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Let Them Eat... Student Debt
This past Friday I like many others were waiting for my comedic coffee break to be broadcast over the financial media outlets. When the set up was told I grinned in amusement and expectation. When the punchline was delivered I almost fell off my chair as I buckled in uncontrollable laughter. That punchline? The unemployment rate now stands at 5.8% Now that’s comedy!
Just when I felt my sides couldn’t take any more unbeknownst to me the preceding line of comedic humor unleashed by the so-called “smart crowd” was one line of ridiculous humor laced drivel after another.
What made this whole laugh-fest turn from outright humor to a living tragedy is that many of the people discussing these “facts” are both in positions of power, or worse, positions of teaching. All I could envision as I listened was George Carlin looking down saying, “Man I need to get back there. What material! Who’s in charge here I need a cab?!”
The more one listened to the analysis given as they dissected the data – the more the laughs kept coming. It was a bonanza of comedy from one channel to the next as it seemed financial media morphed into its own version of a standup open-mike show across the spectrum.
A few points that were laughable but made me down right angry is the continued comparison as well as instructional overtones we are told to perceive from Europe and other countries as they deal with their financial mess and unemployment horrors.
I have nothing against these other nations, however, what I do hold vehemently too is the fact: the more these pernicious meddling intellectuals try to solve our problems as if our solutions will come from following what’s happening over there? The more problems they create here. For I would like to remind the chin scratching set – We are not Europe nor anywhere else. Period!
Just for the record I would like to point out one or two general observations that seem to get lost (or purposely ignored) by the parchment pundits.
First, to the casual observer that has to actually start, run, hire, and all the other mundane things the intellectual crowd seems to have never done, I can’t help but notice; the more they treat or espouse solutions to U.S. issues as if we were under a monarchy or imperialist rule – the more stagnant, wage disparate, over regulated, job killing, centrally planned, __________(fill in the blank) problems we seem to have.
Imagine that, who’d a thunk it?
Second: If I hear one more so-called financial commentator be regarded as “brilliant” for his/her comparisons with other time periods in our own history as well as other countries using data points, charts, and every-other bottle of snake oil they can pull out of their wagons to show the “healing effects” all this has had on the U.S. economy. While conveniently leaving out the stubborn little fly in the ointment – QE was never present within their comparison data sets, I’m going to scream.
None of it is relevant in direct comparison if: there were no interventionist policies of size and scope relative to 4 Trillion dollars of QE during that comparison. Period.
We are in uncharted waters with no charts, no maps, no guides, no nothing to compare where we are. We are currently making and writing the history daily.
Again, not only at best is most of the data points irrelevant. At worst saying that they are – is intellectually dishonest, and dangerous thinking. But this is what passes today as “Intellectual, and informed financial analysis.”
I heard one discussion when reflecting on the widely glossed over U6 data (the stat that gives a more informed picture of employment health or weakness) that the “trend” is going in the “right direction.”
Well, yes it has but (and it’s a very big but) that’s according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. You know, the same one that brings us the 5.8 current unemployment data point. (I still laugh just typing that)
Other reports such as Gallup™ (who by the way are actually pretty reliable when producing data) disagrees with the BLS# at 11.1 and reports their findings more at around14.8% and flat-lining at best.
No matter how you slice it one thing about this stat can’t be brushed under the rug to anyone serious about the labor force. Today over 90 million people in the U.S. available or able to work – are not.
So when the discussion of improvement using the BLS number as to be “pleasantly surprised that the vector of the data is showing improvement in the right direction” what are we really talking about here?
Should we be encouraged (as a hypothetical) we went from about 92 million people in the U.S. labor force unable to find employment to let’s say 91.5 million?
Outraged is what comes more to my mind more than anything else. I guess that’s because I don’t have a parchment for if I did, well then – this would be great news! Sorry, its more like pathetic news in my opinion.
What’s just as pathetic is the intellectual argument that for the many that can’t find jobs, “They are smart to be staying in school.” When I heard this my thoughts went immediately to how this was so reminiscent of history’s immortal quote of the 18th century when then Queen of France Marie Antoinette in reply to the citizenry not having any bread to eat famously replied “Let them eat cake.” Is it any wonder why we’re in such dire straights?
Is taking on more student loan debt as to not have to face the cold reality of the real world not that dissimilar than eating cake for nourishment in the place of bread? Once again this is coming from both the intellectual crowd as well as the policy making crowd. I would just like to remind everyone how that all ended.
Today we see actions by many groups calling or demanding wage increases; especially when it comes to the minimum wage. Yet, isn’t the real underlying issue more in line with what was once an “entry-level” position filled by teenagers has now turned into the only positions available for the now “entry-level, unskilled, first time employed, degree bearing” 26 year old’s and older?
The very one’s whom constantly are being told by the “intellectual crowd” then burdened down with oppressive debt (which continues to fund as in employ those very same intellectuals) to accumulate degrees in some aspect of business (or whatever) that for all intents and purposes will be of little value. To then find themselves competing with others in similar situations for that “minimum wage?”
All that school and debt for what? To keep intellectuals employed? (Those are two questions that demand serious honest answers in my opinion)
I wrote an article years back dealing with this whole phenom titled “The Problem With Kids Today: They’re 26!” I feel stronger today about my assertions than before.
We are on a collision course that inevitably will end not in a hangover from a celebration of gorging on “cake” rather, on the harsh reality of many finding themselves suddenly thrust upon a starting line they needed to be competing at a decade earlier, malnourished, overweight, with a ball and chain affixed to their ankle in the form of student debt so large in size – it could be used to anchor an aircraft carrier.
Again, for I can’t make this point enough in my opinion. Show me a data point and chart where you want to explain why housing formation seems to not be doing what the analysts first pondered – and I’ll point out the absurdity of comparisons if you don’t equal into the equation the amount of people not even beginning serious life or working careers till near 30 years old! (re-read that number again for it says a whole lot more than near anything else)
It’s one thing if you need a degree for some sort career as a prerequisite. i.e., Doctor, lawyer, et al. However, to be encouraged by both policy makers as well as the intellectual elite to stay in school “as a smart decision” as a way to insulate oneself from the current employment consequences transpiring throughout the economy is nothing short of channeling 18th century European styled thinking that for over a century was repudiated in the U.S. and produced a middle class which was envied the world over.
Let me add just one last thing to back my argument on this whole idea of “the value of a degree” from what it meant just a few decades prior to what it has become now…
If you are an MBA holder from some Ivy league Alma mater, chances are your “Ivy league” cherished moniker might get you first in line position ahead of others competing for the same job opening at a major international corporation. Only problem is?
The position maybe for the reason: It is cheaper to hire you than to purchase upgrading to the “Auto-burger Flipper 2000.” But don’t worry. I hear the policy makers and intellectual crowd is promising there will be even more desert later. And they’re willing to finance you for as much as you can eat. Bon appétit!
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It is cheaper to hire you than to purchase upgrading to the “Auto-burger Flipper 2000.”
You obviously haven't seen the auto-fry machines at McDeath's
Soon to be offering up GMO potatos in Amerika
Agenda 21 here we come
What we really need is basic income, a human right.
Great piece. Spot on about housing and delayed maturity.
What many pundits miss, is that it is irresponsible for a young person to take a real job in the private sector. They would earn far more in salary and benefits as kleptocrats.
gawdhelpus.
Coming Soon -- Generation #Make-A-Way
Sooner or later those disenfranchised by how FUCKED our system is will have NO choice but to rise up and Make-A-Way, anway they can, .gov rules be damned!
First of all, income is not a human right. A right can not be dependent upon the positive action of others.
I own my body therefore I own the consequences of my actions. Because I own the consequences of my actions, I own my production. I have a right to defend my life and my property. I do not have a right to demand others defend my life or property.
I have the right to speak my mind. I do not have the right to demand others provide my with the soap box to speak my mind from.
Second, lets for the sake of argument accept your premise. If i have the right to a basic income, who provides that income? Government? Government doesnt produce, it steals. So a basic income from government would be a share in the spoils of theft.
What is basic income? Is it the same in every locale? Cost of living is higher in NYC than New Orleans, do you adjust the meaning of basic according to zipcode?
How much and whats covered? Is income to pay for basic housing, clothing, phones and food enough or should we include a new car and internet and booze?
Let them eat (GMO) cake. Many of these millenials voted for this - Because Obola.
These young folks really f**ked their future over Obola.
And McStain would have made a difference Freddie?
They are a leaderless group without a leader. Nikki Haley SC gov.
They are a leaderless group without a leader. Nikki Haley SC gov.
Double Dribble
As long as they vote socialist...they can eat it.
Reality (and math) is a bitch.
It does not suffer fools.
You don't understand... the federal government, with YOUR money, has "guaranteed" the loans against any form of bankruptcy.
