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Student Loan Bubble? Just Discharge It
By now everyone knows that the biggest portion of US household debt, besides mortgage debt, is a towering $1+ trillion in student loans, more than total outstanding credit cards or car loans, which is problematic for three main reasons: it is increasing at an unprecedented pace due to lax Federal lending standards, delinquent loans are soaring and are now well over $100 billion and rising at a pace of tens of billions each quarter, and it can not be discharged. At least that is conventional wisdom. But while points 1 and 2 are indisputable (and deteriorating), it is point 3 that is the more troubling for an entire generation of young men and women who are afraid to splurge on levered purchases such as houses due to an already insurmountable debt overhang, and a job market that is hardly hospitable to young entrants. Luckily, there may now be solution stamped in US case law.
Meet Mike Hedlund.
This Klamath Falls native may have just made legal history by winning a 10 year battle to have the bulk of his $85,000 in federal student loans, which he accumulated as a law student at Willamette University in Salem, discharged. The result of this legal decision will likely have epic implications for an entire generation drowning in debt, as it has now "opened the flood gates" for all those in Mike's position to challenge their massive debt encumbrance.
And when it comes to Mike's case, there are millions who not only want to be like Mike: they are just like him. At least when it comes to their
Mike's story is well-known one: spending thousands to get a degree, he was unable to obtain the well-paying job he had studied for (although how much of that was market driven instead of purely due to incompetence is unclear: he failed the bar test three times), and instead was forced to settle for a low wage job paying $40,000 as a probation officer. He then filed for bankruptcy, demanding his slate be wiped clean, including the discharge of his (collateral-free) debt. What ensued was a ten year legal odyssey with lender Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, which ultimately reached the Ninth Circuit court twice. In the end he prevailed, with the result being a reduction of debt owed by $53,000 from $85,000 to just $32,000 (unclear how many tens of thousands of dollars the legal bill was: but Mike doesn't have to worry about that - his parents footed it).
Here is Oregon Live with the story, which most current and recent graduates can surely commiserate with:
Mike Hedlund waged a 10-year legal battle to force his lender to discharge most of the $85,000 in federal student loans he built up while earning his 1997 law degree from Willamette University in Salem.
When Hedlund graduated from Willamette, he owed two student loan companies. He struggled to pay either of them, but reached a deal with the smaller lender to repay $18,000 at $50 a month.
Hedlund was unable to make much use of his expensive law degree. He failed the Oregon bar exam twice in his first year out of law school, then locked his keys inside his car on the way to his third scheduled test, and so missed it entirely. He did not try again.
Instead, Hedlund got a $40,000-a-year job as a Klamath County juvenile probation officer, a job he still holds.
"I had planned on making $200 an hour instead of $20 when I agreed" to take out loans totaling about $100,000, Hedlund said.
Just a case of reality not jiving with one's exorbitant expectations? Seems like it:
[T]estimony from an employment expert convinced judges that Hedlund holds a good-paying job for Klamath Falls and wouldn't likely earn a whole lot more as a starting lawyer there, particularly if he worked in the public sector.
Of course, the same argument can be made by every Joe Sixpack rushing to buy a McMansion during the last housing bubble (not to be confused with the current one). But being accountable for one's choices is so 20th century.
With that in mind, Mike fought on:
Last week, in a decision that could affect debtors in eight states, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, Calif., ruled in Hedlund's favor.
It upheld a bankruptcy judge's ruling that Hedlund proved all three factors necessary to have $53,000 of his debt forgiven: He made a good faith effort to repay the money; he can't earn enough to both repay the money and maintain a basic standard of living; and his inability to earn substantially more is likely to persist.
Who were the "villains" that granted Mike the funds needed to pursue the dream that promptly turned into a nightmare when reality collided with rosy models of what the future "should" be (see Federal Reserve for other instances of this):
He tried to negotiate a repayment plan with the firm he owed $85,000, called Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, but that lender would not agree to a plan Hedlund felt he could remotely afford.
That lender exists to make money to help Pennsylvania students afford college, and it currently holds $39 billion worth of student loan debt. A previous director stepped down in 2007 after a state audit revealed he'd issued millions in lucrative, undisclosed bonuses to managers and executives.
When a judge agreed that all but $30,000 should be wiped clean, the Pennsylvania agency appealed, setting off a 10-year legal odyssey that twice reached the Ninth Circuit. Hedlund filed to represent himself before that high court, but Ninth Circuit judges awarded him pro bono representation by an experienced San Francisco firm.
The Portland-based lawyer who represented the lender said Friday he would ask an official with the agency to comment on the decision. None did.
Victory for Mike... and for everyone else who thought that by spending nearly $100,000 on an education pursuing a career would immediately result in financial utopia, and instead ended up with a menial, low-paying job.
"I owe a car instead of a house now," he said. "It's huge for me. What I've wanted all along is something I can afford," not having the slate wiped clean, he said.
