Just in Time for the Holidays

MSN has two articles up on how my generation is in debt to their eyeballs. Right among an article about gadgets from $10 to $1000.

College Debts and Broken Dreams

A couple of tidbits that struck me personally:

• "This is the first generation who won't necessarily do better than their parents," says Tamara Draut, director of the economic opportunity program at Demos, a research and advocacy organization in New York. "They've been told: 'Apply yourself. You'll get a job, a home.' For many young people that's not the case."
• "A college education doesn't protect you from the vicissitudes of global competition," says Jared Bernstein, director of the living standards program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
• Real earnings for full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 34 who have only a bachelor's degree have, in fact, dropped by almost 10% since 2000, by 5% in 2004 alone. This exaggerates the burden of their debt. For many 30-year-olds, establishing themselves takes longer and is more complicated than they thought it would be. "It's so much more difficult to achieve the adult milestones today than it was 30 years ago," says Draut of the think tank Demos. "There is some sense of betrayal."

If I could do it all over again, I'd do college for the cheapest amount possible. Spending $40,000 a year for a bachelor's degree just isn't worth the cost. Even going to an out-of-state college for $18,000 isn't worth it either. Probably the biggest mistake was passing up the chance to go to Marquette University for about $10,000 a year. Mistake number two was going to f'ing Clemson and going into debt for another $20,000.

The second article, Top 10 Shocks for College Grads, is more of the same. Most of the stuff I've realized for a while now. Other than the very recent debt I've put on my credit card, I don't have any problem with the other stuff. Like doing taxes (being an Econ major helps), or car insurance.

Still, if I had to do it all over again, I would've either pursued scholarships more aggressively, or just gone to a much less expensive school.

Another item to remember is that if finances get totally out of control and a graduate decides to declare bankruptcy, everything will be forgiven except student loans. "Those never go away," Tytel says.

Great. It looks like moving to Canada is looking better and better every single day.

Fucking government.

Random Items to Leave On

Since I'm leaving SC and my internet connection for a temporary paid position in Connecticut, I leave you these few things to ponder:

1. Given the current political and social culture, what would be a realistic first step to pare back government? Would it even be possible? Is this required to be done within the two major parties or another party? Would a new party need to be born or an exisiting "fringe" party needed?
   
2. South Carolina is beginning primary enforcement of seat belt laws in four days. Of course, this is more federal meddling in state and local affairs, but what can be done about it, if anything? Again, in a realistic frame of mind. And does any passenger include someone who's sleeping in the backseat of a car? When will animals be included in this? (Don't laugh, it's just a high-profile death and a PETA campaign away). Does this really matter in the long-run?
   
3. Does anyone know of any ACADEMIC studies of differences between Gasoline brands? I don't care about anecdotal evidence. Nor reports by ABC, CBS or any news source unless it's cited (good luck with that). Apparently Consumer Reports did something a while ago, but I haven't seen anything yet. Please email me a link or three, or put it in the comments.
   
4. If not for the convenience factor, why doesn't everyone just buy their drugs online. They're at a minimum 20% cheaper, except you pay for it in higher convenience problems and less (possible) reliability problems. Of course, this is just for uninsured people. Insured people wouldn't give a crap, but why wouldn't insurance companies encourage this in that case.
   
5. On that note, can anyone score me some Effexor XR? Like now and for less than $1.50 a tablet? I think I'm getting some withdrawal problems.

So that should be enough to keep you kiddies busy, at least until I come up with something else. I don't know if my corporate masters will allow blogging, but we'll see. But at least I'll get paid, considering my gross net worth is about $60.