There is some chance of reform. There isn't a price tag on everything. They at least have to ask how much.
Wasn’t sure where to put this, but can someone explain to me what the capitalist takeover of higher ed is?
Profiteering and private universities, building orgies and laws keeping student loans from being able to be bankrupted out of. "capitalist takeover" is as stupid as "socialist takeover". The dualistic arguments in this country are beyond idiotic and do not allow for any nuance in discussions.
pretty sure she was mocking the language Devos used. @Indy the university system used to be much more publicly funded, in addition to what Norris said.
I read "building orgies", initially, as verb - direct object and lamented going to college in the wrong time.
I read it as her saying that we currently have a capitalist takeover of higher ed. I'm not sure how private universities are a problem. Maybe private, for-profit universities. Haven't the profiteering and building orgies been heavily increased by the government getting more involved and guaranteeing all the loans? Government involvement is not capitalist. I think there are quite a few issues with higher education. I don't think the blame lies with a "capitalist takeover of higher ed."
Government guaranteeing the loans is for capitalistic reasons. It is also for societal reasons. Capitalistic in that it allows for private lenders to be made whole, and societal because it allows people to get an education that they might otherwise not be able to get. The problem has become that the return on the education is shrinking, and that is going to cause a lot of problems.
Government guaranteeing the loans allows the schools to raise their prices without repercussion. Their customers (students) basically have a blank check. Why wouldn't they raise the prices? It's free money. The return on education is shrinking, but the price is also rising, largely due to the government's involvement. I'm all about people with the ability to succeed in college not being held back from it due to their socioeconomic standing. I'm not on board with "everyone needs to go to college" or the idea that every area of study should be treated equally. And this is coming from a guy with an English degree from a private, liberal arts school. I ended up okay and have since paid off my somewhat substantial student loans, but I know that isn't the norm for people in majors similar to (and worse than) mine. Knowing that I made significant sacrifices for years post-college to pay that debt back, just to then hear substantial discussion about forgiving everyone else's debt a year later gets my blood boiling.
That's the capitalist part of the school, the free money. That's not government's fault, that's the school's fault. And it has limited the return on education. If Government bailed out of the student loan business now, a lot of schools would fail, and that would be a lot of jobs gone. That's lending. You and I don't have the same interest rate on mortgages, or personal loans, or credit cards or anything else lending related. The fact that you pay more for a loan than I do doesn't, I don't imagine, get your blood boiling, so why does any other form of debt?
Because we aren't just waving a magic wand and *poof,* everyone's debt is gone. The American taxpayer is footing the bill. That's me. I'm footing the bill for other people after I took responsibility for my own decisions and took care of my own debt. Why would that ever be okay? I delayed steps of my life (living on my own, buying a home, getting married, having kids) to focus on paying off my student loan debt. Consider a similar person who decided to just pay the minimum on his loans, bought a home, had a big wedding, etc. You wipe his student debt away, and you're worsening my situation to better his.
The capitalist part isn't the problem. The guaranteed money via blank check from the government is the problem. It's more the government's fault. The government is creating the environment in which the school can raise prices without repercussion. There are reasons you and I don't have the same interest rate on mortgages, or personal loans, or credit cards, or anything else lending related. And you know that. And you know that's why I'm complaining about loan forgiveness and not about how my interest rates on my student loans compare to the interest rates of other people's student loans. It's all based on the likelihood that either of us, individually, will pay that money back and do so on time. And that likelihood is determined based on history and past experience. There's a system that determines it, and there are clear paths to ensuring lower interest rates. That's not the same thing as forcing other people to foot the bill for a debt that a group of individuals willingly took on and signed up for. And I get that it's predatory and some people are in better situations to make those decisions than others. I'm honestly not against debt forgiveness for some people in certain situations. But under some of the stuff I've seen here recently, my buddy down in Florida, who's a software engineer with Northrop Grumman, and making just under 6 figures is getting his student loans from his undergrad at FSU wiped away. That doesn't make sense to me.
do you know what the national debt was when you born? and then what it is now? we are all both getting saddled and saddling the future with debt. you are drawing an arbitrary line in the sand because of your own greed. you spent the money yourself, therefore you feel harmed by someone else not spending it. But you are doing the same thing every day just by being part of the unsustainable systems we all live in.
The government created the environment, but the schools choose to act as they have, and that is on them, not the government. If I give you rope, and you hang yourself with it, it isn't really my fault that I gave you rope. But you're saying that the government giving schools rope, is the problem. That is a gross misunderstanding of lending. It's an accurate description of backing a loan, but not lending. Government keeping interest rates low, and working to lower interest rates, has nothing to do with your ability to pay back a loan. The fact that my parents paid double digit interest rates for a home loan 20 years ago, and I can get like 2.5% isn't because I'm just super duper at paying loans back. It is entirely due to the circumstances today. And that doesn't mean that I owe them more house.
you are blaming tax payers in upper brackets and calling them greedy? How about laying some of the blame on half the country who pays no tax and just takes, takes, takes from the govt and those who do provide. Why do we never see dems complain about anybody, except those who have planned and done well, regardless of their circumstances and race.
My own greed? Seriously? I took on the debt myself, and I paid back the debt myself. That's what responsible adults do. I feel harmed by (some) people taking on the debt, not paying back the debt themselves, and then expecting me (along with everyone else) to pay it back for them. Please explain how I, specifically, am doing the same thing every day just by being part of the unsustantainable systems we all live in.
