John Edwards Gets His Wonk On

What I love about John Edwards is he is running such a wonkish campaign. That probably won't make a great deal of difference to the voters. But it is refreshing to see a presidential candidate make clear policy proposals.

Edwards stated why NAFTA has been a disaster.

He focused his day on an aggressively un-flashy subject, the 14th anniversary of the passage of NAFTA, condemning the deal as a "particularly clear example of... big corporate powers getting exactly what they want in Washington, at the cost of over a million American jobs and incredible damage to the middle class in this country."

I'm more sympathic to free trade. One reason is so developing countries can lift themselves out of poverty. Longtime NAFTA proponent Brad DeLong notes that the agreement has not helped many Mexicans out of poverty. Wages have not kept pace with the nation's productivity.



Edwards outlined his College for Everyone plan.

Creating a National "College for Everyone" Initiative: Edwards will create a national initiative – based on the Greene County program – to pay one year of public-college tuition, fees, and books for more than 2 million students. In return, students will be required to work part-time in college, take a college-prep curriculum in high school, and stay out of trouble.

Overhauling the Student Loan Program: Edwards will let all students borrow directly from the Department of Education. By eliminating bank subsidies on student loans, he will free up billions of dollars to make college more affordable.

Simplifying Financial Aid: Edwards would dramatically simplify the application process by using information the federal government already has, eliminating two-thirds of the questions.

Giving Students the Tools They Need to Apply for College and Aid: Edwards will help every low-income high school eligible for Title I hire a new college counselor, helping students choose college-track courses and navigate the admissions and financial aid process.

Financial aid has become a corrupt system that enriches universities and lending companies at the expense of students. Conservatives make the argument that the market takes care of itself. This kind of conservative told Hebert Hoover not to do anything during the stock crash.

The 'leave-it-alone liquidationists' headed by Secretary of the Treasury Mellonfelt that government must keep its hands off and let the slump liquidate itself. Mr. Mellon had only one formula: 'Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate'.He held that even panic was not altogether a bad thing. He said: 'It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people'

Regulation is needed because human nature involves people lying, cheating and stealing from others. Lending companies don't care if students get an education. They are concerned about profit. As a society, America should be concerned it will produce a workforce that can maintain it's status as a leading industry nation.

Plan For Opportunity For All Americans is a plan to increase education spebding for prodominetly black schools and provide health care for the African American community. Edwards wants to reform criminal sentencing guidelines for non-violent offenders. The Left and libertarians will agree will that. Conservatives will frame Edwards as soft on crime.

A proposal I love is Edwards wanting to restore voting rights for felons. It's nice to know Edwards has been paying attention to what is going on in places like Florida.

Edwards believes we should allow voters to register on Election Day, ending the fiasco of purge lists, provisional ballots and voter registration intimidation, and he opposes voter photo identification legislation, which disproportionately disenfranchises racial and ethnic minorities.

Stuff like this is why I haven't jumped on the Obama bandwagon. I can't stand Obama's Social Security rhetoric. The Obama campaign is now attacking Paul Krugman for pointing out that his health care proposal won't work if everyone doesn't pay into it.

And it’s not just a matter of principle. As a practical matter, letting people opt out if they don’t feel like buying insurance would make insurance substantially more expensive for everyone else.

Krugman gives Edwards props for making people require to show proof of health insurance when they go to the doctor.

Well, John Edwards has just called Mr. Obama’s bluff, by proposing that individuals be required to show proof of insurance when filing income taxes or receiving health care. If they don’t have insurance, they won’t be penalized — they’ll be automatically enrolled in an insurance plan.

That’s actually a terrific idea — not only would it prevent people from gaming the system, it would have the side benefit of enrolling people who qualify for S-chip and other government programs, but don’t know it.

Obama is proposal a shiny happy people version of universal heath care. Americans can have health care and not having to pay for it. The only problem with Obama's plan is reality.