On behalf of the political class, I'd like thank you for this article. Please continue to not care about politics so we can take even more money from you and give it to the people that put us into office.
That's not true. As a topical example: In the US, you have a right to anonymously donate money to Super PACs, and donating money anonymously for political causes is considered protected under free speech.
This might be one of the worst articles I've ever read.
""I advocate never lying in personal relationships. But if you have Anne Frank in your attic and a Nazi knocks on the door, lie....I lie to any government official." (Blanton's politics are just this side of Noam Chomsky's.)"
I don't see how the quote is even remotely related to Chomsky's politics.
That is one side of it, yes. Congress takes your money to do a lot of horrible things, like the hundreds of thousands of documented civilians that were killed as a direct result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
But Congress takes your money to do a lot of things, and some of them are absolutely important, like taking care of the medical problems that older people have.
Trolls are an important part of anonymous communities. They prevent people from having their heads so far up their asses that the community becomes an echo chamber. Too much moderation will contribute to echo chambers, as well.
I find it hilarious that people naturally assume the U.S. is not an oppressive government. Why don't you ask the black population of your country whether they feel oppressed?
This is exactly right. Court protection of free speech will do nothing when your government can imprison you indefinitely without proof of any crime committed.
Note that the first graph is "Six Years After College Entry". So that's 1-2 years after graduation. BARELY any time (if any) for interest to accumulate (as it doesn't while you're still a student).
I'd like to see a graph of 5 or 10 years after college graduation.
Edit: I was misinformed about college loans, please read the comments below this post. It is worse than I thought.