Germany has long shown far greater foresight than the United States in the investment into science, infrastructure, and alternative energy — investments that are now giving the country huge returns as a leading economic system. With a decision of Lower Saxony, the German have now shown precisely how serious they are about keeping the country as one of the most educated in the world: they have eliminated all college and university tuition. The Germans view education as not just a right, but an essential component for continued growth.
There are critics to educational subsidies who raise some good-faith issues of how such payments can eliminate pressure to make efficient choices and actually drive up costs. I actually see value to students paying some tuition. However, with tuition sky rocking in the United States and falling enrollment numbers, the United States is heading to a reckoning in the future for our lack of investment in our workforce. While we have spent trillions of dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and just renewed our commitment to the later to keep forces in the country), we have continued to cut environmental, scientific, educational, and infrastructure investments. The inevitable result is that we will continue to drop in our competitiveness in the world market and the future economy. Every other country is investing heavily in education while the United States continues to be distracted by shiny objects with more immediate political benefits for politicians.
What is striking is that it is not just third world countries that are investing heavily education, but economic leaders like Germany.
Notably, tuition was only introduced in Germany in 2006 after the German Constitutional Court ruled that limited fees do not violate the country’s commitment to universal education. However, the tuition rates proved unpopular and the country is now tuition free. Of course, there is no such thing as free tuition. The taxpayers are footing the bill. Moreover, such government subsidies can have a negative impact on not just the choices of students (who feel less pressure to make efficient choices) but on schools which are dependent on the government.
Nevertheless, the contrast could not be greater with the United States in terms of the commitment to education as not just a right (as it is in Germany) but as a real national security priority.
The article below has an interesting discussion of how England rejected the free tuition approach but has lost more money due to the higher student default rate on tuition. Yet, the English students face a maximum debt load of $14,550 per year where U.S. tuition rates and debt are soaring. Student loan debt in our country now stands at $1.2 trillion.
Of course, that is less than a third of the costs for the wars, but no one is making such comparisons.
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/10/01/3574551/germany-free-college-tuition/
Oh those Germans, we have so much to thank them for.
http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/file/archives/pdf/2014_09_Imprimis.pdf
“After absolute power was defeated in England and America, it circled back from the continent through Germany, and especially through Prussia. There, what once had been the personal prerogative power of kings became the bureaucratic administrative power of the states. The Prussians were the leaders of this development in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century they became the primary theorists of administrative power, and many of them celebrated its evasion of constitutional law and constitutional rights.
This German theory would become the intellectual source of American administrative law. Thousands upon thousands of Americans studied administrative power in Germany, and what they learned there about administrative power became standard fare in American universities. At the same time, in the political sphere, American Progressives were becoming increasingly discontent with elected legislatures, and they increasingly embraced German theories of administration and defended the imposition of administrative law in America in terms of pragmatism and necessity.”
Also….I forgot. The state contractors licensing board may also require on going fees to continue your license.
Then if you are a retailer…..selling plumbing supplies, you get to deal with the State and County to reimburse taxes collected and file all sorts of forms to detail which items you purchased were not subject to sales tax because they are part of an assembly or which items you didn’t pay sales tax on you should have paid taxes on because they are not part of an assembly, even though they are semi permanently attached to the plumbing fixtures. Quarterly reports and remitance of sales taxes.
THEN….if you have employees the fun REALLY begins. 🙂
DBQ wrote: “THEN….if you have employees the fun REALLY begins. :-)”
Exactly again! It is so refreshing to have someone around who actually understands business and the difficulties that government creates.
I said: “Sole proprietor business operation requires no licensing or paperwork”
Dredd said: “That depends on state and local laws.”
No. You are wrong…. and perhaps I didn’t state it clearly enough. It does not require any paper work to form a Sole Proprietorship business entity. Anyone can decide to be a sole proprietor. Which is the method that most small business use and is the historical basis of business. It DOES require all sorts of paperwork and fees and other costs to establish the other types of business entities.
You are confusing the licensing for the TYPE of business you wish to operate and the filing fees etc for that TYPE of business. For example, some local governments have fees to establish a handyman type of business. For other TYPES of businesses there are State and even Federal fees and licensing requirements. For instance to be a plumbing contractor requires not only having to take a required test it also requires a State bond to be renewed annually. If you are running your plumbing business under an S Corp instead of a Sole Proprietorship then there are also lots of other fees, forms and hoops to jump through. This is repeated for each State in which you might do business.
Your business entity is separate from the TYPE of business you are operating.
We are a S-Corp. Less than 100 share holders and not publicly traded. stock. A pass through entity for tax purposes and to protect the shareholders from business liability attaching personal assets.
momdemom – ” and those are usually the ones to claim Jesus as the inspiration.”
I’m no Bible expert, but I’m pretty sure that Jesus surely didn’t want us to pay the govt. to do our charity for us. I have a long philosophical thought on welfare and the govt. and why it is bad for both receiver and contributor. I’m sure though it isn’t worth going into here.
Dust Bunny Queen
Sole proprietor business operation requires no licensing or paperwork …
===============================
That depends on state and local laws.
Which are governments (Entrepreneur).
Your opinion is noted however.
HI Darren
Comment lost in the ether. Thanks
Where do roads, airports, sewage disposal, justice, laws, clean air, clean water, public utilities, etc. come from?”
From tax monies collected by the various entities in some cases. Where does that tax money come from? In other cases, like airports, money can also come from the sale of revenue based municipal bonds (not paid for by taxes collected but by revenue) Revenue bonds are business based. Water and sewer bonds are also Revenue Bonds supported by the fees paid by the subscribers. Commerce. Water Districts also do have some tax revenue based on property taxes, but that is minimal to the business needs of the enterprise district. They sell their service and collect money from the subscribers.
