<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> <small><font face="Courier New, Courier, monospace">Hi, Bill <br> <br> We can agree to disagree about that. Certainly there's plenty of blame to go around. <br> <br> The predatory lending, and the draconian bankruptcy bill which saddles young people with debt <br> for their natural lives, and the vicious collection practices (pressuring kids to <br> pay their loans before their rent, their utilities, their food, or their medicine) <br> seem to be to be far from blameless. And the way they've set up loans so if graduates <br> can't make payments, the principal just mounts up and up -- doubling, tripling -- <br> "I owe my soul to the company store" comes to mind. <br> <br> It all seems very similar to the mortgages banks sold to people who obviously would <br> default. They privatize the profit while socializing the risk. <br> <br> I'm done with politics, here. Suffice to say that no one newly graduated with <br> a six-figure debt will be able to study piano tuning, or live on a beginning <br> tuner's earnings. And that has been going on for decades already. No wonder <br> routine work isn't getting done.<br> <br> It reminds me of places where the cost of real estate and rent gets so high <br> that the service people (gardeners, window cleaners, day care people, etc.) can't <br> afford to live within commuting distance. <br> <br> It all feels like endgame to me. If things can't get any more expensive <br> and complicated and impractical, in the end they will come crashing down. <br> <br> Best to keep a wary eye on the basics in our lives -- where does our food, <br> electricity, fuel, etc. come from, and will it keep coming? Is the division of <br> labor which we've become totally dependent on really going to go on <br> forever? Anyone feel like investing in some nice high-paying Spanish <br> bonds? 25% unemployment in Spain these days. What are they all going to <br> do? <br> <br> Thumpe's right -- gardening is good. Not because it is financially profitable <br> right now, but because the food is better than store-bought, and growing it <br> teaches people how to do it successfully, and how to use the produce and <br> plant the right amounts at the right times. Someday they might really need this <br> skill. Plus some plants like fruit trees and berry bushes and nut trees <br> need time to grow. <br> <br> Best, <br> Susan<br> </font></small><br> Bill Fritz wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:8CF3CBCB56292CD-2088-9585@webmail-m013.sysops.aol.com" type="cite"><font color="black" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Susan, while I'd agree that this world is indeed changing...</font></div> <div> </div> <div>However, I would respectfully suggest that Wall Street is not at fault for the massive Student Loan mess... it is the US Govt, the Colleges, & the Professors who encouraged students to take on too much debt at too young an age.  I'll also fault the parents, though the students are by law allowed to make their own decisions, and indeed do so too willingly.</div> <div> </div> <div>Easy loan money from the USGovt encourages students to step up to more expensive colleges, and only encourages the Colleges & the Professors to raise their rates.</div> <div> </div> <div>The law of supply & demand... except in this case, Wall Street had nothing to do w/ it.</div> <div> </div> <div>Best Regards...   Bill Fritz, St Louis</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> <table> <tbody> <tr valign="top"> <td style="padding: 1px 10px 1px 9px; background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" nowrap="nowrap">From:</td> <td style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Susan Kline <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:skline@peak.org"><skline@peak.org></a></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td style="padding: 1px 10px 1px 9px; background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">To:</td> <td style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td style="padding: 1px 10px 1px 9px; background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Subject:</td> <td style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Re: [pianotech] NY Times article on pianos</td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td style="padding: 1px 10px 1px 9px; background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Date:</td> <td style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249) none repeat scroll 0%; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:28:37 -0700</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <div id="AOLMsgPart_9_bcff6aef-268b-4165-a232-70525d83c23d"><small><font face="Courier New, Courier, monospace" size="2">What I see is one more way in which this country has paid for letting <br> Wall Street put most of the young and educated into indentured servitude <br> via student loans.</font></small></div> </font> </blockquote> </body> </html>