Is it really this hard for Americans to understand that this whole thing is not sustainable?

I am not an American but I have lived here for the last 3 years. There are few things that I find really strange.

What is wrong with the fee structure of universities here? The tuition is ridiculously high for the standard of undergraduate education. High tuition creates two very fundamental problems in the society.

First, barrier to entry is very high. Not everyone can afford college. This creates a class of undereducated people. Normally, a set of population being undereducated is not a problem (actually it is a good thing from the macroeconomic perspective). But that is not true for America. Life in America is ridiculously complex. There are multitude of choices for everything and everyone is expected to make informed decisions.

But the underclass does not know how to make such choices. The underclass never got a chance to get educated and well-informed of their choices. How the fuck does the American society think they will live their lives? Will they make good health choices? Good career decisions? How will the underclass sustain themselves?

Second, to solve the "barrier to education" problem, we created a loan program which gives money to every one. Econ 101: As a necessity for growth, a loan has to make a profit. The government giving out easy loans is not a solution at all. This just pushes the problem to a point in future. Meanwhile, the loans create underclass 2, a generation coming out of school with debt. I've seen friends paying their loans off until 10 years after graduation. What a burden. This burdened underclass 2 does not have the freedom to switch jobs easily, take risks, make expensive (hut healthy) choices. For a consumer-driven economy like we have in America, this is toxic.

How hard is it to understand that we are just pushing the onus on to someone else in the future. Honestly, I'm quite scared to have kids here. They are going to suffer a lot. Why?

- Because even with a decent salary, I won't be able to buy a house, send kids to good schools and activities, save for their college education and make healthy lifestyle choices, all at the same time. Forget starting my own business or vacations or pursuing my hobbies

- So, my kids will end up taking a toxic loan which they'll take years to pay off

- That means when (if) they marry and have kids, they are in a worse position than I am right now to do anything. Their off-springs will have it even worse.

There is no guarantee that this will not burst like the housing bubble. The people affected by these would be young citizens. These same young citizens (and their off-springs) have to lead the country to the future.

If we value freedom and individualism so much here, the barrier to getting information and sound advice should be much much lower...aka education and healthcare should be fucking cheap. Education should not be a profiteering pipe-dream for anyone. It is a matter of people's lives.

A few folks will call me socialist for saying this but hey, if making education and healthcare cheap does not make sense to you, I don't give a fuck about what you call me. Btw, I am no Obama fan either.

At the current rate, all we are creating is underclasses that is not good for a consumer-economy reeling in debt. (sidenote: A consumer-based economy submerged in debt is never good news. Consumer-based economies need citizens with sound financial status to keep them the economic engine running)