Repeat: $555,000!

WOW!!! That’s incredible… and completely unacceptable.

When I saw the headline on Yahoo! News that read, “The $555,000 Student-Loan Burden,” I had to read more. And what I found was the story of Dr. Michelle Bisutti. If you want to read her story directly as reported by Yahoo! News and the Wall Street Journal, you can click here and take it in for yourself. Here are the parts of the story that struck me and stuck in my head:

When Michelle Bisutti…finished medical school in 2003, her student-loan debt amounted to roughly $250,000. Since then, it has ballooned to $555,000.

It is the result of her deferring loan payments while she completed her residency, default charges and relentlessly compounding interest rates. Among the charges: a single $53,870 fee for when her loan was turned over to a collection agency.

WHAT?! A $54 thousand fee for turning the loan over to a collection agency?! Okay, look. I understand that lenders need to be repaid. Heck, I work for a statewide loan fund and when my borrowers don’t repay their loans, my professional life sucks. So, I completely understand the need for people to repay in good faith. But a $54 thousand fee for turning a debt over to a collection agency? Get out of here! That’s ridiculous and should be reversed without question.

How dare someone charge that type of fee? For comparison’s sake, if an interest rate was that outlandish it would be called usurious and the lender could possibly be taken to court and penalized. A $54 thousand fee… good grief!

There is an estimated $730 billion in outstanding federal and private student-loan debt…and only 40% of that debt is actively being repaid. The rest is in default, or in deferment, which means that payments and interest are halted, or in “forbearance,” which means payments are halted while interest accrues.

Ummm… can anyone say “bubble ready to burst?” When you combine the high unemployment rate with the increasing student loan debt burden – well, it’s not a good thought. Only 40% of student loans are actively in repayment? Oh boy…

Dr. Bisutti says she loves her work, but regrets taking out so many student loans. She admits that she made mistakes in missing payments, deferring her loans and not being completely thorough with some of the paperwork, but was surprised at how quickly the debt spiraled.

As a guy whose student loan debt story was also spread out all over the national media, I’m glad that this paragraph was included in the story. One of the missing pieces of my story in USA Today was that I pretty much knew what I was getting into with respect to my student loan debt. It appears that Dr. Bisutti knows how she wound up in the position that she’s currently in and I can tell you from experience that this puts her a few steps ahead of other student loan borrowers that are falling behind on their payments.

While in school, her loans racked up interest with variable rates ranging from 3% to 11%.

Eleven percent?! Are you kidding me?! Now we are dealing with usurious interest rates if you ask me…

She maxed out on federal loans, borrowing $152,000 over four years, and sought private loans from Sallie Mae to help make up the difference. She also took out two loans from Wells Fargo & Co. for $20,000 each. Each had a $2,000 origination fee. The total amount she borrowed at the time: $250,000.

In case any of you are wondering how a person borrows $250,000 in student loans – there’s your answer. Quite frankly, I know folks that have over $200,000 in student loan debt. In fact, I’d be one of those people if I decided to stay in Graduate School until I received a Doctorate. And while I do anticipate eventually going back and obtaining a doctoral degree, I want to eliminate or dramatically reduce the remainder of my student loan debt ($80 thousand as of this writing) before I take that step.

In 2005, the bill for the Wells Fargo loans came due. Representatives from the bank called her father, Michael Bisutti, every day for two months demanding payment. Mr. Bisutti, who had co-signed on the loans, finally decided to cover the $550 monthly payments for a year.

Ugh. What a horrible resolution to this particular loan’s status. One thing that always stuck in my mind when I was an undergraduate (not a graduate student) was that my Mother co-signed for my student loans. I’m not quite sure what benefit, if any, I received from having her co-sign, though I know that she made a quarterly interest payment on the loans while I was in school. There was no way that I was going to let any of my student loan debt fall back on my Mom and Dad’s shoulders, so as soon as I had the opportunity to consolidate my $121 thousand in loans I did so.

Again, I didn’t receive a lower interest rate because I had a co-signer with an excellent credit score, so other than providing the student loan companies with an additional repayment source, I’m not sure what the benefit of a co-signer is for today’s undergraduates.

