Aug 30, 2022·edited Aug 30, 2022Liked by Mathew Crawford
i had an employee once who had a master's degree in some gender grievance studies thing, although i didn't know this at the time. apparently she did her paper on the oppressiveness of lipstick and i guess no one at estee lauder or revlon thought she was a good fit so she ended up doing classic women's work- sewing in my theatrical costume shop. i paid people fine but certainly not enough to service the debt on a completely useless ivy league master's.
one day she went to lunch with two of my young gals and when i got back from lunch, she was busy packing her stuff and accusing everyone in the shop of being racists! now, i ran a congenial family style business where everyone got along and i played peacemaker when they didn't. my employees were all women and homosexual men, as you'd expect and we had people from poland, russia, brazil, croatia, china, etc. it was a kind of united nations and many of the women had left totalitarian countries and were grateful for the freedom of the USA. suddenly hearing them being attacked as racists by a co-worker was beyond the pale.
i told her she could not talk to my good people like that and she insisted that she couldn't work with racists so i invited her to take her things and go.
after she left, the girls she had gone to lunch with explained what had happened. one of the gals- chris- was pretty curvy and she had been accosted by a homeless guy of hispanic origin on the way back from lunch. something like "hey chickie, nice tits"- the usual come on line that no woman can resist from a man who hasn't showered in a month!
chris took it with good humor and said to her companions "look, my new husband." that was it.
my master's degree in lipstick employee was also "latinX" (which wasn’t even a thing at the time) and took this as a slur against hispanic maleness.
notice that she didn't side with her abused "sister" as you might have expected an ivy league feminist to do. i call this "When Wokes Collide." which disenfranchised minority wins the mantle of victimhood today?
imagine my surprise when the next morning, she was sitting at her sewing machine as if nothing had happened and the room was pin drop quiet! i called her into the front fitting room.
"what happened?" i asked. "did you suddenly realize that your landlord wouldn't accept the old 'i can't work with racists' excuse for why you couldn't pay your rent? did it suddenly occur to you that unemployment wouldn't let you collect when you wrote down that you had plenty of work but just couldn't be around racists? no, no, you were very clear about your principles; you can't come back."
she cried and said i couldn't possibly understand. "what is it with you people? i'm a greek italian american woman who was ridiculed in grade school because i wore glasses and sucked in gym class! why do you all always think you have a stranglehold on suffering?"
she showed me a multi page gangsta rap ad for clothing in a fashion magazine. "look at the kind of offensive things your employees bring into work!" she said, missing the irony that it was HER magazine.
i thought the ad was pretty brilliant and said so. i also pointed out that all the black models who appeared on those pages said YES when their agents called about the job and they all cashed the checks. if they weren't offended, why should i be?
but more to the point, did she really expect me to stand at the door and rifle through everyone's bags and thumb through their reading material to make sure that there was nothing that might upset anyone? because i don't want to work in or own a place like that. i never saw her again and when her unemployment claim came in the mail, i rejected it.
i think about her often these days because her ilk seem to have infiltrated everywhere. i'm sure she is still paying off her useless and expensive degree with whatever menial work she can get. i would resent it bitterly if i am required to pay off her debt.
transferring student debt onto the tax payers without first cutting out the rot in universities is criminal. get rid of the $400,000 a year diversity deans, put all the "safe spaces" to good use, bring the tuition down to whatever i paid in 1972 adjusted for inflation.
universities now have become criminal organizations, copying the medical industrial complex model. we don't need any gender specialists; we need farmers and people who can do things with their hands. parents need to stop seeing college as an essential extension of childhood. take the money and have your kids learn a trade so they can make their way in the world. especially don't send your young adult children to any college that requires them to be vaccinated and boosted. right out of the gate, that's the wrong lesson.
the only way to stop this is to starve the beast. these places have endowments on which they should be able to run forever. don't give them a penny more!
Modern technology can also be great, but we have a problem of asymmetrical control over it. When we solve that, it can all work together for tremendous symmetric benefit...not unlike sewing machines, refrigerators, and the wheel.
I hope we can starve the beast in the most painless way possible, then get on with rebuilding sane community.
I have a friend who teaches shop class at a very large high school in a low-moderate income area - very racially diverse. Just FYI, it's still taught in some places at least - but then TIA - this is Alabama.
thank you so much for that. it's been very hard, this covid thing. i was stripped of my job and abandoned by some people i thought were good friends. i'm grateful for the friends i do have and for the people on these substacks. right now, i'm grateful for you
The common arguments for & against loan forgiveness usually both overlook the ROOT CAUSE which is in the fact that most of these students should never have had to pay that much for the education to begin with and those who benefit from the loans are everyone but the students, generally speaking. This is one of the best summaries of the corrupt system: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/the-great-college-loan-swindle-124484/
- Dept of Ed, lending institutions and school admins all rake in on the arrangement
It’s the usual culprits fueled by greed and selfishness. Disappearing the debt is simply a band-aid. What needs disappearing is the gov/banker lending scheme.
"these students should never have had to pay that much for the education to begin with"
Think feedback loop: The cost of education rose faster due to loans. Easy money was added to the demand, which pushed prices up, facilitating the demand for more loans...positive feedback loop.
It's actually quite similar to so-called "health insurance." As medicine transformed from a fee for service business in to an insurance model, prices began to rise. When insurance was began to (and was finally mandated to) cover things that could not even recently be associated with the historical concept of insurance, prices went up even more. Health insurance, to be analogous to home insurance or auto insurance should only cover unexpected and catastrophic expenses that most people would reasonably be unable to handle. Your auto insurance doesn't cover an oil change and your health insurance should not cover your annual check up. (Although, in this day and age, I question the wisdom of ever going to a conventional medical doctor…). The outcome of a physical exam for middle-age man could easily send you on an endless spiral spiral of unnecessary drugs, invasive diagnostic procedures, and even surgery. In almost all cases other than injury, all of those things would be unnecessary and possibly detrimental to one's health. There are certainly no market incentive for people to take care of themselves these days. Thus, we see things like the glorification of morbid obesity.
Yes! Spot on: feedback loop. This is what happens when you turn education into profitable industry by and for banksters and charlatans. Interest and usury at work. I’ve always felt that if we’re forced to pay taxes, those should be fed into the most important needs of society. Educating and enabling the future is paramount. Tricking them into debtors prison is a evil as it gets. Great post BTW. 🙏🏼
*Clarification: I’m not saying ALL education should be from taxes or that all interest is bad. It’s just a rigged system. We need decentralized, diversity of education types
I'm not sure this is a particularly meaningful or useful statement.
I had no education provided by anyone on whose time I had a demand. I was in charge of the whole process from age 5. Am I somehow dead?
"Making education a commodity is Fascism."
These words don't make sense to me. Education was a market thousands of years before fascism existed. Fascism started as, "socialism with a state backing," and steered around...what does it have to do with education?
"These words don't make sense to me. Education was a market thousands of years before fascism existed"... maybe therin lies the problem...
As a reminder I tell you that for thousands of years Education was prohibited by the catholic Church... and only available to the upper class.
Education was brought by one man... Martin Luther who translated the Bible so people could get educated.
What you are proposing is to bring us back to the dark ages where the upper class have all the power.
Knowledge is power.
You are proposing a neo feudalistic system in line with the WEF...
And Monarchy is Fascism that lasted from Egypt through Rome through the Dark Ages through the Middle ages.
The antidote to fascism is Education... surely you must understand this.
Educated people cannot be controlled... so education is a necessity and more it is a God given right... and more it MUST be the basic that everyone can choose their education freely to the best of their ability.
What you propose is a dictatorship of the rich over the poor...
We had this... we moved away from this... why do you propose moving Humanity backwards and not forwards?
Your arguments not just make no sense but I am actually in aw to hear them from you.
They come right out of the mouth of Klaus Schwab and follow his line of thinking.
So, why aren't you providing it free for everyone? Is it because there is an economic cost to doing so?
"Education prohibition is fascism by the rich against the poor."
There are definitely authoritarian clamps on education. I've written about that a few times. But beginning from a point of defining away the economics of the problem seems like fantasy. I saw that as somebody who helped build three schools and gave up a tremendous amount of earning potential to do so. It's not an easy road---much harder than, for instance, running a $12 billion bond account on Wall Street during the Long Term Capital Management collapse.
Because I had to do it all the hard way, because I educated myself and that was fucking evil.
But because on my knowledge which is second to none I was able to take research from NASA and others and interpreted it in the best possible way and what I achieved cannot be bettered in a million years.
No doctor no professor can challenge me on that.
Now there are many more like me out there who are by far more intelligent that those rich little bastards that are educated by harvard yale and oxford.
We make a change we bring balance we make a difference!!!
What do I get?
Where is my money?
BULLSHIT!
Education Prohibition is not only Fascism but it is slavery.
Do you support Slavery?
Honestly I like you but on this you are out of order... completely.
"all we need to do is to put a camera into any student lecture and record it."
Then the problem is already solved? We have videos for almost any course imaginable.
But it isn't, really. And I know that it isn't because I worked hard to build multiple schools, and people paid good money for the programs because education is not just a pile of videos. This is the reason why the MOOCs failed for the vast majority of the people who tried them. Walking people through rigorous thinking skills involves a dynamic and energetic interaction.
If you have teachers that do neither know their stuff nor do they build a relationship with their pupils you discourage people from learning and this is exactly the problem we face.
I was a terrible student in school because I resent authority.
I was however an avid reader having read nearly all the interesting books in the school library.
I also grew up bilingual and spoke better English than my English teachers which means they couldn't teach me shit.
I also have an IQ way beyond average and could see through their veil.
And the Greatest teacher I have ever encountered is life.
And of course ZEN & Buddhist teachings which are by far superior to western teachings and teaching methods.
In Kung Fu for example we develop a very intimate interaction with teacher and student based on mutual respect where each step is only taken when the previous step is completed.
Some are faster learners some take longer.
I am also suggesting that learning by doing is essential.
Because nobody learns anything when they don't see the use of it.
However if they need it they learn in an instant.
What I have learned nobody of you has ever and I say that with confidence because I have a patent to back this up.
Nobody has done anything like I have ever.
The main thing people need to learn is understanding wisdom and how to help themselves.
If education is a commodity people are held stupid in order to make more money.
It's strange that you think a video of a university lecture was created for free. There are many people receiving salaries along the way to make that one lecture possible. If there is no revenue generated for the creation of that lecture, how would it come into existence in the first place in order for it to be made available at no charge to everyone on the planet?
Yes... they love to flood the actual problem with divisive, partisan bread and circus. I bet we could all come up with a more effective solution after a few months. Guaranteed
Many schools are bloated through bureaucratic greed and myopia.... all subject to the greed of the banks/Debt of Ed, school bureaucrats who hide their involvement by pointing at “selfish students”. The perfect red-herring for the bipolar public.
The main product of most programs other than those that are STEM related is a sheet of paper that prepares you for nothing other than "bullshit jobs," as Matthew used the term. 
Aug 30, 2022·edited Aug 30, 2022Liked by Mathew Crawford
I LOVE your optimism. Skipping college and using our early 20s to build a family and a business was the best decision my husband and I ever made. Our now teenage kids know full well that if they want to go to college, they better have a damn good reason why it's necessary for them.
Thanks, you are the only person I have read that correctly states the inflation happens when the loan is given. You never mention that the pay off is supposed to be burned that’s why the forgiveness is anti-deflationary. Nonetheless keep stacking and I look forward to reading more of your articles.
I was a bond trader during the build up to the mortgage bond crisis, so I got to see the way the illusion was crafted that the TARP bailout was "noninflationary", which you recognize as sleight of hand over when the inflation occurred.
Ultimately, I believe that the most correct argument is systemic: that bailouts generate a positive feedback loop, which then leads to more debt and thus more inflation.
These two comments help me understand the article you wrote much better. This article in particular was unfortunately like reading Greek to me. I am just having morning coffee, and perhaps that’s part of the problem!! Thank you for simplifying things here.
You lost me at the assumption that Bitcoin would become the global banking reserve currency. I've read that the federal government has plans to create their own digital currency to replace cash and have greater control over all of us by the end of this year. Biden signed a bill to move us in this direction back in March, and another article I read points to Dec 13th as a date that this shift will happen. Wouldn't Bitcoin become irrelevant or worthless at this point if the feds can just make it illegal?
"You lost me at the assumption that Bitcoin would become the global banking reserve currency."
I led with "if" which is all anyone can possibly say, by definition. How could I write this any other way?
"I've read that the federal government has plans to create their own digital currency to replace cash and have greater control over all of us by the end of this year."
And their digital currency will still fail as an inflationary fiat. There isn't much time left. Economic growth has almost been suffocated by their spending on asymmetric power systems for control of human chattel.
"Wouldn't Bitcoin become irrelevant or worthless at this point if the feds can just make it illegal?"
Made illegal by a dying government? So, they'll beat it with a war...like they did with drugs...or terrorism?
When India banned Bitcoin, the result was igniting the largest adoption of cryptocurrency to date. When governments declare war on something, they draw attention to it. This will be the best case in history of that effect.
Thank you. Some of these ideas and whatever the insane bureaucrats have in mind are difficult to comprehend or anticipate. And some of what they've already done seems literally insane, so I can't rule out any consequences, whether intentional or otherwise, of what they have planned for us.
But it doesn't matter, and it already happened. Most currency has been digital for decades. They're just making a show of calling it cryptocurrency now while adding a few surveillance features, which has nothing to do with whether or not the system survives or whether Bitcoin wins.
Complex financial instruments, US tax forms. everything has gotten complicated. 7 years of secondary education does not helpe but I feel for those only with high school trying not to get taken advantage of. We need to go back to simplicity of bills, laws. Science, reasoning, financial instruments. The powers want to convince us that our laws and systems are unmamageable and democratic principles have failed.. release criminals, allow aliens in, safety last,wars, crisis after crisis for distraction for the masses. Why would they do these things all at the same time globally? Recent substack article addressed this question.
1. Make student loan debt dischargeable in bankruptcy
2. Require the educational institution to hold at least 50% of the debt taken on by each student
loans for uneconomical degrees, gone. loans not based on merit, gone. bloated administrations, gone. New country club facilities, gone. 6 year bachelors, gone. Party schools, gone.
Most universities would need to compete to provide the best value to well qualified responsible students who will earn an income to easily handle the loan...or go bankrupt themselves.
The worst Depressions and Recessions occurred when the money supply was inadequate to meet demand. This resulted in Deflation. If you think inflation is bad, imagine all your hard assets declining in value. You cant sell them. Nobody wants to buy anything in a deflationary market.
The problem this country faces is not an increase in the money supply, its the fact that every dollar created carries 1 dollar of debt that is subject to compound interest. So the debt obligation is greater than the money supply since money is not created to pay the interest (except for the rich who may borrow more money to carryover loans that become due (principal + interest)
Furthermore, almost all loans are required to be backed by collateral. If you don't have collateral you cant take out a loan, with the possible exception of student loans although some might argue the student is the collateral. They owe a debt that can not be escaped by bankruptcy like guys like Trump have done many times in a fashion that preserves his personal wealth
This leads to the even bigger problem, that is the equitable distribution of money that is created. Its mostly in the hands of the wealthy and little of it ends up on Main St in the productive economy or building/repairing infrastructure. As such its not a main driver of inflation on Main St. since the rich can only buy so many pizzas and beer, or goods on Amazon. It can of course cause asset inflation (real estate and stocks) and be used to invest overseas.
Obviously the limited relief of student loan debt wont change anything. Universities and students alike will expect this to be the norm with the former hiking rates and students taking out more loans. It might even fuel inflation as those ex-students who are not having a problem paying back the dent might just spend the 10,000 dollars on Main St.
I see the money supply is being like water. You don't want too little drought/deflation because dried up lakes and rivers are no good. But we don't want them to flood/inflation, because flooding is very destructive.
We need a money supply that expands relational to the economy. Imagine a growing network of rivers...more water needed to fill them.
The problem is the federal government, with it's massive deficit spending, dropping huge wads of printed money into the economy.
Look at it this way then. The real economy is on land (Main St). The excess water is being released into the sewer where the Swamp Creatures play with Derivatives and other Financial Toys, and much of it gets exported into the Oceans for overseas investments.
Main St is a Desert, the Sewers are Flush and Sea Level is Rising threatening to drive out those on Main St to the Hills in search of Water.
The problem is not Government Spending, its what they are spending it on and who is getting the money , and how they get the money to spend (borrowing and taxes instead of creating it by themselves without interest).
