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A real tipping point in America...is about to be reached?

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I feel like the real deal is coming up on the horizon. I have had this rising feeling in my gut about something like this a lot lately, that I've not really had before. Could we in America be heading for the 1960's on steroids, in order to take back America from the lunatics who have hijacked us, or will Americans continue to behave in their distraction spheres as it is

They will do the same thing until about 50 million people can't find work.
 

Warped1

I'm a victim of fast women and slow horses
Veteran
We certainly don't need more leaders..and I don't know that we can have fewer leaders..even though I agree that government .....the US government, is way too big for it's britches. I just think the plan (whatever plan there is) is already in motion and we're just along for a very scary ride.
 

SpasticGramps

Don't Drone Me, Bro!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Here's what a tipping point looks like in pretty pictures.

As '11 Ends, 11 Charts Of 11 Disturbing 11 Year Trends
As we pop the corks of our proverbial champagne this weekend with an eye to a better year ahead, perhaps it is worth thinking about these 11 incredible trends that have evolved in a rather disturbing manner over the last 11 years. As John Lohman points out, the 21st century has not been pretty for ongoing centrally planned attempts to defer the 30 year overdue mean reversion.

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Hydrosun

I love my life
Veteran
Nice graphs. Do you have any insight into the government owned consumer credit? My thought is most of that would be student loans and increases in student loans from fazing out private lenders in the student loan biz. But I am not sure.

Anyone else feel really bad for the 11 year old kids running around middle school? Anyone else want to puke at the thought of them having to pay for what our fathers have done?

:joint:
 

DiscoBiscuit

weed fiend
Veteran
Nice graphs. Do you have any insight into the government owned consumer credit? My thought is most of that would be student loans and increases in student loans from fazing out private lenders in the student loan biz. But I am not sure.

My college loan was guaranteed. I paid it back so it wasn't a taxpayer liability. But it wasn't gub issued insurance. It was a private policy that was guaranteed to be paid off in the event I defaulted. The insurance company had a guaranteed policy and the trade off was I received a better interest rate than they would have charged a non-backed loan.

You might be surprised how much government backed student loans have been nixed and the private sector has taken over. A dumb ass chick I know decided to finish a bachelors in english. She's 51 so she didn't qualify for a Pell Grant but 2.5 years worth of credit hours didn't get her a guaranteed loan.

The only option she had was a fucking university credit card that ended up costing her almost $50k for 1.5 semesters. And she attended a state university that isn't considered for-profit.

The card is set up just like a typical consumer credit card. If she doesn't hunker down on payments, she'll owe six figures by the time she's old enough to retire.

Anyone else feel really bad for the 11 year old kids running around middle school? Anyone else want to puke at the thought of them having to pay for what our fathers have done?

:joint:
I feel bad for all of us. Those kids should have the opportunity to attend college without having to finance the better part of their professional careers. We've priced higher education and health care beyond the grasp of so many it's perpetually and exponentially self-defeating.
 

SpasticGramps

Don't Drone Me, Bro!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I'm pretty sure that's toxic mortgage debt. Fannie Freddie debt kept "off the books."

The debt left to the young generations of today is immoral. It will eventually be defaulted on (micro and macro).
 

SpasticGramps

Don't Drone Me, Bro!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
We've priced higher education and health care beyond the grasp of so many it's perpetually and exponentially self-defeating.
Student loans are another bubble. Anyone and everyone can get a loan at almost no interest thus the price of school rises exponentially. Same thing as in housing. It's what happens with ZIRP (zero interest rate policy). Bubbles bubbles everywhere. The college bubble will eventually pop. No jobs = loan defaults = bailout.

ZIRP has helped to make made college educations useless pieces of paper. Thank you Greenspan and Bernanke and Co.

The exclusivity of college in the old days is what made a higher education valuable. Not everyone is meant to go. Now that everyone can go load up on debt and go to school not only do they graduate a debt slave, but their education is rendered useless because everyone else has the same thing.
 
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DiscoBiscuit

weed fiend
Veteran
We could allow gas and electric companies to charge whatever they want and finance their wares at exorbitant rates. And we'd have even more complaints that too few are getting too rich at the expense of too many.

IMO, every kid shouldn't get a college education. We need skilled tradesmen, burger flippers and ditch diggers. The high price of education shouldn't dictate so many career paths away from the opportunity.

If worth is measured by the few who possess it, we end up with record wealth disparity.
 

