[AnotherGoodName]

We are not living in a post scarcity world where you are free to pursue whatever you like. We were closer to that perhaps 20+ years ago but the world is different now.

That's a simple matter of fact. That's the reason these courses are plummeting in enrollment. The economy sucks.

[alistairSH]

The economy sucks

Based on what metrics? Unemployment in the US is low. Wages have gone up. Inflation is up as well. Companies are mostly profitable (despite layoffs).

At worst, we're seeing some mixed signals, and might be heading into a recession. But, we aren't there yet.

[AnotherGoodName]

Interesting that no one's trying to argue against humanities being a bad choice in a poor economy. Instead you're trying to argue that the economy isn't doing too badly. Even the OP made the point that enrolling in these courses is something you do due to your own interests rather than for an economic reason.

So now take the uncertainty you acknowledge combined with the reality that yourself and OP acknowledge (even if implicitly) that humanities is not something you do for economic reasons and you have your answer.

If humanities could make a case that it's a good idea financially that might help enrollment but no on in this thread is even trying to make such a case. Instead the case being made is that you should do it out of passion, not for economic reasons. Such an argument won't win you any enrollments when things such as housing are unaffordable.

[SantalBlush]

>Instead you're trying to argue that the economy isn't doing too badly.

Yes, because you brought the subject up and used it to support your overall point.

[Apocryphon]

Why would you praise inflation being up if increased interest rates leading to corporate layoffs is driven by inflation

[alistairSH]

I wasn’t praising it. That was just a list of metrics, which are currently mixed.

[SantalBlush]

>The economy sucks

Are you talking about the US economy? Because it is doing extremely well right now, click-bait headlines notwithstanding.

[Apocryphon]

Compare the costs of housing, healthcare, and higher education itself with how it was 20+ years ago. You can argue the current economy is healthy (but then why did that previous post cite inflation being up as a good thing?) but that has nothing to do with cost of living's affordability.