People often imagine Small Claims courts as places where neighbors settle disputes about fences, kitchen renovation jobs, etc. This imaginary court is in the middle of Townsville, USA. Norman Rockwell presides, and you stop at the local diner after your case is resolved. But that view is often extremely inaccurate. Instead, as much as 85…
Student loans have been a painful problem for almost two decades. Thousands of borrowers have seen their lives profoundly damaged by student loan collections. All this suffering leads one to ask: Why should the government be making student loans in the first place? If the applicants are worthy — why not raise taxes and just…
As rising costs continue to strain family finances, many Americans take out short-term loans to pay for routine expenses. These short term loans are marketed as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). More and more Americans are going into debt for groceries, when their rent is due, at the doctor or the vet’s office, or when…
“White Christian Nationalism” is a homegrown, would-be theocracy. It detests democracy, human rights, women’s emancipation, empiricism….actually, most of the scientific and political advances of the last 150 years. Only “real” citizens (i.e. white Christian men) really matter to the pretend-theocracy. Strongman leaders are promoted as God’s defenders of the faith. Core Beliefs of White Christian…
MOVIE SCORES…. 1. Cavatina….score of The Deer Hunter I remember sitting in the back row of a small movie house at the end of Deer Hunter, and crying my eyes out at this piece. It somehow evokes all the aspirations of each main character in the movie – and the terrible disappointments for each and…
Let’s say that a health policy is advertised as follows: Fast forward — you have a serious illness, and wind up with a $40,000 hospital bill. You pay the first $7,000, which is your deductible…. then you pay coinsurance – 20% of the remaining $33,000, or $6,600….. finally, the insurer pays the remainder, which…
Here’s how…. 1. Opposition to Broad Forgiveness: The administration has stated that “Taxpayers—not students and parents—must not be forced to repay student loans that do not belong to them.” This administration is broadly opposed to presidential-level debt cancellation plans. 2. Ending Repayment Plans: The administration is moving to terminate certain existing income-driven repayment (IDR) plans,…
RIP Medical Debt has become prominent in the fight against health care debt burdens. Once the funders purchase these debts, their next step is always to cancel them. This should be a blessed event for the families who are currently in debt. However — are these efforts delivering on their promise? Not completely, according…
There are 20 million payday and car title loans made each year…….and their “track record” is extremely ugly. Given this hideous record of undesired, undeniable consequences, numerous cities and states have tried to regulate the interest rates on these loans. In the face of such regulation, what did the payday loan industry do? In some…
Student loan debtors are very nervous about their new higher loan payments. If they cannot get “income-based repayment” — for whatever reason– the new payments may be economically back-breaking. I have had borrowers ask me if they could declare bankruptcy. Until a couple of years ago, my answer was that they would probably fail. In…