I’m reminded of that scene from the movie Animal House. “You fucked up, ya trusted us.”

She was $120,000 in debt BEFORE she chose not to serve the supposed corporatist world, and all but perhaps $20,000 associated with her medical bills was foreseeable. She had the benefit of full-ride scholarships throughout her education but apparently chose not to defray her living costs by taking a job. Her choice.

Why should we feel sorry for her? Would you feel the same way toward her if she had been in this same situation but was about to join a Wall Street law firm with a six-figure entry salary? Of course not.

What happened to personal responsibility and living with the results of your decisions? Other than the medical expenses, she is living with the choices SHE made.

Must we listen to this yet again? Please everybody, join me in flagging this individual’s profile page. I’m sick of heartless cruelty poisoning every discussion.

Margaret, where do you have a problem with this commentary? It’s all facts. She made the decisions that got her in debt. She should bear the responsibility to rely them.

By the way, if crushing college debt is such a problem, why is FDL taking money from advertisers hawking low-interest loans to fund college degrees? That seems kinda two-faced to me.

By the way, if crushing college debt is such a problem, why is FDL taking money from advertisers hawking low-interest loans to fund college degrees? That seems kinda two-faced to me.

Okay, how it works is that FDL leases space to google ads and they put up the content, not FDL.

…but apparently chose not to defray her living costs by taking a job.

You’re such a dickhead… buh-bye…!

Ok how this works is that FDL is happy to take money from google without regard for what advertisers are selling. That sounds like the same thing that wall street does, doesn’t it?

It’s about taking responsibility for your actions, CT. I didn’t say she should have worked while in college but if she did not then she should live with her debts. That’s all.

Are you really that clueless…?

Done, Margaret. So long, vile troll.

Are you for fucking REAL??? How come the taxpayers are on the hook for the responsibilities that Wall St abrogated when they gambled everything and lost? You down with that?

Schools lie about jobs prospects and encourage students to take out loans which every person now knows that they will have a hard time repaying (since about 2005). Professors and possible future employers say, “They can’t outsource your future job in the profession I am preparing for you to enter.” It is all a big lie. And we fell for it because of ‘great advertising’. It is going to be hard to blame someone for falling for all of the lies.

I wish they didn’t have internet access available in Galt Gulch…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q

Yes as future employeers look at the background of the hirey this will be against them. It’s just like any credit scare.

My eldest daughter has been working 2-3 jobs throughout her college career in her pursuit of her doctorate in Psychology, she’s already saddled with $120k in student loans…! Get a f*cking clue…!

And I the looney bin in your hometown, Meg.

No, it isn’t. As a matter of fact I don’t recall FDL settling with the SEC for fraud or inappropriate actions. I’m pretty sure JP Morgan, BOA, and Goldman Sachs can’t say the same(as a matter of fact I’m positive since I searched for the settlements before submitting this statement.)

This person hasn’t got a clue. Flagged as inappropriate user. No point engaging with him/her.

Who is “Meg”?

Unethical behavior can exist without the SEC sending out a Wells notice, my friend. This site profits off ads that tout the same thing that Tom Thumb decries above.

Period.

And the point of the 99% is not to decide whose situation is worse or better or more deserving of empathy or criticism. The point is that people in the 99% are often in bad shape despite trying to do things the right way, while the top 1% don’t have to worry, they just keep on getting richer.

Apparently “happytosharebutdamn” is neither happy to share nor in the 99%. Do we have a Koch brothers plant here?

One of my son’s college loans is so ‘crooked’ that he’s paying just a monthly interest payment and nothing on the principal. He’s working full-time and thinks he will go into bankruptcy at some point in the future.

Off topic:
The Earth is now officially 6015 years old, (according to Ussher and his adherents), having supposedly been created “the night before October 23, 4004 BC”. Funny, I haven’t heard the fundies making a big fuss about it. Just goes to show you that they don’t believe their own bullshit.

Apparently you missed the replies above. FDL has no control over the ads run on this site, and cannot in most cases choose among them for adherence to the values of the site. How many times do we have to explain that.

No the point of the 99 is to blame others.

Should we assume you mean they settled for pennies on the dollar and everyone is now immune from prosecution?

