Student Debt - Biden Student Debt Plan CANCELLED! - Updated 07/13/23 - Here we go again

I'm really tired of this subject and the continuous push to remove student debt. I have blogged/ written about this subject for over 10 years. 

http://qualityg.blogspot.com/search?q=student+debt

I also put a search in on Yahoo and the following hits came up covering a wide range of subjects except ONE (The Cause)!!

https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=student+debt&fr=yfp-t&fr2=p%3Afp%2Cm%3Asb&ei=UTF-8&fp=1

The root cause is the continuous increase in college costs and there is no end in sight. College costs outpaced inflation by 28 percent at public institutions and 19 percent at private nonprofit ones in the decade preceding the pandemic, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. You want student debt to stop then force colleges to stop increasing tuition without some oversight and make a guarantee that if one does not get a job that will pay off student loans within a stated timeframe, then the college must pay it off as a means of a contract. 

The cost of college over time has risen dramatically. Since 1980, the price has increased 175%, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Solution - Each college should pay off the student debt of their past students who are still paying debt after 10 years. It's not the taxpayer's responsibility for their greed. Each State should withhold monetary aid from universities that continue to raise tuition with excess endowment dollars.

Ask these two questions or research on your own - What colleges lowered tuition and or housing costs during the pandemic? And, why has not the Biden administration cancelled the Student Aid Program if it is so bad?

Nothing makes me happier than to see manufacturing and tech jobs coming back that do not require a college degree. I am also ecstatic over the fact that many high schools and community colleges are bring back technical vocational programs.

Updated 6/23/22

I am so tired of Senator Warren and her Student Debt forgiveness rants about paying off debt for student loans. 

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren believes policy is to blame for the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis.

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the student debt crisis was caused by "deliberate policy decision." She wants $50,000 in debt relief for each student with Federal Loans.
• Even before Warren became a lawmaker, she was looking into the student-loan industry as she helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and as a senator, she worked with the agency to uncover abuses by student-loan companies that pushed borrowers into taking on more debt than they could afford to pay off. 

Warren does make a good point about student-loan companies and abuses. SO, go after them to pay off the student loan debt and I will applaud your determination. My two children had student debt; I refinanced my home twice to help them through college (Master's Degrees). I'm not complaining it was my choice and my responsibility. 

She says Americans want the debt erased. If that is so put it on the ballot and let Americans vote. She will get as many votes as she does when she runs for President in the primaries. Better yet, why don't the good people of Massachusetts pay off the debt.

Updated 6/24/22

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-cancel-6-billion-student-163552392.html

Pay off my home mortgage or buy me an electrical vehicle and I will vote for you in 2022, 2023, 2024 and Infinity...

Updated 7/18/22

Time is running out. If President Biden does not act by the end of August those people with student loans will have to start paying their monthly loans again after two years of not paying.

SO far over 25 billion dollars in student loans have been forgiven. I'm still waiting for my home mortgage loan and car loan to be forgiven.

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/loans/millions-of-americans-have-had-25b-in-student-loan-debt-forgiven-who-why-and-how/

Updated 8/16/22

Here we go again. This time anyone (200,000) who attended ITT will have all their loans forgiven totaling 3.9 billion Dollars. That's a lot of votes.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/president-biden-forgives-nearly-4-200000606.html

So, are the people who ran this institution paying any money back? Are they in jail? Who are they?

Updated 8/24/22

So, how many votes are the young people going to give you in November? Guess how many people who paid their loans back the correct way will vote for you. Guess how many people will vote for you who did not go to college.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-announces-student-loan-debt-forgiveness-153845682.html

Where is all the money going to come from to pay for this insane decision? This will wipe out any gains from the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This will add to inflation in a very subtle long-term way that we will be paying for a long time.

https://taxfoundation.org/inflation-reduction-act/

So, when do all these colleges with Billion and Million dollars in "Endowment" money chip in to pay for the debt? When will they lower tuition (Not just charge more)? Colleges have no accountability for the product they produce.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment

I thought it was Congress job to pass this type of law. Give those who have a student loan an Earned Income Tax Credit so they will get something back each year on their interest paid. This will help them and not affect the rest of us.

