Books Instead Of Bombs: Bernie Sanders Proposes Massive Public College Tuition Cut

[babylonsister]

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/02/19/books-bombs-bernie-sanders-proposes-massive-public-college-tuition-cut.html

Books Instead Of Bombs: Bernie Sanders Proposes Massive Public College Tuition Cut
By: Jason Easley
Thursday, February, 19th, 2015, 1:48 pm


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tonight a plan to take some of the proposed increases in military spending and spend it on a 55% cut in tuition for students at all public colleges and universities.

Sen Sanders’s will announce his proposal during a town hall at the University of Iowa:

If the federal government were to invest $18 billion a year, with a dollar-for-dollar match from state governments, we would slash college tuition in the United States by more than half.

Many of my colleagues in Washington would look at that number – $18 billion a year – and tell you that we can’t afford to make that kind of investment in our nation’s young people. To put it simply, they are wrong.

In the budget proposal President Obama released two weeks ago, he requested $561 billion for the Department of Defense – $38 billion over budget caps that are currently in place.

If we were to reduce the President’s proposed increase in military spending by less than half, and instead invest that money in educational opportunities for today’s college students, we could cut tuition by 55%. So I challenge all of you… ask yourselves, where should our priorities lie?

The Pentagon doesn’t need all of the proposed increases in military spending. There is a lot of military spending that is nothing more than red state welfare programs disguised as national security.

The country needs lower college tuition costs more than it needs a few billion dollars thrown at the Pentagon. This is a proposal that makes sense, but Republicans will definitely oppose it by claiming that it is too expensive.

The GOP would rather see a nation of college graduates drowning in debt, and the doors of economic opportunity bolted shut before they would consider doing anything to lower the cost of tuition.

Sen. Sanders has a powerful common sense message to offer. The fact that the issue of the cost of higher education is being discussed is serious progress. The Republican motto of you’re on your own isn’t going to cut it.

Nearly a decade and a half of a war are enough. It is time to invest in books instead of bombs.

[abelenkpe]

1. This will get young voters to come to the polls

Hope other candidates are paying attention.

[FSogol]

2. "There is a lot of military spending that is nothing more than red state welfare programs disguised

as national security."

[JDPriestly]

8. Talk about truth to power! Wow! That's it!

Thank you Bernie Sanders.

The honesty stings. But it will bring our country back to life if we get that out there.

The backwardness of the red states is supported by our military budget. Time to get those states to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and stop mooching off those military welfare checks.

So true. I love it.

[Lurks Often]

25. There is a lot of military spending that is blue state welfare as well

Connecticut has Pratt & Whitney and the rest of United Technologies Corporation and Electric Boat in both Groton, CT and RI.

California has Northrop Grumman (also in Maryland), Lockheed Martin (also in MD), Boeing (also in WA)

Sen. Sanders comes from a state that has very few defense contractors, a cursory search suggested defense contractor brought all of $18 million to VT.

Since many states, blue and red, are in no position to match those funds and since most of the Senate is not going to vote for something that will cost their state jobs, this proposal isn't going to go anywhere.

[FSogol]

27. You are right of course and this shows the disconnect between what

candidates can say/propose and what they can actually pass when confronted with the reality of a split government. Plop Sanders into Obama's seat and I doubt he could pass much more than Obama has been able to do. That said, Sanders can help push the dialog to the left and should be commended for what he is saying. I'd love to seem him join our party and participate in the debates.

Military cuts are probably only possible by across the board cuts such as cutting 10-15% from every program excluding soldier salaries/benefits.

[Lurks Often]

29. The problem is both Congress and the military

Give me complete authority and I'm fairly certain I can increase military readiness and save money. Of course both Congress and the senior leadership of the military would hate me.

Bases around the world would be closed and consolidated with other bases. There is a lot that can be made to be used by all 4 branches, such a BDU's, we certainly don't need 4 different patterns of BDU's for all 4 services.