STOP This OPPRE$$ION of US 99%! Return to the Eisenhower years’ 90% Marginal TAX on the $WELL$!! 99 ~ 90 OR FIGHT!!!

It’s pointless to argue with this person. You can’t reason with ideologues.

Actually that is not true. FDL has full control over what type of advertisers are allowed to post on this site. I use the same service and it’s written into every agreement.

A bitter old shrew of a woman.

Yeah, I have a couple on Facebook.

No the point of the 99 is to blame others.

A corporate plant, for sure.

S
C
R
O
L
L

*waves to “Meg”* LOL

As someone who has not had a TV since 1994, I missed the George Carlin precis of how our overlords have us by the balls. But I am playing ‘catch up’ and you might enjoy this thoughtful argument about how we are brainwashed by political advertisers 24/7, by Zechman on BlogTalkRadio.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking/2011/10/21/virtually-speaking-a-to-z

Are you stupid? If she were about to pull in a SIX FIGURE INCOME than she wouldn’t have made the statement that she’d never be out of debt. Her point IS that you should be able to devote yourself to being a lawyer for PEOPLE and make enough to pay for the schools that gave you the ability to do so and get sick with a paid for safety net(she had insurance through her JOB) and come out of it without hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt.

Her point went straight over your head.

Her point went straight over your head.

Assumes facts (possession of a functioning head) not in evidence.

It’s not unethical to advertise. Your just upset that the revenue stream has helped bring attention to the behavior on Wall Street.

Pretty sick of ad hominem attacks and pretty frustrated and disappointed that the mods allow it to continue. Well, it’s succeeded. I’m out. Goodnight.

Your complete ignorance shines thru with each and every comment you make…!

There must be other things making him upset as well if he has to spend his Saturday night acting like a chooch.

Aloha, Peg…! Sweet dreams…! *g*

I finished a PhD with a grand total of $4,500 in student loans. The money was still in the bank. I took it out in case of emergency while I was writing my dissertation. I went to a state university undergrad. My working class parents, my summer job and a small amount of student aid got me through without debt. I worked hard. But if you think I could have moved from a working class neighborhood to full funding at a top 10 graduate program working evenings and weekends during the school year, you know nothing about academia.

I want young people today to have the opportunities I had. I’m willing to pay taxes to provide those opportunities as others paid taxes for mine.

I’m out, too, although this is pretty entertaining. I finished a second glass of wine, off to bed to read. (Nixonland is great, but it is LONG.)

Nighters, all!

Dear Happy,

You are obviously a really unhappy person. You might enjoy Farly Katz’s new book, Journal Of A Schoolyard Bully. You remind me of Niko, the central character who is really scared and feels really rejected and abandoned by the people he loves. Why don’t you read this book which is full of cartoons drawn by Niko and journal notes by Niko. Let us know if this is helpful to you.

Thanks,

TomThumb

I don’t know about pennies on the dollar. They paid out millions in each of the instances I listed. You don’t pay out millions for fraudulent behavior if you aren’t guilty of it. Frankly, if you or I committed fraud we’d be doing jail time. It ought to be the same for those endowed with “corporate personhood.”

Oooh thanks. I learned a new word. Stealing for future use.

Learn something new everyday, eh…?

Sweet dreams, msmolly…!

Instead of flaging there profile why not talk about the Capitalist Con that the education system has become.Thay sell you and your in debt before the truth that you will never reach the top if your not a Sociopath.

The sad thing is that school loans can’t be discharged in court.
So if you went tens of thousands of dollars in debt to improve your education in hopes of becoming an asset AND creating a career you are screwed. You’ll be paying for years and years.
At least this young lady can declare bankruptcy and start over since her EDCUCATION was essentially paid for(and if she were in front of me that is likely what I’d tell her to do.)

She is right though. There is something essentially wrong with a system where you pay hundreds of dollars a month to cover sickness and still end up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. There is something wrong with a system that basically says a select few are worth millions of dollars even if they screw up but people who choose to work on behalf of average citizens will never be able to catch up on paying for the skills they acquired and therefore never have access to a first home(let alone the 5 or 6 vacation homes that some of the privileged of Wall Street acquire.)

