WTF? Govt rewarding bad behavior Part II

[TheManWithAUsername]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is not that student loans are not paid back. So, this what's your major = you pay back your loan is not relevant. The problem is the cost of a degree and future growth in that cost b/c the availability of loans. The loans are a pot of money that the academic industrial complex sees and will work to get.(Ike's speech talk about this complex also!) The way forward is not to impose some 5 year plan to produce x amount of software engineers for the great good. Market forces should determine this. Conservatives, as soon as they get in power, the state b/c the answer to everything. How far have the conservatives fallen.

By this reasoning, we shouldn't have any public education at all, or roads, or defense, because of the bathwater impact on those sectors.

Why shouldn't we encourage industries that the market isn't sufficiently encouraging? The free market sucks at planning. It works to get rich people richer ASAP.

Education is one of the best examples. E.g., the full economic and social impact of attacking public school teachers won't be felt for decades. Then the market can respond, and the country will wait for another few decades to recover. That's a pretty slow hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is not that student loans are not paid back. So, this what's your major = you pay back your loan is not relevant. The problem is the cost of a degree and future growth in that cost b/c the availability of loans. The loans are a pot of money that the academic industrial complex sees and will work to get.(Ike's speech talk about this complex also!) The way forward is not to impose some 5 year plan to produce x amount of software engineers for the great good. Market forces should determine this. Conservatives, as soon as they get in power, the state b/c the answer to everything. How far have the conservatives fallen.

I do hear a lot of hand-wringing about needing more STEM graduates. Well and good, but what's the advantage to STEM when the classes are (probably) harder, there's fewer girls, and the starting salaries are lower than business/law? (The free market awarded these mediocre MBAs and lawyers six-figure salaries.)

[Anonymous]

invest in the future by pushing for more hi tech jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

create an incentive by mandating higher interest rates on degrees that don't pay well. I don't understand how you can charge the same amount of money for every major where as 3/4 of them are worthless and low paying.

Not very free market of you, is it? I guess the invisible hand is only good, true and God-fearing when it moves people the way you want it to. If a liberal had suggested that we "create an incentive by mandating" anything, you'd be screaming and howling about interference in the sanctity of the free market, and accusing whomever made the suggestion of being a socialist.

I swear, it's exhausting keeping up with you conservatives sometimes.

You can pretty much tell what "conservatives" are going to be obsessed with by paying attention to their "brain":

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/11/03/and-i-will-be-satisfied-not-to-read-in-between-the-lines/

"Hey! You know what I'm angry about?!? People who study Classics!"

So fucking stupid and predictable, but if you ever need to know why "conservatives" vote as a block, and liberals seem to be all over the map, it's because they all think with one brain. One incredibly stupid brain, as it is.

[TheManWithAUsername]

Anonymous wrote:You can pretty much tell what "conservatives" are going to be obsessed with by paying attention to their "brain":

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/11/03/and-i-will-be-satisfied-not-to-read-in-between-the-lines/

"Hey! You know what I'm angry about?!? People who study Classics!"

So fucking stupid and predictable, but if you ever need to know why "conservatives" vote as a block, and liberals seem to be all over the map, it's because they all think with one brain. One incredibly stupid brain, as it is.

I agree with your general sentiment, but it doesn't apply here. This thread was prompted by Obama's action, not by OWS, at least not directly. And I don't think anyone here talked about the classics.

The value of a liberal arts BA isn't a left/right issue. Personally, I want fully socialized education, just not in any mostly frivolous subjects. On the other side, I imagine there are many rich conservatives who want only their rich kids in the top schools, and want them to read the classics.