He and his wife have three daughters, and his wife works one day a week. He coaches soccer on the side to supplement his income and continues to live frugally, he said. "We don't go on many vacations, other than day trips. My newest car is six or seven years old and our other one is a '96 Explorer."
Well, it is called a "bankruptcy" for a reason.
"I am happy that maybe this will help someone else in their dealings with the student loan people," he added.
The same people without whom he would be unable to go to school in the first place? The lawyer chimes in next:
"He had to make his showing, all this evidence, to get part of his loan discharged," Scott said. "This wasn't a case of, 'Oh, I went to school and I didn't get this dream job I thought I was going to get, so now I'm not going to pay what I owe.' He had made his best effort to pay."
And failed.
Ethical issues aside, perhaps a far bigger question is what happens when the flood gates now truly open:
Natalie Scott, a Eugene lawyer who represented Hedlund, said lawyers for the loan agency suggested that forgiving most of Hedlund's loans would "open the flood gates" to healthy college graduates claiming they couldn't earn enough and demanding their loans be forgiven.
Scott said thinks a smaller set of borrowers will be affected, because Hedlund's actions and circumstances were particularly compelling. He tried repeatedly to work out a payment plan that he could deliver on; he made some payments; he worked full-time at a good-paying job and applied for jobs paying more; and he put up with having $280 a month garnished from his wages for 16 months without objecting.
Well, no. Now that there is case law precedent, every student finding themselves to their neck in debt will try the same defense.
So great news for Mike. However, just like the great bank bailout of 2007, there is never a free lunch, and that trillion in debt on the Federal government's balance sheet will likely end up having to be made whole by someone. That someone will certainly be the Fed and the result will require even more deficit spending by the Treasury to provide the Fed with securities to monetize, even more pent up inflation, and even more unsustainable Federal debt for everyone.
Bottom line: who ends up footing the bill? Why you will dear taxpayer, in the form of even more "government" debt that will have to be, you got it, inflated away.
But in a culture in which nobody is accountable for their monetary decisions - from the too biggest to fail banker to the lowliest student pursuing levered dreams of a high-paying job - living up to the consequences of one's actions is so Old Normal.
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If only the dollar were still a "thing."
Bullshit--I learned how to produce an amortization schedule by hand in 12th grad Econ class. It's not that difficult. Throw in a few examples of what high interest loans do, and kids get the concept pretty rapidly.
Did his parents co-sign? There's the incentive to pay the legal fees.
For his parents , I suppose .
The problem is - most people heading off to college have no assets - no collateral - little or no income.
No one will loan them thousands of dollars based on their current financial position - and if - after running up $100K in student loans and graduating - they can just say - I have no assets and no job - I want to file for bankruptcy and have my debts wiped clean.
No one would loan them any money because they will never be paid back.
"No one would loan them any money because they will never be paid back."
Cool. Then the bubble that is higher education would cease to exist and people on the lowest economic rungs could more easily afford college. I'd rather the price of college be slahed by 75% and the poorest work in the real world for a few years and save up tuition. Then we'll see wjho REALLY wants an education.
^This guy gets it. You are absolutely correct. Another bubble that awaits the bust.
After student loans become dischargeable and REMAIN on the banker's books, how many will loan 100K for a degree in Wominz Studies or Cartooning? Zero.
I actually agree with you - in part - but also recognize that some people (myself included) would never have had the ability to go to college without some debt. Even though I worked full time all through college.
Typical / classic government policy that ends up hurting the very people it was designed to help.
The lowest rung will not fare any better in any other economy... however, lower prices:wages will obviously increase affordability for many lower-tier middle class folks, because at the present time it's out of reach for all but upper middle class and on.
the loan is made against future accumulated intellectual property.
I dropped out of university and paid my loans off
I have overheard people talking about never intending to pay of their loans and claiming bankruptcy.
I have a friend who did the same but went further by moving to another country.
Exactly--all they have is their future labor. Hence the whole non-dischargeable thing. It didn't work because bankers and college administrators got too fucking greedy.
While people shoud pay back what they borrow - the legislative aspect of this is surmised effectively by EK -- If bankruptcy exists in our mercantile system it should not be remediated by above the law institutions
There are two problems here: 1 is this piece of shit is right: his education probably did blow -- our educational system is so fucked up it's terrifying.
2. He's within his rights. While I don't agree with him and he represents a tsunami tide of pandora's box of debt write-off -- his students loans should have been allowed to be included in his BK.
This article in increasing Tyler fashion, spins the perspective of the reader towards an intended path, instead of focusing on its true meaning which EscapeKey pointed out and you lemmings can't realize.
C'mon. Stop marching like rats following the pied piper. Not everything the Durden's post is De Facto.
This article in increasing Tyler fashion, spins the perspective of the reader towards an intended path, instead of focusing on its true meaning which EscapeKey pointed out and you lemmings can't realize.
What is the intended path? Maybe some of us are pissed we missed the housing bubble, and now the student loan bubble, and every other bubble that's been inflated. What matters to me is that the educated fuctards expect me to foot the bill. I have a problem with that and almost enough bullets to fix it.
