Subj : Free College Tuition
To   : All
From : Lee Lofaso
Date : Fri Feb 12 2016 16:53:11

Hello Everybody,

"Free college for everyone is a bad idea. But it is not
exactly the type of thing that would make him similar to
Stalin and Castro."
- Earl Croasmun to Tim Richardson, ALL-POLITICS, 2/12/2016

Louisiana has had a free college tuition program for all,
known as TOPS, for decades.  It was an idea brought forth
by oil tycoon Patrick Taylor, for whom the scholarship is
named.  The way it works is every high school graduate who
has earned at least a 2.5 average gets free four years of
college, courtesy of Louisiana taxpayers.  This can be
trade school, if the kid chooses to go that route instead.

The cost of tuition is repaid many times over when the
person joins the workforce.  Imagine the taxes paid over
the course of a lifetime compared to the infintesimally
small cost of the state paying for tuition.  The state
comes out way ahead in that deal.

Yesterday, the state of Louisiana suspended payments for
the TOPS program.  That means students will have to pay
their own way to go to college.  Or obtain student loans,
which must be repaid later, with interest.  Many students
do not have the money to go to college, nor will they be
able to repay a student loan if forced to go that route.
What that means is a less educated and less qualified
workforce.  Low pay, not even enough to make ends meet.
Not much tax being paid to the state, thus lower revenue
for the state.

What brought this about was low oil prices.  At less than
$40 a barrel, the state of Louisiana cannot survive as it
bases its budget on the price of oil.  State politicians
are not willing to raise taxes, or to rescind tax cuts for
the wealthy.  So they choose to cut the budget.  And the
only areas where the budget can be cut is education and
health care.

The state budget deficit is expected to double next year.
And that is taking into consideration the suspension of
TOPS payments.

Nationally, the US is entering a recession.  It will in
most likelihood be a very deep recession, if not an actual
depression.  Well, all recessions are depressions.  Just
a matter of degree.

This is the age of austerity.

The only way out of this mess is to spend our way out.
FDR showed us the way, back in 1933.  The first thing he
did when he took office was declare a bank holiday.  It
was really a ten-day period of time that he used to close
all the banks.  One-third of those banks never re-opened.

Once FDR got our banking institutions in order, he put
this country back to work.  And on the road to prosperity.

We need another FDR.

A New Deal for a New Century.

Free College Tuition for All

Free Health Care for All

Free Everything for All

--Lee

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