Student Loan Interest Rates

Lots of interest (ha ha) in student loan interest rates in the last few days--or at least so it seems to me as I have come across at least one article per day in each of the four wire services I check daily for the last three days.  The short story is, student loan interest rates are at an all time low and are set to double if the U.S. govt does not figure out how to fund the lower interest rate.  Both major parties agree that they want to keep the rates low, but they do not agree on how to fund the rates. 

Folks, get something straight in your heads, subsidized student loans are loans not grants, the current interest rate is kept artificially low by the federal government paying directly for the defaults instead of charging higher interest on the current loans.  8% interest was normal until the last few years and thus the program did not cost the government as much to fund as it does now.  And by the way, the government pays these default bills by taking money we pay in taxes (income, medicare, social security) and reallocating it to student loan programs.  So, we can either have low interest student loans or we can have other programs--money is not available for everything. 

And then, of course, we complain about the educational debt load.  Well, check out the following graphics from an article published today.

  Somehow, for my own two cents, I think it might just be possible for most people who have student loans to pay their student loan debt.  I have mine, I do not blame the cost of education for my debt, in fact I blame no one for my debt.  I have a job I love, a home, a family, and I pay my debts and will for the next 20 years to come.

Sexism and Superheroes

Ok, I know it is not Friday, but this is only partly frivolatry.  The other part of this post is the question of whether or not there a) should be female superheroes?, and b) if there are female superheroes, why do we pose them for posters and pictures in sexually provocative manner?  Think of what it looks like if we juxtapose the normal posing...

Friday Frivolatry

Today is Star Wars Day.  So, I thought what do all Star Wars geeks and fans alike need.  I am sure tehre will be lots of articles today where you can look at all of these gadgets, but for my two cents, the following are the best.

First there is the R2-D2 USB hub.  Then there is the Han Solo in carbonite USB flash drive


And best yet, the actual laser light saber



Go here for more details.

If Realists Were in Charge

Kudos to Stephen Walt (again) for pointing out that realists are not NeoCons and hardly can be considered as interventionists.  Kudos to Walt for pointing out that NeoCons and liberal internationalists have controlled U.S. foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.  Personally I would go further and say that these factions have controlled U.S. foreign policy since the downfall of Nixon.  So what would U.S. Foreign Policy look like if realists were in charge?  Walt addresses this in his Foreign Policy blog. 

Not sure if I fully agree with his commentary on off-shore balancing or with what Walt considers a "normal" relationship with Israel.  For my two cents I do agree with his assessment on war with Iraq, the "War on Terror" (whatever the heck that means), and the lack of adventuristic, interventionist behavior that would be the norm if realists were still listened to in foreign policy decision-making circles. 

The U.S. would not be worrying about lost sons and daughters in Iraq and Afghanistan to the extent made possible by 8 years of Bush and 4 of Obama.  We certainly wouldn't be worrying about whether Putin is upset or not by silliness like missile shields and NATO expansion.  As a realist is there really any reason for NATO to still exist?  Plus, we wouldn't be in the business of making everyone else's business our business.  Realism is not about adventures in intervention, realism is about maintaining your own position in the hierarchy of power through pursuit of security or pursuit of power.  Of course, we can make arguments about type of realism on display, I would argue that Walt's comments are particularly forceful if one accepts a defensive realism as preferable to other potential realisms.

But, thanks again Stephen Walt for pointing out that the hacks in Washington, D.C. on both sides of the political aisle are not to be confused with realists.