[legion]

I had an interesting conversation over Thanksgiving. I spoke to a WWII vet (distant semi-relative--will probably never see him again) who had a union, factory job after the war until his retirement 20 years ago.

Like many people, he finds the dissolving of the U.S. industrial base disturbing. The cause, according to him, is student loans.

He feels that up until the advent of student loans, only the absolute best and brightest could get into college. In his words: "The "A" students went to college, the "B" and "C" students went to the factories, and the "D" and "F" students went to prison."

The factories were getting an intelligent and capable workforce.

After the federal student loans became widespread, the "A", "B", and "C" students went to college, and the "D" and "F" students went to work at the factories. He feels that quality and work ethic both dropped because the quality of workers in factories, and unions dropped.

I thought I'd share.