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from the I-owe,-I-owe,-it's-off-to-work-I-go dept.
Another day, another record broken.
The debt held by US households has surpassed its pre-2008 record, several financial outlets note. A peculiar spotlight in the associated numbers falls on student loans, where delinquencies are multiple times higher than for other debt types: 10 percent is the norm.
That's some pretty troubling news for the economy [and wider society], notes Rana Foroohar at sister outlet the Financial Times. First off, there's the association between the rise in student debt, and a decrease in home ownership for young people. This connection is exacerbated by them millennials increasingly turning towards income-based repayment programmes, which spread out the debt over more years.
Secondly, the level of student debt delinquencies ain't changing: the 10 percent figure is a near-constant over the past 4-5 years. People who've ever had a delinquency -- even if they recover -- have a much lower rate of home ownership at age 30 as compared to their non-defaulted compatriots. Not having a home means not filling it with stuff, and filling with stuff is kinda what the economy is based on.
Then, thirdly, it's not only students that are hit by student debt: increasingly, their parents are taking on debt too, to help out. Fuel for that debt sandwich is something peculiar: the rate of inflation in college admission costs is three times higher than the consumer price index. Must be that college professors wages have increased a lot, then.
Given that boomers and their millennial offspring are the two largest voting blocks in the US, a snappy future president-elect might consider raising the issue a bit.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 18 2017, @09:44PM (12 children)
1. Purge the Jews
2. Purge the illegal aliens
3. Euthanize anybody older than 70
4. Euthanize all defective offspring
5. Halt immigration and kill all work-visa programs except those that require $300,000/yr talent.
6. Shoot anybody who tries to illegally cross the border on sight
7. Nuke the Middle East, including Israel
8. Halt all foreign aid, including UN/NATO contributions
9. Cap all salaries at 300K
10. Execute bankers who are complicit in market crashes
11. Execute George Soros and all other foreign meddlers
12. Donald Trump, baby!
13. Purge the American congress of the crooked pedo human-traffickers
(Score: 5, Funny) by edIII on Thursday May 18 2017, @09:59PM
While I don't agree with all of your ideas, I find the idea of killing the President after his 71st birthday to be salacious indeed.
Does Dear Leader know about this? I find your defection interesting.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 18 2017, @10:00PM
14. Kinda edit them quietus posts stuffs, cause them form ain't conchistent with dat darn serious topic, guv!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 18 2017, @10:52PM (2 children)
> 3. Euthanize anybody older than 70
My father was still putting my younger brother & sister through college at this age, seems counter productive to axe the people that are in a position to help pay down the college loans...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 18 2017, @11:46PM (1 child)
Tell that fucking Jew to spit out the money and suck helium.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @01:03AM
> Tell that fucking Jew to spit out the money and suck helium.
Beep, sorry your turn is up. My father was a Yankee and post-theological1. He worked well into his 90s and died in his sleep at 100...same age as his Yankee mother.
1. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Post%20Theological [urbandictionary.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by idiot_king on Thursday May 18 2017, @11:12PM (3 children)
The very fact that some humans believe this qualifies as "humor" is not only horrifying but I would argue is precisely the reason we're in the predicament we're in now.
Sincerity has gone out the window and, in its stead, has been replaced by Trumpian Hyperbole, by which I essentially mean every word uttered by everyone nowadays is essentially a loaded statement or is at least interpretable as a loaded statement.
Such are the people, such are the times.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 18 2017, @11:39PM (1 child)
Hyperbole? Nonsense.
I guarantee you, if my plan above is enacted, the world will thank us for it later, even if you don't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @12:33AM
Can we purge annoying twits like you? For sure that would make the world a better place.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @01:05AM
Most of the list really would help. Some of it is horrifying, but life is cruel. Going down the list...
The more conservative Jews are not harmful. Problem is, they all left for Israel. We're left with liberal ones like George Soros. Those people are harmful. There is also something to be said about punishment for people who sexually mutilate week-old babies. That is an extra-special kind of evil.
The illegal aliens are costing us billions upon billions. Just the services alone are more than enough to pay for a new wall every year. One of the reasons for a bad economy in Africa is linguistic diversity; we should not allow it here.
Medical costs increase greatly over age 70, and productivity in the workplace greatly declines. Still, we might reduce incentives if we arbitrarily euthanize anybody older than 70. This one could backfire. We'd have to limit it to sickly people in families that have not been beneficial to our economy.
The same goes for the "euthanize all defective offspring" idea.
The idea that we should "Halt immigration and kill all work-visa programs except those that require $300,000/yr talent" is nearly perfect. It needs to be expressed in terms that won't be impacted by inflation. We should instead set a requirement that income must be at minimum 5x the median, 10x the 10th percentile, and 3x the 90th percentile.
It is effective to "Shoot anybody who tries to illegally cross the border on sight". This works. Let volunteers participate. Also, we can do landmines.
There are issues with the idea that we should "Nuke the Middle East, including Israel". I suspect it is a bad idea. The pros and cons are clear, but their relative seriousness is not. Fully autonomous drones with rifles would be far more environmentally friendly, so that is almost certainly a good idea.
We could "Halt all foreign aid, including UN/NATO contributions", but then we lose some influence. We like our influence. We keep countries addicted to our foreign aid and we set conditions on it, such as buying American goods shipped via American ships. This one is another "maybe".
The "Cap all salaries at 300K" idea is going to be ineffective (workarounds) and there will be inflation issues, so no, this one is a disaster. We should address corporate executive compensation in some other way, probably causing delayed payouts that relate to long-term performance even after the person leaves the job. We might also increase taxes for high-earners, perhaps to 50% of income over $million/year.
We can and should "execute bankers who are complicit in market crashes". China does this.
It would be great to "execute George Soros and all other foreign meddlers", but there are difficulties defining this precisely and difficulties ensuring that the law is evenly applied. I don't think this can work.
Well yeah, "Donald Trump, baby!" is obvious when the alternatives all lacked the most basic qualification for the job: willing to put the USA first, without hesitation or shame.
It's mighty hard to "purge the American congress of the crooked pedo human-traffickers". Sorry, they don't do this out in the open.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @12:54AM
Sweet! I just sharpened my guillotine blade too! Climb in the guillotine, Ethanol, you can be the first defective offspring we euthanize! The blade is razor sharp, won't hurt a bit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @04:13AM
2. Purge the illegal aliens
Trump is working on it. Or so he says..
3. Euthanize anybody older than 70
Also called withdrawal of care as in private care for people without money. To make sure this happens one devalues their savings.
4. Euthanize all defective offspring
No healthcare = they die. Though it may be the humans most adapted to survive that lives on. Not necessarily the best for the country.
5. Halt immigration and kill all work-visa programs except those that require $300,000/yr talent.
10. Execute bankers who are complicit in market crashes
11. Execute George Soros and all other foreign meddlers
Corporations profits and won't let that happen.. next? ;-)
6. Shoot anybody who tries to illegally cross the border on sight
Trump, maybe.
7. Nuke the Middle East, including Israel
That radioactive cloud will end up at home, in the US.
8. Halt all foreign aid, including UN/NATO contributions
That will enable Russia to increase their sphere of influence and cut the European bridge head from US influence.
9. Cap all salaries at 300K
Recipe for massive brain drain.
13. Purge the American congress of the crooked pedo human-traffickers
Not in the interest of the congress, which sets the rules for who is elected. Catch-22!
(Score: 1) by justinb_76 on Friday May 19 2017, @12:00PM
do you have, like, a newsletter or something? and how would I go about subscribing to it?