Updated 9/26/22

The Biden administration's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for millions of Americans will cost the U.S. about $400 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) a nonpartisan agency that conducts economic analyses of government policies. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/student-debt-relief-will-cost-400-billion-over-a-decade-cbo/

Updated 10/18/22 and 10/22/22

Biden’s Department of Education released its loan-forgiveness application a few days ago, which is incredibly simple. Applicants must state their annual income to determine eligibility, and most will not be required to verify their income with tax returns or other supporting documents. Biden’s distribution plan lacks adequate protections against fraud. People who make $129,000 a year may falsely claim they make less than $125,000 to receive $10,000 in debt relief.

This disaster will rate right up there with the Covid Pandemic unemployment insurance fraud that costs taxpayers Billions of dollars.

10/22 - A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from moving forward with its student debt relief program aiming to forgive billions of dollars in federal student loans.

The court action comes as six states argue that President Joe Biden has no grounds to cancel debt for millions of borrowers. 

Updated 12/12/22

President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan has been blocked. Hooray! A Federal district court in Texas issued a ruling calling the plan "unconstitutional," which the Department of Justice has already appealed on Biden's behalf. 

Updated 06/30/23

The US Supreme Court shot down the Biden administration’s controversial plan to forgive billions of dollars in federally backed student loan debt. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-strikes-down-bidens-plan-to-forgive-student-loan-debt-154017599.html

Even the Senate and the House passed a bill in June 2023 to block President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/01/politics/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-senate-vote/index.html

The President will now try numerous end-runs to still get this program passed and pass the half-trillion dollars it will cost to taxpayers. This is wrong and illegal (Only Congress has the power to provide these kind of funds). He only wants to buy votes from a particular voting bloc.

Side Note - 

A 28-year-old graphic designer who graduated from Arizona State University with $33,000 in student-loan debt, told The Washington Post that though she consistently made payments toward her loans, it was still difficult to make a dent in the balance.

"Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the student-loan forgiveness, I have no hope," she told The Post.

I’m sorry you have not learned howe to pay back a loan and I’m sorry Arizona State did not provide you with an education that would afford you the opportunity to pay your loan. Have you blamed them. What about the bank or institution that provided you the loans, have you blamed them? What about yourself?

I have three degrees and numerous certifications. The GI Bill paid for much of my education and then the company I worked for paid 75 percent of my education as long as I maintained a “C” average. My children have student loans and are paying them back with sacrificing other things in their lives. I’m sorry, but it is their responsibility to pay their loans, just as it is yours.

Updated 07/13/23 - Here we go again.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/800-000-student-borrowers-39-124129466.html

800,000 student borrowers to get $39 billion in debt forgiveness. Please read the comments following the on-line article. Here are a couple examples:

• There is no debt forgiveness, it’s just being transferred from those who borrowed and gained from it, to the taxpayers at large.
• Buying votes, with our money.
• Please send 48K for me to apply to my mortgage, since I already paid my student loans.

This is unbelievable. It's about buying votes for a broken system. Again, where are the schools and colleges held accountable. Why are they allowed to just keep raising prices? Because people will pay, and financial institutions will keep lending money. The cycle continues because there are votes to gather in 2024.

 

Border Crisis needs "Systems Thinking."

Vice President Harris and Secretary Mayorkas need to apply “Systems Thinking” to their Border Crisis Strategy.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guidelines it is the Federal Government’s responsibility to protect the nation's borders—land, air, and sea—from the illegal entry of people, weapons, drugs, and contraband is vital to our homeland security, as well as economic prosperity. 

The USA Border Process continues to get worse, and everyone blames everyone else and like everything today it is mostly based on Partisan Political Agendas. Unfortunately, most people just want the problem solved and expect our political leaders to do their job. “The Border Process works within a System. The Federal Government owns the System.”

