Author Topic: College conspiracy - college education is the largest scam in U.S. history  (Read 14693 times)

Skeletor

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http://inflation.us/videos.html

Very interesting video by National Inflation Association.

Things are like that also in Italy, what about your countries?
What I enjoy the most in roguelikes: Anti-Farming and Mac Givering my way out. Kind of what I also enjoy in life.

guest509

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  I went into debt over $200,000 and finally got my law degree. Borrowed another $15,000 so I could study for and take the bar. After failing (incredibly ill the day of the test) I had to wait 6 months to take the test again.
  I passed.
  And have now been unemployed for over a year. Unless you count the seasonal farm labor I have been doing for a friend....
  What's wrong with my country? Was it my expectation that was skewed? Shouldn't a doctor of law with a license to practice law at least be able to get a living wage job somewhere. Anywhere?

  I had a good job before law school too. Social worker. Should have kept at it.

Skeletor

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We grew up with movies that made us feel everyone could get what he wanted for the outside and this is an impossible thing to achieve in a phony economy like we have in Usa/Eurozone. High taxes + regulations -> no jobs.
At least in the USA you have people you can vote to solve this situation (Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, and IIRC even Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader weren't that bad); here in Europe actually no way to save ourselves from the bankster tyrants.
Media don't talk about Iceland, whose citizens refused to paymoney/getdebt/getregulations to bail out an irresponsible bank - IceSave - they didn't swallowed the mainstream economists pill "if you don't bail out your big banks, your economy will fall" and they're still here, historically stronger and wiser than before - I bet Iceland big banks will pay more attention next time they thing about opening a high leveraged lazy position in the market.

I am very sorry about your situation Jo, I really hope you'll manage to pay back that debt as soon as possible.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2011, 08:23:16 AM by Skeletor »
What I enjoy the most in roguelikes: Anti-Farming and Mac Givering my way out. Kind of what I also enjoy in life.

guest509

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  There is absolutely no way I'll be able to pay it off. Ever. I have recently developed major respiratory issues, so my work capacity is severely limited. Even without that it would take $1000 a month just to break even on the interest. They also created laws that make it difficult to bankrupt. So the debt will just sit there...freakin' school told me they have a 97% employment rate with average wage of $85k. Lies!!! Wish I could sue, but they have their bases covered.

  There is an outside chance I can bankrupt because of my health. But then what? No medical care, no jobs. Grah!!!

Skeletor

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How does this debt influences your life? Like, do you have to necessarly pay something every month or otherwise they take your home?
I know that lots of americans actually are in the same financial situation (huge unpayable debt because of college scam) so maybe there's not that much to worry about, but if I were you I'd personally leave that place as soon as possible. Canada looks like a very nice place with a strong economy, would your phd work there?
What I enjoy the most in roguelikes: Anti-Farming and Mac Givering my way out. Kind of what I also enjoy in life.

guest509

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  Well my education would likely be valuable in Canada but my debt would follow me. The laws allow creditors to seize assets. Not sure about seizure in foreign countries but I would be blown away if there weren't laws allowing American companies to seize the foreign assets of American debtors. And Canada is close using the same language. Maybe Korea or Japan, wages there should be harder to track.
  My debt initially dominated my life as a struggled to get the highest paying job possible no matter how shitty it was and no matter who I was hurting (lawyers fuck people for a living). Lately though my health has failed and I have stopped caring. Stopped paying my bills as well. And with no assets or income they cannot seize anythings. We call this status 'judgment proof'.
  So fuck you Citibank. Yeah. That's right. Thanks for the predatory loans, looks like you bet on the wrong horse this time you assholes. I'm sure the government will cover your stupid mistakes.
  Why can't the government cover me? :-(

Skeletor

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I'm on your side against those 'fuckers Jo.
What I enjoy the most in roguelikes: Anti-Farming and Mac Givering my way out. Kind of what I also enjoy in life.

Fenrir

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Oh yes, damn them for requiring you pay them what they are owed; damn them for holding you to your word—to the deal you made. Damn them.

Psiweapon

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Oh yes, damn them for requiring you pay them what they are owed; damn them for holding you to your word—to the deal you made. Damn them.

Fenrir, I think you are an intelligent and polite individual, and I know how the liberal* ideology/economy works thanks to (ironically) some of my college education, but you should be aware that there are many, many people playing real life munchkin on other people's asses thanks to that ideology/economy.

You should acknowledge the fact that this ideology makes people ruin other people's lifes for money, and I don't mean "by comparison", I mean "as an absolute".

It's all fun and games until someone hands you your financial ass. That might be you someday, Fenrir.

All that said, I don't intend to be hurtful, or flaming. I don't think I am, but just in case.

* Liberal in the sense we use it around here, that is capitalist
The invisible hand is a lie, the fiendish dogma of the market cultists. Lest the apostasy grows strong, their blood god will devour each and everyone, pious and infidel alike.

