Re:How America's Top 20 Percent Perpetuates Inequality
by ajuc on Thursday June 01, 2017 @09:04AM
(#14459884)
I never understood that about USA.
Free (or at least affordable) university education is one of the most cost-effective investments a state can make. I've seen it work wonders in Poland in the last 25 years. And I don't mean "education to become academic scientists" - that part sucks in Poland. I mean "education to become globally competitive in high-margin areas of economy". It's cheap, it benefits economy in many ways, and it lowers the inequality. If Poland can afford it (and could afford it when it had GDP per capita under 10 000 USD) - USA can too.
Also - economy is not zero-sum. Yes, top 20% is always 20%, but if the division between incomes of top 20% and top 30% is negligible - why should we care about top 20%?
And if your country has 20% of people that can compete on global market, but other countries have 40% or 60% - you're screwed. Well, I guess you can just import them instead of teaching your own, but what to do with these non-competitives you're left with?
Free (or at least affordable) university education is one of the most cost-effective investments a state can make. I've seen it work wonders in Poland in the last 25 years. And I don't mean "education to become academic scientists" - that part sucks in Poland. I mean "education to become globally competitive in high-margin areas of economy". It's cheap, it benefits economy in many ways, and it lowers the inequality. If Poland can afford it (and could afford it when it had GDP per capita under 10 000 USD) - USA can too.
Also - economy is not zero-sum. Yes, top 20% is always 20%, but if the division between incomes of top 20% and top 30% is negligible - why should we care about top 20%?
And if your country has 20% of people that can compete on global market, but other countries have 40% or 60% - you're screwed. Well, I guess you can just import them instead of teaching your own, but what to do with these non-competitives you're left with?