Free Republic

Would you like to know what America's young people are actually learning while they are away at college? It isn't pretty. Yes, there are some very highly technical fields where students are being taught some very important skills, but for the most part U.S. college students are learning very little that they will actually use out in the real world when they graduate. Some of the college courses listed below are funny, others are truly bizarre, others are just plain outrageous, but all of them are a waste of money. If we are going to continue to have a system...

On Friday, President Obama will once more revive one of his ol’ campaign-favorite memes and remind college-age and younger voters of what it is exactly the Democrats can do for them — besides, you know, engendering a sluggish economy with a youth unemployment rate of sixteen percent, but I digress. On the campaign trail last summer, the president spoke to younger crowds about preventing the interest rate on federally subsidized Stafford loans from doubling to 6.8 percent as a way of boosting the economy, and Congress sent up a one-year extension of of the 3.4 percent rate for him to...

According to the Congressional Budget Office, $8.7 billion of the money collected in student loan interest payments actually goes to pay for ObamaCare. The CBO estimates that the interest rate on these loans could be reduced from 6.8 percent to only 5.3 percent were the funds not used to subsidize the healthcare reform law and other federal programs. The profits from student loans are divided as follows: $8.7 billion goes to pay for ObamaCare; $10.3 billion goes to pay down the federal debt; and $36 billion goes to Pell Scholarship grants. The 16 million American students who now have student...

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that households continued to improve their finances during the first three months of 2013 (for the most part). Outstanding household debt declined approximately $110 billion from the previous quarter, due in large part to a reduction in housing-related debt and credit card balances. Meanwhile, delinquency rates for each form of household debt declined, with about 8.1% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency, compared with 8.6% the previous quarter. Here is the report: DistrictReport_Q12013 Mortgages, the largest component of household debt, fell in the first quarter of 2013. Mortgage balances shown...

It is time to close both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—the government-sponsored mortgage giants. Both entities distort the country’s housing finance market by issuing mortgage-backed securities with subsidized government guarantees that the mortgages will be repaid. If guarantees are necessary, they should be priced and issued by the private sector, not by the state. Financial institutions expert David C. John details specific steps to achieve this shutdown carefully and methodically without further upsetting the delicate housing market—and without making the situation worse.

Baby boomers are easing into retirement, but some may find their golden years are haunted by student loan debt that could follow them until they die. It's not their children's debt, however -- it's their own. Many boomers returned to graduate school during the recession to bolster their skills, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Student loan debt is actually growing fastest among people over 60, the report notes. More than 2 million Americans over 60 owe student loan debt, with the average balance standing at about $19,500, up from just under $11,000 in 2005, according to the Federal Reserve...

Landing A Reverse Mortgage Just Got Tougher Mark Koba, CNBCApr. 14, 2013, 9:20 AMSeniors looking for a big cash payout from a reverse mortgage will have to look elsewhere for needed funds. A small but increasing number of defaults on the loan product has prompted a crackdown by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on the biggest payout loan to homeowners. The basic theory behind reverse mortgages — you must be 62 or older to apply — is that instead of making payments to a lender like in a traditional mortgage, the borrower receives non-taxable money from the lender, which does...

It's a rough job market for anyone looking for work as we continue to just barely break stagnation levels in the Slowest Recovery Ever, but the picture is particularly bleak for the fresh-faced youths looking start careers. According to a new economic report, the situation is going to be “extremely difficult” for the crop of 2013 college graduates: Unemployment remains high for young college grads. For those who will find jobs, many will probably have to settle for low-level positions, the Economic Policy Institute said Wednesday.The unemployment rate for recent college grads between the ages of 21 to 24 has...

Student Loans Now the WORST Performing Debt Class According to the NY FED’s “QUARTERLY REPORT ON HOUSEHOLD DEBT AND CREDIT,” student loans are now the worst performing debt class. Even though credit card performance deteriorated in Q4 2012, mortgages, auto loans and home equity loans all improved. But student loans are now the NEW subprime loan. How does the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau feel about that?

With record numbers of college graduates underemployed in jobs that don’t actually require degrees, economists are joking that even aspiring janitors may soon have to get master’s degrees to compete for jobs. A study released Monday by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity found that 37 percent of employed graduates didn’t need to attend college at all to successfully perform their current jobs. The study was co-authored by Dr. Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University and director of CCAP; Jonathan Robe, a CCAP researcher; and Christopher Denhart, an economics student at the university. “Just as a bachelor’s...

