Hello Everybody,   
      
   "Free college for everyone is a bad idea. But it is not   
   exactly the type of thing that would make him similar to   
   Stalin and Castro."   
   - Earl Croasmun to Tim Richardson, ALL-POLITICS, 2/12/2016   
      
   Louisiana has had a free college tuition program for all,   
   known as TOPS, for decades.  It was an idea brought forth   
   by oil tycoon Patrick Taylor, for whom the scholarship is   
   named.  The way it works is every high school graduate who   
   has earned at least a 2.5 average gets free four years of   
   college, courtesy of Louisiana taxpayers.  This can be   
   trade school, if the kid chooses to go that route instead.   
      
   The cost of tuition is repaid many times over when the   
   person joins the workforce.  Imagine the taxes paid over   
   the course of a lifetime compared to the infintesimally   
   small cost of the state paying for tuition.  The state   
   comes out way ahead in that deal.   
      
   Yesterday, the state of Louisiana suspended payments for   
   the TOPS program.  That means students will have to pay   
   their own way to go to college.  Or obtain student loans,   
   which must be repaid later, with interest.  Many students   
   do not have the money to go to college, nor will they be   
   able to repay a student loan if forced to go that route.   
   What that means is a less educated and less qualified   
   workforce.  Low pay, not even enough to make ends meet.   
   Not much tax being paid to the state, thus lower revenue   
   for the state.   
      
   What brought this about was low oil prices.  At less than   
   $40 a barrel, the state of Louisiana cannot survive as it   
   bases its budget on the price of oil.  State politicians   
   are not willing to raise taxes, or to rescind tax cuts for   
   the wealthy.  So they choose to cut the budget.  And the   
   only areas where the budget can be cut is education and   
   health care.   
      
   The state budget deficit is expected to double next year.   
   And that is taking into consideration the suspension of   
   TOPS payments.   
      
   Nationally, the US is entering a recession.  It will in   
   most likelihood be a very deep recession, if not an actual   
   depression.  Well, all recessions are depressions.  Just   
   a matter of degree.   
      
   This is the age of austerity.   
      
   The only way out of this mess is to spend our way out.   
   FDR showed us the way, back in 1933.  The first thing he   
   did when he took office was declare a bank holiday.  It   
   was really a ten-day period of time that he used to close   
   all the banks.  One-third of those banks never re-opened.   
      
   Once FDR got our banking institutions in order, he put   
   this country back to work.  And on the road to prosperity.   
      
   We need another FDR.   
      
   A New Deal for a New Century.   
      
   Free College Tuition for All   
      
   Free Health Care for All   
      
   Free Everything for All   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://eljaco.se (2:203/2)