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Originally Posted by Ark2
This really demonstrates just how terrible most of these candidates are. Money is no object and everything is an entitlement. Who will pay for it all? They don't care and neither should you apparently...
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Sorry for the long post on this. A lot to unpack.
John Stossel always has been a bit of questionable quantity as journalist, hired as a pretty face more so than a investigative journalist, and he really proves it with this video. He glosses over the issues and focuses only on the dollars proposed, never discussing the benefits and long-term impact of such investments. This is what is always missed here, these are investments in the future, not gifts like tax breaks. So lets look at this a little deeper.
Here are the areas where Stossel breaks down spending. Education, Climate Change, Healthcare, Welfare, and then what Stossel calls "the grab bag."
Education - Manufacturing jobs are not coming back. This directly impacts the middle class and their ability to contribute to consumer economy that has developed. New skills and new jobs are required to keep the middle class healthy. To address this and continue to maintain any economic edge the United States still has it will be in the research and development areas and where intellectual property is created. This requires an educated workforce and a lot of specialization. Without access to education the middle class will continue to shrink and the economy become that much weaker. Without the investment in education, and making education inexpensive or free, the United States will continue to see the economy weaken and ultimately crash.
Eliminating student debt is a heavy lift, but it is actually cheaper than the tax cuts Trump just gave the rich. The benefit is the middle class gets an immediate boost to their disposable income, meaning more spending and more demand for goods and services - more homes, more cars, more appliances, etc. Since blue collar jobs are directly linked to spending this raises that segment of the economy as well. This also opens up the possibility for many more people to go to school and get the education they need to improve their lives.
This is where education is a real game changer to the state of the entire nation. Education is not just about learning facts and figures or getting some training to twist a screw. It's about changing people and opening their minds to new ideas and ways of thinking. It is about experiencing things and people in ways you had never imagined before, and breaking down stereotypes. The common refrain in education circles is that education changes lives. Yes, it does. But more importantly, it changes entire communities. When you lift up one family through the opportunity education provides there is a ripple effect. It lifts the others who have relationships with that student and their family. It drives those others to change as well. The entire community is affected, and positively. This is why access to education is so important, as it is a change agent and means to transform communities as a whole. This is a worthwhile investment and has potential for massive returns in the long run.
Climate Change - Stossel provides zero details or discusses what any of the candidates accomplish through this spending. A great deal of more information is needed here, because spending on climate change is already happening ($154B) and it is but a scratch to the surface of what we are facing to keep coastal cities and cities on rivers from being flooded. That doesn't even account for the money being spent by FEMA on response to natural events/disasters made more intense by the effects of climate change. Yes, we are going to have to spend a lot more on climate change related activities, and dismissing them as careless spending is irresponsible.
Healthcare - This is a very complex issue that a simplistic infographic cannot explain. The United States already spends the most of any country on the planet on healthcare, and has some of the poorest outcomes dollar-for-dollar. More spending is required, so all people have access to quality affordable healthcare, but better spending is required as well. Again, details here matter, and Stossel provides none.
Welfare - We are only as strong as our weakest link. Yes, there are people that abuse the system, but that is a small percentage. The current dollars are not covering the increasing numbers of people who require social assistance. This is a systemic problem caused by lack of access to education, loss of good paying jobs to low skill workers, increases in costs on things like housing, food, healthcare, etc., where people have to make choices about what they pay for from that list in a given month. The system needs to be overhauled, but it especially needs more a money injection.
The Grab Bag - What an asinine approach to discussing things that he couldn't actually argue. Things like infrastructure, foreign aid, incarceration prevention, technology access, minority business development, national service requirements,
Just to touch on a couple of these grab bag issues. The infrastructure and foreign aid ones don't need comment as I'm certain everyone understands the benefits of such spending. Same with incarceration prevention.
The technology access issue is a really good one and a great idea. In a data-centric world people need quality access to information and that means high speed network access. Other countries around the world have much better access and much of it is ubiquitous. This is like another channel to education and knowledge, something everyone should have access to, and not controlled by your telco. Canadians have some experience with this, so this issue should resonate. Access to information is a game changer, and it is one of the reasons why congress supports giving that control over to the telcos. They can make oodles of money and help keep the electorate dumbed down in one shot.
Minority business funding is a great issue and one where spending increases would payoff huge. The majority of this spending happens in poor communities and would provide jobs in those same communities. All of a sudden you have an employer, working for their community and raising it up. You also have new business which pays taxes and social security. This is another one of those investments that has potential to pay off huge as the improvements in the community have a great butterfly affect on many of the social problems that plague these same communities.
The national service component is actually really smart, as it could provide much needed support in communities in the areas of education, healthcare and security. This is not something new, just a way to re-kickstart a great idea from the past. It could also be used to reduce the costs of social services and get people off the welfare rolls.
One of things I really laughed at was Stossel complaining about Warren stating that government agencies should be forced to buy only American made products. Hmmm, I seem to recall a 2016 presidential candidate getting elected on such rhetoric. It was nice to see Stossel put Trump is the cross hairs for a very short period and say he wants to increase spending, but he left out the biggest thing already done - Trump's tax cut and massive gift to the top 1% and corporations. That surpasses all of the candidates running for the nomination, yet was never mentioned. I wonder why?
I thought this video was completely disingenuous and filled with misinformation and disinformation. This required way more detail as there are many positive outcomes as a result of the suggested spending. Conversely, all those positive outcomes that Trump promised with his tax cuts has proven to be bogus and nothing but a huge transfer of wealth from the middle class and poor to the top earners in the nation. Outcomes of spending is way more important than total numbers. Right now this government spends like a drunken sailor and the only ones who benefit are the rich and corporations. Its time for the middle class to get a break, and it will only come with big spending. See FDR and Eisenhower for examples.
We need better politicians, but we mostly need better media. The journalism in this country has gone to #### because facts and context don't matter anymore.