The Tyranny of College Loans

Ned was in conversation with friends recently, and he had cause to remark that this year for the first time, college loan debt exceeded credit card debt, and his blood ran cold at the thought. Here is state government, which is responsible for higher education, refusing to either (1) fund the cost of a college degree for its citizens, or (2) to guarantee a job for successful graduates, which would allow them to have some chance of paying off the onerous loans without bankrupting themselves. Instead we have a system that incorporates the worst of both worlds. Students incur tens of thousands in loans and then can't find a job afterwards, wasting many productive years, years which the 'locusts have eaten.'
Ned asks his friends to consider how much better we would be with, say, ten million more persons gainfully employed, at, say, the modest average salary of $35,000 a year, all paying into Medicare at the rate of 2% of salary, and into Social Security at 13%. We would be hearing no more about the crisis in Social Security for one thing. The multiplier effect would mean that local, state and federal governments would rake in much more tax revenue, and our citizenry would all have the satisfaction of leading productive lives. Then we could go after the Sneering Plutocracy and the Paris Hilton Crowd, and take a portion, say 70%, of their ill-gotten wealth they have flayed from the backs of honest persons throughout the Western World.
But of course, Ned awoke to find, as usual, he was living a fairy tale.

The New American Economy, Ned's Analysis

With all the blather about the nature of our economy, Ned thought he would set the record straight, because, as poll after poll shows, nobody trusts economists.
Ned describes our economy as a turf-based service economy, since (1) much of the motorized activity seems to consist of trucks towing trailers filled with "lawn-care" devices in open mesh trailers; (2) at least 10 percent of some states are now turf; (3) half of the acreage in the Willamette Valley is devoted to grass seed and sod; (4) much of the country's employment seems to be lowly paid men and women cutting grass, edging lawns and other turf areas, and, best of all, blowing the debris around with gas-powered "leaf blowers," or selling such devices to others at Wal-Mart, Home Depot and other loci of poorly paid workers with few benefits, and (5) universities like Oregon State already offer majors in "turf management." Ned's favorite sight is watching some moron blowing dust and grass along a sidewalk, then into the street, where is is promptly returned to the sidewalk by traffic. And with more and more illegal immigrants working for these lawn mowing--er, 'landscaping' companies, Ned expects it will become even harder for poorly-educated American kids to find jobs. And this should provide some food for those more philosophical of us, since the present generation of kids is, while largely poorly-educated, about as self-centered and arrogant a bunch of narcissists as any Ned has ever seen.
Finally, with the number of geezers growing fast, and most of them in poor health because of bad diet and no exercise, the demand for these services can only increase, as the last thing a geezer will tolerate is an un-manicured lawn. The only fly in Ned's analysis could be that cities come to their senses and start to ban or tax turf.
Ned hopes these semi-coherent musings are of value to his many friends.

An all-volunteer economy?

Ned has noticed something that has been creeping up on him like the proverbial thief in the night. It seems that more and more jobs in this country are being 'manned' by 'volunteers.' Ned has been long aware that there is a large contingent of geezers in his adopted home town that spend many hours a week 'volunteering' at one 'nonprofit' or another. Now comes word that more and more municipalities are trying to rely on volunteers to do the day to day tasks of running the cities that used to be done by professionals, like fire-fighting, or staffing the libraries, for example.
Mrs Ned has had many experiences of late where potential employers have told her flat out that she needs to 'volunteer' to be considered, eventually, for gainful employment, and Ned has long ruminated on the ethics, indeed, the legality of this practice, smacking as it does of involuntary servitude, which he seems to recall was frowned upon in some amendment to a major government document. But we digress.
Ned's point is this: if we try to fill more and more positions with 'volunteers', mainly retirees on 'fixed incomes' and wealthy dilettante housewives who are bored and looking for something to take them away from the Oprah Channel for a few hours a day, then who will pay the taxes to support the government services we all take for granted? Indeed, if these volunteers are taking jobs away from those who need them at one end, and many of the other jobs are being filled by desperate illegal immigrants who will work for peanuts at the other end, Ned doesn't see how this economy is going to survive. But then he is an awful cynic.

Jobs and the deficit

The Washington Monthly has a great web site. Today they report on a Gallup poll that asks Americans what the main problems are today. Here's what they found.
When asked, 'What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?' "JOBS was the top issue, mentioned by 33%, followed by 'the economy in general,' at 31%. In other words, using the CBS poll's phrasing, a combined 64% of the country cited "economy/jobs" as the top issue.
The deficit came in fifth in Gallup's poll at 9%."
Nobody but Republican hysterics really gives a damn about the deficit.
Now, what does Ned take from this? Assuming polls mean anything at all, it is obvious that people think if we have more jobs the economy will fix itself, as probably will most of the deficit. Why? As people get work, they drop off unemployment, cancel their food stamps, and start paying taxes, their rent or mortgage on time, and their credit card bills. They also start spending money, thus allowing business to hire still more people. Ned figures that if ten million people suddenly got jobs, it would unleash such a mass of joy and optimism that the stock market would go up a thousand points, and the stores would be filled with people, Delta would fill all its flights, and the Club Rooms would fill with happy drinking travelers.
This happy and OBVIOUS thought apparently never occurs to those grinches who always rabbit on about balanced budgets. So, the next time you hear someone say the most important thing in the whole world is balancing the federal budget, refrain from the impulse to slap their foolish face and patiently explain that when people have jobs, they pay taxes, spend money and get health care.