THE CONSERVATIVE VIEW
BY RUSSELL TURNER
COST OF LIVING
We Americans have forgotten what our capitalistic system is and how it is supposed to work. In a capitalistic system the individual must be willing to take risks; examples could be deciding on an occupation or willing to go into debt to start a business. It is a fact that many endeavors will fail but those failures in the long run have made our country prosperous and strong. Socialism, on the other hand, has proven that it is a failed ideology that corrupts its people and eventually destroys a nation's economy. We freedom-loving Americans must prepare ourselves for the upcoming general presidential election. We have a situation developing where we have a group of politicians on the left who are trying to buy the election by offering the most free stuff.
Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is trying to win over the votes of people who owe student loans; she's offering whopping $50,000 student loan forgiveness for nearly everyone who borrowed for college or graduate school. Before we start to buy into her scheme we need to look at the bigger picture. Student loans can be a burden to pay back, but so are other loans and expenses. When a person obtains a degree it is a tool that can enable a person to make a living, and that degree will last from now on and it will never wear out. I come from the working blue collar class, and I know something about incurring expenses to make a living. Most of us in the working class also had to go to school to learn our trade or at least serve an apprenticeship. When someone complains about having to pay back a student loan we need to look at the burdens the working class has to deal with. If you decide to go into business as a service technician for a variety of trades you will have to get the proper training, then you will have to purchase the tools necessary, purchase or rent a building, and purchase a service truck. When you hear someone complain about having to pay off a $40,000 student loan, think of a person who must purchase a service truck which is just one part of the equation. A service truck is something many businesses must have, and it is in addition to a personal vehicle that must also be bought. Finding a reliable truck for under $40,000 is very hard. Unlike a college degree that will never wear out, a service person will be lucky to get 10 years out of the truck.
A degree is a tool to make a living, but the truck is also a tool to make a living. I find it strange that the likes of Elizabeth Warren are not willing to use taxpayer money to pay off the cost of a service truck for a blue collar worker. The cost of a college education has been on an upward spiral for years and the government makes loans to virtually all comers, regardless of their ability to repay the money. Politicians like to blame various groups for the problem, but according to Federal Reserve research the cause is the colleges themselves. Colleges increase tuition on a too regular basis and the government just increases loan amounts to match whatever colleges charge. According to the research, every dollar loaned inflates tuition by another 60 cents. Sadly 34% of public college students can't make it through a four-year program in six years, but the loan still has to be paid.
The government providing free tuition is not the answer. If you think college tuition is rising now just wait until the government starts throwing taxpayer money to the centers of higher learning. The people receiving the free money will not care how much the colleges charge, and the colleges will have no restraints on tuition hikes. The truth we Americans need to relearn is there is no such thing as a free lunch. While the progressives propose to tax the wealthy, the tax bill always falls back to the hard working citizens of this country just trying to make a living.
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