@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg No it’s a pretty clear public policy argument that has a long track record of people studying and advocating for it. 1. You could pay for it with ~.05 percent of the defense budget. 2. More participants across the income spectrum creates a wider base of stake holders.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg 3. Only 1.4% of the benefits of free college go to the 1%. 98.6% to everyone else including middle class kids. How about in a knowledge economy we invest in education instead of the $100 billion Trump defense increase & endless wars. slate.com/business/2019/…
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg 4. @RachelBitecofer has the research to prove that the strategy to win is not to aim for swing voters, it’s to turn out the base. 2020 will be a battle of the bases. She predicted the blue wave when most pundits decried it even on election night.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer 5. The universality is the point. Everyone would be paying for everyone to go to public university. So, yes, I find it disingenuous to play on people's fears using an argument that can be used against any public good. It's not just the working guy paying for the rich kid.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer And in most proposals that Pete seems to be targeting, the wealthy would be paying *much* more in taxes, and the working person would be getting a lot more as well. He is portraying proposals to deal with the student debt crisis in a factually incorrect way.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer Wrapping that distorted, inaccurate portrayal in an argument about electability not bourne out by facts creates distrust, and yes, emotion. We are all traumatized by the Liar-in-Chief and desperate for moral clarity.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer Eliminating student debt now and in the future would have profoundly amazing effects on the economy. You're investing in human capital. marketwatch.com/story/how-wipi…
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer Similar scare tactics were used when NYC raised minimum wage to 15 dollars and revenue and employment are both up. marketwatch.com/story/the-15-m…
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer On a personal level, deBlasio ran for mayor on free universal pre-k. NYT said he couldn't pay for it and I believed them. When deBlasio won, he easily implemented universal pre-K and my son benefited. I will never fall for that "it's too expensive" BS again.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer A friend teaches at Rutgers, a public U, and a few years ago she got the U to make tuition for her field of study free. She was shocked how easy it was - just a case of moving money around. I used to think like you, but then I saw/experienced things that changed my mind.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer Lastly, we should not do something because we are afraid of how it plays. I remember when a public option was dropped from Obama care because of fear the Rs would call it socialist. They did it anyway. So we should shoot for the stars.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer One more thing. Means testing is a policy highly associated with Republicans. So when people call him a Republican that’s why. There are many arguments against means testing. The most crucial is the goal of the program: is it a social program, which helps all equally
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer or in proportion to their tax, and a poverty program, which disproportionately helps the poor. Poverty programs can have grave stigmas attached which weakens the program. A program benefiting only the poor may lack broad-based political support, in contrast to programs
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer that all share in. This makes it easier to reduce the benefits later, (why Rs love means testing). If MT is implemented in an existing program, where people have paid taxes but not benefited, as in pensions, the reduction in benefits looks like a breach of promise.
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer MT also reduces access. If a person cannot easily know if they qualify or not, they are less likely to claim due benefits. MT can increase admin cost to the point where it makes the program more expensive. In short, MT is something Rs do, be it for claiming bankruptcy
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer MT is most frequently associated with Rs who just kicked a ton of hungry kids off SNAP, are talking about reducing SS/Medicare, or this gem which reduces access to green cards nbcnews.com/video/ken-cucc…
@pzeller1966 @ChristinaHaas17 @adamcbest @PeteButtigieg @RachelBitecofer ANOTHER thing!! People in NYC inherently distrust Lis Smith, Pete’s campaign manager (? I think) because she rep’d the IDC, a group of Democrats who then voted as Republicans in order to keep the State Assembly in R hands. Literally they were fake Dems. vox.com/policy-and-pol…
