A nice quote from Armstrong Economics:
I have stated many times that while working around the world with major corporations, I have yet to meet anyone who is actually doing something in which they had a degree. Most CFOs seem to have engineering degrees. You cannot get a degree to be a hedge fund manager, President of the United States, a member of Congress, a state governor, mayor, race car driver, or CEO of a major company. There is not even a degree requirement to be a member of Congress. The real conspiracy is telling people they have no future life without a degree. This is the real scam: making money by burying the young in a lifetime of debt after paying for degrees that do not produce jobs.
The college admissions scandal does not surprise any of us who have been criticizing the entire university system for some time. What is surprising is that the Feds did something about it. The elites are supposed to be untouchable; that’s what makes them elites. It’s the reason that notorious kiddie-fiddler Michael Jackson was safe to pursue his life of evil in his make believe castle.
The Americans routinely disparage the British class system, but at least the British are open and honest. Americans claim to have no class system; the “land of the free” where everyone can have an equal opportunity. But their hypocrisy is now self-evident. A white guy trying to get into an elite college today has to stand in line not only behind women, minorities, and sexual degenerates; he also has to wait until the elite have had their picks of the remaining choice places.
America succeeded in part because it was a high trust society. The West is made up of all high trust societies, with varying degrees of success. Japan, South Korea, and Singapore are Asian examples of high trust societies. For the most part in Asia these societies are thin on the ground. In Africa and the Middle East they are non-existent, Israel being the sole exception.
Without trust, contracts cannot be honoured and investment is extremely risky. What happens is that the wealth ends up in the hand of a few at the top while they toss scraps down to their cronies. When they get thrown out then the next batch repeat the pattern. This college entrance scandal merely demonstrates that America is on its way to becoming a low trust society. The resultant economic consequences will follow. Demographics is destiny.
Nowadays a college is not for an education. It is a ticket into the circle of elite, but only if you go to the right college. Which means that just about everyone else are wasting their money. This is as it was intended.
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