A system is a whole consisting of two or more parts, (1) each of which can affect the performance or properties of the whole, (2) none of which can have an independent effect on the whole, and (3) no subgroup of which can have independent effect on the whole. In short, then, a system is a whole that cannot be divided into independent parts or subgroups of parts.

Basically, this means you must look at the Broder System from an end-to-end perspective and involve all participating people, places and processes in order to make lasting and change and improvement.

As I have said in many posts, without using “systems thinking” and involving all groups (interdependencies) from beginning to end you will only continue to band aid (tamper) the system.

Think of the 1 as one dollar, the 10 as ten dollars and the 100 as one hundred dollars. The concept is simple when you realize that most problems originate at the beginning of a process/system and grow much larger and complex as they move through the process.

Below is a graphic example. Please note the measures and feedback points that must be established along the system. Remember when Automobile companies checked for defects after the car was built? It took years to figure out that we need to build quality in at the design stage way up front as well as all throughout the selling and manufacture processes that made up the system. The key is “UPFRONT” so you won’t experience the “UNKOWN.”

Click on PIC to Enlarge

I use dollars (you can also use "Degrees of Complexity") because that is what gets everyone's attention (Plus, it's true). If we practice prevention and institute requirements or standards at the beginning of the process (Diplomatic Reasoning/Power with the sending countries and continue to set and monitor them as we progress through the Border System, we can save many dollars and pain upfront in the system the cost (1$) will be minimal as opposed to downstream (more importantly people). When the people are in Mexico and we discover problems, it will cost 10 times as much to solve and correct the problem. In the United States it will be 100 times more costly and complex to identify the problems and to solve them.

By far the biggest problem is the unknown, those illegals that go undetected and are never accounted for will costs an unknow amount of dollars that result in system failures that will have devastating effects to our society and economic well-being. I don't have a problem with legal immigration to the United States, but illegals are not vetted for health diseases or past criminal activities so instead of remaining the problem of the foreign country they become the problem of the U.S.

Political Insider Trading Must Stop - Pelosi Act - Updated April 20, 2023

So many people turn a blind eye to how rich politicians in Washington D.C. become after a few years serving in Congress. One of the ways many get rich is by trading stocks. I do realize some are rich prior to coming into congress but the amount that is accumulated while they serve is disgusting. 

The worst are those politicians who buy and sell stocks prior to major announcements from governmental committees or laws being established. 

The most recent suspicious move was done by the Pelosi's. 

Josh Hawley the GOP senator from Missouri (The Show Me State) announced the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act on Jan. 24, 2023 - after news broke that Pelosi’s venture capitalist husband sold 30,000 shares of Google stock just one month before the tech giant was sued over alleged antitrust violations.

https://www.barchart.com/investing-ideas/politician-insider-trading

Pelosi also received harsh criticism when her husband sold up to $5 million worth of shares in Nvidia, a computer chipmaker, just days before Congress approved a mega stimulus package to boost the semiconductor industry.

It's not a Republican or Democrat issue its moral issue that must be addressed. For example, four US senators, including Republican Richard Burr of North Carolina and Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, sold hundreds of thousands of stocks in major companies after they were given a secret briefing on coronavirus.

I guess this fact says it all - Congress has outperformed the market and beat the SPY index in 2021 and 2022. Here is a good article explaining the problem and solutions for correcting this problem. https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2022/03/15/time-for-a-broad-prophylactic-against-congressional-insider-trading/

Updated - February 25, 2023

Stop getting frustrated with politicians who make millions by investing in stocks.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/able-same-stop-getting-frustrated-140000978.html

Updated - April 20, 2023 - Here We Go Again

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fears-banking-crisis-surged-members-114128107.html

April is Autism Acceptance Month

April 2023

Autism Acceptance Month, previously named Autism Awareness Month, in April aims to celebrate and promote acceptance for the condition that occurs in one in every 54 children as of 2020 in the United States.