I've really appreciated all you've written on bitcoin and read through the long book you made available on your website...very helpful! thanks!
a question for you: what do you make of Martin Armstrong pointing out that the idea that a particular fellow Satoshi would have single-handedly developed a system and then bowed isn't entirely credible. He thinks it was developed by behind the scenes powers that be, who likely want to use the tracking power it offers to eventually digitize all money. I really like the philosophy of btc, but the point he makes is difficult to reconcile.
I've been wondering the same thing about Martin Armstrong. he's not the only person on the libertarian/populist leaning right who believes that bitcoin is a deep state scam. I'm hopeful that he is wrong, but I also don't think it is possible right now to disprove his hypothesis.
How likely is it that BTC would be adopted as global reserve currency...?
I’m sure people have reasons to believe in this possibility, but there are very powerful interests that (one would assume) would not allow this to happen.
Would be interested to hear the thinking backing likelihood of adoption. Seems sketchy at best.
The only way to take down Bitcoin to remove the supply cap is to soak up most of the world's wealth in one central power/wealth. So, then there is no Bitcoin. There is also total misallocation of resources that leads to economic collapse. After that, the network will be free again (whether the same one or a new one).
Once you read up on the basics of Bitcoin, you'll realize that the question is nonsensical. What I would recommend is finding a good, solid book or website that walks through the basics.
If people want to read that, they can. But I doubt it is time or money well spent. There is plenty of free critique on the internet. As an added bonus, the best critiques often come from Bitcoiners themselves because the ethos is to identify all the potential pitfalls.
Somehow the coiners that I’ve seen talk don’t seem to come up with the same critiques, perhaps because of the vested interest in talking up the price. I found this book coauthored by an economist to be well worth the time and minor expense as it walks through a breadth of issues and analyzes Bitcoin vs the established criteria of money and assets.
Can you summarize the main point, which seems to be that Bitcoin is gambling? Is the author saying that there is no hope that Bitcoin becomes the reserve/banking currency, and why?
If the argument is tight, why isn't it found on the internet?
Did you ever notice the machine's first line of attack is always "cult," the word they used to describe those of us resistant to the power and money schemes of the plandemic, or a slur, like, say, "anti-vaxxer." I've not read that particular book, but just based on the title, I would not. I also have no sense that I should--there are many available sources of legitimate inquiry that address the long and short of BTC.
I'm not an expert, but I have done my research and continue to. My conclusion is that BTC is a powerful idea, that it will only get stronger, and in the end, will be the only legitimate money, outside of the precious metals, which are really now mostly commodities. It may be a long and winding road to get there, but get there, it will. It's remarkably resilient and beautifully anti-totalitarian. It must win in the end, almost inevitably.
I'm willing to risk my treasure in it. It's a fight worth fighting, and I'll contribute. For me, just one more way to fight for freedom.
I met someone at Bitcoin Miami '22, he owned an auto body shop in Philadelphia. Never went to college, just built up business year by year till it sustained his lifestyle. Every time I hear story about debt forgiveness I wonder what he must think of it.
So, Mathew, you are saying that having a limited amount of currency, of a type like bitcoin, could solve many social problems and government corruption? It makes sense to me as far as stopping the vicious cycle of printing unlimited amounts of money via MMT, modern monetary theory, that is self-serving to those in Washington. Excellent post, thanks again!
i had an employee once who had a master's degree in some gender grievance studies thing, although i didn't know this at the time. apparently she did her paper on the oppressiveness of lipstick and i guess no one at estee lauder or revlon thought she was a good fit so she ended up doing classic women's work- sewing in my theatrical costume shop. i paid people fine but certainly not enough to service the debt on a completely useless ivy league master's.
one day she went to lunch with two of my young gals and when i got back from lunch, she was busy packing her stuff and accusing everyone in the shop of being racists! now, i ran a congenial family style business where everyone got along and i played peacemaker when they didn't. my employees were all women and homosexual men, as you'd expect and we had people from poland, russia, brazil, croatia, china, etc. it was a kind of united nations and many of the women had left totalitarian countries and were grateful for the freedom of the USA. suddenly hearing them being attacked as racists by a co-worker was beyond the pale.
i told her she could not talk to my good people like that and she insisted that she couldn't work with racists so i invited her to take her things and go.
after she left, the girls she had gone to lunch with explained what had happened. one of the gals- chris- was pretty curvy and she had been accosted by a homeless guy of hispanic origin on the way back from lunch. something like "hey chickie, nice tits"- the usual come on line that no woman can resist from a man who hasn't showered in a month!
chris took it with good humor and said to her companions "look, my new husband." that was it.
my master's degree in lipstick employee was also "latinX" (which wasn’t even a thing at the time) and took this as a slur against hispanic maleness.
notice that she didn't side with her abused "sister" as you might have expected an ivy league feminist to do. i call this "When Wokes Collide." which disenfranchised minority wins the mantle of victimhood today?
imagine my surprise when the next morning, she was sitting at her sewing machine as if nothing had happened and the room was pin drop quiet! i called her into the front fitting room.
