2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders' idea for free tuition at public colleges deserves an A [View all]ProgressiveEconomist
(5,818 posts)before responding?
A basic principle of efficient subsidies is that they should increase the supply of what is being subsidized. HRC's "America' s College Promise" does just that, while SBS's boondoggle mainly would induce those already bound for private colleges to switch to public, wasting trillions with little effect on the output of workers with post-secondary degrees.
I presume the "fast transaction tax" you mentioned is a generalization of the "Tobin tax" a Nobelist economist proposed decades ago. Why would it be politically feasible now, after all these years of not being implemented? And if it were somehow enacted into law, why would it not be used for non-wasteful higher priority policies such as infrastructure banks or universal pre-K?
IMO SBS's "free college tuition" plan is a cynical bid for millenials' votes from a sleazy, clueless pol who is running against Democrats in Congress.