She recently entered a rehabilitation agreement on her defaulted federal loans, which now carry an additional $31,942 collection cost. She makes monthly payments on those loans — now $209,399 — for $990 a month, with only $100 of it going toward her original balance. The entire balance of her federal loans will be paid off in 351 months. Dr. Bisutti will be 70 years old.

Well, at least the good Doctor found herself a repayment plan. But with only $100 of each payment going towards the original balance, she’s going nowhere fast. However, if I can make any recommendation to Dr. Bisutti it would be to overpay when possible and as much as possible.

The debt load keeps her up at night. Her damaged credit has prevented her from buying a home or a new car. She says she and her boyfriend of three years have put off marriage and having children because of the debt.

I readily admit that there was a time when my student loans kept me up at night. Those days are pushing further and further away, but they’re still close enough where I remember the gut-wrenching feeling of not believing that there was an easy way out of the student loan debt situation. Of course, I’ve found my way and I’m beating the crap out of my student loan debt, but there are hundreds, thousand, and even tens of thousands of student loan borrowers out there who are in way over their heads. I sympathize with their situations and hope for the best for each of them (and their lenders, who should be repaid).

Back in June 2006 when I was plastered on the front page of USA Today the one thing I remember most from that whirlwind experience was that people tried to project their personal situations on my situation. I can’t tell you how many internet message boards I read that said I should have gone into the military because, “Back in 1946 that’s what I did and the government paid for my education!” Or how many times I read crap like, “Joe should have gotten a job while in college and not eaten so much!” (I had two jobs in college and there were MANY comments about my weight on the internet message boards because, well, people are really, really dumb).

That said, I dare not project my personal situation on the good Doctor chronicled in this story. Like I wrote above – I’ve also been kept awake at night because of my student loan debt. I know what that suffocation feels like and I’m sorry to hear that anyone else has to go through it. I know what it’s like to not be able to buy a home because you can’t begin to put away the proper down payment. I know what it’s like to not be able to purchase a brand new car for the same reasons. And I know all too well what it’s like to push off new or advancing relationships because the thoughts of your student loan debt consume you.

So, if this blog entry reaches Dr. Bisutti I hope that she is doing well and making progress in repaying her debt burden. Good luck, Dr. Bisutti!

And the only point I tried to make was that we ought to have a lot of political dissent — a lot of political argument. Nobody is right all the time. But we also have to take responsibility for the possible consequences of what we say. And we shouldn’t demonize the government or its public employees or its elected officials. We can disagree with them. We can harshly criticize them.

But when we turn them into an object of demonization, you know, you — you increase the number of threats.

But I worry about these threats against the president and the Congress. And I worry about more careless language even against — some of which we’ve seen against the Republican governor in New Jersey, Governor Christie.

Now you can add President Clinton to the long list of people who are growing tired of the end-of-the-world rhetoric and hate mongering that is coming out of the New Jersey Education Association and some of its affiliated local unions. It’s such a damn shame that political discussions in New Jersey come down to end-of-the-world scenarios. New Jersey is the epitome of how partisan politics can fracture a state. However, if anyone can fix this mess, it’s Chris Christie. Governor Christie is one of few politicians out there who bucks the trend of playing to the public opinion polls. And watch – once Governor Christie wins this battle against the NJEA and their hate speech, his numbers will go right back up.

Anyway, here is the actual video of President Clinton’s comment:

Joe's Journal - As it used to exist

If you read that link, you now know that I merged my old blog – Joe’s Journal – with the one that you’re reading – JerseySmarts.com. One year ago today, that merger was complete. I think the results have been great, but you could probably be the judge of that better than I can…

One of my favorite parts of the old Joe’s Journal was that crazy header that I put together by blending all of the different things that crossed my mind at the moment. You might be able to tell from that screenshot, but there are a whole bunch of different things on there including the Monmouth University hawk, Stewie from an early episode of Family Guy, the Arrested Development television show’s logo, a Cross, the American flag, my fraternity’s flag, a Lord of the Rings logo, a Smallville logo, a silhouette of New Jersey, a Rutgers University logo, and a bunch of other stuff. Plus, the main color of the site was yellow.

