When people ask why college tuition is so high, defenders of the higher-education system point to things like “Baumol’s cost disease” (costs in industries without much productivity growth tend to rise, because they have to compete for labor with more productive industries) and declining state contributions to public colleges. No doubt these play a part. But this cannot explain the vast upgrades in college residential amenities that have taken place in the 20 years since I graduated from college, when a student union and some ivy on the walls was about the best you could expect.
But of course, our parents were paying for it, and they didn’t care whether we had a swimming pool. A certain Spartan element was supposed to be part of the ritual of college attendance, just as it had been when they were in college. What changed? I suspect the answer is that rising tuition, and the increasing reliance on student loans, has placed more of the financial responsibility into the hands of students. And the students shop for colleges based on … well, about what you’d expect when you give tens of thousands of dollars to 18-year-olds and ask where they’d like to spend the next four years.
I hate cell phones, but once in a while I need a smart-phone feature. But I generally only use it when I’m traveling. As I’ve noted in the past, young people have no conception of what good phone service is like.
A long but very interesting piece on the overconfidence of the incompetent, by David Dunning (of Dunning-Kruger fame). For some reason, I think it has some relevance to the Trump phenomenon, and politics in general.
For the record, I have never had a problem claiming my ignorance on a topic.
Music does seem to have noticeably degenerated in my lifetime. I remain mystified at the popularity of the “musical” Les Miserable. When we saw it at the Pantages over two decades ago, I walked out thinking it was one of the most tuneless operas I’d ever heard. There was very little memorable in it. Richard Rogers it wasn’t, and isn’t.
[Update a while later]
I’ve added a link to the Solway piece, which is worth a read in and of itself. I should also note that, just as I have no talent whatsoever for fiction, I’m unable to write a song to save my life. I can read music, and play music, but I am utterly unable to create it.
I suffer from it and it’s only getting worse. I change my opinion about Donald almost every five minutes – and I can’t be the only one. There may be millions of us. For some it’s even more problematic. These people are not Trumpophrenic. They are Trumpophobic. And, if this Drudge link has any veracity, they have taken their problem to their shrinks.
I haven’t gone that far – yet. But I am searching for a cure for Trumpophrenia before I have to reach for the Haldol. If he becomes president, I don’t want any of us to become real life schizophrenics ourselves, unable to predict what our leader will say or do next.
But basically I think he’s a good guy and his heart is the right place. His instincts for making America great again are also basically good. So I will make my plea. Donald, you and only you are the cure for Trumpophrenia. Do it. Take us out of our misery. If you want to be president, start acting like one. Now.
He’s not capable of it. My opinion of Trump is actually quite steady. I’ve never had a high opinion of him, and the more I see of him the more loathsome the ignorant con artist grows to me. I keep hoping for that Face In The Crowd moment, but I fear it will never come.
[Afternoon update]
Today’s results may make that moment approach a little sooner. Cruz reportedly mopped up the floor with Trump in Kansas, 50-25, and he’s beating him in Maine as well.
PLAN B: Deny him a majority, forge an alliance to pick anyone else (20%?)
PLAN C: Sane Republicans reform as the Conservative/Constitutional Party, deny either Hillary or Trump a majority of electoral votes (it would have to be a swing state, unless Trump is sweeping those, which is quite possible), which kicks the election to the House, where Republicans would elect the Conservative/Constitutional alternative to Trump (30%)
PLAN D: Use a Hillary presidency to catalyze the party around a new set of ideas, that respond to profound economic discontent without resorting to racism, protectionism or demagoguery. Paul Ryan leads what the Gingrich Revolution should have been. (25%)
PLAN E: Batten down the hatches and prepare to ride out a
or a Trumpclear winter. Keep a list of Trump’s Vichycon collaborators for purging when The Occupation ends. (20%)
A would be nice but almost certainly won’t happen. B just might. C may well be our best hope. D may be what the GOP really needs. E absolutely terrifies me — not just in terms of the 4-8 years of a Trump reign, but in terms of its long-term consequences for American politics.
My preference is obviously (A), but that seems unlikely at this point.