President Biden, critics corner

[kallend 2,106]

1 hour ago, winsor said:

If you have to compare yourself to Trump to look good, you're pretty fucked up.

x > y does not place an upper bound on x.

[brenthutch 444]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjt4e6rpLn3AhUmg3IEHQjWD0sQxfQBKAB6BAgCEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2022%2F04%2F28%2Fus-q1-gdp-growth.html&usg=AOvVaw3JJARPM2IfUJZHhdGmKRST
 

GDP down, inflation up…it is the Carter administration all over again.

#stagflation 

[billvon 3,063]

On 4/28/2022 at 6:30 AM, kallend said:

x > y does not place an upper bound on x.

No wonder Florida is trying to ban math textbooks.  Innumerate people are easier to con.

[GeorgiaDon 379]

5 hours ago, brenthutch said:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjt4e6rpLn3AhUmg3IEHQjWD0sQxfQBKAB6BAgCEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2022%2F04%2F28%2Fus-q1-gdp-growth.html&usg=AOvVaw3JJARPM2IfUJZHhdGmKRST
 

GDP down, inflation up…it is the Carter administration all over again.

#stagflation 

Don't strain anything while you're doing your happy dance.

[brenthutch 444]

37 minutes ago, GeorgiaDon said:

Don't strain anything while you're doing your happy dance.

Nobody should be happy, but it was the predicable result of the Ds money party.  It will only get worse if they try this student loan cancellation nonsense.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

8 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

Nobody should be happy, but it was the predicable result of the Ds money party.  It will only get worse if they try this student loan cancellation nonsense.

Why is GDP down?

[GeorgiaDon 379]

12 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

Nobody should be happy, but it was the predicable result of the Ds money party.  It will only get worse if they try this student loan cancellation nonsense.

Absolutely!  If you let the proletariat get a taste of money, next thing you know they will be demanding rights! 

[airdvr 210]

20 hours ago, GeorgiaDon said:

Absolutely!  If you let the proletariat get a taste of money, next thing you know they will be demanding rights! 

I kinda like this one....

 

[kallend 2,106]

4 hours ago, airdvr said:

I kinda like this one....

 

A well educated citizenry benefits everyone.  It's not all about career options.

Thanks to the poorly educated we got a pussy grabbing con-man for our last president.

[billvon 3,063]

5 hours ago, airdvr said:

I kinda like this one....

I didn't.  There is value to me in having other people be educated.  (Say, my doctor, the people who make decisions in local government, my kid's teachers etc etc.)

 

[JoeWeber 2,810]

5 hours ago, airdvr said:

I kinda like this one....

 

Maybe if education wasn't such a burdensome expense you might have, well, oh, never mind.

[airdvr 210]

1 hour ago, billvon said:

I didn't.  There is value to me in having other people be educated.  (Say, my doctor, the people who make decisions in local government, my kid's teachers etc etc.)

 

They are educated.  They simply don't want to honor their obligations.

[airdvr 210]

28 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

Maybe if education wasn't such a burdensome expense you might have, well, oh, never mind.

I agree.  Higher education is way too expensive.  I also think you should be able to include student debt in bankruptcy.

Edited April 30, 2022 by airdvr

[gowlerk 2,246]

11 minutes ago, airdvr said:

  I also think you should be able to include student debt in bankruptcy.

That is would be the same as you paying it off. It is a tough problem for sure.

 

[airdvr 210]

13 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

That is would be the same as you paying it off. It is a tough problem for sure.

 

Not really.  As I understand it the student loan delinquency hampers credit which prevents many big ticket purchases.  It's not really fair to have this hanging around your neck for the next 15 years or so.  But I also think it's only fair that there should be consequences for not paying.

[GeorgiaDon 379]

The high cost of a university education is a direct result of states shrinking their support, which was a consequence of the political lie that you could cut taxes over and over and not cut services.  As state support decreased, the shortfall had to be made up in increased tuition.  Also tuition is just a piece of the puzzle, as a student you also have to come up with money for books, computers, supplies, rent, food, transportation, etc.  None of the costs of just living are suspended while you are in school.

Getting an education beyond high school is an investment, but like all investments there is no guarantee of a big profit.  Many careers are highly competitive, not everyone who earns a degree turns that degree into a high-paying job.  Nevertheless, if you are passionate about making a career in a particular field that requires an advanced education, you cannot even compete unless you have made that investment, which means taking on that debt just to have a shot.  The alternative is to give up your passion and not take the risk.  Just settle for stocking shelves at Joe's Auto Parts or something.  

I think that as a society we would be better off if access to careers could be determined by commitment and willingness to work hard, not by the wealth you happen to be born into or your willingness to risk soul-crushing debt.  Some countries have a system where university is essentially free, but only the best students can make it through the training.  That way the country benefits from having the best people in their professions, and they end up repaying the investment in their training in the form of the taxes they pay on their income.