Her story is a completely relateable and one that most will be sympathetic to. It shows clearly that the deck is heavily stacked.

So true.

…but people who choose to work on behalf of average citizens will never be able to catch up on paying for the skills they acquired and therefore never have access to a first home(let alone the 5 or 6 vacation homes that some of the privileged of Wall Street acquire.)

That about sums it up…!

The99percentDeclaration The list of 20 grievances would go a long way toward Fair Capitalism.Profit from Quality,Inovation,and Volume,Building Products and Services.Allways Middleclass Liveable Wages Health Care cost and Retirement.Never allow Slave Wages anywhere that the USA Trades with.Today the USA has a Capitalest Con System.

OK, I’m confused. This young woman ran up $30k in undergraduate debt (despite lots of scholarships) and then $70k in debt by attending a top-5 law school on full scholarship. Who did she think was going to pay off her living experiences? The $20k in medical co-pays and deductibles is that godawful thing that happens to many people with full health insurance….

Had she taken a damned corporate job for a few years, she could have paid off her debts. While I think it is admirable that she chose to work ‘for the people’, I just don’t know who she thought would pay off her debts.

I’ve been around here for a long time, and I do not invite being excoriated by the group, but I really see a reality-disconnect.

The educational system and the health care system are two things that do not work generally for the people. You can blame the victims who got trapped by it if you like or you can look for ways to fix it. Why shouldn’t health care just be paid by our taxes and be free access to everyone? Why shouldn’t education be the same thing, much like high school? There are ways to fix these things and that is what the 99% want IMO.

I don’t know all the details of this person’s life and neither do you. I choose not to blame her. I think it is those systems again that we live under, created by the 1% for the benefit of the 1%.

Most law schools prohibit students from working at all, especially the first year. Of course they can break the rule, but the rule is there because it is so tough, and breaking rules and lying isn’t good for job prospects despite (insert lawyer joke). Between years it’s expected you’ll do legal work, and sometimes that means unpaid. Then there’s a period of time for studying for the bar which is also more than full time. “Only” $70,000 for three+ years in NYC, including health insurance and books (on top of rent etc) sounds like she may have made some money during that time. Depending on what happens, and which non-profit, she’ll probably be fine, even working for a non-profit.

The ideas to take away for me are $50,000 in debts even excluding law school — for a BA which is a pretty basic requirement for any hope of a future, and an illness. The other thing to note is, what if she hadn’t gotten a full scholarship to (NYU or Columbia)? If she could even get loans for that amount, it would be close to $300,000 including everything — more than a mortgage for a median-priced home.

The issues that are going to cause problems with the deficit in the future (in addition to malfeasance by those in the financial sector) are health care, education, climate change and wars/military. None of these is being dealt with by any so-called “adults in the room.”

(and anyone who knows anything about adsense knows that it’s targeted to the topic on the page — it’s not that those are normal advertisers on FDL — mine here isn’t school loans anyway right now but other financial services)

College tuition has gone up 600% since 1970. Student loans were given to the banksters when BushII got into office. Getting a degree is the same as becoming an indentured servant. Or perhaps even a slave.

My husband and I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in the 60′s, loan-free because we were able to pay all our expenses through part-time and summer jobs. My husband’s graduate school education was free–he was awarded fellowships and didn’t have to pay tuition. I worked part time. We were totally debt free at all times.

There is no way that young people today can earn enough, even working full-time, to pay for college.

Young people today are living in a nightmare of limited opportunity. The 1% are nothing but parasites, sucking the life out of the rest of us. It is because the 1% controls our government that we have this rapacious economic system.

Where is the consent of the governed? I do not consent to this unfair, corrupt system, and it looks to me as if OWS means that there are lots of other people in the 99% who don’t consent, either.

I would think that in time she will pay off that debt, absent further health problems. But she is as much objecting to the need to work for corporate America as she is to the debt. Me thinks she sees corporate America as corrupt. Wonder where she would get that idea?

What don’t you understand? The money spent is the living expenses she incurred while in school. Did you expect her to live in a cardboard box? Or was she supposed to turn down the school that she was not only qualified to attend but got a full ride to because it was in an expensive part of the country?

