I continue to be grateful for your column. Respect, yes. Anyone needing assistance is treated with disdain. I’m expected to be working yet also patiently wait hours in the phone and muddle thru a maze if services that I cant find my way out of.... all during a 15 minute break or 30 minute lunch??? Ive been made to feel guilty for taking unemployment when I paid into it for years and was unfairly fired from a job. A very good paying job, with a history of good paying blue collar jobs but the unemployment claims assistant continually pushed me to look at low-paying jobs that do not require an education. Jobs I respect but I didn’t get a PhD to be a parking lot attendant. When it comes to fraud, it is almost always at the highest levels. Look at all those in Congress who got PPC loans forgiven. Or hell, Trump and his army of lawyers who forged his assets to get loans and tax breaks. The rest of us little guys don’t have the time or resources to game the system. Its just frustrating as hell.
Oh Jan, I remember those job searches for unemployment that I think I got once for 6 months. Yes, their job recommendations are for unskilled labor and I might add, I probably could not even do them to a minimum standard, because I have no experience. And I always wondered how people had the smarts or even the energy to "game the system"! It really is a pack of lies, but from their end—they just don't think the people deserve what they call "handouts" and don't want to part with the money, even though it is not theirs to keep! I nearly fell over when I saw The NY Times guy pick up on the word "respect"—perfect!
My cynical take on student loan debt is that it is by design to foster dependency.
The student loan debt problem exploded when the government took over the student loan system. (See: 3rd party payer problem.)
Government employment or military service are two of only three ways you can have your debt cleared.
Some states have started quasi indentured servitude where you get free state school in exchange for living in the state after you graduate. At the same time, kids are fed the lie that you can't succeed without it.
ThanksCole. The entire system of borrowing and particularly student loans is incredibly complicated. I surely agree that we are fed a lie- we should be able to make a good, middle class ( whatever that is!) life for ourselves and our families with out any kind of higher education. To date Pete Buttigieg is the only elected official and/ or person running for office that I know of who specifically said that.
I continue to be grateful for your column. Respect, yes. Anyone needing assistance is treated with disdain. I’m expected to be working yet also patiently wait hours in the phone and muddle thru a maze if services that I cant find my way out of.... all during a 15 minute break or 30 minute lunch??? Ive been made to feel guilty for taking unemployment when I paid into it for years and was unfairly fired from a job. A very good paying job, with a history of good paying blue collar jobs but the unemployment claims assistant continually pushed me to look at low-paying jobs that do not require an education. Jobs I respect but I didn’t get a PhD to be a parking lot attendant. When it comes to fraud, it is almost always at the highest levels. Look at all those in Congress who got PPC loans forgiven. Or hell, Trump and his army of lawyers who forged his assets to get loans and tax breaks. The rest of us little guys don’t have the time or resources to game the system. Its just frustrating as hell.
Oh Jan, I remember those job searches for unemployment that I think I got once for 6 months. Yes, their job recommendations are for unskilled labor and I might add, I probably could not even do them to a minimum standard, because I have no experience. And I always wondered how people had the smarts or even the energy to "game the system"! It really is a pack of lies, but from their end—they just don't think the people deserve what they call "handouts" and don't want to part with the money, even though it is not theirs to keep! I nearly fell over when I saw The NY Times guy pick up on the word "respect"—perfect!
My cynical take on student loan debt is that it is by design to foster dependency.
The student loan debt problem exploded when the government took over the student loan system. (See: 3rd party payer problem.)
Government employment or military service are two of only three ways you can have your debt cleared.
Some states have started quasi indentured servitude where you get free state school in exchange for living in the state after you graduate. At the same time, kids are fed the lie that you can't succeed without it.
Great to read more about these different systems
ThanksCole. The entire system of borrowing and particularly student loans is incredibly complicated. I surely agree that we are fed a lie- we should be able to make a good, middle class ( whatever that is!) life for ourselves and our families with out any kind of higher education. To date Pete Buttigieg is the only elected official and/ or person running for office that I know of who specifically said that.