The above graph shows how student loan debt has grown to exceed both auto loans & credit card debt in the last few years. It is like credit card users & auto borrowers have the good sense to cut back but students (& their parents) don't – or can't.
I hope that everyone saw the Huckabee special on FNC on June 23 & 24 in which the Governor devoted the entire program to the plight of students with large debt (one law school graduate on the show has over $200,000 in debt & one economics Masters Degree holder sent out 300 responses to employment ads & did not get one job offer). Please click on this link to get a flavor for this based on a segment of another Huckabee Show earlier in June.
The worst part of both of these excellent TV programs was when Governor Huckabee asked some of the disillusioned youths who are strapped with debt & no job prospects if it was worth it for them to get a college education. What a terrible & wrong question to ask. America is doomed – which we just about are anyway - when this becomes the choice.
Instead of asking such a hopeless question it would be so much more productive for Governor Huckabee & everyone else to explain the solution for stopping the ever increasing tuition costs – namely, the government should be out of the student loan business. Government involvement increases tuition because as government education subsidies (loans) increase so do the universities' tuitions.
Now there are some statists who have told me that reductions in state aid to public universities result in higher tuition costs. But how could this be true unless there was some universal law that costs must keep going up irrespective of funding. It is far more believable that if government throws money @ a problem the problem will expand than to believe if one of the sources of funding dries up costs increase anyway.
Anne Neal, President of ACTA, recently identified another even more fundamental problem with America's education system – one that I have exposed numerous times - "...the adults on campus...have failed to point students to what they need to know & be able to do. ACTA's research shows that only 5% of colleges require their students to take even a basic economics class. Just 20% require a single foundation course in American history or government. Meanwhile, studies show that academic standards & expectations – in terms of assigned reading & writing – continue to decline. It's no wonder that many graduates are having trouble finding that first job, & that our country is faced with a generation of students buried in debt & without the college level skills to climb out of it." Although our education problems started long before BO became a national figure Anne Neal perfectly describes BO's plan.
Students & recent graduates today are like lambs being led to the debt slaughter – exactly per BO's design. First BO devastated people in their 50s who will never work again @ the income level they once knew, if @ all – these people will live off of income from low paying jobs, if any, making up the difference in their accustomed standard of living by spending down their wealth for the rest of their lives. Seniors have been crippled by the lowest CD interest rates in history meaning they too are spending down their wealth to maintain their accustomed standard of living. Students & recent graduates complete BO's trifecta as described above. The only group left not totally crippled by BO's vision of America is people in their highest earning years who will carry us with tax revenues to cover the ever expanding government-dependent people for a while.
Doug - the trifecta is in line with BO plan to create a New 1%. Yes - BO policies are neutralizing the elderly, middle class and middle age, and now the students. Add to this entitlements to about 50% and 'control' of the wealthy via tax increases and Dodd Frank. What is left? A New 1% with BO and his czar's command and control of the economy. And the elite media is in compliance with this. It is pathetic only a small % of electorate realizes this is BO's goal.
ReplyDeleteWake up America, vote BO and many Socialist Democrats out in 2012 and weed out economic illiterate Republicans too.
"The worst part of both of these excellent TV programs was when Governor Huckabee asked some of the disillusioned youths who are strapped with debt & no job prospects if it was worth it for them to get a college education. What a terrible & wrong question to ask."
ReplyDeleteI take the opposite view. It is exactly the correct question to ask. In many instances college is a complete waste of money, time, & energy.
One needs to consider what the individual is trying to achieve; technical and vocational skills? Manufacturing know how?
If one wants to be an engineer, an architect (hard sciences, etc.) in many cases college can be very beneficial.
But if they dream of starting a landscaping business, a flower shop, a restaurant? Or want to be a waiter or waitress and sock away money to invest, is college the answer?
In the real world specific classes are what is needed, not 4 years of listening to professors pontificating useless information and generally ignorant "ivy tower" political theory.
The theory is by showing "discipline" in going though 4 years of college , prospective job applicants are showing character, in short a way for the employer to pare down the applicants.
The reality is many of these "disciplined" students made it through the 4 years so they could avoid the real discipline of having to get up and go to work every day. And when they graduate they still have no idea what they want to do for a living or how their degree will help them.
Every job I took after graduating required a college degree. And yet the skills required to perform the job did not require any of the skills I "learned" in college. High school would have sufficed.
Education is an absolute must, but thinking that the education must come from over priced, over politicized institutions is what has led to this overwhelming student debt.
As long as the American people are brainwashed into thinking that college is the answer, politicians and the higher education cartel monopoly will continue to make college unaffordable. After all their power and money come from running this scam.
A superb book on the subject is "Real Education" by Charles Murray.
RTE – all of the above points should be taken into account by every person irrespective of what a college education costs. These points do not negate the terrible choice that could be forced on someone who wants to go to college & can’t because of the needlessly high & complicated debt costs that currently are encountered as a result of many government programs. There are two different things in play here – 1) does the person not want to go to college & 2) does the person want to go to college but can’t afford it? Huckabee’s question pertains to people in #2 & that is what needs to be corrected.
Doug - I agree with your point totally. Central issue is that the Gov should never have entered the student loan business. Response #2 nevertheless listed some useful information about how students should take courses that will create skills our employers require. Still, if the Gov would be out of student loan business, banks would for most part provide student loans if they would project a positive return on their loan. After all they must stay in business. They are not primarily a charitable organization. Then the word would spread that if one wanted a student loan one would need high SAT scores and a passion for science and/or math or business. If I were a bank loan officer now I am confident I would be able to determine the level of commitment a bright student would have for study in skills markets demand now. I would use a thorough interview.
ReplyDeleteInstead we now have a $900 billion student loan debt bubble up $300 over past few years. Add this bubble to our government $16 trillion debt bubble. Time to get out of student loans. Privatize this business and also cut spending and reform entitlements. Reform tax policy with FairTax to reward success (income) and encourage more success. Only then will be be on a sustainable economic recovery.
Hi Doug,
ReplyDeletePart of the problem is the education cartel is standing in the way of real progress. There are college level classes available through companies such as "The Great Courses" and Modern Scholar at a fraction of the cost.
The Internet has sites such as Udocity and the Khan Academy(which is free) and have a huge selection on technical subjects of the highest quality.
Yet the Government and the Education Community are more interested in votes and keeping their monopoly than the free market and the education of the citizens.