That has nothing to do with conservatism, it has to do with personal choice. How can you blame conservatism for someone going out and taking $100,000 in student loans?
Because it was the conservatives who slashed funding to higher education while letting the for-profit colleges run amok.
How can you blame conservatism for rising tuition costs? Are most colleges conservative? There are studies that suggest, at least in private colleges, that tuition has gone up BECAUSE of government loan backing.
Then those studies are bullshit.
Let me tell you the story of UIC. UIC was established as the commuter campus for inner city youth to get a fair shot at college. And when I went there in the 1980's. Tuition was about $1500 a year. (About $3800 in today's dollars) I could pay that working 10 hours a week in a minimum wage job. I didn't have to because the Army was kind enough to pick up my tuition, but I could have, that's the point. The rest of the operating expenses of the school was actually picked up by state and federal subsidies.
Now. Flash forward. Tuition at UIC has jumped to $14,000 a year. Nine times what it was in 1975 and even three times if you adjust for inflation. You could work 40 hours a week at minimum wage and couldn't pay that. (Much less things like food and shelter). Not surprisingly, all the working class and inner city kids who were supposed to be served by this campus are gone now.
So what happened? Well, first, the state of Illinois and the Federal Government ended a lot of direct payments for operations. Those costs shifted to the students. Secondly, the people who run UIC got a lot of what I call "Urbana Envy". They wanted the cool stuff Urbana had. (Urbana is the location of the Main University of Illinois). They wanted the dorms and the sports stadium (even though UIC doesn't have a football team and it's basketball team is a joke. "Go Flames" said no one, ever.)
I just don't see how it can be blamed on conservatives?
Largely because you haven't been paying attention.
You pay in to social security ,so it's not an entitlement.
Medicare, yeah, OK maybe this one.
Actually, you pay into both.. but in the case of Social Security, you are going to get everything you paid into it back out if you live to be 72. For Medicare, you get everything you paid in back out when you have your first serious illness.
The problem with Social Security and Medicare is that they are victims of their own success. When they were conceived in the 30s and 60's, respectively, few people lived into their 70's Now the average life expectancy, pre-Trump, was 78 years. (It actually went down in the Trump years, because Trump ***** up everything).
So... White People Welfare. Or at least, welfare white people are cool with.
You and your employer pay unemployment taxes, so again, not an entitlement.
Actually, you don't pay into it, your employer does. And what he pays into it isn't that much. In Illinois, the top rate they pay is 7.75% per employee for the first $12,000 you make. So at most, employers only pay about $1000 a year for unemployment insurance for each employee. You will usually clean that out if you've been unemployed for two weeks. That was before Trump and Biden authorized massive extra covid payments so that white people wouldn't feel the real sting of this last recession.
Veterans administration is a benefit for those who are, and have served in the military, again, not an entitlement.
I served for 11 years, never got shot at by a testy foreigner.
Why should I get lifetime benefits for that? Really I did the same thing then I do now... sat behind a desk and processed paperwork.
I really don't have a problem with some assistance the first few years after you get out, or a lifetime of assistance if you suffered some major service-related disability.
But getting a low interest no money down loan because 40 years ago, I filed paperwork for widgets?
