Quote:
Originally Posted by Opie
Both of these assumptions are factually incorrect, the reason healthcare, and education, including college education, are so expensive in this country is specifically because of the government involvement in these entities. Healthcare and education alike are no longer viewed as things to benefit the greater good, they are instead big, big business raking in huge profits because of government involvement.
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Education is the same way, you must go or you will not be successful. Indebting a new class of debtors every school year with the lure of success with a wealth iof useless majors for average students while millions of decent paying tradesman jobs go to those scurrying across the border; electricians, carpenter/framers, plumbers, steelworkers, welders, auto technicians, installers, etc. all because we raise our kids to think success is only found with a degree, and not in a trade.
Just like oil, coal & auto companies are huge backers of the right, healthcare, education & technology are huge backers of the left and they are all taking care of each other...not any of us.
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Others are much better equipped than I to address the medical issues raised, but with respect to the higher education portion of your argument, you have the causal arrow reversed. Higher ed is more expensive NOT
because of government involvement but because of the withdrawal of government financial support for education in general, but higher ed in particular. This led to a concomitant infiltration of the private lending industry into the vacuum created by governments' abdication. All of us have suffered as a result.
In the years after WWII state governments took on the responsibility of providing higher education as a nominally public good. In part this was related to the need to reintegrate returning GIs into the economy but it was, in a sense, also a realization of the contribution education would play in the nation's future. The result was the greatest economic boom in the history of the country.
I was a late beneficiary of this. When I went to college it was affordable for a large portion of the American middle class. (the poor are another story altogether.) The taxpayers of the Texas subsidized my education to the tune of roughly 80% of its cost. I and my family were on the hook for less than 20% of the cost of my education.
In 1980 this began to change. Government came to be portrayed as a malignant force and taxpayer revolts became more common. States began to compete for the title of "lowest tax state." The resulting loss of tax revenue led to a slashing of public support for public colleges. State financial support for higher ed dropped from 80% to 20% of the cost - in some cases less. By 1990 the percentages had flipped. The state was paying 20% or less of the cost with families were paying 70 to 80%. The lost funding was replaced by substantial increases in tuition. Higher education at state "supported" colleges and universities became a private good. Citizens could get it, but only if they could pay for it. Into the void marched a legion of private - in many cases predatory - lenders. These lenders have successfully lobbied state legislature for protections from bankruptcy laws and other consumer protection provisions of state law. "Stete" colleges and universities were made the scapegoats.
What you are complaining about is not the result of government, but the abdication government's responsibility and the ascension of a politics of selfishness.
I share some of your frustration with the "success requires college" movement. In part that is a response by the affected institutions who now find that they need substantial enrollment growth to survive. The result is a large number of entering students are either uninterested in education and are going because they think they have to and/or are not ready or prepared for the work a college degree (should) require(s). That is another topic.