"what happened?" i asked. "did you suddenly realize that your landlord wouldn't accept the old 'i can't work with racists' excuse for why you couldn't pay your rent? did it suddenly occur to you that unemployment wouldn't let you collect when you wrote down that you had plenty of work but just couldn't be around racists? no, no, you were very clear about your principles; you can't come back."
she cried and said i couldn't possibly understand. "what is it with you people? i'm a greek italian american woman who was ridiculed in grade school because i wore glasses and sucked in gym class! why do you all always think you have a stranglehold on suffering?"
she showed me a multi page gangsta rap ad for clothing in a fashion magazine. "look at the kind of offensive things your employees bring into work!" she said, missing the irony that it was HER magazine.
i thought the ad was pretty brilliant and said so. i also pointed out that all the black models who appeared on those pages said YES when their agents called about the job and they all cashed the checks. if they weren't offended, why should i be?
but more to the point, did she really expect me to stand at the door and rifle through everyone's bags and thumb through their reading material to make sure that there was nothing that might upset anyone? because i don't want to work in or own a place like that. i never saw her again and when her unemployment claim came in the mail, i rejected it.
i think about her often these days because her ilk seem to have infiltrated everywhere. i'm sure she is still paying off her useless and expensive degree with whatever menial work she can get. i would resent it bitterly if i am required to pay off her debt.
transferring student debt onto the tax payers without first cutting out the rot in universities is criminal. get rid of the $400,000 a year diversity deans, put all the "safe spaces" to good use, bring the tuition down to whatever i paid in 1972 adjusted for inflation.
universities now have become criminal organizations, copying the medical industrial complex model. we don't need any gender specialists; we need farmers and people who can do things with their hands. parents need to stop seeing college as an essential extension of childhood. take the money and have your kids learn a trade so they can make their way in the world. especially don't send your young adult children to any college that requires them to be vaccinated and boosted. right out of the gate, that's the wrong lesson.
the only way to stop this is to starve the beast. these places have endowments on which they should be able to run forever. don't give them a penny more!
People who work with their hands are great.
Modern technology can also be great, but we have a problem of asymmetrical control over it. When we solve that, it can all work together for tremendous symmetric benefit...not unlike sewing machines, refrigerators, and the wheel.
I hope we can starve the beast in the most painless way possible, then get on with rebuilding sane community.
I have a friend who teaches shop class at a very large high school in a low-moderate income area - very racially diverse. Just FYI, it's still taught in some places at least - but then TIA - this is Alabama.
The best part of your story is that the $10,000 your former employee might get will likely not even make a dent in her student loan debt.
thank you so much for that. it's been very hard, this covid thing. i was stripped of my job and abandoned by some people i thought were good friends. i'm grateful for the friends i do have and for the people on these substacks. right now, i'm grateful for you
The common arguments for & against loan forgiveness usually both overlook the ROOT CAUSE which is in the fact that most of these students should never have had to pay that much for the education to begin with and those who benefit from the loans are everyone but the students, generally speaking. This is one of the best summaries of the corrupt system: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/the-great-college-loan-swindle-124484/
In a nutshell:
- Student Loan bankruptcy protections were all but completely eliminated by 1998 fostering the drive to lend more and more *at interest of course (https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/history-of-student-loans-bankruptcy-discharge)
- Tuitions then increased dramatically, thereby “requiring” more student aid AKA loans. This is even more pronounced at private colleges which increased tuitions offset the Fed aid/grants (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/8/12/9130157/financial-aid-tuition-bennett-hypothesis)
- Dept of Ed, lending institutions and school admins all rake in on the arrangement
It’s the usual culprits fueled by greed and selfishness. Disappearing the debt is simply a band-aid. What needs disappearing is the gov/banker lending scheme.
"these students should never have had to pay that much for the education to begin with"
Think feedback loop: The cost of education rose faster due to loans. Easy money was added to the demand, which pushed prices up, facilitating the demand for more loans...positive feedback loop.
It's actually quite similar to so-called "health insurance." As medicine transformed from a fee for service business in to an insurance model, prices began to rise. When insurance was began to (and was finally mandated to) cover things that could not even recently be associated with the historical concept of insurance, prices went up even more. Health insurance, to be analogous to home insurance or auto insurance should only cover unexpected and catastrophic expenses that most people would reasonably be unable to handle. Your auto insurance doesn't cover an oil change and your health insurance should not cover your annual check up. (Although, in this day and age, I question the wisdom of ever going to a conventional medical doctor…). The outcome of a physical exam for middle-age man could easily send you on an endless spiral spiral of unnecessary drugs, invasive diagnostic procedures, and even surgery. In almost all cases other than injury, all of those things would be unnecessary and possibly detrimental to one's health. There are certainly no market incentive for people to take care of themselves these days. Thus, we see things like the glorification of morbid obesity.
Yes! Spot on: feedback loop. This is what happens when you turn education into profitable industry by and for banksters and charlatans. Interest and usury at work. I’ve always felt that if we’re forced to pay taxes, those should be fed into the most important needs of society. Educating and enabling the future is paramount. Tricking them into debtors prison is a evil as it gets. Great post BTW. 🙏🏼
*Clarification: I’m not saying ALL education should be from taxes or that all interest is bad. It’s just a rigged system. We need decentralized, diversity of education types
Education is not a commodity it is a necessity.
It is fundamental for every society to educate to the best of ability.
It is like life a given right.
Making education a commodity is Fascism.
Period!
"Education is not a commodity it is a necessity."
I'm not sure this is a particularly meaningful or useful statement.
I had no education provided by anyone on whose time I had a demand. I was in charge of the whole process from age 5. Am I somehow dead?
"Making education a commodity is Fascism."
These words don't make sense to me. Education was a market thousands of years before fascism existed. Fascism started as, "socialism with a state backing," and steered around...what does it have to do with education?
"These words don't make sense to me. Education was a market thousands of years before fascism existed"... maybe therin lies the problem...
As a reminder I tell you that for thousands of years Education was prohibited by the catholic Church... and only available to the upper class.
Education was brought by one man... Martin Luther who translated the Bible so people could get educated.