In other words, these unemployed, yet able people are (struggling perhaps) in a gray market, and YOU will have to pay for YOUR (governments) guarantee.
Fool.
Correction:
You do.
Not me.
Fool.
If the education they were receiving was worth a damn, maybe this situation might almost be palatable (eventually). But what's a Communist or Marxist going to teach you about working in the real world?
Most of those degrees aren't going to get you ANYWHERE.
Even if the degrees were fine, the price isn't, and the opportunity cost makes it worse.
Main problems with the schools - they are not teaching how to think or how to make decisions or how the world are working. Schools are needed to prepare people to the real world...
kowalli
Education is the best form of indoctrination.
The tools used here are filtering and financial reward. Filtering is to make sure they will follow orders. The military and Ivy Leagues are very good at filtering.
Dbl ed post.
Particularly worthless are science and engineering ones, considering the new "ten year visas" being prepared for Chinese nationals.
Imagine a student loan for a "good degreee", and finding out that the US has allowed MORE H1-B visas for your field, and even these long-term visas that will allow no-holds-barred competition for your future against people happy to work for HALF of what the "competitive salary" is in your aspired field?
Get your degree, fuck paying the loans, go to Europe (or anywhere in Asia) where it is impossible, if not illegal, to collect on federally guaranteed US student loans. Live a life. Wait until they offer amnesty, like for draft-dodgers who went to Canada.
The US schmucks like paying corporate subsidies, don't mind toeing the line as far as supporting offshored companies and don't care who has bought their "democracy"... go, realize YOU ARE THEIR CHILDREN. They will be happy to eat the Velveeta-covered shit sandwich of absorbing your "federally guaranteed" student "loan".
This x1000. The US of A is morphing into a weird version of GE, where the bottom 10% lose their jobs every year, except they can continue eating at the .gov cafeteria, living in the .gov housing, and voting themselves a pay raise every election.
Often misquoted Queen MA said ' Let them ate their faces ' or was it faeces.
"We are graduating too many bachelors of the arts and not enough butchers of the meat."
-Ray Krok.
Founder McDonald's.
1971
Yes Mark
Try finding meat in a McClonealds burger.
it's either roll the guillotines or wait for the draft, cause you ain't leaving your mom's basement any time soon.
What do you think this whole sham is aiming towards? When unemployed become hopeless and parents say "get a job; any job". When critical thinking is a thing so foreign to everyone; when MSM serves up convenient untruths and edits out the rest.
When culture is focused on big bottoms and tits, hairless male six pack abs, when culture involves gambling on stardom and lottery winnings, when the heroes are pampered movie stars; when gangs are a REAL alternative to employment and family. When voting is a useless pastime, When the rich are the only who see any benefit and the poor are kept in souplines?
This is when a war becomes very convenient and many young men and women will clamber to join. For the paycheck and something to do.
What a waste. But a planned waste.
pernicious meddling intellectuals
yes, damn intellectuals , how dare anyone in the US use their brain!
pernicious meddling intellectuals
yes, damn intellectuals , how dare anyone in the US use their brain!
school nowadays is simply " channel stuffing " the new work force ! just lock these kidds in fake courses with the illusion of a job at the end, except they get to pay for it !!!!
"Today we see actions by many groups calling or demanding wage increases; especially when it comes to the minimum wage. Yet, isn’t the real underlying issue more in line with what was once an “entry-level” position filled by teenagers has now turned into the only positions available for the now “entry-level, unskilled, first time employed, degree bearing” 26 year old’s and older?"
Not really. The problem is that jobs that once paid a living wage now pay min-wage-like salaries. Retail jobs used to pay a living wage now they pay $8/hr or less. Call centers, bankers, mechanics, health care workers, etc. etc. once could live on their salaries now barely get by on low incomes.
It's not just entry-level McJobs that are paying low wages. People that believe this are disconnected from the labor force.
And it's not just entry-level unskilled jobs. There are jobs that require years of experience that pay next to nothing.
Your analysis is pretty biased with an agenda and not terribly relevant.
Health care and government are overpaid, but yes. There are entire categories of once decent paying jobs that no longer exist. Commission sales used to be common in retail, and a major part of the corporate work force.
So many joke jobs, so little hope.
A student loan is designed to help students pay for university tuition, books, and living expenses. It seems that many students are borrowing against their future at an almost unimaginable pace, unfortunately the money is often used for things other then education.
Too many young people and others taking student loans "living expenses" go on to include cars, trips, vacations and more. All this has a very dark side that will effect the lives of these borrowers going forward and has the potential to grow to crisis dimensions in the future.
