In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin.
The religious right is motivated by the suspicion that someone, somewhere,
is having fun -- and that this must be stopped.
President Obama today announced a plan to help young people who can't meet the payments on their student loans due to the shitty economy we have right now. Obama's plan lets these young people refinance their loans into a single loan at current interest rates.
Thank you, Obama. Now our young people, rather than having FIVE loans they have no hope in hell of paying back, will only have ONE loan they have no hope in hell of paying back. Hip hip hoooray!
-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin
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WARNING: You are entitled to create your own arguments, but you are NOT entitled to create your own facts. If you spew scientific denialism, or insist that the sky is purple, or otherwise insist that your made-up universe of pink unicorns and cotton candy trees is "real", well -- expect the banhammer.
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Having student loans myself-it'd be handy if the interest rate was the same (or lower) than my car loan. As it stands, it's more expensive to get an education than to buy a new car.
ReplyDeleteThat's where things are screwed up!
But one is four fewer than five ;) duh.
ReplyDeleteI have seen wide ranging numbers and not sure what to believe on this but going with the average of $10 a month savings. White House use an example of a $451 a month savings.
ReplyDeleteStudent loans are the modern version of indentured servitude.
ReplyDeleteExcept for the difference that the indentured servant actually had a job.
One more giant step down the road to serfdom.
WASF,
JzB
I've been wondering recently if it would even be worth while for my grandchildren to go to college. With or without an education, you end up bagging at Wal-Mart. Why take on a debt-burden equivalent to a mortgage that ultimately does nothing to enhance your hire-ability or income potential?
ReplyDeleteLook at this in the context of the Rethug assault on public education.
Lowering the value of education while making it more expensive simply discourages education.
The elite have no use for an educated, free-thinking underclass. What they want is a cadre of serfs.
Was that 12th century or 10th?
JzB
@Jazzbumpa I really value my education even though I've never used my degree to get a job. But I feel like I actually learned a thing or two in college. My education has enriched my life in ways beyond its effect on my employment. At the very least, I have much more interesting conversations at cocktail parties. I don't think even those kinds of benefits should be limited to the rich. Everyone deserves to have a rich life and for many people higher education is part of that.
ReplyDeleteWe have to vote people into congress who also value education not just for themselves but for others. We should provide grants to help people people pay off current loans because we should have given them grants to attend school in the first place.
If the universities could get rid of all the people who are just there so they can get a better job, they'd be better at research and teaching. Hell, I might even go back, myself.
ReplyDeleteLynne -
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I was just musing, not making a pronouncement. But, when you finished college did you have a debt burden greater than a few years worth of pre-tax earnings? I came out of college with no debt at all - it was affordable in those days, and I lived at home.
Those days are long gone.
Cheers!
JzB
Jazzbumpa,
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't have any debt at all when I graduated from college. I went to the cheap-o in-state college located in the town where I live, chosen for its location. I also took ten years to graduate instead of four. My parents helped with my tuition too.
What is really different these days is that while I was going to college, I had a good job that payed pretty well. A job that I kind of like even. I still do the same job actually.
It really changes the game when people can't get good jobs without a degree. College isn't for everyone and I imagine that for those people, going to college is more difficult than it is for people who are there because they just want to learn the material being offered. I know a lot of kids these days go to college just because they know that they can't live a comfortable middle class lifestyle without a degree. That so many of those folks borrowed tons of money to get the degree and *still* can't get a job that will offer them a glimpse of the American Dream is a downright tragedy.