Who do you think pays for military service if not the people? Martians? What is the difference between generation X paying for generation X+1's education, spending g% more than what was paid for their own education, and generation X taking out a loan to pay for their education at a rate of r? The only thing that matters is whether r > g, the growth rate of the price of education. If r > g, then a direct transfer is slightly more efficient. If r < g, then a loan is more efficient. In this case, g is astronomically high. Yet you favor the more inefficient approach, because it hides the fact that most money spent on tertiary education is a waste, and you want this waste transferred to the old rather than kept by the young.

> engaging directly with the world via travel or talking to people outside our bubble A mandatory year mixing all social classes is, by definition, "bubble-popping".

Ahh, yes, those isolated campuses with safe spaces and psychological violence counselors -- a true bubble popping experience.

P.S.

You can also be old and foolish.