I guess it was about time. I haven’t really been snortin’ fire about student loan anything since last fall’s blogging flurry when Biden forgiveness schemes and court cases smacking them down were going back and forth.

Truth be told, I was sort of humming along, even with the occasional, irritating bump like this entitled teacher crowing about his Biden student loan largesse the other day.

Ya boy is ecstatic. Word to the Biden administration for fixing this program and expanding it. Federal policy works man.

But word to the activists and organizers that *put* this on the agenda and never shut up about it. pic.twitter.com/Mn5T6aPHtI

— Jason Coupet (@ProfessaJay) September 2, 2023

It wasn’t so much his parading that irritated me.

It was when he started calling everyone a NAZI who took exception to their tax dollars financing his pay-off party – he “earned” and deserved his pay-off through “public service” as a public school teacher, thank you very much.

NAZIS! HOW DARE YOU!

I will admit to blowing a momentary gasket on that one.

But, being three quarters Scottish/Irish, I get over it fast. Naturally sunny natured.

Along comes getting ready for dinner last night, and we always have the CBS Evening News on for background/know-your-enemy noise. Norah O’ Donnell caught my attention when she announced the next segment…

Student loan payments resuming next month

Student loan repayments are set to resume in October after being paused over three years ago at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Carter Evans takes a look at how the resumption will impact Americans.

…and I told major dad I was going to have to watch.

HO, BOY

O’Donnell opens with a statistic that 45% or more of borrowers expect to be delinquent on their payments, but no worries! None of that counts against your credit report for the next 12 months (I’m betting there will be quite a few involuntary beneficiaries of Bidenomics who want that deal for their mortgage and credit card companies pretty soon and won’t get it). So, yet another break after years of them. No wonder these people can’t kick the habit.

Anyways, Carter Evans leads with a really cheerful young woman, Richelle Brooks, who “knows the power of higher education,” having been a homeless single mother who says “college pulled her out of poverty.”

Well, who on Earth couldn’t get behind that, and God bless her! That takes tremendous internal fortitude and drive, and now she’s basically, what – living the American Dream?

House, kids, boyfriend, pregnant, and she’s an LA public school principal. Hot dawg.

Well…then, jeez. I’m a tad befuddled – what’s the problem with student loans and repaying them?

For starters, she was “surprised” to see her balance had “ballooned.” Girlfriend’s now in the hole for more than $230K.

WHUT

That sounds like an absolutely insane number…until you hear her rattle off her degrees like a little guy inventorying his Tonka trucks, “I got THIS and I got THIS and this and this and THIS.”

Evans: How many degrees do you have?

Brooks: I’ve got an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, two master’s degrees, teaching credential, and a doctorate degree.

Evans: Could you have done it without taking out student loans?

Brooks: Absolutely not.

It’s like she went to DegreeMart with a revolving credit card, got whipped back into the store by the revolving door, and never left.

She just kept charging degrees since she was by the checkout register.

And now – WAAH – she doesn’t want to pay for them, even though she’s living the life they bought her.

“That $700 a month could be food, it could be gas, it could be bills paid…”

I did a little research, as I am wont to do, and – assuming she’s an elementary school principal in LA County – she’s not living high on the hog by any means, but she sure is not starving. That is base salary, mind you, sans benefits, and no assumptions whether the boyfriend is contributing anything to the household.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but someone with all those degrees should be smart enough to know better? Someone who is in charge of children’s education should have enough inherent integrity to do what’s right? Someone who had a steady job during the pandemic smart enough for quintuple degrees should have been paying off the balance interest-free this whole time?

SHOULD SHOULD SHOULD have?

This was the wrong sob story to run out front for a pity party.

In all of Los Angeles, CBS couldn’t find a single out of work, picket-line walking actress/barista with a quarter million dollar #WymminsAndLesbianGorillaStudies degree from Oberlin to make us feel bad for?

I really don’t know who comes out looking more the manipulative fools here.

I do know who keeps getting screwed over, whatever names they call us this week.