How They Were Raised
We Baby Boomers were raised with the same strictness and accountability our Depression Era parents experienced themselves. Parents saw their job to be raising responsible, educated adults who knew they would have to earn a living, be responsible for their mistakes and obey the law. However, my generation made the mistake of falling into the “guilt” trap. So many couples both worked that they felt they didn’t have enough time for their kids. Instead, they bought them stuff and paid for anything the child wanted. An iPhone, once a highly-desired but less common option, became a toy of children. Too many, food indulgences produced an obese generation.
Discipline turned into “time-outs” which meant spending time in your room where you had access to the internet, music, TV and more. Hardly a punishment. Kids believed that they were constantly in danger, as parents held their hands everywhere and hovered, even over school and job interviews. Parents also forgot the basic rule—if your kids don’t hate you at least some of the time, you’ve blown it. Kids need to learn boundaries from you. Kids are not your friends or confidantes. Given that, too many of the following generations expected/demanded the world. And the Left stands ready to give it to them.
Free College
Growing up, my sister dreamed of attending Northwestern, an option while we still lived in IL. But once we moved and our parents got divorced, the cost became too high. Both of us worked our way through UC Berkeley (affordable then). Many friends did two years in junior college to save money, again opting for the last two years at a local school. Others worked for a few years to pay the bills. No one ever considered college something that others “owed” you.
Now, Biden would like to forgive loans that were consciously taken out to allow college students to opt for a more unaffordable school and the chance to live away from home. This debt would be paid for by those who never went to college and those who went, but paid their own way. Does anyone think this is fair? Adults, (even students), choose to take on debt; no one owes them forgiveness for it, nor a free ride to education that will guarantee them higher pay down the road.
Minimum Wage & Universal Basic Income
In many ways, there is no difference between this and free college. Both interrupt the way the market works. When there is a shortage of workers available, companies offer more money to get someone to work for them. When there is a glut in an area, they offer less. Similarly, given the cost of running a business versus what you are likely to make, the business owner has to make decisions on what they can afford to pay. The government has no way of understanding the difference between my small business and Bank of America. Minimum wage forces everyone to pay an arbitrary amount. If they can’t pay it, small businesses enlist family, work themselves harder or automate. In all cases, no one gets a job.
As far as a guaranteed income, we already know what will happen. When people get money not to work, they don’t work. Under Obama, the unemployed largely waited till their two years ran out before looking for work. Covid boosts in unemployment insurance had a similar effect.
We also have to look at fairness. Who is supplying the money for that income? Hard-working taxpayers. Why should I work hard so that you don’t have to work. One can say that it is tough when you struggle to find a job, but our history is full of people making difficult moves to find a job that fits, or one that allows them a better life. It is not the responsibility of those who work to provide for those who would rather not. No one has the right to anything they haven’t earned, except in limited and temporary situations.
Affirmative Action
I laugh when I hear more and more groups demand some version of preference of this kind. What it means to demand affirmative action is to say that you couldn’t qualify under normal circumstances, so the bar should be lower because of some facet of your heritage or sexuality, for example. It’s really an insult. Because I’m Black or a woman, I can’t compete with White males. Of course, we can. Instead of this, we should always be striving not to fix outcomes, but to improve opportunity, beginning with fixing the problem schools. There are core things every child should learn, so that they have the opportunity to pursue the life they want. You can’t fix that when they become adults.
Would you really want an affirmative action doctor or airline pilot? Don’t all of us want the best?
What Should We Do?
First, get the government out of “fixing” things. We have a long, sad history proving that when the government “fixes” things, they make them worse. Johnson’s War on Poverty resulted in more poverty. The government always gets it wrong. The markets only get it wrong when the government gets involved with them. When college loans weren’t part of a government scheme, colleges cost less. They also had a much smaller administrative state. Colleges focused purely on educating students. If it costs less, more can afford it and the loans can be smaller. My husband borrowed money to attend a prestigious private university. He worked to pay off his own loans. Increasingly, companies have found that a college degree isn’t worth as much as it once was. Perhaps, they’ll stop requiring a degree.
For the income problem, let’s fix our broken immigration system. My uncles picked and sorted produce early on in their careers. Americans can and will do those jobs. It’s a stepping stone to greater things. Our country, with its significant benefits to citizens, should only open doors to those that bring real benefits. I think of the many talented Asian IT workers I’ve met. Those are the choice picks for immigration, not those who can’t do anything we need, don’t (and won’t) speak English and whose main “talent” appears to be reproduction. We should be as picky as other countries.
More jobs means that everyone can find a job. Put in the effort and you move up both in responsibility and pay. Adults do not have a right to stay idly at home and get checks to pay their bills. And stop raising the minimum wage. Automation has gotten so good that it will eliminate the low-end jobs. If you cost too much, you won’t find a job.
At the end of the day, as Libertarians say, “don’t hurt other people and don’t take their stuff.” Their “stuff” includes their money. Work for a living and enjoy the many rewards hard work provides both physically and psychologically.
These programs have the wrong motives and so they fail. Their goals are to “buy” votes and not to really improve a bad situation. All about maintaining power.