You don’t see anything wrong with $20,000 worth of debt ON TOP OF paying your monthly insurance premium? Even though over 50% of the people in this country make under $30,000 a year?

Wow! Just wow! I have to say some of you must come from some pretty privileged backgrounds if you are unfamiliar with the fact that college can be extremely expensive, even if you don’t include tuition costs. Perhaps you should familiarize yourself with the term opportunity cost. It’s an economic term.

Once we stop the idiocy about deficits we can fix all those problems in short order. OWS has had some success in changing the conversation.

Sigh.

Another one missing the point.

It’s pretty unfathomable that the message we want to send our youth is that even though you are smart and capable you shouldn’t live up to your potential because doing so is going to place you tens of thousands of dollars in debt and put you behind the eight ball. Oh and message 2 people are less deserving of your time and attention then some huge conglomerate with headquarters in the Caymans.

Actually, the more I think about it, her debt is not all that high. Even working for the public she will make more that that in a year. Maybe I’m wrong.

That is the OWS message. I think it is all about corruption. We argued about deficits while millions had no job. Just think about it.

Yeah, I wasn’t suggesting that with massive un- and under-employment we worry about deficits, anyway. Just that teachers’ salaries, etc. will never be a factor in it no matter what .

look into any problem you want and you find it is insoluble the way this government works today. You just gotta be lucky.

I wish these people on OWS all the good fortune in the world. They are going to need it. They are up against an entrenched oligarchy who will not relent or give up their power easily. Just watching congress this last 10 months should show you how impossible this has become.

I’m outta here.

Cool your jets. I asked this: Who did she think was going to pay her debt for living expenses while at college? Answer me that, and then we’ll talk.
I agree the system is fucked, but one does have to think ahead best one can.

As I said, if I were her I’d take a page out of the corporate playbook while she’s still young enough. Discharge the debt in bankruptcy court. She can start over. This time without having to pay thousands while being unable to work because she is focusing on school.

Technically Kevin is right. She’s fairly lucky. With a grand most of her debt could disappear and in 7 years she’d have a clean slate.

Yes, she can probably discharge her living expenses in bankruptcy (where she could NOT discharge student loans) but that still doesn’t answer the question: Who did she think was going to pay her living expenses if she wasn’t going to pay them?

And whoever gave her/loaned her the money to pay her living expenses while attending the top=5 law school would be fucked. Okay, then.

$120,000 is pretty high. I don’t know what her starting wage is but $120,000 is the price of a house. A 20 year mortgage with that total is $1000 a month. If this is in card debt we likely aren’t looking at mortgage rate debt.

Granted as a lawyer she probably pulls in high 5 figures to six figure income.

Not “working for the people” she doesn’t. And If she did, why are we talking about this? She’d just repay whoever fronted her during her law school and undergraduate years. What else you got?

The median salary 9 months after graduation (probably counted like that because of bar exam) for a lawyer working for government is $50,000. Non-profit sector is probably in that range. Plus, there are expected to be fewer jobs than people seeking them, so nothing is secure even for lawyers.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos053.htm#outlook

What in the world are you babbling about? Even non corporate lawyers pull in higher than average salaries. As for why we are having this conversation, you might want to re read and focus on comprehension skills. Kevin states emphathetically that he could call her one of the “lucky ones.” The point wasn’t to pick the most unfortunate. The point was to show that the system no longer works to the benefit of society. If it did we wouldn’t be telling our youth not to bother going to school because doing so will only throw you into alot of debt. we also wouldn’t be saying screw “serving society” your job is to protect corporate personhood.

It’s about disparity.

I note that you have never answered the question: Who did she think would repay the people she took money from for living expenses during her top-5 law school years and during her undergraduate education.

So, as a courtesy, please don’t imply that I’m babbling….while you are obfuscating.

Sorry for the double post: She never said she’s not going to pay them, or that she’s surprised the bills come in her name and not Joe and Jane Taxpayers’ names likes AIG’s debts came in our names. She said or implied that you have to have parents from the 1% or work for the 1% in order to pay for law school and 1 illness, and a house and children etc. even with full scholarships. She implied that the American Dream is a lie.

