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[Lee Haslup <biglee AT haslups.com>]

Help me out here, Sil, I'm struggling.  You said...

> ...  Michael's trying to argue that the existence of public 
> education, and the fact that he pays taxes that fund public 
> education, restricts him to using public education.  I call BULLSHIT.  
> Michael, Alan, and I all pay into the same public education funds with our 
> taxes.  I don't know about the other two, but I don't have kids.  So 
> there's no economic disincentive to keeping your kids out of the public 
> system; EVERYONE pays those taxes.
>  
Let's say, hypothetically, that "everyone" pays $4,000.00 a year to 
support the public schools.  (All numbers are made up here; I don't know 
the actual figures but they wouldn't change the point -- just the 
arithmatic.)  Let's also say that the tuition at Mother Imelda's School 
for Fidgetty Children is $7,500 a year per student.  If Michael had two 
children then it would cost him $19,000 to send his children to Mother 
Imelda but only $4,000 to sernd them to the public schools.  So, in 
terms of cash outlay -- ignoring the value of the education -- the 
difference is $15,000.  Now, I may be overly sensitive to money but, for 
me, $15k starts to get into incentive range.  In fact, I'd be willing to 
bet that if Donald Trump dropped $15,000 on the sidewalk, he's bend over 
to pick it up.

BigLee