If I default on my truck loan it will be repossessed. My hope is that those who default on their student loans get their brains bashed in. That would be fair wouldn't it?
Focus on the big picture. Its one thing to solve a problem (in this case, lets say partial student debt forgiveness), its another to make sure it doesn't go on and on and on (in this case, taxpayers keep lending students outrageous sums for outrageous tuitions for outrageous degrees).
You are getting upset with the debt slaves, not the debt slavers.
I agree but I won't let the slaves off the hook that easily. A lesson needs to be learned and a precedent needs to be set that making bad decisions hurts. It doesn’t kinda hurt, it really fucking hurts bad...
Sabibaby - its not about 'helping' homeowners or college students,etc.
Its all about handing money over to banks.
All that does is encourage more bad loans (housing or student) and inflate prices.
Your focus on the end users is misguided. They aren't innocent, but are miseducated (that is, propagandized). Home buyers were told it was smart to 'invest in real estate'. College students are told 'you can't get a good job without a college education'. Neither of these groups were the source of these bubbles. They are just sheep that follow the rest of the herd over the cliff.
Get it ?
Yes, that makes sense.
I guess the folks who've been taken advantage of don't seem to be in bad shape compared to those who work 50-60 hours a week and have minimal debt but are stressed to the max... that makes me a slave I suppose... Those who take advantage of the masses are living it up so my anger should be redirect to them instead of those who got a break. It make sense but jealousy is a bitch!
Sabibaby - - -The banksters & their paid politicians play the 'divide & conquer' game. They want us to fight among ourselves. In the end, we all pay - in one form and/or another. These young kids are indebted and paid much more for their 'educations' than would have been the case in a free market with no loan program. There are jobs that now require a college 'education', that never did so before. Its a way of weeding out the applicants. The piece of paper is irrelevant to being able to do many of the jobs being applied for. - -Those same young people, and those not yet even born - - - are shackled by the chains of national debt that they had little or no part in creating. Everyone pays with increased taxes and inflation and the loss of personal opportunity and Liberty.
Dont let the criminals use 'divide & conquer' to divert us. They use human psychology to manipulate people this way.
HardAsserts, another great response in a thread full of good ones! Again, my sincere compliments on a powerful idea simply and eloquently stated. Here's the 2013 reality in the U.S. of A.: 1% of the country's population controls 40% of its wealth (and 10% control 80% of its wealth). That leaves just 20% of the wealth for the bottom 90% of the country's population to bicker and squabble over, letting themselves be divided by the silliness to which you quite rightly are responding.
Along those same lines: the Pew Charitable Trust released a study that found that during the so-called recovery after 2009, only the top 7% saw their net worths increase. The bottom 93% saw their net worths decrease. Sobering figures indeed and a thorough indictment of post-industrial capitalism, only awaiting our generation's Karl Marx or V.I. Lenin to call it out for what it is.
Full disclosure: I am one of that 93% whose net worth has decreased.
No, that makes you Boxer from Animal Farm. SUCKER!
We used to pay in full and cash for our "education" and got handed degrees worth nothing. This scam has to stop.
Odious debt for nothing. Discharge student debt.
We used to pay in full and cash for our education medical care and got handed degrees a bill we cannot pay. This scam has to stop.
Well... if you know the state of the economy... and you know the dangers of going to school... then how is the impetus not on you to make the correct choice and fix it? Don't go if the juice isn't worth the squeeze... really simple.
We are in agreement. The government has however distorted the risk premium, by guaranteing the loans. The banksters must be paid, afterall.
I think the larger moral conundrum is one a non-dischargeable debt which is tantamount to to indentured servitude or slavery. As long as the person must go through bankruptcy for the debt to discharged and the bankruptcy process strips the claimant of any significant assets, then I don't see a problem.
Bingo. And all the institutions that built up their infrastructure around payments guaranteed by the student loan bubble can crumble as well... tough tittie.
I would suggest that houses and cars (asset side) be fair game if student loans (debt side) are also fair game. In some jurisdictions, houses and cars are protected in BK proceedings.
brrrr.......wizzzz.......click............
The 'good boy/good girl' middle class programming that you were indoctrinated with since you were a child in the public 'schools' does its work on you.
You don't question that the banksters had provisions voted into 'law' by their paid off politicians that woulld turn people into debt slaves. You don't question the nature and purpose of bankruptcy. Perhaps you support debt prisons too.
And have you considered that more than 95% of the value of the earnings and financial assets of you and your family have been stolen by bankster money printing caused devaluation of the currency over the last 100 years ? Or that you were taxed on phantom nominal, - not real -, 'capital gains' on those assets ?
- - -The banksters owe us.
You talk about 'obligations', when these very same banks (which are bankrupt) are continuously bailed out at your expense.
Wake up or continue to be the sucker at the poker table folks.
Woiuld that be, "SUCKER!"?