And the issue is not her choices. The issue is how hard it is for top-notch lawyers (or any lawyers) to go to Columbia law school (or anywhere) and then do anything but suck more away from the 99%. Because that’s what corporate lawyers’ purpose is: maximize profits for their firms which is done by minimizing $ in the publics’ pockets.

Normally student loans are for the entire “cost of attendance” minus scholarships and aid. So I think loans for rent and books etc. would be considered student loans, and can’t ever be written off in bankruptcy — I don’t think there’s a distinction of whether those specific dollars went to tuition.

Heh

It sucks when people make the same type of cold callous decisions as corporate America does doesn’t it?

Here’s to hoping it was BoA or CapOne who figured they’d get rich.

Again, you aren’t paying attention to HER point. HER POINT is that she shouldn’t have even acquired that debt to begin with. If the system worked right you don’t leave school with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, let alone hundreds of thousands.

Schooling isn’t supposed to be a racket. It’s supposed to be an opportunity and a win for both the individual and society.

You keep going back to who does she think should have paid for her expenses while she was in school? How about society? How about if we truly think education is an important and essential requirement for a work force that we come up with a way to ensure that when you leave school you aren’t spending the next 30 years paying for going to school.

Yes, you’re wrong. Depends of course on what sort of “working for the public” job she has, but believe me, very few of those, even for lawyers, are anywhere near $100,000.
Legal services jobs, which is what I would think she means, begin anywhere from $25000 (yes, even today) in poorer areas to maybe $40,000.
Once you have ten or fifteen years experience you might get paid $50-55000/yr.
State salaries for lawyers in my state for recent grads like this young woman start around 45-55000.
None is anywhere near making “more than” the amount of her debt in a year.

You do not know what you are talking about.

I listened to my parents’ advice and followed the American Dream to a Top-5 law school.

Around the same time Bush was selling Universal Home Ownership & No Child Left Behind out of the trunk of his car as the American Dream also.

When Dreams Collide.

From Bob Dylan’s Talkin World War III Blues:

Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody’s having them dreams.
Everybody sees themselves walkin’ around with no one else.
Half of the people can be part right all of the time,
Some of the people can be all right part of the time.
But all the people can’t be all right all the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that.
I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours,
I said that.

The Ideal, you say.

The Real is that debt is natural, two people living together or married is necessary to survive, if the credit stream doesn’t crash, you can be comfortable and get new draperies every decade.

The alternative to being born rich if you want to go to college is to Join The National Guard like they say on the radio all the time.

My kid is thinking ahead(because I do). He isn’t in school because doing so means acquiring debt. 2 years in community college is $10,000, that’s without living expenses. Transfering to state university is another 10 grand a year. So to sum it up, for a 4 year education he’d be paying $30,000 and that doesn’t include a living space, transportation, medical/dental or food(figure another $30,000 for that). He will have made about $15,000 this year working 2 part time jobs(and yes he is also a “lucky one.”) He works with children and is good at what he does. His loss is also society’s loss though. Here’s a kid that WANTS to teach and is being told by society, defer that dream or go into debt that you may or may not ever be able to repay.

That’s the message we are sending our children. DEFER LEARNING.

Don’t knock the military.

I spent 12 years in. I learned bunches.

If it weren’t for the whole entire irresponsible leadership contingent they’d have to work for, those who don’t even think the Americans that are willing to sacrifice their lives are worthy of them actually verifying intel or planning appropriately, I’d totally recommend it.

Here’s to hoping we the 99% can wrest power from the sociopaths and psychopaths who think it’s perfectly appropriate to wage war over natural resources and sell it as if it’s patriotic.

What have we done?In the 1960′s you could go to a top school and be debt free when thay graduated.It’s not all the top 1% The Upper Middle Class who runs the Capitalist Con for the top 1%.The WWII Generation took there success and passed it down to there children The Babby Boomers The Middle Class and Upper Middle Class of today the Babby Boomers took there bribes from the Top 1% and left the 21st centry USA and World in debt and low wage jobs and not even the skilles to grow and store food.After all the Upper Middle Class and Top 1% Investments grow by stealing labor and Taxing the Middle Class and the poor the Sociopaths at the top are liveing a great life.

