Students across the University of California campuses continue protests following the California board of regents’ announcement Thursday of a 32% increase in tuition. The students contend, correctly, that the increases will hurt working and middle class students who depend on state funded education.
These students are victims of the very wealth redistribution system they are protesting to preserve. I say that without blame on the students. They are victims.
Wealth redistribution is truly a vicious cycle. Students and their parents have been paying taxes throughout their lives on everything they buy and much of what they earn. When they purchased products and services they paid sales taxes and their money went toward that company’s payroll taxes, and the various fees for licenses and permits collected by government. If they owned any stock they paid taxes on those earnings.
These students and their parents were transferring a portion of their wealth to the government.
The government used the student’s and parent’s money for all manner of programs, many, possibly most, useful and worthy expenditures. There is also plenty of waste and poor decision making. Unfortunately, along with their wealth, these students and parents also turned over some of the control of their future to the government. That’s what happens when you give up money that you need. They transferred their wealth and their control to the government with the expectation that when they needed money for college it would be redistributed to them from other citizens.
But the money is not there. The government ran out of money so now the regents are going back to the students and their parents for more money. But these students and their parents have already paid in the form of wealth redistribution, so they don’t have enough money either. The students and their parents will have to struggle to pay that extra money. Some will find the money; some will dig into retirement funds or borrow from their other children’s savings and from relatives. Some won’t be able to get the money because a 32% increase in tuition is a lot of money.
The students and their parents participated in wealth redistribution and that redistribution left them with few options and far less control of their futures. Control of their futures evaporated along with their money.
I often wonder what would happen if we could get rid of all of this wealth redistribution and just let everybody keep their money. There are a lot of California college students today that wish they had the money they transferred to the government. They are the victims of the vicious cycle that is wealth redistribution. The only education many of them will receive will be on the evils of redistribution. I hope they understand the lesson.
