Brexit process to begin in January, 2017: Daily Bullshit, August 15, 2016 (updated)

Updated for two articles on student loans.


Brexit

Steven Swinford, “Theresa May tells feuding ministers to ‘stop playing games’ and get on with the job,” Telegraph, August 14, 2016, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/14/theresa-may-tells-feuding-ministers-to-stop-playing-games-and-ge/


Turkey

I’m just not seeing how this failed coup was anything but a gift to anti-Democratic forces.

Marc Herman, “Hassles mount for journalists in Turkey after failed coup,” Columbia Journalism Review, August 15, 2016, http://www.cjr.org/watchdog/turkey_journalism_coup_crackdown.php


Unemployment

David Sirota, “The ‘Big Lie’ Behind The Unemployment Rate,” National Memo, August 14, 2016, http://www.nationalmemo.com/the-big-lie-behind-the-unemployment-rate/


Homelessness

It appears 1) that a move toward permanent housing has been embraced far more widely—even at the federal level—than I thought or even would have imagined, and 2) that this is not a panacea, that even if in the long run it will better serve more people, many are being left out in the cold in the meantime.[1]

Doug Smith, “Is the shift to permanent housing making L.A.’s homelessness problem even worse?” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-transitional-housing-cutbacks-20160815-snap-story.html


Scottish independence

Elisabeth O’Leary, “RBS says main office would move if Scotland were independent: BBC,” Reuters, August 15, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-scotland-rbs-idUSKCN10Q0QT


Student Loans

I remember telling my students that while they should not be irresponsible, that they shouldn’t worry too much about the debt they were accumulating, that this was a middle class issue, and that therefore some adjustments would be made. At that time, I underestimated the extent to which politicians were and are selling out the middle class, but Barack Obama didn’t make me a liar. He initiated various income-based repayment programs that forgive any remaining debt after varying lengths of time[2] and even though some of my own student loan debt predates his time in office, I’m presently consolidating all my student loan debt—including the Perkins loans that wouldn’t otherwise be eligible for income-based repayment—into a loan (with higher interest) under the most generous of these programs.

Even so, criticism that this debt lays too heavy a burden on students, that too many of them are defaulting, that collectors are corrupt and their tactics are brutal, that the repayment system is excessively complex, and even that this debt might be yet another “bubble” about to burst has never abated.[3] Indeed, one motivation for my consolidation was that Navient seemed not to be acting upon my income-based repayment requests, so I consolidated with Great Lakes with the repayment plan baked in, and unless lightning strikes and I actually get a job, my payments will remain zero, with all the debt to be forgiven in twenty years.

Now Daniel Pianko argues that a great deal more student loan debt than previously anticipated, perhaps even the majority of it, will never be repaid.[4] And Leon Botstein argues that the economic stimulus that universal forgiveness would offer is badly needed.[5] It’s hard for me to imagine that such forgiveness might actually occur. I agree with Botstein (he also argues against neoliberal trends that are destroying higher education[6]) but when recognizing reality so obviously costs money, politicians would generally prefer to kick the can down the road, even when doing so will more subtly cost more money.

Leon Botstein, “Why the Next President Should Forgive All Student Loans,” Time, August 12, 2016, http://time.com/money/4449990/next-president-should-forgive-all-student-loans/

Daniel Pianko, “Writing Off Student Loans Is Only a Matter of Time,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/writing-off-student-loans-is-only-a-matter-of-time-1471303339


