Senator Webb wants a "New GI Bill"

One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation. – Thomas B. Reed (1886)

Senator Jim Webb wants to increase the GI Bill benefits for veterans.
http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=269299
I received the GI Bill for 4 years of college.

It is not strange at all that Senator Webb would introduce this welfare bill in an election year. It is another scheme to buy votes.

The GI Bill was enacted after WW II to compensate the veterans. Later there were student grants, then student loans. Colleges tried to admit students that were not qualified. Colleges started offering "Soft" degrees that had little market value. Today some degrees do not earn enough to justify the cost of college tuition. Most businesses now require a college degree for an interview, but a degree is not necessary for the work done.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/931855,CST-NWS-college05.article

Even if one chooses not to go to college, one should not choose to stop learning.
The United States spends more per student than any other industrialized nation, yet it ranks at the bottom in degree completion (54%), says a 2007 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The organization average is 71%; the high is 91% in Japan.The cost of college has gone up much more than inflation during the past years. It seems anytime the government interferes in the market place by forcibly taking money from some and giving it to others, like big colleges, the market gets out of balance. The big colleges have more money coming in so they simply raise their prices.

From 1977 through 2006 the average college inflation rate was 7.25% while the CPI was 4.30%. -CPI Source: U.S. Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, DC 20212 Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers – (CPI-U), US city average, All items, 1982-84=100 (year ending June 30). College Inflation Source: The College Board, New York, NY -

College graduates make almost twice as much as high school graduates. About 28% of the population has a college degree. If this percentage was reversed and 72% of the population had a college degree, the difference might be more or less, but unimportant.

If an 18 year old could place the cost of college tuition, $40,000, into an IRA earning 6%, by the time she reached age 65 she would have $618,000. Since 1925 the S&P 500 index has an annual return of 10%. If an 18 year old invested $40,000 of college tuition earning 10% for 47 years they would have-$3,500,000!

Maybe Senator Webb should just give ever GI recruit $40,000 invested in the S&P 500 Index for their retirement at age 65.

Employers want someone who can learn, and commit. Completing 4 years of college is indicative of the ability to comprise and commit.

During WW II military pilots did not require a college degree. After the war when demand was down the military started requiring 2 years of college in order to be a pilot. Now the requirement is a college degree because the supply of college graduates is higher, not because the job requires a college degree.

The same with United Airlines. It used to hire pilots who did not have a college degree because the job simply did not require a college degree. It still does not require a college degree, but United Airlines does, because the supply of college graduates is greater than the demand for pilots.

When every citizen has a 4 year degree, the interlopers will demand the government pay for advanced degrees. They never sleep. The interlopers are tormented unless they have someone in distress that needs help.

Charles Tolleson