Didn't think my first post would be on something so brief, but a nice CNBC headline linking student debt ("tripled between 2004 and 2012") and how this will impact the housing market. Didn't need to read it to know that it's point would probably say how over-leveraged students won't be able to take our mortgages for a long, long time to make their first home purchases. Overall, just another problem with the student debt bubble, and an even greater indiction of how out-of-control American college costs have become.
A final point: something like education, a core towards developing future economic growth potential, really should never have an adverse impact on the macroeconomic picture. While it's a bit harder to make the same argument with health care (there is the argument that extending lives strain society's resources), both skyrocketing health care and university costs are fundamental services that form part of the the backbone society that have gone horribly awry. That... is a problem.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Disclaimer
So this little blog is really just my place to spill out and record my thoughts about the world. I have a place for my own personal thoughts, about my life, and really only my close friends have access to that. But as those close friends know, I live multiple lives. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in completely separate realities, and it amazes me how I can slip so easily from one to the other.
And one of those realities is that of a student at an Ivy League institution with a fascination for, really, what seems like infinite knowledge. Interests include foreign/international relations, politics, the business world, and financial markets, more science-y things like physics and medicine, and plus more mundane things like film and culture. I'll admit, I'm someone who is very interested in everything but lacks the effort and motivation to actually seek out and truly learn about these things in depth unless I'm in an academic environment. I love reading, both the fictional and journalistic kinds, but since I have no time to catch up on my reading list these days, I tend to read as many news articles as I can in the short amounts of time (ok, really the very long periods of time...) I have to procrastinate my next assignment. And thus I like to think that I have a half-depth understanding of the world, though deeper in some aspects than others, without any true specialty in anything...
With all that in mind, this blog is going to serve as a place where I can sum up everything I'm thinking about regarding the world at any given time; my incomplete analysis of a complex world. This is really going to serve two purposes for me: as some place to organize my thoughts, as well as a repository that I can look back on in the future to see how my thinking has developed (basically, I'm expecting to facepalm at myself whenever I read my posts in a few years...).
So here's the disclaimer: I have no desire to reveal my true identity, really only because I don't want any employers hunting this down and complicating my life (though, the title of the blog should help narrow this down...). Likewise, I have no political affiliation, though I will openly admit I am as biased as anyone. I can definitely say I am a realist with a set of ideals that I hope the world can strive for. Overall, I consider myself a left-leaning moderate with a pragmatist streak, and can say what I've learned in the past few years has shifted me to the left a bit. Furthermore, I will openly acknowledge that some things I say may be stupid. Part of this is a learning process, and I make mistakes all the time. The last thing I am is someone who thinks he is always right and knows everything in the world, though I can say that I am one of the most stubborn people in the world until I see the light. Lastly, I don't intend on this being a truly public blog that will gain a billion followers and be famous ya-da-ya-da, but if I get a few comments and get some discussion going, that's great. That being said, bigots are not welcome, and if there is a delete comment function on this thing (as you can see, I'm new to this), I will use it.
Alright, I've definitely just begun a new way for me to waste time and procrastinate (guess what I'm doing right now in the middle of deadline season?). Lets go to it.
And one of those realities is that of a student at an Ivy League institution with a fascination for, really, what seems like infinite knowledge. Interests include foreign/international relations, politics, the business world, and financial markets, more science-y things like physics and medicine, and plus more mundane things like film and culture. I'll admit, I'm someone who is very interested in everything but lacks the effort and motivation to actually seek out and truly learn about these things in depth unless I'm in an academic environment. I love reading, both the fictional and journalistic kinds, but since I have no time to catch up on my reading list these days, I tend to read as many news articles as I can in the short amounts of time (ok, really the very long periods of time...) I have to procrastinate my next assignment. And thus I like to think that I have a half-depth understanding of the world, though deeper in some aspects than others, without any true specialty in anything...
With all that in mind, this blog is going to serve as a place where I can sum up everything I'm thinking about regarding the world at any given time; my incomplete analysis of a complex world. This is really going to serve two purposes for me: as some place to organize my thoughts, as well as a repository that I can look back on in the future to see how my thinking has developed (basically, I'm expecting to facepalm at myself whenever I read my posts in a few years...).
So here's the disclaimer: I have no desire to reveal my true identity, really only because I don't want any employers hunting this down and complicating my life (though, the title of the blog should help narrow this down...). Likewise, I have no political affiliation, though I will openly admit I am as biased as anyone. I can definitely say I am a realist with a set of ideals that I hope the world can strive for. Overall, I consider myself a left-leaning moderate with a pragmatist streak, and can say what I've learned in the past few years has shifted me to the left a bit. Furthermore, I will openly acknowledge that some things I say may be stupid. Part of this is a learning process, and I make mistakes all the time. The last thing I am is someone who thinks he is always right and knows everything in the world, though I can say that I am one of the most stubborn people in the world until I see the light. Lastly, I don't intend on this being a truly public blog that will gain a billion followers and be famous ya-da-ya-da, but if I get a few comments and get some discussion going, that's great. That being said, bigots are not welcome, and if there is a delete comment function on this thing (as you can see, I'm new to this), I will use it.
Alright, I've definitely just begun a new way for me to waste time and procrastinate (guess what I'm doing right now in the middle of deadline season?). Lets go to it.
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