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NIA Comments On The Upcoming Bursting Of The (Bankruptcy Non-Dischargeable) College Debt Bubble
The NIA, better known for cutting straight to the chase and not really mincing its words today focuses on the latest trillion + dollar bubble: that of US higher education, which is getting increasingly more funded directly by the US Government. "The National Inflation Association believes that the United States has a college education bubble that is set to burst beginning in mid-2011. This bursting bubble will have effects that are even more far-reaching than the bursting of the Real Estate bubble in 2006. College education could possibly be the largest scam in U.S. history." And the kicker: unlike housing debt, college debt has that extra oomph to it that it traditionally is not discharged in bankruptcy: as such it is the ultimate subjugation mechanism. This one sure is set to get interesting...
From the NIA
The National Inflation Association believes that the United States has a college education bubble that is set to burst beginning in mid-2011. This bursting bubble will have effects that are even more far-reaching than the bursting of the Real Estate bubble in 2006. College education could possibly be the largest scam in U.S. history.
NIA's advice to the youth of America today is to think for yourselves. Don't get suckered into overpaying for a college degree that is worthless because everyone else has one. College is only worth attending if you plan on actually learning something there. If you are only going to college because you think a piece of paper is going to help you find a job, you would be much better off skipping college and entering the workforce right now at any entry level job. Your experience will benefit you more than any piece of paper.
The median U.S. home price is currently $170,600, down 26% from its peak of $230,200 in July of 2006. The Dow Jones is currently 11,672, down 18% from its peak of 14,198 in October of 2007. Oil is currently $91 per barrel, down 38% from its peak of $147 per barrel in July of 2008. After the financial panic of 2008, the U.S. saw a collapse in the prices of just about all assets, goods, services, and commodities. Between lost stock market and home equity wealth, Americans lost $10.2 trillion in paper wealth in 2008, and have only recouped a fraction of it since then.
College is the only thing in America that never declined in price during the panic of 2008. It actually rose in price substantially. The annual tuition for a private four-year college was $21,235 in the 2005-2006 school year. Despite Real Estate beginning to collapse in late-2006, college tuition rose by 4.6% in the 2006-2007 school year to $22,218. Despite the stock market beginning to collapse in late-2007, college tuition rose by 6.7% in the 2007-2008 school year to $23,712. Despite oil and other commodities collapsing in late-2008, college tuition rose by 6.2% in the 2008-2009 school year to $25,177. Even after the Dow Jones crashed to a low in early-2009 of 6,469, college tuition still rose by 4.4% in the 2009-2010 school year to $26,273.
Annual tuition for a private four-year college in America is now $27,293, up 29% from five years ago. Meanwhile, the employment situation in the U.S. has deteriorated. There are currently 130.7 million non-farm jobs in America, down 3% from 134.5 million U.S. non-farm jobs in December 2005. 3.8 million jobs have been lost, while the U.S. population has grown by approximately 14 million people during the same time period. We would need to have seen the creation of 6.7 million non-farm jobs just to stay even, but now we are 10.5 million jobs short.
All across America, thousands of students are graduating law school each year with $250,000 in debt, but with no jobs at law firms available to them. 15,000 attorney and legal staff jobs have disappeared since 2008, yet 43,000 law degrees are being handed out each year. Law degrees are losing their value faster than the U.S. dollar is losing its purchasing power. Lawyers are non-producing workers that do nothing to create any real wealth for society. The artificially high incomes of lawyers are made possible entirely by inflation, which steals the wealth from hard working goods producing middle-class Americans and transfers it to those who add no real value to society.
The service sector currently makes up 76.9% of the U.S. GDP. Agriculture, which in 1933 made up 28% of GDP, currently makes up only 1.2% of GDP. The wealth of any country is primarily created at first from the production of food, oil, and precious metals. Secondly, wealth is created from the manufacturing of real consumer goods. After a country generates wealth by producing real things and builds a large domestic pool of savings, it can begin growing a service based economy, just so long as it has enough savings to support it.
During the past decade, an unprecedented number of Americans went to school to become lawyers, because they thought if they became a lawyer they would immediately become rich. 60% of the U.S. Senate and 37% of the House of Representatives are lawyers. The reason we have so many lawyers in Washington is so that they can pass as many new harmful laws and regulations as possible, in order to provide enough work for all of their lawyer friends. All of the needless legislation that is passed each year in order to provide work for lawyers, has the devastating unintended consequence of destroying what little is left of the free market. Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, but it is now nearly impossible for a small businessman with limited financial resources to build a large successful corporation in any sector, because their legal costs would eat up all of their profits.
Many law students got suckered into going to law school due to deceptive marketing practices. Some law schools are advertising that 90% of graduates are employed within one year of graduating. Sure, maybe 90% of law school graduates were employed a year later, with half of them working at McDonald's, but no law school degree is required for that. Schools are using dozens of unethical tactics to manipulate their numbers while encouraging alumni to falsify the surveys they fill out about their employment situation. Just like we are now seeing countless class action lawsuits against mortgage companies that misled customers about the loans they signed up for, we will soon see a massive number of lawsuits filed against colleges that lied about their job placement rates and average starting salaries of graduates. (At least there will be some work for law school graduates.)
Most Americans today are sheep who believe that the key to success and happiness in life is following the same career paths as everybody else. While everybody went to school to become a lawyer, nobody went to school to become a farmer because Americans didn't see any money in farming. With prices of nearly all agricultural commodities soaring through the roof in 2010 and with NIA expecting this trend to continue throughout 2011, the few new farmers out there are going to become rich while lawyers are standing at street corners with cups begging for money.
The college tuition bubble has been fueled by the U.S. government's willingness to give out easy student loans to anybody who applies for them. If it wasn't for government student loans, the free market would force colleges to provide the best quality education at the lowest possible price. By the government trying to make colleges more affordable, they have actually driven prices through the roof. Colleges have been encouraged to spend recklessly on wasteful construction projects, building new libraries, gyms, sports arenas, housing units, etc. Colleges spent $10.7 billion on construction projects in 2009. Although this is down from an average of $14.7 billion per year colleges spent on construction projects from 2005 to 2007, colleges are still struggling to pay off their old construction related debt. When interest rates start to rise, it will add further upside pressure to college tuition prices.
