The Reagan Legacy

Don't forget that he cut a lot of federal funding for education.The main effect Reagan had on me when he was in office is that my college aid was cut.The main lasting effect his policies still have on me was that he began the policy of taxing college stipends. My husband is a graduate student and as such receives less than $20,000/year pre tax while living in one of the highest cost of living areas in the country.Of course, stipends are not income, but a little bit of money you are supposed to live on while you complete graduate work. Apparently, however, already-struggling students should be taxed, and the richest of all Americans should have their taxes cut.Makes sense to me.

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Whoops apocalypse. Which horseman does that make him?

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Pestilence.

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That was point #6 in the post I made directly before the one you replied to.

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Yeah, I saw that just after I posted my message.I was in such a hurry to post that I didn't read ahead.

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Let me just say that I actually share your pain. It is one of the many reasons I began wearing a "reagan hates me" t-shirt in college, and why I had to continue wearing cheap t-shirts long after college.

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Not sure if you got hit with the triple whammy of having your education funding cut, as education costs were tripled, and then graduated just in time for the economic depression resulting from his policies, but even 2 out of 3 had to be bad. I got the trifecta.

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Yep, that was pretty much me.I graduated college in 1990, and even though I was not expecting to make a lot of money in the horse industry, I wasn't expecting to have such a hard time finding a job that paid more than minimum wage.

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So, are you saying that in addition to being the "Great Communicator," Reagan also deserves the title of the "Great Equalizer of Men?"

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Um, wouldn't a "Great Equalizer of Men" have increased taxes on the rich instead of decreased them?Wouldn't he have increased education funding to poor and middle class people instead of decreasing it?What he did was make sure only rich people could afford to send their kids to higher education without incuring massive personal debt, or perhaps not being able to afford it at all.Maybe you think that only rich people deserve to send their children to college?

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Um, no. North Ironwood, MI is only 112 miles from Duluth, MN. When you practically border a state, that counts as being in your neck of the woods.

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Vancouver is about 950 miles and two states away from SF, so I would say that is NOT in my neck of the woods.

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I don't think you are dumb. I think you need to brush up on your geography.

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A quick Mapquest search showed me that Crashfrog is 665 miles and over 10 hours of driving from Ann Arbor, MI.Ann Arbor, where I currently live, is in southeast MI, close to Detroit, lake Erie, and only a couple of hours drive from Cleveland.It's not that close to Prior Lake, MN.

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Actually life has become better for most people - especially the middle class. Is it all because of Reagan? Of course not; but we are one of the richest countries in the world. Even at our lowest levels people have bedrooms, bathrooms, cable TV, access to all and any kind of food they will ever need, some of the best health care (and if you think you need insurance to get health care, just ask California - you don't if you go to the emergency room), computers...

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Excuse me????We couldn't afford health insurance for me when my husband was a graduate student (he was covered, but not me, his wife) and I was looking for better paying work in my field in the early 90's. I was working, but not getting paid enough to afford even the cheapest basic care.Even when I did get better benefits later, they were still only major medical. I still had to pay out of pocket for basic checkups and screenings and tests, which meant that I just didn't get them. I couldn't afford thousands of dollars a year for basic healthcare, so I went without and hoped for the best.And are you crazy with that comment about the emergency room constituting great medical care?What kind of long-term cancer treatment do you think you can get in the emergency room?They don't do mammograms in the emergency room, nor do they do prenatal checkups, nor do they do any kind of preventative or regular medical screenings in the emergency room.Oh, and if you think that everyone in the country can afford a computer, you are completely deluded.If we all have access to all the food we need, then why are there longer lines than ever at soup kitchens and emergency food banks, and why are kids going to school hungry everywhere?What a rosy picture you paint of poverty in the US.Have you ever been to North Philadelphia? Have you ever been to a mountain town in the Appalachains? Have you ever been to most of Detroit?This message has been edited by schrafinator, 06-13-2004 10:27 AM

Custard writes:

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In addition to that, you are as upwardly mobile as you choose to be -within reason, you may want to be the next Bill Gates, but that is so much more than desire and dedication.

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Think about all of the potential "next Bill Gates" that the real Bill Gates is crushing and impeding due to his anti-competitive business practices.Oh, and what have the Hilton sisters done to earn their fabulous wealth?Let's say I live in Detroit and come from a blue collar family, and my child is bright but the schools are dangerous and horribly underfunded. My husband and I work for the auto industry and we make a good wage because of the labor unions, but I am unfortunately laid off (along with thousands of others)a year or two before my child is hoping to go to college. I get another job but it pays significantly less. She gets into a state school but is struggling because the Detroit schools didn't prepare her very well. She pulls herself together and graduates with good grades but has several large loans she will be paying off for years and years.Now let's say I live in Boston and come from a wealthy white color family. I am a stay at home mom because my husband is a wealthy investment banker. I also have a nanny and a cleaning lady. We have sent our child to wonderful private schools as well as summer computer camp every year, piano lessons and soccer, and now she is applying for several music and athletic scholarships. She is applying to all of the top universities, which we can of course afford to pay for without burdening her with any loans. After she graduates with her MBA, she'll be able to use her trust fund money to start her own business, buy a home, etc.Are you saying that the potential for upward mobility of these two children is exactly the same?Are the differences in earning power merely a choice, or are some people ahead or behind strictly because of the advantages they have/don't have growing up?This message has been edited by schrafinator, 06-21-2004 09:50 AM

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There are also things called grants and scholarships and loans that most people can obtain in one form or another

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My husband comes from a low income family, and both he and his parents had to take out loans to send him to the college of his choice, which was an excellent one because he is very bright, a National Merit Scholar, etc. He applied for every single big or small scholarship or essay contest he could find; so many that the university's financial aid officer commented about it when he arrived as a freshman. He is currently in his final year of graduate school. I work full time and make a decent wage, but it doesn't go far here because we live in one of the highest cost of living towns in the country.We are in our mid thirties. We have never owned a house. We have one ten year old car. It is very difficult for us to save money because the rent on our one bedroom apartment is almost $1,000/month.My husband and I still have $10,000 of student loans hanging over our heads once he gets his PhD.I report all this not to complain about our situation, but to show that getting higher education is very very expensive if you have to pay for it yourself.People who's parents pay for their higher education are going into their employment lives without any large debt, which automatically allows them to accumulate even more wealth more quickly.