Hello Tim,

 >> Everyone seems to be getting all worked up over this free tuition.

 TR> Except it's not *free*!

Nothing is life is free.  Cheap, yes.  Especially whiskey
and whores.  But free?  Somebody has paid the bartender for
that drink.  And somebody has paid that whore.

 >> The > proposal by Sanders is PUBLIC institutions wuold be free.

 TR> PUBLIC institutions are not *free*.

Somebody has to pay the piper.
Somebody paid for the brick and mortar.
Somebody paid for the maintenance.
Somebody paid for the administrators.
Somebody paid for the professors.
But nobody pays the students.
Not at the undergraduate level, anyway.

 TR> When people apply the term PUBLIC to anything they are talking about *the
 TR> taxpayers*.

Not just the taxpayers.  But taxpayers do fund a good portion.

 TR> In a PUBLIC institution there is still maintainence, upkeep, utilities,
 TR> water, employees, instructors, materials, etc etc.

For sure.  But not everything is funded by the taxpayers.
For example, renovations to Tiger Stadium at LSU is funded
by the LSU Alumni Association.  Not a dime is spent by the
taxpayers.

 TR> None of that is *free*. Professors don't work for *free*. Administrators
 TR> don't work for *free*. Desks chairs, black boards, and all the
 TR> infrastructure that goes with a `college' are not *free*.

They are free to those who use them.

 TR> Somebody PAYS!

Everybody pays, in a manner of speaking.  But not everybody
benefits.  We all pay for the Louisiana Superdome.  But how many
people in Shreveport actually use the Louisiana Superdome?  Does
that mean we should have torn the Louisiana Superdome down after
Hurricane Katrina basically destroyed it?  Some say refugees
destroyed the inside of it, while the storm did the damage to
the outside.  The federal government has since named the Superdome
to the National Register of Historic Places (thank you, Obama) ...

 >> In dealing with
 >> private institutions, they have to pay for their sports scholarships
 >> somehow, so the non-jocks will still owe $200K when their done.

 TR> And when we run out of the money of that *somebody* who's footing the
bills
 TR> for all this...it fails.

It's all fiat money.  Play money.  Just like that monopoloy game
kids like to play.  When you run out of dough, the bank just prints
some more.  As much as needed.  For as long as the game lasts.

 TR> Community college has been around for a long time. I had friends who went
to
 TR> a community college in my home town who got excellent jobs later on in
 TR> life.

Graduates of 4-year institutions have returned to school, attending
community colleges in order to learn a new skill or trade.  Sometimes
without having the need to take out a student loan.  That's right.
Somebody has to pay the bill for going to community college ...

 TR> People who can't afford Harvard or Yale do very well in community
colleges.

Many people cannot afford to attend community college.  Should we
condemn those people to a lifetime of misery, forcing them to work
at substandard wages, making it impossible for them to pursue, much
less live, the American Dream?

 TR> But..we are already paying for healthcare for people who aren't even
 TR> citizens, educating children of people who don't even belong in the
 TR> country, paying food stamps...welfare....yadida yadida....

It is the least we can do for our brothers (and sisters) in need ...

 TR> What we DON'T need is more financial burden added to the vast burden of
debt
 TR> THIS president has saddled us with.

He ain't heavy, he's my brother.  We owe it to ourselves to help
others in need.  Most especially those less fortunate than ourselves.
Even if it means sacrificing a small part of ourselves to do it.

--Lee

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