"We should all do it on our own." bristled the 67-year-old retiree, "We cannot take care of everybody."
Knowing the former CFO of a silicon valley tech company was a graduate of the California college system in the sixties, a listener said, "You went to college for free or virtually free. California was tuition free until 1970."
The small government baby-boomer gave a Peggy Noonan nose snarl and said, "I paid my own way."
"How much did you pay?" said the socialist.
"I cannot remember." said the libertarian (convenient memory loss for the former Chief Financial Officer - "numbers guy").
In regards to the tuition in California for the social security and medicare recipient, he indeed paid no tuition to go to college in one of the best college systems on earth (they paid around $200/year for student activity fees). It was not until Gov. Ronald Reagan changed the college tuition system in 1970 that college costs began to skyrocket. Reagan said, "The state should not subsidize intellectual curiosity." Reagan's long vapor trail landed like napalm on the middle-class. Reagan was such a great salesman -- if alive today, he could sell encyclopedias to the Palin family.
This real conversation shows why millenials are so confused about baby-boomers. Boomers were born exactly when the New Deal was in full thrust and entered adulthood when the Great Society was enacted. These two far-reaching programs were directed squarely at making their working class lives the envy of the world, yet they show no gratitude (amazingly, they seem unaware of the governmental benefits that played a huge role in their success). They appear to have no interest in handing off a better world to their heirs as the greatest generation did for them.
If they cannot be thankful for or even recognize all that was bestowed upon them by big collectivist government, then how can we expect them to have grace and help future students? The massive egos of many Boomers deny they were lifted by government, so how can they fathom government helping others? You often hear some people complain about teacher's pay driving up tuition cost; the truth is, it was not uncommon for state and federal government to pay in excess of 80% of a student's tuition. Then Reagan came into power and turned the tide on "big" government and the ratio has completely flip flopped -- now tuition is subsidized at around 20%. We all know how that turned out -- greater debt for students and squashed dreams of a college education for millions.
At that vulnerable time in one's life, when you are still full of dreams, piss and vinegar and insecurity, the last thing a young wide-eyed teenager needs is an excuse to not get an education - like massive debt. Today, "Mr. Independent" may have balked at college and instead wound up bagging groceries at a Safeway store.