Woiuld that be, "SUCKER!"?
and because these are federal loans that go bad, this is essentially a version of a taxpayer "bail-in". fault lies with both lender and lendee but guess who suffers.
hire the students to run the printers;
college pro fiat printers
I'm claiming the trademark, can i also claim college pro fiasco?
Before all the muppets start to go all red white and blue on the kid, at least the fucker tried to get an education, a job, a family and a life. < Isn't that called the American Dream??>That's sure a hell of a lot more that most try for in the Various States of Detroitification. If your education system is so expensive that any ordinary bloke wanting a decent job has to shell out 100k to get trained then maybe the system is a bit flawed.
What if Raygun>Bush>Clinton>Bush>Obobo hadn't hollowed out your economy so that americans still made stuff other than financial weapons of mass destruction then maybe there would have been the job there for him as he was lead to believe <insert american dream propoganda here> but really what was going on was the biggest FAKE meritocracy in the history of mankind. What happened to Mike was he woke up one day to realize his dream was really part of the biggest criminal enterprise ever concocted by man and he ain't in da'club.
students already run the printers... every college is vested with its own printing press... spitting out degrees like there's no tomorrow.
"Fake meritocracy" - aka "Mandarin Society" (see pre-1947 China)
the benefit of popping the student loan bubble is more than enough to celebrate.
You're making some sort of learning curve assumption, and that is where you will be disappointed, if anything this makes student lending less accountable on both sides of the transaction, if anything this will encourage more students to assume even more debt, and the donor investors are the same as they've always been, US taxpayers.
Eventually every student upon entering an institution of higher learning will be assigned a lawyer, accountant, social worker, manicurist, masseuse, chef, chauffeur, and finally his class schedule. Our compassionate and caring government......
I haven't read the order, but I can't fathom why an attorney was appointed for dickfer. Technically, there is no guaranty to assistance of counsel outside of the criminal realm. However, courts have opened the door for constitutional cases (especially 1983 actions, e.g. prisoners abused by prison guards)... so, did this case involve a constitutional question? If so, then that's what the analysis of the case should have focused upon... the real meat of the coconut.
MachoMan, here's the constitutional issue from my perspective: is indentured servitude (one of the proximate causes of the revolution of 1776) constitutional or not? (I think Hedlund was assigned pro bono status only during the appellate round, not during initial litigation.)
This is a substance over form argument... and, unfortunately, technically speaking, form prevails on this issue. The entire lot of western citizens are indentured servants... and our practical servitude has been upheld in court after court, to both constitutional challenges and other methods of contest.
If you want to make the argument, then argue from natural rights... don't argue from the constitution... that thing has been "interpreted" and otherwise gutted to the point of nonexistence. While courts are free to dissect the constitution, they can make no such interpretation to natural rights (despite the fact that much of the constitution simply acknowledges natural rights).
then argue from natural rights...
that would be a very interesting argument to make in a jury trial. it's almost like you're asking them to nullify while being forbidden to ask them directly to nullify...the end-around the legalese.
Depends on the court, but the end-around is to tell the jury that it is the "conscience of the community"... this is standard fare for tort cases. Too much jurisprudence out there for the court to deny your ability to instill the jury with those beliefs (literally holding after holding expressly stating that)... While the court might prohibit you from expressly using the term nullify, you can dance around it... the trail has been blazed.
Of course, it's all academic anyway... the jury tends to feel free to nullify on its own... which is why the jury system is so fucking awesome... but, a little prodding never hurts.
indeed, especially when the prod has some pussy willows on the tip :) "conscience of the community" spoken with an unforked tongue, methinks most juries would melt at that phrase. most excellent.
you're a gentleman & a scholar, Savage...rare traits for your twisted profession...may the universe reward you for your good service here.
Well, I appreciate the praise... I'll need the good luck when I put out my own shingle in the near future. I also hope to contribute an article or two, but I have been threatening that for a while.
I simply try and do my best to give a more balanced and honest view of the law... I think many people let their prejudices get in the way of really seeing the law and the legal profession for what they really are... many of the criticisms are warranted, but many are simply desperate generalizations.
many people let their prejudices get in the way of really seeing
...most everything... for what they really are...
You hit the nail on the head. You understand, as I do, the nature of our monetary system. Money is created with a promise and that is all it will ever be, a promise.
However, the taxpayers extractions are very real to cover the loan.
That data entry of the balance of the loan is real to the bank that loaned it and represents a loss on the books. the fact that they can use a legal fiction to hide it doesn't alter the loss to whomever loaned that bank the money.
Get the Govt. out of ALL insurance business. Period. Let investors in bad business models take the loss for bad business practices and they will cease to exist.
Taxpayers never signed on to be in a failed insurance business. If that's what they want let them buy shares in AIG. Subsidizing schools is a sure method of flooding them with cheap money and bloating them beyond any useful function at all.
Just another malinvestment to add to the pile of Govt. sponsored wealth destruction.
