The Last Safe Investment
I remember thinking when the real estate bubble crashed that home mortgages had always been touted as a safe investment, but human nature being what it is, that system had been exploited to the point of unsustainability. And the only "safe investment" remaining was the student loan, sold on the basis that it increased your earning potential and thus was sure to pay for itself. It seemed obvious to me at the time that it was only a matter of time before a financial bubble was built around that idea as well, and that it had probably started already. Here's more evidence that the student loan bubble is getting ready to burst:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/27/nyu-professor-are-student-loans-immoral.html
I used to hear people say, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." We can't afford ignorance. A well-educated populace is critical to the operation of a democracy. In a political season where blatant lies that can be dispelled in a few moments of fact checking are paraded as truth, that's increasingly obvious as well. But if we don't do something about the cost of education, about making sure our people can afford to be as smart as we can make them, we will be trapped not just in our own ignorance but that of our neighbors as well.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/27/nyu-professor-are-student-loans-immoral.html
I used to hear people say, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." We can't afford ignorance. A well-educated populace is critical to the operation of a democracy. In a political season where blatant lies that can be dispelled in a few moments of fact checking are paraded as truth, that's increasingly obvious as well. But if we don't do something about the cost of education, about making sure our people can afford to be as smart as we can make them, we will be trapped not just in our own ignorance but that of our neighbors as well.