One day, the United States of America may not be so independent — it could plummet into a debt crisis and rely heavily on other countries for help. Richard Vogel/AP

The corruption of the college tuition system has ruined the country.

The price of tuition has gone up higher than inflation every single year since record-keeping began in 1978.

Student loan debt is now $1.5 trillion dollars.

Eventually, America could have so much debt that it will become dependent on other countries such as Canada, Mexico, Europe, and China.

Editor's note: This post originally appeared on Quora, in response to the question, "Will the United States ever collapse?"

The end of America (from an optimist's perspective)

I'm usually accused of being too much of an optimist.

When someone tells me "global warming" I immediately think: good thing people are working on alt — energy solutions.

When someone tells me "automation will crush jobs" I think, "Well, look at what happened when ATMs supposedly were going to replace bank tellers. Nothing. The cost savings created a bank on every corner."

When someone tells me I'm ugly, I think, "ok, you're right. But I have a sense of humor."

If someone says, "What about American debt rising so much?", I go through the basic math:

If your salary was $100,000 and you had to pay just $4,000 a year to service all of your debt, you would say, "no problem".

Let's take on more debt.

And yet...I think America is DOOMED. And I think there's no solution for the country.

And people should be aware of how we are doomed so they know what to do.

There are only so many flowers you can plant over s**t. Eventually the whole thing smells like s**t.

Let me outline the problem that is going to bring down the United States.

Is an 18 year old, whose brain is inclined towards taking more risk, mature enough to accept the responsibility of $250,000 in loans to attend college? (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A. The government backing of student loans

This started with "The Higher Education Act of 1965".

It has a seemingly fine and generous idea: let's help the less fortunate get a higher education so they can be more competitive.

I love this idea. The feeling is correct.

But unfortunately it failed due to corruption, lousy economics, lack of understanding of basic finance, and a ton of other reasons I'll get to.

I have a solution which I'll describe in a bit.

B. Price of tuition

The price of tuition has gone up HIGHER THAN INFLATION every single year [since record-keeping began in 1978].

Corruption #1: Since the government is backing it, college Presidents are simply charging more without thinking about the future consequences of the country OR OF THE STUDENTS who take on these loans.

C. Student loan debt is now $1.5 trillion

In 2003, it was [$241 billion]. But [with the current rates this] compounds quickly and it's not stopping.

Here's the problem: everyone is brainwashed into thinking they need college to have 1) a satisfying social experience from the ages of 18—22 and 2) they won't get jobs if they don't go to college.

So an 18 year old, whose brain is inclined towards taking more risk (as 18 years old have been for a million years) is being offered $250,000 in loans which they accept.

Meanwhile, they are not even allowed to drink a glass of beer.

D. The middle class is the victim

The rich can afford to send their kids to college.

The lower class gets financial aid and has to take on less debt. OR they take on blue collar jobs, some of which pay higher than many white collar jobs (show me a poor plumber).

The middle class can only afford higher education by taking out $100,000s in student loans. Average student loan debt is about [$37,172], but my guess is the middle class, which doesn't benefit from financial aid, has a debt figure much higher.

Anecdotally, when I survey my younger friends, the debt ranged from $100,000 to half a million dollars. The latter was with a doctor but, sadly, he hates being a doctor and is now trapped.

If the middle class is the victim that means eventually the middle class dies out.

E. Student loan debt is the only debt you cannot get rid of in bankruptcy

Why did the government do this? Because 18 year olds are not qualified to make financial decisions about their lives.

So the government had to enforce that they can't borrow millions and then just say, "Whoops! Bankruptcy."

You can get rid of mortgage debt, credit card debt, any other debt with bankruptcy. But not the student loan debt you owe the government.

The government will follow you forever, garnishing your wages, until you pay them back when you are 90 years old, keeping you in near — poverty your entire life.

So much for the government trying to help kids get a higher education.

More rich young people will become entrepreneurs and get richer, while the student loan holders will drive Ubers for minimum wage just to keep up with basic payments, says the author. Lazarenko Svetlana/Shutterstock

F. Entrepreneurs, artists, inventors, innovators will not exist

This current generation of young people will not be able to graduate and take risks like being an entrepreneur, an inventor, an innovator, even an artist.

Instead, they will have to take sales jobs at eyeglass stores to start paying down that debt. The government gives six months after graduation before you have to start paying down that debt.

"Don't take risks!," The government is telling our kids — the exact people who will need to take risks to continue American innovation the way it's always been throughout US history.

Why do I say "sales jobs in eyeglass stores".

I once went to the NYU campus and interviewed about a dozen people I saw. Two of the kids had majored in Economics, couldn't get jobs, and now were unhappy working for some eyeglass store so they could pay back debt.

I know that's only an anecdote. But they did not seem like happy young people to me, despite their degrees.

(chart: already entrepreneurship is decreasing rapidly)

G. Automation

The rise in automation will force many people who work in automated industries to strike out on their own as entrepreneurs.

But since this involves risk that student loan holders can't take, these debt holders are screwed.

The rich young people will become entrepreneurs and get richer. The student loan holders will drive Ubers for minimum wage just to keep up with basic payments.

The jobs to pay down student loan debt will disappear.

By the way, it's not just shelf — stacking at Walmart that is getting automated.

Legal and even medical services — high end professional jobs — are being quickly automated. JP Morgan recently announced they did about [360,000] hours of billable legal work using AI.

This is not an anti — AI post. This is reality.

H. Income inequality will get greater than ever.

The upper classes will continue to pay for their kids to go to Harvard. Where they will marry other Harvard grads. And then have Harvard kids.

The middle class, which is moving towards the lower class, will be forced to send their kids to lower ranked and cheaper schools (while they continue to pay down their own debt), increasing the disparity between the classes as the middle class quietly shuts down their doors.

I. Class inequality gives rise to more Bernie Sanders and Donald Trumps.

I'm not saying anything good or bad about either of those two people. But their policies (as evidenced by Trump's recent tariffs) are strikingly similar on paper.

Obama, Clinton, and even Bush (Sr), and Reagan, were centrist compared to Trump and Sanders.

I don't care if one person makes more than another based on merit.

It's when government policies over decades have created enough income inequality to make it impossible for a meritocracy to exist that income inequality creates a real political and cultural problem.

The entrepreneurs and artists have disappeared and we are left with just angry people making angry social media posts all day long from their air-conditioned suburban homes.

J. An entire generation of innovation will disappear, giving China and other countries a chance to pass us in every technology.

We're [one of the the leading countries] in biotech, alternative energy, Internet tech, etc. But that's changing more every single year.