A trend has taken shape in Washington, and it has put our country on a devastating path towards potential fiscal ruin. The trend is characterized by an unsustainable penchant for spending money we don’t have. It became crystal clear in last year’s debt ceiling negotiations and was further highlighted by the recent debate surrounding the fiscal cliff; our country is broke, yet our government continues to spend more, risk more and accumulate more debt. Entitlements are often blamed for the vast majority of our spending issues, but our tendency to overspend is not restricted to just these. Parallels exist...

Tyler Durden has this nailed: These three letters - C.A.B. - might just be the Dis-Humor story of the day. NPR reports that more than 200 schools across California are coming to the shocking realization that the upfront cash they needed so badly came at quite a price. These 'Capital Appreciation Bonds' are unlike normal bonds (requiring regular coupon payments and principal repayment); instead they provide the 'lent' money upfront and defer all interest and repayment to some magical faery land time in the future (by which time the interest accrued has grown exponentially as the interest accrues on the...

[Since 2000, tuition at public four-year colleges has risen by an inflation-adjusted 72%, or nearly 6% a year. At the same time, the real average earnings for workers aged 25 to 34 with only a Bachelor’s degree have declined nearly 15%, according to Citigroup.] Outstanding student loan debt now stands at $956 billion, an increase of $42 billion since last quarter.  However, of the $42 billion, $23 billion is new debt while the remaining $19 billion is attributed to previously defaulted student loans that have been updated on credit reports this quarter.1 As a result, the percent of student loan balances...

Is history about to repeat itself? There are some striking similarities between the private student loan market and subprime mortgage industry. A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), provides more evidence for the comparison.“Student loan borrower stories of detours and dead-ends with their servicers bear an uncanny resemblance to problematic practices uncovered in the mortgage servicing business,” said Rohit Chopra, student loan ombudsman for the CFPB who authored the report, in a prepared statement. “Consumers deserve clarity, not chaos and confusion.” RELATED: 11 Things You Didn’t Know About Student Loans The report analyzed roughly 2,900 complaints,...

Dem lawmaker slams Issa for sending US Marshals to serve subpoenasBy Ben Geman - 09/11/12 10:08 AM ET Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) says House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is conducting his probe of federal green energy project loans with bullying tactics and November’s elections in mind. Cummings, the panel’s top Democrat, sent Issa a letter Monday slamming a dozen subpoenas issued last week to current and former Energy Department employees and contractors, which included use of armed U.S. Marshals to serve subpoenas at the Energy Department (DOE). The Maryland Democrat called it “intimidation,” and said...

At a protest last year at New York University, students called attention to their mounting debt by wearing T-shirts with the amount they owed scribbled across the front — $90,000, $75,000, $20,000. “I couldn’t believe the accumulated wealth they represent — for our industry,” the consultant, Jerry Ashton, wrote in a column for a trade publication, InsideARM.com. “It was lip-smacking.” Though Mr. Ashton says his column was meant to be ironic, it nonetheless highlighted undeniable truths: many borrowers are struggling to pay off their student loans, and the debt collection industry is cashing in. As the number of people taking...

September 10, 2012, 9:13 AM Vital Signs Chart: More Auto Loans Going to Subprime Borrowers By Ben Casselman More car loans are going to risky borrowers. Nearly 12% of new auto loans went to subprime borrowers — those with credit scores below 620 — in the second quarter, the most since the market for risky loans dried up in 2008. Somewhat safer “outside of prime” loans — those to borrowers with scores below 680 — rose to 25.4% in the second quarter, up from under 17% in 2009.

The solar energy systems manufacturer has missed the first two payments of a $1.5 million state loan to build a factory on the Iron Range last year, but state and company officials say they're optimistic the business can still thrive if a state rebate program are extended. Silicon Energy failed to make $80,000 in schedule quarterly payments earlier this year, and it has reduced its workforce at its Mountain Iron, Minn., assembly plant from 15 employees to 11, Tony Sertich, commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, said Wednesday, Sept. 5. Silicon Energy, based in Washington State, has...

There is a remarkable degree of ignorance about the alleged role of Glass-Steagall in the financial crisis. ItÂ’s time to set the record straight. When Sandy Weill, the former chairman of Citigroup, told an interviewer that he thought it had been a mistake to repeal Glass-Steagall, it unleashed a gale of commentary that reflected a remarkable degree of ignorance about the alleged role of Glass-Steagall in the financial crisis. The five myths discussed below do not cover all the misconceptions that seem to be held by those who want to restore Glass-Steagall, but they cover some of the most widely...

WASHINGTON – A veteran Wall Street executive who performed an independent review that exonerated the Obama administration's program of loans to energy companies contributed $52,500 to re-elect President Barack Obama in the months since completing his work,