Articles, elections 2012, Infographics, Money

Graphic: Tuition Rising — How Obama Plans to Curb College Costs

Correction: This graphic has been updated. A previous version misstated when the President spoke at the University of Michigan.

Contact at ben@politicalfiber.com.

  • http://www.facebook.com/anthony.orwick Anthony Orwick

    In order to solve the problem of ballooning education prices, we must first ask ourselves, why is it so expensive in the first place?

    Look no further than the U.S. federal government. Our extremely high prices in education are a predictable consequence of a big government overreaching their bounds and throwing loan after loan at the students to gobble up. Who will refuse a full ride of college through loans? Grants are even worse, because they are never paid back to the government.

    If the Obama administration would really want cheaper prices for students, they would stop the unconstitutional interference from the department of education (education is clearly a state issue and should never be dealt with on the federal level).

    Whether it is student loans or any other government program touting to provide an inexpensive and effective product, most often the opposite occurs.

    Let us not forget the government is bankrupt. Every day they default on their own loans by turning to the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve System to print money. Alongside increased prices at the pump and at the grocery store, prices are going up.Where would the money from the loans come from? Three places.

    1. Borrowing (to pay for programs like these)
    2. Printing (increase in the monetary supply)
    3. Increased revenue (taxation)

    The result is privatized gains on behalf of the universities and socialized losses at the expense of the 300,000,000 + taxpayers in the United States.

    The benefits of such government programs are only half-truths. You only see what is created. What is created are successes and failures, useful and useless diplomas. But what you don’t see is the losses this system has created. Such losses like increased tuition prices, and money lost that would have otherwise benefited other products, goods and services. (See Broken Window Fallacy)

    Oftentimes, no wealth, goods or services are created under these circumstances.

    My friends, debt is not beneficial. It is only a fallacy that you can rely on the government to allow you to spend your way into prosperity. The sooner we understand this concept, the sooner college prices can finally fall.