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We should be burning the financial system to the ground... well maybe not literally but pretty damned close. The despicable thing is that the insanely rising c

We should be burning the financial system to the ground... well maybe not literally but pretty damned close. The despicable thing is that the insanely rising cost of education is just plain class warfare under a veil of financial hocus pocus and it takes aim at what I see as developed society's achilles heel. Education is the root of everything that underpins our current and future society. You kill that and you are tinkering with killing just about everything of social value in X years. Look at any country that has a weak education system and the correlation is extremely clear. Our current education system is/was a very very good one that now is largely unaffordable and increasingly inaccessible. Complaints about the impractical value of certain degrees has merit but on the whole the US education system has provided an environment that has fostered a class that by enlarge has been one of the most creative, productive, and compassionate of this past century. I really fear that our current trajectory in the opportunities for one to receive rich educational experiences is going to inevitably lead to our society being stagnant at best.

fennecfoxen 14y ago
The financial system has tons of problems, but it's a hell of a lot better and more democratic than a world where there is no avenue for the wealthy and the middle-class to share in ventures. You and I and our neighbors can buy stocks in big companies and earn returns to save for retirement; we can (at our discretion) have rich jerks fund our little startup and launch businesses we couldn't otherwise. We can borrow money to buy a house, and enjoy the stability and independence that such a purchase provides for the next couple of decades while we pay it off, instead of saving up while we're renting and enjoying none of that. But of course no one who's been through an introductory economics course should be surprised that subsidizing the purchasers of a good or service (like education) makes the price rise. :)
- moocow01 14y ago
  What you describe is also my definition of a healthy financial system but IMHO we are increasingly moving away from that description and I think the fact that socio-economic mobility has been decreasing in the US somewhat verifies this. Just about everyone can "share" in economic growth in the US. That is positive. But the problem is that the financial vehicles accessible to most are increasingly weighted to capture less of the percentage of capital gains.

fennecfoxen 14y ago

The financial system has tons of problems, but it's a hell of a lot better and more democratic than a world where there is no avenue for the wealthy and the middle-class to share in ventures. You and I and our neighbors can buy stocks in big companies and earn returns to save for retirement; we can (at our discretion) have rich jerks fund our little startup and launch businesses we couldn't otherwise. We can borrow money to buy a house, and enjoy the stability and independence that such a purchase provides for the next couple of decades while we pay it off, instead of saving up while we're renting and enjoying none of that. But of course no one who's been through an introductory economics course should be surprised that subsidizing the purchasers of a good or service (like education) makes the price rise. :)

moocow01 14y ago
What you describe is also my definition of a healthy financial system but IMHO we are increasingly moving away from that description and I think the fact that socio-economic mobility has been decreasing in the US somewhat verifies this. Just about everyone can "share" in economic growth in the US. That is positive. But the problem is that the financial vehicles accessible to most are increasingly weighted to capture less of the percentage of capital gains.