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Those pesky student loans
From the NY Times:
The average student loan debt among the 580 graduates of Harvard Law
School in 1986 was $27,200, said Susanne Davis, a spokeswoman for the
school. Many students also have debts outstanding from their
undergraduate years, and the average combined debt in those cases is
$32,800, she said.
Multiply that by 2 and you get $66K. But the Obamas made roughly $2 million between 1997 and 2004 with a $200K+ average. They lived in the same condo for 13 years. So why couldn't they pay off student loans? And why is this in her stump speech?
Here's a nice little tidbit on the great traditional sport of Harvard Law School whining - I guess it's part of their entry training to keep them from seeming elite.
Comments (10)
Why couldn't they pay off their student loans? I don't know. Why? Who cares? They didn't default on them; that is what matters.
Did Hillary have student loans, or did her father pay her way? Who cares?
Did she tell us all that she took her daughter to a dangerous place and ducked under sniper fire when it wasn't true? That DOES matter.
May 14, 2008 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why not pay off the loans? Probably for the same reason a lot of people don't pay off certain debts in full even if they can. Interest is tax deductible. Every little bit helps. Lots of people do that.
May 14, 2008 10:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do it to build my credit history and my interest rate is low enough that its in my best interest to extend my payments and refinance periodically as opposed to paying them off in one shot -- even though I can. I pay less taxes and the loan finances a business, the proceeds of which go to paying off my loan and that balances my books.
May 14, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliant. You assume, based on nothing, that the Obamas debt was $32,000. I am an HLS and HRC grad. My loan debt and the debt of most of my poor classmates was between $75,000 and $100,000 including undergrad. This does not include the money my parents borrowed. After graduation, my monthly payment was $1200. I don't know how much debt Michelle and Barack racked up, but I won't assume it was on the low end of the scale.
May 14, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, I simply took the average as published by the NY Times, as I quoted above. Michelle has spent enough time complaining about this. How about giving details, because even if it were $100K apiece, when you're pushing $250K per year average income you can make a dent in large debts.
Taxpayers subsidized their education with submarket loans to go the finest school in America, which put them at the top of their professions in a few short years, and now we have to hear them complain about it.
May 14, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, this is not a good argument, and based on logical fallacies. I think it's safe to assume that they had well more than the average of debt for undergrad and grad, and also safe to assume they deferred payments for awhile while the B-rock was community organizing. I wouldn't be surprised if yearly payments were 10-20K or more. Paying for a condo, day care, health insurance, saving for college, saving for retirement doesn't leave a lot of room for paying off a couple hundred in student loan debt optionally. And, really, who the hell cares?
May 14, 2008 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your resentment is so attractive. I bet you really had it hard when you were young--being such an ass an all.
I'm pretty sure if Mrs. Clinton added mocking other people's debt service to her stump speech she'd probably get a few extra points from the dipshit crowd. She should go for it. Game changer.
Did the NYT article include in the 580, the number with no loans? So the average tells us nothing about the typical debt, among those who had debt, right? And it tells us even less about the debt of any particular individual.
I don't recall the Obamas saying their student loans had been a tremendous burden to them in the last few years when clearly they have attained a level of financial success. But if they graduated in 1986 then there is a period of more than 10 years when that is entirely possible-- when they would have had student loans plus mortgages, maybe car payments, child care expenses (their first daughter was born in 1998-9?)
I think you are officially crossing over into troll-ville with this post.
May 14, 2008 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Desidero, you are way too smart to be signing up for the "elitist" thing. Come on.
May 14, 2008 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Where do you here whining? I hear Michelle saying that (1) the Obamas can understand what a burden student loans could be, (2) the burden of student loans makes it harder to choose lower-paying public service and community service jobs (as the Obamas did), and (3) they were privileged to have Obama's book money to pay off their debts.
Michelle said that their monthly student debt payments were more than their monthly mortgage payment--seems highly likely that they had more than the average debt level you've cited.
And she didn't say they just couldn't pay the debt, she said they had to figure out how to do all that AND save money for their kids.
May 14, 2008 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reading is fundamental!!
I am attending a state school as an in-state resident for a graduate program. My student loans so far WITH an assistantship and NO room and board (I live at home) is about $20K. I still have 5 classes/2 semesters to go....
Get real!
May 16, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
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