[pianotech] NY Times article on pianos (OT)

[Dean May]

Amen.

 

Dean

Dean W May                (812) 235-5272 voice and text 

PianoRebuilders.com    (888) DEAN-MAY        

Terre Haute IN 47802

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From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Susan Kline
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 11:02 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] NY Times article on pianos (OT)

 

Hi, Bill 

We can agree to disagree about that. Certainly there's plenty of blame to go
around. 

The predatory lending, and the draconian bankruptcy bill which saddles young
people with debt 
for their natural lives, and the vicious collection practices (pressuring
kids to 
pay their loans before their rent, their utilities, their food, or their
medicine) 
seem to be to be far from blameless. And the way they've set up loans so if
graduates 
can't make payments, the principal just mounts up and up -- doubling,
tripling -- 
"I owe my soul to the company store" comes to mind. 

It all seems very similar to the mortgages banks sold to people who
obviously would 
default. They privatize the profit while socializing the risk. 

I'm done with politics, here. Suffice to say that no one newly graduated
with 
a six-figure debt will be able to study piano tuning, or live on a beginning

tuner's earnings. And that has been going on for decades already. No wonder 
routine work isn't getting done.

It reminds me of places where the cost of real estate and rent gets so high 
that the service people (gardeners, window cleaners, day care people, etc.)
can't 
afford to live within commuting distance. 

It all feels like endgame to me. If things can't get any more expensive 
and complicated and impractical, in the end they will come crashing down. 

Best to keep a wary eye on the basics in our lives -- where does our food, 
electricity, fuel, etc. come from, and will it keep coming? Is the division
of 
labor which we've become totally dependent on really going to go on 
forever? Anyone feel like investing in some nice high-paying Spanish 
bonds? 25% unemployment in Spain these days. What are they all going to 
do? 

Thumpe's right -- gardening is good. Not because it is financially
profitable 
right now, but because the food is better than store-bought, and growing it 
teaches people how to do it successfully, and how to use the produce and 
plant the right amounts at the right times. Someday they might really need
this 
skill. Plus some plants like fruit trees and berry bushes and nut trees 
need time to grow. 

Best, 
Susan

Bill Fritz wrote: 

Susan, while I'd agree that this world is indeed changing...

 

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.

 

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.

 

The law of supply & demand... except in this case, Wall Street had nothing
to do w/ it.

 

Best Regards...   Bill Fritz, St Louis

 

 


From:

Susan Kline  <mailto:skline at peak.org> <skline at peak.org>


To:

pianotech at ptg.org


Subject:

Re: [pianotech] NY Times article on pianos


Date:

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:28:37 -0700

What I see is one more way in which this country has paid for letting 
Wall Street put most of the young and educated into indentured servitude 
via student loans.

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