David Dayen at The New Republic writes—The Real Enemy of Education Reform: It’s the Colleges, Stupid: Colleges do very well under the status quo. And that’s bad for students and our economy:
The left is fairly united on making college affordable to anyone who wants to enroll, and ending the crippling burden of student debt. Hillary Clinton has even expanded her plan to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for anyone with a family income up to $125,000 a year.
So far, the identified villains in this debate include student loan companies (since most student loans are now federally issued, that means the private companies that collect payments on the loans and that routinely cheat borrowers). Another is for-profit colleges, the source of a disproportionate number of student debt defaults. Just as with the insurance industry, those are worthwhile and even necessary targets. There is no reason for student loan servicer middlemen to exist; the government surely knows how to take a payment, as it controls the world’s largest collections agency, the Internal Revenue Service. And deceptive for-profit colleges are certainly a scourge.
But nobody has really taken on the obvious opponent to higher education affordability reform: the colleges that would be forced into competition with the tuition-free ones.
Those colleges aren’t standing idly by. Private college presidents have publicly attacked the idea of creating more free colleges, saying that their institutions would struggle to survive if they had to challenge a free alternative. [...]
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2009—Stephen Hawking Sets the Record Straight:
Which the editorial board of Investors Business Daily obviously is, as they allowed this to be printed on their pages.
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
Perhaps they don't have access to the Internets at Investors Business Daily, because even Wikipedia will tell you that Hawking is British, lives in Britain, and has lived to the age of 67 there, and was diagnosed with ALS under, and treated by, the National Health Service for his entire adult life. They must have just been fooled by his voice synthesizer's American accent.
But just to make this absolutely clear, here's the man himself:
"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," he told us. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."
The lesson is don't mess with Stephen Hawking.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, we evaluate Trump’s comedy/gaslighting of America. Greg Dworkin continues to insist that Trump sucks at winning polls. Manuel proves Simones are killing it & scores a little history, too. NCEC says the House is in play. And a weekend Trumpster fire roundup.
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