General officers would be limited to no more then 5% above the number of servicemen per general in the USMC.

But none of these things will ever happen. You suggest closing a base in their district or state and the most anti-military member in Congress will scream bloody murder about how THEIR base is somehow essential. And the most liberal Congress person will work hand in hand with the most conservative to keep that base.

[FSogol]

32. And bases are just small potatoes compared to unneeded weapons systems

and other unnecessary and redundant defense contracts.

[aspirant]

36. Aren't you forgetting

that President Bernie would appoint the Secretary of Defense whose dept awards these defense contracts?

Ever heard of Halliburton NO-BID contracts

[Lurks Often]

39. It doesn't work that way with the defense manufacturing contracts

besides Congress would remove the funding and re-allocate it.

Most importantly you forget that Sanders is not going to be the next POTUS. He may be popular with you and many here, but he is NOT electable in a general election.

[aspirant]

40. Defense contracts are bid on

and when they are awarded some politicians will be cheering ,others screaming. A typical day in congress which President Bernie understands.

HRC is Not-Electable, too much clutter and baggage.

[Lurks Often]

41. I don't think Sanders or Clinton are electable

[Scuba]

3. I applaud this idea 100%. Not only good for all Americans, especially those college-bound ...

... but it would put pressure on Republican governers (sic) in the 2016 election. Mine is proposing massive cuts to our public universities and this would draw a sharp contrast with that plan.

[BrotherIvan]

4. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO HEAR!!!!!!!

If you have a child that may go to college or a student who doesn't want to be in debt forever--on this one issue alone--you will work your ass of for Bernie. Because he is RIGHT.

His platform is really shaping up to be a barnburner. I am so afraid the MSM will mock him and the Democratic Star Chamber will stab him in the back. I really hope that people have woken up and are concerned. Perhaps we have lost all hope in this country, but Senator Sanders hasn't.

[JDPriestly]

9. It's hard to mock a person who has the experience and sincerity that Bernie Sanders has.

He doesn't tense up. He tells the truth as he sees it and doesn't care what people think.

Mockery like shame, works when the target of the mockery or shame believes in some small part of him, or knows in some small part of him that the mockery or shame is justified.

Bernie Sanders has thought about the moral imperative of his views. He is neither ashamed of them nor does he find them to be vulnerable to mockery.

He stands on solid ground. We could say his social philosophy is built on a rock foundation, not on one of sand. I think that is why he gets re-elected time and again in that solid state, Vermont. Bernie Sanders thinks before he speaks and believes in what he says. He is probably the most moral person in politics today. We will be lucky if he chooses to run as a Democrat.

[BrotherIvan]

23. He has my vote

I know that Senator Sanders is a true public servant. He is not in it to enrich himself or anyone else at the cost of the citizens of this country. But I do worry that when the stakes are as high as the presidency, he will be Dean Scream'd or whatever the stoopid media chooses to do. I do hope that people get their information from other sources these days and look at what he has done and what he has said in order to make up their minds about him.

[cyberswede]

5. Well, that's pretty fuckin' awesome.

[freshwest]

6. A great aid to students who don't use Obama's Community College funding fusion. GOP says No.

If Bernie can get elected, he still needs a Congress to make this the law. We are, as PBO said in ID, subject to lagging behind other nations in education and R&D. He has increased Pell Grants that many once depended upon to go to school debt free and spoken against the interest rates - yet the GOP defunds them at every turn.

This will determine the future of many of us in this country and our ability to work with the rest of the world peacefully. I love every one of Bernie's ideas, they will need broad support to come to pass. At last report, he's considering not running as to not be a spoiler, but good grief, we need his ideas more than ever.

If for no other reason to return to the kind of opportunities I grew up in, despite the discrimination, where it was a given that all would be granted equal education and job opportunity by federal law, even if the corporations had to pulled kicking and screaming to comply. Those who went along willingly were rewarded.