In general, I never hate on any of my old sites and Joe’s Journal is no different. I really enjoyed that blog since it was my personal blog where I let off steam and commented on a variety of issues (the entries have all been merged into this site, so go back a few years and look at some of the older posts – lots of bitching in there!). However, as I began to enterprise my web design skills and I began creating newer websites with stronger capabilities and better marketing opportunities, I realized that I had to begin eliminating duplication in those areas of my life where it was unsustainable and, really, unnecessary.

On that point, a few years ago I opened up JerseySmarts.com as a place where I could capture some of the writing skills of my friends from college and other people that I’ve met along the way. It never really panned out the way I wanted it to, but that’s okay. Since JerseySmarts.com became a viable source of revenue, I wound up keeping the domain and just uploading my Joe’s Journal entries onto both blogs. It was easy, but pretty laborious in the grand scheme of things. I never wanted to engage in larger marketing campaigns or new ways to present content because I didn’t want to have to duplicate everything. Plus, I felt like the impact of my entries was being thinned since they were available in two locations.

The logical answer was to merge the two blogs and condense my efforts to create a single website with greater impact. I think that I’ve been pretty successful in that effort considering that JerseySmarts.com is both profitable and has a wide readership. Since the merger, I’ve admittedly held back on publicizing the blog to the extent that I originally intended and part of that was because I wanted to ensure that I had the commitment to keep the thing updated. With that, I’m glad to announce that today marks one full year of this blog being updated every single day. In 365 days JerseySmarts.com has had more than 365 entries. I think that’s a pretty significant accomplishment for a one-man show. One of the ways that I accomplished this was taking advantage of the ability to “schedule” a post in WordPress. For example, I wrote all of the entries for November 1st through November 16th (that’s today) on Halloween. Hey, I had the free time while sitting around waiting for trick or treaters, so I wanted to use it productively! I can’t guarantee that I’ll be updating the blog on a daily basis for the coming year, so I might miss a day here and a day there, but I made it work in the last year so I might be able to keep the momentum going in the coming year!

If I had my way, I’d get more people to sign-up for the monthly newsletter in the next year and I’d utilize that newsletter for more than just a recap of previous entries. I think that goal is attainable, but not when the newsletter stands at 26 subscribers. Last month I started a new Google Group which replaced the old newsletter system that I’ve been using for the last year. Let’s hope that it has some staying power, huh?

Anyway, we’re one year into this merger and I think it’s going great. Let me know what you think!

There is a lot to write about this particular issue. I could write about how one of my liberal professors is touting the White House’s opposition to FOX News strictly on ideological grounds. One could also write about how Chris Wallace from FOX News Sunday hit the nail directly on the head when he suggested that this White House is filled with a bunch of crybabies. Or one could write about how other news stations are sticking up for FOX. In fact, directly from that New York Times article comes this:

In a sign of discomfort with the White House stance, Fox’s television news competitors refused to go along with a Treasury Department effort on Tuesday to exclude Fox from a round of interviews with the executive-pay czar Kenneth R. Feinberg that was to be conducted with a “pool” camera crew shared by all the networks. That followed a pointed question at a White House briefing this week by Jake Tapper, an ABC News correspondent, about the administration’s treatment of “one of our sister organizations.”

Pretty respectable for the competition to honor the unfair treatment that FOX News has been receiving, huh?

However, I want to focus on two things regarding this issue – the White House’s intentional blur between what is news and what is opinion on FOX News and the game that the White House is playing with FOX News.

First, anyone who studies media or watches a great deal of CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News while reading a diversity of newspapers can tell you that there are only so many ways a company can report a story. When a tornado hits Kansas, you don’t often hear FOX News reporters saying, “A tornado hit Kansas today and the lousy liberals are to blame.” Just like you don’t hear any legitimate reporter on MSNBC blaming conservatives for acts of God. When it comes down to reporting events from around the world, you’re going to read or watch the same report no matter where you go.

However, when it comes to commentary, you’re going to get a divergent approach to “reporting.” Bill O’Reilly calls himself a “humble correspondent.” That’s part of his approach to opinion journalism and there is nothing wrong with that at all! O’Reilly takes a very traditional view on the issues, but that’s okay because he’s hosting a program that is rooted in commentary. Glenn Beck has a staunchly libertarian point of view. Now, those who are not well-versed in political ideology would suggest that Beck is a conservative, but he’s not. So the next time you hear a mass media report or read in a newspaper that Beck is a conservative, then you need to second guess that source of news. Sean Hannity, on the other hand, is a hardcore conservative and there’s nothing wrong with that, either.

