Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Student Loan Crisis

                                                           

Liberals awoke this morning, prepared their meuslix and caramel latte, then sat down, opened the morning paper and were shocked to learn student loan debt has doubled in the last five years.  As with every other social program, liberals simply refuse to stop and run the numbers on a calculator before launching another mad government give away.

And, with blinders in place, liberals have refused to heed the warnings from economists over the last two years; warnings that relaxing student loan criteria will lead to irresponsible student borrowing.  As recently as two years ago economists have been predicting another decade of economic malaise as the next generation of the labor force attempts to dig out of tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.  Until and unless that debt is paid it will continue to be millstone hanging over workers who even dare to dream of buying a home or buying a new automobile.

Flash back five years folks.  The banks were managing the student loan program and, in doing so, maintained a measure of loan discipline between student loaner and "loanee".  However, hating banks so badly, and wanting to draw more suckers to the public trough, the Obama administration took over management  of the student loan program.

So, Obama now had still another way to buy electoral support through his pimping government student loan dollars to kids who have not yet developed even a hint of financial discipline.    So Obama pimped the hell out of the student loan program and spoke freely about his goodness, as if he personally was putting up the money.

Now folks, we saw this same liberal "pattern of sin" in the late 90's when Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank ordered Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae to extend home loans to millions who clearly didn't qualify.  When the bubble burst, despite Obama's brow beating the banks to write off bad loans, millions walked away from housing debt and we have yet to recover from that "grand mal" of liberal stupidity.

So did liberals learn anything?  Apparently not, since they are amazed that student debt has doubled since Obama took office.  The report, published in the Arizona Republic this past week, shows that 57% of college seniors have more than $25,000 dollars in student debt, with many law and medical students owing as much as $200,000 dollars!

                                                   
Even more frightening is the fact that the last two years' crop of college graduates have not been able to find a job in this stagnant economy and have moved back home with mom and dad without any hope of paying off their massive student loan burdens.

And, again, economists are all in agreement that the current trillion dollars of student debt will weigh heavily against any economic recovery, at least for the next decade!

I've written about this crisis often so I was not surprised to read this "shocking" student loan report.  The Republic dutifully reported that college presidents and college administrators and liberal politicians are alarmed by this highly disturbing news!  

Folks, is their anyone dumber than a liberal politician that can't operate a calculator?  Is there anyone dumber than a liberal who can't learn from past sins?  Dumb and dumber...and we're all gonna pay for this mess.

Sad.  Damned Sad.

19 comments:

Jerry Carlin said...

I always like to comment just so you know I am reading your blogs. I am in the process of reading your back blogs and have already discovered we are both cancer survivors! Hope you are doing well. It is a pretty amazing experience to say the least.
About college costs and loans: it seems that the easier the money comes the more expensive things are.
It (the cost of higher education) is not what it used to be. I went to the University of Oregon in the middle 60's and tuition was $97 per term. A decent place to live was less than $75 per month for a 2 bedroom! It was pretty easy to put yourself through school, even with a part time job, even at the minimum wage of those days: $1.25 per hour!
What I am suggesting here is maybe the debt is not really the issue?
The $2 dollars per hour I earned in 1970 stretched so much farther than the $10 per hour would now.
As a proportion, debts seem to keep up with inflation better than income. Now tuition is almost $3,500 per term! and the Law School my daughter went to the tuition was $50,000 per year! Income simply has not kept pace with these (and other!) costs.
That is why the Middle Class is fastly vanishing.
I did not answer your blog, just continued with its thought provoking elements. Anger and name calling will not get us out of this issue.

A Modest Scribler said...

Again, you make my point, Jerry! College cost have exploded as liberals mandated that everyone must have a college education…even if they are not suited for it! (Romney made that point last year and was crucified by Obama and ilk for it!)
As to our college costs, I don't know many kids back then that weren't working some kind of part time job and kids, unlike today, weren't living completely off of student loans.
And the University system itself has got out of hand , with professors sitting back and letting graduate students teach the class while pulling in as much as 400,000 dollars a year!
As to who to get us out of this problem: teach the new generation a work ethic, take politics out of government benefits like student loans by putting in back under the banks and demand that student loans be treated as any other debt.
Glad to hear you too beat the big C. Every day is a bonus day for me.

A Modest Scribler said...

Forgot to add, Jerry. The numbers speak for themselves; student loan debt doubling in the five years since Obama took office..and just happened to coincide with the government taking over direct student loan lending, and made worse by a horrible economy where students can't find work…and made worse again by their silly demands for $15 dollar minimum wage to flip burgers….every one is too good for the menial jobs now..and political money fuels this arrogance.

Jerry Carlin said...

What do you peg minimum wage to? In the late 60's a 2 bedroom cost $75 and now the same is $750. ten times the money! on that, my $2. per hour should be $20.!!!
Yes, I very much believe in our "old" work ethic and would like to see it again, but there has to be a sense of gaining, little steps "up the ladder" for it to work.
Nobody is burning money, it is all still there...just getting distributed differently. In the sixties a CEO made, on average, 6 times the amount of his average worker. Today it can be thousands of times! In the '50's, the last really great times, under Republican rule we had a graduated income tax, up to 90%!!! In those days, corporations actually PAID taxes! GE has paid NOTHING year after year! NOW, under Obama, the Federal Taxes are the LOWEST they have been in 35 years! If you want to go back to "the good old days" let's do it. Go back to 90% graduated income tax and everything! I really believe there are solutions to be had but anger, name calling and continually beating the drum has never been a great way to win friends and influence people.

Jerry Carlin said...

