Snippet of a conversation with a student from my Sources of Social Theory class:

Student: I just wanted to be sure I understood the Engels reading. Me: OK. Student: I mean, I think I got it—like, he went to Manchester and it was totally gross and everything, right? Me: That’s about right, I suppose.

And speaking of class warfare, consider the headlines from these two stories, nestled next to each other in the Times right now:

U.S. Seeking Cuts in Rent Subsidies for Poor Families. The Bush administration has proposed reducing the value of subsidized-housing vouchers given to poor residents in New York City next year, with even bigger cuts planned for some urban areas in New England. The proposal is based on a disputed new formula that averages higher rents in big cities with those of suburban areas, which tend to have lower costs…

Legal Loophole Inflates Profits in Student Loans. The federal government is paying hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary subsidies to student loan companies even though the Bush administration has the authority to cut them off immediately, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

It’s probably worth some Think-Tanker’s time to express the money involved in the former story in terms of the money involved in the latter story, and package it into a 1-liner about the present Administration’s approach to social policy.