College students borrowed $106 billion in total student loans for the 2009-2010 school year, up from $96 billion in 2008-2009, $94 billion in 2007-2008, $87 billion in 2006-2007, and $83 billion in 2005-2006. Total student loan debt in the U.S. currently stands at $830 billion and now exceeds credit card debt. President Obama's new student loan bill that was passed last year now makes the government the primary lender to students. By taking the free market out of the student loan business and allowing students to receive loans from the government at artificially low interest rates, colleges will be encouraged to spend more recklessly than ever. None of this wasteful spending is doing anything to improve the quality of education in America.
Over a year ago when NIA was filming 'The Dollar Bubble' in Los Angeles, violent riots broke out at UCLA over a 32% increase in college tuitions (from $7,788 to $10,302). We went to the protest in order to video tape the shocking footage to show you. While we were there we remember thinking to ourselves, why on earth are these students protesting at all? If tuitions are rising by 32% and they are unhappy about it, why don't they quietly and peacefully enroll someplace else for college next semester. If not enough students enroll into UCLA, the university will be forced to either dramatically cut their costs or shut down. UCLA decided to completely ignore the riots and went ahead with the 32% rise in tuitions. Did the students decide to enroll someplace else? Nope, most of them simply took out larger student loans and went back to UCLA. In fact, UCLA reported that they received a record amount of freshman applicants for the next semester.
With all of the technological advancements taking place around the world today, the cost for a college education should be getting cheaper. Americans today can purchase just about any type of product they want over the Internet for substantially less than they can find it in a retail store. When the U.S. dollar collapses and the college bubble bursts, NIA predicts we will see a boom in online education where Americans take all of their courses over the Internet from the comfort of their own home at a fraction of the cost of traditional college.
Later this year, NIA is going to be producing a documentary about America's college education crisis and the college tuition bubble that is about to burst. In the weeks ahead, NIA is going to begin searching for people who deserve to be featured in our documentary. If you are a college student, a recent college graduate, or a current or ex-college professor with an extremely shocking, interesting, and important story that the whole world needs to know about in what will be the most viewed college documentary in world history, please send an email to collegebubble@inflation.us. We would also love to hear from any NIA member who has any ideas of topics that we should cover in this new documentary. Please send all ideas and suggestions to collegebubble@inflation.us.
This will truly be one of the most important documentaries NIA has ever produced. We need to change the mindset in America that only those with college degrees have any chance of becoming successful. Americans have become so brainwashed that even after graduating college with over $50,000 in debt and not being able to find a job, many of them are wasting even more years of their life and getting even deeper into debt to attend a graduate school, for a master's degree that is just as worthless as a bachelor's degree. It is like comparing a $10 bill (master's degree) to a $1 bill (bachelor's degree), they are both worthless pieces of paper with no intrinsic value.
NIA believes that any recent high school graduate with $30,000 saved for college who invests that money into silver and becomes a minimum wage apprentice for the next 4 years, will likely have enough money in 4 years to buy a median priced U.S. home. Not only that, but they will have work place experience that is far more valuable than the worthless college degrees of any of their friends. We must work hard to educate America to the truth if our country is going to have the wherewithal to survive the upcoming bursting college bubble and Hyperinflationary Great Depression.
It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us
h/t Robert
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It is called Indentured Servitude.
To the tune of $880,370,376,055. A lot of money on a lot of useless degrees and programs.
http://www.mybudget360.com/college-student-loan-debt-rapid-growth-1-trillion-student-loan-debt-financial-aid/
...Anybody still think they aren't going to make this all (mostly) go away by inflating like mad?
Debts that can't be paid, won't.
With the current California proposals for UC and CSU each to strip $500MM from annual budgets, the college unions, generous employee benefit programs and out of control bureaucracies cannot adjust actual business costs and thus will simply pass along the deficient to the student bodies (again). Expect California colleges to increase tuition another 20% in the coming year only to have Uncle Sugar vis a vis federal financial aid to make up the difference. What is even funnier is that schools are learning to restrict classes and keep those undergrads an extra year; 5 years college, $30M per year in borrowing only to be qualified to work at MCD is 30 years of student loan servitude. Maybe we would feel different if they were all engineers and scientists, but its a lot of English, poly sci, fashion merchandising basket weavers.
People used to "work their way" through college. Now entire families are surviving off the inflated spoils.
And if they were engineers and scientists, there would be no jobs for them anyways. Better to not give the kids a dream to attain, rather than to put them in an environment where the H1-B's take all the jobs away.
Yep, working one's way through college was an accepted and normal way of doing it when I did it back in the late 1960s. Worked at Pizza Hut prepping for the next day's business at 4 Huts in my college town. We made our own pizzas while the ovens were still hot! Some of the most massive things you'll ever see. The beer taps always had a few pounds of pressure left after the managers turned off the taps and locked the keg rooms. We could scrounge out a couple of gallons easy. That dark beer went great with our custom pizzas at 3 AM. Ah, the good old days. Never had any college debt, and we got a damn sight better education than the current crop of students is getting.
As a recent college grad I agree that college is only fully utilized if you actually are there to learn and get involved - However, encouraging kids not to go to college is a mistake in my opinion. It may be good in the short run as you get income instead of taking on debt during the college years, but you will not have the opportunities which college provides, meeting students (future contacts), taking advantage of career services and alumni networks, not to mention having 4 more years to try new things and figure out exactly what it is that you want to do. That said, would be better to go to a state school where you pay $40k over 4 years rather than $160k at some fancy private school.
Please don't get me wrong, the price of college is ridiculous and students should fight tuition increases, but saying don't go to college because of this is stupid.
