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A comment on The Fed’s imminent interest-rate decision – Is America ready for lift-off?. Parent comment

Re:The Fed’s imminent interest-rate decision – Is America re... by rayiner on Friday December 11, 2015 @08:44PM (#10721394)
I'm not really convinced by this argument. If more families than ever can send their kids to college (I.e. four year vacation), instead of working during that time, how is that a bad thing? Is it better if disabled people are trying to support themselves instead of being out if the workforce and being in SSIDI?
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Re:The Fed’s imminent interest-rate decision – Is America re... by SilasX on Friday December 11, 2015 @09:09PM (#10721466)
One word: Arms-race.

If everyone has to signal what percentile of competence they are, and you offer cheap loans to people who provide a certain signal, then everyone will start having to buying the service that send that signal. People are collectively blowing a lot of resources to signal the same thing (and irrespective of how much they value having such a vacation).

Scott Alexander provides a great exposition of that dynamic in "Against Tulip Subsidies": http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/06/against-tulip-subsidies...

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