Again I force you all to ask me what my point is… The point I was originally after with this post was to quickly aim the spotlight at irrational behavior. Why would otherwise logical parents disregard their better financial judgement by sending a young person off on a VERY expensive educational pursuit with so little care taken in what the desired outcome should be?

 

   In generations past a college education was something that the committed student could achieve on their own or maybe with some added help from the family. Possibly a truly affluent family would have send a student that wasn’t all that committed but the financial burden wasn’t as much of a concern for them as for an average family. These days the student or parent, whichever is more appropriate, finds an extremely expensive educational proposition. In most cases the financial commitment is beyond an individual or families ability to pay for out of pocket. Where does that fact leave us… DEBT!

 

   As if on cue, in walks the .GOV and starts tossing around “Opportunities” for every student to go on to college… Yes I know not all student loans are underwritten by the government and some families don’t qualify for direct assistance but other resources are put out for just about every family or individual to see and take advantage of. With easy payment terms and often easily deferred payback time-lines…

 

   Hold on just a minute, I think I could hear that last comment from here – “Education is an investment!” Yes, I do see where a strong case could be made for this “Investment” mentality. Traditionally, when an investment is made there is the expectation of a “Return” or ROI. Well, in the case of say a physician, eventually a higher than average salary would accompany the final educational degree = (ROI). Another example of a degree that almost always has to come from the hallowed halls of the University, a degree in teaching. This degree also will allow the graduate to find employment and a salary but with what kind of (ROI)? See where I’m going with this? Investments are a funny thing, if we want to call “Higher Education” an investment, in the true sense of the term, than we would have many fewer students because the (ROI) is often negligible or non-existent… Don’t think I’m without understanding of the fact that many people are less interested in the salary as in the position! I completely respect that and have several subjects that I would love to go study at the University level, if the right opportunity ever presented itself. However, when the education comes with the tangled web of a debt burden than I’m extremely skeptical of its true value. Add in the almost peer pressure like educational expectation and I’m even more concerned.

 

   Now back to the .GOV’s involvement… Why is our government so interested in helping us and or our children get this higher education? Maybe this sounds like a crazy question? Seriously though, why all of a sudden would they feel the need to “Help” our children get educated? They had the young ones for 13 years and have failed miserably at almost every turn… I should say they had control over our children in many ways, please tell me I’m wrong about this, I really love to hear folks defend the public school system…

 

    The “control” issue is the real heart of today’s post. Governments have always done whatever they possibly could to control their citizens. Some governments just take this further than others. So anything that the government does in my interest or to encourage a particular behavior should be suspect if not avoided all together. Yes, we’re in America and we can’t get a fence built on the border to protect our National interests much less one to hold us all here. As Americans we are fiercely independent and would throw off any overt shackles like so much over taxed tea cast into some un-named body of water. Oh but the devils are cunning, control a mans pocket book and you can control him in a way much more powerful than you can with a gun…

 

   Debt is the shackle that the government has gotten nearly all of us to put on ourselves. What makes a man get up every morning for 50 years and head out to a job that he would rather leave behind him? Debt! How does the government gain by you getting up and going to work? Taxes and lots of them, the largest being the INCOME tax, go figure? As long as you always get up and go to work than you have become an easily controlled citizen…

 

   The government, unwilling to stop at just getting us all comfortably shackled with a 30 year mortgage, is ever looking for ways to control us at an earlier age. Credit card offers come at an ever earlier age to our children or at least they did before the government’s stooges – the bankers, got a little to greedy and found themselves a bit strapped for easy credit. This credit situation will eventually be fixed as this is the governments best form of national security, their security not ours!

 

   In the interest of getting this post finished in a timely manner, I’ll attempt to bring this all together in the next few paragraphs. Ask yourself why it has become so easy to walk into a college and enroll, little need for financial creditability. The answer is the government wants it that way… Let’s be honest with ourselves, the government doesn’t give two hoots about our education! So why then are they “Helping” ease the way to such a pursuit? Maybe we as a nation need more college educated individuals for the betterment of the nation? That would sound really nice, all of us highly educated Americans running around finding answers to the worlds issues… No such luck, we don’t have nearly enough good employment opportunities for the adult population now… So why the push for an EXPENSIVE education when there is little hope of an employment opportunity that will provide the required ROI…

 

   Debt, it’s the debt! This is the only explanation! Same as with the mortgages, the government could care less if we “own” a house or live in their provided housing projects… Either way they control us, the house just helps them make more money off of their subjects labor in the form of income taxes! The debt is the driving force of our economy, the truly motivating factor in all of our lives. Without this debt, we would truly be free! Debt is the implement of our own enslavement and the sooner we are under it’s control the better, at least as far as the government is concerned…

 

   It isn’t about the education but only the debt and control the government can use to ply pressure on us, the good citizens… Please enter into every form of debt with your eye’s wide open as each time you sign on that dotted line, you could be entering into much more than you bargained for.

 

   As these recent days in my life have been passing all to quickly, working 2 jobs and long hours, I have had time to give myself more than one hearty kick to my own rear-end. As carefully as I have lived my life and sincerely tried to avoid irresponsible debt, I to am currently in a bondage of my own doing… Yes, I did tell all of you that I have no debt but a couple of real estate mortgage loans and not astronomical ones at that. However, it is these mortgages that have me working harder than I have in years to stay on top of honoring my debt agreements. There are a few other personal reasons that I have for working extra hard but even those would be much more manageable if the house was paid for in full.

 

   As the time rapidly approaches that my family will be making the “Higher Education” decisions for my daughters future, rest assured we will be doing so with the knowledge that easy college money comes with a deadly string attached. If a career path is chosen that will require the degree from a University, so be it but it will only be sought with the ROI included in the equation and no dotted line will be signed… It’s cash and long hours for the Preppers from this day forward…

 

You decide, “Higher Education” – Trick or Treat?

 

 

Prepper