Yep, and one reason is because the colleges universities have joined the illusion racket like all the other government service frauds. They should be required to assist placing graduates, or at least a goodly percentage of them, in related jobs or industries, and failing that (pun intended)they should refund the tuition money--to the students and taxpayers, and dock the inept department(s) and or instructor(s). For as long as they can offer degrees in social, ethnic, womens, hippie, spiritual, etc. studies, we should not be surprised that the graduates are crushed under tens of thousands of dollars of debt, at minimally paying jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied, and instead of working, saving, and starting a family, they are decades in hock to a system that sold them a bad product and expect them to pay for it.
There is something exceptionally squalid about a place of learning inflicting massive debt on young lives.
These are the same places, mind you, that lead the charges against injustice, inequality, compassion, rich v. poor, blah, blah, blah.
Well, since they are so very concerned with fair play, maybe we should have a system that corelates the placement success rate to the department, the subject viability to the market, and restructure tuition accordingly. When they have to refund the money more than a few times and realize the show is over, they will respond. But for now they have it far too easy, and lure students, parents, and taxpayers on cache and prestige. This is just not right, and it has to stop.
WHERES MY GOVERNMENT JOB BITCHES!
I need a government job to justify the half a million bucks I borrowed to study Tibetan weaving at Sarah Lawrence. I can't believe nobody respects my degree!
/ sarcasm off
jumping in to say that college expenses aren't the only thing that went up in the fall of '08: treasury bonds rallied to a price unseen since the 1940's.
Do they give loans to go to Bob Jones University?
It is, in fact, non-dischargeable in almost every case.
However, by law, the US government can only garnish 10% of your NET wages and confiscate your tax refund (if there is one).
A 10% garnishment of zero, by my calculation, is zero. I don't believe the unemployed are getting massive tax refunds either.
Yes, this is going to blow up.
Think it is 15% now, actually.
OK, 15% of $0 = $0.
I thought it was 10% but the result is the same.
15% and they can also garnish Social Security, pensions, unemployment, etc. etc. etc.
Don't mess with Unka Sam and his federally guaranteed debts.
If you want to see how easy it is to garnish, check out .gov below!
http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/awg.html
Garnish the SS benefits of an early 20 something...they should be so lucky. That's the ideal plan for the debtor. Let them garnish benefits that will never come to fruition anyway.
I agree this mostly hits the "working" poor and those on unemployment.
However, the co-signors are just as f*ed as the borrower. Say grandma cosigns and kid does not pay. They will garnish grandma's SS benefits just as quick as they garnish mom or dads paycheck as well.
NEVER COSIGN FOR ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was an expose' on CNBC related to the student loan crisis. There was an example of a GI who was killed in Iraq and the parents, who cosigned, were forced to pay the student loan back for their dead son.
Pretty sick stuff...
To whom did he leave his death benefit? That should have more than covered the bill.
Almost Solvent
Funny but I don't think they can garnish the wages of government employees. I also think that relates to court ordered Child support garnishment.
I don't know about gov't employees, but everyone else is f*ed.
From .gov:
"Under the Higher Education Act, the Department and guaranty agencies may require employers who employ individuals who have defaulted on the repayment of a student loan to deduct 15% of the borrower's disposable pay per pay period toward repayment of the debt. Also, the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 permits the Department to garnish up to 15% of disposable pay. Garnishment may continue until the entire balance of the outstanding loan is paid. You should note that wage garnishment is used only for borrowers who refuse to voluntarily repay their defaulted loan and is not used with those borrowers who continue to make regular and timely monthly payments."
Disposable pay...
Which is better than gross, but is still:
Disposable pay, for purposes of this offset, has been defined as the amount that remains from an employee's federal pay after required deductions for
Almost Solvent
"15% and they can also garnish Social Security, pensions, unemployment, etc. etc. etc."
I'm not sure that SS can be garnished. I know SSI can. I don't think Veterans benefits can be garnished either.
Also if you can prove that your disability happened AFTER you finished your education Sallie Mae will waive your loans. That is until you can work again.
I deal with defaulted student loans on a semi-regular basis. The Treasury Offset Program is NASTY! From .gov:
Amounts collected in excess of the amount you prove to be due will be refunded by the Department. For federal income tax refund offsets, the amount subject to offset includes the amount of an earned income tax credit due you. Federal tax refunds payable to joint filing couples are subject to offset, as explained in the notice, but that portion of the refund owed to the non-debtor spouse can be recovered by that individual by filing an "injured spouse" claim with the IRS. Additionally, there are a number of other federal and/or state payments (e.g., Social Security benefits), which, as authorized by law, are also subject to offset under this program.
Almost Solvent
"Additionally, there are a number of other federal and/or state payments (e.g., Social Security benefits), which, as authorized by law, are also subject to offset under this program."
Retirement benefits maybe but not Disability.
As I said if your Disability happened after you attained your degree, meaning if it happened before then you still managed to soldier on and it didn't hinder your ability to repay, Sallie Mae will waive your loans.
I'm also certain we are getting into calculation voodoo regarding amounts which can be garnished.
>"Garnishment may continue until the entire balance of the outstanding loan is paid."
"Electricity will continue to pass through your body until the entire balance of your life has ended and your debt to society is paid."
Nope. It won't blow... I promise
I think you can discharge student loans by joining the military. That's one way of keeping the recruits enlisting.
A whole fucken generation unable to even buy starter houses (in most cases not even able to afford rent). That inventory is going to sit. Who actually thinks home prices will recover?
THE HOUSING BUBBLE AND THE STUDENT DEBT BUBBLE ARE CONNECTED.
I know a lot of people my age moving back in mommy and daddy's underwater house. We are so fucked.
"THE HOUSING BUBBLE AND THE STUDENT DEBT BUBBLE ARE CONNECTED"
yep, the housing bubble was inflated by giving mortgages to anyone who could fog a mirror
same story in student lending - if you have a pulse you can put yourself into debt for six-figures without much effort at all
will you ever be able to payoff a six-figure school loan? not likely
Yep, but acording to Ben, the only thing we need to get our economy going again is more PAY DAY LOAN shops.
