student loan debt – Page 2 – The Burning Platform

THE FOURTH TURNING & WAR OF THE WORLDS

“In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. The catalyst will unfold according to a basic Crisis dynamic that underlies all of these scenarios: An initial spark will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies. The core elements of these scenarios (debt, civic decay, global disorder) will matter more than the details, which the catalyst will juxtapose and connect in some unknowable way. If foreign societies are also entering a Fourth Turning, this could accelerate the chain reaction. At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe

The paragraph above captures everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen during this Fourth Turning. It was written over two decades ago, but no one can deny its accuracy regarding our present situation. The spark was a financial crash. The response to the financial crash by the financial and governmental entities, along with their Deep State co-conspirators who created the financial collapse due to their greed and malfeasance, led to the incomprehensible election of Donald Trump, as the deplorables in flyover country evoked revenge upon the corrupt establishment.

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A NATION BUILT ON LIES

“The greatest want of the world is the want of men — men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” – Ellen G. White

The world becomes more chaotic by the day. Good luck finding a politician, business icon, or religious leader who is not bought and sold by corporate or special interests. Finding truth telling honest leaders in today’s world is virtually impossible. Charles Foster Kane, a quasi-biographical portrayal of William Randolph Hearst, is a fine representation of the billionaire clique that pull the strings in our warped, deceitful, greed driven, materialistic world.

Citizen Kane’s thematic portrayal of the American Dream is far more germane to our society today than it was when made in 1941. Financial affluence, material luxury, wielding power over others, and controlling the opinions of the masses through propaganda media, did not guarantee happiness or fulfillment for Kane or todays oligarchs. Kane was happiest as a poor child, living with his parents, playing in the snow on his sled – Rosebud.

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I’ve Paid $18,000 To A $24,000 Student Loan, & I Still Owe $24,000

Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer

Why a college degree is not a guarantee of future earnings and why the money spent on one can create more problems than the credential can solve.

Via Bustle

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It all became real the summer before my senior year of college. It was 2010, and my home phone still had a cord, which I wrapped around my fingers as I waited not-so-patiently for the apathetic representative on the other end to tell me the bad news about my student loan debt. My father was in front of me, his typically ruddy face redder than usual. “A 9.25 percent interest rate?” he yelled, “How can you put that on a kid?” It was clear he was worried, and he had every right to be — as the cosigner of my loans, my debt would be his responsibility, too.

The loan, ironically called a “Smart Option” loan, has a variable interest rate that fluctuates based on changes in the financial market — which may have been explained to me at the time (I truly don’t remember), but I know I didn’t fully grasp what that meant. Either way, neither of my parents wanted me to take it — I could tell that much. My mother didn’t even have to say it, as she sat wordlessly next to me on the couch. Like most working-class parents, she couldn’t fathom paying more than $30,000 a year for my education (let alone $60,000). My father, an electrician who worked nights driving Amtrak trains to put himself through trade school, only earned his associate’s degree in his mid-30s. My mother held a few random part-time jobs over the years while she devoted herself to raising my brother and me, but she never graduated from high school. The concept of attending a private college, let alone paying for it, was completely foreign to them. They wanted me to chase something bigger than they ever had access to. They just didn’t want “bigger” to mean drowning for the next 20 years in an all-consuming pile of debt.

Continue reading “I’ve Paid $18,000 To A $24,000 Student Loan, & I Still Owe $24,000”

Americans Are Paying $38 to Collect $1 of Student Debt

Your government at work with your tax dollars. Loan billions to brain dead teenagers so they can pretend to get smart in college. When they fail miserably due to the fact after twelve years of public school government indoctrination they can’t read, write or add, the government pays slimy collection agencies to get these unemployed dolts to pay up. Not only has $600 billion of your tax dollars been pissed down the drain on loans to dumbasses, you now get to spend billions trying to collect the billions that will never be collected. Clusterfuck is too kind of a word to use for this program Obama initiated to pump money into the economy and fake the true unemployment rate. I bet you can’t wait until the government has full control of your healthcare.

Via Bloomberg

The federal government has, in recent years, paid debt collectors close to $1 billion annually to help distressed borrowers climb out of default and scrounge up regular monthly payments. New government figures suggest much of that money may have been wasted.