Of course none of this would be possible with real hard money as a vehicle for tranferring real wealth, but that's another topic entirely.
The taxpayer's losses were realized the moment the loans were made.
the taxpayer will not lose a dime I guarantee it!! hyperinflation will take care of everything!!
It's not like they had the money to loan out to begin with, it was all created the moment the "borrower" signed.
And its not like the bankers servicing the loans were going to discharge and delete the new money put into circulation.
So really, even if the loans were payed off, its a lose, lose , lose , Win for the banker situation.
All the bars around 3rd Avenuein NYC will go bust if student loans arent available in ever increasing quantities.
Imagine it is similar all across this country.
Transmission Mechanism.....bitchez!!!!!!!!111
not only that but it would implode the rental market south of Union Square considering that NYU owns 1/2 of it. jmagine that in every campus town across the country.
ouch!
I just bought more KY to ease the pain.
However, I now have second thoughts about paying that hospital bill, doctors' bills, mortgage, and so on....why be a Sap? I mean, why pay?
"Hospital bill, doctor's bills"?
When you check into the emergency room tell them you are Juan Martinez and you have no documentation. You need treatment, and YOU NEED IT NOW, so they'd better not profile you.
Every citizen should not pay for any health care if illegals don't have to. Just use the ER, and refuse to hand over any documentation. VIVA!
At least you are getting something remotely valuable though, when you pay "hospital bill, doctors' bills, mortgage"?
Am I right?
"The taxpayer's losses were realized the moment the loans were made"
There is no such thing or person called a "taxpayer." There victims of theft called "taxation," but no one pays taxes, they are taken.
The loss you mentioned does not exist either, as those involved with this "loan" benefited just as they planned.
There is no such thing or entity that is government, just like there is no real thing that is the economy. Government is the negative manifestation of several people's conspiracy of theft and murder to benefit themselves--the "invisible hammer." Economy is the manifestation of several people's cooperation in production and trade to benefit themselves--the "invisible hand."
The efforts of people in an economy produce wealth and life while the outcome of government is always theft, death and destruction.
Now with that said, those involved with this "loan," , the crats involved with the initial theft from the "taxpayer," the crats involved in creating the "loan," the managers and employees of the originating firm, the school, the Wall Street honchos that may have touched it in many way, etc. all benefited personally in creating this "loan."
I have "loan" in quotes because this was really soul stealing welfare not a "loan."
Good luck getting pro bono lawyering for a decade. Or parents footing legal bills. If it ever get too serious, Congress will pass aother law to restrict the discharges. That's why they changed credit laws to begin with.
Fuck loans.
Just give out free shit. Let's stop fucking around already.
Americans are too stupid and irresponsible to handle a loan, including the schmuck this article was written about.
Yah, mountains of fiat produced out of thin air doesn't deserve to be paid back by anybody. Even the kleptocrats will eventually concede this fact.
No, there should be loans. But the interest rate should reflect the *markets*, not some bureaucrat in Washington who has been strongly lobbied (free blowjobs and coke) by the big banks, and other vested interests. This rate would naturally be higher, but then we probably wouldn't see all those completely ridiculous inflation levels in tuition costs either.
I'm personally waiting for the day that debt means automatic jail sentencing. That would certainly suit Corrections Corp of America.
Not forgetting what an absolutely disgusting business model that is. It's modern day slavery, nothing more, nothing less.
That I can agree with.
When the cost of funds is artificiallly low, people make horrible risk/reward choices.
That Human Action stuff is a failed theory according to the genuises at the helm of the Titanic.
"Damn the icebergs...Full speed ahead."
in a perfect world, this axiom would be drilled into every economist from day 1 in school.
What would the "market" interest rate be on a student loan that will never be paid back?
When most people graduate from college they have ZERO - all debts would be wiped away if student loan debt was allowed to be included in a bankruptcy filing.
Go to college - borrow as much as you can - graduate - file bankruptcy - become debt free - then look for a job.
It would mean the individual would essentially not even be able to apply for a credit card for the next 10 years. Or whenever the market would allow the individual to.
Regardless, it's not as if this system hasn't existed before, in fact it did not long ago, and the collective did *not* behave as you suggest.
People (most) back then did not apply for food stamps, Obama phones and go on disability unless they really had no other choice. Now a guy gets a hang nail they run out and try and get put on disability. No shame in being on welfare - milking the system.
I fault the government as much as I do the losers that take advantage of the welfare - but
Today you would have a government funded agency helping "poor college kids" with legal advise on how to file for bankruptcy.
First, if you know that getting your credit ruined is part of the bargain, then I fail to see why it's an issue when you choose to enter the agreement...
Second, the non-dischargeability actually came about because doctors, et al (folks with larger debt loads) were beginning to file for bk fresh out of college. So yes, the trend was to behave exactly this way...
PS, they could file for bankruptcy tomorrow and get a credit card offer in a week... they're relentless lol.
