Headline 1: Placing the Blame as Students Are Buried in Debt. First up for today, you have one Cortney Munna, a 26-year old graduate of NYU, poster child for “What’s-Wrong-With-America-These-Days”. She’s saddled with nearly 100K of student load debt, and now, in her own words, doesn’t “want to spend the rest of [her] life slaving away to pay for an education I got for four years and would happily give back”. Here’s the kicker quote (my boldings):
She recently received a raise and now makes $22 an hour working for a photographer. It’s the highest salary she’s earned since graduating with an interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies. After taxes, she takes home about $2,300 a month. Rent runs $750, and the full monthly payments on her student loans would be about $700 if they weren’t being deferred, which would not leave a lot left over.
She may finally be earning enough to barely scrape by while still making the payments for the first time since she graduated, at least until interest rates rise and the payments on her loans with variable rates spiral up. And while her job requires her to work nights and weekends sometimes, she probably should find a flexible second job to try to bring in a few extra hundred dollars a month.
Look, I’m no mathemetician, but it sure sounds as if Ms. Munna has, if not common sense, at least the God-given ability to face her student-loan debt heads-on. She could take a second (or third) job, take in a roommate, or (gasp!) like many before her just suck it up and put herself on a program (Dave Ramsey could certainly show her how) to pay back her debt like a big girl and take responsibility for her actions. It sounds like Ms. Munna has taken a lot of courses in her lifetime, sounds like she missed out on the most important one of all – Personal Responsibility 101.
Headline 2: Team Blumenthal Tries To Blame Journalists for Vietnam Gaffe. And then you have Connecticut AG and candidate for the U.S. Senate Richard “Rambo” Blumenthal attempting to pin the blame of his wild exaggerations about serving in Vietnam, – you guessed it – the media:
“There were a few articles, not many. I am responsible for my own statements….I can’t be responsible for all the articles, I may not even have seen them. ….sometimes journalists do make mistakes.”
First of all, let’s remove “gaffe” from the equation here. A gaffe is a mistake. Repeatedly lying about something you never did in order to score political points with your audience is lying, pure and simple. The fact is, Blumenthal got caught, and if he had any shred of integrity and honor whatsoever, he’d resign his office and from the race for Senate. Of course, in an uber-liberal state like Connecticut, that’s not gonna happen – after all, liberals and Democrats will do anything and go to any extent to avoid taking the rap themselves – so expect to see Blumenthal’s popularity skyrocket and he achieve his senatorial ambitions without any trouble whatsoever.
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Pool temp: 86 degrees
OK, maybe it’s me, but shouldn’t you first think about what your degree is going to get you in the marketplace before you go racking up almost $100k in student loans?
I mean, what the heck does “interdisciplinary degree in religious and women’s studies” mean, anyway? More importantly, what is that kind of knowledge worth to an employer?
Maybe Miss Munna should have thought about that before running up the educational tab, hmmmmn . . .?
Comment by Dave Richard — June 3, 2010 @ 1:37 am
“Interdisciplinary Degree in Religious and Women’s Studies” might as well read, “Interdisciplinary Degree in Virtually Unemployable”.
No wonder she’s working for a photographer.
Look, I have no qualm with her choice of college degrees, everyone should pursue their dreams. But, increasingly, I expect in the future people to weigh far more heavily the cost of the education they are pursuing against the potential financial rewards available to them in the future.
I mean, let’s face it – today’s Bachelors Degree is nothing but a H.S. diploma in the ’50s and ’60s. Today’s Master’s Degree is worth the same as a Bachelors Degree during that same time.
Today’s MBA means you have a lot of time on your hands looking for a job. Or, playing Communications major at the local Jack-In-The-Box – “That’s two burgers and a large fry, would you like something to drink with that?”
Comment by The Great White Shank — June 3, 2010 @ 4:41 pm