I never said it was "worthless." I just said it does not provide a return using an economic definition, which is accurate -- income security and healthcare for the retired do not increase future economic output/incomes. Education, R&D, and physical infrastructure do. There are plenty of good reasons to want to send Grandmother her pension check, but "this will generate a societal return" through lower costs, higher efficiency, or new technology is not one of them.
State/federal resources are finite. More and more of the same has been going into social spending, which you can value how you want, but at least acknowledge there are competing priorities here. Economic growth has been slower in the U.S. in the past few decades than it was in the ones before that -- one of my pet theories for why that is comes from the public sector abandoning its traditional position of making smart investments to lay a foundation for future growth and instead using its resources on other, short-term priorities of taking care of the current population.
You can say that is worth it, and you are welcome to that position. But there is a cost to it.
Also never said any of that.
I never said "F" anybody. I stated the fact -- and it is fact -- that state governments used to spend most of their money on investments for the future, but more and more of that is going to caring for the old and sick. You can say that is a worthwhile trade-off, if you want, and you certainly would have moral standing for it.
But if you wonder why the legislature keeps sending smaller and smaller checks to Iowa State and our peer universities, then you need to remember that scarcity is a thing. There is only so much to go around. When the money is going to Medicaid and IPERS, then it is not going to supporting the state university system like it used to.
Really? I am like the definition of a corporate wage slave here. People who work for their paycheck are the backbone of our society. So much so I think they should get to keep most of their own money.
For an academician, who are supposed to be known for their cool, logical, and dispassionate analysis of facts, you sure like to launch into profanity-laced tirades and take aim at ridiculous scarecrows.
You aimed east when I am standing between you and the sunset there, cowpoke.
I love the academy, loved my time there, and my "dream job" would probably still be something like a history or literature professor, but you are doing absolutely nothing but make the case against it right now.