Modern-day indentured servitude, not slavery. At least not yet. When Microsoft can sell you (and your student loan debt) to McDonald's, then we'll have slavery.
Interest on the student loans is about to double on July 1 (to 6.8%) if congress does nothing. The college bubble might blow after all.
In other news... it's about to get real hot in the middle-east...
Obama Asks Pentagon For Syria No-Fly Zone Plan
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/28/exclusive-barack-obama-...
Chinese Hackers Have Gained Access To Dozens Of Major US Weapons Systems
http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-hackers-access-us-weapons-systems...
Fears grow of foreign-fed arms race as Israel threatens to strike Russia’s shipments to Syria
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel is prepared to strike Russian arms’ shipments to the Assad regime.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/28/israel-threatens-to-strike-russi...
Diplomat: Russia to arm Syria regime with anti-aircraft missiles to prevent foreign intervention Top Russian diplomat says Moscow will go through with sale of S-300 missiles to Syrian President Bashar Assad's army; Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon says that if weapon systems reach Syria, Israel will react.http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/diplomat-russia-to-arm-syr...
And of course those nutjobs FSA are saying Hezbollah must withdraw troops from Syria within 24 hours or else they'll start doing attacks in Lebanon.
Dishonorably discharged.
You can't spell dishonorable without honorable!
-homer simpson
1. Too stupid to pass the bar.
2. Too stupid to budget for a family. Three kids???? WTF
3. Perfect example of wasted government spending.
Not only stupid but of the generation that it isn't their fault they are stupid and don't try to tell them they are stupid because they have never been told anything other than that they are a unique individual with talents that can save the planet.
Can't we discharge all the debt due to the Infernal Rev?
exceptionalism! in china he'd be working for a dollar a day in a foxconn factory making iphones instead of buying them with student loan money. but hey, JFK Jr. couldn't pass the bar either.
Neither could Hillary Cllinton. She funked the D.C. bar and only managed to pass the Arkansas bar.
I'm calling bullshit on Hedlund. If you lock your keys in your car on the way to the bar exam, you break your window and go to the bar exam.
$10 says he writes a book titled 'How to Discharge Your Student Loan Debt by Locking Your Keys in Your Car' and hocks it in an infomercial making millions.
He doesn't need a job....being a deadbeat is his career...now he's going to go on the lecture tour... same lecture circuit as House Flippers and Weight Loss in 3 Weeks people.
I must admit, I never heard of Willamet Law School but heck, he's pretty successful so far shifting his losses onto innocent taxpayers... a real shoe-in for Wall Street.
Wait a second. "Being a deadbeat is his career"???? Did you read the article? He is gainfully employed as a corrections officer. He borrowed for a McMansion career but wound up with a Shotgun Shack.
Imagine the Portland based attorney who lost to this schmuck !!!
Give that big sissy a kiss. He's a hero. I'm applying for all the loans I can get.
Rubbing my hands together in anticipation of the coming cascading bank failures...since 2008.
Think about the children. They now have a future. Instead of graduating from school with thousands in debt, they can now join the unemployment rolls with the knowledge that, while they won't have a job, at least they don't owe anything. And better yet, their share of Federal debt won't matter as they won't have any income to tax. It's a great system. Why didn't I think of it?
Is it a taxable event? If it is, Mike can deal with those IRS agents with the brown shirts and polished boots.
He is fine......He is an Occupy Wall Street type
I believe loan forgiveness is only taxable as income when it occurs outside of bankruptcy. If debt is discharged by a bankruptcy judge, I think you get to drive away scot-free...assuming you don't lock your keys in your car.
Let's just all stop paying our bills altogether.
we chould charge all expenses to a mr b. bernanke.... now if i could just find his address
IQ based debt foregiveness? Cool.
I'm not sure why but I have this urge to hit him with a cricket bat. I'm probably not being compassionate enough to his plight.
I remember when I was getting mine, they would send me a letter letting me know they just deposited 6k in my bank account and that if you didn't want it you had to go through steps 1, 2, and 3.
I'm 30k in debt and didn't even graduate. My job pays well below the poverty line so they can't take it out of my check. I haven't paid a dime. I've stopped caring but the racket that is higher education is truely fucking the younger generation.
And just which party do you think they will be supporting come election time. I'm thinking something with a dumb ass as a mascot.
Yea they get 2 choices, status quo or status quo.
~francis_sawyer~.....he be right again..........
He needs new tires for his Camaro.
The precedent applies only in the 9th Circuit and the lender can appeal to have the case heard by the Circuit en banc. Then you can expect a fight in every Circuit in the land. Eventually the Supreme Court would decide the case 5-4 and by then we all will be dead and gone.
Bring the old Tyler back, the writing was much better and easier to follow. Some notable points today: 1He/she/they also didn't rush stuff to print without reviewing it. 2. This entry has misprints, incomplete sentences, and grammatical errors (this didn't happen before). 3. There was less opinion interjected.
it's holiday week.
