After hours of watching the Republican and Democratic party conventions, I have a question. Many questions, actually.
Some candidates want college tuition to be free for every student whose family earns less than $125,000 per year. How much will that cost taxpayers? Who will bear the tax burden, and what programs will have to be cut to avoid increasing the federal budget deficit? Would you prefer to have free tuition or universal health care, if you had to pick one or the other? Subsidies for renewable energy? Free solar panels for everyone, even people in Cleveland? Should we cut spending on defense, law enforcement and border control to accommodate these social policy objectives?
Will the free tuition be available to students who have low standardized test scores and can't handle the class work? Students who don't go to class? Children of illegal immigrants? Or US citizens only?
Is $125,000 the right threshold? Or should it be much lower, perhaps $50,000 or whatever the official poverty level is today? But wait, don't poor people already get help with college tuition?
My opinions aren't important. But whoever we elect had better be up to the challenge of grappling with these issues.
That's it. It's time to watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
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