| > While the question of "are the products they produce useful" is grey, the fact is you'd have to start by laying off millions of Americans and likely damaging the many small towns that have come to depend that income source. So we get to the crux that a large portion of the US military is a jobs and rural support program. Perhaps we'll start with the albatross that is the Joint Strike Fighter, estimated at costing over a $1 trillion dollars during its lifecycle. > While its simple to just state "defund the military" the truth is much more complex and likely an even greater political minefield. The truth isn't complex, but it is a political quagmire. You need someone with a spine to get the work done. > As much as I believe that free education should be a thing, I believe that is also a minefield. How will schools be funded? Does the government pay the inflated tuitions, or do we solve the student loan problem first? Will we forced to massively scale back the amount of people who attend 4-year schools (currently around 70% in the US vs. 30% in Germany)? The cost of education has skyrocketed because the US government backs loans you can't default on, therefore schools raise their rates (which is what happens when demand is inelastic, because you've been told all your life you can't get a well-paying job without a degree, and employers can require a degree without financial cost to them). You apply the same premise Medicare does: If your students don't learn, you don't get paid. We then take a page from the Affordable Care Act and require at least 85-90% of tuition funds to go to actual teaching, and not administration, leisure activities/clubs, and other non-core expenses. > And then to seemingly do this by "just taxing the rich"? It seems that people forget that the President just doesn't wake up one day and decide what to tax people at - it's in part decided by congress (as well as many of the other issues) - and it just seems unlikely that he'll make good on everything he is promising. Yes. I want a democratic candidate who is willing to call out Congress. Sanders is the only candidate with the character to do this. > Personally, I believe Bernie to be a sound candidate, but um_ya has a point. Of course he's a sound candidate. And no, um_ya has no point. |
You are right, the issues are mostly political and I'd be ecstatic to see it get done. However, given that after Obama's 8 year legacy we got a massively watered down public healthcare plan - I'd like to see a plan other than "we are going to get free education, everyone else be damned". To me its no different than the GOPs "We are going to make abortions illegal, or we will shut down the government." I just don't see how its "easy" to defund the MI complex in 4 years.
>You apply the same premise Medicare does: If your students don't learn, you don't get paid.
I pulled this out specifically because it made crawl in my seat. We have tried this already, its called No Child Left Behind, and many don't consider it a success. Turns out quantifying "do your students learn" is incredibly difficult to measure, especially at the federal level.
I'm well aware of why tuitions are so high - but another point that isn't addressed is that countries with free education typically have lower college entrance rates (admittedly it might be cultural, trade schools aren't attractive in America). Is it simply cheaper for Germany to send everyone to school? Are American school more expensive because they tend to be more cutting edge? Is that something we want to give up? Maybe at this point in the voting season, all we are getting is soundbites, but thats something I'd like to hear.
In any case, my POV is to enact any of these issues today, will end up requiring many compromises (as did happen to ACA) with state governments, corporations, and citizens. I'd like to what he imagines these compromises to be.