3 ms·

It’s called “starve the beast” and it’s an actual tactic

brianstorms 8y ago
Indeed. There is an excellent film documentary by that very name that documents how they're starving public universities across the country and how some may go bankrupt soon. The irony is, the Rs collectively are the beast, and if we were honest we'd see that their strategy is actually Feed the Beast all the way. Redirect public money to private profit.
- briandear 8y ago
  The thing is, it isn’t “public” money — it’s my money and your money. It doesn’t belong to the government; it belongs to the people that earn it. And, we should have a right to require better public stewardship of the funds we pay. As far as public universities going bankrupt, citations definitely needed. In conservative Texas, universities seem to be operating just fine. Perhaps a solution is to restrict usage of federal student loan funds to only public schools. Federal student loans currently are being used to subsidize the operation of immensely wealthy private institutions. Harvard has billions in endowment, yet the taxpayer still gets to subsidize loans for students that go there. How is that fair? Perhaps we should tax the endowments of private schools and get them to start paying their fair share? It’s more fair than taxing me more. If we tax the rich to pay for the poor, should we tax the rich schools o pay for the poor schools? Why should I subsidize Harvard?
- nashashmi 8y ago
  Troll language: their strategy is actually Feed the Beast all the way. Redirect public money to private profit.
king_nothing 8y ago
We have to be careful, with some nuance, which “beast” is “starved.” We can’t just cut off funding of vital food assistance programs arbitrarily like SNAP cuts going into effect September 1, 2018 when poor/disabled people on razor-thin fixed-incomes depend on it to survive. Cut funding to specific, unneeded pet pork projects within the Pentagon and such to save money... don’t just hack/slash with a blindfold.

Indeed. There is an excellent film documentary by that very name that documents how they're starving public universities across the country and how some may go bankrupt soon. The irony is, the Rs collectively are the beast, and if we were honest we'd see that their strategy is actually Feed the Beast all the way. Redirect public money to private profit.

briandear 8y ago
The thing is, it isn’t “public” money — it’s my money and your money. It doesn’t belong to the government; it belongs to the people that earn it. And, we should have a right to require better public stewardship of the funds we pay. As far as public universities going bankrupt, citations definitely needed. In conservative Texas, universities seem to be operating just fine. Perhaps a solution is to restrict usage of federal student loan funds to only public schools. Federal student loans currently are being used to subsidize the operation of immensely wealthy private institutions. Harvard has billions in endowment, yet the taxpayer still gets to subsidize loans for students that go there. How is that fair? Perhaps we should tax the endowments of private schools and get them to start paying their fair share? It’s more fair than taxing me more. If we tax the rich to pay for the poor, should we tax the rich schools o pay for the poor schools? Why should I subsidize Harvard?
nashashmi 8y ago
Troll language: their strategy is actually Feed the Beast all the way. Redirect public money to private profit.

king_nothing 8y ago

We have to be careful, with some nuance, which “beast” is “starved.” We can’t just cut off funding of vital food assistance programs arbitrarily like SNAP cuts going into effect September 1, 2018 when poor/disabled people on razor-thin fixed-incomes depend on it to survive. Cut funding to specific, unneeded pet pork projects within the Pentagon and such to save money... don’t just hack/slash with a blindfold.