What are you thinking about?

[titanrick]

7 hours ago, adamq said:

IMO don't eliminate the debt, just eliminate (or massively slash) the interest across the board

Yeah, a new plan was proposed last Friday which makes way more sense than this first failed attempt.  They're now talking about reducing the percentage of discretionary income that is used to calculate a monthly payment, which benefits low-income individuals and does not benefit couples making a quarter of a million per year.  There is also talk about forgiving debt after a long period of on-time payments (say, ten years).  Interest could no longer continue to rise over the initial amount borrowed when payments are delinquent or missed.  Payments start out smaller and then increase gradually over time.   

Those are much more reasonable steps to take for people who really need assistance.  And they will help future students with loan debt as well, as opposed to a one-time-only wave of the magic wand.

[TitanLegend]

8 hours ago, titanrick said:

Yeah, a new plan was proposed last Friday which makes way more sense than this first failed attempt.  They're now talking about reducing the percentage of discretionary income that is used to calculate a monthly payment, which benefits low-income individuals and does not benefit couples making a quarter of a million per year.  There is also talk about forgiving debt after a long period of on-time payments (say, ten years).  Interest could no longer continue to rise over the initial amount borrowed when payments are delinquent or missed.  Payments start out smaller and then increase gradually over time.   

Those are much more reasonable steps to take for people who really need assistance.  And they will help future students with loan debt as well, as opposed to a one-time-only wave of the magic wand.

I think the last part of this post really sums up the overall problem with the idea. It's great that waiving student loan debt would help tons and I'm all for helping people..but what about the people that go in to debt after that?

If eliminating absurd student debt is the goal, what exactly is a one time forgiveness accomplishing in the long run? The problem is just going to snowball again some years down the line and it'll be needed again.

Feels like the effort should go towards fixing the way the debt works, how much schools can charge, etc, like what you went through earlier in your post, and THEN doing a debt forgiveness. Cause as it sits now, you do a current forgiveness, then spend another 10 years trying to fight bills in to place to fix the absurd cost of college in this country, all of the sudden we've got a ton more money we're going to have to forgive, when if the effort originally was to fix the pricing issues to begin with or in association with a forgiveness, we'd be a lot better off.

Maybe there was some attempt to combat college pricing and the like, I dunno, but surely we can do better than just having to add to the deficit to pay loans off every few years or whatever it'll end up being.

Edited July 4, 2023 by TitanLegend

[SteelKing728]

Those who have the power to "fix" the student debt problem are the ones that created it in the first place. 

Google "student debt problems 1970s intercept" for a good read on the issue.

[ET80]

Ribs

[SteelKing728]

8 minutes ago, ET80 said:

Ribs

What recipe do you use?

[ET80]

8 hours ago, SteelKing728 said:

What recipe do you use?

Oh, I was talking about my dog and kid jumping on me. I think I *broke* my ribs. 

In other news:

https://www.theculinarycompass.com/maple-brown-sugar-bbq-ribs/
 

I keep it simple - brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, sriracha, soy sauce, whurshursire sauce (I spell it how I say it, dammit) and I use olive oil mayo as a binder for the spices (kept it simple today, Montreal steak seasoning and Texas BBQ rub). I skip the maple syrup but I’ve spoke to some people who have subbed out maple for blue agave nectar - I didn’t try it today, but it’s piqued my interest. I have a few extra racks in the deep freeze, might give one a run with blue agave to see the end results. 

Today’s effort sat in the smoker for 3ish hours at 250 - I wanted to go a full 4.5 hours, but wife was hungry at the 2.5 mark, so I pulled em off and hit em with the garlic butter, sauce and foil wrap for the last 30 minutes. Usually I’d have that extra hour to spritz them with apple cider vinegar a few more times (I usually will spray em ever 30-40 minutes during the smoke). They came out rgood, but I wish I had that extra hour or so - they didn’t fall off the bone as I usually love, I give todays effort an 80 at best. 

I recently read where some mad bastid somewhere in Texas got a lot of bacon fat and used it as basting agent during the foil wrap - similar on how you’d add beef tallow to a brisket or tri-tip. It sounds so spectacular, a rack of ribs with the consistency and juiciness of a fatty brisket - I think that’s another effort to conquer in the future.

It was hot as all get out today working with the smoker, and I replaced any lost bodily fluids with Glenmorange single malt while outside - so today was a fine day. 

[Dome]

1 hour ago, ET80 said:

Oh, I was talking about my dog and kid jumping on me. I think I *broke* my ribs. 

 

Just put them in your pile of other broken body parts, we almost have enough for a decent broth 

[naptownskinsfan]

On all of the student debt forgiveness stuff, it’s definitely a symptom of a problem that we have, and that people have absolutely no clue about finances, credit, etc.  

