On Friday, August 26, 2022 at 9:00:21 AM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
"To change the subject from inflation, politicians like President Biden often find it useful to accuse businesses of price gouging. The alleged price gouging is usually not precisely defined. But what do you call it when an industry routinely sells
assets that fail to generate enough income to service the debt used to purchase them?
Of course Mr. Biden’s illegal plan to make taxpayers cover student-loan debts will in many cases shower benefits on borrowers who don’t need help. But the biggest bailout is for the academic wokesters who get paid handsomely to supply products and
services for which there is little or no market demand.
Take away the massive system of federal subsidies and there will always be students eager to pay for electrical engineering degrees from Georgia Tech—and private lenders happy to finance an education that is likely to generate earnings power for the
borrower. The earnings power comes from the fact that the engineer can make stuff that people want and need.
What cannot exist without government intervention are expensive degrees in ideology and grievance and debt-fueled accumulations of nonmarketable skills. Word has been getting around for some time that many college degree programs aren’t worth the
high prices. If the holders of such degrees cannot find a way to finance them even in a historically tight labor market, it means the schools charged too much.
In a normal functioning market, students would demand more value and stop buying such degrees. The schools would have to change their course offerings or cut their prices or both. The Biden bailout prevents this virtuous natural process by making
taxpayers rescue the industry that is manifestly mistreating its customers. No reform will be permitted and now taxpayers will have to buy education services that are clearly not worth the cost."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-bails-out-the-price-gougers-11661460301?
College expenses have been increasing faster than inflation for decades. Not because of more professors and better teaching but more administrative personnel.
The following chart shows rising college cost in the US since 1980. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rising-cost-of-college-in-u-s/
"Last year, my colleague Micah Meadowcroft chronicled the rise of NEET culture. NEET stands for
“not engaged in employment, education, or training." NEETs are young men (and women, but
mostly men) who are throwing off the shackles of wage-slavery. They’re happily resigning themselves
to sponging off their parents and/or the nanny state. Meadowcroft began his article by quoting their
battle hymn:
Wagie wagie get in cagie. All day long you sweat and ragie.
NEET is comfy. NEET is cool. NEET is free from work and school.
Wagie trapped and wagie dies. NEET eats tendies, sauce, and fries.
Among those not yet brave enough to go full NEET, we now have the phenomenon of “quiet quitting”.
As one TikToker explained, “you’re not outright quitting your job, but you’re quitting the idea of going
above and beyond. You are still performing your duties, but you are no longer subscribing to the
hustle-culture mentally that work has to be our life.”
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-non-essential-economy/
Perhaps one could view the bail out as a harbinger to the impending Age of Universal Basic
Income. AI enhanced automation has successfully took over many jobs except those which
need technical expertise. This creates hard stratification among workers, those who have
technical and/or other expertise and those who don't. Workers of the formal are essential
workers. Those of the second group are non essential workers, in the sense that they are
interchangeable and POTENTIALLY a large pool of workers like them.
Non-essential workers get no respect from their employers, they have little opportunity for
career advancement. And in response, these workers are not excited about their jobs.
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