You say you are confused. You appear to be either abysmally igornant or incompetently disenguous (that’s a fancy way of saying you’re lying to us, Dearie).

You purport to wonder why someone with a law dgree won’t put their skills in corporate service, Dearie.

Would you like them to use their law degree to deny insurance benfits to you and yours, Dearie?

Would you like them to use their law degree to prevent recalls of posioned food, Dearie?

Would you like them to use their law degree to advance banksters’ fraudulent foreclosures. Dearie?

Would you like them to use their law degree to help the upper .01% keep killing the rest of us, Dearie?

Did you understand that last question, Dearie?

Do you understand that publicly held corporations and other limited liability fictional creatures employ very bright attorneys precisely in order to externalize the costs of mass poisoining (“pollution”) and mass theft (“tax reform”) onto the 99% so that the upper .01% can profit?

Dearie – if you were really ignorant of the above, you now have a chance to understand how what you blithely sugested – the young woman just work for the corporate sector for a few years – is effectively supporting her and other newly minted professionals’ active collaboration in the corporations’ deadly war against the living world and the people within it.

Oh – and the victims of the corporations’ deadly war?

That includes your kids, your grandkids, your neighbors – anyone you hold dear, Dearie.

Whose side are you on, Dearie? Your loved ones’, kids’, and grandkids’ – or th eside of the undead coprorations who will maim and poison and impoverish us all so the upper .01% make a few more millions each month?

Who do you serve, Dearie – the living world, or the lifeless numbers on a screen the corporations and Wall Street worship?

Who do you hold most dear, Dearie?

You are advocating a society where people who choose to do things which are necessary and good for America never enjoy a decent standard of living while the purely selfish are vastly over-compensated. That is thuggish, heartless, unsustainable and pretty fucking stupid.

Ah, the ridiculous Randian troll is still here!
Apparently you live for one thing: to make asinine, ill-informed comments ridiculing and judging the vast majority of Americans (99% of them — GET IT?) who have been screwed and cast aside as so much flotsam after the 1% wealthy elite have sucked the life out of them.
Again I’m flagging you.
According to you, it’s the fault of 99% of Americans that they’re hosts to the 1% parasites — kind of like it’s the fault of your stomach if it acquires a tapeworm.
As parasites go, though, tapeworms are preferable to our societal 1% parasites because tapeworms are programmed not to kill their hosts, which would be suicidal — something the 1% parasites in their abysmal stupidity, greed, inhumanity, lack of compassion, lack of wisdom, and lack of foresight don’t consider.
Why don’t you go to some nice cooking and recipe website where your ignorance won’t be so embarrassing?

I think enough of us flagged it that it had to go away.
Just goes to show, you don’t have to have a heart, but its always there if you want to use it. Now THAT’S “personal responsibly” in MY book.

It’s about taking responsibility for your actions, CT.

How many banksters have gone to jail now? What about Goldman Sachs and Citibank?

Seems that “personal responsibility” is only for little people.

-stewartm

Margaret, where do you have a problem with this commentary? It’s all facts. She made the decisions that got her in debt.

Yeah, and if she hadn’t gotten some $120,000 in debt to go to school you’d be railing against her as some no-good lazy ambitionless shiftless bum.

See how the game is played?

-stewartm

Why should we feel sorry for her? Would you feel the same way toward her if she had been in this same situation but was about to join a Wall Street law firm with a six-figure entry salary?

Because I also know of someone personally who is graduating soon from a top-10 law school. Those jobs aren’t there. Even the jobs where you sell your soul. Instead of a 95 % hire rate, which is more typical, it’s more like 25 %.

-stewartm

Don’t even read this 1% wannabe’s posts. He’s a shill. Probably working for some “business association” or chamber of commerce.

happytosharebutdamn
is a contrarian. She is a lonely person who craves attention. She has no ideology. She only wants to bait everyone and then when you answer, she turns whatever you say into BS so you will keep feeding her.
If you want her to go away, ignore her.

Obvious Corporate troll is obvious. Either a soulless drag on humanity or part of the disinformation campaign funded by Our Corporate Owners.

