More from Hillary’s speech today:
And when the president’s irresponsible tax breaks for high-income Americans expire, we will return to the income tax rates for upper- income Americans that we had in the 1990s, rates that were consistent with a balanced budget and economic growth.
For middle-class Americans, who haven’t seen their paychecks increase, let’s keep the middle-class tax cuts and reform the alternative minimum tax in order to give middle-class Americans the tax relief they deserve to have.
Wouldn’t you love, just once, for a politician to spell out what income level they consider “high-income”? Where is the line that when you’re underneath it, you’re one of those noble middle-class Americans deserving tax relief, but once you’re a penny above it, you’re a high income American whose tax “break” (not even a cut, but an insinuation that it’s a favor) is “irresponsible”?
We know that pre-kindergarten keeps kids in school longer, keeps them out of trouble, gives them more incentive to be academically interested and that it is a good payoff for our country: For every dollar invested, we get a $7 return.
Nope, or at the very least, the evidence is mixed. What does it take to get a presidential candidate to acknowledge the existence of contrary evidence?
We’ve got to make college affordable again, and that means everything from increasing Pell grants to changing the way college loans are provided and cleaning up the college loan industry from all of the scandals that is besetting it. Because if we don’t make college affordable, we are seeing the results: Young people can’t go.
Pssst. Abolish tenure. Oh, that’s right, you’re running for the Democratic nomination. In that case, I guess you’ll be offering yet another increase in various financial aid programs, which in turn helps enable colleges and universities to raise their tuition rates faster than inflation. (Think about it – what would happen if a college genuinely couldn’t find enough students who could afford it? They would be forced to lower tuition, or close their doors. So long as enough students are willing to go into long-term debt to get an education, and federal, state and local governments keep throwing ever-larger amounts at financial aid, there is no downward pressure on higher education prices.)