Next Economic Trend: Student Loan Forgiveness?

 

The economic hard times that we are facing are continuing to turn in a manner of greed.  Forget corporate CEO’s, forget bonuses, and forget companies with unpaid taxes receiving bailout money.  The latest greed of Americans is that of asking for student loan forgiveness.  Recently an article was published pertaining to a Facebook group called “Cancel Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy,” a group fed up with news reports about bank executives spending millions to redecorate their offices and receiving hefty bonuses.

 

The group is comprised of more than 138,500 members, many of whom are pressing their representatives in Congress for legislation that would forgive student loan debt.  According to FinAid.org, there were nearly $131 billion in outstanding private loans in 2008 and $544 billion in outstanding federal loans for fiscal year 2009. With these loans, the average debts of students graduating with loans rose from $18,796 in 2006 to $20,098 in 2007, according to the Project on Student Debt.

 

Do not get me wrong, I have a college degree and yes I am paying back student loans I required to obtain my degree.  But to think about asking for forgiveness because of the state of the economy, well to me, that is asinine.  I know that I took out a debt, I know that I received my moneys worth, I know that my degree helped me in landing the position that I have today.  The question is why would I not feel compelled to pay it back?  The answer is there is no reason.  This would be the same as you or me going down to the local bank, taking out a car loan, delaying payments on the car loan until the car is done for, and then asking the bank to forget we ever took out the money to buy the car. 

 

This is the society that we live in, a society of mongrels who want to use the system to get what they need, but then want to dump the problem (or in this case the debt) on to someone else.  Maybe here’s a solution to the problem at hand, if you do not want to repay the student loan, just maybe those individuals should be stripped of their degree.  Just make a few examples of people and when punishment is handing out, people then might reconsider making good on the promissory notes they have signed.  Call me cynical, but I’m just saying.

Desperate Times: Women From Jobless to Topless

Apparently the tough job market is prompting a growing number of women across the country to dance in strip clubs, appear in adult movies or pose for magazines like Hustler.  These women are attracted by the promise of flexible schedules and fast cash with many having college degrees and previously held white-collar jobs until the economy soured.  Word is the job gives the women more control and flexibility than sitting in a cubicle added with the fact that more money is coming in to their bank accounts.

According to the article, dancers at the upscale clubs can make $100,000 to $300,000 a year, pure cash.  Now wait a minute here, what happened to the days when we had the Jane Fonda’s screaming about women’s rights in the office and the workplace.  Do not get me wrong, I would love to have $300K cash at the end of each year, but at what point in time does this become demeaning to those females partaking?  I was under the impression that leveling the playing field for females was to prevent females from being limited to degrading occupations such as those involved in the adult entertainment industry.  Maybe someone can help me out here, is our society moving forward or are we regressing because of the “state of the economy?”

13+ Firms Dupe Obama Administration In Bailout Money

 

The news across America is getting better and better as the days go bye in the early stages of the Obama administration.  At least 13 firms receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., with two firms owing more than $100 million apiece.

 

What makes this even more jaw-dropping is the banks and other firms receiving federal money were required to sign contracts stating they had no unpaid taxes, but the Treasury Department failed to ask these companies to turn over their tax records.

 

Keep in mind with the Obama Administration, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is under fire on Capitol Hill for not preventing $165 million in bonuses from being paid to employees at troubled insurance giant AIG.  We heard the negativity of the Bush administration, but if something is not done soon, the Obama nation could spin out of control and what’s at stake?  Well our tax dollars of course!  Is this Obama’s idea of spreading the wealth? 

Have Patience that ‘Hope’ & ‘Change’ Will Occur

 

Fantastic news out of Los Angeles on Thursday with President Barack Obama guaranteeing Americans that the nation’s economy will recover, though he asked for patience.  He followed it up by stating he could not tell us how long it will take, the obstacles to be faced along the way, but rest assured we will have brighter days ahead.

 

I guess those brighter days stem from the entertainment side with Obama making an appearance on the Jay Leno late-night talk show.  Apparently Obama was “stunned” when he was informed of the big bonuses recently received by the bailed-out AIG insurance company.  Yep, we’re flipping the bill for others’ greediness but do not get me wrong there will be brighter days.

 

Obama also informed Americans not to expect “something for nothing” from their government and that improvement to the economy and medical care will take time and if you do not understand what he is truly saying put it this way.  When Obama talks about time in this instance, he is actually meaning money and when he’s meaning money he is talking about taxpayer’s money and when he’s talking about taxpayer’s money he’s talking about our money.

 

I love how he wrapped everything up by stating that at some point we’ve got to make some choices, but I definitely loved the confident remark made afterwards of, “We are not always going to be right…And I don’t want everybody disappointed if we make a mistake here or there.”  Again this is very simple to figure out that Obama’s own confidence in his plan is flailing, but he is preparing our Nation now for setbacks in his socialistic agenda.  Remember this was the guy who ran on Hope and Change and it seems there were a lot of promises made that will not and cannot be kept. 

Credit Repair Companies Deceive Consumers

News has broken that the Federal Trade Commission has charged seven related companies with violating federal law by falsely promising to remove negative information from consumers’ credit reports, even information that is accurate and current, and by charging an up-front fee and failing to provide written disclosures. According to the FTC, the defendants charge consumers up to $2,000, including $300 in advance, promising to improve credit scores by removing information such as late payments, charge-offs, collections, inquiries, delinquencies, judgments, and accounts discharged in bankruptcy. A sad fact was a promotion included an ad on a third-party Web site that stated, “100% Guarantee to raise your credit score!”

The defendants are also charged with violating the Credit Repair Organizations Act by misrepresenting their services; charging in advance; and failing to provide consumers with written contracts and other materials that contain written disclosures required by law or deviating from the required wording for the disclosures. The defendants are United Credit Adjusters Inc., doing business as United Credit Adjustors and UCA; United Credit Adjustors Inc., d/b/a United Credit Adjusters and UCA; United Counseling Association Inc., d/b/a UCA; Bankruptcy Masters Corp., National Bankruptcy Services Corp., Federal Debt Solutions Ltd., United Money Tree Inc., and Ahron E. Henoch, Ezra Rishty, and Gerald Serino, also known as Jerry Serino. The Commission vote to authorize staff to file the complaint was 4-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.