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comment by steve
steve  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The new debt slaves

that is terrifying.





user-inactivated  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That is why Millennials are still living at home and the economy is stagnating.

ButterflyEffect  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No no no we're all lazy and entitled and hipsters, remember?

edricarica  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

And don't forget pretentious! And responsible for raising house prices in inner-city ghettoes!

(I'm not bitter in any way, honestly)

kleinbl00  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  
user-inactivated  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

And there are way too many of you damn kids on my lawn! (shakes fist at clouds)

blackbootz  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Stay-at-home-millennial-not-spending-money checking in.

mk  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I make it a point to tell millennials that they should be angry, very angry.

The government should do a student debt jubilee.

cgod  ·  2868 days ago  ·  link  ·  

What about people like me who worked their way through school and never took a loan? I don't know that my position should be an argument against student debt forgiveness but paying as I went was a hard sacrifice of late nights, early mornings, and little free time and few luxuries. At some level I'll be pissed off if everyone who was yucking it up at a state school enjoying extracurricular activities on my dime gets a pass on the hard work I put in to pay ad I went.

mk  ·  2868 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I agree. I was saying that a bit off the cuff.

There should be a program of some sort, but accelerated. Like two years public service.

user-inactivated  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Don't forget crummy wages combined with expensive cell phone and internet plans that and expensive health insurance that are all pretty much essential these days. Affording stuff can be a nightmare, even when you're debt free.

blackbootz  ·  2869 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I actually heard a depressing bit of analysis about some of the unintended consequences of the health insurance roll-out under Obamacare. Health insurance providers weren't sure how price conscious the new consumers would be -- historically, people picked an insurance plan or were provided it by their employers and rarely did they change it. But with the marketplaces people have jumped all over. In fact, over 43% of (newly insured) customers have changed their insurance provider since the roll-out, oftentimes over the difference of tens of dollars a month in premiums, even less. This despite the former plan maybe having more convenient doctor's locations, lower deductibles, etc. None of that is as consumer-behaviorally relevant as the monthly premium.

One of the consequences of that? Long-term health programs administered by doctors and health providers are being cut. For example: Even though quitting smoking or exercising regularly are some of the best things you can do for your health, it requires a regular check-in with a doctor to manage and track progress over a lifetime. But insurance companies don't want to pay for those programs because, even though they save money in the long run (through improving health conditions, but money is the main issue for these companies), those savings will be passed on to other health insurance companies that offer slightly lower rates because people continue to switch plans over seemingly negligible amounts of money.