Bernie Sanders at his best

[Lune]

Originally Posted by Lojik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think what has started us down this road is unrealistic expectations...everyone thinks they have a god given right to go to college, buy a house, have a cushy job, get 6 weeks vacation every year, a company that pays your retirement...the american dream right? But how many people actually know what it takes to get there... what have we really done as a nation to make this sort of thing a reality for most people?

We try to subsidize higher education by making it easy to get student loans (that would be cheaper than normal) and what happens? Tuition prices go up every year, and this makes sense now that most high school graduates can get into some kind of college. What they don't realize is that education isn't necessarily going to get them a whole lot, and half the population that goes to college gets saddled with debt for a degree they didn't need, or that they didn't even earn because they failed out. Instead of making it easier to get student loans, they should make it more difficult: prove to the lender that not only are you a great candidate, but that you actually have intentions of doing something with your degree. I actually think a state run university system that was fully paid for would be better than the subsidies we have. We could focus more on vocational or technical two year universities, make unemployed go to mandatory classes on job searching or career building that are actually useful...do something to make the american worker more productive, not just blame rich people for being rich.

Same with healthcare...I could potentially be behind a state run healthcare system, but the way it is now is a joke, and no this is not a rail against obamacare. It started decades ago when they made medical benefits non taxable (essentially a subsidy.) The result is expected: a higher demand for an artificially low priced item (for some at least.)

Defense spending: Do I really need to explain why we don't need to spend as much on defense as the next 14 highest countries combined? (Or whatever the number is.) But good luck getting a defense budget slashed, I live near DC and half my friends either work for the DOD or some defense contractor. And remind me, is it republocrats or demuplicans who support a smaller defense budget...I forget.

Politics: How much money is wasted every year on electing people who promise all this crap, but really the only difference is what special interest groups have them in their pocket: yes there are some politicians who aren't like that (maybe?) Aren't contributions to a political party tax deductible? It's no wonder political spending is out of control.

Unions...UNIONS. Don't get me started, I'll just mention that in LA unions supported a $15 minimum wage, then wanted an exemption. Talk about looking out for your workers. Unions aren't the solution, we just flat out need to make american workers more productive, not try to just protect them.

rant over

^ I agree. A lot of this hunger for loans is driven by the desire for Americans to have massive, brand new homes that are far beyond the reasonable ability to pay. Students spending oodles of money on college when maybe they shouldn't have even gone in the first place, or should have gone to community college etc. Lots of truth in this post.

You also have to realize productivity isn't the problem. US workers are insanely productive, probably the most productive in the developed world. Productivity has increased over the last decade while wages have decreased. Also, as I stated, many of our unions are corrupt and ineffective. That isn't a failing with the entire concept of unions, just like a single corporation being corrupt and malevolent isn't damning of the entire concept of corporations as a whole. A corporation can be socially responsible just like a union can be. The problem is, unions have become such a fringe concept and have become so detached from our culture that we have trouble running them properly.

Look at how our employment culture has become. People look at jobs like they are a favor instead of a bilateral between employer and employee. The idea that "Oh man I'm lucky to have this job, oh thank you boss, anything boss. You want to fire my coworker and give me all his responsibilities without a commensurate increase in pay? Okay, sure, I'm just glad to have this job" is a poisonous, very real, and very pervasive attitude in the current market. And it's something that needs to end in order for labor to make any progress. Much of the trend of corporate profits increasing while wages remain stagnant is rooted here, in the spinelessness of the American worker. Organized labor, when used with reason and restraint, is a tool to give the employee the power to resist unreasonable demands.