3055

Same, it would be nice to be able to vote for her. I was worried she couldn’t get 15% here. I’m not voting for any candidate who can’t get 15%.

3056

That is a big part of it. You can’t get hired at anything other than McDonalds these days without a 2 year degree or years of experience in the field (which requires a degree unless you’re old enough to have gotten in before that happened). Since there aren’t any more manufacturing jobs for people to really do any more, basically everyone needs degrees.

Sure there are trade schools… but that’s basically like a degree anyway for the most part. And it’s not like you can take ten million people and make them all plumbers, electricians or even doctors. There is only so much demand for the jobs at the end of the day.

At this point I’m not sure what the solution is. Cutting off federal student loans would drop demand and maybe drop prices, but it also might not and then you just have tons of people stuck and unable to get out of whatever class they were born into.

3057

I recall being told by a recruiter that my Associate’s Degree was now considered a HS diploma. This was 15 years ago. And at the time $30,000. I got away cheap.

3058

Of course not, you can regulate a lot of issues away without needing hindsight anymore. Or be more radical (but not really) and make the state really get in the way with government run alternatives instead, including a job guarantee, to kill the profiting of people it’s going to have to take care of anyway.
Because, yes, the free market is a stupid concept that has no basis in reality, and you can acknowledge it without defending central planning; the plans should run based on local needs anyway.

3059

Well, it’s not like it has nothing to do with the candidates or their proposals.

3060

“So, the platform of people like wahoo is to remove the tax exemption for health care (resulting in a fairly substantial tax increase on most Americans), remove the tax exemption for home mortgages (a fairly large tax increase on many Americans), stop providing government student loan guarantees, and then trust in the mighty market to provide all these things at prices most Americans can afford?”

The first two aren’t exactly GOP ideas. They’re bipartisan economic ideas and eliminating or capping the first two deduction have been a part of the left’s economic agenda b/c those two items are extremely regressive. The ACA put the HI deduction on the path to elimination and is strongly supported by Gruber and other economists (but also given other ways to encourage purchase of HI). The ACA put the HI exclusion on path to elimination over time but has never bbee allowed to take effect, but hard to say that’s solely a GOP idea when it was the centerpiece of cost control efforts in the ACA.

Ditto with Mortgage deduction b/c benefits accrue to the wealthy at expense of lower income (See Obama budget proposals for example). These are large deductions that disproportionately benefit high income workers/tax itemizers that also create distortions. 70% of the benefit went to the top quintile! It’s a horrible policy without benefit to anyone other than realtors/bankers (no evidence it boosts homewonership rates, but evidence is does boost debt). Hammering this deduction was one of the few parts of the GOP tax bill the left liked! (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/gutting-mortgage-interest-deduction).

3061



3062

Amash has left the freedom caucus now.

3063

I like how Trumpists on Twitter are calling him a Libtard. Hilarious.

3064

An interesting point raised by Silver this AM: does Sanders have to worry about a Warren tipping point?

It’s clear that they’re pulling at the same constituency, at least to a fairly large degree. Sanders led for a while after he declared, but even then he started trailing Biden even before Grampy Joe announced officially. So as Warren steadily rises, do some Sanders supporters depart for Warren based on a perceived lack of electability (“whatever that means” TM)

3065

If it comes, I just hope he recognizes it. I am much more enthusiastic about Warren than Bernie, and they appear to be in a “There can be only one” contest for the bulk of the progressive vote. If they both stay in all the way, we’re getting nominee Biden.

(All of which is incredibly obvious, and this post adds nothing to the debate)

3066

Between the two, Warren is a much more competent candidate than Sanders, to me.

3067

When you’re in Guam everyone is an Easterner.

3068

To everyone really. I’d still much rather see a Pete up there, but whatever. I’ll vote for any of them.

3069

For some reason, Pete seems to have strong appeal among the former GOP folks i know. But none of his policy positions are really that moderate. I’m not sure why. It may be that he has such a positive message of inclusion. I feel like he would pull a huge number of Independents. Maybe even moderate Republicans… Which seems weird since he’s gay.

3070

It’s true. Even in the talking head class, Joe Scarborough is fan, most of the former staffers of John McCain (who are virtually all Never Trumpers) are fans. Even a person like Britt Hume who is still a Republican was glowing in his praise of Mayor Pete politico talents. I’m almost afraid to mention it because I fear Democrats will say, "If somebody on Fox likes Mayor Pete, there must be something wrong with the guy.

But he isn’t moderate on almost any issue, abortion at anytime for any reason, is actually a minority position even among the Democratic party. Abolishing the electoral college, and changing how Supreme Court justices are picked is a very progressive stance.

3071

It’s because of all the major candidates, Pete attacks and mentions Trump the least, and instead talks about the issues… well, all the other issues. When you attack Trump, you indirectly attack everyone who voted for or supports him.

3072

I actually think it’s b/c the conservatives willing to consider voting non GOP tend to be focused far more on economic rather than social issues and Pete’s orientation is much less of a barrier than it is to the more culturally conservative types who also tend to be far more tribal.

3073

Pete needs to find a message or method to connect with minorities. I’m skeptical that he can do that in the next 18 months. But man I hope he does.

3074

I think there is a significant percentage of Republican voters who have no problem with anyone in the LBTQ+ movement. They don’t really understand some of the the distinctions (pansexual, asexual as an identity) and they are too uptight or proper to activtely embrace anything camp but ultimately sexuality is a private matter

Some people have called this the group that wants order more than justice and Mayor Pete is a a good example of a gay man who checks all the boxes for order.