Matt Bruenig – Page 111 – Matt Bruenig Dot Com

Back of the envelope math on universal income-based repayment

I am a fan of the idea that college should be free at the point of delivery, and financed through a universal income-based repayment (IBR) scheme. This would work basically by levying an extra income tax on those who hold college degrees, and using the revenue from that tax to publicly fund colleges. I think… Continue reading Back of the envelope math on universal income-based repayment

Free college would be a huge score for the rich

In my post yesterday, I detailed the actual cost of attending college broken down by students’ household income. You see, colleges do not charge all students the same rate. They charge rich students more and poor students less. The difference is considerable too. For both private and public schools, poor students pay just 55-57 percent… Continue reading Free college would be a huge score for the rich

Instead, how about you rely on charity to achieve your distributive goals?

Anyone residing on the left has heard it many times before. We shouldn’t reform our distributive institutions to achieve our distributive goals; instead, we should keep the present distributive institutions in place and try through individual charity to achieve what we want. That is, don’t tax the rich and feed the poor. Let the rich… Continue reading Instead, how about you rely on charity to achieve your distributive goals?

What is the actual cost of attending college?

Evan Soltas has a good piece in Bloomberg on the popular misconception that college costs are soaring. The problem he addresses is that the headline number for the price of college is not actually what students pay. Colleges use price discrimination which means that they charge students from wealthier families more than those from poorer… Continue reading What is the actual cost of attending college?

Unions and redistribution

Last week, Demos released a study that proposed raising wages for workers at big box retailers. According to the study, establishing a $25,000 wage floor at big box retailers would cost big box retailers $20.8 billion per year. If that additional cost were made up through price increases alone, it would amount to a 1%… Continue reading Unions and redistribution