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Blanket funding of education is terrible. Loans should be negotiated on an individual basis based on the degree and that degree's ability to provide a salary hi

Blanket funding of education is terrible. Loans should be negotiated on an individual basis based on the degree and that degree's ability to provide a salary high enough to pay back the original loan. This government loan enables colleges to charge more because students will simply take a higher loan out with no calculation of return on investment.

xracy 5y ago
Every person with a bullshit degree that I know had their parents pay their entire way in college. There are plenty of necessary degrees that don't provide enough compensation to pay off the loans of people who take them. We don't pay money in this society for people who provide necessary services. If you think that we do, then please, by all means, explain to me why Software Engineers (a profession invented in the last 50 years), get paid more than farmers (a profession that defines how humans have come so far).
- slt2021 5y ago
  Because farmers depend heavily on software engineers to create and maintain highly complex software for their automated GPS navigated tractors. Plus supply and demand, farm labor can come from Mexico for cheap, but firmware software engineers in agriculture aint coming for the same price
  - xracy 5y ago
    > Because farmers depend heavily on software engineers to create and maintain highly complex software for their automated GPS navigated tractors. Yes, farmers need Software engineers to make complex GPS software, which is why we didn't have farmers until after software engineers became a profession. Before software engineers made gps for tractors we were all hunter-gatherers. The first part of your comment is so absurd I legitimately can't tell if you're serious.
    - slt2021 5y ago
      By farmers I was referring to modern farmers. You can certainly do farming in early 19/20th century style with horses instead of tractors, but let me know how that would work for farmer’s profit&loss
      - xracy 5y ago
        In spite of stating my point, you're still missing it. Nothing Software Engineers are selling to farmers is necessary to do farming. I don't even have to go back that far to make this case. You don't need tractors with GPS on them to farm, because people in the 1960s had tractors without GPS. GPS might make things slightly easier, but it's not changing enough to justify the difference in salary between someone who does work that literally feeds the entire population of a country, and someone who tracks your location. One of those things is absolutely critical to survival, and the other might occasionally be helpful. It's the difference between a 'need' and a 'want'. I need food to survive, I want an app that can give me directions to an address.
        slt2021 5y ago
        You are mistaken, market forces such as supply and demand already account for things like need and want. Thats why there is global demand for food and farmers can raise prices if fuel cost increase and still sell their crop. And not everyone needs farmers believe me, especially overpaid american farmers. Food can be imported dirt cheap from other countries. The short explanation is supply&demand dictates wage, big supply of farmer labor in an increasingly automated agriculture + low supply of IT labor doing that automation dictates pricing.
        xracy 5y ago
        "When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money." - Attributed as Cree Indian Proverb.
- JCharante 5y ago
  If there was a farmer strike or the number of farmers dropped dangerously low, the profits for the field would go up and there would be more incentive for people to specialize in farming. Are farmers really that important? We import a lot of food and heavily subsidize farmers already.
  - Clubber 5y ago
    >Are farmers really that important? Only if you think eating is important. >We import a lot of food > In 2019, the United States ag exports account for $128.718 billion with soybeans, beef, veal, pork, poultry and fresh and processed fruits and veggies topping the list. United States agriculture imports total $127.6 billion with coffee and cocoa, fresh and processed vegetables, and grains and feeds accounting for the majority. We're a net exporter. We import a lot of speciality foods (coffee/cocoa) grains and livestock feed. Doesn't sound too appetizing. >heavily subsidize farmers already. I believe we mostly subsidize farmers to not produce things as to not flood the market (see agriculture during Great Depression). Ethanol is an exception though.

xracy 5y ago

Every person with a bullshit degree that I know had their parents pay their entire way in college. There are plenty of necessary degrees that don't provide enough compensation to pay off the loans of people who take them. We don't pay money in this society for people who provide necessary services. If you think that we do, then please, by all means, explain to me why Software Engineers (a profession invented in the last 50 years), get paid more than farmers (a profession that defines how humans have come so far).

slt2021 5y ago
Because farmers depend heavily on software engineers to create and maintain highly complex software for their automated GPS navigated tractors. Plus supply and demand, farm labor can come from Mexico for cheap, but firmware software engineers in agriculture aint coming for the same price
- xracy 5y ago
  > Because farmers depend heavily on software engineers to create and maintain highly complex software for their automated GPS navigated tractors. Yes, farmers need Software engineers to make complex GPS software, which is why we didn't have farmers until after software engineers became a profession. Before software engineers made gps for tractors we were all hunter-gatherers. The first part of your comment is so absurd I legitimately can't tell if you're serious.
  - slt2021 5y ago
    By farmers I was referring to modern farmers. You can certainly do farming in early 19/20th century style with horses instead of tractors, but let me know how that would work for farmer’s profit&loss
    - xracy 5y ago
      In spite of stating my point, you're still missing it. Nothing Software Engineers are selling to farmers is necessary to do farming. I don't even have to go back that far to make this case. You don't need tractors with GPS on them to farm, because people in the 1960s had tractors without GPS. GPS might make things slightly easier, but it's not changing enough to justify the difference in salary between someone who does work that literally feeds the entire population of a country, and someone who tracks your location. One of those things is absolutely critical to survival, and the other might occasionally be helpful. It's the difference between a 'need' and a 'want'. I need food to survive, I want an app that can give me directions to an address.
      - slt2021 5y ago
        You are mistaken, market forces such as supply and demand already account for things like need and want. Thats why there is global demand for food and farmers can raise prices if fuel cost increase and still sell their crop. And not everyone needs farmers believe me, especially overpaid american farmers. Food can be imported dirt cheap from other countries. The short explanation is supply&demand dictates wage, big supply of farmer labor in an increasingly automated agriculture + low supply of IT labor doing that automation dictates pricing.
        xracy 5y ago
        "When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money." - Attributed as Cree Indian Proverb.
JCharante 5y ago
If there was a farmer strike or the number of farmers dropped dangerously low, the profits for the field would go up and there would be more incentive for people to specialize in farming. Are farmers really that important? We import a lot of food and heavily subsidize farmers already.
- Clubber 5y ago
  >Are farmers really that important? Only if you think eating is important. >We import a lot of food > In 2019, the United States ag exports account for $128.718 billion with soybeans, beef, veal, pork, poultry and fresh and processed fruits and veggies topping the list. United States agriculture imports total $127.6 billion with coffee and cocoa, fresh and processed vegetables, and grains and feeds accounting for the majority. We're a net exporter. We import a lot of speciality foods (coffee/cocoa) grains and livestock feed. Doesn't sound too appetizing. >heavily subsidize farmers already. I believe we mostly subsidize farmers to not produce things as to not flood the market (see agriculture during Great Depression). Ethanol is an exception though.