FOX News clearly labels these programs as commentary and anyone who knows anything about social interaction beyond “Hello, my name is…” can tell that these programs are NOT news-based! The White House isn’t filled with dummies, they understand that these programs are opinion programs. However, their strategy is to lump the legitimate news departments in with these opinion programs to paint FOX News with a broad, anti-liberal, anti-Obama brush. They know that by doing this, there will be a certain percentage of the population that completely agrees with them and will eventually take over this fight now that it has been brought up at a higher level. It’s a shame that such easily influenced, non-critical thinking people exist to do the White House’s prolonged dirty work.

My second point is that the White House actually managed to do something that they hadn’t been able to do up until they began attacking FOX News, i.e. get the FOX News commentators to STOP digging into the backgrounds of Obama’s staff. Think about it. Glenn Beck single-handedly led to Van Jones’ downfall, which opened up the door for other media organizations to wonder what they had missed out on (read the New York Times article linked above). This, frankly, scared the hell out of the White House and led to them attacking FOX News. If the media is covering itself, then they’re NOT digging into the people who maybe shouldn’t be sitting around the table with the President, right?

Hopefully, people will begin to notice this on a large scale and begin to demand that their White House stop engaging in partisan attacks on the media and, instead, get back to the job of running this country.

Second, I absolutely hate the way that MySpace pages can be overly manipulated. I was friends with some people who chose to completely screw up their MySpace pages to the point where you’d need a 50″ screen on an ultra high resolution just to see the entire page at once. Completely ridiculous. That’s one of the features that I like about Facebook – it doesn’t allow you to break their basic format (and I hope they never move in that direction).

As for the cancellation process on MySpace, I found it to be overly cumbersome. You have to choose to “cancel” your account two or three times and then when you get the e-mail confirmation, you have to click on a link and confirm the cancellation again. I’m sure the News Corp lawyers that run the legal end of MySpace have some reason for that process, but it’s a bit ridiculous. Just let people cancel and move on already.

So now that I’m off of MySpace and LinkedIn, I think that I’m only on Facebook. I have to go and check whether or not I have any outstanding online profiles at Yahoo, but I should be good at this point. I’m considering whether or not to get rid of the Google photo album, too. There is only a limited amount of space available and it’s a little annoying to upload pictures to both Facebook and Google. I guess I’ll rest on that one a little bit longer, too.

In the last year I’ve merged both of my blogs into the one that you’re reading now and deleted unnecessary profiles at MySpace, LinkedIn, and Plaxo. Frankly, after a while it just gets to be too much. I think that this is the fate that Twitter has ahead of it. By the way, has anyone noticed how Twitter is essentially the new AIM for a younger generation? Just an observation.

No more MySpace!

Sure, it’s not worldwide news and yeah, it’s only six days, but I was surprised at a few things over the last few days. First, I was surprised that it has been two years since I worked out for five days in a row. That’s crazy and it’s really amazing how, once you stop working out regularly, you don’t realize that so much times goes by without a sustained workout program. By the way, I distinctly remember those five days in May 2007 because I walked around Deal, NJ for the first three of those days (which were 3 – 4 mile walks in the evening each time) and I spent the next two days at the now-closed Ocean Fitness Center on Route 35 in Ocean Township, NJ.

Second, I was surprised at how quick the past six days went by. Since I started working full-time in August 2006 I’ve stated over and over again that the 40 hour work week and the 10 hours of commuting each week have been disastrous to my working out. Anyone who tries to get a good workout in when they spend at least 50 hours a week away from home will agree to that statement. Yet, now that I’m a member of a gym that is located a mile and a half (or so) from where I live, there is almost no time spent getting to and from the gym and it’s easier to fit a good hour’s worth of working out into my already strained schedule.