They paid out millions but it is all relative. Citi is hit with a $285M fine but they have quarterly profits running in the billions. So the amount of the settlement is a pittance in relation to the actual rip-off and amounts to less than a week’s worth of profit

I think you’re being generous applying the term confused to yourself. You might check the dictionary under duplicitous. I went to school in the 80′s, after the 1%’ers ended all meaningful tuition assistance. I worked all through undergrad and grad school and got a good (good only not corporate) paying job immediately after graduation. I rose rapidly through the system, receiving frequent substantial pay increases. And fifteen years later, I’d paid hardly anything on the principal of those education loans. Of course I could have deferred everything else in life like family and a home, basically lived for debt service until I was in my mid-40′s. In other words, not have had a life. All so the 1% could have another home in the Hamptons or another yacht or another jewelry trinket. Shall I go on: I got into the workforce after the 1%’ers ended meaningful retirement benefits. I saved when the kids didn’t get sick or the house didn’t need the heater fixed had the requisite 401K type retirement. And then in 2008 with only about a decade more till retirement, half of everything I’d saved and 40% of the value of my home essentially overnight. Now I only have to work until I’m around 95 and I’ll get to retire. Fuck you apologist.

Well, I just found out I can flag an inappropriate user only once, which I did yesterday.

An education shouldn’t mean life crushing debt. I bet you went to school with those cushy “Federally Guaranteed Student Loans”. Those were low interest loans-3to6% loans. These “student loans” today carry CREDIT CARD rates. And student loans are no longer dischargeable in bankruptcy. If you went to college before about 1995, your education costs were nothing compared to the pound of flesh extracted from students now.
An education should be free, it should be a right, and nobody should have to go into indentured servitude to get one.

This lady’s story is the other side of the young woman who is afraid to go to college and incur enormous debt. And she reminds me so much of Barack Obama: she made the right choices; he did not. In his case, I am thinking, exxcessive student loan debt probably pushed him right into the arms of the 1%, and we are all suffering as a consequence. And further as a consequence, it is very doubtful he could ever find it in his heart to forgive student loans, as has happened in the past. For he sold his soul to climb out of it; let others do so also.

Just my speculation, but it does seem to be the theme of our antagonists.

Yeah, “fucked” is what needs to happen to userers.

Hey, Asshole. You’re a moron! Is she to blame for the fact that CEOs have been deciding to outsource law jobs and middle class jobs to Europe and Asia in order to chase exploited and underpaid labor in unofficial colonies of the the banks while impoverishing and flooring the wages of people over here in the U.S.? Is she to blame for the fact that the Federal Reserve threw 20 trillion dollars at the banks with NO STRINGS attached while the elite of this country force cuts in pay, benefits, and social programs for people who are not members of the top 0.5%? Is she the one who has been writing economic and public policies at the overrated Bullshit Ivy League University economics departments in the U.S.? I am sure that some one as stupid and vacuous as you would probably answer yes to all of these questions and then argue that every single American in this country regardless of class, wealth, and connections to power has equal voice and equal power in crafting public, social, and economic policy!

The fucking fact of the matter is that people do not have an equal say in writing policy which is the COMPLETE ANTITHESIS of democracy, liberty, and justice.

In any case, no one is forcing you to give a shit about this woman or people like her and any of us. It is YOUR CHOICE to look down your nose at people like her who have been victimized by the system and this speaks volumes about YOUR CHARACTER. I am warning you and other smug people like you who think you are totally invincible in this economy and think that you as an individual can always “get your’s and then turn around and say ‘to hell with other people’ even though other people (like the woman in this photo) partially subsidized your ability to get whatever you have right now”. UNLESS YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE TOP 1% or UNLESS YOUR DAD is/was the POTUS or Member of Congress, YOU’RE FUCKING NEXT! You will be the next one to be victimized when the next guaranteed banking crisis befalls the world. You have absolutely ZERO CLUE about how finance, business, government, and the economy are working against ordinary people like you at the present moment. It will take a while but don’t worry it will happen. In fact, you are already getting screwed by the economy in ways that brain dead and brain damaged psychopathic individuals like you cannot readily sense or perceive. Instead of looking down on you when the bullshit hits your face, I’ll be sure to drop a dime in your coffee cup when I see you homeless and panhandling on the sidewalk.