Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

Well, it’s a bandaid solution. I could be talked into not hating it for people who did not complete college. I could be talked into not hating it if colleges bore a huge portion of the write-off.

However, canceling does nothing to address whatever the problem is. It just means some future D President will blather about cancellation in 10 years. That’s a huge problem.

Of course, higher education folks are Ds. They party isn’t going after them. The party is going to make working class folks (non-college degree) pay for elite folks. It’s pretty much that simple.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Forgive all student loan debt except for Alabama students. Make Lord Saban help them.

[iam416]

It’s also worth noting that loan issues are guaranteed if your loan program literally makes zero assessment as to likelihood of repayment.

[THE_WIZARD_]

It's now virtuous to default on a federal student loan. Damn you evil bastages who paid them in full!

[Hannibal]

Well, it’s a bandaid solution. I could be talked into not hating it for people who did not complete college. I could be talked into not hating it if colleges bore a huge portion of the write-off.

However, canceling does nothing to address whatever the problem is. It just means some future D President will blather about cancellation in 10 years. That’s a huge problem.

Of course, higher education folks are Ds. They party isn’t going after them. The party is going to make working class folks (non-college degree) pay for elite folks. It’s pretty much that simple.

It would be better than a band-aid solution were it to accompany massive reforms in college administrations, cost management, and loaning practices. Something that would cause both lenders and colleges to share in the pain would be a step in the right direction. But as I mentioned above, there is no way that Biden would ever pursue a reform route.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Israel not happy over Lavrov claiming Hitler was part Jewish

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-61296682.amp

[iam416]

It would be better than a band-aid solution were it to accompany massive reforms in college administrations, cost management, and loaning practices. Something that would cause both lenders and colleges to share in the pain would be a step in the right direction. But as I mentioned above, there is no way that Biden would ever pursue a reform route.

Well, right. Then it wouldn't be a band-aid solution. Then it would be getting at the underlying issue to the extent this is an actual "crisis." I agree completely.

But, obviously, that's not what will happen. I mean, the President almost certainly lacks the authority to unilaterally cancel debt, there's zero way he can unilaterally do any of that stuff. That will require actual legislation AND, as noted, the Ds to actually go against their University benefactors.

[Whitley]

https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/corporate-profits-drive-60-of-inflation?s=r

Here you go JB.

[Tom W]

But, obviously, that's not what will happen. I mean, the President almost certainly lacks the authority to unilaterally cancel debt, there's zero way he can unilaterally do any of that stuff. That will require actual legislation AND, as noted, the Ds to actually go against their University benefactors.

The Universities are laughing their asses off at this circus. THEY were the ones that jacked up tuition prices to pay for needless administrators, unnecessary facilities and useless curriculums. Yet, virtually nobody is calling them out for how they played all of us for fools. Those fools aren't going to hold them accountable and they're not going to stop playing.

[AlabamAlum]

The universities are selling a product. If Brittany graduates high school and wants to take out a massive loan for a useless pet rock of a degree, they will absolutely cheer her on as well as any lending agencies (including the Feds).

Just like if there were a market for a $200k 4-wheel-drive low rider Corvette, you can bet GM would make it and GMAC would finance it, no matter how worthless it is.

I don’t understand how these degrees became a thing. Where are the parents?

[Jeff Buchanan]

This article was presented in one of my news feeds. It's a bit overwrought so I tracked down the source. It appears in Ukraine's New Voice - a publication with both a magazine, daily paper, web site and is present on social media platforms. Essentially, it's a Ukrainian propaganda tool but looking at the opinions section there are credible authors writing opinion pieces. Still, it's obviously and rightly so, biased toward reporting news of Russian failures and Ukrainian successes on the battlefield and politically.

What it represents to me though is how effectively the Ukrainians are controlling messaging outside and inside Ukraine. I'll give Putin credit for controlling his messaging inside Russia but outside of it, he's losing badly. Anyway, this article is a call to recognize the "threat to humanity" Putin poses if, facing a humiliating military defeat in Ukraine - and he's on his way to that - he'll initiate a nuclear conflict that will rapidly escalate beyond Ukraine. The article also posits that China has pointedly told Putin to stand down his nuclear saber rattling and offers that China, positioning itself over the last decade as THE major player on the world stage, is not interested in presiding over a nuclear wasteland. Good point.

https://english.nv.ua/nation/international-affairs-expert-ivan-yakovina-on-putin-s-nuclear-threats-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-50238428.html

I am concerned about what appears to be strong efforts by the Kremlin's political organizations to eliminate Ukrainian symbols of statehood - administration, schools and banking - and replacing them with Russian symbols. This is especially worrisome in Kherson and Mariupol where the Russians have established control and essentially absorbing these towns into Russia.

My take is that the more likely outcome is a protracted conflict in this region of the world involving pro-Russian state and democracies of the west. Or to put it this way, states with an ax to grind over western influence and states trying to lessen it. These states generally support Putin's claims that mother Russia was forced into this war by the threat of NATO expansion eastward. They add that Putin was justified in invading Ukraine to halt the trend lines of former Soviet satellite states buying into a "decadent, self serving democratic west's" way of life replacing the newly defined "Soviet collective" fashioned in Putin's autocratic image of it.

An end to the quagmire Putin has gotten himself into will emerge slowly as the west, through sanctions and embargoes, ties up the resources allowing Russia to keep fighting in combination with ordinary Russian citizens learning the truth compared to the lies Putin has been feeding them. How that will happen isn't clear at the moment becasue it is probably months even years ahead. For now, we need to get used to a return to a dysfunctional world of multi-polar power centers fighting it out in various ways, all of them antithetical to peace and the prostperity peace brings.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The universities are selling a product. If Brittany graduates high school and wants to take out a massive loan for a useless pet rock of a degree, they will absolutely cheer her on as well as any lending agencies (including the Feds).

Just like if there were a market for a $200k 4-wheel-drive low rider Corvette, you can bet GM would make it and GMAC would finance it, no matter how worthless it is.

I don’t understand how these degrees became a thing. Where are the parents?

I mean, to a large part your actual major is meaningless, isn't it, unless you're going into a highly technical field (Engineering, Medicine, other sciences, etc.)? The degree itself is your "credential". The liberals arts majors are largely interchangeable. History and Economics are very traditional, old-school majors. How many people who major in those subjects actually intend to make a living as a Historian or Economist? Hardly any of them

[Dr. Strangelove]

Significant court win for the Jan 6th Committee over the RNC.

The judge (a Trump appointee, btw) really obliterated a ton of right-wing talking points on how the Committee itself is illegitimate, its subpoenas carry no power, it has no legislative purpose, yadda yadda yadda.

Judge upholds Jan. 6 committee subpoena for RNC records - POLITICO

[AlabamAlum]

It’s not a bad question, DSL. The problem with a lot of the “lesser” (“studies”; “survey”, etc) degrees is that they have the barest minimum curricula which do not meet many of the grad school’s prerequisite requirements.

Further, along with usually having more stringent requirements than the “studies” degrees, a degree like History or English or Social Studies (etc) can be a more stand-alone degree because combined with a teaching certificate can open up a job teaching in HS or even elementary schools - whereas Women Studies isn’t specifically taught outside of college - which would require a grad degree and in the humanities, that almost always means a PhD.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU