Milton Friedman, School Vouchers

Democracy is based upon so childish a complex of fallacies that they must be protected by a rigid system of taboos, else even half-wits would argue it to pieces. H. L. Mencken


Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning economists passed away this week. Friedman was a proponent of the free market.

Friedman was a proponent of school vouchers. I was against school vouchers when they were first proposed and I still am. As long as the government pays for something the cost will rise.

Suppose the government gave each person vouchers for other goods or services such as cell phones, computers, clothing, and medical care. The cost of those goods would go up. And imagine how much the cost would go up if the customers were required to buy those services. Students are required to go to school until age 16.

The cost of higher education has increased more than the rate of inflation because the government is heavily involved in the financing of college tuition through the G.I. Bill, student loans, and grants.

If private schools were to receive government school vouchers it would not be long before the private school teachers and administrators would be allies with the government school teacher unions. They both would be lobbying one committee chair in the legislature for more money. The private schools would not have to ask their customers for higher fees, they simply would have the "State" force the customers to pay more. The "State" can only exist by using force.

Bilbo Baggins