I have "one more thing" too! YOU are subsidizing minimum wage! It is a crazy system when "Walmart workers" are eligible for food stamps and other assistance! I strongly believe in the capitalist system. I have always been the employer not the employee. I always paid my people a living wage and never relied on the government to provide assistance to me OR those who worked for me.

A Modest Scribler said...

Jerry, first of all, let's get the "name calling" thing out of the way. I decided about two years ago that conservatives are at war with arrogant liberals…and hiked up my fiery rhetoric accordingly. And even with that, I'm far more civil than the liberal media or liberal language thrown about. I wasn't kidding when I said I believe we are very close to a 2nd civil war..I believe that, thus I'll argue my point in any manner that helps to neutralize the garbage coming from the other side.

Now, you know I'm not going to advocate for 90 percent tax rates..in fact those rates we're never 90 percent because far more things could be written off back then. I once read a Friedman paper that said corporate taxes back then were really about 35 percent because of corporate loopholes, not that far from now.

And even your effort to peg real estate to real estate values are flawed…while you need $750 over there, in Phoenix $500 will get you the same house, and in North Dakota or Oklahoma or Iowa, $350 will do it. As to minimum wage, I say the only way the salary thing works is leave it up to the free market…since half of our young people are ignorant and illiterate entry level fast food jobs are the only thing they are qualified to do…google literacy rates for high school graduate…and, of course, like so many facets of our economy, illegal Mexicans play a role in suppressing wages at all skill levels, and they have just enough of a work ethic to crowd out our own native "spoilage".

Finally, I totally agree with you about the obscene pay levels for company CEO'S…that's why I recommend you read This Town the other day..it explains so well the corporate corruption that thrives so easily in corrupt D.C.

I'm sorry that my language is too harsh for you..but as I said…I have forsaken civil debate because I've found I always win a debate against liberals because I indisputable facts while they cite a liberal mantra that has everything to do with name calling and nothing to do with real facts.

Jerry Carlin said...

You have to be "old enough" and well read enough to know there are no "facts"! Ha! We will never have another Civil War in this country! We are far too lazy and even the poor among us are far too comfortable. We would miss our warm lifestyle too much. Beside, would you really fight on the side of Mississippi and the teaparty States?
The poorest States in the Union who, by the way, receive the MOST in Federal Dollars! No we are a bitch and moan country and it is our right! But we won't get off the couch, get uncomfortable or even read a book! The best bet is to continue your blog, capture one person at a time and change the course of History through your written word! We often discover we are not so far apart, just difficult to hear over the shouting!

A Modest Scribler said...

Jerry, I would argue that we'll have a civil war (read my previous blogs on this on how the scenarios play out…and here are my "facts"…when the honey dries up and all those tit sucker turn into roving mobs, when peace and order cannot be restored, we'll have our war…facts: !7 trillion dollar debt, projected to hit 30 trillion by 2020, 43% of all tax revenue goes to servicing the massive debt…and no honey for the couch potatoes…equals chaos and civil war.

Craig said...

Would students owe so much if the heads of learning institutions and other liberal administrators didn't grossly over pay themselves? When I went to the local community college in the mid eighties it was $5 per unit. My daughter is paying $60 per unit at the same college with less classes offered. Where is the money going?

A Modest Scribler said...

Craig, the more money that gets pumped into a system always ends up causing price inflation, and the government artificially pumps money through various grants and student loans and prices just keep escalating…and at a far higher rate than any other sector except health care, which is also artificially inflated by massive government fraud, waste and abuse.

Anonymous said...

online schools owned by media outlets- kaplan U & washington post

Anonymous said...

Are you seriously saying that obama's student loans are driving up the cost of education by making it TOO AFFORDABLE? Are you stoned? You complain that the youth are stupid and lazy, and yet if they take loans so that they can some day get a better job than a fast food employee they're draining the nation of its valuable resources? The cost of living is so high that too take classes and work at the same time without accepting handouts (of any kind, including from family), you'd have to have a job that already requires you to have a college degree!

Ken said...

Wow, this blog has certainly become quite lively with contentious dialogue. I'm happy for you, Mr. Scribler.
I would normally have a very "cut in stone" opinion on this subject and be in full agreement with Mr. Scrib here but I am not terribly educated on the subject of student loans (now there's a play), and have been enjoying as well as learning a bit from this back and forth between Mr. C and Mr. S here. I will look much further into it now but I think Mr. C really has a good point here, worth a second glance.
On the subject of a second civil war, I doubt there will be anything civil about it but when the trough runs dry there will no doubt be a very ugly fight for the last drops. The lazy you describe will die first and the strong will win out. Who will survive and lead the next generation, well remains to be seen. I hope I'm not there to live through it.
I hope you keep coming here, Jerry. Enjoy the debates between you both. thanks

Jerry Carlin said...

Thank you so much, Ken! Discussion is always healthy. It is when we quit talking that I'll be worried.
I am probably the MOST conservative
"Liberal" on these issues.

Unknown said...

It's crazy that the $200,000 debt is "normal" for American students trying to be doctors. I have a few friends working and studying to be surgeons/internal medicine and all of them say they understand the debt they have to pay after becoming fully certified.

No wonder we have an influx of foreign doctors, since it's not about the money and more about the education inn other countries, we have so much potential in this country alone, but who thought it was a good idea to make becoming a doctor (sort of important in society) such a financial nightmare.

A Modest Scribler said...

And Trevor, after the kid becomes a doctor he must shell out up to $200k a year for malpractice insurance because of the millions of ambulance chasers. Sad.

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