GET THAT CREDIT ROLLING PEOPLE! WE GOTTA RECOVERY TO RECOVER
"THE HOUSING BUBBLE AND THE STUDENT DEBT BUBBLE ARE CONNECTED."
and they are also connected to the fact that the baby boomer generation must be the most selfish in history. They've literally left the next generation to drown in debt, in order to fund their shallow, meaningless consumption obsessed lives...
all too true, of course most debt looks foolish at the end of a disinflationary credit cycle. but much of the current government is even younger than the booms and shows no sign of learning from their (our) mistakes.
A UC education in the 60s was around $100 a semester... and they had jobs when they came out...
Baby Boomers had the all time deal...
We still do. Especially when you add in the GI Bill. My education was quite a bargain.
As to ""THE HOUSING BUBBLE AND THE STUDENT DEBT BUBBLE ARE CONNECTED""
...and this is how our Students and the rest of their generation perceive the way it is folks....
http://seenoevilspeaknoevilhearnoevil.blogspot.com/2011/01/changing-education-paradigms.html
That youtube presentation on your link was excellent and an accurate hitory of US education.
Thanks.
Depression Bitches!!!
you mean I can't pay off $150k in loans by paying $50 a month to pay for a masters degree in women's studies (w/a minor in interpretive dance)? All of you capitalist pigs will pay!
Don't forget the 6% compounding interest...
I don't think dance programs teach about compound interest.
More like compound fractures.
Sketch
"you mean I can't pay off $150k in loans by paying $50 a month to pay for a masters degree in women's studies (w/a minor in interpretive dance)? All of you capitalist pigs will pay!"
I imagine yuou could always Choreograph the issue using a strong Feminine theme, make a short, submit it to Sundance and ride the wave beyond that $50.
I can't find it now, but yesterday Yahoo ran a piece about college debt, also highlighting a lawyer who's 250K in debt and can only find clerk-type jobs. It also pointed out that private, for-profit colleges were getting 94% of their income from govt grants handed out to anyone foolish enough to sign on the dotted line. There is no credit check for these people, which is a huge mistake for the fed govt to back up.
There was a local minor scandal with Culinary schools (here in SF Bay area), charging students up to $40K for a 2 yr degree. Of course, those of us who had done time in restaurant work earlier could've told you that making $12-15/hr doesn't justify the expense. And these are things you can learn at a community college for a fraction of the price. I can't imagine why anyone would pay 10K a year to send their kid to the same to UCLA to attend the same frosh classes they could get at community colleges for about $800/yr.
One last point: colleges can keep turning out lawyers, when there are already far too many (and not all that bright). Kids with 4.0 GPAs are rejected from medicine and engineering programs, which is a total travesty. If we really had a Dept of Education, there would be some planning on how many dr's, nurses, civil engineers, and even machinists were needed to handle future production needs.
Engineering degrees are pretty worthless at the moment since the US has no manufacturing. I have my Ph D in Engineering and am just hanging on to my current crappy job. This field is just as bad as law. The one difference is engineers always contribute to society, while lawyers steal.
Lawyer joke:
What is the difference between a carp and a lawyer? One is a scum sucking bottom feeder and the other is a fish.
Don't worry.
Please, for the God sake, do not expect Chinese will feed you and dress you forever and for free.
After people like you prostituted the American Constitution with your "diversity" and "equality" and sub-parasitic existence, be ready for a socialist forced-labor. You will learn there something useful about a real life.
Short Sallie Mae!
If you're going to college, and are a U.S. citizen, it seems wise these days to make certain you learn a foreign language. That way you can emigrate if you can't pay your college loans. That's sad to say, but it seems like it's the only way out of this scam.
my nephew graduated from UV with a ba, major in spanish, can't find a job.
Job doing WHAT? Speaking Spanish? That seems to be a readily available skill.
Eternal,
No one in the US wants to hire US citizens. Why do you think other countries will?
From what I hear, one can always get a job as an English teacher. But hey, the difference between being unemployed elsewhere is that you at least don't have that debt hanging over your head.
another one?
is it time to collect back all those pms yet?
What is the NIA? Is it a credible organisation?
It's http://www.inflation.us
And no, it's not even an "organization". It's really a blog, masquerading as an organization as far as I can tell. And as far as I can tell, it's been around for just over a year.
Popo, just because inflation.us is a blog says nothing about the credibility of the viewpoint, which is spot on. The fact is our college and university system is largely led by losers who could not make it in the real world, yet, are able to scam the American populace into indentured servitude, all while rewriting and “cleansing” our history into their global view, seize government control, and brainwash our children, all while never having to leave the protected halls of their “free speech as long as you agree with me” campuses.
The American education system is largely a scam; sadly, so many people do not realize that and at the end of the day, like everything else, "education inflation" is now a fact of life. The biggest losers and slackers of society are usually career students and educators with “paper” educations----the so-called liberal “elite”; these idiots then turn around and get government jobs and leadership roles in education----a cycle that is guaranteeing the destruction of our meritocracy and republic.
Back during WWII you had thousands of brave Americans who were fighter pilots; thousands who rose to great positions of leadership in both government and the private sector. Many of these people did not even graduate high school---they rose to positions of leadership based on merit, hard work, and a continual thirst for knowledge.
Sadly, in our modern society, unless you are born into wealth and can afford a six year college holiday, and/or you were born underprivileged and are a non-white male, your chances of getting into the so-called “best” colleges are virtually non-existent, and as a result, you cannot rise to leadership positions, regardless of your work ethic, moral code, and merit. What this means is that only the rich, slackers, and non-white males are afforded the opportunity to rise in the system, and it is all based on “credentials”, not merit. In other words, you buy your credentials, you do not earn them. Our leaders are now “academics” who had to hide in the protected halls of education and theory because they were unable to compete without it.