Nearly half of defaulted student-loan borrowers who worked with debt collectors to return to good standing on their loans defaulted again within three years, according to an analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For their work, debt collectors receive up to $1,710 in payment from the U.S. Department of Education each time a borrower makes good on soured debt through a process known as rehabilitation. They keep those funds even if borrowers subsequently default again, contracts show. The department has earmarked more than $4.2 billion for payments to its debt collectors since the start of the 2013 fiscal year, federal spending data show.

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WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? (PART TWO)

In Part One of this article I exposed the establishment narrative of a strong economy as rubbish by providing hard data regarding imploding gasoline usage, failing bricks and mortar retailers and plunging restaurant sales.

“Inflation may indeed bring benefits for a short time to favored groups, but only at the expense of others. And in the long run it brings ruinous consequences to the whole community. Even a relatively mild inflation distorts the structure of production. It leads to the overexpansion of some industries at the expense of others. This involves a misapplication and waste of capital. When the inflation collapses, or is brought to a halt, the misdirected capital investment—whether in the form of machines, factories or office buildings—cannot yield an adequate return and loses the greater part of its value.Nor is it possible to bring inflation to a smooth and gentle stop, and so avert a subsequent depression.” – Henry Hazlitt – Economics in One Lesson

Inflation is the opium of the masses. The establishment’s interest in dumbing down the masses through government controlled public school indoctrination couldn’t be clearer than examining the chart below. The average non-thinking, math challenged, iGadget distracted, media controlled pawn thinks their household income has risen by $6,000 since 2008 because they have no understanding of Fed created inflation.

Continue reading “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? (PART TWO)”

GREY CHAMPION ASSUMES COMMAND (PART TWO)

In Part One of this article I discussed the arrival of Grey Champions in previous Fourth Turnings; their attributes, deficiencies, and leadership skills; and why Donald Trump is the Grey Champion of this Fourth Turning – whether you like it or not. Now I will try to make sense of what could happen next.

“Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people. The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election. For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the global special interests, they partner with these people that don’t have your good in mind. The political establishment that is trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country dry.

It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people.” – Donald Trump

Seventy year old Donald Trump has assumed the Grey Champion flagstaff. In an increasingly chaotic world, normal working class Americans in flyover country were seeking a leader who could bring order, defeat the corrupt establishment, make tough decisions, and capture the zeitgeist of this moment in history. The ruling elite oligarchs and their fawning minions, occupying their strongholds in New York, California, Illinois, and D.C., are infuriated the peasants have dared to resist. In their secretive secure spaces, the elites are plotting with one purpose in mind – this uprising must be quelled.

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YOU ARE PAYING FOR SPRING BREAK

Obama and his government minions have doled out over $1.3 trillion to our yuuts so they could get educated. I bet you didn’t know that the funds aren’t all directed to the school for tuition and fees. The funds for books, rent, and living expenses are given directly to the student. How many responsible 18 to 21 year olds do you know. We already know that over 50% of the morons matriculating into college have 0% chance of graduating because they are dumber than a sack of hammers.

But they do know how to spend “found” money on iGadgets, HDTVs, booze, concerts, fast food, and they absolutely need to kick back on Spring Break after getting 3 D’s, a C in remedial maff, and an F in financial planning. It seems millions of these morons are spending their student loan money on a good time. They deserve it.

The best part is that Obama and his cronies wanted this to happen. The student loan scam was nothing but an artificial attempt to reduce unemployment and boost GDP. It’s been a huge success. Now that 40% of all student loans are in default, your government will come up with some asinine reason for writing off at least $500 billion. That means, you funded the spring breaks of these worthless pieces of shit. Happy Saturday suckers.

Via Bloomberg

Can You Use Student Loans to Go on Spring Break?

The essential college experience requires all-nighters at the library and, to some, a keg stand or two and a less-than-lucid spring break vacation. And much like a degree, tequila shots and beachside hotels don’t come cheap.

About one in five American students graduating this year who carry debt said they used student loans to pay for such expenses as vacations, dining out, and entertainment, according to a poll¹ conducted in early May by Google Consumer Surveys on behalf of Student Loan Hero. Undergraduates finishing college in 2014 owed an average of $28,950 in student debt, the result of loans taken out to cover both tuition and living expenses.

