null musings

thepeoplesrecord: Obama student loan policy reaping… wait for...

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:15:48 -0500

Obama student loan policy reaping… wait for it… $51 billion profit
May 14, 2013

The Obama administration is forecast to turn a record $51 billion profit this year from student loan borrowers, a sum greater than the earnings of the nation’s most profitable companies and roughly equal to the combined net income of the four largest U.S. banks by assets.

Figures made public Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office show that the nonpartisan agency increased its 2013 fiscal year profit forecast for the Department of Education by 43 percent to $50.6 billion from its February estimate of $35.5 billion.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the nation’s most profitable company, reported $44.9 billion in net income last year. Apple Inc. recorded a $41.7 billion profit in its 2012 fiscal year, which ended in September, while Chevron Corp. reported $26.2 billion in earnings last year. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo reported a combined $51.9 billion in profit last year.

The estimated increase in the Education Department’s earnings from student borrowers and their families may cause a political firestorm in Washington, where members of Congress and Obama administration officials thus far have appeared content to allow students to line government coffers.

The Education Department has generated nearly $120 billion in profit off student borrowers over the last five fiscal years, budget documents show, thanks to record relative interest rates on loans as well as the agency’s aggressive efforts to collect defaulted debt. A spokesman from the Education Department did not respond to a request for comment. A Congressional Budget Office spokesman could not be reached for comment after normal business hours.

The new profit prediction comes as Washington policymakers increasingly focus on soaring student debt levels and the record relative interest rates that borrowers pay as a potential impediment to economic growth. Regulators and officials at agencies that include the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Reserve Bank of New York have all warned that student borrowing may dampen consumption, depress the economy, limit credit creation or pose a threat to financial stability.

At $1.1 trillion, student debt eclipses all other forms of household debt, except for home mortgages. It’s also the only kind of consumer debt that has increased since the onset of the financial crisis, according to the New York Fed. Officials in Washington are worried that overly indebted student borrowers are unable to save enough to purchase a home, take out loans for new cars, start a business or save enough for their retirement.

Policymakers also are worried about the effect that high interest rates on outstanding student debt may have on the broader economy. Congress sets interest rates on federal student loans, with rates fixed on the majority of loans at 6.8 and 7.9 percent.

But as the Federal Reserve attempts to lower borrowing costs for everyone from households and small businesses to large corporations and Wall Street banks, student borrowers have not been able to benefit.

Compared to a benchmark interest rate — what the U.S. government pays to borrow for 10 years — student borrowers have never paid more, increasing the burden of their student debt as wage increases and yields on investments and bank accounts fail to keep up with the relative increase in student loan interest payments.

President Barack Obama recently asked Congress to tie federal student loan interest rates to the U.S. government’s borrowing costs. In a possible sign of congressional intent, leading Democratic senators on Tuesday proposed legislation that would keep existing interest rates on some student loans for the neediest households fixed at 3.4 percent, rather than allowing them to revert back to their original 6.8 percent rate.

The legislation, dubbed the “Student Loan Affordability Act” and proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), aims to help a small subset of future student borrowers who take out loans over the next two years. The bill does nothing for existing student debtors.

“Today’s figures from the CBO underscore the urgent need for Congress to prevent the July 1 interest rate hike and address the crushing debt placed on students,” said Tiffany Edwards, spokeswoman for Democrats on the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Rohit Chopra, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official overseeing the regulator’s student debt efforts, has warned policymakers to not focus solely on future borrowers.

“The whole student loan problem is a problem that should be of deep concern to this body,” said Richard Cordray, CFPB director, during testimony last month before the Senate Banking Committee. “These are young people that we should care a great deal about.”

“They’re the ones with the ambition, aspirations and dreams, and they’re getting saddled with debt that they don’t understand,” Cordray said of student borrowers. “It’s holding them back and it’s making them unable to rise and succeed and become leaders in our society.”

He added: “It’s a significant problem and we’re going to be doing everything that we can to address it at the bureau.”

The CFPB has been focusing on helping existing borrowers refinance high-rate debt or modify the terms of their loans. In a report earlier this month, the CFPB lamented that borrowers are unable to refinance their obligations after they have graduated from college and secured well-paying jobs.

“Corporate entities, homeowners, and many others have been able to refinance debt at quite low rates, and student loan borrowers are wondering why they can’t do the same,” Chopra said.

