Last month House Republicans passed legislation which would tie interest rates on student loans to US Treasury notes, with a cap at 8.5%. This would have the effect of introducing at least some element of market forces to the student loan market. Democrats in the Senate have a plan, not yet voted on, which would…
Total Student Loan Debt Has Tripled Since 2004
The cost of college is growing faster than anything else in our economy, including the cost of things like health care and energy, and that’s driving huge growth in student loan debt: Total student debt stands at $966 billion as of the fourth quarter of 2012, the N.Y. Fed said in press materials, with a…
North Dakotans Among The Best In The Nation At Saving
The Corporation for Enterprise Development tells us that 28% of North Dakotans aren’t saving adequately, and while that sounds like a big number, it’s worth noting that North Dakota is 3rd in the nation when it comes to saving. Here’s an excerpt from the press release. The full scorecard is here. Washington, D.C. — While…
Grand Forks Herald: Please Pay No Attention To The Student Loan Bubble
When the higher education/student loan bubble pops, the folks at the Grand Forks Herald should be indicted (figuratively, not literally) as co-conspirators. Because despite a report illustrating the bubble perfectly, despite a report in their own paper showing that student loan debt has exploded even as the degrees students are purchasing have fallen in power,…
Wells Fargo CEO: Get The Government Out Of The Home Mortgage Business
“If it wasn’t for Fannie and Freddie, [the mortgage crisis] would have been a small problem,” Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich told CNBC today. “Fannie and Freddie and other government agencies guaranteed 70 percent of those mortgages.” He’s right, of course, though Fannie and Freddie’s market penetration when far beyond that. At the time of…
As Price Of College Goes Up, Value Of A College Education Drops
This is what happens when government promotes something like higher education with subsidies in the form of “easy money” government loans. We get a bubble, just like the housing bubble which saw the government promoting home ownership with “easy money,” government-backed mortgages. Soaring tuition costs, a weak labor market and a glut of recent graduates…
Bill Would Allow State Of North Dakota To Get Into The Wholesale Mortgage Business
North Dakota is unique among the states in having a state-run bank. Now, per a bill coming out of the Industry, Business and Labor Committee (at the request of the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency), the state wants to be a mortgage wholesaler too. Here’s the language from the bill, which is SB2079: The business…