It is important for those struggling in the working and middle class to know that someone in a position of power is aware of their plight. It is comforting to at least receive an acknowledgment that a diagnosis has been accurately made.I perceive that ACK is commenting on the political/Communications value of making these points, but the post also begs the question of how does the gov't solve this problem?
Now, whether the Democratic party has the prescription that is an open question. Personally, I have my doubts but we shall see.
Sure, I would like for all children to get straight A's and for us to not have disease in America, but that's not possible and it's not responsible, in my opinion, for an intelligent adult to promise such things or pretend that s/he can deliver on such things.
Katherine surely would like to weigh in on this, given her recent post at "Just Another Pretty Farce"(here) about government and freedom, and government's (read: politicians') desire to help us or protect us from ourselves. Why are higher ed costs sky-rocketing? Why do most Americans have no control whatsoever over their healthcare costs? How long does it take--absent efforts toward economic redistribution, for unprecedented prosperity at the top of organizational structures to work its way down?
I have my opinion about the answer to these questions, but I think it's more important that those who raise the questions in the first place (in SOTU responses or in press conferences) or those who promulgate the notion that there is a problem that gov't can actively fix tell us what they think are the solutions.
2 comments:
I don't know what to say. I have a lot to say, that's for sure. So this is shaping up to be a long comment.
1. Yes: Things are a mess for very many people. I'd say they're probably a 70-30 mess at best. 70% is because of personal choice, 30% is because of societal factors. Yes, I'm struggling financially now. But part of that is because I made the personal choice to not pursue a lucrative field. Is this the government's fault? No, not really. But perhaps it is society's 'fault' in part that my chosen profession isn't as valuable as, say, throwing a ball.
Why are higher ed costs sky-rocketing?
Supply and demand. The demand for higher education is increasing because skills and knowledge once taught at the highschool level are no longer considered appropriate. HS has become excessively watered-down. In order to be employable at the most basic level, college is now a requirement. Colleges know this and have created a sellers' market. Much like imported goods from China, a college education is a servicable imitation of previous college educations, although of much poorer quality. Yet it is so highly demanded that colleges can charge a plum price for it.
If the public-funded/public-run grade school system weren't so shoddily managed, we would not have this problem.
Why do most Americans have no control whatsoever over their healthcare costs?
Because of the middle man. Everything you buy through a middle man is more expensive. There is presently no real, workable system for wholesale healthcare in the United States. You want medical insurance? You either go through your employer (said middle man) or pay through the nose--which most likely means you won't have health care at all.
Because of the middle-man philosophy of HC distribution, there is not a valid cost v. use model for the country as a whole, and insurers can leverage their risk by ratcheting premiums higher. And of course we here in the States must underwrite the R&D departments of various pharma companies with inflated perscription costs--made even worse by artificially deflated prices for some consumers. The price of a pill for blue-ribbon insureds is vastly different from the price of the same pill for Medicare recepients or starving mothers in Africa. It's just a fact of life. But an expensive one.
You'll note that in both cases government interference has made the problems much much worse.
I've yet to see any problem made better by government interference.
Kat, Thanks for taking the time to comment at length.
I think your assessments are largely correct, and one is even an understatement--because I surmise one big reason that higher ed costs have sky-rocketed is also because of efforts to make it "cheap" no matter the cost (pun intended). Taxpayers underwrite most of the cost of a public degree and all manner of incentives, grants, schemes are urged as a gift to the non-"rich" (and even the "rich" in Tennessee!)--all that drives up the price.
Accordingly, private schools have to pay more to attract professor talent and the spiral continues upward.
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