The media is worse than all of them.
Joe, I could almost buy that if it weren’t for the major fact you left out. SPITZER HAS GREATLY INCREASE THE SIZE OF NY GOVERNMENT. That doesn’t sound like doing everything he can to fill in that budget gap without raising taxes to me. It sounds like spending more and creating the budget gap.
This is relevant because it’s the same thing Obama Mamma is going to do.
I mean, lets just do some quick math on his $4000 for everyone college plan. 2.5 million kids graduated high school in 2006. 66% of them enrolled in college, but if you make it free I’m sure a lot more will. Lets say 85%. So you’re looking at 8.5 billion dollars. Not bad, but they’ll be in school for 4 years. 34 billion. Wow, getting to be a lot. But wait, each year another 2.5 million kids will graduate and want this “free” money too. Yikes, now we’re really talking big numbers.
So ok, we’ll find a way to have them pay it back right? Sure, by having them volunteer to be a big brother/sister or read to old people. But wait… how does that pay back the billions again? Sure, it’s nice and some old people will be happy to be read to, but where does the money come from there?
Nevermind the fact that if college is free it becomes nothing more than continued partying for kids who were never there to learn in the first place.
Obama’s in a different situation because he wouldn’t be handed a forced balanced budget, he would be handed a huge deficit that Bush has managed to run up with ridiculous military spending and tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate interests. Much the way Bill Clinton was handed a similar situation in '92 after Reagan and to a lesser extent Bush 1.
I would like to see him use similar economic policy. My ideal situation is to pay down the national debt. If that’s not happening, we can have McCain deficit spend to keep the Bush tax cuts and keep us in Iraq for 100 years, or we can have Obama do it for shit we can actually see, use, and benefit from. Hmm…
The war is $275 million PER DAY. The college spending program would be paid for within 3 months of bringing them home.
More people in college = higher tax base.
Keep in mind not all those kids will go to school for 4 years. But let’s assume they do. Here’s a 10 year cost plan:
Year 1: 2,125,000 (85% of 2.5M) kids will cost $8.5 billion
Year 2: 4,625,000 kids cost $18.5 billion
Year 3: 7,125,000 kids cost $28.5 billion
Year 4: 9,625,000 kids cost $38.5 billion
Now year 5 will add another 2 million, but 2 milliion will also graduate, so years 4 - 10 are “the same” amount of kids. Of course HS grad numbers will rise, but for our simple math we’ll just say everything stays stagnant.
The cost? $325 Billion for, or an average of $32.5 billion per year.
In 2007 we spent at least $93 Billion on the war in iraq.
QFT.
Consider that 2 million / yr take the opportunity, lets say 50% (those not in it for a free party) graduate with a 4yr degree… 1 million.
Thats 1 million people that are a helluva alot more kids that are more likely to contribute to the economy rather then live off the system, or work 30k/yr dead end jobs.
:gotme:
How can you think more graduates would be a bad thing?
Lot more mexicans moving in and making my food
My problem with it is it’s just one of the few “free” things he’s throwing out there without paying for. And it’s not really 32 billion a year, it’s 38.5 and climbing because as you stated graduates will only continue to increase. With any government aid program once it’s there it will only grow bigger. And it won’t add that many great contributing members to society. If you’re driven enough to succeed in life you find a way to pay for college. If you’re not going to school simply because you can’t pay for it chances are you’re not going to have the motivation to do anything once you’re there for free, nor do anything once you graduate but look for your next handout.
And I don’t have a problem with people having to pay for college. It’s the best investment they can make and shows that the are serious about college. Instead lets give them 4k so they can mod their cars and party more while they’re there. It’s really not that hard to pay for school (at least state school) working a part time job. Of course, you can’t have a 30k car or spend 5k/year in mods.
Don’t forget that NYS paying for kids to go to college, just so they can move out of state where the jobs are, doesn’t help anything here.
^ this is on the federal level. That argument is irrelevant.
God, socialism sucks balls
Well I’ll be God Damned!
Let me get this straight, we just have to send all of these little retards to college and all of our economic woes will end?
Holy shit, it’s so simple!
Let’s do it!
You people are entertaining, I will give you that.
You don’t think it will help? How long has it been since one generation didn’t have to get more education than the last just to obtain the same level of lifestyle?
Once upon a time you only needed to work hard to reach middle class, then you needed a high school diploma and a union job, then a 2 year college education would take you places, now bachelors degrees are getting to be the bare minimum to be middle class, masters degrees preferred.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that school should be totally socialized. But making it more accessible will help keep the workforce productive in the future.
I’m not sure how long it’s been since you went to college, but just for a little reference my wife and I will have 4 degrees between the two of us. 2 bachelors, 2 masters. All at state schools. Mostly financed but not 100%. When all is said and done it will be somewhere just north of $100k in student loans.
Making college more accessible to those who would never consider it because of the money might not be a bad thing for this country.
And that’s just the bare minimum. A certain member of my family is on her way to becoming an endodontist. She went to pitt, then Boston, and is going to dental school at Harvard. Her student loans are going to total up to somewhere around a cool million.
thats pretty much what it boils down to.
And, you want highly skilled positions to come BACK to the USofA? This is what has to happen, regardless of how it may be subsidized.
The 100k & 1000k student loan debts are different argument… the cost of education has its own economic models, which are a bit out of hand IMO.
100 years ago you would be the one arguing against mandatory schooling, saying that the little bastards should be working in the fields.
Here’s my problem… 66% already go to college. Of that 34% that don’t how many of them really have a shot at handling a college course load? How many aren’t going simply because they can’t afford it? Hell, the poorer you are the more financial aid you can get. Of that small percentage that isn’t going only because they can’t afford it how many will actually have the motivation to do something when they get there?
Most of the people arguing for this are college educated with enough drive that they are pretty successful, so maybe it’s hard for them to realize there are some people who will never do more than work service level jobs their whole lives. Not because college wasn’t paid for by the government but because they simply do not have the drive and work ethic needed to spend the time furthering their education and career. Then there are some who simply don’t think they need to make a lot of money to be happy. They don’t want multiple cars and big houses and probably live happier lives than most of us. 
:word:
Fry,
Not everyone is smart and financially motivated.
College worked for you for a reason and not because Obama thought it would make him feel good if the tax payers paid for it.
Removing ~16K worth of debt from the backs of millions of students will help the economy in many ways. Home purchases will increase, spending will increase, etc… etc… all of that will recontribute to the tax base.
Think about people with student loans, now take whatever student loan amount you have and subtract $16,000. That makes a massive difference in your spending power for many years to come.
Posting this from the other Obama thread because it really belongs here:
Updated Fri. Feb. 29 2008 12:32 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Despite repeated requests, Barack Obama’s campaign is still neither verifying nor denying a CTV report that a senior member of the team made contact with the Canadian government – via the Chicago consulate general – regarding comments Obama made about NAFTA.
Allegations of double talk on the North American Free Trade Agreement from both the Obama and Clinton campaigns dominated the U.S. political landscape on Thursday.
On Wednesday, CTV reported that a senior member of Obama’s campaign called the Canadian government within the last month – saying that when Senator Obama talks about opting out of the free trade deal, the Canadian government shouldn’t worry. The operative said it was just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously.
The Obama campaign told CTV late Thursday night that no message was passed to the Canadian government that suggests that Obama does not mean what he says about opting out of NAFTA if it is not renegotiated.