Writing Off a Debt

 I worked with a contractor around twenty years ago who got into a fairly bad financial situation with his wife (she signed papers for this debt).  At some point, staying married and attached to this loan....made no sense.  So he hired a lawyer, divorced her, and saddled the debt (over $150,000) on her.  As he described it....she was an absolute '10' on nine out of ten qualities.  But she was crappy with money, and was a magnet for bankruptcy...sooner or later.

So I gaze of President Biden and this $300-billion to $600-billion student loan debt, and nothing makes sense.

He has zero power to write off debt.  

In this case?  He's going to say the $300-billion simply doesn't exist, and it'll never come back.  It's like telling your kids that they had a house up until Thursday, and then lost it.....so they will live with Aunt Lilly for the rest of their life.

Sloppy enough to get impeached?  Well....if this were normal political figures....yeah.  The minute that the executive order is produced.....you might as well count it as evidence.  

It's not that I don't feel sorry for the idiots who borrowed $100,000 for college, and got some marginal education that might only hold $35,000 in value.  You know....it's like you were at the car lot, and thought you were buying a Cadillac, and it's some cheapo Chinese car.  

All of this dwelling through the spring/summer of 2023, as it's pushed via the court system to the Supreme Court?  Yeah.  That's sad part of this story.

How I See Biden Order To Forgive $10,000 of Student Loan Debt

 Well....it will be challenged in court and around November of 2023....it'll reach the Supreme Court.

They will review the order, and counter that he doesn't have the power, then dump the $10k forgiveness.

What happens then (probably in the Jan/Feb period of 2024?  

Massive riots and public anger that the Court took away a 'power' of the Presidency.

I'll go and forecast over twenty different things to occur in 2024, which will all lead to riots, disruptions and threats made against members of the House, Senate and Court.  

If you were owing a massive debt on your student loan.....don't go expecting this to work in your favor.   

Yeah, About Essay Writing

 I noticed this story in the AM today....that the University of California/Berkeley now requires you (if applying for a job) to write an essay.

In the 1990s, I worked with a guy who'd applied for a job, and in the last group of final applicants....they sprung a essay requirement on him.  It had to be forty lines and demonstrate his ability to take a subject, writing with a pen....telling a basic story.  

What they wanted to know....could you actually write and do so with limited errors or misspellings.  The subject could be on anything....they didn't care.  They just wanted to know if you were capable of independent thought and the capability to tell a story successfully.

I asked him if it worked out for his essay, and he just grinned.  He told some story of handling a gathering of forty-odd wasps, and he was stung so intently.....that mama had to carry him to the county hospital.  Apparently, either the writing style or the story itself....failed him for the job.  

Well, in this case with Berkley....if you are apply for the Office for Faculty, Equity, and Welfare (OFEW)....it's not a unlimited topic situation.  They want you to write a statement which indicates or acknowledges they did something in the past to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, or belonging.

I paused over this.

I think for 90-percent of people here in 2022....it'd be hard for them to write any type of essay.  You could make the topic of aliens, unicorns, cowboys, fetishes, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, the effect of homelessness, or even bad dates....it'd be hard for folks to sit there and tell some story over forty lines.  

I'd even suggest that only one-third of college graduates today....are capable of independent thought, and writing that into 'something'.  

In this case?  What you did for diversity or belonging?  Maybe something along the lines of 'I picked up some hitch-hiker name Darwin.  We connected on a UFO situation, and talked for six hours between Tulsa and St Louis'.  Would that be enough to make the Berkley folks happy?  

Will you be graded on writing or will this be a poorly/crappy essay about some BS inclusion matter on how you equalized something at your last job?

Just looking at this....working at some college campus is going to be challenging, but for the wrong reasons.  

My Five Ways To Pay For The $300-Billion In Student Debt

I'm offering this as advice to the Biden Administration. 

First, a sales tax on university student books of $9.99 for each book.

Second, a sales tax on each semester hour (typically 120 required for a degree) of $200.

Third, a $1,000 federal fee paid up front on day one of college....so it doesn't matter if you finish or not.

Fourth,  a $5 federal tax on each on admittance to a NCAA game of any type.

Fifth, a 8-cent sales tax on each dollar spent for university t-shirts, hats, or sweat-shirts.  

Yeah, what I'm suggesting is doubling the cost of attending a typical college, and it ought to be that way.  

Math Story

 There's a great commentary over at 'Hot Air' with the title of "Working paper on school tracking finds it helps high-achievers without harming anyone."  Written by John Sexton, and I'd highly recommend a read.

