B’H I don’t see Kollel’s going out of business. B’H there are a lot of people in Klal Yisroel willingly supporting Kollel yungerleit in a modern day Yissachar-Zevulun relationship. Both the Kollel yungerleit and the baalei batim who enthusiastically pay to share in the schaar of the great mitzvah of Talmud Torah benefit. It’s a great deal for both parties. The public isn’t supporting the Kollel yungerleit anymore than the Kollel yungerleit are supporting the public with their Torah. It’s a business proposition between the two parties. No one is putting a gun to anyone’s head, the baalei batim are more than willing to be partners with the Kollel.
So why all the antagonism towards Kollel?? If you don’t want to participate in this mitzvah, I guess you don’t have to. There are many others more than willing to pick up your slack. I’ve seen the same recycled arguments against Kollel for the past 30 years, yet Kollel is going as strong as ever — in fact stronger than 30 years ago. Obviously it is working out quite well for everyone involved. Everytime there is a bad economy you have people yelling this is it. It happens each time, and the cynics are proven wrong every time. And when the economy is good these same folks are complaining about something else about “the system”. As unyielding as they are, the Torah is as strong as ever.