Random Political comments...

I couldn't agree more. But he is such an egomaniac, they'll have to force him out. He won't leave willingly.

Chicago needs a HUGE upheaval of its entire government body - it's disgusting how corrupt everyone is...

 

For it to be comparable don't we need 2007 polls before the primary?

 

Scroll down. 2007 numbers are there.

 

So it's basically the same

 

From what I gather the schools currently rake in 70 billion from tuition and his bill will cover 47 billion of those funds leaving the states to cover the rest which of course means that the states will have to raise taxes. We don't like state taxes in Florida. There will also be more people wanting to go to school so the increase that the states will have to pay will be more than the remaining 23 billion shortfall. We really don't know what the actual shortfall will be. Either that or college will be harder to get into; some people will not want to leave because hey........why not keep racking up on degrees?

I'm against it but if college becomes free then I will start on another degree when I finish the one that I'm working on. I don't even know what it will be but why pass up the opportunity?

I think I'll get a law degree. I have no intention of taking the bar but it will be free so why not? LOL

 

If we cut our defense spending by a fraction we'd have enough money to send everyone to college. And I'm not talking even about how much we spend on taking care of actual vets and servicemen, I'm talking about the billions that we shovel into the hands of defense contractors every single year. Depending on the calculations, the US spends as much as the next nine countries combined. That's both ridiculous and unsustainable.

Dwight Eisenhower warned us against the military-industrial complex decades ago, yet no Republican seems to be all that worried about spending unless defense contractors are raking in millions and millions. Maybe before all of us are dead we'll take his advice and try to undo some of that damage before it's too late.

 

I thought it was telling when they couldn't convince anyone to take the job as speaker of the house. I think good people go into politics, but only narcissists survive it.

p.s. A law degree is likely found causally related to the stereotype. lol

 

Well said fam. I honestly don't get why this isn't a no brainer to everyone. 3 million jobs are unoccupied in this country because of lack of training. Do you know what kind of boost that will be to the economy especially the working class.

 

I'm all for cutting defense spending, but I would use the money to fix problems. I don't see a problem with the state university systems other than the runaway tuition costs in the north. That can be fixed without changing the entire system by making college free. I would rather use the money for social programs like giving the homeless hands on training in construction while they build their own living facilities. This will curtail the problem of homelessness while giving them work and making them more employable at the same time. We could also use the money for subsidizing certain medications that are over priced in the market and for research in the field of medicine. The money could also be used for infrastructure throughout the country. We should also build an autobahn. I'll take any of these ideas over free college.

Interesting point.

You are right about the stereotype but I believe that it's just that, a stereotype. It shouldn't be a requirement for president but when someone without political experience runs for governor or president they should at least have the relevant education, if not it makes our country look ignorant for electing them. Some people can just talk a good game but lack the knowledge or will to make things happen, most of those people belong in sales, not politics.

 

If those companies need people so bad why don't they reach out to the many under and unemployed college grads? Maybe those grads had a different major but some of them have already proved that they can learn and be disciplined enough to finish at least 4 to 5 years of studying and academic work. Some of them also held jobs while going to school full time.

Why not reach out to them and pay for them to go back to school and aquire related knowledge to the positions that are in demand?

If this company can pay every one of their employees a 100,000 bonus, then surely those other companies can reach out to college grads that have potential.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...energy-company-gives-out-100-000-bonuses.html

Why should this burden be placed on the government instead of the wealthy corporations that claim to need help?

What American with potential wants to go to college and can't under the current system??

 

This is one of the many, many reasons I'll never vote republican. Any politician who calls himself "fiscally conservative" yet has nothing to say about America's out of control defense spending can go fuck right off. We can cut entitlements to the bone but until we're willing to address the actual elephant in the room cutting anything else is a drop in the bucket. The only GOPer who comes close is Rand Paul.

The cost of college is definitely a problem that we need to address, and not just in the northeast. America's status as a world power depends on us having an educated population and continuing to make advances in science and technology. That's a major part of why we are where we are today. With the price of tuition (even at smaller colleges) rising much faster than the average wage, the cost of education definitely needs to be addressed.