The bottom line is you are showing your lack of real world education by attacking "www.inflation.us"-----I don't care what this person’s background is, the fact is what he is talking about with education is spot on. In fact, if anything, he is doing the article a disservice by not pounding our corrupt education system more----a system that is largely responsible for spewing out one Marxist/socialist/big government "thinker" after another----an education system that has created a time bomb that has literally destroyed our free market republic with it's socialist redistribution theories and other garbage that Americans go into debt to be brainwashed into.
big government probably. marxist, socialist certainly not. who has benefited from the last thirty years and, particularly, the last two? the poor? rolling on the floor blowing orange juice out my nose laughing out loud. the rich that's who. and guess what. they aren't marxists/socialists.
i don't care if it doesn't fit your world view. the people who control the levers of power don't do it to give more money to the poor or the working class (marxist/socialists). they do it to give more money to themselves. same as it (almost) ever was.
the brave generation of the last depression and ww2 and the middle class paradise they made in the u.s. from about 1945 to 1975 were the exception not the rule. welcome to the rule.
if by marxists you merely mean dictators like lenin, stalin, or mao you might just call them autocrats and lump them with all hard core authoritarians who govern by diktat no matter the putative ideology they espouse. kind of like bush and obama are nearly indistinguishable in their actions (use) however different their vibe and style (decoration).
I would go futher than you and say that not only is higher education a scam, but probably half the students go to college knowing it's a scam. Those 50% (my estimate) aren't going to college to get an education but rather to party and have sex for four years while avoiding any adult responsibilities. It's daycare for young adults paid for by Government loan funny money.
WSP, you are 100% right on.
Fking and stupid people do not know or understand that Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc., were/are all socialists. They are all were/are "lefties".
All my life I hated these tyrannic monsters but now I give them lots of credit for cleaning/purging human societies of perverts, parasites, liars, thieves and "little" tyrants who called themselves "intelligentsia" and hate honest and hard-working people.
We give Big Ben a printing press and expect him to devalue the currency... when we give colleges throughout the nation printing presses of their own, why do we not expect them to devalue their degrees? The incentive is simply too great... no checks and balances.
Define "credible" please.
Jason Lebed = NIA
Correct.
NIA is just the front door to a pump n dump operation run by Lebed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDxUjMOKROU&feature=related
NIA takes threads of truth, assembles them into an exaggerated yet fairly convincing argument, and then dunks you straight into a vat of bullshit before you know what happened. Sound like a television personality that you know?
Take a look at the very last sentence of the this article on ZH:
It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us
WTF?!
Tyler?
holy fucking shit. Let's looks at this article a little closer...
Later this year, NIA is going to be producing a documentary about America's college education crisis and the college tuition bubble that is about to burst. In the weeks ahead, NIA is going to begin searching for people who deserve to be featured in our documentary. If you are a college student, a recent college graduate, or a current or ex-college professor with an extremely shocking, interesting, and important story that the whole world needs to know about in what will be the most viewed college documentary in world history, please send an email to collegebubble@inflation.us. We would also love to hear from any NIA member who has any ideas of topics that we should cover in this new documentary. Please send all ideas and suggestions to collegebubble@inflation.us.
What better place to solicit inflation fearing college graduates than ZeroHedge?
WTF??????????????????????????
This looks really fucking bad.
You're a douchebag.
The self promotion reminds me of a scientology book... You need to tell all your friends about scientology... makes me lol every time I think about it.
Of course, it also reminds me of the scene in fletch 2 where he is in jail with randal tex cobb and says, "you really shouldn't wear that much eye makeup, it makes you look cheap".
Inflation.US is a scam - evidence - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0LrDzJRMRI
George4Title Finally Tells "Truth" about NIA Inflation.US Scam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79HSi5lmY0&feature=related
Everyone on Zerohedge needs to watch these...
Nation Inflation Association IS NOT our friend!
It should be shown for the PUMP & DUMP proxy it is, playing on the very real inflation around us!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAOFA09jltM
"the few new farmers out there are going to become rich"
spoken by somebody who has never tried to make money doing anything in the agricultural arena ...
it is possible to make money as a small farmer but it is NOT common
bronzie
"spoken by somebody who has never tried to make money doing anything in the agricultural arena .."
Cough, cough, Mary Jane, cough cough.
Cough, cough, (medical) Mary Jane, cough cough.
i'm not a doctor but I roll one on the TV
There seems to be a nasty smokers cough spreading around Zero Hedge. Time to self medicate.
This chick seems to have an oral fixation. You wouldn't, perchance, have a phone number?
She apparently thinks size matters. You might not qualify...
"Cough, cough, Mary Jane, cough cough"
like Bill Clinton, I admit to smoking a joint but I never inhaled ...
here are two data points to consider:
1. in SoCal the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries and an influx of supply from NoCal has caused the street price of the product to drop by about 20% in recent months
2. in Boulder, CO recent legal changes require that the dispensaries grow at least 60% (or 70%?) of the product that they sell - this change has caused some clandestine growers to quit the business because the dispensaries are no longer interested in buying their product
not that I know any growers or anything ...
bronzie has plausible deniability. :>)
What is your line on NIA there CD?
Any assessment?
I instantly mistrust ANY legislation whatsoever produced by the Ranch Managers.
Broonzie, what does this do but make it easier to bust dispensaries? The entire nascent industry (I live in NoCal, have a card and love it) is clandestine!
The hope is in the good old organic American way. The essence of this country is as good as any other; but it is not made easy to find.
"it is possible to make money as a small farmer but it is not common"
actually the small time local farmer is going to become a very interesting player in the innevitable and looming energy/food collapse. (See: food riots )
Innovative folks like eliot coleman who have mastered four season harvesting with unheated greenhouses in maine and permaculturists who raise a radically diverse number of nutrient dense crops in a seven layer forest garden system with very little pertrochemical and labor input but amazing yearly output per acre can make some pretty unique income.
