Daily Clips: November 12th, 2015
Homeless students and college: I must confess, prior to reading this article I had no idea that 56,000 college students in the US were homeless. These students oftentimes have many barriers to graduation, and so Senator Patty Murray “this week reintroduced legislation to end financial aid requirements that ask students to verify their living situation every year and supply documentation stating they’re homeless.”
Democrats scheduled debates on days when nobody will watch: The next Democratic debate is scheduled for this Saturday night – the one day of the week where most people have plans or don’t want to engage with the realities of life.
This debate isn’t a one-off either. They also scheduled a debate six days before Christmas (which also happens to be on a Saturday)! All said, “half of the six [Democratic] debates are on days that are just bad if you want a wide viewership.” Thanks, Debbie.
Look, this stinks of backroom deals. As Democrats, we should be proud of the politicians we’ve put forward for the 2016 race. While Republicans are front and center in the national conversation, Democrats have retreated. Why? To diffuse Bernie’s momentum? To make sure the American people don’t get sick of Hillary? Whatever the reason, the scheduling comes off as sketchy.
The insanity of Republican economics: “As Grunwald notes, the problem here is that the current GOP still can’t digest awkward facts. The success of the TARP bailout is ideologically antithetical to everything the GOP stands for right now. More generally, a robust call for greater deregulation in the financial sector evokes the ghosts of financial bubbles past. In this sector, it is difficult for traditional Republican policies to resonate. The response to this seemed to be just asserting things that were not true.”
Students marching for free college: According to Reuters, students are set to walk out of classrooms across the nation in order to protest increasing tuition fees and student loan debt. The movement’s organizers say, “Education should be free. The US is the richest country in the world, yet students have to take on crippling debt in order to get a college education.” They have harsh words for both political parties, as well: “This is clearly an urgent crisis, but establishment politicians from both parties are failing to take action.”
