Average Is Over

That is me. Once upon a time, I applied to take CS at a number of institutions. I was rejected from them all. Not that it really stopped me, I just had to learn it all by myself. Now I get to play "lead engineer" on some pretty significant projects and have CS grads coming to me for help.

But the meme I see often on HN and elsewhere is that you need to go to college. What they fail to account for is that college is a protected class where most people do not have the choice of going, even if they wanted to. I certainly didn't have the opportunity – though in hindsight, it was probably a blessing.

We agree completely on the need for some sort of minimal welfare state. No one wants to let others die on the street. I've said as much elsewhere in this thread.

We don't agree if you, like Friedman, think we need "a G.I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education." I don't believe our current levels of spending are sustainable.

I suspect that the burden of making our current benefits sustainable, and adding new benefits to the list, will fall predominantly on me - I'm not rich by any means, but my household falls comfortably into the group that regularly gets singled out for tax increases. And I have plans for that money that involve my own family, my own business, and own community.

Like you, I would prefer a majority of Americans agree with me. But as it is, about 40% of Americans agree with each of us and the rest bounce back and forth.

I think it'd be relatively easy to negotiate an acceptable, sustainable amount of social spending if people of my ilk thought that'd be the end of it - if it were clear that this was a compromise between different worldviews, and that the concessions made wouldn't just get reopened in the next election.

But I rarely hear an advocate for additional social spending say 'no, a tax rate of over X% would be definitely unfair, whatever you make - we won't require you to pay that.' I've also rarely heard advocates for additional social spending say 'a welfare state above X would be excessive.'

If I'm willing to concede a minimum level of welfare state spending - most conservatives are - surely the other half of America should be willing to set a maximum level. How much compulsion (since it is compulsion, I'd much rather spend my money on my family) do you think is too much?

When you've been working as an semi-skilled laborer in a textile mill for 20 years, and suddenly your job is made redundant in favor of automation- your mill training becomes worthless. You don't need to become "above average," you just need to learn a different semi-skilled trade. Like pushing around excel spreadsheets.