Academia, politicians & the banking system.. strange bedfellows.
Anyone see the irony in the partnership the banks have with academia? Academics pretend to be interested only in providing a balanced & educated world view, but they indoctrinate from an early age: "You must go to college to get ahead", they preach, "& you can get student loans, assistance, & waivers to do it.. everyone should go to college!"
They do not prepare for competing in the marketplace, or choosing a vocation that is practical or can actually get a good job, but only the vague concept of 'going to college'. Then they work with the banks & politicians to provide money for these newly indoctrinated lemmings who trust their teachers.. they seem so sincere & smart.. not like the stupid people they warned about outside of school.
So the politicians, working in close association with the money people & academia, come up with a plan: Make loans that you can't get away from, even with bankruptcy! What a great idea! Just like the old days! If your family incurred debts, you could be sold as an indentured servant until the debt is paid. Now, you will always have the school debt with you, & can never get away from it, even if you made stupid choices in choosing a college or a particular degree, if you even got one.
So here you are, flush with enthusiasm from the graduation speeches, looking for that job that was promised. Ok, maybe a few more resume's. ..maybe try a few more in places i didn't really want to live.. ..ok, how about anything in this field? Pretty soon you find out that you can get into debt collections, timeshare sales, or the food industry, & even though your degree didn't help with that job, you at least have a well balanced liberal arts degree & can feel superior to the uneducated morons who missed it.
But now you don't make enough to pay off that loan. You've deferred it for a few years, & interest has accrued, making the payments even higher. So you get another deferment.. but the interest is more than 10 times what you get in a savings acct. or even a car loan. If you had 20-30k in original loans, it's now up to 40-50.. and on top of that, all the credit card offers you got, which you kept current with the student loans, are maxing out. Those rates are even higher than the student loan rates!
But maybe you were smart, & got mom & dad to co-sign for the student loans. Now they have to start making payments, or their credit goes down the tubes. But they took out a second loan to buy an investment house, & now they can't sell the house they bought or their own home, because the prices crashed, leaving them upside down in both. They're thinking of bankruptcy, too.
You still can't get away from those student loans! You can lose your house, your car, all your investments, your life savings... or any other financial venture you undertook.. but not the 'investment' in your education! That is one that will always pay off, according to the academians, so it's a safe investment. They sold it to you as a 'no lose' investment, but it doesn't look so good now.
Who profited from your 'investment'? Why the banks, of course, with their quietly increasing interest. The academians? Yes, they got the tuition & all the other rising costs for the ponzi scheme they came up with. They could charge full price & let costs skyrocket! The tenured professors can keep their fat salaries, & a nice pension to boot, thanks to you! The politician? For sure.. they got fat contributions from the teacher's unions, plenty of money from the big money people, & they got to support a popular, politically correct govt. program: Education. If you think it is expensive, try stupidity. How about we redefine stupidity & call it education!
So you're sorry you got that masters in french poetry, now that you owe almost 100k in loans & accrued interest. You would like to get an engineering degree, or something in computers, since there are better jobs in that field, but you can't get any more loans, & you can't afford to go to school, since you're having to work a lot of hours at the restaurant, & you significant other is also having trouble finding work. Any & all other debts can be wiped clean.. yes, you made some bad choices getting the new furniture.. & you shouldn't have gotten the car, but they reposessed those, & your bankrupty cleared off all your other bad debts.. except for your wonderful student loan! You will have that to make payment to for a long time. Forget building up your credit score.. forget having enough to buy a house. You have to pay for the 'social programs' that academia, the banks, & the wonderful politicians came up with.
Ok, now i'll tell you what i really think. Making loans that cannot be settled or removed, especially directed towards youth & unsophisticated financial planners, is immoral & should be illegal. It is a policy return to the dark ages & indentured servitude. Young people don't even have to ask their parents, but can stack up a mountain of debt in student loans.
I understand the reasoning why they did it. Banks wouldn't lend to students & let them pile up huge loans, because they would just declare bankruptcy. But then academia would lose money, so they got their politicians to make this plan, glossing over any problems that might arise. So the entire country get to pay the price for their lack of foresight & incompetence (at best), or special interest corruption (at worst)
It is unfair to saddle young people with the burden of inescapable debt. The academians pushed the debt on them, promising them pies in the sky if they would only go to college & support the academic agenda. Let them help in paying them off, & end the practice. Sure, loans will dry up, but so will the mountain of debt. Colleges will have to be competitive & provide a real product. Many will not & will fail because of mismanagement & an impractical mission statement, but that is how the open market works. Why should academia be guaranteed a place in the market? They are just a business like any other.
So, who is likely to foot the bill for this? Any guesses? Do you think American taxpayers are very high on the probablity list?
What is my solution? It's easy to criticize & find fault.. how about helping with a solution?
1. End the practice. It's just a loan like any other. Secure it, or take a chance.
2. Share the loss. The student shouldn't be the only loser in this scam. The banks & academia should too. Provide a renegotiated loan with the original school giving some back & the banks cutting their part, too.
3. Fire the politicians. This was my fault, kids. I and my generation were not watchful & alert to the scams & schemes that these unscrupulous charlatans came up with. We'll fire them & get people who will look out for the people's interests & bring freedom back to America. It will be tough to change the culture.. politicians are too used to the grab bag of money in washington, but we can cut their money & limit the corruption. We'll find some honest people who will cut the fraud, waste & corruption. It will take some time, so we better get started asap.
I don't know how we could implement it, but i think it would be a good idea if the profiteers from govt scams like this had to pay it back, & even go to jail. That would certainly discourage future scammers, & we could get some of our tax money back. It would be a drop in the bucket, but how about the heads of fannie mae, etc, have to repay all their bonuses & salary for their failures? How about if the politicians who voted for spending packages had to repay out of their pocket any waste, fraud or corruption? There would be a little more care in the voting process, i'm sure.
But that is unlikely, & probably too hard to fairly enforce. But i'm sure we could come up with something with some teeth to discourage this kind of special interest corruption.
"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. The banking powers are more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. They denounce as public enemies all who question their methods or throw light upon their crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe."
Abraham Lincoln
"Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience."
John Locke
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.
George Bernard Shaw
How many people here have telekenetic powers? Raise my hand.
Emo Philips
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