And part of that era was a vibrant public sector that was the refuge of many who were being discriminated against. I feel so bad for the young and poor who are being denied these New Deal programs. The public sector in schools, hospitals and jobs gave us all breathing room. I ask Tea Partiers of when I discuss public school, educational assistance, public works and government services:

'If what we had was good enough for you growing up and gave you chances in life, why not give it to the kids?'

I have even failed to get through the propaganda with older postal workers who have that pension and their service pensions coming onboard, who want it all gone as they got theirs. The younger workers, though, love their postal jobs and the chance for government service.

I think we have to get over this hurdle in Koch washed America, it's been ground in since Nixon and Reagan, etc. I can't live in the past, neither can the kids, but I long for the kind of freedom and 'equal playing field' the public sector gave us in the sixties and seventies before Reagan and the media savaged it all.

JMHO.

[JDPriestly]

7. Books, not bombs. Would make a great bumper sticker.

[aikoaiko]

10. Colleges and universities would probably just raise prices.

[gratuitous]

12. I'm willing to take a chance

After all, I've seen what happens every frickin' time we start launching bombs and missiles and armies at our so-called enemies. Let's try that "reduce college tuition" thing and see what happens. Maybe colleges will raise tuition, and maybe they won't. But if we get those bloody boots on the ground going after ISIS, I know for a fact what's going to happen.

[Enthusiast]

11. There's Bernie, ever on the right side of the issues. While the others, they are an embarrassment.

[RufusTFirefly]

13. Imagine having the best educated nation in the world

I want to vote for a visionary, someone who gives us bold goals that we can strive for, not a fear monger who focuses on phantoms s/he'll protect us from so we won't notice while corporations steadily privatize our public spaces and continue picking our pockets.

[erronis]

14. While Bernie is one of my senators, I sorta disagree

While we've seen the spending on "defense" programs ("pork for the home states&quot , we have also seen incredible increases in the costs to students/parents from the "higher" education market. (My apologies for so many finger quotes"&quot .

I think we could do much better as a country and for the world if we didn't spend our spare dollars on the University Of Xyz but instead spent it on real job training. Apprenticeships for work that really needs to be done around this country.

Of course our high-schools don't educate our children at the level of other top-tier economic nations. That's because we have core/NCLB/AYP and charter (read xian) schools that are backstabbing the public system. But I'm not sure our current $-driven higher-level institutions do any more than extend 12th grade - oh, and suck the money out of the parents/students.

Let's let every high-school graduate or anyone over 17 enroll in a jobs/training/service program. They can learn some skills, help communities, and earn some money. They can switch between professions. They can decide to pursue higher eduction. They can get some life skills and credits.

So, if we are going to get a few 10's of billions of $s from scrapping the F35 and closing a few thousand bases around the world, could we spend at least half of this in repairing this country's infrastructure, training our people, and regaining some sense of dignity?

[RufusTFirefly]

15. College isn't designed to be just a vocational program

It exposes you to new and exciting ideas, enables you to establish connections between diverse disciplines, provides invaluable context, and teaches the priceless skill of critical thinking.

[antigop]

16. ding! ding! ding! We have a winner! nt

[Nay]

19. This is very true in the abstract, but colleges haven't been doing a very good job of this in the

past 25 years. They've been turning out business and finance majors who have little respect for any of that, on the backs of poorly-paid teaching assistants and non-tenured profs, most of whom qualify for food stamps. Not everyone wants, or needs, to go to college. If we want more citizens to learn critical thinking, citizenship, US history, then we need to set up some other system rather than college to deliver that.

[erronis]

26. Yes - that is what I meant.

There is definitely room for liberal arts and other courses of study that aren't specifically geared to learning a vocation. However I think it is not what all people should be pursuing.

The Academic/Corporate machine tries to convince just about everyone that they need a college degree, even better two. Then you find out that those degrees are essentially worthless - no job experience, no employment.