Where does the money come from to buy the bonds? Not from the government but from the pockets of people who have invested. Where did their money come from originally. It wasn’t created out of thin air. Business and income from businesses. It may not have been created yesterday but it has its origins. Want to discuss capital gains?
“The Ayn Rand mindset sees only the military as the value in government because of where their thinking originates.”
Well, I don’t know about those people and unlike some of the Amazing Kreskin types on this site, cannot presume to say what other people think. However, I see great value in having water, sewer, roads, schools, hospitals, airports AND the military. Those are legitimate functions of government. And I don’t mind that my tax money goes to support those things.
That is not the issue. The issue is that the government gets the majority of its money from taxes and from fees. Where does that source of revenue originate….Businesses from all types of organizations from the mom and pop business to the giant corporations. Without the engine of business….there would be NO more revenue for the government to suck up.
Dust Bunny Queen, I retrieved your comment at 11:34.
Sole proprietor business operation requires no licensing or paperwork (unless you are operating under a DBA then you notify the local authorities as to prevent duplication of business names among other reasons). This is how people for eons have run their businesses and didn’t need government permission to do so. The tax issues besetting a sole proprietor filing a schedule C, are another thing entirely.
Why do people create the paperwork intensive and expensive structures of Corporation, S Corp , LLC, LLP, FLP etc? Because of the tax code, to separate personal liability from business entity liability. None of these machinations would be needed if it weren’t for the heavy hand of government and the punitive complex tax code imposed by government.
DBQ wrote: “Why do people create the paperwork intensive and expensive structures of Corporation, S Corp , LLC, LLP, FLP etc? Because of the tax code … None of these machinations would be needed if it weren’t for the heavy hand of government and the punitive complex tax code imposed by government.”
Exactly right!
Nobody needs any law to give them permission to engage in trade or business with their neighbors. The laws are passed and many will comply, but from a natural rights perspective, such laws are unnecessary.
Dust Bunny Queen
… If business and commerce stopped today (as in Ayn Rand’s fantasy of going Galt) what would happen to the economy and to the government?
=========================
The false equivalence and false framing thingy.
Where do roads, airports, sewage disposal, justice, laws, clean air, clean water, public utilities, etc. come from?
The Ayn Rand mindset sees only the military as the value in government because of where their thinking originates.
My hubby teaches me stuff, he’s so smart! But sometimes it doesn’t make sense to me and I ask questions, then he yells at me and makes me cry.
po@minutebol
yep, and once again the government enables business to take place, safely, effectively, profitably.. Try doing business, as Doc suggested, in Somalia.
==================================
Yep.
Corporations are allowed to be created by state laws, as are sole proprietor, partnerships, and LLC business structures.
Without those laws it would be Somalian.
yep, and once again the government enables business to take place, safely, effectively, profitably.. Try doing business, as Doc suggested, in Somalia.
po wrote: “Try doing business, as Doc suggested, in Somalia.”
The problem in Somalia has been way too much government. They have had a history of fascism and Sharia law, along with much government corruption that has led to militarization and civil wars because of the oppressive government structure. Why in the world would you drag Somalia into this discussion?
Business activities thrive in a great country like we have here. Unfortunately, the liberal democrats are doing everything they can to destroy our great system because of their greed for the wealth of those who have been successful.
“Corporations and businesses have built the structure. All the money government has comes from business.”
This cannot be stressed enough. The government as a gigantic complex from local to federal does not generate income.
Where does the money that the government uses come from? From taxes on income, sale of goods, fees etc. Where does the money to pay those taxes come from? From business activities. Companies and small businesses create jobs (income for the workers). Manufacture goods. Sell goods. If business and commerce stopped today (as in Ayn Rand’s fantasy of going Galt) what would happen to the economy and to the government?
David
Try Somalia.
“Stabilising growth in Germany and Europe, implementing the energy reforms, securing the supply of skilled workers and making the most of the opportunities of globalisation, boosting the forces for innovation and promoting social inclusion – these are the priorities of Germany’s economic policy. They provide a response to current challenges
…
The German economy and labour market are doing well. Germany’s growth rates are among the highest in Europe. Employment levels are at an all-time high.
…
Keeping up-to-date with the latest statistics and analyses: The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy publishes regular reports on the state of the German economy.
…
The underlying idea of the social market economy is to protect the freedom of all market participants on both the supply and demand side, whilst also providing for a strong safety net.
.” (BMWI).
In the America before Amurka devolved from it (“AAR” after Ayn Rand), we called “that German policy” the common good or the public good (The Public Good – 2).
Yes. Accept the compliment, Nick.
Just think of all the roadblocks you had to overcome throughout all your years in the private eye industry in order to accesses citizen’s private information from government clerks who were charged with keeping the citizen’s information private. I bet you’ve got a million great stories. Funny, you’re so candid about so much in your life, but we never hear how you talked some clerk into giving you the government record that helped you crack the case. We’d love to hear some of those!
I did as well Po. 🙂
Funny, I thought all along that Nick was behind Mrs Spindelli! I even laughed at Karen for taking ombrage on Nick’s behalf.
Free NYC Pics,
I supply links to back things up, because it is not my opinion or I would just spout off my sacred opinion and that is that.
Is there a clue in the U.S. policy that bankrupts its young by chaining them to lifelong debt for education while Germany does not?
It is a matter of affording it or a matter of being abusive to youth?
Get the Pic?
@Dredd, the EU actually lagged behind the US in total nominal GDP, and now the US passed them. Of course that will be brief because the US has far less people, but nevertheless it makes sense to discuss such things in per capita terms to make better relative comparisons.