Finally, I was surprised at myself for waking up at unGodly hours during the work week and arriving at the gym between 5:45am and 6:15am each day. That’s crazy. I hate getting up early – hate it! No, I don’t mean that I hate getting up at 6:30am to get ready for work – that’s normal. But getting up between 4:30am and 5:00am is just aggravating. I’ve also been going to bed a little bit earlier around 10:30pm or 11:00pm. That’s a big change from the normal time that I was going to bed, which was around midnight.

I don’t think that I’ll keep this streak going much longer (who knows), but I am pleased to know that when I start teaching at nights again this summer (hopefully), in the fall, and next spring that I’ll be able to keep my workouts going by just going to workout early in the morning!

Elizabeth Cheney was featured on MSNBC last week speaking with the type of strong conviction that has been missing from the previous administration’s defense of their policies. If you have the time, the video clip below is an excellent representation of two things. First, how clearly Ms. Cheney presents her position and the position of the previous administration. Second, if you listen to the exchanges between the host and Ms. Cheney, it becomes very clear how the host is trying to lead Ms. Cheney down a certain road of intended “guilt” for the previous administration’s assumed law-breaking.

It is a great credit to Ms. Cheney that she is able to both defend the previous administration AND fend off the inherent far-left bias in the host’s questions. Take a listen and see what you think.

And in their article they made the following suggestion:

Since the beginning of March, CNN has fallen behind both the longtime ratings leader, Fox News Channel, which, as the voice of disaffected conservatives, again has an imposing lead, and the upstart MSNBC, which has tried to mirror Fox’s success by steering to the left.

CNN has even dipped behind its sister network HLN (formerly Headline News) on many occasions. Since the beginning of 2009, CNN has finished fourth in prime time among the cable news networks on 35 out of 84 weeknights.

The development raises an obvious question: With its rivals stoking prime time with high-octane political opinion and rant, can CNN compete effectively with a formula of news delivered more or less straight?

Alright, there are a couple of things here that need to be addressed and I’m annoyed that they need to be addressed because I’d prefer to comment on the actual article’s content, not the worldview of The New York Times. First of all, FOX News is not in the lead because it is the voice of disaffected conservatives (in fact, most studies show that more than half of their viewership consists of independent and democratic voters). It is in the lead for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which is that they’ve managed to successfully marry entertainment and news as well as entertainment and commentary.

No one can watch Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, or Greta Van Susteren and suggest that they are not in the midst of some type of performance. O’Reilly has the American Culture quiz, for Pete’s sake! Hannity has the Great American Panel which introduces an X-Factor (usually an entertainer) into the show plus he’s got that Liberal Translator thing which is clearly a form of entertainment. And Van Susteren is constantly jumping out of planes or throwing out first pitches, plus she’s put together two new segments at the end of her show called “Best of the Rest” and “Last Call” to get people staying tuned. And I’m fine with all of this stuff because these shows are commentary and should show some personality. Nothing wrong with that on FOX or any other cable news channel.

My next problem with the view presented by The New York Times is the idea that MSNBC is an upstart company. Are you kidding me? They were a failed cable news outlet before FOX News was even an idea! The biggest problem on MSNBC right now is the unchecked hatred that they allow to spew on their airwaves, not that they have competition from CNN or FOX News. The difference between CNN and FOX News and the folks over at MSNBC is that they allow completely absurd statements to be made without a strong counterpoint. You absolutely will not find that on O’Reilly’s FOX News show, political leanings aside.

The other problem at MSNBC is talent. Who the hell wants to watch Keith Olberman? The man is a failed ESPN broadcaster and MSNBC gives him his own show? What’s next? The Money Hour with Bernie Madoff? Give me a break.

And the problem with CNN is that they cannot fathom that their opinions are anything other than 100% correct and middle of the road. Look, CNN leans left; not hard-left or hateful like MSNBC, but they do lean left. And the thing is – they don’t get it. For example, I posted a few days ago about that crazy woman reporter from CNN that attended one of the tea parties and was so self-centered that she claimed the tea parties were anti-CNN! Ha! Can you imagine that?!

I’ve seen FOX News reporters go into rallies that truly WERE anti-FOX News and present a set of fair questions to the protesters. Maybe the best thing for CNN, MSNBC, and even The New York Times to do is sit down and actually watch a few hours of FOX News for a change.

Update: The real, straight shooting numbers on who is really winning (“hammering the competition” is more like it) in the ratings war are available at NewsMax.com.

