Former IBM CEO on AI, layoffs, women leaders in tech

I did not take out any loans when going to college, and most of the people I knew did the same. How did we end up in an environment where taking out loans is the norm?

I also did not take out any loans when going to university, none of the people I knew did.

But then I was at uni in the 1970s in the UK, when not only was all university tuition free for those with the required A-levels, every student received a grant for living expenses, and the halls of residence provided two good nutritious meals every day.

Now kids (or their parents) need to fork out humungous amounts to cover their tuition, the kind of grant we had appears to have been done away with, and an online check seems to show that my hall of residence has made meals an extra cost - and they check how much you eat, and whether you're 'entitled' to it..

The politicians (who mostly enjoyed the same splendid education services I did) who decided turning education into a business was any kind of a good thing, need to be hung, drawn and quartered.

As for folk in countries where education has always been a business....no wonder the kids (and/or their parents) need to take out loans. It's a crying shame, especially for the families who are too low down on the income ladder to even apply for a loan.

Once IBM makes big advances in AI, I expect it will hand its technology and intellectual property over to communist China, as IBM has done so often in the past, including during Rometty's tenure.