Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Next Bubble to Burst?   [John Derbyshire]

Now that the housing bubble has popped, what will be next? The college bubble, perhaps. Let's hope so, anyway. Kathy Kristof's story in Forbes gives the essentials:

 … victims of an unfolding education hoax on the middle class that's just as insidious, and nearly as sweeping, as the housing debacle. The ingredients are strikingly similar, too: Misguided easy-money policies that are encouraging the masses to go into debt; a self-serving establishment trading in half-truths that exaggerate the value of its product; plus a Wall Street money machine dabbling in outright fraud as it foists unaffordable debt on the most vulnerable marks.

[Thanks to blogger Half Sigma for the link.]

Derb's advice to the academically non-brilliant young from un-wealthy families, one more time

• If you have a high threshold of boredom and cherish financial security above all else, get a government job — any one will do. Master a few bureacratic survival tactics — avoiding responsibility, advancing by stealth, etc. Settle back. Life's a couch.
• If you're more adventurous and independent, learn a useful skill that you can parlay into a small business and take with you to another country if you get the travel bug, or if the U.S.A. folds. Stay clear of the college racket and the student-loan sharks. Keep fit. Life's an adventure playground.

02/05 09:11 AMShare