This candidate report card on tech issues has been circulating around the internet for the last couple of days. I first saw it on Ars Technica, and thought it odd that Bernie Sanders received such a low grade on Education, Talent, and Workforce. Lower than any republican! And somehow Secretary Clinton received an incomplete on Intellectual Property? How could that be, I wondered, when her support for the extremely troublesome TPP is doubted by only the staunchest Clintonite?

Digging deeper, the answers immediately became clear.

Intellectual Property in this circumstance only means patent reform, and specifically tech patents. The VC firm that put this report card together doesn't even mention the troublesome issues with extensions of copyright and criminal sanctions for end-user violations of IP law that the TPP would bring.

As for education, talent, and workforce? The primary thing measured here is willingness to increase the number of H1-B visas issued to fill the "skilled worker gap" that has existed in our economy for the last two decades. Bernie's plan to make college more accessible might not show results as quickly as importing foreign workers with degrees, and it certainly won't be as cheap, but it is definitely the better choice.

Workers who come in on visas are faced with job lock and serve to lower the median wage. Bernie understands that making a long term investment in our workforce is the only realistic thing to do, and you can't achieve that with a for-profit higher education system that is more interested in bilking students than producing graduates. For that he earns a D+?

To put things in perspective, China saw 7.5 million students graduate last year and India an estimated 9 million in comparison to our roughly 2.2 million. These students also emerge in much healthier economic shape, which makes them cheaper and more reliable. How does Secretary Clinton plan to address that issue? With more of the same - subsidies for those who manage to qualify and empty talk of skin in the game.