't have to search so ...

• Greg Johnson: Presidential choice is businessman or social worker Published 6/10/2012 at 4:00 a.m. 6 comments

  Tell the truth: If you owned an enterprise that once was the envy of the world, but that enterprise was now limping along, growing far below potential, was running unimaginable deficits year after year, was staggering under enormous and ever-increasing ...

• Greg Johnson: City didn't explore all its pension options Published 6/8/2012 at 4:00 a.m. 23 comments

  Will Knoxville voters go the way of San Jose? Or, unlike taxpayers in northern California, will Knoxvillians meekly accept mild pension modifications that will leave taxpayers guaranteeing most of the retirement income for city workers?

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