What you are proposing is to bring us back to the dark ages where the upper class have all the power.
Knowledge is power.
You are proposing a neo feudalistic system in line with the WEF...
And Monarchy is Fascism that lasted from Egypt through Rome through the Dark Ages through the Middle ages.
The antidote to fascism is Education... surely you must understand this.
Educated people cannot be controlled... so education is a necessity and more it is a God given right... and more it MUST be the basic that everyone can choose their education freely to the best of their ability.
What you propose is a dictatorship of the rich over the poor...
We had this... we moved away from this... why do you propose moving Humanity backwards and not forwards?
Your arguments not just make no sense but I am actually in aw to hear them from you.
They come right out of the mouth of Klaus Schwab and follow his line of thinking.
And I double down on this:
Education prohibition is Fascism!
Actually a sane comment.
Why is education expensive?
I make you an example...
There was a series on youtube... Physics for future presidents... loved it...
Basically all you have to do it to video any University lecture and make it publicly available over the Internet FOR FREE!
With simple solutions like this we can bring education to everyone at no costs at all.
All Education should be Free.
This stupid elitist thinking that education is a commodity is the greatest Theft fascist in nature and a failure of society.
I tell you something... rich people are stupid and they know they are stupid.
They fear us because we are smarter then them.
Education prohibition is fascism by the rich against the poor.
"All Education should be Free."
So, why aren't you providing it free for everyone? Is it because there is an economic cost to doing so?
"Education prohibition is fascism by the rich against the poor."
There are definitely authoritarian clamps on education. I've written about that a few times. But beginning from a point of defining away the economics of the problem seems like fantasy. I saw that as somebody who helped build three schools and gave up a tremendous amount of earning potential to do so. It's not an easy road---much harder than, for instance, running a $12 billion bond account on Wall Street during the Long Term Capital Management collapse.
As I wrote before... all we need to do is to put a camera into any student lecture and record it.
It has been done before and that a long time ago.
Physics for Future Presidents: Lec 01- Atoms and Heat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCdDFplPfMQ
And money is a scam... wall street is the greatest criminal Idiots in the whole world combined I would put them all to the wall and shoot them.
Money is BULLSHIT.
Proof?
I have the greatest business opportunity with the greatest invention of the 21st century with money worth more than 10 trillion USD.$'
My Invention is designed to take over all transportation in every country in every city and it cannot be bettered.
Where is my money?
Where is a million $ investment into my invention?
https://electricvillage.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/hs2-will-be-a-real-slowcoach/
It is nowhere to be seen.
How came I do be able to create this invention?
Because I had to do it all the hard way, because I educated myself and that was fucking evil.
But because on my knowledge which is second to none I was able to take research from NASA and others and interpreted it in the best possible way and what I achieved cannot be bettered in a million years.
No doctor no professor can challenge me on that.
Now there are many more like me out there who are by far more intelligent that those rich little bastards that are educated by harvard yale and oxford.
We make a change we bring balance we make a difference!!!
What do I get?
Where is my money?
BULLSHIT!
Education Prohibition is not only Fascism but it is slavery.
Do you support Slavery?
Honestly I like you but on this you are out of order... completely.
"all we need to do is to put a camera into any student lecture and record it."
Then the problem is already solved? We have videos for almost any course imaginable.
But it isn't, really. And I know that it isn't because I worked hard to build multiple schools, and people paid good money for the programs because education is not just a pile of videos. This is the reason why the MOOCs failed for the vast majority of the people who tried them. Walking people through rigorous thinking skills involves a dynamic and energetic interaction.
https://www.campfire.wiki/doku.php?id=rounding_the_earth:the_education_wars
I know I am a teacher myself.
The main problem is motivation.
If you have teachers that do neither know their stuff nor do they build a relationship with their pupils you discourage people from learning and this is exactly the problem we face.
I was a terrible student in school because I resent authority.
I was however an avid reader having read nearly all the interesting books in the school library.
I also grew up bilingual and spoke better English than my English teachers which means they couldn't teach me shit.
I also have an IQ way beyond average and could see through their veil.
And the Greatest teacher I have ever encountered is life.
And of course ZEN & Buddhist teachings which are by far superior to western teachings and teaching methods.
In Kung Fu for example we develop a very intimate interaction with teacher and student based on mutual respect where each step is only taken when the previous step is completed.
Some are faster learners some take longer.
I am also suggesting that learning by doing is essential.
Because nobody learns anything when they don't see the use of it.
However if they need it they learn in an instant.
What I have learned nobody of you has ever and I say that with confidence because I have a patent to back this up.
Nobody has done anything like I have ever.
The main thing people need to learn is understanding wisdom and how to help themselves.
If education is a commodity people are held stupid in order to make more money.
That is a fact.
It's strange that you think a video of a university lecture was created for free. There are many people receiving salaries along the way to make that one lecture possible. If there is no revenue generated for the creation of that lecture, how would it come into existence in the first place in order for it to be made available at no charge to everyone on the planet?
They say books are the purest form of telepathy...
I say books are a doorway into peoples minds and way of thinking.
And there are ways to think... nobody teaches you to think...
Yet I developed a certain way of thinking based on logic and reason.
When you create new technology and a patent there is no one you can ask because you are the first to walk this path... a pioneer.
So you have to base your thinking and conclusions on solid grounds.
I learned in this time more than all in my life together before.
I opened the door that no one before me has set a foot on a complete new set of possibilities.
And the law of possibilities is the most important of all... possibilities & magnetism & attraction.
Such things you never learn in school... you only learn laws and regulations.
I learned there are no laws there are no regulations... only possibilities.
This makes me quite unique.
