Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Massive student loan debt - who is to blame?

I heard through ABC news a few nights ago (via David Muir, anchorman and purebred Democrat) that the current amount of student loan debt nationally has surpassed the total U.S. credit card debt, a number in the trillions of dollars.  Then again, this came from the mainstream media, the likelihood of this figure being accurate is 50% at best.

But let's assume it's an accurate statistic.  Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been pandering to these beleaguered young folk with crushing debt by promising to make college free, and they also suggest that they will sign legislation that will forgive these amounts that they owe.  

Woo hoo!  More free stuff!!!  You got my vote, Hillary.  How exactly they will square all of this free stuff with the universities and student loan lenders has yet to be determined.  I am certain that the note holders of this trillion dollar debt will not be too happy to simply write it off their books.  

But the universities who hand out diplomas in Women's Studies, Diversity Studies, Humanities, Art History, Psychology, and the myriad of other useless and stupid degrees will hail this coming free education.  They, of course, will get paid regardless, by the U.S. taxpayer.  The electric bills that power the lights in the classroom will not be free.  The professors that profess inside these lit classrooms will not do so for nothing.  And they will want these classrooms heated and air conditioned, and that does not come free, either.

And nothing, absolutely nothing is ever so expensive once it becomes 'free.'  Once Hillary opens the doors to higher education facilities to whomever wants to walk through those hallowed doors, the price of everything will sky rocket to prices never ever seen by the eyes of mankind.  

Currently, however, college is not free.  Far from it.  The government has subsidized the public university system to levels never seen before, and the colleges that accept any and all students who can cut the tuition check with their student loans flowing in will jack up the cost of attendance at every level: parking fees, tuition, books, student activity fees, there is no end to the costs that rise virtually every day.  

The dirty shame of this higher education scam is that both public and private institutions offer the most useless diplomas ever dreamed up.  Degrees that have no commercial value to any employer at any level.  What kind of demand in the work place is there for somebody who has a Masters of Art degree, and whose 'dissertation' consisted of building a giant high heel shoe along with a giant lipstick case out of paper mache?   

None whatsoever.  And even worse, what kind of demand is there out in the market place for a graduate of Women's Studies?  These graduates are recognized as nothing more than walking, talking sexual harassment lawsuits.  No employer would touch these graduates with a 150-foot pole.

And these dopes with MA's are on food stamps and welfare because they are unemployable in fields such as art.  I would point the finger of blame at these dope's and their plight directly at themselves, their parents and the schools that offer these courses of study.  Surely common sense would prevail here, and all involved in steering these students towards these goofy and worthless pursuits share the blame; the universities, the parents, the guidance counselors, and the students themselves.

Solution: from this point forward, only finance degrees that are demanded by the marketplace.  You know, the 'hard' classes which involve a core requirement of at least an entire year of calculus (that's a form of math for you public educated folks) and English composition at a bare minimum.  You need to know how to write coherently, and you need to be able to present a position from a logical perspective.  If you can't do that, you are worthless to an employer who seeks a college education as a requirement of the job they seek to fill.

Q: What does a holder of an Art History degree ask every day at work?
A: 'Would you like fries with that?'

19 comments:

Kid said...

Fredd............. You are Not of the Body my friend You must Embrace Landru

Peace..........(PC) And Tranquility.....................(Suicide)

LL said...

I think that "free" as defined by Bernie and Hillary should be "Fred will pay for it."

What needs to happen is that the only student loans that are made (subsidized by SALLY MAE) are for hard science majors. That's it. That's what we need and as you suggest, possibly finance majors - but maybe not. I'd have to think on that one.

The rest of the herd can major in Social Justice and Ethnic Studies if they want to, but no loans. The loan scam has fueled the expansion of universities to unheard of levels. It's a scam.

Gorges Smythe said...

Preach it, brother!

Fredd said...

LL: that's exactly what Bernie and Hillary mean by 'free.' And no more need to think about it; finance majors are on this long list of useless studies. Throw law degrees in there, too. Don't get me started on lawyers, LL. Do you have any idea how many lawyers it takes to screw in a light bulb?

