Dr. Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity and Professor Emeritus of Economics at Ohio University, wrote what he called a “prejoinder, which means ‘an answer to some statement or event that has not yet occurred’” at Forbes online on Jan. 19, before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
In short, the President wants to reprise his earlier Robin Hood schemes of taxing rich individuals and demonized businesses (large banks) more to give to the “middle class” (often, actually lower income groups), with the twist that this time Obama wants the expanded government services to be concentrated on higher education. Specifically, the President wants “free” community college for all, and also wants to make permanent and liberalize tuition tax credits. As an economist who has spent a lot of my life talking about taxation and, more recently, about higher education, these ideas have caught my attention. Rarely has so much bad economics been advocated by so few (one person) to harm so many.
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