So the focus?  Well....there's idea in California....that in math classes, you ought to unbundle kids who are on some track for the high-end classes and 'force' them to rebundle into groups of lesser interested kids on math education.

Yeah.....taking the kids who already grasp a subject and hope that mixing them....delaying by a year or two....will somehow help the lesser kids advance.  Proof that this works?  Basically, it's marginal or limited.

The general problem here....if you took a hundred kids, I think around ten of them would have some great fascination with math and calculating solutions.  After that group....probably twenty-five kids would grasp the stuff but have a lesser interest.  At the bottom of this group.....there's probably forty kids who have zero interest in some square root drama, or wondering why only 75 apples will fit into the box at your local grocery.  

Lets also be honest and admit if you'd just let kids 'test-out'....probably ten-percent of kids would be finished with high school by the end of the tenth grade, and would be capable of handling community college or university work.

Parents agreeing to the California logic?  No, that's another part of the story.  They don't want 'Junior' lingering in a group with marginal interest in the class.

In simple terms, the state system is resolving the future by making it appear that home-schooling or private schools....are the better way to go.  

A Unity Summit?

 It came out yesterday that at some point in September....President Biden is to hold a unity summit at the White House.

A unity summit?  Yes.

Date?  15 September (at least it's on the official calendar).

The general topic?  They want to discuss 'corrosive effects' of violence with the American public safety and democracy.

Who is invited?  Well....what they say is that folks from various civil rights groups, religious folks, some business executives, some law enforcement folks, anti-gun folks, ex-members of violent hate groups (meaning they changed), some victims (it's left to you to figure out how they are victims), and then some cultural figures (probably Hollywood stars, pop-singers (certainly not Brittney Spears), and Instagram influencers).

Yeah, it does sound like some circus group, and it can't possibly be more than 100 to 150 folks total.  

How this will work?  I'm assuming that President Biden gives some 8-minute talk at the beginning.....the groups break up into four or five focus topics, and Joe visits each one for ten minutes.....then disappears.

All of this woven into the evening news for NPR, CNN, MSNBC.....with tons of prepared material?  Well....yeah, that's probably been a project underway for several months.

So you ask yourself....how does public confidence stand now with safety and the  political process?  

I'll make these three comments:

1.  In recent memory (the nation since 1970), I've never seen such a low confidence level in terms of public safety.  Trying to convince me to attend the Mardi Gras, or hang out in central Atlanta, or ride the NY City subway system?  No.....I just won't do it.  I think more than 70-percent of the nation would agree....they think about their safety more than once a week now.

2.  At the current pace of thing.....democracy probably is in a spiral, and has been for more than two decades.  If you asked most people, I think the majority believe they have the ability to influence their county and state political apparatus....more....than the federal or national apparatus.  

3.  Finally, is there any real value of President Biden having a summit?  This is a funny question.  Maybe he thinks he has the charm or charisma of Barak Obama, but that would require something that we've never seen out of Joe Biden.  So I think of the White House crew working this as a PR thing....more than something of value.

Will Elon Musk be there? I doubt it.  Will Joe Rogan be there?  I doubt it.  Will Peter Thiel be there?  I doubt it.

Shouldn't we be talking about out-of-control spending, the border problem, and reckless college loan crap?  Well....yeah, but the whole mid-term election now....is really based on this unity conference deal, and some presentation that only through a 'vote-for-democrats' angle....can we restore democracy, and protect your butt on the way to work each day.  

Frankly, I don't see much value in this conference....but at least everyone gets free coffee and donuts for the episode, and this probably ends after three hours of hopeless chatter.  

Binge Viewing

 I binge-watched Game of Thrones, and finished the last episode a day or two ago.

I know...I'm probably seven years behind most of you.

So to my points and criticisms:

1.  On writing and script, it's one of the five best series ever written.  There's probably 200 great exchanges between characters that are noteworthy to remember. 

2.  On acting, you can suggest twenty-odd people as giving the performance of their lives.

3.  The final two episodes are crap, and I'm just shaking my head over the final outcome.  Between the dragon flying off, Jon Snow sent into exile, Arya sailing off, and the Hound dying in the end....it just failed to resolve the story  

4.  Rory McCann delivering his performance as the 'Hound'?  Oscar-material, I thought.

5.  I think the whole series would be great for use in college classes to discuss ethics, leadership roles, and evolution of governments.