"actually the small time local farmer is going to become a very interesting player in the innevitable and looming energy/food collapse"
yes, some local farmers will do OK - there is a middle ground in the energy/food collapse picture where it is possible
the challenge is that in a collapse scenario any ripe food will be stolen before the farmer is able to harvest it (unless he can guard his crop 24/7 which impacts the cost of growing significantly)
if a farmer lives far enough away from population centers to avoid the theft issue, he then has a transportation issue in the collapse scenario - who does he sell to / barter with and how does he get his crops to market? he may also have to deal with roving bands of people so he's back to guarding his crops anyway
eliot coleman is the bomb - highly recommend his books to anyone interested in small-scale farming - my experience/research says to focus on niche markets (organic food, flowers grown for specific holidays like mums for mother's day, etc) - in Boulder, CO the people enjoying a decent life from farming grow pumpkins and Christmas trees for the fall season and take the rest of the year off - they aren't growing food for consumption
Don't get me started.
Permaculture bitchez!
And I'm kicking it up a notch with home-brew micro-propagation.
I used "home-brew micro-propagation" in a sentence!
"I used "home-brew micro-propagation" in a sentence"
quote of the week award. Used to homebrew myself. there's a reason those ancients fermented malted barley and added bittering agents. Best tasting storage system ever invented. As others have noted, will probably become a currency again. My favorite brewing story is the Ancient Scots, the Romans and Heather Ale. Robert Louis Stevenson has a poem on it.
"In the usual telling of the story, a father and son are captured by the Scots after a tremendous battle when all the rest of the Picts have been killed. The king of the Scots tells the Pictish pair they can go free, if they tell him the secret of brewing the heather ale. The father says he will tell, but they will have to kill his son first, as the son will otherwise kill the father for revealing the great secret of heather ale to another race. The son is then killed by the Scots: but the father just laughs at them, saying they have done what he wanted. His son might have revealed the secret to save his life, but he, the father, never will. The recipe thus dies with the last of the Picts."
http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/heather-ale-scots-or-irish/
I just bought 80 acres of prime farm land - planning a very large scale food forest.
my brother in law's parents just decided to avoid investing in just about everything except fertile farmland. They bought about 250 acres in Nebraska with good water table. Am trying to talk them into forest gardening a portion as we speak. They are coming around to it. Would be a nice backup place to run.
the dollar is not going to collapse
Pay your debts
Awsome advice...you're hiring, right?
Buying a hard asset and learning a skill by way of hands- on experience is good advice.
Thank you.
steve from virginia
"Buying a hard asset and learning a skill by way of hands- on experience is good advice."
Advice directly from Automatic Earth.
I still think that College is an option for people, even with the expense of taking student loans, if those going into college weigh the cost of the education and the likely benefits that it will give you.
NIA can say that someone with 4 years work experience and someone with (say, a technical) degree are on the same footing for income, but my own experience and the experience of those that I grew up with show me differently. Of all my childhood friends, I'm the only one that went to college, and while I may have $60k in student loans, my monthly loan payment is far less than the income discrepancy between me and the highest earning friend who didn't go to college.
I went to school to learn a skill, and I went to work applying that skill. This argument might not hold up for someone who goes to college for "general studies" or "latin", but for someone who understands what they're going to do with the degree once they graduate, I still think college is an option.
What was your degree and when did you graduate?
Software engineering and 2003... I'm starting to see how that might have an impact in how I did vs. my friends. However, even if I was coming out of high school today, I would be hard pressed not to take the same route again. Of course, I didn't go to an ivy league school or even an expensive school, just some podunk local college (not community, though)
I concur - I got an engineering degree because I knew that once I graduated there would be no question to an employer what I was capable of doing - graduated before the massive inflation in college costs so the student loans weren't an issue
can't say the same for many other degrees - perhaps teaching - so you have a business degree, what are you capable of doing?
You did pretty good for 2003 though. I have a friend who graduated about that time with a BS in computer networking from a small but prestigious school. Never found anything. He's working at the local computer repair shop now. Smart guy too.
I dropped out of high school. I took a job as an entry level sysadmin for a local ISP afterwards making $9/hr. My next job, 6 months later, I was at $35k, the following job was $65k. I make a lot more than that now.
Fuck college.
Most people don't get science to technical degrees. And a person can make a lot without a degree. My best friend out earns me and he is a college dropout. He is going back (his employer is paying), but he solidly out earns me in the same field because he has a lot of exp and is good at what he does.
If it's between getting a degree in history/philosophy/art vs no degree not sure you'll see a difference. Now if it's between a degree in engineering vs no degree, yeah I'll go with the engineer.
I think the common wisdom that science and technical degrees fair any better is also bogus. Although the government is constantly hiring entry level jobs in these fields the private sector is not and won't be in the future. The entry level jobs are being created offshore.
You sir are completely wrong.
It is clear you have never worked with engineers. If you are an engineer who can speak fluent English you have it made here- those jobs are NOT offshore because of the communication problems.
What was your degree and when did you graduate? I need evidence, not more BS.
Out of the two electrical engineers I have in extended family...
One was sent to China to train his replacement before he was layed off. Not sure what he's doing now. Another one works in the financial sector as a consultant of some sort.
I almost have an electrical engineering degree. Haven't been back in 2 years, but I could finish in 2 semesters. I would need at least $10k more. Not worth it in my opinion.
Then transfer to another country. Seriously. 5k overseas, say India, and stay there and work for somebody. At (I'm guessing here) 23 you have a shit tonne of choices to run as far away from the "first" world and start fresh somewhere else.
No, I spent 4 years serving Uncle Scam in the Air Force plus the last 2 years helping on the family farm and trying to start a business, so I'm 29. I'm not going anywhere I can't own a gun so that eliminates most places.
Good for you on the USAF gig. I did my four in late 1960s to early 1970s.
I got the hell out but I'd do it again... including the getting out part.
I do have an engineering degree and have worked in the profession for over 25 years. You sir do not know what you are talking about. The two previous industries I have worked in that were commercial in nature have outsourced engineers in droves. Now, I make deadly weapons for your kids to go to war with... it is one of the few industries that is export controlled therefore has NOT been outsourced ... but increasingly is. Such as military aircraft being built in india in order to sell them to India. All American tax payer paid technology.
