31–40 of 182 posts
The single largest thing we can do is undo the changes to bankruptcy law signed in 2005, it removed bankruptcy as a tool of the poor to discharge excess debt. It's caused there to be very little downside to lending, and lead to an explosion of debt.
It bums me out that people who need the most help in life receive the least
What do you mean "receive the least"? Pretty much all the social programs we have target the poor, not the rich. The poor are the ones that receive the most.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If student loans were suddenly unavailable then universities would have to rein in out of control costs and Maybe get rid of sports and bs admin staff. The only reason they change that much is due to the ability of loans.
Same goes for books. Your prices for textbooks over there are hilarious. They're priced purely based on just how much you can milk the students, or rather whoever finances them.
It bums me out that people who need the most help in life receive the least
What do you mean "receive the least"? Pretty much all the social programs we have target the poor, not the rich. The poor are the ones that receive the most.
Compare the sheer toil of using food stamps vs using the mortgage tax deduction.
It bums me out that people who need the most help in life receive the least
What do you mean "receive the least"? Pretty much all the social programs we have target the poor, not the rich. The poor are the ones that receive the most.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay, I'm imagining it. So what? There is a debate to be had about what sorts of protections we want to provide to debtors. But that's separate and apart from the existence of companies that specialize in debt collection. The latter is simply an example of economic specialization. The problem everyone has getting their mind around debt collection is that they focus on the after-the-fact situation, instead of the whol…
If student loans were suddenly unavailable then universities would have to rein in out of control costs and Maybe get rid of sports and bs admin staff. The only reason they change that much is due to the ability of loans.
But intentionally trying to ensure that poor people are never given loans is not usually the arguments that I hear, surrounding student debt.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same goes for books. Your prices for textbooks over there are hilarious. They're priced purely based on just how much you can milk the students, or rather whoever finances them.
Yeah and to a captive market too. College textbook sales is one of the most insane rackets I've ever witnessed... "milking the students" is no exaggeration.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If student loans were suddenly unavailable then universities would have to rein in out of control costs and Maybe get rid of sports and bs admin staff. The only reason they change that much is due to the ability of loans.
Both statements can be true: eliminating debt collection would massively curtail the availability of credit, and excessive credit availability practically any motive to curtail costs.
To the original lender, 5% of the defaulted debt generally just covers the cost of writing off the debt and maybe a bit more. It does not move the needle at all for loan availability.
There have been journalists & researchers who covered these debt collectors at court. When defendants showed up, organised, they usually won. The debt collectors' lawyers didn't arrive prepared to win, because most people didn't show up. If you can win 85% of cases just by showing up, why bother. A court system that allows these dynamics to dominate isn't serving well.
And it only gets to court after harassment hasn't worked. Anecdata: guy I know had a common name. Debt collector fastened on him because he'd lived in the same town as a deadbeat with that name too. Guy would call day and night demanding payment.
Imagine working for a company that buys up poor people’s debt in order to sue them.