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Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

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Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

#391

Post by thatcat »

friendlygrammar wrote: post #275
the_watcher wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has a Wikipedia page, a Wiktionary page, and copious references to it by well known publications.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neosocialism Clearly the two "well known" publications (the most preeminent Marxist journals) listed in that wikipedia article and the fact that the wikipedia article's definition of neo socialism has absolutely nothing to do with Norways economic model point to the fact that the parent comment definitely didn't make up that word out of thin air. Norway is not socialist, neosocialist, or…

It's interesting that Norway is ranked first on the democracy index, yet most Americans view it's policies as 'socialist'.

Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

#392

Post by q3r3qr3q »

mattmanser wrote: post #260
toomuchtodo wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We should treat student loan debt like any other debt. We should! There's no asset to secure the debt, so just mark the trade line as unpaid/collections and have it be a black mark for 7 years. If Congress isn't going to fix this, Millenials can max out unsecured credit, pay off their student loans, and then go bankrupt on the unsecured debt; 7-10 years of bad credit is better than the federal government pursuing y…

7 years for a bad decision made when you were 18? That seems incredibly harsh. Then again, you Americans really don't believe in rehabilitation do you.

So you can't buy a house before you're 25? Wow, cry me a river.

Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

#394

Post by madengr »

mmagin wrote: post #313
flubert wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location, Location, Location: $124/mo, 840 sq. ft: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1204-Via-Seville-Cathedral... $93/mo, 1190 sq. ft: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/617-NW-8th-Ave-UNIT-11-Mil... $70/mo, 832 sq. ft: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1745-35th-St-NW-Winter-Hav... $72/mo: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8528-Highland-Ave-Kansas-C... $92/mo, 2302 sq. ft.: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/122-Chey…

Only the Kansas City, MO one looks like it might be within a reasonable commute of good jobs. The one near Palm Springs may be a close second, but I can't image what the commute from there to to some job in the LA or SD area is.

The one in KC is bad area of town, and don't even THINK about sending your kids to KCMO schools. Move across the state line to Kansas and you won't find anything for under $175k.

Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

#395

Post by michaelbuddy »

refurb wrote: post #384
Jimmy wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Am I the only one who hates the notion of being forced to pay for other people's bad financial decisions? Not at all! These people are called "conservatives".

Goldman Sachs made some pretty bad financial decisions as well. So you're OK with paying for their mistakes?

Why did you word your question so rudely as an assumption? Bank bailouts were largely a political class decision. Rare was it that conservative citizens voiced favor for bailouts.

Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

#397

Post by gozur88 »

Haven_Monahan wrote: post #274
zeveb wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Am I the only one who hates the notion of being forced to pay for other people's bad financial decisions? Not just that: this is, ultimately, a giveaway to the academic classes, who have lucked into the business of selling things to unwise consumers spending someone else's money. When these loans are forgiven (let's not fool ourselves: they will be), the federal government will have moved $1.3 trillion into the cof…

This. This. THIS. Federally-backed student loans, undischargeable and given to all and sundry, to be spent wherever on whatever, is a gigantic short in the moral-hazard circuit. I would throw an actual party for any dictator in the US who would do to the colleges what Henry VIII did to the monasteries.

>Federally-backed student loans, undischargeable and given to all and sundry, to be spent wherever on whatever, is a gigantic short in the moral-hazard circuit.

I'm not sure you're using the term "moral hazard" correctly. If the loans were dischargeable that would be a moral hazard, because the smart thing to do would be to borrow up to your eyeballs and then declare bankruptcy ten years later on graduation day.

Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

#399

Post by codyb »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #348
dragonwriter wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Federal Reserve attempts to stoke inflation in order for the economy to reach full employment No, the Federal Reserve attempts to provide easy money to spur employment, balancing that goal against the competing goal of controlling inflation. The Fed does not try to stoke inflation to drive employment (especially since inflation doesn't drive employment, though employment can help drive inflation.)

You're right, I misspoke. The Federal Reserve, through its mandate to obtain full employment conditions, creates inflation as a side effect.

Inflation's been really low recently.

Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief

#400

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

morgante wrote: post #176

Am I the only one who hates the notion of being forced to pay for other people's bad financial decisions? I made the choice to go to a slightly less prestigious school so I wouldn't have to go into debt for college. I also worked all through college to pay for my expenses. Should I now be punished for that decision? Why should we make people's financial mistakes consequence-free? I think the government should get out…

Bad financial decisions are nothing new. People are constantly getting loans for things they can't afford like homes, cars, credit card debt and so on.

I used to feel the same way as you. But we need to stop loading young adults with debt that can never be dismissed. Young adults are easy prey. Student's are for the most part clueless on what it means to be in debt without being able to pay for it. Mostly student's are desperate to afford their dream school or study for the one profession that will increase their pay check and are willing to sign a simple contract to get it.

Luckily some of us know early on that we must get trained in a marketable skill to pay back the loan. Greek studies or French literature will not cut it these days. Not all of us are that lucky to know it.

We need to look at the lenders and schools too. They don't care who they lend to because they have a guaranteed repayment. This leads to predatory lending for lenders.

Schools don't care what they teach. This leads to nice to know classes. They will always find student dreamers that will major in (name you silly major here.)

The supply and demand curve has gotten out of wack. Maybe only certain majors and schools can be eligible for loans as a start.

Also, how is it that a student can go to school from K-12 and not have a skill. High schools need to be responsible too. I took a year of Calculus in high school. It's nice to know it yet it has not lead to a pay check. I'm sure there are other more productive ways to spend a year of school.

Indebted students are a symptom of the bigger problem on how to train society's future workers. It's time to do something about it. Debt forgiveness and a reform to the educational system is a great place to start. BTW, free higher education is not the answer. Look at what happens to the K-12 graduates. Free higher education will only extend that system without much results.

Yes, student's are stupid and it sucks that some will get a free ride but they are only a part of a bigger problem. We need to look at the problem more broadly.

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