Good afternoon. You are being hosed

As if you needed further proof, the following is an example of how the United States government has inflated education costs to create generations of Debt Children.

Harvard graduate and current University of Buffalo professor Michael S. Rozeff cites that his yearly costs for Harvard in 1958 (room and board) were $2020/yr maximum. The median family income was at least $5100/year in 1958 and even higher for those families where the head of household worked full-time throughout the year. Yes, Debt Children - Harvard room and board for a full year was under 40% of the median family income per year.

Compare that with today, where Harvard room and board has breached the $50k/year level, and median income as of 2008 was about $61k. Harvard room and board for a full year is now about 82% of the median family income.

Further, in 1958 about 28% of married couple households had both husband and wife in the paid work force. Less people were working per household.

As of 2008, that figure is 61%. People are working more and getting less for it. And I haven't even figured in the comparative tax burdens for those two periods, which are higher now than they were then (Example: Federal tax burdens have more than doubled since 1965). Americans are being screwed over - plain and simple.

To save enough to pay for a decent part of that Harvard education today would take a long time - much longer than it would have in 1958. But the government offers the student loan quick fix coupled with higher ed propaganda to herd young Americans off to college where they will party for 4-6 years before spending the next 20-30 paying interest to the banks.

Who benefits from this? The Education Industrial Complex, Sallie Mae, the banks and the DC politicians who take credit for "educating" the nation's youth. They don't care how the problem was caused and they will only offer more of the same, despite the consequences.

What caused this problem? The flood of federal student loans has caused this problem. Other government policies that feed the education industry, based on the ridiculous belief that "more degrees = higher income for everyone" have also caused this problem. The Federal Reserve has caused this problem.

Those policies were short-sighted and have plunged post-1970s generations in a seemingly endless cycle of debt. Remember this when Congress talks about higher ed and "lowering costs" of education by increasing funding for student loans. Remember this whenever the Federal Reserve is mentioned. Remember this when you hear the name "Sallie Mae."

Other sources: Table F-7 http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/incfamdet.html

Fellow law school grads will like this one ;) :
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1960/10/6/law-school-tuition-increases-to-1250/

The Day of Reckoning Has Come

Real economists Marc Faber and Mike Shedlock dish out the bad news. Our economy has gone from needing one income per household to get by, to two incomes to get by. Now we need two incomes plus a shitload of debt. Given that we can't pay back the debt, we are looking at a serious collapse. Faber and Shedlock also tell us to try not to laugh when we hear the D.C. Pols talk about a "recovery."

This is the Neo-America that was handed to us. We were Debt Children before we were even born. All of the great ideas of prior generations ensured our indebted status - from the Federal Reserve (1913) to the New Deal (1933-Present), to the Great Society, to the hundreds of military interventions, to the Education Industrial Complex... I could go on and on.

And that's not even mentioning the current regime of corporate socialism that calls for bailouts of failed companies. How can this be called capitalism? How can this country claim that it possesses "free markets" anymore? Someone please give me an answer.

All is not lost, though. We will just have to widen our scope. There are always opportunities out there. Some will still be in the US, others will be in other parts of the world. It is a shame, however, that the current political establishment (including all mainstream Republicans and Democrats), are driving 300,000,000 Americans off a cliff in a car sponsored by Capital One, American Express, Fannie, Freddie and Sallie. Goldman Suchs is in the passenger seat, navigating. It didn't have to happen this way.

Face It: College is the new high school

What did you expect? Washington DC politicians wanted everyone to have a college degree. Now everyone has one. It's called education inflation. The more degrees that are out there being used to pump up resumes, the less value they have. More degrees are competing for the same (or shrinking) number of jobs available. That would make grad school the new undergrad, then, right? Not quite, as this is even happening with graduate degrees.

See the job ad below:

[Deleted]
Program Coordinator/Site Director Position

[Deleted] is seeking a full time Program Coordinator/Site Director to manage its after school program at [Deleted]. This program operates daily and uses non traditional sports as a vehicle to enhance academic and leadership skills in youth k-8. The Program Coordinator will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the program including recruitment, training,and on-going support of staff, parents and volunteers; as well as data collection and record keeping of the participants and their activities and maintaining partnerships with community organizations.

Qualifications:
Minimum BS degree in education,sports management,recreation and/or related field - Master's preferred
Minimum of 4 years of experience managing an after school or in school program serving minority youth.
Evidence of sport participation
Excellent writing and oral communication skills

Salary - $30,000- $37,000 depending on qualifications

[Deleted] is an equal opportinity [sic] employer

Would YOU spend tens of thousands of dollars for a master's degree that will earn you $30-37k?