Principia Discordia

Principia Discordia => Aneristic Illusions => Topic started by: Doktor Howl on June 28, 2013, 08:49:15 PM

Title: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Doktor Howl on June 28, 2013, 08:49:15 PM
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/student-debt-stalemate-will-hammer-millions-undergrads-6C10480484

They're doing something.  Specifically, they're fucking students in the pooper.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on June 28, 2013, 10:10:57 PM
DAMN KIDS GETTIN ABOVE THEIR RAISIN', TRYIN TA BE PENCIL PUSHERS
GIT YER NOSE OUT THAT GODDAMN BOOK AND GIT A REAL JOB
             /
:redneck2:
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Bruno on June 28, 2013, 11:46:49 PM
QuoteSallie Mae CEO Jack Remondi said poor planning exacerbates a borrower's burden, regardless of the rate on the loan. Sallie Mae is the largest provider of private student loans.

"If you overborrow, whether the rate is 4 percent or 7 percent, you're still going to encounter difficulties," Remondi said. "A plan that takes into consideration what your income potential is going to be when you graduate and what that debt burden is going to be is critical."

Sounds like they want to herd people into more "profitable" majors.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 12:01:25 AM
FUUUUUUUCK.

I'm already coming out of community college with over $20k in debt, with three more years at university. I am going to try to get a McNair scholarship but even if I do I can't imagine I'll walk away from my undergrad with less than $40k in debt.

THAT IS COMPLETELY INSANE AND NOT OK. FOR THE RECORD.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Cain on June 29, 2013, 12:06:47 AM
Quote from: Emo Howard on June 28, 2013, 11:46:49 PM
QuoteSallie Mae CEO Jack Remondi said poor planning exacerbates a borrower's burden, regardless of the rate on the loan. Sallie Mae is the largest provider of private student loans.

"If you overborrow, whether the rate is 4 percent or 7 percent, you're still going to encounter difficulties," Remondi said. "A plan that takes into consideration what your income potential is going to be when you graduate and what that debt burden is going to be is critical."

Sounds like they want to herd people into more "profitable" majors.

I think you're probably right.

A lot of percieved high-paying courses, such as law*, tend to be extremely expensive anyway, and often require additional training on top of the usual courses.  Which means you can keep on extracting those high fees.

*the actual average pay of a law graduate is pretty dismal.  You have a few high earners skewing the results, essentially.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Left on June 29, 2013, 12:54:15 AM
I'm hoping that I can qualify for the loan forgiveness thingie they offer for 10 years of public service.

...If I am actually in a bureaucracy as a somewhat less-fireable person than I currently am...think of all the FUN I could have.

...Everyone should have at least one anarchic mystic in their bureaucracy.

The Republicans, like their base, are putting their collective fingers in their collective ears and going "LALALALALALALA!"

This 8-year attack of rampant immaturity will be remembered.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Cain on June 29, 2013, 01:04:12 AM
Hah, no it wont.

Something something Kenyan President something socialism something who lost Syria something something fascist.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Left on June 29, 2013, 01:12:05 AM
Quote from: Cain on June 29, 2013, 01:04:12 AM
Hah, no it wont.

Something something Kenyan President something socialism something who lost Syria something something fascist.

I'm thinking the college kids who are about to be fucked over.
...It drives me crazy what a short national memory we have.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: The Johnny on June 29, 2013, 01:14:03 AM

here public school is actually free... need to claw your way thru the exam, cause only like 15% of those applying get in, but still, free!
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Cain on June 29, 2013, 01:40:19 AM
Quote from: hylierandom, A.D.D. on June 29, 2013, 01:12:05 AM
Quote from: Cain on June 29, 2013, 01:04:12 AM
Hah, no it wont.

Something something Kenyan President something socialism something who lost Syria something something fascist.

I'm thinking the college kids who are about to be fucked over.
...It drives me crazy what a short national memory we have.

Youth and college vote already overwhelmingly goes to the Democrats anyway.  Why would the Republicans care?  It's not their voters they'll be fucking over.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Trivial on June 29, 2013, 03:31:01 AM
Does somehow paying off my loans without ever getting the job I went to college for mean I win?  Do I get cake?
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on June 29, 2013, 03:33:50 AM
Quote from: Mome Papess Trivial on June 29, 2013, 03:31:01 AM
Does somehow paying off my loans without ever getting the job I went to college for mean I win?  Do I get cake?

I can one up this. I never even went to college! And I still have debts!


Wait, that didn't work out the way it looked in my head..
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Left on June 29, 2013, 03:47:33 AM
Quote from: The Johnny on June 29, 2013, 01:14:03 AM

here public school is actually free... need to claw your way thru the exam, cause only like 15% of those applying get in, but still, free!