Fenrir

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I do not see why you would suspect that the bank has committed some villany here. Unless there is something more that Jo has not offered us, there is no evidence to suppose that they made the agreement in the knowledge that he could not return the money. If he agreed to pay the bank in exchange for borrowing funds, I see no evil here, only a man that has made a serious and pitiable blunder. I’m not the less sorry for his plight, but I think that his anger is unjustified.

You will never see me tell you that capitalism does away with thieves, but, in this circumstance, I see none.

guest509

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   Well Fenrir I thank you for your comments and will try to answer...
   The education finance system, like the housing finance system, is a dangerous scam. They lie to you about the value of what you are getting (schools do this), while at the same time taking no risk.
   A loan is supposed to go two ways. In a default banks risk their money while the borrower risks their credit and their assets. But banks have rigged the system so that the risk now only goes one way. They have altered the bankruptcy code and lobbied the government into guaranteeing the loan with your tax money. So they toss about money willy nilly. You should be outraged. This zero risk 'ninja' loaning only serves to up the cost of school (like it did with housing) requiring more people to borrow. This is ultimately destructive when the house of cards comes crashing down.     
   There is more student debt out there now than credit card debt. Way more. And you cannot get student loans off of the ledgers with bankruptcy, so banks continue to treat it as good debt and leverage other loaning against it. This is so dangerous to the world economy, as we have seen, that the immorality of it boggles the mind. When it crashes billions will be adversely affected. This is one part of why I am angry. You should be to I think.

   While I am not responsible for perpetrating one of the greatest scams in world history, I should still look at my own personal responsibility. I agree with that. Fully. I took the loans, I knew how much they would be, and I had a plan for paying them off. But it turns out the employment outlook was not and has never been close to what they said it would be so I was destined to a high rate of failure from the get go. I was lied to and taken advantage of, and I could not have known going into it that I was being duped. Now I realize it and that is why I am enraged. Furthering my anger is the insane notion that my insolvency has some bearing on my moral turpitude.

   'Luckily' I will be able to bankrupt all of this due to my health problems (the one silver lining on a fucked up situation). I'd love to just be able to get a job and pay it back. But that was very unlikely to ever happen. I'd love to be able to raise a family, have sex without having to monitor my heart rate, be able to stop lying about how sick I am in interviews, etc... I didn't bust my ass for years to get a doctorate and pass the bar so I could be a fucking wastoid on social security. So I am pissed about that as well.

  Stay tuned for my next release. Angry_Man_RL.  :P

Skeletor

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Oh yes, damn them for requiring you pay them what they are owed; damn them for holding you to your word—to the deal you made. Damn them.

Putting yourself in the lenders shoes, at a first sight a sentence like yours could sound reasonable, but before judging you have to understand who lent Jo (and millions of other american students) the money.
Because he's not an individual like you and me.

He can lend like 9 times the money they have (read about fractional reserve). You couldn't.
Oh and he can take interests out of that non-existant money created out of thin air.
And this of course also creates inflation.
Last but not least, if he makes risky high leveraged investments his loss could be refilled (with money indirectly taken from you and me Fenrir), and this unfortunately doesn't apply for you and me.

(some) Big bankers are the main responsable of the fact those americans live in a world where prices constantly go ballistic, jobs are unexistant because regulations, the wealth gap is keep growing.
They intentionally don't let the system heal itself because as it is, it means big cashflow for them. Financing politicians (both left and right of course, only few candidates refuse to take their bribes) they take the real control of the situation.. and the only US president so far who dared to oppose the mechanism of money creation by the Federal Reserve were Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and John Fitzgerrald Kennedy.
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Skeletor

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Interesting opinion about recent Warren Buffet Bank of America "investment":
http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2011/08/think-buffet-investment-in-bac-is.html
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jim

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I am a little skeptical of the constant emphasis on gold as holding "real" value. At the end of the day, adventurers make up less than 1% of the general population, and it's well-known that shopkeepers in deeper levels of the dungeon outrageously mark up their magic scrolls. That's not even considering the encumbrance levels involved in carting around thousands of gold sovereigns. Personally, I advocate currency based on the Strange Item (si.)

Skeletor

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Re: College conspiracy - college education is the largest scam in U.S. history
« Reply #14 on: September 01, 2011, 09:59:42 AM »
I am a little skeptical of the constant emphasis on gold as holding "real" value. At the end of the day, adventurers make up less than 1% of the general population, and it's well-known that shopkeepers in deeper levels of the dungeon outrageously mark up their magic scrolls. That's not even considering the encumbrance levels involved in carting around thousands of gold sovereigns. Personally, I advocate currency based on the Strange Item (si.)

Hahaahh thank you Jim ;D ;D
What I enjoy the most in roguelikes: Anti-Farming and Mac Givering my way out. Kind of what I also enjoy in life.