When we have a generation of high school students faced with the reality of tens of thousands of dollars (if they're lucky) in student loan debt as a cost of getting a degree, they'll think twice about attending college because after a certain point the cost of attending just isn't worth the benefit of a degree. As much as we need scientists, engineers, etc. those jobs don't always pay that much at first.

Plus, the money spent on paying off student loans is money that could be spent on goods and services, buying cars, houses, movie tickets, clothing, food and a ton of other things that help drive the economy at the local and state levels. I do agree with you about the cost of medications, though. I'd probably go a full step further and just institute actual single payer universal health care on a national level.

Not that I'm disagreeing with you about everything though. The money that we could save by trimming our defense spending could pay for all of the above and then some.

 

I'm stealing this.

Yep, I definitely agree with this lol.

 

This is one of the reasons I say we should build an autobahn, to show our support for engineering and technology, give a nod to the auto industry that helped create so many jobs in the past and we could use it to discourage drunk driving. People would gladly pay to get on it. Any person convicted of a DUI in the past seven years will not be allowed to use it; or face a mandatory year in prison.

I'll admit my bias for it but it's also for good reason.

To me the autobahn in Europe, most notably Germany, says that they love and support engineering/advancements in technology.

 

True, American infrastructure needs a lot of work. I live near South Carolina and a few months ago when there was all the flooding going on the conditions of some of those roads and bridges looked like they came from a third-world country. They could be repaired to withstand that kind of damage but the state would rather pay money to fix it after it's damaged rather than take the initiative to keep it from getting to that point in the first place.

Another great investment would be high-speed rail. It would take some of the stress off of our roads, be more convenient for people in outlying areas and also create a ton of new jobs and development in the process.

 

Like any other profession it's on you to prove you can do the work and apply. And as a tax payer I'd much rather money goes towards that than some of the other shit we spend money on.

 

Right. The jobs will not be filled because they really don't need the help like the way the media paints it.

They can continue on without hiring more people, so I say let them do it. I'll keep my tax money.

 

The key word is proof. If they really needed help like that they would be looking for potential, as well.

 

Which is further interesting in light of the fact that Saudi Arabia has the third largest defense budget in the world. (source: https://www.iiss.org/en/about%20us/press%20room/press%20releases/press%20releases/archive/2015-4fe9/february-0592/military-balance-2015-press-statement-40a1

So the US is spending exponentially more than the rest, even though nations with similar interests in the free (peaceful) flow of oil can certainly afford to police their own neighborhoods. There are no homeless (citizens at least) in Saudi.

And, of course, this is just the money costs. Eighteen year olds from Montgomery gave their lives in defense of Saudi Arabia in the Gulf War. Saudi Arabia in turn sends its eighteen years olds to the US for college.

Though Saudi paid for a little over half the cost of the Gulf War, The US suffered roughly 330 casualties to Saudi's rough 50. I vaguely remember the war had something to do with oil, but even Wikipedia states plainly the purpose of the war was "the defense of Saudi Arabia," explaining that Iraq owed a ton of $ to Saudi and Kuwait and thought 'well hell, let's invade" (paraphrasing). So here we are now, some 25 years later (if we use Gulf War as the start of mid-east conflict, which of course it's not) in a panic as if there's a "crisis" in the middle east, with Republican candidates proclaiming last night to have "the solution" (spend, spend till we have the most expensive military! Boots on the ground! Kill the terrorists (like no one thought of that before) ...

As Bob Dylan said in his '65 release: "I don't know how it all got started, we're tangled up in blue."

Thanks 1980 for the excellent post. I'm so happy someone else pointed to the elephant in the room.

The emperor has no clothes.

 

Bernie Sanders’s ‘College for All’ Plan Is Fair, Smart and Achievable

http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanderss-college-for-all-plan-is-fair-smart-and-achievable/

Of all the candidates, only Sanders proposes an alternative to the neoliberal model of higher ed.
By Heather Gautney and Adolph Reed Jr.