I received a CREDO email with a petition supporting the College for All Act which would eliminate tuition and fees at public colleges / universities for families making less than $125,000 a year.
It made me think of how "Third World" US policies have been on so many issues. When I worked as a computer programmer, there were a number of programmers whom the company had brought over from India. One of the profound lessons which stayed with me as a result was this: These Indian programmers had received their training at India's public colleges. Now think about that. The people of India - through paying taxes - helped fund the training of skilled professionals whose skills ended up being used in the US for American employers. India subsidized the United States - because the US government doesn't want to invest in the future of its own children.
One of those Indian programmers told me that when he was growing up (in the 1960s or 1970s) there was only one TV set in his entire town. That was the country which could afford to give him enough training that a company halfway around the world would hire him and end up putting him in charge of a team.
Today, in the US, government policies result in America's youth being saddled with huge debts for college education.
As US blue collar jobs are moved overseas or are automated, those losing their jobs are told they should go back to school and learn a white collar profession. But the cost of college can make it a risky gamble. Yet, the US government tends to tell them it's the workers' problem that the boss took their jobs away.
Why can India afford to train both the skilled professionals India needs in India itself AND the skilled professionals who go to other countries, but the US government claims it can't even afford to train enough Americans to fill skilled professional jobs here? That is how "Third World" US policies are.