You know how young voters kept expecting Barack Obama to do something about student loans. Well, guess what! He did something.
Congressman Gene Green says the federal government is now using private debt collectors to go after those who owe student loans.
Green says as a result, those attorneys and debt collectors are getting judgements in federal court and asking judges to use the US Marshals Service to arrest those who have failed to pay their federal student loans.
Hey, ‘sending out the Man’ qualifies as ‘something.’ It may not be the ‘something’ that these kids were expecting, but that’s not really Barack Obama’s fault, is it?
Moe Lane
PS: Pause for a moment. Pretend, just pretend, that there is a kid reading this who has realized to his shock and dismay that he’s been messed over by this administration, and he’s on the cusp of having a revelation about how he should be acting and voting. He’s reading the comments section right now. His entire future is collapsing to two possible critical life paths.
Now ask yourself: What is my victory condition, here? Heck, what’s Moe’s? – Well, I’ll tell you what my victory condition is: one more refugee pulled from the icy seas. I’m here to do that until the party decides it doesn’t want my help anymore, probably.
“Government as Bank” has collection tools that would make a loan shark blanch.
Like Instapundit says, government is just a word for the things we do together.
I’m… conflicted. Some of these refugees swan-dived* right into said icy sea, defaulting on purpose. To the rest: “Yes, come aboard learn, young one.”
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* “Swan-dove?” Bless me if I understand English when not eyeballs-deep in metaphors…
Others were just sold a bill of goods. Because education is magic.
That sales tactic started right around the end of WWII – back when “college graduate” *did* mean “higher earning potential”…
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The bro-in-law (who is no longer with us) didn’t go to college, he was a mechanic – his take-home tracked very nicely with the multiple-degree’d friend from way-back who went into education…
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The point is .. a degree isn’t magic – you snark correctly – but a degree *in a growing field* is just as good a predictor of lifetime earning as a skill *in a growing field*.
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Mew
True, but even then opportunity cost needs to be factored in. And college is not a cost free proposition itself.
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Of course, I’m also a bit bitter about having my wife’s student loans hanging over my head. Yes, she got a great education. But we’re still paying for it two decades later, with no end in sight.
As an investment, it sucked balls.
And it says something about the cultural cache that higher education has that she can’t imagine having done anything different.
Too many jobs require a college education where it is not really necessary. I also think that this assumption that everyone goes to college has led to a lower quality high school curriculum and people that are not headed to college aren’t getting much of an education. I also notice that the areas around major colleges tend to be wealthy. The campuses themselves are beautiful with state of the art facilities. Where does this money come from. Academia is nothing like the real world, And it leaves them with unrealistic expectations about what the real world is.
I too, do not know what I would have done without college. But I don’t think what we are doing now is sustainable or effective and I think it is unnecessarily wasteful.
I would direct you to Glenn Reynold’s Law: “Subsidizing the markers of status doesn’t produce the character traits that result in that status; it undermines them.”
Just for S’s and G’s, I’d like to point out that Gene Green is a democrat in a heavily gerrymandered district.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_29th_congressional_district
Having just come back from “Where to Invade Next” to read this post, I now have another item for my list of “Things Michael Moore Will Never Make a Documentary About” — federal marshals arresting students for unpaid loans.
You watched a Michael Moore movie rather than, say, Deadpool?
Brian: I see ALL the movies — at least, all the ones that get released in my area.
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Think I’m kidding? Friday was How to Be Single (only because the timing was better than Deadpool), Saturday was Deadpool, Sunday was Zoolander No. 2, yesterday was Ip Man 3, today was Where to Invade Next, and tomorrow is Tumbledown. Can’t say for certain until I’ve finished the slate, but so far, Deadpool has easily been my favorite.
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Next week, there are at least three movies coming out that I want to see — Race, Risen, and The Witch. So when I get back from Tumbledown, I’ll start planning next week’s viewing schedule.
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As I said. I see ALL THE MOVIES. But I would not see a Michael Moore flick over anything I really wanted to see. You may doubt my sanity if you wish, but not the way I prioritize my madness.
My hat is off to you, then, sir.
I hope someone is paying you for that kind of slate…
Five factors mitigate the cost: 1) otherwise minimal expenses; 2) no schedule-altering personal attachments; 3) the ability to catch less expensive matinee showings on a regular basis; 4) lack of need to see films in IMAX or 3D; and 5) the near-superhuman ability to forego popcorn and snacks.
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But I have given some serious thought to acquiring a paid post as a film reviewer somewhere. That would be an even greater advantage.
If I may suggest .. start writing reviews here?
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Good practice at writing reviews, and you may get some useful feedback..
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Mew
I’ve set up my own blog for the reviews, acat. Got 85-odd posts so far.
All of the customer service of the Veterans Administration; All of the compassion of the Internal Revenue Service.
That may be the most damning slogan ever.
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Which probably means they’ll want it for a t-short.
Okay, I guess I meant t-shirt, but actually, I may have just had a killer idea for the next great fashion fad.
Bankruptcy law is pretty interesting in this case. Once you use a third-party collection agency, you lost your exemption. I know this is true for taxes and alimony/child support, and I’m pretty sure it’s true of student loans as well.
In any case, I thought debtors jail was a thing of the past. I wasn’t aware that failure to pay student loans had a criminal aspect to it.