I had to train indian engineers but bailed as soon as I could, the company laid off virtually all the engineers and moved to Bangalore with a skeleton presence in the US.
You are not paying attention.
Depends on the science. For example chemistry degrees have went no where in a decade, but electrical and computer engineering have done quite well. While I agree it will be harder in the future I also assume a smart college grad would be willing to pack up and move somewhere else. I have to assume the skilled Americans will follow the jobs as they leave the country and are not replaced. But then I have been very bearish on the America that is coming into view, won't be a very fun place.
Exactly what I thought. And exactly why I left in 05. Transnationalism is the new nationalism.
Not to mention the difference in the unemployment rate for college grads. I don't have the exact numbers off the top of my head, but I think it was something like 5% the last time I saw it vs. mid-to-high teens for non-college grads.
That being said, I do think the cost is becoming prohibitively high to attend most schools. If the rate of tuition inflation doesn't change, I think technical associate degrees are going to be the wave of the future in this country.
True that.
Those contemplating attending or paying for college will want to read this:
Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents By Zac Bissonnette
http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooch...
Where exactly is this money going to come from that sets the U.S. off into hyperinflationary collapse?
HYPERINFLATIONIST ARE RETARDS.
I believe the thinking is that once people realize there is no value in US paper money, they will 'flock' to another form of money and drop the FRN. Hence, the money would come BACK to the country and there would be a huge influx of it - being worthless internationally, and then here at home.
China's vaults?
Watch the news. They are voting right now to increase the debt ceiling again in spite of the fact that over 70% of the population is against it.
No one is left to loan the US the money it is spending in the quantity it needs. So are they printing it? NO they don't need to, a few mouse clicks and they can create all the money they need.
So, you answer your own question. The money is coming from NOWHERE. That is why it is inflationary. If it came from SOMEWHERE (taxes or borrowing) it would not be so inflationary.
This does not imply hyperinflation.
College hasn't worked for the last 10 years. It's a fucking scam. That money would be better spent on gold and guns.
THIS
More Daily Biflation News:
-Import prices rise 1.1% December -Ag commodities and beef rocket higher on low inventories and low plantings -Food riots break out in multiple countries -Alaska pipeline capacity to be reduced for at least a month -Taxes raised in Illinois to cover debt, other states soon to follow
BUT at the same time:
-MBA mortgage apps shows the sales component actually dropped -3.7% -RealtyTrack reports housing prices dip despite increased sales (distressed) -WSJ article shows incomes are actually growing slower than headline CPI for 12 months ending Sept 2010
Law school is a special kind of scam, no way are those stats anything more then pure lies. Hope the law school scam blog guys can put a dent in them. Who knows, with free money to go most people don't plan ahead. I planned ahead with a backup career path including jumping back into the work force during school and still kicking myself for getting pressured by my folks to go in the first place.
As to student loans, I expect moral hazard to win. A nearly a trillion in non dischargeable debt on a segment of the pop that has no assets and worsening job prospects either it will become public knowledge that student loans are slavery or there will be a forgiveness mechanism. With the pandering and vote buying I half expect one of the parties to come up with a forgiveness program for the masses tho try to win them over. After all a hoard of angry, "educated", and debt slaved young people can get really riled up. After all what's a trillion more dollars of debt in the country's name? Might not happen and I might have to wait for my dollar crash to clear mine out.
"After all what's a trillion more dollars of debt in the country's name?"
about seven months
+1
I expect not forgiveness but 'programs' for loan forgiveness in return for work modeled on what already exists: students committing to 5 years working in underserved areas (public sector) or whatever.
A lot of private companies allow for student loan forgiveness. Apparently there is a program that gives employers of all sorts additional incentives to pay their employees' loan balances. Unfortunately, most come with onerous strings attached, e.g. if we fire you at any time within the next 5 years, you owe all that money back to us.
Some folks might just call that slavery. Like me.
this was made in the seattle area by a local comedy group in 91 when the attorney job market was bleak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7QtRCGQmrc
Can you renounce citizenship and move to Canada or something to ditch the debt?
You'd probably need to change your name too(a few times)
No. If you choose to renounce your citizenship, the government does a final accounting and requires you to pay all debts. If the new country requires you to renounce before giving you new citizenship, you are considered a US citizen and your accounts in those countries must report back to the IRS.
The US has set up agencies in foreign countries specifically to do this. Consequently, it makes many foreign banks reluctant to take your deposits because of the reporting requirements.
Tyranny with clawbacks.
In short, no.
US government college loan debt is true indentured servitude. If I lose my business, I can walk away and start again. If I can't pay my mortgage, I can walk away and start again. If I get a divorce and have no kids to pay child support on, I can walk away and start again. If I declare bankruptcy, I can settle my debts and start again.
If I default on my federal student loan(s), for whatever reason, I can NEVER escape from it. My wages would be garnished, up to a maximum of 15% of my paycheck, UNTIL THE DEBT IS PAID IN FULL. Some of these kids are walking out university with over half a mil in loan debt, and can't find jobs to pay it off. Heck, there are kids walking out with less than $100k in debt that can't find jobs PERIOD.Many of them don't even have a chance to fail, they are setup for indentured servitude BEFORE THEY EVEN GET OUTTA THE GATE.
If the current crop of politicians won't address this, watch out when these kids put their own generation in power. They will either help their fellow man and give them an option out, or use their power as a giant baseball bat to pound the others into submission to do whatever they want. With how these kids see the world, I'd think more of the latter is likely.
One of my largest fears in repaying student loan debt is that government programs are implemented that would have otherwise allowed me to avoid repayment... of course, I'll be in the same camp with the "we pay our mortgage, why are we being penalized" crowd... I guess I need to see about buying a muzzle so I can at least put it on myself rather than being humiliated by someone else doing it.
Just don't pay or pay a token amount like $20 a month. That is what everyone else is doing.
Seems like the EIC at the NIA shat the bed when taking his/her LSAT's.
Gee, education, energy, and healthcare. Looks like I hit the inflation trifecta.
