1. Education or Medication?

    Wednesday, February 17, 2010
    By Craig

    When you graduate high school they tell you that the world is your oyster. You can do anything. This is true! What most people don’t see is the fine print at the bottom that claims 8% interest on your student loans over the next 25 years. It makes perfect sense that in order to make sure you are a well-rounded individual one must make the trek down the long road of college as I did 5 years ago. The big elephant in the room is the crazy interest rate tacked onto those loans that help you become such a well-rounded individual. Why do banks need to make so much off of a person just leaving college with nothing but thirst for a great job? Should you be hit in 6 months with nearly $500 – $700 a month in students loans? Will that inhibit someone from being able to afford health insurance? If someone can explain this please do. When a company like Wells Fargo is making nearly 7% off of my student loan I feel as if I am being taken advantage of. I don’t have much of a choice but to accept the loan. I have had limited education on the world of finance from my high school. I don’t enter the world knowing a whole lot about it. Why is it that something so crucial to our lively hood gets overlooked for things like the War of 1812. I’m not saying the war is not important but if I can’t understand a loan document I can’t help but feel as if somethings been left out.

    What happens when a person leaves school in an economy as bad as this one and then must make payments of $500 – $700 dollars a month working at a job they thought was left back in high school with drama queens and jock kings. Can you afford minimal health insurance and pay back the big banks? Why should one have to make a choice after school? Do the banks need the money that badly after billions of our bailout money was recently handed over to them? Just lower the interest rates so people can actually afford at least the minimal crappy insurance offered by other big business. In the end, we are still taking money from one company and handing it out to another. Isn’t that how this economy works? Until greed is eliminated from all finance, trickle down needs to remain a marketing scheme for consumer goods.

    Feel free to correct me if you think any statements are false.

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  2. Sustainability goes both ways…

    Before I left my apartment the other day I flipped on the light to grab my gloves out of the closet. At this moment I realized that there has to be a way to not only live environmentally friendly but enable one to also sustain their lifestyle. The lightbulb in my hallway is a CFL (curly pigtail fluorescent bulbs) installed by my landlord. Awesome gesture I know. The problem with CFL’s is that they don’t turn on at full capacity instantly (boo hoo). Instead they must “warm up” making it difficult for one to find gloves in a dark closet filled with winter jackets and fabric grocery bags. Can’t we create a world that is sustainable to both the environment and a person’s lifestyle? I believe strongly enough in human laziness that the environment will not, in the long-run, stop us from doing what we want. Of course this challenges us to work harder so we can create those LED bulbs that turn on instantly and are extremely energy-efficient. Currently we are at a turning point where people must work harder to be more energy-efficient aka GREEN. The good news? Soon technology will give us the upper-hand in our fight for sustainable lifestyles. After flipping on my energy-efficient LED hallway bulb of the future I can see everything immediately, just like the good ole’ days!!! As I lock the door, all my lights will turn off auto-magically and the thermostat will turn down a notch. Same life, less energy, life’s good. Hang in…
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