Rupert Murdoch Tells Obama Take on Teachers Unions

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

The billionaire media tycoon, Rupert Murdoch, has issued a combative and inflammatory challenge to the new Obama Administration: take on the American teaching unions to rescue America's failing education system.

Speaking at a high-powered panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Murdoch said the American public schooling system had failed its students and the greatest challenge to ensure US competitiveness in world markets was the investment in human capital.

The panel for the session, titled What Advice For The New Obama Administration, included David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Equity Group - the world's largest private equity firm, Ellen Kullman, chief executive of DuPont, and the chief of the New York Stock Exchange, Duncan Niederauer.

Asked about the controversial "buy US steel" plan that has infuriated the Australian Government, Mr Rubenstein also stunned the full conference hall by stating categorically that the protectionist clause in the Obama Administration's economic stimulus plan would not proceed.

The teachers unions have more power than Obama and or Rupert Murdoch.