[Phil1111 1,149]

1 hour ago, JoeWeber said:

Maybe if education wasn't such a burdensome expense you might have, well, oh, never mind.

Ivy league and private institutions have not controlled costs.

[wmw999 2,519]

13 minutes ago, GeorgiaDon said:

Some countries have a system where university is essentially free, but only the best students can make it through the training.  That way the country benefits from having the best people in their professions, and they end up repaying the investment in their training in the form of the taxes they pay on their income.

True, but at least in some, those “best” students come from the good, private, schools, making that a further reward for being able to afford a good high school. So the students who actually can’t afford the education still only have the more expensive options available. I know that’s at least to some degree true in several South American countries, where I have friends and or family.

Wendy P. 

[JerryBaumchen 1,426]

1 hour ago, airdvr said:

Not really.  As I understand it the student loan delinquency hampers credit which prevents many big ticket purchases.  It's not really fair to have this hanging around your neck for the next 15 years or so.  But I also think it's only fair that there should be consequences for not paying.

Hi airdvr,

Re:  As I understand it the student loan delinquency hampers credit which prevents many big ticket purchases.

Based upon my discussions, with loan officers, in recent years, student is considered just as any other debt.  It is NOT in a class of debt by itself.

Jerry Baumchen

[billvon 3,063]

4 hours ago, airdvr said:

They are educated.  They simply don't want to honor their obligations.

In many cases, they cannot honor their obligations.  It is, for example, not possible to pay off a $3000 a month loan if you are making $2500 after taxes.

[wmw999 2,519]

It’s possible to take away the house of someone who bought it based in part on ignorance, and in response to predatory loan practices. It’s not possible to take away an education.

In very many (no, not all) cases, unrealistic expectations were raised on the value of education, again, just as happened on real estate. I’ve been the generator (I was a “loan officer” for a small college that I figured out admired the ITT model and had no consideration for whether the computer course was a reasonable fit — I lasted 4 months), and the victim (bought a house in 1983 with a negative amortization mortgage, because real estate “always goes up.”). And I’m a reasonably intelligent person with good resources.

So it’s not hard for me to imagine that someone who’s more amenable to sales pitches thinking it’s a good investment in the future to spend too much. And I also am perfectly aware that there are plenty of people out there who will quickly figure out and abuse any system, simply because they can; it makes them feel smarter to put one over on someone else.

As someone who got very lucky (our negative-am house was built next to an undisclosed toxic waste site, giving us both a valid reason to walk away, and a settlement that paid our son’s tuition at public college, and my college loans were taken out in the 1970’s when interest rates were less than market, not more), I can sympathize with people who didn’t. That doesn’t mean that I want to reward the gamers, just that punishing everyone as much as i think they should be serves only me, and not them or society.

So yeah, some sort of quantitative easing, while maintaining some penalties. And while we’re at it, maybe let’s figure out how to keep something like Airbnb, without the destruction of affordable private rental inventory that it’s leading to now. Etc

Wendy P. 

[headoverheels 333]

On 4/29/2022 at 12:50 PM, brenthutch said:

Nobody should be happy, but it was the predicable result of the Ds money party.  It will only get worse if they try this student loan cancellation nonsense.

GDP was down as result of decreased government spending and also because of increased imports. Consumption was up. Investment was up.

The decreased government spending was in military, and in the winding down of COVID relief.

I

 

.

[airdvr 210]

10 hours ago, billvon said:

In many cases, they cannot honor their obligations.  It is, for example, not possible to pay off a $3000 a month loan if you are making $2500 after taxes.

That's unfortunate.  They should be able to declare bankruptcy like anyone else.

[headoverheels 333]

13 hours ago, Phil1111 said:

Ivy league and private institutions have not controlled costs.

 

As a ratio, the chart shows that public education costs are up more than private.

 

[Phil1111 1,149]

1 hour ago, headoverheels said:

As a ratio, the chart shows that public education costs are up more than private.

 

Because public funding for higher education has been slashed by the GOP. When you shrink funding by 1/2 its a given that the ratio would expand.

A Truly Devastating Graph on State Higher Education Spending

Some states have slashed per-student spending by as much as half. Some EU countries have free college education. But thanks to Rupert Murdoch and his FOX apparatchiks keeping the public ignorant has had its due pecuniary rewards.

"The budget agreement maintains the post-sequester non-defense discretionary funding cap for 2016, slashing the 2016 funding level by $37.3 billion below the comparable President's request. But after 2016, the cuts get worse. Over ten years, the budget cuts non-defense funding by $496 billion below the cap levels, leading to a 21 percent loss of purchasing power by 2025".

The combination of States cuts plus cuts in federal funding is entirely responsible for ballooning student and family debts for education.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Phil1111