I stumbled across a YouTube channel by chance by a guy named Caleb Hammer, and he basically goes through people’s finances and tries to get them on a plan to fix it.  Whether or not the people fix it, I have no idea, because he does put them on a very strict budget, and he’s still pretty new I think so I haven’t seen any “follow up” videos.  But the one he just put out, a 22 year old wanted to buy a Tesla and have a THIRD vehicle because he “thought it was a good investment.”  

Seriously, the amount of people who live day to day, thinking debt is normal and spend a crap-ton of money on DoorDash, coffee and fast food, on top of things like student loans and backlogged credit card debts, is insane.  How some people will get out of it without adding more income like a side hustle is also beyond me…..and even then, on an average income, it’s going to take 2-3 years of “hard” living without much discretionary income. 

Maybe if we start actually teaching finances instead of just the stock market (if that) in school, people will go into the college selection process knowing about loans and how to go about things.  

[Dawgpoun8017]

as far as the cost of college, the cost of the product is drastically overpriced for the product you actually get, a lot of colleges could eliminate useless bureaucratic positions and lower costs

Edited July 5, 2023 by Dawgpoun8017

[PARROTHEAD]

4 hours ago, naptownskinsfan said:

On all of the student debt forgiveness stuff, it’s definitely a symptom of a problem that we have, and that people have absolutely no clue about finances, credit, etc.  

I stumbled across a YouTube channel by chance by a guy named Caleb Hammer, and he basically goes through people’s finances and tries to get them on a plan to fix it.  Whether or not the people fix it, I have no idea, because he does put them on a very strict budget, and he’s still pretty new I think so I haven’t seen any “follow up” videos.  But the one he just put out, a 22 year old wanted to buy a Tesla and have a THIRD vehicle because he “thought it was a good investment.”  

Seriously, the amount of people who live day to day, thinking debt is normal and spend a crap-ton of money on DoorDash, coffee and fast food, on top of things like student loans and backlogged credit card debts, is insane.  How some people will get out of it without adding more income like a side hustle is also beyond me…..and even then, on an average income, it’s going to take 2-3 years of “hard” living without much discretionary income. 

Maybe if we start actually teaching finances instead of just the stock market (if that) in school, people will go into the college selection process knowing about loans and how to go about things.  

You nailed it for me.

But. Your state Maryland spends the 4th highest per student in the country. 21k+. I saw something on a kid having graduated a Baltimore school passing 3 classes with GPA a fraction above 0. He was allowed to because that somehow put him in the top half of his Senior class.

Now I know most areas of Maryland use the money properly and have some amazing school systems. Still. Baltimore represents 80-90k kids and arnt the only problem area. How do you even begin teaching finances when they have trouble teaching absolutely anything already with a top national budget.

 

[Sugashane]

Does anyone have any success stories or referrals for data salvage services? Have a laptop that I'm being told is fried and they couldn't get any of the pictures or anything off of it. Said the hard drive is jacked up too. I'm just hoping to get the pictures off of it.

[naptownskinsfan]

26 minutes ago, PARROTHEAD said:

You nailed it for me.

But. Your state Maryland spends the 4th highest per student in the country. 21k+. I saw something on a kid having graduated a Baltimore school passing 3 classes with GPA a fraction above 0. He was allowed to because that somehow put him in the top half of his Senior class.

Now I know most areas of Maryland use the money properly and have some amazing school systems. Still. Baltimore represents 80-90k kids and arnt the only problem area. How do you even begin teaching finances when they have trouble teaching absolutely anything already with a top national budget.

 

Oh trust me, my job is in Annapolis and there is a drastic difference in the interviews I do with high schoolers from the city schools, versus those outside of the city.  

I’ll be honest, I didnt even consider the whole swath of students.  There are plenty who are being completely forgotten, and that is absolutely a problem.  I shudder to think of how many kids here in Annapolis that were left behind during Covid because of everything being online, and that the gap between groups has just grown.  

But that we don’t do a single thing in most instances to prepare kids for what is after high school- basic financial understandings, going directly into the work force, or anything like that, completely baffles me.  It’s still “college college college” which is what I got, and I ended up dropping out……yet I was among the first of my graduation group to get a “big person” job, and one of the first homeowners at 27.  And I bought a $40k car cash at 25.  Thankfully all I dropped out of was community college.  I tell every single young person on our team to not overlook community college and finding out what you want to do.  

[MWil23]

Firm offer and security clearance came through. Contemplating sending a gif for my letter of resignation:

[ramssuperbowl99]

4 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

Firm offer and security clearance came through. Contemplating sending a gif for my letter of resignation:

Or give the summer school kids an interesting morning announcement. Quitting via the loudspeaker is the teacher version of the fireman finally using the pole when he retires.

[MWil23]

3 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Or give the summer school kids an interesting morning announcement. Quitting via the loudspeaker is the teacher version of the fireman finally using the pole when he retires.

Unfortunately I’m not teaching summer school this year but that would be up there with a “You’re out of order!!!!” Bucket List moment.