The CFPB suggests that increased concentration in the student loan market may inhibit refinancings and debt workouts. Lenders and the Education Department profit when borrowers pay higher rates than they otherwise would in a normally-functioning market.

Unlike traditional lenders, though, the Education Department’s profits are barely dented by loan defaults. For loans made in 2013 that eventually default, the department estimates it will recover between 76 cents and 82 cents on the dollar. Bankruptcy rarely discharges student debt.

The Education Department’s collection efforts are aided by loan default specialists, including NCO Group Inc., a company owned by JPMorgan.

Source

Who really needs to learn? Can you pay the price for it?

christiannightmares: Invitation to a Christian anti-Communism...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:50:24 -0500

christiannightmares:

Invitation to a Christian anti-Communism youth rally in 1963 (For a related post, click here http://christiannightmares.tumblr.com/post/30809187130/communism-hypnotism-and-the-beatles-by-reverend)

You guys, this party is gonna be great! /s

FEMICOM.org - "NES Rom Hacks and Discourses on Gender Anxieties" by Rachel Weil

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:46:53 -0500

FEMICOM.org - "NES Rom Hacks and Discourses on Gender Anxieties" by Rachel Weil:...

luna-lalune: “Eww! Burger King admits to adding horse flesh to their cow flesh burgers!!”“Eww!...

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:27:12 -0500

luna-lalune: “Eww! Burger King admits to adding horse flesh to their cow flesh burgers!!”“Eww!...

thedailywhat: Coming Soon of the Day: Neil Degrasse Tyson Will...

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:26:32 -0500

thedailywhat:

Coming Soon of the Day: Neil Degrasse Tyson Will Host the Sequel of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos

Though it’s been quietly in the works since 2011, Fox has officially confirmed that Carl Sagan’s monumental 1970 sci-ed miniseries Cosmos: A Personal Voyage will be getting an updated sequel next year, which will consist of 13 episodes produced by Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane and hosted by one of the Internet’s most celebrated astrophysicists, Neil Degrasse Tyson. Fox is hoping the show will have as much as of cultural impact as Carl Sagan’s original series, which still remains one of the most watched PBS series in the world to this day.

(Image by Richard Davies)

Yes

monotony8bit: http://www.pedrochurros.com/2011/10/ascii-gameboy-...

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:25:30 -0500

monotony8bit:

http://www.pedrochurros.com/2011/10/ascii-gameboy-nerds-shit/

libertyandfitnessforall: enemyofthestatist: benevolentoverlord:...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:24:14 -0500

libertyandfitnessforall:

enemyofthestatist:

benevolentoverlord:

antigovernmentextremist:

thepeoplesrecord:

americanfall:

thepeoplesrecord:

whitehouse:

Share the news: Our economy added 176,000 private-sector jobs last month, while unemployment dipped to its lowest rate since December 2008. http://at.wh.gov/kGdc9

Share the news - Barack Obama is a war criminal.

Share the news - poor people don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re still jobless or over-worked & underpaid and yes, poor.

Share the news - it was a really bad idea for the White House to get a Tumblr. You are not welcome here.

Share the news!

Share the News: Under the Obama Administration, a 16 year old American citizen was killed by a drone bomb, and the same Administration continues to justify this.

Share the News: Barack Obama has signed away the 5th and 6th Amendments of the US Constitution with the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

Share the News: Barack Obama has signed the Monsanto Protection Act, which allows for major companies to not tell you what is actually in your food. Funny, the guy really wants to cut out obesity, but then passes a bill like this.

But keep saying this man (and his entire administration) is great because he watched the Avengers or looked at a kid’s science project. Barack Obama is ruining this country, and just because he has a tumblr doesn’t make it any better.

Share the news, 22 veterans kill themselves everyday after the terror they’ve been coerced & manipulated into committing under the imperial, war-time leadership of Presidents Barack Obama & George W Bush! Share the news!

Share the news, 9.5 million people have left the labor force altogether since President Obama was inaugurated. The U6 measure of unemployment takes into account part-time workers and other individuals who are marginally attached to the labor market. That measure puts the real unemployment rate at 13.9%.

Thanks, Obama!

Share the news: This really speaks for itself. And then there’s that secret kill list that no seems to talk about anymore.

A+ commentary

The White House getting on tumblr was a very bad idea, indeed.

selucha: i’m always completely baffled when ultra-leftists honestly believe that autonomous...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:19:57 -0500

selucha: i’m always completely baffled when ultra-leftists honestly believe that autonomous...

