this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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The underlying issue is that education is expensive and it should be free. I don't understand American's obsession with keeping the public stupid but I'm sure you'll defend it.
Right and that's a great thought, we should do that; just like we should nationalize healthcare and immediately eliminate private health insurers and PBMs and all the other dozen middle men that make health care more than 10 times as expensive in the US than abroad. But massive sweeping reforms are massively unpopular amongst the wealthy, and the wealthy through use of undemocratic systems of control like the Senate and Electoral college can wield supermajority control of the government despite only having support of 20% of the people -- so it's not happening until wider reform happens, and during that time tens of millions of people are being crushed by a trolly.
To really push this metaphor it's 'do we invent planes so people can stop being tied to train tracks, or do we stop the trolley.'
It's not an either or situation, it's not a zero sum game, we can do both, but we absolutely should do one regardless of our choice to do the other.
Why would people continue to get student loans if school was free?