Why April Is Autism Acceptance Month, Not Autism Awareness

Acceptance vs. Awareness

“Acceptance is about moving beyond this idea of awareness, which has been medicalized and has been used to spread ideas of autism that are stigmatizing,” says Zoe Gross, Director of Advocacy at ASAN. “[Autism] makes life harder, but it’s part of our experience of the world. It’s not something to be scared of.” 

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t&ei=UTF-8&p=April+is+autism+awarens+month#id=3&vid=f537484a81236db2e300515d90bff8f2&action=click

April 2022

 A Proclamation on World Autism Awareness Day, 2022

A nice message from the White House - https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/04/01/a-proclamation-on-world-autism-awareness-day-2022/

P/S - Update on the Good Doctor - Much better than 2021 season with the focus returned to ASD in most of the episodes.

April 2021

With the Global Covid 19 virus I can't help but wonder about all the routine movements, processes and help that is now so fragmented for people on the spectrum. Perhaps, others can now learn what it is like to have your "normal" life in such a disarray. Autism people have known this kind of stress their whole lives.

While sitting at home with the rest of the world I found this movie that was really good about an English lad who has autism. Check it out!

https://agoodmovietowatch.com/brilliant-young-mind-2014/

And of course, I really like the Good Doctor. However, the 2021 season has lost its gusto. Too many social issues and political correctness is ruining the show about ASD.

April 23 - Update

I was sent (Thank you Matthew) this link
https://www.wizcase.com/blog/internet-safety-guide-for-people-with-autism-spectrum-disorders/
that provides valuable information about internet safety for people with ASD.

Click link below for all my posts on Autism over the years. http://qualityg.blogspot.com/search/label/ASD%20-%20Autism%20Spectrum%20Disorders

or on the ASD Label (Left Sidebar) for more of my posts on Autism.

I was throwing away some old papers today when I came across this poem, I wrote 25 years ago...

SHINE!

At 11:45 we start to get antsy while he smiles like an old gray fox
At noon we go to our lockers and get our Sponge Bob lunch box
He then checks our shoelaces and pulls up our socks.

Then it’s back to class and get called in to line
We shuffle to the back because he said that’s where we shine
He walks with us quietly and whispers all will be fine.

As we walk quietly in line headed to the lunchroom we go
We then search for a place at a table where a friend might show
While the man who is with us sits across the room laying low.

Often times we don’t eat, and we just play with our food
Then the lunch lady turns and signal to the man that we are being crude
He then stands where we can see; and gives us the “Look” we best eat before he gets in a mood.

After we eat, we go to recess, sometimes it’s in, but we hope it’s out
It all depends if the flags are green hanging about
Yellow means stay inside then we groan and pout.
Today we go outside and play on the playground equipment
We hope a friend will stop and play even if for a minute
But most of the time we play alone and it seems to be infinite.

At 12:35 the whistle blows loud and sometimes we cover our ears
You see the decibel and noise level brings out some fears
But we know we are safe because our guardian is always near.

Another lunch has come and another has gone by
Sometimes we get into trouble and sometimes we cry
But mostly we wonder about friends and ask him WHY?

After we line up we will try not to talk and to stay in line
Then our teacher meets us and says you all look fine
And the man who walks behind smiles and says we SHINE!

This must be an April Fool's Joke - MSU wants you to avoid these words.

I paid over 9 years of tuition to this university for my children. I now choose to no longer support or contribute to this university.

https://news.yahoo.com/michigan-state-university-releases-inclusive-033706524.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/word-police-msu-inclusive-guide-gives-words-to-avoid-like-pioneer-christmas-tree

I will now spend my money on Christmas Trees, Easter Bunnies and Chocolate covered eggs. In addition, I will continue to watch Star Trek the Final Frontier and read every book I can on American Pioneers, especially Daniel Boone.

I am proposing that Michigan State University remove "SPARTY" as their Mascot. Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and military service.

Instead, they should be named MSU Pukes, Wokes or just plain "Stupid."