POLICE BRUTALITY - Recording The Police is Dangerous, but Necessary!

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:47:59 -0500

POLICE BRUTALITY - Recording The Police is Dangerous, but Necessary!: I know it’ll sound...

Lessig Blog, v2: The unintended consequences of bike lanes

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:56:20 -0500

Lessig Blog, v2: The unintended consequences of bike lanes: lessig: The Boston area is working...

"You can’t breathe inside a McDonald’s without contributing to bullshit."

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:18:55 -0500

““You can’t breathe inside a McDonald’s without contributing to bullshit.””...

selucha: dprkpop: hr-stasistuff: I wonder what the reception to John Brown would be...

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:41:26 -0500

selucha: dprkpop: hr-stasistuff: I wonder what the reception to John Brown would be...

"In the name of those who have only hunger, exploitation, sickness, thirst for justice and for water,..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:38:24 -0500

“In the name of those who have only hunger, exploitation, sickness, thirst for justice and for...

admittingimperfection: jade-cooper: Meet The Quokka, The...

Thu, 09 May 2013 17:45:26 -0500

admittingimperfection:

jade-cooper:

Meet The Quokka, The Happiest Animal In The World (PHOTOS)

I LOVE QUOKKAS

Don’t let no dingo eat this baby.

it8bit: Power Glove Love Prints...

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:30:30 -0500

it8bit:

Power Glove Love

Prints for Spider-man, Batman, Wolverine, The Thing and Iron Man designs are available at Society6.

Created by Josh Ln

Yes

flozac: the principal at my school made an announcement...

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:20:35 -0500

flozac:

the principal at my school made an announcement yesterday that the girls need to start covering up and then i found this in the hallway

mizery-loves-company: slavenewworld: stuartsometimes: forget-a...

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:15:31 -0500

mizery-loves-company:

slavenewworld:

stuartsometimes:

forget-about-yesterday:

littlegreyfilly:

lacigreen:

uhhhh yay sizeism & sexism? two more reasons not to shop at abercrombie and fitch. (x)

I’ve been boycotting Abercrombie and Fitch for forever, and this is another reason to do so. Yuck.

You know what, im sorry for all the over weight people put there that cant fit into cloths and actually work out and do stuff with themselves, but really i have no respect for fat lazy asses like if you want to fit into cloths do something about it, get of your lazy ass and do somethig, i get that with some people its a medical thing, but most people its not, and asking a store to make bigger sizes isnt fair, they make what they want, and i am perfectly healthy at 5’2” and 110lbs im sporty i do stuff with my life, but you know what? A lot of stores dont have my size anymore because if all the lazy fucks who dont do anything other than lay around and get fat, therefore the stores ” must make biggersizes so that they dont make us feel bad” yea they must be promoting annorexia or something right? bullshit, theyre promoting healthy people. I may get a lot of hate for this but idc im done with lazy peoples complaints.

oh thank god she’s fourteen

that’s almost a relief

like to say something that stupid and be fourteen is almost acceptable

except its not

Who the fuck wants to pay 50$ for a shirt anyways?

She makes me really ashamed to be my age. She’s setting the idea that all teenage white girls think that way, and that drives me insane.

Here’s to not being in a boycott I wasn’t aware of… haven’t wore one piece of shit clothing from that shithole and with this, feels even better.

Abercrombie and Fitch can both go and die slow.

kittening: a male celebrity can literally beat his girlfriend half to death and still enjoy a...

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:00:13 -0500

kittening: a male celebrity can literally beat his girlfriend half to death and still enjoy a...

CLASS STRUGGLE ANARCHISM: diogeneanstirnerite: If your ‘post-revolutionary society’ requires...

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:53:01 -0500

CLASS STRUGGLE ANARCHISM: diogeneanstirnerite: If your ‘post-revolutionary society’ requires...:...

new-aesthetic: The halfcat, attracting newly revived interest...

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:45:28 -0500

new-aesthetic:

The halfcat, attracting newly revived interest on Twitter thanks to this blog post, appears to have first been spotted in this blog post in August 2009. But there are no attributions. The latest reports pin it to Street View - not mentioned in the original posting - and it certainly appears to be Street View image, but, lacking coordinates, the halfcat seems destined to be a mystery forever, one of any number of mythical beings, lost in the Clouds.

More interesting than the halfcat’s strangeness, perhaps, is its unknowability. Someone saw the halfcat, snapped it, but the route back is lost. The databases contain such multitudes of new myths.

I want to believe.