In many ways society is encouraging young people to take on this debt and to hock their futures. This is akin to the, "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" way of thinking. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2012/04/students-borrowing-against-future...
? no chart?
Who is working?
I go to government offices. People are sitting at desks behind locked doors. The waiting room is full. Nobody cares.
I call private company telephones. I am put on hold. Eventually, somebody answers the phone, then gives me the wrong information. I call again...
I am amazed the stock market keeps going up.
IBM has Watson, so the typical "analyst", looks at falling revenue in the "legacy" part of their business.
Ford is building aluminum trucks, so analysts look at lack of new truck sales at Ford during the re-tooling.
Where is this all going?
I have run into this my entire working life. Certified* smart people, thinking they are smarter than the people making stuff.
We will do what ever it takes to win.
*They have a piece of paper, signed by another certified smart person.
350 just laid off at michigan cadillac plant. ominous, isn't it.
i bet the gm bond holders of old just love that news.
i wouldn't buy gm anything even if you paid me.
detroit looks like the baghdad green zone.... that's a compliment
I don't have to worry about buying a car, my old Toyota won't quit.
The only people in my age group (millenials) are the ones who went to trade school, got STEM degrees or just have skills and smarts.
the rest are fucked!!
~Dipshitmiddleclasswhitekid
P.S I work at a F500 company and dont Zerohedge at work, cause im workin bishes!!!
Incurring debt for education/training is a BUSINESS decision, so if the "student" studies some subject that does not pay a good return on the investment, then the "student" made a BAD business decision, rather than an indictment against higher education/training.
If you make education & debt decisions based upon personal interests, lifestyle, whims, etc, rather than good business analysis, then YOU are the problem.
I agree to a degree. Sadly, the secondary education system charges a butt-load of $$$$ for classes and degrees that suck. Even if your degree means something to an employer - face it - many classes aren't teaching much.
I have no patience with anybody sporting an IQ over 100 who can't make money in America.
Making money isn't necessarily the problem. Making a living wage is.
"Lies, damned lies, and statistics"
“Figures don't Lie, but Liars Figure.”
Mark Twain
Silver For The People
Pretty sad.
The shitty teen job you were gonna dump as soon as you got enough to replace your bald tires is now a 'career path' for some misbegotten soul with 80K in debt and a paper with fancy lettering that nobody gives a shit about because even the dishwasher has one.
Justice will be done when everyone quits going to school and your old professor becomes your new trainee.
The GM bondholders of old got wiped out in the Bankruptcy, so no need to worry about them.
The economy itself is shrinking. The number of people in the work-for money, invest-save-spend-borrow earn-salary economy is shrinking.
The number of people who participate little, very marginally or not at all in that kind of economy is GROWING.
Why are there no jobs?
Remember all those jobs that were off-shored in the globalisation process ......
The only jobs left are the ones they couldn't offshore, e.g. flipping burgers, serving coffee, etc ......
How do us old dudes retire?
Was not too many years ago (pre-Obola and the USSA) when I got 5% on a 1 year CD.
And decent banki savings interest.
Now?
Near zero on savings and CD's...the bank...0.02% on a savings account.
Wow! Sure can live a comfortable retirement on that. /s
Stocks? Didn't buy Google, Apple and Facebook.
Instead bought housing, energy, materials....all have dumped in pps to hollow out my accounts.
Got kids going to need a lot of money for college because college has zoomed in price, far more than inflation.
Just like how cars today, cost now what houses used to cost.
And taxes and fees of all sorts have caused the cost of living to shoot up.
Bought food lately?
And have to probably support the kids longer because former good-paying jobs now gone to 3rd World Nations.
Govt's solutions always seem to be the same, no matter the problem: raise taxes and confiscate freedoms.
Would like to retire, but how can I and still eat and pay for the kids colleges so they don't end up with huge student loan debts?
Meanwhile, Govt uses my (taxes) money to make me raise the kids of multiple illegals.
Massive FUBAR's are generally not accidents.
Yes, am a vet, but so what?
What Military member is "Serving his/her Country"?
Are they not just serving to get incompetent, corrupt politicians re-elected.
For example, in the Middle-East, who are the "good guys"?
I once asked a returning Army NCO (from the Middle East--Iraq & Afgan...) who the good guys were.
He replied, "You mean, this week?"
DK
(you young people are f*cked because we are all f*cked by the incompetent, corrupt people occupying positions of power)