2016 Postmortem

amborin

(16,631 posts) Mon Apr 11, 2016, 04:57 PM Apr 2016

Bill Clinton’s Mass Incarceration Policies Fed Rising Higher Education Costs and Student Debt Burden

How Bill Clinton’s Mass Incarceration Policies Fed Rising Higher Education Costs and Student Debt Burdens

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Yves Smith

I seldom post a extract from another site without further commentary of my own, but this is sufficiently important that it deserves to be highlighted without me getting in the way. From Ben Jealous via Medium:

Furthermore, virtually every American between 18 and 24 is paying a price for mass incarceration.

This is because state after state has cut their higher education budget to pay for higher incarceration. As a result, public university tuition and student default rates have soared. Our youngest voters find themselves most likely to either be in prison, indentured by student loan debt or afraid to even apply to college.

President Clinton was misleading when he suggested his 1994 crime bill was only responsible for 10 percent of America’s mass incarceration crisis because that bill only applied to the federal system. Since at least the 1970s, when incarceration rates began rising in America, the states have quickly replicated federal changes in sentencing laws.

Indeed, most Black Lives Matter activists have paid a steep price for President Clinton’s policies.

However, they also understand what President Clinton has often ignored: while the percentages are higher in the black community, an equal or larger number of our white sisters and brothers have been impacted by the sky-high incarceration, poverty, and student debt default rates spurred by the very policies he touted.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/04/how-bill-clintons-mass-incarceration-policies-fed-rising-higher-education-costs-and-student-debt-burdens.html

15 replies

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Bill Clinton’s Mass Incarceration Policies Fed Rising Higher Education Costs and Student Debt Burden (Original Post) amborin Apr 2016 OP

Sanders voted for the bill. hrmjustin Apr 2016 #1

Yeah, he should have voted against the Violence Against Women Act so you could attack him for that Fumesucker Apr 2016 #4

He is still responsible forvthe bill. No excuses. hrmjustin Apr 2016 #5

Oddly I don't feel the same way about Iraq and Hillary any more Fumesucker Apr 2016 #6

Criticism of her Iraq vote is perfectly legit. I got off my ass to protest her vote in 2002. hrmjustin Apr 2016 #7

Naive young woman from a backwater state like Arkansas, smooth urbane New England patrician Fumesucker Apr 2016 #8

Let us connect the dots..... guillaumeb Apr 2016 #2

Very misleading. If you were around and aware in the early 90's, you BreakfastClub Apr 2016 #3

Don't you mean Bill and Bernie's mass incarceration policies? nt Jitter65 Apr 2016 #9

And part of the solution in de-criminalizing marijuana floppyboo Apr 2016 #10

Or the alcohol people, guards unions, defense lawyers, prosecutors, cops Fumesucker Apr 2016 #11

I had not made that connection, but should have BernieforPres2016 Apr 2016 #12

They fucked over the entire working class, azmom Apr 2016 #13

What does that have to do with Hillary? woolldog Apr 2016 #14

The government is waging a war on our own people. The war on drugs is a war on the American people Cheese Sandwich Apr 2016 #15

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)

1. Sanders voted for the bill.

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 04:59 PM

Apr 2016

He bares responsibility for the bad things as well.

Fumesucker

(45,851 posts)

4. Yeah, he should have voted against the Violence Against Women Act so you could attack him for that

Reply to hrmjustin (Reply #1)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 06:40 PM

Apr 2016

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)

5. He is still responsible forvthe bill. No excuses.

Reply to Fumesucker (Reply #4)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 06:41 PM

Apr 2016

Fumesucker

(45,851 posts)

6. Oddly I don't feel the same way about Iraq and Hillary any more

Reply to hrmjustin (Reply #5)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 06:46 PM

Apr 2016

My thinking on that has evolved and now it's clear to me that people who were fooled by Dubya suffer a mental incapacity and it's not right to blame people for things they can't help, like being naive and gullible.

It's really too bad that Hillary never heard of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, perhaps if she had it might have tempered her natural gullibility with some prudence.

hrmjustin

(71,265 posts)

7. Criticism of her Iraq vote is perfectly legit. I got off my ass to protest her vote in 2002.

Reply to Fumesucker (Reply #6)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 06:50 PM

Apr 2016

Fumesucker

(45,851 posts)

8. Naive young woman from a backwater state like Arkansas, smooth urbane New England patrician

Reply to hrmjustin (Reply #7)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 07:07 PM

Apr 2016

I think it's obvious what happened, Hillary was overwhelmed by Bush's intellect and poise. People forget that Dubya had degrees from both Harvard _and_ Yale.

guillaumeb

(42,641 posts)

2. Let us connect the dots.....

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 05:08 PM

Apr 2016

Hillary’s Best Bundlers Lobby For Big Pharma, Private Prisons, And Anti-Obamacare Health Insurers

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/01/hillarys-best-bundlers-lobby-for-big-pharma-private-prisons-and-anti-obamacare-health-insurers/#ixzz45YQSUgzP

Clinton's position now is to reject this money, but obviously the private prison industry knows how to influence politicians based on past performance and positions.

BreakfastClub

(765 posts)

3. Very misleading. If you were around and aware in the early 90's, you

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 06:24 PM

Apr 2016

know that the black communities were raging with violence during the crack epidemic. Black leaders were calling for help from government. Those black leaders insisted that the government step in and do something because black kids were being shot down in the streets. The crime bill was what they WANTED. Bill did nothing wrong. Context is everything.

Jitter65

(3,089 posts)

9. Don't you mean Bill and Bernie's mass incarceration policies? nt

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 09:25 PM

Apr 2016

floppyboo

(2,461 posts)

10. And part of the solution in de-criminalizing marijuana

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 09:29 PM

Apr 2016

This is a no-brainer, except the pharmaceutical co.'s don't like that one little bit - or the private prisons.

Fumesucker

(45,851 posts)

11. Or the alcohol people, guards unions, defense lawyers, prosecutors, cops

Reply to floppyboo (Reply #10)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 09:33 PM

Apr 2016

Drug testing industry, rehab industry, the list is damn near endless..

BernieforPres2016

(3,017 posts)

12. I had not made that connection, but should have

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 09:52 PM

Apr 2016

Alabama's prison system is so overwhelmed and outdated that the Republican governor (who could be impeached due to an affair with a staffer) has proposed building 3 large new prisons and shutting down some old ones. And states are also spending money on "incentives" to keep existing businesses and lure new ones, i.e. corporate welfare.

As Bernie was saying in his Wisconsin speeches, it is cheaper to send a kid to the University of Wisconsin than to incarcerate him.

azmom

(5,208 posts)

13. They fucked over the entire working class,

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 10:09 PM

Apr 2016

but they and their buddies made millions. We can expect to see more of that if Hill is elected.

woolldog

(8,791 posts)

14. What does that have to do with Hillary?

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Mon Apr 11, 2016, 10:10 PM

Apr 2016

You're not so sexist as to hold HRC responsible for her husband's actions are you?

Cheese Sandwich

(9,086 posts)

15. The government is waging a war on our own people. The war on drugs is a war on the American people

Reply to amborin (Original post)

Tue Apr 12, 2016, 03:21 PM

Apr 2016

Ghettos are internal colonies.

All this shit is quite expensive but first you need to learn to count.

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