  1. [1]Doug Smith, “Is the shift to permanent housing making L.A.’s homelessness problem even worse?” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-transitional-housing-cutbacks-20160815-snap-story.html
  2. [2]Tara Siegel Bernard, “Program Links Loans to Future Earnings,” New York Times, July 19, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/your-money/unusual-student-loan-programs-link-to-future-earnings.html; Michael Stratford, “Income-Based Repayment Expansion Advances,” Inside Higher Ed, May 1, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/01/federal-rule-making-panel-oks-plan-expand-income-based-repayment-program; Anya Kamenetz, “The One Thing Obama Didn’t Say About Student Loan Repayment,” National Public Radio, June 9, 2014, http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/06/09/320351501/the-one-thing-obama-didn-t-say-about-student-loan-repayment; Tamar Lewin, “U.S. to Contact Borrowers With New Options for Repaying Student Loans,” New York Times, September 24, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/education/us-to-contact-borrowers-with-new-options-for-repaying-student-loans.html; Maggie McGrath, “How Obama’s Executive Order Helps Student Borrowers — And Where It Falls Short,” Forbes, June 9, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2014/06/09/how-obamas-executive-order-helps-student-borrowers-and-where-it-falls-short/; New York Times, “Relief for Student Borrowers,” December 31, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/opinion/relief-for-student-borrowers-in-pay-as-you-earn.html; Christi Parsons, “Student loan relief: Obama’s order caps payments at 10% of income,” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2014, http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-obama-student-loans-20140609-story.html; Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on Opportunity for All: Making College More Affordable,” White House, June 9, 2014, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/09/remarks-president-opportunity-all-making-college-more-affordable; Christi Parsons, “Student loan relief: Obama’s order caps payments at 10% of income,” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2014, http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-obama-student-loans-20140609-story.html; Justin Pope, “New student loan-repayment options available,” Seattle Times, December 22, 2015, http://www.seattletimes.com/business/new-student-loan-repayment-options-available/; Michael Stratford, “Obama’s Loan-Repayment Plan Will Be ‘Windfall’ for Wealthy, Report Says,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 16, 2012, http://chronicle.com/article/Obamas-Loan-Repayment-Plan/135144/; Michael Stratford, “Obama Expands IBR, Pushes Refinancing,” Inside Higher Ed, June 10, 2014, http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/06/10/obama-expands-income-based-repayment-older-borrowers-pushes-democrats%E2%80%99-student-loan; Michael Stratford, “Income-Based Repayment Expansion Advances,” Inside Higher Ed, May 1, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/01/federal-rule-making-panel-oks-plan-expand-income-based-repayment-program
  3. [3]Ellen Brown, “Students loans fail usury test,” Asia Times, May 16, 2012, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NE16Dj03.html; Kevin Carey, “Student Debt Is Worse Than You Think,” New York Times, October 7, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/upshot/student-debt-is-worse-than-you-think.html; Kevin Carey, “Student Debt in America: Lend With a Smile, Collect With a Fist,” New York Times, November 27, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/upshot/student-debt-in-america-lend-with-a-smile-collect-with-a-fist.html; David Dayen, “Student Loan Servicer Corruption Rewarded, Covered For in New Round of Obama Executive Actions,” Naked Capitalism, June 10, 2014, http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/06/student-loan-servicer-corruption-rewarded-covered-new-round-obama-executive-actions.html; John J. Duncan, Jr., “Federal student loans creating ‘indentured students’,” Washington Examiner, May 7, 2015, http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/federal-student-loans-creating-indentured-students/article/2564073; Nancy Folbre, “Mortgaged Diplomas,” New York Times, June 3, 2013, http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/mortgaged-diplomas/; Audrey Williams June, “The Cost of a Ph.D.: Students Report Hefty Debt Across Many Fields,” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2014, http://chronicle.com/article/The-Cost-of-a-PhD-Students/144049/; Natalie Kitroeff, “Loan Monitor Is Accused of Ruthless Tactics on Student Debt,” New York Times, January 1, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/us/loan-monitor-is-accused-of-ruthless-tactics-on-student-debt.html; Alec Liu, “The Student Loan Bubble Looks Awfully Like the Housing Crisis, Top Bankers Say,” Vice, May 13, 2013, http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-student-loan-bubble-looks-awfully-like-the-housing-crisis-bankers-warn-fed; Josh Mitchell, “Student-Loan Defaulters in a Standoff With Federal Government,” Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/student-loan-defaulters-in-a-standoff-with-federal-government-1470080970; Gretchen Morgenson, “A Student Loan System Stacked Against the Borrower,” New York Times, October 9, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/business/a-student-loan-system-stacked-against-the-borrower.html; Libby Nelson, “Student loan repayment is so complicated, even a top expert can’t figure it out,” Vox, October 14, 2014, http://www.vox.com/2014/10/14/6970129/student-loan-repayment-plans-bob-shireman-ibr; Helaine Olen, “1 in 5 college grads can’t repay their student loans,” Salon, August 8, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/08/08/1_in_5_college_grads_isnt_repaying_student_loans_newscred/; Kyle Schmidlin, “Give student loans the finger: A new solution to a massive generational outrage,” Salon, October 18, 2014, http://www.salon.com/2014/10/18/give_student_loans_the_finger_a_new_solution_to_a_massive_generational_outrage/; Lee Siegel, “Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans,” New York Times, June 6, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/why-i-defaulted-on-my-student-loans.html; Yves Smith [Susan Webber], “The Student DebtCropper System: Even the Destitute Hounded by Debt Collectors,” Naked Capitalism, January 2, 2014, http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/01/student-debtcropper-system-even-destitute-hounded-debt-collectors.html; Matt Taibbi, “Ripping Off Young America: The College-Loan Scandal,” Rolling Stone, August 15, 2013, http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-the-college-loan-scandal-20130815; Jordan Weissman, “Our Student Loan System Is Broken, and These New Statistics Prove It,” Atlantic, August 8, 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/our-student-loan-system-is-broken-and-these-new-statistics-prove-it/278453/
  4. [4]Daniel Pianko, “Writing Off Student Loans Is Only a Matter of Time,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/writing-off-student-loans-is-only-a-matter-of-time-1471303339
  5. [5]Leon Botstein, “Why the Next President Should Forgive All Student Loans,” Time, August 12, 2016, http://time.com/money/4449990/next-president-should-forgive-all-student-loans/
  6. [6]Leon Botstein, “Why the Next President Should Forgive All Student Loans,” Time, August 12, 2016, http://time.com/money/4449990/next-president-should-forgive-all-student-loans/

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