One often hears that saving the environment will cost too much money. It is true that much will have to be spent to improve things. On the other hand, it is often not acknowledged that we are buying something valuable with these expenditures. For example, when we clean up the pollution of our air and water, we save lots of money in the form of improved health, fewer days lost at work and school and more enjoyable lives. So the cost of environmental care is really an investment that can pay big dividends far into the future. To pollute or degrade the environment is “penny wise and pound foolish”.
Similarly, these days, politicians are debating American health care insurance plans. Some argue that the government will have to spend $1 trillion over the next 10 years and that this is too much money. One does not hear much about the benefits of these expenditures: longer life, fewer trips to the doctor and to the hospital, fewer days missed from school or work and more enjoyment of life. So, perhaps that trillion dollars will buy many trillions in our quality of life.
This logic is not too different from the cost of higher education: College can be expensive. But it gives financial and personal rewards that greatly exceed the cost. It is one of the best investments that can be made.
Take-home message: it makes little sense to talk about costs and expenditures without considering the benefits that they buy. How to get the money now for the payoff later on is more to the point.
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