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“Capitalism is not a profit system, it is a profit and loss system, and the losses are more important than the profits.”
—Milton Friedman
But the US education system runs on the exact opposite principle.
No failure allowed. Instead of closing or losing funding, failing schools get more taxpayer money, more administrators, and more programs.
And bad teachers rarely face real consequences thanks to tenure and union protection. The “customers” (parents and kids) have almost no exit.
Real per-pupil spending has nearly tripled since 1970 after inflation. NAEP scores flat or eroding in core skills for decades. PISA rankings middling at best, with math especially weak.
Thomas Sowell diagnosed this in Inside American Education, asserting that the system is morally and intellectually bankrupt.
It has turned into a propaganda operation more than an educator primarily pushing ideology, feelings, and self-esteem over knowledge and competence.
With endless public money and zero market test, there is nothing forcing correction. Unions buy political protection so the failure machine keeps running.
Friedman and Sowell both identified the same disease and the same cure, namely real competition and choice.
Vouchers or education savings accounts let parents take the money and flee failure. Good schools grow, while bad ones finally face losses and must improve or die.
Without the discipline of losses, mediocrity is subsidized forever. And the kids, especially in the worst districts, pay the permanent price.
But that’s just the system working exactly as designed.
Rothmus 🏴@Rothmus· Jun 25, 2026Your kids are retarded while you pay higher taxes because Democrats bought the teachers unions as a permanent ally to stay in power.
Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education just to lock in the NEA’s first ever presidential endorsement. That’s it. He just wanted their
12:29 AM · June 27, 2026 · 216.2K views
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