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College is how the older generation exploits the younger generation, in addition to ss and medicare. The demand for work is inelastic (and purchasing a college
by reader5000 16y ago
College is how the older generation exploits the younger generation, in addition to ss and medicare. The demand for work is inelastic (and purchasing a college degree is roughly purchasing a necessary license to work), there is no competitive market in colleges (colleges do not compete for students on price), and basically there is no way the system could NOT financially destroy the upcoming generation. The bastion of hope is that as old people die off and young people take political power, student indebtedness will be erased.
- watchandwait 16y agoThis pattern is more common than you realize. Anytime the government introduces a subsidy, from farm bills to mortgage deductions to limits on the number of doctors, it hugely benefits those with an existing stake in that market. The value of the subsidy is quickly capitalized into the market-- farmland prices escalate with the subsidies, for example. As a result, new entrants get none of the benefit of the subsidy, but instead get to pay higher, distorted prices to enter the market to provide or buy that good or service. Government subsidies not only cheat the public at large, but even in a specific industry they reward the current stakeholders and punish the next generation of stakeholders.