Biden's presidency

[CMRivdogs]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

I know three people who did the RV thing an all of them sold after a year. 

You know what they say about RV and boat ownership. The two best days......

[Jim Cowan]

7 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

You know what they say about RV and boat ownership. The two best days......

What is the correct length for a boat?  3 feet longer than the one that you already have.  If you are an avid cyclist, what is the correct number of bicycles to own?  The answer is n+ 1, where n= the number that you currently own.

[gehringer_2]

1 minute ago, Jim Cowan said:

If you are an avid cyclist, what is the correct number of bicycles to own?  The answer is n+ 1, where n= the number that you currently own.

LOL - I've been holding at two, but I don't mountain bike. I am considering an E-Bike though.......

But 35ft is the sweet spot for the boat on the Great Lakes. But that's easy before having pulled the trigger on the purchase.

[Jim Cowan]

2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

LOL - I've been holding at two, but I don't mountain bike. I am considering an E-Bike though.......

But 35ft is the sweet spot for the boat on the Great Lakes. But that's easy before having pulled the trigger on the purchase.

Ha ha I am holding at 1 bike and 0 boats.  I was interested in a boat a few years ago, a Contessa which at 26' could be handled by 1 person..

[pfife]

14 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

What is the correct length for a boat?  3 feet longer than the one that you already have.  If you are an avid cyclist, what is the correct number of bicycles to own?  The answer is n+ 1, where n= the number that you currently own.

thats my formula for guitars

[Jim Cowan]

Just now, pfife said:

thats my formula for guitars

Oh yes I can see where that would apply.

[oblong]

52 minutes ago, pfife said:

thats my formula for guitars

I was going to say that. I don’t have any. But my friends who do…. Coke is less addictive and cheaper. 

[mtutiger]

 

[pfife]

8 hours ago, oblong said:

I was going to say that. I don’t have any. But my friends who do…. Coke is less addictive and cheaper. 

I dont even know how many I have now, I think its 13.     I don't like selling guitars but I did sell 2 amps in the past week... but I bought 1 lol

[RatkoVarda]

Between undergrad, graduate and law school loans my wife and I had over $150k in loans. Through hard work I was able to make a small dent and through luck, I was able to pay them off after 12 years. We bought a starter house later than our friends and we bought our second house later as well in part because of the repayment burden. It all worked out but it did have to be so difficult. We could have been growing our wealth so much earlier.

College is too expensive. 17 year olds taking out six figures loans is crazy. This is just a patch but welcome. They need to make SL debt dischargeable in bankruptcy; that would actually help a lot. Hopefully this is step one of five to getting this under control.

Finally I have never needed FEMA aide after a flood or hurricane or tornado. I do not curse my fellow Americans to suffer when they are in need. I am so happy for the relief this brings to people even though my children will never have SL debt.

[Motown Bombers]

Kind of telling how the ones most worked up about it are the ones who attended elite schools like Romney, Hawley and Cruz. 

[chasfh]

 

 

[chasfh]

 

 

 

 

[gehringer_2]

14 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

And Mittens, who used religion to get out of the draft, harassed people who didn't serve in Vietnam and protested the Vietnam War, the one our government knew we couldn't win as early as 1965.    

Mittens also built his wealth on one of great government giveaways ever - the carried interest deduction.

[oblong]

Someone on twitter said that the government basically just gave some people a 25% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon.

 

[ewsieg]

This student loan thing irks me, not so much from the angle that many of the republicans complain, although I agree that it will definitely be unfair to some and aide others that it really shouldn't, in the end though, the burden is too high.

What irks me, is instead of the government trying to tackle some issues on why tuition costs are so high, or things like do you really need a "fake" masters degree to be a teacher.  The government helped push higher education to steer the US towards a service economy in the last few decades, but it hasn't done anything since to try and improve from there.  Instead of looking at it, we're just going to throw money at it and the problem will remain.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

My biggest disappointment with Biden on student loan forgiveness isn't hat he didn't adopt the Warren/Schumer plan to do $50k in cancellation. Rather, it is that we aren't doing nearly enough to reign in the rising cost of college and holding these universities to account when they jack up tuition increase 10-15-20% in the matter of a 2 or 3 year period. That is one of the real crises we need to address IMO.