So many degrees are completely worthless. China graduates more engineers every year than exist in the whole of the USA. The lie that these "degrees" in the liberal disciplines would be greatly desired and highly compensated jobs is pathetic.
People who could not, ahh I mean would not dedicate themselves to the math and sciences lied to themselves them and took the easy way out with their degree choices.
They are the same mentality (typical modern Americans) that took out loans they couldn't afford.. They will default on all their obligations because they consider themselves victims.
The holders of these worthless degrees made unreasonably high salaries when technologies were new. Now that their jobs are being done in India at 1/4 the price- they are freaking out that they will never make those salaries again. Hence they ride unemployment and postpone the inescapable reality of their real wages once they do return to the workforce.
China graduates too many engineers. Many of them wander around big Chinese cities looking for work. They are referred to in China as "ant colonies".
I think bama already passed something to forgive with some amount of years gov service.
Join 'Obama Jugend' and all your debts are gone
Yes, they have been working on several programs-----I think the key is as long as you are a non-white male, you don't have to pay back the loans. This of course extends to most other programs as well, so if you are a non-white male, the government has all kinds of programs to help you out including small business loans that you don't have pay back, unemployment benefits, etc. There are literally thousands of government programs available, and there are several very helpful web sites that will even calculate all of the programs you are entitled to using a "wizard" where you answer questions about your background, ethnicity, etc. The key is if you are a white male, forget it----you are disqualifed for all of these programs because "white males" are evil and mostly right wing.
Bingo, additionally, all stimulus funded construction projects require the hiring of non-white males/females.
So the real solution is to get yourself some "ethnicity altering" surgery so you can get into these programs. A new bubble!
Go long CLX.
Great article. I couldn't agree more!
I am currently a senior in college. From what I have seen at my campus, I would guess that about 80% of graduating seniors either don't have a job or are enrolled for Graduate School (more debt slavery). Every day I go to class, I wonder how most of these kids are going to survive 10 years down the road?
Whats interesting is that two of my roommates, both very smart and already graduated, just went the other day to fill out applications to work for UPS at $9/hour. The funny thing is that one of their friends who graduated two years ago tipped them off about the job.
Thats Sad
Who's screwed worse? The Students with the loans or The Colleges themselves? Or The Gov't that guarantees the loans?
It doesn't matter that the loans are not dischargeable in BK- if you can't pay, you can't pay. I can see how this will be a huge issue. Unlike a house, there's nothing to repossess here.
No, but they should garnish wages. While I recognize that our education system a fraud, I do not believe that relieves all of the ignorant, lemming sheep that go into debt to get one. Just as I do not feel sorry for idiots that buy other things they cannot afford, I definitely do not feel sorry for all these whiners that went into debt to party for 4-8 years. The sad reality is "once an idiot, always an idiot"----getting a brainwashing from our socialist/liberal education system only makes an idiot a bigger idiot, however, it is their debt and the public should demand they repay it.
Sadly, at the end of the day, it is likely these ignorant fools will not have to repay their debts for the same reason all of these ignorant fools that bought houses they cannot afford won't have to pay-----as long as your ride with the lemmings and have big numbers, you can get the corrupt government to do anything. Just as most will walk away from their mortgage mistakes, so too will the losers of our society walk away from their education debt-----just several more bricks in the wall of destruction that is our pathetic society.
It used to be the laws of nature and Darwinism dictated winners and losers----now it is the government, and the goverment chooses the weakest losers because they are in the greatest numbers.
While I appreciate what you have said, I AM one of the ones who has junked you.
You sure are proud to have avoided the "brainwashing." Now if only you could be so enlightened as to cease passing judgement on those of us that are inferior.
Not to belabor the point, but that would be, "...those of us who are inferior".
On some level, I would say that ALL 17-20 year olds are "ignorant fools".
Have a little compassion and common sense - when you are that young you just may not know any better.
The whole system is rigged to put people in debt right from the start.
The only state that allows a person to use online legal educations to sit for the bar is California.
I checked the tuition of a B law school for instate residents in the midwest. 60G for three years and 120G for out-of-state, not counting books , living expenses etc.
There was an interesting take in an article that the US News Law School rating is to Law schools what quarterly earnings are to the Fortune 500. Employers also rely on it to recruit and employ new Lawyers
As a result, Law Schools have started the inevitable process of bending statistics in order to achieve the rating. From how many are employed where they only count employment and not if the graduates are employed as an Attorney which is getting less and less. So kids who thought they would be a cinch for the $160,000 a year starting salary have taken out massive loans only to find a Starbucks job waiting for them at $9.00 an hour to how many pass the Bar. If they are employed they must have passed the Bar.
Law Degrees (JDs) are one of the biggest scams out there. Even with the demand for real-estate, creditor and bankruptcy attorneys, many are still going jobless. If a kid was smart, he would work for free for a small practice that specializes in one of the areas which will have high demand for the next 10 years and live at home or take a second job so they can get real world experience instead of doing 7 years of grinding research for a large law firm provided they get hired or working shit jobs waiting for a legal position to open up. That's a no-win proposition.
Once they get some experience they should hang a Shingle. I would wait until they are over 30 before doing it as a 20 something is just not going to present the Gravitas that will make potential clients trust them to get the job done. Referrals in Bankruptcy are hard to get. On the creditor side it's easier as is real-estate.
"Most Americans today are sheep who believe that the key to success and happiness in life is following the same career paths as everybody else."
This is a product of the baby boomer generation wholesale rejecting the old patterns of life. They did not really have a better ethical framework. So they pushed sexual liberation,revisionist history and the sinister secular psychology of modern business management/consumerism to glue it all together.
Sounds like contemporary college education to me. The one thing people can claim to be their foundation of their "identity". These loans will be be forgiven in grand spectacle -- by our glorious benefactors -- the boomer generation via their magical printing press. They don't want the curtain pulled back on this generations true identity, which is docile debt slaves. Instead, kill two birds with one stone and let them be the boomers grateful children to run their sociological experiment/ponzi atleast till they die.