As soon as I saw this case hit the Ninth Circuit, I knew stupidity would prevail. It's the Emerald City at the end of the Leftwing Yellow Brick Road of Insanity.
The result will eventually be stricter lending standards, lower college enrollment, and bankrupt institutions. This problem is multifaceted.
The irony, of course, being he wasn't a good enough lawyer to represent himself and the only people really making money on the deal are his attorneys as over 10 years of legal bills likely cost his family more than the 53k he saved. His parents would have been better off just paying the bill.
Yep on the bk institutions...
Also, law students aren't fit to be dog sitters after law school... you literally learn nothing in school... all you get is a little sheet of paper that says you may start learning your real education... in the school of hard knocks (aka the real world).
PS, the debtor's attorneys were appointed.
Looks like he spent most of that 40k/yr on Mickey D's. No wonder he couldnt repay.
Im done here. I got me some spending to do.
When Hedlund graduated from Willamette, he owed two student loan companies. He struggled to pay either of them, but reached a deal with the smaller lender to repay $18,000 at $50 a month.
Really? 30 years?
Fuck this guy. Stop buying bullshit and you'll be able to repay what you owe before you die. Its not that complicated.
Footed by the taxpayer? What taxpayer? Will there be any left?
Boomers ponzi scheme victims must do whatever they can.
The Government can only do shit loans like this with Fiat Money.
If it had to use real money, gold or silver, those loans would have never been made.
BINGO........see my comment above........debt-money is the problem
This Hedlund tool will be standing behind Obama during a speech soon.
I'll go one step further. This is all planned if you are a believer as Obama is in Saul Alynski's Rules for Radicals. Overwhelming the system so it breaks on the weight placed upon it. It makes you wonder.
Mike,
You can't "afford" to pay what you promised to pay but somehow you managed to have 3 kids?
You are a low life, irresponsible POS. You disgust me.
So where do you stand on Ch. 7, Bail Outs and Sovereign Default?
I don't get why you jackals pile on the little losers who win one every now and again while connected/corrupt politicians, banksters and corporate clowns do this all the time then brag about how hard their lives were on the way up.
So where do you stand on Ch. 7, Bail Outs and Sovereign Default?
I don't get why you jackals pile on the little losers who win one every now and again while connected/corrupt politicians, banksters and corporate clowns do this all the time then brag about how hard their lives were on the way up.
100 Billion in student loans going bad ... that is about the same as the Bernak pays out every month for a hell of a lot less good for the country.
Did the bill pass to make the interest rate for student loans the same as the banks get from the Fed?
10 million most likely marginal workers riding out the recession in school. 2012 politics would have been different if these people were looking for work, and the administration knew that.
My newest car is 11 years old. and the other a '99 Expedition.
I have't a bit of empathy for this person that spent beyond their capabilities to repay for an education.
He should have sued his parents for being a dumb ass instead.
That odor that resembles burning plastic and human flesh is the Rule of Law.
"He made a good faith effort to repay the money; he can't earn enough to both repay the money and maintain a basic standard of living; and his inability to earn substantially more is likely to persist."
He meets these tests because he made a personal decision to live in Klamath Falls. And have three kids. Now he can use these personal choices as a hammer over the head of his lender to shaft them of $50k. Unreal. He never would have earned $200/hour in Klamath to begin with. We are rewarding people for being stupid.
With an image of Butthead bellow as my witness: Idiocracy.
The scumbag's Facebook page shows he just cranked out another kid #3! Yet he "can't afford" to repay his loans. UGH.
Apparently you don't have to pass any tests to reproduce and stick it to taxpayers again with your ignorant offspring who no doubt will be welfare monkeys and the cycle will repeat itself....
If this guy had any self respect, he would have killed himself long ago.
https://www.facebook.com/mike.hedlund.98
Too funny...(don't get too excited, only 14 schools were ranked)
According to US News, Willamette University ranks #10 in Dispute Resolution of Law schools.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/...
It doesn't matter how Willamette is ranked, if this dbag can't pass the Bar exam. Or locks his keys in his car, and never attempts to take the test again.
when's the coup ?
This is all part of the leftists plan...to get these debts eliminated....liberals should not have to pay anything...they are the chosen ones...free school...free housing..free food...free Phone and internet...free healthcare...they want it all....they really do...
yeah thats why the FLorida Bright scholarships program funded by the lottery benefitted so many republicans who are against government spending and could afford to send there kids to college. Jesus stay stuck in the left versus right meme and remain a victim of the kleptocracy that cares little whether it's the left or right hand you wipe your ass with.
yeah thats why the FLorida Bright scholarships program funded by the lottery benefitted so many republicans who are against government spending and could afford to send there kids to college. Jesus stay stuck in the left versus right meme and remain a victim of the kleptocracy that cares little whether it's the left or right hand you wipe your ass with.
So you're down with Debtors Prison? Peonage?
Nice.
Odumbo's got a job for you at Gitmo.
So you're down with Debtors Prison? Peonage?
Nice.
