Michael Milken says Americans spend too much on a big house and cars.

[dkf]

Instead we should we spending more on education.

He says our society has encouraged us to over buy housing and we need to spend the same amount on education as we do on a house plus car.

[Skittles]

1. let's see his house and car

[BeyondGeography]

2. What he meant to say is Wall Street is bloated and very often engaged in

useless and destructive behavior.

[dkf]

3. This is what it will take to compete with Asia as Asia is investing in education.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Many Americans already spend a fortune on education and run up ridiculous debts in the process

I don't know what he's talking about.

[dkf]

6. He is just comparing the ratio of spending for housing and transportation vs. Education.

Asia is putting an equal priority on it.

[Hannah Bell]

23. oh, bullshit. "asia" isn't doing anything of the sort.

[blueamy66]

14. I still wanna see his

house and his car.

[Arctic Dave]

4. I would agree with the idea that we spent insane amount of money on a place

to eat, sleep, poop and store our stuff, I don't think that education should cost so much as to put the rest of our life in hawk.

[yellowcanine]

7. Not sure Michael Milken has any right to lecture the rest of us on lifestyles.

Yes he is a big philanthropist but I don't think he has any sense of what it is like to live on a biweekly paycheck.

[Octafish]

8. Milken made his money the old-fashioned way.

He stole it. In new ways, and Wall Street's never been the same since.

[doc03]

9. I think he is absolutely right on this. What was the average size

of a home in the 50s something around 1000 square feet? What is it today 2500+ square feet and families are smaller. Same goes for all material possessions boats, RVs, 4 wheelers, motorcycles, cars etc. What people think is a necessity today was a luxury 50 years ago.

[dkf]

13. Exactly what he said. He mentioned growing up in a 1300 sq foot home

I agree that if a person over buys they may find themselves on trouble.

[Hannah Bell]

18. he's a wall street felon. his latest scam is ed deform. what don't you get?

[Hannah Bell]

22. i wonder if his pronouncements apply to himself & his buddies?

doubtful.

what he means is he wants people to pay more for education so that he & his buds can cream the spending via "education reform".

consequently, as they strive to send their kids to the best kindergarten, primary, secondary & college they can afford in the brave new world of privatized, for-proft education --

they'll have less to spend on housing.

[HughBeaumont]

10. Milken represents everything that's WRONG with America.

Here's a guy who, once upon a time, was a multi-millionaire financial Junk Bond pirate at the height of the non-regulated Reagan-era Scandalrama, who no doubt engaged in insider trading (although was never convicted of it :eyes: ). He was indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud (later reduced to six counts of securities/reporting violations). He served 2 years of a 10 year sentence and permanently barred from the securities industry. 18 years later, his net worth was estimated at 2.2 Billion dollars (really doesn't say how unless the Milken Institute is pulling more bank than I think). I don't get it . . . was he allowed to keep all of his wealth even though it was ill-gotten?

Pretty much illustrates that you can skirt the rules, screw thousands of workers out of jobs through no fault of their own, go to prison on multiple felony charges, but if you're rich, you pretty much either stay that way when you get out or, in Milken's case, become infinitely richer. If you were never rich and this happened to you, you'd likely be screwn. Life is fair. Really.

[Dr.Phool]

15. He's now a force behind the education privatization movement.

No wonder he wants more money spent on education.

So he can put it in his pockets.

[WhiteTara]

11. Let's see, he robbed us blind in the 80's, he poisoned us

with GMOs from Monsanto in the early part of the 21st century and we are supposed to put some faith in his sorry criminal ass? STFU Michael.

[JanMichael]

12. Irony or the concept of irony is now 100% lost. nt.

[Golden Raisin]

16. So nice to be lectured

by Michael Milken. :sarcasm:

[Hannah Bell]

17. michael milken has a felony conviction for bilking the american public of millions to enrich

himself.

milken is a first-class, gold-plated asshole & hypocrite, and his post-prison "charities" are another fraud as well.

michael milken is rich beyond your wildest dreams.

[old mark]

19. He just wants to CHARGE more for education because he is selling it...

Milikin belongs in prison.

mark

[girl gone mad]

20. Note that his emphasis on spending more..

rather than on quality.

A truly educated population would lock the likes of Milken up for life, after clawing back his ill-gotten gains.

[jtuck004]

21. Sure. And he will teach you how to create high-interest bonds, from air.... n/t

[Hannah Bell]

24. In fact, Milken said "we" (the ruling class, the financial class) have got to stop letting middle

class people buy so much house:

"We have got to stop this non-recourse loaning to housing. We have distorted the utility curve of middle class America." We have misled people on what size house they need. Middle class America is allocating too much of its resources to housing and transportation.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-milken-we-have-distorted-the-utility-curve-of-middle-class-america-2010-12#ixzz18AjekxWt


In other words, Michael Milken says the financial class dictates the "needs" & spending of middle america.

which it does.