Student loans

zitothebrave said:
I feel like they're used as a basic barrier by many companies to keep out poor people, and that's a shame.
Click to expand...

That feels like a pretty uncharitable take. I've been told around these parts that many (most) companies are greedy profit maximizers who would stop at nothing to lower their labor costs (hence the need to heavy government involvement/regulation), so it seems odd to me that they'd be using a college degree to keep out poor people...if anything, wouldn't they be looking for an excuse to discount the value of a college degree so they could justify hiring cheaper labor?

Seems more likely to me that the cost of onboarding a new employee isn't cheap and in a world of limited/imperfect information, and in a scenario where they're making hiring decisions out of a stack of 1 page resumes and 15 minute interviews, they're maybe overvaluing the college degree as a signaling device.
 
Last edited:
sturg33 said:
It punishes those who chose to not go to school bc of the cost. It punishes those who had to pay $50k back, while giving $50k to others.

It's not about "having it tough" it's about asking people to pay back their debt they promised to do.

Why not cancel credit card debt? Why not cancel mortgage debt? Why do we focus so heavily on bailing out the useless gender studies graduates?
Click to expand...

This is only true if the mechanism includes a tax hike for those people you mention. I’ve said multiple times that I’m not personally in favor of student loan cancellation, but whether or not it’s fair to others is a poor argument to make against it. Should we also refrain from abolishing the death penalty or legalizing marijuana because it might be unfair to those it was too late to help?
 
mqt said:
This is only true if the mechanism includes a tax hike for those people you mention. I’ve said multiple times that I’m not personally in favor of student loan cancellation, but whether or not it’s fair to others is a poor argument to make against it. Should we also refrain from abolishing the death penalty or legalizing marijuana because it might be unfair to those it was too late to help?
Click to expand...

It will be canceled by running up the deficit which means more money printing which means a hidden inflation tax which disproportionately hurts poor people
 
acesfull86 said:
That feels like a pretty uncharitable take. I've been told around these parts that many (most) companies are greedy profit maximizers who would stop at nothing to lower their labor costs (hence the need to heavy government involvement/regulation), so it seems odd to me that they'd be using a college degree to keep out poor people...if anything, wouldn't they be looking for an excuse to discount the value of a college degree so they could justify hiring cheaper labor?

Seems more likely to me that the cost of onboarding a new employee isn't cheap and in a world of limited/imperfect information, and in a scenario where they're making hiring decisions out of a stack of 1 page resumes and 15 minute interviews, they're maybe overvaluing the college degree as a signaling device.
Click to expand...

I think it's likely an accurate take for individuals in charge of hiring, while opposed to the goals of the corporation. I know of a tech department head who after taking over the department immediately made a bachelor's degree a hiring prerequisite. The last two new hires in that department without a degree were both promoted multiple times prior to the new prerequisite. So it wasn't about job performance.

In this specific case the hiring manager specifically looks for the humanities, gender studies, grievance industry degrees. The person also trolls social media accounts to make sure they are a good fit. It's basically an extreme partisan hack proving that O'Sullivan's Law is absolute.
 
Jaw said:
I think it's likely an accurate take for individuals in charge of hiring, while opposed to the goals of the corporation. I know of a tech department head who after taking over the department immediately made a bachelor's degree a hiring prerequisite. The last two new hires in that department without a degree were both promoted multiple times prior to the new prerequisite. So it wasn't about job performance.

In this specific case the hiring manager specifically looks for the humanities, gender studies, grievance industry degrees. The person also trolls social media accounts to make sure they are a good fit. It's basically an extreme partisan hack proving that O'Sullivan's Law is absolute.
Click to expand...

The tech team at my company (fortune 50) requires a bachelors as well... they also bemoan how they dont have enough blacks in tech.

I've brought up several times how having that barrier is completely contradictory to opening up inclusive opportunities for minorities but so far I have lost that battle. They are still old school.

In the future, degrees will be seen as toilet paper, in my opinion
 
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/the-great-student-loan-income-transfer-11618526932

The great student loan scam rolls on, mostly out of public sight. But occasionally the ugly fiscal facts appear as they did this week at a Senate Banking hearing.

The Cares Act allowed student loan borrowers to defer payments without accruing interest through last September. Presidents Trump and Biden have both used emergency executive power to extend the forbearance. Now borrowers don’t have to make payments until at least October, and meantime their balances won’t increase.

As of the fiscal 2020 fourth quarter, more than half of the $1.6 trillion federal student loan balance was in forbearance. Twenty-two million borrowers weren't making payments, saving on average $400 a month. Most college-educated Americans haven’t needed the relief since they have suffered far less financial harm from the pandemic than lower-income workers without college degrees.

According to news reports, some borrowers have used the money saved from forbearance to buy homes, pay off higher-interest debt and day-trade stocks. But there’s no such thing as a free debt deferral. Taxpayers are paying for it. Sen. Elizabeth Warren noted at the hearing that the Education Department “is currently canceling about $5 billion of debt per month in interest.”

Mull over that one. Eighteen months of student loan deferrals could cost taxpayers $90 billion—and that’s without any defaults or debt being discharged. The reason is the federal government’s student loan portfolio is heavily leveraged. Treasury borrows at ultra low rates and then lends the money to students at somewhat higher rates. But when borrowers aren’t making payments or accruing interest on their federal loans, Treasury loses money.

Ms. Warren doesn’t worry about taxpayers or the rubes who have responsibly repaid student loans even during the pandemic. She wants President Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower by fiat. Her plan would disproportionately benefit millennials with advanced degrees. Thus has the pandemic become a pretext for a massive income transfer to privileged Americans.


———————

Speaking for myself, I haven’t made a payment towards my ~$42K balance in over a year. There’s no incentive to. Put the money aside and worst case scenario make a lump sum payment once the forbearance period is lifted before any interest accrues. “Best case” scenario, Biden makes taxpayers pay for some/all of the balance towards an advanced degree while I reap all the rewards. Certainly not going to make a dent in the balance while interest is 0% and Biden flirts with cancellation. I hope those who lost their jobs during the pandemic are saving their stimulus checks to pay off my MBA....What a country!
 
Last edited:
Like packing the court, student loans cancellation is an intramural wedge issue. It is being pushed mostly to win primaries. Another dividing line between the Biden/Klobuchar wing and the Sanders/Warren wing.

I've posted mostly about the intramurals within the GOP. Obviously on THE issue of the day my hope has been that Liz Cheney will triumph over the trumpophilic mob.

However, the stakes of the intramural battles within the Democratic Party are also very high. And here too I have very clear rooting interests.
 
The one thing I definitely think is true above all else is that a decision needs to be made before the current extensions run out. There’s no point in continuing to defer all payments indefinitely just to wipe it out later for many borrowers.
 
mqt said:
The one thing I definitely think is true above all else is that a decision needs to be made before the current extensions run out. There’s no point in continuing to defer all payments indefinitely just to wipe it out later for many borrowers.
Click to expand...

For the sake of taxpayers, there should be some incentive to pay back these loans....right now there's none at all...
 
Here'$ one of the many rea$on$ college cost$ are $kyrocketing in recent year$...

OSU2021a.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top