We wouldn't be complaining if the cost hadn't skyrocketed, TBH...and at the same time the crap economy makes it more likely the damn debts will be there forever, like our own personal little black cloud.

...This isn't the only thing making me afraid to go back to school, but it's part of it.  I have to take credits at the big-pants 4-year-college now, and the cost is double what my community college was.
I dread the idea of being worse than broke.  Right now I'm fairly broke but not in debt.  It could be worse.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 10:37:28 AM
Quote from: Cain on June 29, 2013, 12:06:47 AM
Quote from: Emo Howard on June 28, 2013, 11:46:49 PM
QuoteSallie Mae CEO Jack Remondi said poor planning exacerbates a borrower's burden, regardless of the rate on the loan. Sallie Mae is the largest provider of private student loans.

"If you overborrow, whether the rate is 4 percent or 7 percent, you're still going to encounter difficulties," Remondi said. "A plan that takes into consideration what your income potential is going to be when you graduate and what that debt burden is going to be is critical."

Sounds like they want to herd people into more "profitable" majors.

I think you're probably right.

A lot of percieved high-paying courses, such as law*, tend to be extremely expensive anyway, and often require additional training on top of the usual courses.  Which means you can keep on extracting those high fees.

*the actual average pay of a law graduate is pretty dismal.  You have a few high earners skewing the results, essentially.

Law and business aren't even on the scale for future "American expansion" degrees. Pretty much the only degrees which are are bio and chem degrees, and even those are up against a shitstorm of limited funding. America has essentially stated that it could give a flying fuck about being on the forefront of scientific advancement.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 10:40:37 AM
I think schools are still happily absorbing the morons who think an MBA or a law degree is a guarantee of a bright upper-middle-class future.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: GrannySmith on June 29, 2013, 04:27:28 PM
Quote from: The Johnny on June 29, 2013, 01:14:03 AM

here public school is actually free... need to claw your way thru the exam, cause only like 15% of those applying get in, but still, free!

In Greece public schools and universities are also completely free (or at least was when I was there) -  we were even given all the books and photocopies! I think more than 15% of the applicants got in, but still those were some pretty hard exams... (but with lots of chances to get in if you studied hard enough for another year!). Much better than everybody getting in and getting burdened with huge loans before they even got a job, that's almost slavery in my eyes!!  :argh!: :argh!:
And apart from that, this:
Quote from: M. Nigel Salt on June 29, 2013, 10:40:37 AM
I think schools are still happily absorbing the morons who think an MBA or a law degree is a guarantee of a bright upper-middle-class future.
Having everybody getting in just makes more unemployed people with degrees (hmm, on the other hand that is a problem in greece and was even before the crisis started...)  :|

Whatever. FREE EDUCATION GODDAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 07:18:36 PM
What's fucking HILARIOUS is that the media looks at the top wage-earning degrees with absolutely no adjustment for family status, so essentially they keep on telling generation after generation "Get these degrees to make money", so generation after generation of middle-class families send their kids to school to get the same degrees the rich kids are getting and then wonder why their kids end up unemployed with massive student debt.

IT'S NOT THE DEGREE, MORONS.

Just about the only truly class-changing degree is medical, and even that's no guarantee.

The way our system is designed, it is almost impossible to rise above the class status you're born into. You can sink, though. Damn straight you can sink.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 07:22:50 PM
THE DEGREE THAT MAKES THE MOST MONEY IS ADVERTISING. Parents, send your kids to advertising school!

That's the big one going around now.

Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: tyrannosaurus vex on June 29, 2013, 07:54:21 PM
I can't identify with a lot of things in this topic because I never went to college. I have somehow lucked out and improved my family's financial security situation without it, just through being naturally good at and interested in something that happens to pay well.

There is a part of my mind (which I refer to as the Republican Cortex) which tempts me to think I have somehow achieved "success" through "hard work and tenacity," but I know that's bullshit. It's mostly 75% luck of the draw, and 25% being too scared to leave jobs that piss me off -- which might from the outside look like "dedication," but in my head I know that isn't what it is.

Still, I think the traditional "public school --> college --> rewarding career" path that is so ingrained in our culture is mostly nonsense these days. The problem isn't that higher education is worthless, it's that the really valuable things it can give a person have been engineered right the fuck out of the economy. The way to gainful employment these days is to get trained as a highly-skilled automaton with a very specific expertise. Being well-rounded and dedicating years to "trivial" things like the arts, language, and communication just get you mountains of debt you'll never pay back.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Cain on June 29, 2013, 08:11:35 PM
Nigel, you mean...America is a well connected aristocratic state which merely proglumates the ideology of a meritocracy in order to justify putting a vast number of its middle class in debt bondage for the rest of their adult lives?
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Bruno on June 29, 2013, 09:33:47 PM
I picked an engineering related major based on the reasoning that it held a high potential for self-employment, and advanced ability for breaking shit, or at least causing more interesting, and elaborate problems.