But when is it living, and when is it living it up?

Beyond tuition and housing, cost-of-attendance expenses that can be paid for with student loans include books, school supplies, transportation, and “miscellaneous personal expenses,” according to the U.S. Department of Education. Asked whether that covers vacations, the department said it would look into the matter.

Continue reading “YOU ARE PAYING FOR SPRING BREAK”

WHY SO WORRIED?

What a bunch of worry warts. Just because the Fed and Wall Street have driven home ownership rates to an all-time low and increased the number of renters to an all-time high through their warped monetary schemes, while driving rents up at an annual pace of over 8%, why worry?

Just because your monthly rent is at an all-time high, while real median household income is at the same level it was in 1989, why worry?

Just because your healthcare costs are rising at an annual rate of 10% or more, why worry about making your rent payment?

Just because you have $40,000 of student loan debt and a waiter job at Applebees, why worry about that silly rent payment?

Just because filling up your leased SUV is 30% more expensive than it was in mid-February, why worry about rent?

Don’t worry, be happy.

You will find more statistics at Statista

Failure To Get Into Private College To Be Most Financially Responsible Act Of 17-Year-Old’s Life

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO—Saying the turn of events will greatly benefit the 17-year-old’s economic security, sources confirmed Friday that local high school senior Emily Harrison’s failure to get into the University of Southern California, a private academic institution, will be the single most financially responsible act of her entire life. According to reports, Harrison’s rejected application, which she spent weeks preparing in hopes of spending four years at her “dream school,” will save the young student a total of nearly $370,000, including $205,768 in tuition, $3,714 in fees, $57,392 in room and board, and $101,670 in student loan interest payments. The rejection, which led a visibly devastated Harrison to agonize over whether she should have participated in more extracurricular activities or obtained additional letters of recommendation, will reportedly allow her to avoid a period of 10 years or more in which she would have struggled to repay her loans, inevitably racking up credit card debt to cover basic necessities and ultimately leaving her unable to buy a home. Sources said the teen will still face financial disaster if she follows through on her long-term plan to enter a PhD program, which would require her to spend approximately one-fifth of her adult life bringing in little to no income.

Via The Onion

WHY SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE COLLEGE GRADUATES ARE DUMBER THAN A SACK OF HAMMERS

If you ever needed more proof that a college education has become a virtual joke, check out the chart below. Higher Education should be renamed Lower Education, since the standards of excellence have been lowered so far, any moron can get a degree. With a large distribution of students, grades should resemble a bell curve. I learned that in my college Stat class. That would mean approximately 15% to 20% A’s.

Shockingly, back in the 1960s & 1970s about 15% to 20% of students got As. Did college students suddenly get super smart over the last 15 years? Based on the chart, we’ve got some real Einsteins out there. The number of A grades has skyrocketed from 30% to 45% in the last fifteen years.

This is a fucking joke. This is the same time period in which every moron who can spell CAT has been able to matriculate into college with the trillions in student loan debt being peddled by Obama and his minions. We know for a fact, based on SAT scores, that at least 50% of kids in college aren’t intellectually capable of succeeding.

So the solution is to dumb down the curriculum and inflate grades because it is only about the money. Kids who flunk out don’t pay tuition. Our entire educational edifice of idiocy is a disaster. Kids graduating with 3.5 GPAs today aren’t half as smart as the kids graduating with 3.5 GPAs in 1980. The lack of intelligence and common sense is evident everywhere you look. The special snowflakes can be coddled and given A’s for doing C work, but that doesn’t make them prepared for the real world.

This country is so screwed and there is no way to unscrew it.

It’s never been easier to get an A in a college class (or more expensive)

By Jillian Berman via Marketwatch

College students are more likely to get an A than in the past.

Add this to the list of consequences of rising college tuition: Students getting better grades than they deserve.

A’s were the most common grade on college campuses in 2013, accounting for 45% of grades awarded to students, according to an analysis of grade data at more than 80 schools by Stuart Rojstaczer, an independent researcher, and Chris Healy, a computer science professor at Furman University. By contrast, college students were most likely to get C’s leading up to the Vietnam War, accounting for about 35% of grades awarded. The two researchers have been collecting and reporting on grade data for years. Monday’s release marks the latest version of their analysis.