Free College Will Destroy Education By Filling Up All The Seats
As for extending public education through college, Pearlstein offers an "expert on higher education" who amazingly argues "low- and moderate-income students already pay little or no tuition.... " 'I'm not sure this is a wise thing,' Ehrenberg said. 'It won't affect the ability of lower income students to get higher education.' "
Right. And apparently there is also no student debt crisis, since it's already free. It's all in our heads.
But even though the "expert" claims that any low and moderate income student can already go to college for free, Sanders' plan to extend public education by four years would "strain the capacity of public institutions as large numbers of students shift from private to public colleges."
Can they can already go for free, or will making it free strain the capacity of schools to handle all the people who will be able to attend?
Raising The Minimum Wage Will Destroy The Economy
Pearlstein finds an "economist" who tells us that even though minimum wage increases "can largely pay for themselves because of the reduced turnover and increased worker productivity that result from higher pay," Sanders' proposal to raise it to $15 is a "risk not worth taking." To explain this statement, Pearlstein cites another "economist" who explains, invoking no economic basis, that raising the minimum wage would actually hurt the people who get a raise because they would face "higher prices for what they buy, smaller pay raises or higher unemployment as firms replace workers with new technology."
Clearly a pay rate of $0 per hour would be best for all of us.
(Note: Raising the minimum age would reduce the size of government by reducing the need for food assistance and other aid programs.)
Taxing The Wealthy And Corporations Will End Humanity Itself
Pearlstein warns that raising taxes on the highest incomes is an absolutely terrible idea because "some business executives, hedge fund managers and well-paid professionals -- or their spouses -- will decide to hang it up and head for the beach." Others "will hire armies of lawyers and accountants to help them convert salary income to lower-taxed investment income -- and then move investment income offshore, where it is not subject to any U.S. tax." (Actually the failure to report and pay taxes on offshore income is illegal.)
Also, "almost any economist" will tell you things that benefit high-income taxpayers at your expense. For example:
"Almost any economist would say that those taxes on investment will have a negative impact on economic growth," said Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center. "It raises the costs for business of making new investment, so they will invest less. And it makes investors less inclined to own [stocks]."
This argument -- if you tax investment income at normal income tax rates people won't make investments -- is worth examining. Once upon a time people invested to make money. Money from an investment is income, just like money from a job. But currently certain investments are taxed at a lower rate than other income. This argument that people will not invest "as much" if they have to pay a normal rate of taxes on the resulting income implies that people will choose to just keep their money under a mattress instead of making money by investing it.
Changing The System Would Mean The End Of Everything We Know And Love
Finally Pearlstein uses an "economist" to explain that "it's not possible to bring about radical change in one area without changing everything else. And even if Sanders did manage to pull off all those changes ... the process would generate disruption and uncertainty that would slow the economy for years."
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