College Debt and Responsibilities
When I quit doing Govern America on a weekly basis, I thought I would have all kinds of time to pursue other projects, do more writing, reading, studying, and documenting. To be entirely honest, I thought wrong. I have actually been almost as busy without the radio program as I had been with it. I have only gotten bored exactly twice since I quit the show.
The biggest thing that is currently consuming my time are family endeavors. My wife, Michelle, and youngest daughter, Hannah, both have epilepsy and I and my oldest daughter, Jessica, spend a great deal of time sharing the responsibilities of running the others where they need to go, in addition to our our jobs and responsibilities.
Jessica is finishing up her college degree and is having to work two jobs aside that to pay her car insurance and maintenance, her tuition costs which are astronomical, and other things she needs. She would have been done already, had it not been for her guidance councilor misdirecting her on which classes she needed to take. I have wondered if they don’t do that purposely just to run up the bill. It is absolutely immoral and wrong what the colleges and universities are doing to the next generation. Many of these kids are graduating with a quarter of a million dollars of debt hanging over their heads. They say they are preparing the next generation. For what? A life of being a pauper? A life of wearing a ball and chain? A life of being enslaved to the banking establishment? Many of them will spend a good part of their lives working to pay off all of the loans and aid they were “given”.
Like nearly every problem in society, politicians have created this problem and helped the bubble of university debt to grow. At one time in the United States, a person could make a good living without a college degree. We had a thriving manufacturing sector, which afforded many uneducated or lesser educated people the opportunity to support themselves and their families. It was the “free trade” globalization that destroyed all of that. The elimination of tariffs on imports allowed, and even forced, multi-national corporations to shop around the world for the cheapest labor in order to stay competitive. I support the current administration’s efforts to right the ship, even though there is always a risk associated with everything. The possibility of an economic collapse due to a trade war is very real. However, we know the end result of where we were headed. The United States was on the road to economic ruin and abject poverty. We were headed toward being a third world country before Trump slipped through the cracks of the controlled election manipulators and managed to occupy the Oval Office, to the disdain, horror, hair pulling, and whining of the Establishment globalists and intelligence spooks. There is evidence that the tariffs that he has placed on China is already having a positive effect, even though you wouldn’t know it from listening to the Mockingbird media, who only focus on the people and businesses that are being hurt by the tariffs. If Trump is able to stay the course, and our industries return to the U.S., it could lead to a burst of the college bubble as young people realize anew that they don’t need to rack up all of that debt to have a future.
Thankfully, my career in broadcasting has afforded me the opportunity to establish a relationship with the university system that has enabled my daughters to avoid much of the debt that is associated with going to college — but not all of it. Instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars, theirs is in the tens of thousands, but it isn’t inconsequential. Michelle and I have helped them as much as we can, but we are not independently wealthy, and we are strongly trying to avoid the pitfall of taking on college debt, which is the most dangerous type of debt one can incur.
Instead, we opted to get a loan from the credit union to help, but it isn’t going to cover everything Jessica needs to finish. With her being so close to finishing, and with so much riding on it, she has no choice but to spend many hours of her non-school time working to pay for the schooling. To her credit, she’s working hard. I am really proud of how seriously she is taking it.
Hannah has already finished her degree and has started an unpaid internship at a local museum. She also works a paying job on the side. We don’t know whether the museum will turn into a real job, but at least she is getting more resume material and they seem to like her so far.
Aside from all of the family stuff, I have been trying to do some work on the websites. Jackie Patru called me a couple of weeks ago, and we discussed the future of Sweet Liberty. I realize the need to transform that site into one that is managed by a content management system. That way, she would be able to log in, add items, and edit typos and such. I have long played around with the idea in my mind, but have dreaded the work that would be involved. It is a massive site! There are so many sections, so much content in each section, and so many things about the site that are unique to Sweet Liberty. Back when I was doing radio, taking on a project like that would have been unthinkable. Now, it is a matter of how to best execute it with the time I have. I do have ideas… stay tuned.
Finally, it looks like I am going to be taking a trip south. I have family that live in Tennessee and Alabama. I haven’t seen my father in eight years, and I am told he is in failing health. It seems to be the same story everywhere. Time passes us by. Life is fleeting. Alas, it is autumn once more. Soon, winter’s snows will fall anew in Michigan. Where does the time go?