Yes... they love to flood the actual problem with divisive, partisan bread and circus. I bet we could all come up with a more effective solution after a few months. Guaranteed
Many schools are bloated through bureaucratic greed and myopia.... all subject to the greed of the banks/Debt of Ed, school bureaucrats who hide their involvement by pointing at “selfish students”. The perfect red-herring for the bipolar public.
The main product of most programs other than those that are STEM related is a sheet of paper that prepares you for nothing other than "bullshit jobs," as Matthew used the term. 
I LOVE your optimism. Skipping college and using our early 20s to build a family and a business was the best decision my husband and I ever made. Our now teenage kids know full well that if they want to go to college, they better have a damn good reason why it's necessary for them.
Thanks, you are the only person I have read that correctly states the inflation happens when the loan is given. You never mention that the pay off is supposed to be burned that’s why the forgiveness is anti-deflationary. Nonetheless keep stacking and I look forward to reading more of your articles.
I was a bond trader during the build up to the mortgage bond crisis, so I got to see the way the illusion was crafted that the TARP bailout was "noninflationary", which you recognize as sleight of hand over when the inflation occurred.
Ultimately, I believe that the most correct argument is systemic: that bailouts generate a positive feedback loop, which then leads to more debt and thus more inflation.
These two comments help me understand the article you wrote much better. This article in particular was unfortunately like reading Greek to me. I am just having morning coffee, and perhaps that’s part of the problem!! Thank you for simplifying things here.
According to Robert Barnes this is completely illegal, unless passed by Congress. But due to the standing doctrine nobody really can sue.
Laws are being redefined problem solved. When did this new playbook start? Obadma, Hoover?
Debt forgiveness is like another "minimum wage increase" nonsense. The college educated who believe in free lunch.
they haven't really "forgiven" the debt as much as transferred the responsibility to repay it from those who used it to those who didn't.
You lost me at the assumption that Bitcoin would become the global banking reserve currency. I've read that the federal government has plans to create their own digital currency to replace cash and have greater control over all of us by the end of this year. Biden signed a bill to move us in this direction back in March, and another article I read points to Dec 13th as a date that this shift will happen. Wouldn't Bitcoin become irrelevant or worthless at this point if the feds can just make it illegal?
"You lost me at the assumption that Bitcoin would become the global banking reserve currency."
I led with "if" which is all anyone can possibly say, by definition. How could I write this any other way?
"I've read that the federal government has plans to create their own digital currency to replace cash and have greater control over all of us by the end of this year."
And their digital currency will still fail as an inflationary fiat. There isn't much time left. Economic growth has almost been suffocated by their spending on asymmetric power systems for control of human chattel.
"Wouldn't Bitcoin become irrelevant or worthless at this point if the feds can just make it illegal?"
Made illegal by a dying government? So, they'll beat it with a war...like they did with drugs...or terrorism?
When India banned Bitcoin, the result was igniting the largest adoption of cryptocurrency to date. When governments declare war on something, they draw attention to it. This will be the best case in history of that effect.
Thank you. Some of these ideas and whatever the insane bureaucrats have in mind are difficult to comprehend or anticipate. And some of what they've already done seems literally insane, so I can't rule out any consequences, whether intentional or otherwise, of what they have planned for us.
Governments and regulators are starting to take a serious look at the wild west that is crypto.
They have been for years. But it is a difficult challenge for them.
Yeah that was my thought too...they'll just create their own crypto-vaporware.
But it doesn't matter, and it already happened. Most currency has been digital for decades. They're just making a show of calling it cryptocurrency now while adding a few surveillance features, which has nothing to do with whether or not the system survives or whether Bitcoin wins.
Complex financial instruments, US tax forms. everything has gotten complicated. 7 years of secondary education does not helpe but I feel for those only with high school trying not to get taken advantage of. We need to go back to simplicity of bills, laws. Science, reasoning, financial instruments. The powers want to convince us that our laws and systems are unmamageable and democratic principles have failed.. release criminals, allow aliens in, safety last,wars, crisis after crisis for distraction for the masses. Why would they do these things all at the same time globally? Recent substack article addressed this question.
I'd rather see this problem fixed head on:
1. Make student loan debt dischargeable in bankruptcy
2. Require the educational institution to hold at least 50% of the debt taken on by each student
loans for uneconomical degrees, gone. loans not based on merit, gone. bloated administrations, gone. New country club facilities, gone. 6 year bachelors, gone. Party schools, gone.
Most universities would need to compete to provide the best value to well qualified responsible students who will earn an income to easily handle the loan...or go bankrupt themselves.
The worst Depressions and Recessions occurred when the money supply was inadequate to meet demand. This resulted in Deflation. If you think inflation is bad, imagine all your hard assets declining in value. You cant sell them. Nobody wants to buy anything in a deflationary market.
The problem this country faces is not an increase in the money supply, its the fact that every dollar created carries 1 dollar of debt that is subject to compound interest. So the debt obligation is greater than the money supply since money is not created to pay the interest (except for the rich who may borrow more money to carryover loans that become due (principal + interest)
Furthermore, almost all loans are required to be backed by collateral. If you don't have collateral you cant take out a loan, with the possible exception of student loans although some might argue the student is the collateral. They owe a debt that can not be escaped by bankruptcy like guys like Trump have done many times in a fashion that preserves his personal wealth
This leads to the even bigger problem, that is the equitable distribution of money that is created. Its mostly in the hands of the wealthy and little of it ends up on Main St in the productive economy or building/repairing infrastructure. As such its not a main driver of inflation on Main St. since the rich can only buy so many pizzas and beer, or goods on Amazon. It can of course cause asset inflation (real estate and stocks) and be used to invest overseas.
