Friday Open Thread [12.19.14]

Filed in National by on December 19, 2014

Andrew Ross calculates how much it would cost to provide free public college tuition:

Several estimates are now in circulation, and Robert Samuels’s 2013 book Why Public Higher Education Should Be Free presents the most detailed proposal. According to the most-recent calculations of Strike Debt, the debt-resistance group I work with, the cost would be relatively modest. The federal loan program is propped up by a motley assortment of subsidies and tax exemptions that amount to tens of billions of dollars. Strip these away, along with some other unjustifiable subsidies (GI Bill benefits and Pell Grants that are gobbled up by fraudulent for-profit colleges) and the cost to the government of public college would be as low as $15 billion in additional annual spending. That is little more than a line item in the defense budget, and a small price to pay for meeting the challenge of the 21st-century knowledge economy.

Hillary Clinton, there is your campaign project right there, since the usual health care reform proposals are now moot.

Roll Call says we might have a new governing coalition in Congress:

The hard right and the hard left ended up out in the cold last week — free to raise their fists and their profiles and make a ruckus, but ultimately powerless to stop the cromnibus. The deal represents a return — at least for a week — to the fabled establishment Washington dealmaking of yore, warts and all, like it or loathe it. It’s a return that could put the ‘do nothing’ label back on the congressional shelf — with Republicans and the president eyeing deals next year on trade and taxes, in addition to keeping the government open for business after four years of serial shutdown and default dramas.

No wonder Tom Carper has been annoying lately. He is living his dream. But such a coalition will be temporary, because we do live in polarized times, and living in polarized times is the normal condition of our politics. Brendan Nyhan calls the bipartisanship of the mid-20th century that Tom Carper dreams about “a historical anomaly.”

“At election time, candidates seduce us with promises to bring America together, but inevitably fall short and end up leaving office with the country more polarized than when they arrived. After blaming them for their failure to unite us, we turn to the next crop of presidential aspirants and the cycle of hope and disappointment begins all over again.”

Hans Noel compares our period of polarization to previous ones:

The parties were definitely polarized 100 years ago, but not on the basis of such widely held ideologies. There were ideological conflicts, to be sure, but they were not organized around a liberal pole opposed to a conservative pole. Those poles emerged, largely coming into full force by about 1950. It is hard to compare ideological conflict in the era of ideological blogs, cable news and talk radio to an era of pamphleteering and partisan newspapers. But the analysis in Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America suggests that ideology was less one-dimensional in the 19th century. Over time, liberal and conservative ideology has been sharper on every issue area, including race but also economics, social issues and foreign policy. This figure shows how well a one-dimensional model fits the opinions of writers in major political journals over time. The ideological organization increases in all issue areas from 1850 to 1990.

“President Obama, as he has shown all year, isn’t about to go quietly into the lame-duck night, even with Republicans ready to take full power down the street. With the stunning announcement Wednesday that the U.S. is set to normalize relations with Cuba, the president is closing his self-termed ‘Year of Action’ with a thunderclap,” National Journal reports.

“In doing so, Obama is serving notice to the new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that a sitting president trumps a Congress divided both along party lines and within them. The shift comes about a month after the last time the president thrust his stick into the GOP’s eye, when Obama announced he was unilaterally providing widespread deportation relief to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants. On both occasions, the president signaled that he’s willing to bet his view of history will prevail and that Republicans continue to occupy the wrong side of it.”

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  1. mouse says:

    I haven’t heard a single question to anyone involved about the elimination of the requiremnet to separate Wall St derivative gambling from bank deposits and the million dollar allowed campaign contributions

  2. Rusty Dils says:

    I have been studying the enhanced interrogation techniques that have been used on terrorist, and I am now recommending the following new and improved technique, that I feel will be much more humane, and yet still yield the desired results.

    Have the detainee start drinking an ice cold slushy like the ones from the convenience stores. It can even be the flavor of the detainee’s choice, usually red or green. But, the detainee has to drink the slushy in two minutes time. Then, if they are still not talking, (even though their forehead is beginning to hurt from the cold) make them drink a second ice cold slushy, also within two minutes time. If no results yet, make them drink a third and final ice cold slushy within two minutes time. At this point their head will hurt so bad that they will easily spill their guts. Problem solved!

  3. Joanne Christian says:

    I’m with you mouse. but geez, I thought it was only 625k as an allowable contribution!

    And since this is open thread:

    Dear jason 330,

    As an opinion leader thru your creation of Delaware Liberal, will you please tell FRONTIER AIRLINES to knock it off with the false demand of their services at a reduced rate? Having been left in Chicago, and also delayed so far into the night as to miss the last Denver connection from Wilmington on a beautiful fall day–they can’t fool me again. I honestly gave them a fair shot, was excited and enthusiastic about including ILG in their line-up, but they have squandered away any goodwill I have. I believe, you too jason330, wanted to be a believer, but alas–I’ve been left to scramble to Philly or Dulles at the last-minute exbortitant fare to make my commitments. I just call your attention to this matter, as the past few days my inbox has received multiple offers of deeply discounted fares to tempt me into another mistake, and wanted to go on record I am no longer a fan of FRONTIER at ILG. Sorry this didn’t work out, but I guess that’s business. Oh, and by the time you add on your seat fee, drink fee, luggage, carry-on, notification, etc., fees–the pricebreak was NEVER worth the risk of how you messed with my schedule. Now, what say you jason330?