Submitted by: Gregory Fowler
The Occupy Wall Street movement has had one consistent message: there is a severely large economic gap between the top one percent of Americans and the rest of the country. This gap is so severe, that nothing like it in America has been seen since the Great Depression. To make matters worse for the next generation, college tuition has been increasing steadily since the mid seventies. These two things when combined make the chance of parents providing an education for their children almost impossible. A traditional four year college education now seems more like a fantasy than something remotely attainable in the American Dream.
In addition to this, federal funding for college tuition falls short of providing relief for the majority of American students. Funding for Pell Grants, money set aside by the federal government to assist students in college tuition, has been remarkably unable to keep up with rising college tuition costs.
Since the government is not funding higher education for the next generation, where is funding going? Below is a chart provided by ThinkProgress.org that simplifies the 2012 federal budget. If you had direct control of budget spending, what would you do differently? Or, what kinds of values do you think the government has by looking at this chart?
The Occupy Wall Street movement has had one consistent message: there is a severely large economic gap between the top one percent of Americans and the rest of the country. This gap is so severe, that nothing like it in America has been seen since the Great Depression. To make matters worse for the next generation, college tuition has been increasing steadily since the mid seventies. These two things when combined make the chance of parents providing an education for their children almost impossible. A traditional four year college education now seems more like a fantasy than something remotely attainable in the American Dream.
In addition to this, federal funding for college tuition falls short of providing relief for the majority of American students. Funding for Pell Grants, money set aside by the federal government to assist students in college tuition, has been remarkably unable to keep up with rising college tuition costs.
Since the government is not funding higher education for the next generation, where is funding going? Below is a chart provided by ThinkProgress.org that simplifies the 2012 federal budget. If you had direct control of budget spending, what would you do differently? Or, what kinds of values do you think the government has by looking at this chart?
Phialy Noun- I agree with the fact that there is little funding for the american education system. We go in school to chase that American dream but end up getting chased by a student loan. So much money does go towards our military but thats because we are at a time of war. Being at war makes the main focus protecting the country and preventing another country from taking away our way of life. People also now are cheating on entrance exams for colleges and racial identity to get in a certain college easier. If the one percent help fund things in America, there would be a better balance in our society.
ReplyDeleteSubmitted by Christopher Getz
ReplyDeleteFor the purposes of intellectually honesty I think it's worth pointing out that of the total US Fed. Budget for FY 2010, entitlement and anti-poverty spending total 50%. Net interest accounts of total FY 2010 expenditures, significantly more than Defense spending, which accounts for only 14% of the total budget pales in comparison to post-war spending when it accounted for nearly 50% of total spending. Also worth noting, for the purposes of intellectual honesty, that my source is the right-leaning Heritage Foundation.
That said, clearly Federal spending is poorly prioritized. And, for at least the last generation, we've insisted that the only acceptable path to middle class prosperity is a college education, which has increased in cost while decreasing in value. The need to address this is paramount, and seemingly will require government intervention coupled with a serious reexamination of policies by the institutions themselves.