SpasticGramps

Don't Drone Me, Bro!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
The high price of education shouldn't dictate so many career paths away from the opportunity.
No it shouldn't. It's f'ing ridiculous that kids today are graduating with home sized mortgage loans. Loans they can't discharge, essentially making them wage slaves at the start of their career.

Tuition in America has become an instrument of oppression. It's a means through which the government can pump huge sums of fiat money (debt) into the economy. You can get huge loans for school and go buy Xboxs, iPhones, and twinkies etc etc with all the extra money. They'll loan you way more than you need. Wow, that was fun. Then you graduate a clueless wage slave flipping burgers with a degree in Art Appreciation.

When the government gets involved in anything it because outrageously expensive.

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I think this chart puts the tuition bubble in perspective. You can clearly see the housing bubble and it's reversion to the mean. That little hump had some pretty significant consequences. I don't really want to think about what the reversion of the tuition line to the CPI mean is going to look like. Ugly I presume and revert it must because it's completely unsustainable as it is.

I'm all for state universities. When the market was "freer" they were more reasonable priced. You use to be able to work while going to college and pay the bills and still have a beer here and there without loans. Our current system is out of control and given the fact that the FED's completely took over college loans in the new healthcare bill I dare say it's going to get much much worse before it gets better, if ever at all.

Command economies grossly miss-allocate capital and IMO our higher educational system is a prime example of such disasters.
 
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DiscoBiscuit

weed fiend
Veteran
Gramps, there's several ways to pay for your eduction. Some are fortunate enough to plan ahead and actually pay outright without having to borrow. Some are fortunate enough to get low-interest government loans. I know, I got one myself. Prior to applying for the loan I deducted the amount of my Pell Grant as required.

I could have taken out a private loan and buy all the junk you suggest students are hawking their futures on. But taht would most likely disqualify me for a student loan.

Low interest, government-backed student loans are going the way of regulations. Less money is available to back student loans when lawmakers steer the system toward non-backed private lenders.

The gal I know that racked up 50k in 18 months didn't buy any crap except housing, books and tuition. It only cost that much because the first loan agency that accepted her first loan application banked on the possibility she didn't know she could get that gub loan for less than $15k.

Poor thing just didn't realize that the private sector doesn't care whether she knew what her best interests were. When I went to college, dummies could give loan counselors their financial information and it was the counselors responsibility to advise potential loan options. These dummies were told that many first applications are rejected yet subsequent attempts receive even better acceptance rates. They weren't credit-card hawkers seeking 30% interest.

We can invest in our nation's future by restricting lenders to a modest profit instead of exorbitant profits. Or, we can make it so that folks seeking opportunity have to pay greed before they can own their own educations.
 

Dorje113

Member
Student loans are another bubble. Anyone and everyone can get a loan at almost no interest thus the price of school rises exponentially. Same thing as in housing. It's what happens with ZIRP (zero interest rate policy). Bubbles bubbles everywhere. The college bubble will eventually pop. No jobs = loan defaults = bailout.

ZIRP has helped to make made college educations useless pieces of paper. Thank you Greenspan and Bernanke and Co.

The exclusivity of college in the old days is what made a higher education valuable. Not everyone is meant to go. Now that everyone can go load up on debt and go to school not only do they graduate a debt slave, but their education is rendered useless because everyone else has the same thing.

There's already legislation introduced that would bailout student loan debt, I didn't follow it so I'm not sure where it's at now, but it is coming. I got an engineering degree 5 or 6 years ago, luckily I got grants and had some previous college credit so I only ended up $30k in debt. However, I agree the value of my education just isn't what it used to be... these days you need a college education to have the same quality of life a factory worker had a few decades ago. The really f'ed up thing is that kids that don't know better are racking up $100k+ in student loans, which comes to over $1k / month for 30 years. For most, this is a HUGE chunk of their income and will take their entire adult life to pay for it. It is like being born into (wage) slavery. People without a college education are far worse off than they used to be, our ridiculously low minimum wage and depressed job market will be sure they live in poverty and struggle just to keep a roof over their heads. If things don't swing the other way it will lead to revolution in one form or another...
 

Hydro-Soil

Active member
Veteran
Big ups to Hydrosun for putting things eloquently, logically and truthfully.
Nice to see some real reason in the world.

Stay Safe! (it's getting tougher in this police state that has now become a military-police state "Obama signed the NDAA bill on the 200 th birthday of the bill of rights.")

Remember to buy your ammo in small lots and in cash. The DHS (KGB) is watching you....
 
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