New Jersey transportation officials say a year-old state law banning cell phone use while driving has resulted in nearly 109,000 summonses issued in the past 11 months.

That’s almost double the amount of tickets handed out during the previous five years for the offense.

A state law signed on March 1 last year makes talking on hand-held cell phones while driving a primary offense. That means police are now able to stop motorists just for talking on the phone.

Division of Highway Safety director Pam Fischer says the primary law is making a difference, resulting in about 10,000 tickets a month.

New Jersey is among four states and the District of Columbia that have made using a cell phone while driving a primary offense.

Alright. I call bullshit on this law “working.” What measure, exactly is being used to judge whether or not this law is working? Go ahead – go back and reread the article and tell me how we know the new law is working. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Did you see anything? More tickets being written? Yeah, okay. And? What does this prove? Nothing!

I hate this type of crap because today’s society is so consumed with doing a million things in a day that it is a rare thing to read and critically review information that is presented to us by the media. This is the main reason why the mainstream media is garbage and there is a rising class of entertainment-as-real-news that is taking over the ratings.

Most people will read this post on My FOX NY and just read the headline and scan for a quote from someone official affirming or refuting the headline. In other words, there are probably masses of people out there who saw this bogus article and now, in passing, would comment that the cell phone ban in New Jersey is working. Let’s shed some reality on this situation…

Nearly everyone in New Jersey has a cell phone crammed in their ear while they are driving or their thumbs are going a mile a minute texting away in traffic. Don’t deny it, my fellow Garden Staters – you know that you’re guilty of this in the car. Don’t deny it! And that includes some of the worst offenders – our law enforcement officers!

Anyway, this cell phone ban is not working. And for the love of God, just because more tickets are being written does not mean that a piece of legislation is success! Just like most of the other traffic-related laws on New Jersey’s books, this cell phone ban is yet another way for local municipalities to raise more money off of the already broken backs of our overtaxed population.

In the mean time, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

Of all the reports that struck me, the one that made me go wide-eyed the most was the one of the woman from CNN who claimed that she was being harassed at the tea party which was anti-tax and, “anti-CNN.” Anti-CNN? Really? If you watch the video, you’ll notice that this woman was being rude and arrogant to the people in the crowd – not letting them finish answers to her questions and cutting them off. Frankly, she was being an all-around asshole. The term “self-important bitch” comes to mind when I watch the video. And for those of you who suggest that she had every right to berate the guy with the anti-Obama sign remember two things. First, she’s a journalist and what she believes is best saved for an op-ed, not a news report. Second, this same woman attended a parade a few years ago held by those on the far left of the political spectrum and laughed and condoned an image of President George W. Bush as Adolf Hitler.

Fair and balanced? Definitely not so on CNN.

As she was saying this I couldn’t help but think of that episode of Family Guy where Peter secedes from the union and founds the country of Petoria. At one point during the episode, Tom Tucker is reporting live from the scene and starts saying how bad it was and how it was a full-out war between the United States and Petoria…then the camera pans towards him and you see him making the gunfire noises with plastic bubble paper and rocket noises with a slide whistle! It seems that the fictional Tom Tucker and the real world “reporter” from CNN went to the same journalism school!

Anyway, the Constitution Party came out with an e-mail to those on its e-mail list saying the following:

We suggest you now send your emails to CNN Executive Vice President Ken Jautz : ken.jautz@cnn.com and Philip Kent, the Chairman and CEO of CNN: phil.kent@turner.com

Let Susan’s boss know you’re not going to let off the hook a left-wing activist with a mic who was denouncing a legitimate and honest political movement by hard working Americans. Remind the CNN honchos that there were close to one million attendees at the tea parties.

Now, I normally don’t go putting up these types of e-mails on this blog, but I think that this particular message has some resounding value. It’s really ridiculous that CNN would put such a biased, arrogant report on the air. I was one of the many people who moved away from FOX News’ coverage of the Presidential campaign and over to CNN because they just had better coverage this year. However, now that I see such blatant bias, I really can’t stick with CNN as my “flip to” channel. It’s back to FOX News for me – where, believe it or not, they are much more “fair and balanced” than the dummies at CNN.