Ripple2352
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You're exactly right about this. I don't have links at the moment but I've read several articles about how many "free education" programs have been, and are currently, being done at local levels and almost without fail, the graduation rate drops for those receiving the "free" education. Unfortunately we have a lot of politicians today that have become masters at peddling swill to the masses. It's all wonderful to hear "Medicare for all", "free college", and "guaranteed jobs" (the latter two almost inarguably being silly as all hell) because it makes people feel warm and fuzzy. The unfortunate reality is though that it basically fiscally irresponsible at best, and impossible at worst And, if anyone truly cares about our national debt (they should), then the conversation is basically a non-starter. Our government has proven to be amazing at one thing, and one thing only: taking our tax dollars and wasting large amounts of said taxes on absolute garbage and ineffective programs, which really range from up and down the entire spectrum. That alone should be painfully obvious to anyone with a functioning brain cell left. Voting for people who want to increase government, which in turn almost always means higher taxes, the same government that's painfully irresponsible and ineffective, and in 2019 some people think downright evil, makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Before anyone brings up their favorite go-to examples of the Nordic countries, take this into account: 1. They dont pay for their military. WE DO. 2. They have unbelievably high taxes. Like, insane high. I can only speak for myself, but I feel I'm a better judge of where my money should go to benefit me and mine than Uncle Sam is. 3. Those countries, on top of not having a military expense, have less regulated free economic markets than we do, and they also have a very large revenue stream coming in from energy and off-shore drilling operations.And that dismal 52.9% rate is with people directly paying for tuition, books and boarding; suggesting (to me, at least) that there is a great(er) incentive to graduate since the student (or the student's relative) is paying for it. Imagine what the graduation rate might be if going to a University was "free" (no one pays directly, because we all pay for it through taxes). Again, to me, "at no direct cost" to the student creates less incentive to finish since there is little skin in the game. I may be wrong, but I believe people take things more seriously when they are paying the price.
Having said all of that, that doesnt mean I think its OK for these billion dollar companies to pay no taxes. That's not the case, they need to be taxed. However, its proven to be a slippery slope. Too much taxation and that slows hiring rates (and even decreases them in some cases), leads to less and slower upward mobility in some companies, can result in expense cuts (most often of which start with cutting jobs), and less generous benefits. ALL of this needs to be taken into consideration.
What medication and medical procedures cost here is ludicrous. In fact, its criminal. Nobody should be dying because they cant afford insulin (something BBers get on the black mart for crips sake). Cancer treatments should not cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Theres a plethora of others as well. But wouldnt one think there can be viable alternatives that do NOT involve a complete government (remember, this is a govt that's PROVEN to be extraordinarily inefficent) takeover? There has to be some common sense solutions and legislation out there that will help this situation. There is already a shortage of doctors here in the US. In fact, theres a global shortage of doctors. When you have the government coming in telling these doctors, facilities and hospitals what they're going to be for each procedure, etc, that doesnt create an environment that attracts more people to become doctors. In fact, it's quite possible that such practices very well may cause smaller GP and specialist facilities to close, causing job loss. Once again, unfortunately, it's all an incredibly nuanced and complicated situation where positive changes in one area can have absolutely catastrophic effects in another.
Free college, aka more of our tax dollars going to ****, is an even bigger problem. How about the government get out of the loan business? These loans are guaranteed to be backed, and creates the exact incentives for universities to increase their tuitions. Because they're going to be paid no matter what. I'm sure it should be easy enough to find a cap on interest rates that are applied to student loans and make it law (in a perfect world I guess. Just look at the clown car show that is our Congress today and we can see how this common sense legislation is wishful thinking). Take that into account with the aforementioned decrease in graduation percentage when tuitions are free. If tuition were to be paid for by our tax dollars, every single penny spent on someone who went to college just to "go to college" and never took it seriously and applied themselves would be the very definition of a "waste". It would be money that could be immediately flushed down the toilet to save everyone time. Yes, it would help a lot of people get an education. That's a positive. But this also does nothing to bring down or control tuition costs, unless uncle Sam plans on going the same route as Medicare and telling the universities exactly what tuition will be. What about private universities? Are those abolished? Allowed to stay? On top of ALL of this, many, many job markets are already saturated. If this were to lead to an increase in available workers then that directly leads to lower wages, especially for jobs straight out of college. For every 10% increase in available workers, that leads to a 3% decrease in compensation. This is in all industry. The CEOs, board members, and corporate big cats are only saving money in that situation. They're not paying more in wages, they're able to pay less, because SOMEONE will work for what they offer. It results in nothing but a transfer of wealth to the already wealthy. What we should be doing is stop telling these kids that college is the best answer right now. It's not, at least IMO it isnt. If I had a 16, 17, 18yr old kid right now I'd be doing everything in my power to try and get them to look into a trade school. It's cheaper. Faster. Much more highly specialized in most cases. And most have very good career placement plans upon graduation. Also, depending on the trade, as this wouldn't apply across the board, but some of these are kinda easy to start your own business in after you've put in some time. A path to being your own boss is ALWAYS a good thing IMO.
And I'm not even gonna get started on this "guaranteed federal job" horsesh*t. More, and more, and more taxes on top of taxes to pay for people to work. Never has it worked to create a job for the sake of creating a job. Its never leads to a positive outcome. And do we even need to comment on how this would absolutely sap people of any motivation to go out and earn a degree/certification anymore if they were guaranteed to work for Uncle Sam?
Woooooh...that was a rant! Kinda feels like I had that all bottled up for a while