Obviously the limited relief of student loan debt wont change anything. Universities and students alike will expect this to be the norm with the former hiking rates and students taking out more loans. It might even fuel inflation as those ex-students who are not having a problem paying back the dent might just spend the 10,000 dollars on Main St.
I see the money supply is being like water. You don't want too little drought/deflation because dried up lakes and rivers are no good. But we don't want them to flood/inflation, because flooding is very destructive.
We need a money supply that expands relational to the economy. Imagine a growing network of rivers...more water needed to fill them.
The problem is the federal government, with it's massive deficit spending, dropping huge wads of printed money into the economy.
Look at it this way then. The real economy is on land (Main St). The excess water is being released into the sewer where the Swamp Creatures play with Derivatives and other Financial Toys, and much of it gets exported into the Oceans for overseas investments.
Main St is a Desert, the Sewers are Flush and Sea Level is Rising threatening to drive out those on Main St to the Hills in search of Water.
The problem is not Government Spending, its what they are spending it on and who is getting the money , and how they get the money to spend (borrowing and taxes instead of creating it by themselves without interest).
I've really appreciated all you've written on bitcoin and read through the long book you made available on your website...very helpful! thanks!
a question for you: what do you make of Martin Armstrong pointing out that the idea that a particular fellow Satoshi would have single-handedly developed a system and then bowed isn't entirely credible. He thinks it was developed by behind the scenes powers that be, who likely want to use the tracking power it offers to eventually digitize all money. I really like the philosophy of btc, but the point he makes is difficult to reconcile.
I've been wondering the same thing about Martin Armstrong. he's not the only person on the libertarian/populist leaning right who believes that bitcoin is a deep state scam. I'm hopeful that he is wrong, but I also don't think it is possible right now to disprove his hypothesis.
How likely is it that BTC would be adopted as global reserve currency...?
I’m sure people have reasons to believe in this possibility, but there are very powerful interests that (one would assume) would not allow this to happen.
Would be interested to hear the thinking backing likelihood of adoption. Seems sketchy at best.
"How likely is it that BTC would be adopted as global reserve currency...?"
I'm not sure anyone has a particularly good idea. We are far from having perfect knowledge.
What about adoption "seems sketchy"?
I am working on an article about dollars/BRICS currency, and Bitcoin that may illuinate the adoption discussion somewhat.
Thanks for the response. Look forward to reading that piece.
This is the kind of stuff wars are fought over…
But wouldn't Bitcoin be simply nationalized by a central bank digital currency ("for everyone's good"). Bitcoin and the rest seem to be sitting ducks.
The only way to take down Bitcoin to remove the supply cap is to soak up most of the world's wealth in one central power/wealth. So, then there is no Bitcoin. There is also total misallocation of resources that leads to economic collapse. After that, the network will be free again (whether the same one or a new one).
Once you read up on the basics of Bitcoin, you'll realize that the question is nonsensical. What I would recommend is finding a good, solid book or website that walks through the basics.
Can you point us to a helpful resource?
https://www.campfire.wiki/doku.php?id=bitcoin
Here is a resource that I found helpful that may offer an alternate view https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B098GT2HJJ
If people want to read that, they can. But I doubt it is time or money well spent. There is plenty of free critique on the internet. As an added bonus, the best critiques often come from Bitcoiners themselves because the ethos is to identify all the potential pitfalls.
Somehow the coiners that I’ve seen talk don’t seem to come up with the same critiques, perhaps because of the vested interest in talking up the price. I found this book coauthored by an economist to be well worth the time and minor expense as it walks through a breadth of issues and analyzes Bitcoin vs the established criteria of money and assets.
Okay.
Can you summarize the main point, which seems to be that Bitcoin is gambling? Is the author saying that there is no hope that Bitcoin becomes the reserve/banking currency, and why?
If the argument is tight, why isn't it found on the internet?
Did you ever notice the machine's first line of attack is always "cult," the word they used to describe those of us resistant to the power and money schemes of the plandemic, or a slur, like, say, "anti-vaxxer." I've not read that particular book, but just based on the title, I would not. I also have no sense that I should--there are many available sources of legitimate inquiry that address the long and short of BTC.
I'm not an expert, but I have done my research and continue to. My conclusion is that BTC is a powerful idea, that it will only get stronger, and in the end, will be the only legitimate money, outside of the precious metals, which are really now mostly commodities. It may be a long and winding road to get there, but get there, it will. It's remarkably resilient and beautifully anti-totalitarian. It must win in the end, almost inevitably.
I'm willing to risk my treasure in it. It's a fight worth fighting, and I'll contribute. For me, just one more way to fight for freedom.
You are welcome to your opinion and to not look at information of course. I’ll just leave these here:
https://ccaf.io/cbeci/index
https://www.theonion.com/man-who-lost-everything-in-crypto-just-wishes-several-t-1848764551
Good. Was hoping there was a way it was nonsensical. Cause it would have been a problem.
I met someone at Bitcoin Miami '22, he owned an auto body shop in Philadelphia. Never went to college, just built up business year by year till it sustained his lifestyle. Every time I hear story about debt forgiveness I wonder what he must think of it.
So, Mathew, you are saying that having a limited amount of currency, of a type like bitcoin, could solve many social problems and government corruption? It makes sense to me as far as stopping the vicious cycle of printing unlimited amounts of money via MMT, modern monetary theory, that is self-serving to those in Washington. Excellent post, thanks again!
Do you ever wonder if Bitcoin was created to lure people away from fiat so when all the CBDBs are in place they can just make Bitcoin illegal?