Guccifer casts out Hillary

[kandrathe]

... education is (supposed to be) a right, not a privilege.

And... where exactly is that spelled out in our societal contracts, constitution, or inalienable rights?

And don't give me that mumbo jumbo about scholarships supplementing student loans. Anyone with even a hint of common sense knows that scholarships are EXTREMELY rare (with the ones worth anything being just as difficult to get should you find it), and only available to a select few - if they weren't, everyone would have them but its very clear that they don't as evidenced by the fact that student debt is now the second highest debt in the States after mortgages.

Stanford Free Tuition

The university where I work has a small endowment, but we still give every student grant aid and discount tuition (on average) 33% from list price. There is a high demand for housing, and it is expensive beyond a years wages. Hence, many, many people are in debt for mortgages. The same applies to student loans. My criticism is that they are easy to get, painless while you are in school, and most students don't have any experience with finances when they agree to the burden. But, the bottom line is;

• you want something you cannot afford
• you have not saved for it
• you are unwilling to wait until you can afford it
• you qualify and have access to easy credit
• the interest rate is low enough to ransom your future earnings

It's really not too bad an idea if your debt to earning ratio is small, allowing one to also buy the other necessities, such as housing, food, transport, insurance, clothing, high speed internet... The theory being that with additional skills you've learned, you've improved your life long earning power justifying borrowing what is equivalent to a year, or two of salary. Assuming, like most people, you graduate in about 5 years, or at about 23 or 24 years old. High school graduates can expect, on average, to earn $1.2 million in lifetime income. Those with a bachelor's degree, $2.1 million over a lifetime increase of almost a million dollars. If you'd go on to a master's degree, you'd earn $2.5 million in your lifetime, or 1.3 million more than high school alone. Borrowing, even the extreme of $100K seems a sound investment into your future. But, there is no guarantee you've selected or acquired the skills for which employers are willing to pay much. Plus, we've not even mentioned to ways to have student loans "forgiven" in exchange for some years of service (again, a fair exchange of labor for equity).

I don't believe in that whole bourgeois rhetoric or values of hard work. Hard work doesn't bring you success, all it brings you is misery and pain. It's a load of crap and I reject it completely. I deplore the fact I have to work AT ALL, though ofc I do because I am coerced to. Why should I work (or even like working) when it is me and my fellow working class citizens who produce all social value in society, while the capitalist class sits on their lazy asses while producing absolutely nothing of value, leeches off our productivity and pockets all the profits (unpaid labor) for themselves to produce yet more capital - all because they own private property. Last I checked, this was called THEFT. Yet the capitalist class has a State and police force to legitimize and protect this theft, meanwhile using the media and other institutions they control to obfuscate people into believing it to be some sort of "fair or voluntary exchange" even though it isn't anything of the sort. I have to give them credit, their propaganda seems to work well, and they have MANY people fooled. I am not one of them, however. I see through this whole system for what it really is, and I think more people are starting to.

You have justified bank robbery. Go for it. You see... I believe in a fair exchange. I give you something I value, and then in trade, you give me something of equal value. We just need to quibble over what my item is worth, and whether I feel the item you are trading is equal. Labor (my time and skills) is a unlimited resource I can trade for goods (often in the form of currency). For me, with my experience and skills, I do computational analysis for an hour and they give me $50. It seems fair to me.

... Hopefully more people will soon wise up and realize that voting in bourgeois elections is about as productive as watching paint dry.

I'd have to say that strategy is not working so well in our democratic system...