| steven787 said:
1. I don't agree. Public education is one of the great developments in human history. It is not "broken" despite the number of people who say it is, except the inbalance of where the best equipment and teachers go. 2. What would then happen when the market crashes and banks go out of business? All your savings would be gone and you'd be relying on the government; whether they write a check to you or to your banks and brokers. |
1. Education is an inherently private good. There really is no way to disagree with that. It is both rivalrous and excludable. I would say public funding of education is one of the greatest developments in human history. Subsidizing the producer is never the optimal choice. Subsidizing the consumer, however, allows for choice in schooling and will efficiently allocate educational resources. There are other areas where the government chooses to subsidize the consumer as opposed to the producer. One such instance is food stamps. Instead of creating government owned grocery stores, we subsidize the consumer through food stamps.
2. I diversify my investments. Whether it is bonds, a Roth IRA, a 401K and so on. To suggest, however, that someone should invest in social security because the market may fail-haha-is surprising. The (potential) wealth created by other investments should be more than enough to offset the costs of the low rate of returns on social security.
