On average, skipping college and investing tuition costs nets a higher return

Although I do want to mention that in my eyes these so-called top schools are overvalued. With both their professors and students gaming the system in order to 'stay the best'.

In other countries, universities are/were usually seen as a way to cultivate your mind.

Quoting wikipedia on "culture":

The modern term "culture" is based on a term used by the Ancient Roman orator Cicero in his Tusculanae Disputationes, where he wrote of a cultivation of the soul or "cultura animi,"[2] using an agricultural metaphor for the development of a philosophical soul, understood teleologically as the highest possible ideal for human development.

My adult life has seen 3 major market crashes and a terrible recession. I've watched neighborhoods go into foreclosures on 80% of their homes. I've had friends go unemployed for over a year.

When I see people spread investment advice as if there's no downside, I have to shake my head. There's money to be made in the market, but it's not without risk.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 78% of its value as it fell from 5046.86 to 1114.11 in the dotcom crash.

The S&P 500 declined 57% from its high in the housing crash.

The Dow lost more than 5% in a single day at least 5 times in 2008. The next time one of the major indexes drops 700 points in a day look around and tell people "you'll be fine if you don't panic sell. Think about it in 20 year increments. It'll all average out. You're money is all in an index fund, right? Those are totally safe. You didn't want to spend anything during this presidential cycle anyways."

Where was the index fund advice in '98? Where were all the people who had well balanced / well hedged portfolios in '07-'09? I'll tell you where they weren't. Every house with brown grass that the banks had foreclosed on and decided not to keep up.

There was an army of day-traders once upon a time not all that long ago that blew all kinds of sunshine up people's asses about investments. There's no reason to. People who have the money to can invest if they want and if they do they should learn about the risks and ask the people who are giving them advice how they fared during the crashes. If those advisors don't admit it was hairy and ridiculously stressful, they are lying through their teeth.

Index fund advice became widespread after '08. Now Black Rock, State Street, and Vanguard own majority stock in 440 S&P companies. You aren't invested in the S&P500 anymore. You are invested in BR/SS/VG management. Who aren't incentivized towards the interest of any particular firm. What happens as these funds grow? If investors herd to passively managed funds, what's the outcome? Faster cycles. The indexes do more securities lending, which makes them less liquid come crash time. Do investors know that these funds will have liquidity problems if the market goes belly up? A whole shitload of people are going to learn the term "halting redemptions" really quickly. Do investors realize that the growth of passive investment increases anti-competitive behavior? Which isn't good for the economy and sure as shit isn't good for small investors.

But by all means, keep shilling the passive investment advice as if you've been doing it for 40 years. Then complain with the rest of the country that the funds should have been regulated more and how people should have known not to give that much power to so few companies in the financial sector.

In the case of roads, the answer is usually yes. The value they add is clear (at least until flying everywhereis the new economic norm).

People are willing to pay local taxes, tolls, insurance, licensing fees, gas taxes. A good portion of this money goes to road building and upkeep. Some of it is syphoned off and goes to other things.

If the proportion falls out of balance, and in parts of this country it does, then it no longer becomes "worth it", because of corruption and misuse.

If you've ever drive i95 from the Bronx to Stamford CT, you'll notice the portion in NY is in absolute disrepair, but the CT portion is very nicely paved. And yet, both states are flush with money. So what gives?? Mismanagement of public funds is the cause.

Similarly, if college (a 4 year holding tank after high school) is so much better than secondary education, vocational education, and self-teaching through books and youtube, then we can continue investing in it.

But since it isn't clear that college is better than these cheaper alternatives, it's just a way for public money to be siphoned from your wallet to someone else's.

It most definitely isn't free, unless you avoid the variety of taxes in our society. In which case, I applaud you for living a non-traditional and very self-sufficient life :)