[woo me with science]

35. Thank you.

And opens up a world of further thought and learning to you. The difference between an education and "training."

And, in a larger sense, the difference between what human beings are capable of, versus dogs.

[RufusTFirefly]

38. Max Haiven suggests that even our imaginations are being privatized

Sadly, I agree with him. And it's happening so slowly but steadily that I'm not sure some people even realize it.

In the first chapter of the book, I argue that in order to do this we need to re-imagine the idea of value and pay attention to the way capitalism isn’t just a system for stealing economic value from workers, from the environment and from communities. It is also a system that drives and depends on the transformation of how we imagine social, cultural and moral values (as individuals and as communities). The system’s reproduction, in turn, corrupts and undermines the reproduction of our own lives as we become increasingly overworked, privatized, alienated and enclosed in debt. In this way, capitalism’s inherent and recurrent crises are externalized onto individuals and communities.

http://roarmag.org/2014/01/max-haiven-crises-of-imagination/

You're welcome.

[woo me with science]

48. I appreciate the link very much.

I had passed over it quickly before because I was in a hurry, and then forgot about it. But something madfloridian just wrote just reminded me of it, and I came to find it again.

Yes, what's being done to us is systematic and sinister, and extends far beyond financial matters. This looks like a promising read.

[RufusTFirefly]

49. Glad to hear it, woo!

Max Haiven has been a guest on the excellent radio program, Against the Grain, a number of times. I try not to miss a single episode of that show. That's where I first heard of him.

The financial sector of the US economy is incredibly powerful and influential, but its impact on our social and cultural lives is rarely examined or acknowledged. Max Haiven contends that financialization has, in a certain sense, colonized our attitudes, our beliefs, and our sense of the future. Haiven believes we need to chart a very different path forward, both imaginatively and practically.

http://www.againstthegrain.org/program/944/mon-60914-financializations-reach

But enough lolly gagging: Let's get back to work raising tons of money so we can elect a candidate who'll lead the effort to get money out of politics.

[Nay]

18. Agreed. Higher ed would have to be reformed (IOW, have the corporate money

taken out of it) before we'd want to sink any of our cash into it. Also, most jobs, despite the propaganda, don't need college educations; they need a good HS education and 2 yrs of comm college for job training.

To make that worthwhile, we also need to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs overseas. We're gonna need them here.

[antigop]

17. Oh, stop, Bernie. JUST STOP!! You make too much sense. nt

[bigwillq]

20. K and R

[RufusTFirefly]

21. Here's Exactly How Much the Government Would Have to Spend to Make Public College Tuition-Free

$62.6 billion dollars

According to new Department of Education data, that's how much tuition public colleges collected from undergraduates in 2012 across the entire United States. And I'm not being facetious with the word mere, either. The New America Foundation says that the federal government spent a whole $69 billion in 2013 on its hodgepodge of financial aid programs, such as Pell Grants for low-income students, tax breaks, work study funding. And that doesn't even include loans.

If we were we scrapping our current system and starting from scratch, Washington could make public college tuition free with the money it sets aside its scattershot attempts to make college affordable today.

Of course, we're not going to start from scratch (and I'm not even sure we should want to make state schools totally free). But I like to make this point every so often because I think it underscores what a confused mess higher education finance is in this country. On the whole, Americans seem to want affordable colleges that are accessible to all. But rather than simply using our resources to maintain a cheap public system (and remember, public schools educate 75 percent of undergrads), we spill them into a fairly wasteful and expensive private sector. At one point, a Senate investigation found that the for-profit sector alone was chowing down on 25 percent of all federal aid dollars.

Source: The Atlantic

[rhett o rick]

22. Didn't Obama say "books instead of bombs"? I'm sure he did. Oh no, he said bombs and drones

kills forever. And if children die, they shouldn't have been associated with the terrorist suspects.

[woo me with science]

24. K&R He also advocates

public funding of elections to get corporate corruption out of government, reining in the MIC, taking real rather than PR steps to reverse economic inequality, and dismantling the unconstitutional surveillance and police state.

