Comments by AmerBuddha

Screw U: The Next Bubble May Be Higher Education

WHY IS THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION RISING? Are the schools somehow getting better? Are the students learning more (productivity output)? Technology? Bigger buildings? Smaller classes? Of course not. The answer is simple economics- supply and demand. More students are applying to the same number of schools. This should beg the next question of how or why this is possible. Population growth? Possibly. But certainly not enough to cause this sharp of an increase in tuition fees. Smarter kids? I doubt it. The answer is our good old buddies that caused the housing bubble and the medical cost bubble. Uncle Sam and the banks. By offering government (tax payer) backed student loans, more students are able to apply. When more students apply to the same number of schools, the cost goes up. Basic supply and demand. The common sense answer to this moral issue of equality that many of our poor, disenfranchised citizens were not getting their fair shot at a higher education, would be simply to build more schools of higher education. Surely congress and the media would have been able to make a strong case to increase taxes for the common good. But instead, our government (or should I say, the corporations and banks) decided to take the path of least resistance and offer government (tax payer) backed student loans. This was easy to get by the public. Large PR firms financed by the banks would start their usual frenzy and first appeal to the liberal's socialist views and sensitivity to unfairness and equal rights for all. The conservatives would take their predictable stance by crying foul play and too much government intrusion (in which in this case they would be right) and bingo- we are divided and united at the same time. We have yelling and screaming on both sides on another moral issue and completely distracted away from any real issue or issues of any kind of substance. Now, the old saying if you want to find the root of a problem- follow the money.... Now, the banks love any kind of government (tax payer) backed loans. First, they know students won't be able to pay them back right away, so they will be collecting interest for a very long time, and that's how banks primarily make money. Second, they know that these loans will never default because the government won't allow that to happen, ie the government will garnish your wages if you try to file bankruptcy or not pay. So who's making out in all of this? The banks. Who probably got the idea in the first place? The banks. Who has all the money in our country? The banks. Who owns your house, your car, the building you drink coffee in, the shopping center you shop at? The banks. Who runs our country? The banks. The same was true with the housing bubble when we had government backed home loans because it wasn't fair that everyone wasn't able to experience home ownership. More buyers flooded the market, supply stayed relatively stagnant and boom- housing bubble.
— August 1, 2012 9:16 p.m.

Hell is Other People

— July 25, 2012 9:43 p.m.

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