Quote:
Originally Posted by jm21
No, the typical American will not pay back into the system what s/he has taken from the system, especially if s/he has children like the typical American does at some point. No where near. Not a chance. Maybe those in the upper middle class will have paid back what they took from society by the time they retire, but then they get on medicare and draw even more. And yes, the typical American is going to draw far more from medicare than they contributed to it. |
I'm no economist, I'm just a guy that breaks things for a living. But last time I checked it isn't feasable in the long term to have a system where more goes out than comes in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm21
Anyways, that's how the system is designed. Our system provides for a relatively equal launchpad for people. The vast majority will not be anywhere near rich, and many will be poor, but a small handful will become incredibly wealthy. Those who were allowed to become incredibly wealthy due to the government creating an equal field to start from then pay back into the system and support it in order to sustain the next generation.
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I'm not sure what sort of silver spoon world you were born into, but I actually laughed out loud when I read the "equal launchpad" thing. You do realize that the entire system is rigged to keep the people at the top in position, and the people at the bottom as well? Occasionally someone manages to
claw their way up with a little luck and a lot of
work, but for the most part, we're a relatively immobile society in terms of large scale vertical movement. There are the few high profile success stories that the 1%ers bring out to sell "the American dream" to the suckers so they vote against their own best interest, but they are rare and getting rarer.
Can I have your permission to forward your post (seriously), because this has to be one of the funniest things I've read in a while, and I think it has a real chance to go viral?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm21
Student loans, although unique, are just like other loans in most ways. They have the risk built in. They are for the most part one of the hardest, if not the hardest, to get rid of. The government recovers about 85% of the value of defaulted student loans. That's pretty incredible.
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It isn't that hard to get rid of a loan. Just pay it back. I worked a bunch of jobs so that I could graduate college debt free, but my wife borrowed her way through grad
school (when we got married her dad quit paying, as it was my responsibility then). It wasn't hard, we just tossed everything we had at the loan and "got rid of it" in a few years time. We weren't driving BMWs or eating caviar, but we still managed to have a great time and travel on the
cheap. Heh, before
kids.
Kids are great, but they wreck your financial freedom (even with those credits and deductions
).
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm21
If there's any moral question regarding student loans and/or their repayment, it should be whether it's appropriate to lend children vast sums of money to pursue an education that may benefit society, and then put incredibly draconian penalties if they are one of the many whose education doesn't lead to superior employment. Not so many years ago a 20 year old couldn't borrow money as they could not be bound to a contract, but now it's OK to lend them $60k. Are humans so much more mature now? They aren't responsible enough to have a beer but sure they can assess the costs, benefits, and risks of an enormous loan? No, most students don't even know what their interest rate is. Not to mention how the student loan system has made higher education more and more expensive due to giving perverse incentives to schools. |
Heh. Dude, you are *classic*. Seriously, can I ***please*** have your permission to forward this stuff to some friends?
Rather than ask whether it's OK to loan money to "children" (and last time I was on a college campus, those Co-Eds were anything but children
), why not ask whether it's such a good idea to indoctrinate folks in the culture of borrowing at all? I managed to
work my way through
school, and I certainly didn't end up with "superior employment" (immediately). Heck, I couldn't afford the pay cut to follow my field of study, because I was too busy making money at the job I had to pay for school.
It's called work. Having a work ethic. It's easy to pay back student loans, I've done for loans that weren't even mine, and without your so called "superior
employment." It's called sacrifice. And, as the OP points out, it's even possible to take some time out and "have a good time" while maintaining your responsibilities. You just have to be willing to work. When we both got out of college we had a lot of fun, and we worked hard so we could have it. But gradually the fun started taking a back seat to the work, and that's a trap that's so easy to fall into.
Even better is when you find out there are more important things in life than money. Don't get me wrong, having money is great. I've had it, and not had it, and I can tell you that having it is better. But it isn't the end all be all of existence. I gave up my really good paying job to start over in a blue collar career, and my
family made sacrifices for me to do so. That was eight years ago. Before that, when the career took off there was no
vacation. The last two summers I've taken over a month off each, and not only am I taking a month off this summer to
cruise, I'm taking two and half weeks off right now to work in my yard and get the
boat nice and cleaned up to sell. You can always make more money, you can't make more time...
I think the OP found that by taking a year off and deferring loan payments that they may be a bit behind upon re-entry, but they're way ahead on life. I'm one of the richest people I know, and I only make decent money. Now if I could just find the perfect
boat...
JRM
-- all this is predicated on whether the OP intends to defer, rather than default. The only thing a man truly has is his integrity. It would be a shame to sell it so
cheap...
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