Odumbo's got a job for you at Gitmo.
We know how STUPID he really is:
"I had planned on making $200 an hour instead of $20 when I agreed" to take out loans totaling about $100,000, Hedlund said.
http://www1.salary.com/Attorney-I-Salary.html
The median expected salary for a typical Attorney I in the United States is $79,162. This basic market pricing report was prepared using our Certified Compensation Professionals' analysis of survey data collected from thousands of HR departments at employers of all sizes, industries and geographies.
So where did this bozo get the idea he could make $200 dollars an hour when the average is $38.
Bingo... you can command those rates only in private practice and usually only after at least 20 years building a client base... unless incredibly specialized, and then only private practice but the time it takes to get there might be shorter. The average starting salary for an attorney in my state is ~$45k. Of course... to go to the best law school in this state is $25k in tuition... so, it's still affordable, although I still tell everyone to run the other way if thinking about it. Go to trade school and make a killing... or, alternatively, just get a single year masters degree ($8k; e.g. MBA) and go jack off at an institution somewhere for the same amount of money.
Yes, it really does boggle the mind to see somebody with seven years of college utterly fail to even have a clue about the reality that any businessman, even lawyers, cannot pocket their gross revenue. The top-notch legal dudes are producing revenue, and maybe billing their time at $200 per hour, but they are paying for office space, computers, specialized software, legal malpractice insurance, a secretary, maybe a paralegal, continuing legal education, and spending many hours per week on non-billable matters such as office administration, review of possible new cases, training staff, and reading professional publications to keep abreast of new developments in their areas of practice. Plus a lot of time must be spent sucking up to the oligarchs who can afford to pay that hourly rate.
This guy must have locked his brain in his car, too.
Notice who is NOT taking any sort of a haircut? Any of the fine instutions of "higher learning" this moron attended.
Funny, that.
I'm guessing others in his class went on to pass the bar and become attorneys. Sometimes you just can't fix lazy and stupid. No refunds!
What a fukin idiot. Now he works in gov, suprise suprise.
Market driven or purely due to incompetence?
I'll take "Incompetence" for $100 Alex. He missed his 3rd run at the bar because he "locked his keys in his car"? No such thing as a Taxi?? WTF???
Bankruptcy laws are a license to steal.
Silly prole. Bankruptcies are for rich people.
Watching Adult Swim doesn't count as light reading.
There is some good that will come of this.. If students can discharge student loans, what incentive to banks have in giving out the loans in the first place? It's a loan w/ no collateral. This is the same as getting a personal loan from the bank.. even w/ the best of credit, good luck getting a personal loan at lower than 9 or 10% interest.
Students discharging debt will lead to higher interest rates on student loans and far less money being handed out. No more 100k loans at 3%. Now we'll give you 10k max at 14%.
That'll do quite a good job at bringing down college tuitions.
Oh, of course not. Your problem is that you're thinking logically and capitalistically. We don't work that way anymore, don-cha-know.
Sen. Granny Liewatha Warren (Idiot-MA) or some other solon doing their "working-class hero" schtick will pass a law mandating 0% interest on student loans forever - so their buddies in faculty lounges everywhere can continue pulling-down their 6-figure salaries for 1-class a semester in front of the sheep. All paid for by the few suckers, I mean taxpayers, remaining.
And besides, who needs jobs when there's "Graduate School".
Must keep the Ponzi going, you see.
Not really, you just have a bad bank buy all the debt and keep rates low...
"At least when it comes to their"
When it comes to their what?
I went to law school. After graduation, I passed all the bar exams in TX, HI, and NY the first time around. I took out no loans. Instead I worked to merit scholarships and part-time modeling jobs while attending law school.
I decided to practice law on my own after graduation. My first year of practice, I made $95,000.00.My second year of law practice I made $150,000.00. And it just kept getting better for me and for my clients.
Shame on you, Mike Hedlund. You never needed a job. You needed just to bust your butt and serve the interests of those folks with legal issues. Instead, you wanted someone else to pay for your laziness, lack of creativity, and the lack of your ability to pass a simple bar exam. You are disgusting.
I got yer "discharge" right here...
You are a sick man, +1
The biggest problem is the schools are colluding with the lenders as tuitions (and administrator salaries) bloom to many times what they were just a decade or two ago.
That, and simple things like gender reassignment surgery being tacked on to tuition, like at Duke... But, I digress.
To be honest, I never really understood why _any_ class of debt should be protected during the bankruptcy process. The whole point of bankruptcy is to 'wipe the slate clean', so providing the potential bankrupt did _not_ get into his situation through wrongdoing, then the process should just go through, whether the loans were for buying cars/houses/education or starting a new business.
The idea of a whole _class_ of lender being protected is just silly; all that will happen is that the loans will not be properly underwritten.
There is a particular problem with education: whether or not expensive colleges are good value when it comes to finally trying to get a job, it is (in my opinion) _very_ dangerous for a society to discourage efforts made by a citizen to further his education...