It's definitely not easy climbing up a rung on the ladder, even with an education. I suspect part of the problem is that some people get emotionally invested in their social class. "Poor Pride" is a real thing, which I'm sure the working class got sold to them by some shadowy elite entity at some point, prolly the Romans.

The meme "God loves poor people more, but powerful people have power because God gave it to them, so respect their aurhritigh." is encoded right in most Americans' religious doctrine.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 10:00:21 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 29, 2013, 08:11:35 PM
Nigel, you mean...America is a well connected aristocratic state which merely proglumates the ideology of a meritocracy in order to justify putting a vast number of its middle class in debt bondage for the rest of their adult lives?

:lulz: Yes. That is exactly what I mean, and I am making that my sigline on TCC.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 10:02:56 PM
Quote from: V3X on June 29, 2013, 07:54:21 PM
I can't identify with a lot of things in this topic because I never went to college. I have somehow lucked out and improved my family's financial security situation without it, just through being naturally good at and interested in something that happens to pay well.

There is a part of my mind (which I refer to as the Republican Cortex) which tempts me to think I have somehow achieved "success" through "hard work and tenacity," but I know that's bullshit. It's mostly 75% luck of the draw, and 25% being too scared to leave jobs that piss me off -- which might from the outside look like "dedication," but in my head I know that isn't what it is.

Still, I think the traditional "public school --> college --> rewarding career" path that is so ingrained in our culture is mostly nonsense these days. The problem isn't that higher education is worthless, it's that the really valuable things it can give a person have been engineered right the fuck out of the economy. The way to gainful employment these days is to get trained as a highly-skilled automaton with a very specific expertise. Being well-rounded and dedicating years to "trivial" things like the arts, language, and communication just get you mountains of debt you'll never pay back.

And yet... it's still the route that has the best success rate for having more financial security, better health, more free time, and a longer life span.

Second to being born into a wealthy family, that is.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Cain on June 29, 2013, 10:03:27 PM
Slight ammendment, for more making sense (I've had 4 hours of sleep):

America is an aristocratic state ruled by and for the well connected, which merely proglumates the ideology of a meritocracy in order to justify putting a vast number of its middle class in debt bondage for the rest of their adult lives?
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 10:10:33 PM
I have lots and lots of friends who never got college degrees, and they, like myself, did just fine through their 20's and 30's. Where shit gets scary, though, is the 40's, and the health and income disparities widen throughout the 50's and into old age.

Some people get lucky and fall into good careers where college degrees aren't (or at least, weren't at the time) necessary, like programming. Even in those, though, you see wide differences between people who lucked into it and their counterparts with college degrees, particularly as they age.

The reality is that having a college degree does confer a huge advantage... and our system uses that advantage to extort people into going into massive debt in order to achieve it.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 29, 2013, 10:12:19 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 29, 2013, 10:03:27 PM
Slight ammendment, for more making sense (I've had 4 hours of sleep):

America is an aristocratic state ruled by and for the well connected, which merely proglumates the ideology of a meritocracy in order to justify putting a vast number of its middle class in debt bondage for the rest of their adult lives?

Now I'm concerned about myself because it made perfect sense to me the first time.  :lol:
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Ben Shapiro on June 30, 2013, 02:45:49 AM
We should all get out education from the Houston Free Thinkers for free. That way everything we acquire afterwards is all profit. WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 30, 2013, 03:56:15 AM
Quote from: /b/earman on June 30, 2013, 02:45:49 AM
We should all get out education from the Houston Free Thinkers for free. That way everything we acquire afterwards is all profit. WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

:lulz:
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: Suu on June 30, 2013, 05:34:44 PM
I'm pretty much fucked.

Take one expensive art degree I haven't paid off yet, plus a too-costly public university education, plus whatever masters I which will probably guarantee me a management position at McDonald's by the time I'm out: Default central.

Oh well, not like I ever wanted to have credit to do anything, anyway.
Title: Re: Who says this is a "do nothing" congress?
Post by: GrannySmith on June 30, 2013, 06:44:54 PM
Quote from: Cain on June 29, 2013, 10:03:27 PM
Slight ammendment, for more making sense (I've had 4 hours of sleep):

America is an aristocratic state ruled by and for the well connected, which merely proglumates the ideology of a meritocracy in order to justify putting a vast number of its middle class in debt bondage for the rest of their adult lives?

Well, every european country I know is like that too... and i suspect this is a general human issue . and it has to be dealt with somehow  :?