[Motown Bombers]

9 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

My biggest disappointment with Biden on student loan forgiveness isn't hat he didn't adopt the Warren/Schumer plan to do $50k in cancellation. Rather, it is that we aren't doing nearly enough to reign in the rising cost of college and holding these universities to account when they jack up tuition increase 10-15-20% in the matter of a 2 or 3 year period. That is one of the real crises we need to address IMO.

This may be wild thinking of me, but why don't Warren and Schumer introduce their plan to the senate and whip up the votes and get it to the desk of Biden? 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 minute ago, Motown Bombers said:

This may be wild thinking of me, but why don't Warren and Schumer introduce their plan to the senate and whip up the votes and get it to the desk of Biden? 

You know damn well why, because we have two Senators that will literally gridlock it due to the filibuster.

[Motown Bombers]

5 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

You know damn well why, because we have two Senators that will literally gridlock it due to the filibuster.

Those two senators have passed more legislation for climate change for example than Warren or Sanders. Perhaps instead of demanding they pass everything on the progressive wish list, we see what they will give? I think Manchin would be willing to give a little but it won't pass the progressive purity test. 

[gehringer_2]

49 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

My biggest disappointment with Biden on student loan forgiveness isn't hat he didn't adopt the Warren/Schumer plan to do $50k in cancellation. Rather, it is that we aren't doing nearly enough to reign in the rising cost of college and holding these universities to account when they jack up tuition increase 10-15-20% in the matter of a 2 or 3 year period. That is one of the real crises we need to address IMO.

I could write a book...

Suffice it to say the problem of college cost is complex. It's not like big Pharma where there is some pot of profits to go after. Colleges spend all the income they take in, and mostly on middle class salaries. The educational model we use is expensive, but it is also the one demanded by students and their parents.

But there is another more global and insidious economic factor at play that people tend to miss. As technology creates a more capital intensive and higher productivity economy, the relative cost of buying a person's time keeps going up compared to the amount of other goods available for the same cost. And education, the way we still do it, is 100% people's time, so it's relative cost compared to other goods will keep increasing until we are willing to adopt teaching systems that require fewer people, but that is exactly the opposite what today's college market wants - which is lower student to staff ratios.

Edited August 25, 2022 by gehringer_2

[Motown Bombers]

 

[mtutiger]

23 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I could write a book...

Suffice it to say the problem of college cost is complex. It's not like big Pharma where there is some pot of profits to go after. Colleges spend all the income they take in, and mostly on middle class salaries. The educational model we use is expensive, but it is also the one demanded by students and their parents.

 

Not an expert by any means, but my understanding is that funding levels in the public university space, set by state governments, are a factor as well - states have, over time, generally reduced funding, which then gets passed onto the consumer (ie. kids and their parents).

Is this fair to say?

Edited August 25, 2022 by mtutiger

[mtutiger]

1 hour ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

My biggest disappointment with Biden on student loan forgiveness isn't hat he didn't adopt the Warren/Schumer plan to do $50k in cancellation. Rather, it is that we aren't doing nearly enough to reign in the rising cost of college and holding these universities to account when they jack up tuition increase 10-15-20% in the matter of a 2 or 3 year period. That is one of the real crises we need to address IMO.

This seems to be what has the most traction, at least more than the moral hazard / class warfare debate. And it's something we should all agree on.

It would be nice if we had a functioning government that didn't require reconciliation in order to do anything big, because this is a problem that we need to tackle, like, yesterday.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

My biggest disappointment with Biden on student loan forgiveness isn't hat he didn't adopt the Warren/Schumer plan to do $50k in cancellation. Rather, it is that we aren't doing nearly enough to reign in the rising cost of college and holding these universities to account when they jack up tuition increase 10-15-20% in the matter of a 2 or 3 year period. That is one of the real crises we need to address IMO.

I was starting to look into this a little, wondering whether an increase in students receiving grants and scholarships might somewhat offset dramatic increases in tuition. But this web page says that only 7% of students do so, so obviously not.

I do notice on this page, however, that public grants and scholarships going to students at private colleges is substantially greater than those going to students at public colleges, and furthermore, the average grant/scholarship amount drop precipitously with family income at public schools, but not by nearly as much at private schools:

This perplexes me. Can anyone with knowledge of this process help me understand why this is?