That's a different issue. College tuition based on the actual program? There's room to negotiate.
Yikes, some elected officials now deciding what majors they will finance. What could go wrong, other than everything?
But saddling college kids with debt hurts the economy more than paying the tuition.
No, it doesn't. First, the best way to drive up price for any good or service is to have the government pay for all or part of it.
You wonder why the cost of health care exploded from 1965 to today? Hello, government funding. Here is why.
I am willing to pay "x" for a medical procedure. The government steps in and says, "Hey, let me cover that cost." The health care provider, not being dumb, accepts the government's money and now charges me "x" for the medical procedure - the same price I was willing to pay all along, but now coupled with the government's funding = much higher price for the same service.
Further, the idea that government is spending money that was heretofore stuffed in Gollum's den is inaccurate and misses the truth by a lot. The money the government is spending was previously spent by private businesses and private individuals - i.e., making and improving the economy. You remove that money from the taxpayer and lose the benefit of that spending, and replace it with an expensive, ever-expanding, ever-more costly bureaucracy to oversee government's "largesse."
Think of it as a cost of doing business. It's like the safety net. My standard of living is better if we don't have slums like they do in Haiti, just over the hill from the fancy resort. It doesn't have to be that distasteful altruism to not want the country burdened by large pockes of abject poverty. Think of it as a benefit to you as well to prevent it.
I believe you conflate opportunity with outcome. The United States is successful, and popular, and beautiful, and prosperous based on opportunity, not based on some guaranteed outcome. Haiti, by the way, has an extraordinarily bad record of protecting private property rights, and runs a significant deficit despite high tax rates:
The top personal income and corporate tax rates are 30 percent. Other taxes include a value-added tax and a capital gains tax. The overall tax burden is estimated to equal about 12.2 percent of GDP. Government spending amounts to 28 percent of total domestic output. The budget balance has fluctuated between deficit and surplus, and public debt has increased to 26 percent of GDP.
http://www.heritage.org/index/country/Haiti
Haiti is pretty much the model for future America, with our current profligate spending and political corruption.
So if you want the United States economy to grow, and give opportunity to all segments of our society, then restrict illegal immigration (which drives down the cost of labor for the lowest-skilled workers), allow our nation to develop its incredible energy reserves, reduce government spending to those matters where it belongs, and let people make their own way.