Fredd said...

Kid: Landru, schmandru. I'll stick with the Borg, if it's all the same to you.

Resistance is futile. Or so they tell me.

LindaG said...

Write it off or else. Killary is good at that.
Common sense is no longer common. The 'it's not my fault' generation has seen to that, I think.
I doubt there are many left who could do English composition now that we have twitter, chat, and instant messaging.
Our daughter-in-law did a thesis on the language or meaning of graffiti around the world, or some such. I can never remember what she does now, but it has nothing to do with her *doctorate* that she went to England to finish. Erg.
You have to much common sense, Fredd.

LL said...

If a profession is flooded, as is the legal profession, the last thing that the government should do is to encourage more. Come to think of it, WHAT IN THE CONSTITUTION allows the government to be in the student loan business?

Fredd said...

LindaG: your daughter-in-law is typical of the entire problem. Professional students racking up debt pursuing degrees in graffiti. In other words, wasting everyone's time, but spending a lot of money doing so. It's a waste for a dumb kid to get a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women's Studies, but it should be a crime for them to pursue a doctorate in that garbage.

Fredd said...

LL: I too racked up some student loans, but paid them off relatively quickly. The interest rates I recall paying were really great: 7%. Sweet.

That was back in the days when 30-year mortgages got around 14%, or something like that.

My lender was in South Dakota, and were pretty reasonable folks to deal with, but now I wonder how things are going for them now that Obama is their boss.

LindaG said...

I agree, Fredd. And I have no delusions that she would vote for Trump, either.

neal said...

I took calculus when I was barely eight years old. Unfortunately, the market of monetization is mostly lying cheating and stealing.
All the polymaths in this world cannot stand against that morally abberant geometry. But heh, there's always the Irish.

Z said...

How does Hillary lose when she yells nothing but FREE FREE FREE~~?
Great post...you are so right.
I also believe in trade schools for many of our kids ... learn to DO something not pontificate on something!

Fredd said...

Z: yup, those who can do, do. Those who can't do, teach. Put another way, we are pumping way too many young folk through the system to become chiefs, when all we need is a few chiefs and enough indians to get the job done. Way too many chiefs these days, and not enough indians.

Fredd said...

Neal:

The 'market of monetization', as you put it, would also be called a market economy in the context you tried to convey. The market economy is demonstrably NOT simply a bunchy of crooks lying, cheating and stealing. If it were, it would collapse in no time at all. The market economy as is currently practiced in the US, although far from Adam Smith perfection, is still the best system in the world where the average guy has a decent shot to prosper if he puts his nose to the grindstone.

Your outlook on life as viewed from your buddies' perspective from the Occupy Wall Street bunch is frankly no way to go through life.

Maybe you should put your precocious talents to work in other endeavors than curmudgeonly ways, you would probably be a lot happier.

But what do I know...

Euripides said...

Student loan debt is around $1.4 trillion. Credit card debt is around $970 billion.

One of the problems with the education industry is government subsidies. Just like medical insurance, the government stepped in and forced schools to stop competing in price. The ED has also mandated a top-heavy administration system to account for all of the myriad regulations that attempt to make everything fair for students.

Combine that with an economy that doesn't hire anyone without a college degree (even McDonald's) and you get a broken system.

The progressives broke it. Now they offer more government intervention to fix it.

Progressivism is a disease.

Fredd said...

Rip: I agree, liberals spread their contagion to everything they touch, they are the Typhoid Mary's of politics.

LindaG said...

Definitely agree. Just so frustrating that so many people think it is okay for the government to do more 'fixing'.

Brig said...

Commonsense has taken a trip to another planet... responsibility for ones own actions has left the building...

Fredd said...

Brig:

Yes, common sense left the building a few years before Elvis did, perhaps in the mid 1960's, when the counter culture rose its ugly head. Those stupid hippies are now running things..