The fruits of austerity

[mac]

Even more happy horseshit from NW. Let's start with his initial posting after the Snyder committee report comes out. A dandy false equvivalency--the fact that not all water is safe to drink means that Snyder hasn't really done anything wrong. I guess you can't tell the difference between communities that have bad water supplies and Flint, where the governor's guy changed from a safe supply to an unsafe supply.

Republican policies at work, poorly informed conservatives trying to argue its really ok. Happy horseshit. Trying to deny the Republican record.

But all will be forgiven if you can find one Republican who supports more funding for safe drinking water. I'm talking about since Obama was elected. While you're looking, maybe you can find that single peer-reviewed study that reassures us all about global warming. I'm waiting....

[mac]

Now that Republicans--who tried to defund lead control efforts last year--have taken money for Flint out of the energy bill, the bill is expected to go forward. Sometimes government is the solution, and do-nothing conservatives are the problem. John Oliver's take--funny and sad: http://www.nationalmemo.com/endorse-this-john-oliver-and-sesame-street-tackle-americas-lead-crisis/

[KGB-NP]

Those symptoms would lead one to believe there is lead in the water supply in La Ventana.

[mac]

I can't wait for the fact-free conservatives to somehow laugh these things off. The fruits of austerity when you put amateurs into government:

1. Three indicted for the lead problems in Flint. Two in the governor's administration. Falsifying data and ignoring complaints. This is not rocket science--but then Republicans sneer at science.

2. Texas--remember how you fools touted Texas' success at job creation--is deep in a budget hole and has lost 100,000 jobs, due mostly to the downturn in oil prices. Then there is the aging and incomplete flood control infrastructure and global warming.

3. Now Kansas, where Republican Sam Brownback has resurrected voodoo economics, cutting taxes for the rich and corporations, is, for some strange reason, in a budget hole.

Tell me again about the benefits of electing foolish right wing Republicans that are neophytes and don't have a clue about what government does and why.

[mrgybe]

http://www.dailycal.org/2016/02/10/campus-announces-new-cost-cutting-measures-amid-structural-deficit/

[mac]

Whacky conservatives do provide endless entertainment. Now mrgybe ignores the evidence of the utter incompetence of the amateurs he has favored, to somehow try to rebut that with his in-depth misunderstanding of the budget of the University of California. His source, the Daily Cal, is one that I read occasionally, and find the most compelling thing usually the Suduko. This time they got many parts of the story right, but failed to provide the context.

First, some aspects of this are good news. For a variety of reasons the administrative systems at the UC have gotten even more sclerotic and self serving, and need to be reformed. Revisioning them is a very good idea. The system also made a huge mistake in its fiscal analysis that led to rebuilding the football stadium; the athletic director was fired but perhaps five years too late. And the UC administration has been cavalier in its treatment of sexual harassment--all real problems. The UC system, and most governments and corporations, need constant oversight and reform. Best done by those with some understanding of those institutions and their strengths and weaknesses.

Higher education in California, once the best in the world, has declined since Ronald Reagan found political advantage in targeting students for their naivete and professors because they didn't support conservatives.

The underlying problem of rising costs and debt for students has been a major part of the Sanders campaign rhetoric, and it pays to actually look at some of the underlying causes that young folks have flocked to his side. There are three huge increases in costs for students--the run-up in housing costs has increased the cost of living, tuition has tripled over the past two decades, and the cost of student loans has increased because Republican legislative changes have led to dramatic increases in interest rates.

When you look at the tuition issue in any detail, which you can find analyzed here: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_quick.asp?i=1119, you readily find that reduced State support for higher education is a major underlying cause. State support has dropped from over $25,000 per student in 1986-87 to about $11,000 in 2010-11. Some of this is the recession, but much of it has to do with structural changes built into the budgeting process since Ronnie Ray-gun and Proposition 13.

Proposition 13 was devastating to the educational funding base in California--and the latest polls show that California voters now want to spend more on education. The local property tax base supported one of the better, and better funded public school systems. Now California funding for students is 47th, that's right, nearly last. With the limitations on the local property tax base, funding for K-12 shifted to the state--putting more pressure on state funding for higher education and infrastructure.

Another anti-tax scheme that is still having devastating effects decades later.

The rich irony here is that mrgybe's post, absent his usual wildly conservative and erroneous spin, does more to show the damage done by amateurs in politics than it does to rebut the incompetence and possible crimes of austerity fools.

[real-human]

http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2010/06/16/the-founding-fathers-and-taxes-the-real-story/

[real-human]

"The tax which will be paid for education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up if we leave the people to ignorance." {Issue #62}
Jefferson

[real-human]

John adams
Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.

[MalibuGuru]