In other words, he supports reclaiming our democracy from corporate corruption in both parties.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. Reagan shut down the free college system in California.

Because those educated kids were out protesting the Vietnam War. Can't have a university system that is excellent when it cranks out kids that THINK and protest what the government is doing.

I graduated from a small liberal arts college that was truly a classical liberal arts college.

I earned a B.A. in a natural science (biology) because at the time, the school did not offer a B.S.

I went on a job interview, and the guy asked me why I didn't get a B.S. He was implying that I was stupid or something, for getting a B.A. instead of a B.S. I told him that the school I went to did NOT offer a B.S. and he didn't listen to me. He kept thinking I was stupid.
Sexism. We all know that a five foot two white girl can't be smart. She is only a secretary, and better not have a seriously excellent education. I have a seriously excellent education. Three degrees including a doctorate, and 12 years of college.

I know this because more than one man in a job or interview situation has insulted me.

[mrdmk]

30. Unfortunately, this goes for most people going through the interview process

The person(s) doing the interview are looking for reasons not to hire you verse reasons to hire a prospective employee.

As for having a BA instead of a BS and being female, if true, that person is an ass and does not need to be in that position.

It is a very negative experience. Just sad.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

33. I got a worse story than that about being in your face.

Last edited Fri Feb 20, 2015, 03:50 PM - Edit history (1)

As in the boss saying "I'm SURE you don't know that".

Regarding name dropping.

Shut him down twice and then he stopped.



=======
I'll add the story here. I was working across from Mission Control at NASA at the main contractor's office on NASA Road 1. Maybe it was Lockheed Martin. They have changed names since then. I was a 19 year old secretary who was a junior in college.

Anyway, my boss was determined to prove that I didn't know shit about physics, for some reason. Because secretaries are supposed to be female and stupid, I guess. I have no idea what his problem was. This was in the mid-1970s. I guess he didn't know I went to college, or assumed that I was not a physics major. I was not a physics major. I was a biology major.

So he comes up to me, looms over me, and says, "Richard Feynman. I'm SURE you don't know who he is."
Me: "He wrote the Feynman Lectures on Physics."

He tries again: "Carl Sagan, I'm SURE you don't know who he is."
Me: "He teaches astrophysics at Cornell."

After that he stopped. I didn't tell him that I knew very little about physics, but I had smart boyfriends who majored in physics and math and that's how I knew that Feynman had written the holy scriptures of physics. I didn't know anything about them but they came in 3 volumes and had a red cover. And I had probably read "The Dragons of Eden" and seen Dr. Sagan on the Tonight Show.

[n2doc]

31. No chance red states would provide 50% match

But at least blues states would benefit, as long as they weren't stupid enough to elect repub governors.

[woo me with science]

34. kick

[aspirant]

37. President Bernie is running.

Campaigning in Iowa, getting his message out without announcing his candidacy keeps the wolves at bay.

The minute he says I'm in, all the HRC screamers will spring into action and will try to cloud and distort his message. Right now he's in the eye of the storm and people are clearly listening.

Let all the HRC"ers slowly try to convince people how wonderful it would be if Hillary didn't have any annoying challengers. Then she could exit the primaries as a true PURIST PONY

[Vattel]

42. awesome idea

[Comrade Grumpy]

43. A presidential candidate I could vote for without holding my nose. Please run, Bernie.

[Katashi_itto]

44. GO BERNIE!!!!!!

[Jefferson23]

45. K&R

[Adrahil]

46. I like that, but....

Some of that money should fund basic scientific research and NASA.

Give some of the college grads something to do...

[aspirant]

47. Robots just keep coming.

Retraining must be for the betterment of mankind, not for the greed of a few

America needs to be the thinkers, the creators of tomorrow, the travelers to new dimensions and worlds. We need minds at all levels united in forward thought enjoying life in their labors of love.