marmico wrote:Consumer credit relative to after tax income is at record highs due to student loans.
And yet, look how little that ratio has changed since '2000. With all the yelling, crying, you'd think it was a catastrophe.
While I was still working, I used to wonder how it was that in my top 100 city, with the largest state university (a "college town"), so many college students are driving around in nice cars, eating at nice restaurants (the nicest ones I went to - earning an upper middle class salary), living in nice apartments, wearing fancy clothes, etc.
I knew mommy and daddy were paying for part of that. And that jobs would pay for a little of that.
But it turns out that good old student loans can be had for MUCH more than college expenses. So many students live it up while in college -- and then claim it's a catastrophe and that taxpayers should fund that later -- when it gets inconvenient to pay it off.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephendas ... 887df20cafWhen I went to college from '77 to '81, I lived like a poor man, because I WAS a poor man. And that was perfectly normal and fine. (There were "rich" kids on campus funded by rich parents who liked to show off, but that was the exception, not the rule.)
Part of the trend in taking on debt isn't so much a sign the economy is "in trouble" -- it's a long term trend toward fiscal irresponsibility. To me, that's a character flaw. Like, say, knowing AGW is destroying the world, but collectively, we aren't willing to do much (if anything) MEANINGFUL about it is a character flaw.
Now, I'm sure the far left can tell me why as a taxpayer, I should be happy to pay for the Mercedes, fancy meals, clothes, apartments, etc. for Junior or Tiffany, on top of their Ivy Leage tuition, even though partying and earning a degree in drama or "Women's studies" was what they chose, instead of a solid STEM degree which would help PAY for their chosen lifestyle. After all, it's "not their fault" they make lots of poor economic choices.
I would be OK with helping with the interest on TUITION only loans that help kids without family money get through school in "real" degrees, if they get good grades. Once they have a job, I think they should pay the loan off though.
But that would be about balance, compromise, and requiring personal responsibility on the part of the students. Somehow, many would deem that "unfair".
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.