LaxPower Back-Up Stick

RT @juliussharpe: If the government really wants to get the economy going, when they send the $600 checks they’ll also make sports betting and drugs legal.

Debt

Today - $27.5t

2016 - $20.2t

2012 - $16.0t

2008 - $11.0t

___________________

MAGA = failue

Trickle Down = failure

Top 10% of the top 1% - winning!!

Why is it that non profit maximizing entities love debt so much? They don’t even get the tax deductible benefit of it that private enterprises do.


CREDIT MARKETS
Bond Boom Comes to America’s Colleges and Universities
Eyeing low rates and financial pressure tied to Covid-19, higher-education institutions are issuing a record amount of debt this year

A Tulane University student at his dorm room in August. The school received $1.5 billion in orders for $187 million in debt this summer, as investors searched for yield.
PHOTO: ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES
By Juliet Chung and Melissa Korn
Dec. 26, 2020 5:33 am ET
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Faced with a rapid deterioration in their finances in 2020, America’s colleges and universities issued a record amount of bonds this year.

It is a stressful time for higher education. The coronavirus pandemic worsened existing pressures on tuition and auxiliary revenue, with international students opting to study outside the U.S. and money from room and board drying up as schools keep classes online. At the same time, demand for financial aid and costs related to providing protective gear and Covid-19 testing have jumped.

Hoping to address possible shortfalls and take advantage of ultralow rates, universities have flooded the market with debt. With few places to get a return in the bond market, investors have scooped up the issues, which in some cases offer yields of 2% or 3% for debt that matures in 15 to 30 years.


The higher-education sector “becomes attractive because it’s under pressure,” said Daniel Solender, who oversees tax-free fixed-income investments at asset manager Lord Abbett & Co., referring to rising yields on higher-education bonds as schools’ ability to navigate the pandemic came into question. The firm added more than $300 million to its holdings of such bonds this year.

“There are a lot of high-quality institutions with great reputations, great balance sheets, that will find a way to make it through this environment,” he said.

Bond Bonanza
Colleges and universities issued a record amount of debt in 2020, spurredby the pandemic and low rates.
Source: Barclays
Note: Data are of fixed-rate issuance and refinancings, both taxable and tax-exempt;2020 as of November
.billion
2010
'15
'20
0
20
$40
For the year through November, colleges and universities issued more than $41.3 billion in taxable and tax-exempt fixed-rate debt, including refinancings, a record since Barclays began tracking the data. The data included issuance from schools with top-notch credit ratings, including Brown University and the University of Michigan, as well as lower-rated schools like Linfield University in McMinnville, Ore., and Alvernia University in Reading, Pa.

Moody’s Investors Service MCO 1.15% in March lowered its outlook on the entire sector to negative from stable, citing uncertainties and financial challenges brought on by the pandemic. S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook on a raft of schools in May and no longer maintains a positive outlook on a single one of the schools it rates. Attempting to help alleviate some of the pressure, more than $20 billion was allotted to public and private higher education in the latest Covid-19 relief bill passed by Congress.

John Augustine, who leads the higher-education and academic medical-center finance group at Barclays, said the bond issuance came from institutions trying to reduce their fixed costs. For some, he said, borrowing money at low rates was more attractive than dipping into their endowments at a possible cost to future generations of students.


The New York Institute of Technology refinanced $17 million in debt this summer as it sought to bolster its cash holdings, extending the repayment timeline to 2030 and lowering its annual debt service to around $3 million from upwards of $7 million.

“Trustees were concerned about the market turmoil they saw going on and how that might affect our liquidity,” said Barbara Holahan, chief financial officer and treasurer of the private university.

She said freeing up cash became a bigger priority as international student enrollment fell and expenses rose.


Administrators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been pressing for a change in state law that would allow it to issue bonds.
PHOTO: LAUREN JUSTICE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES
Part of the sector’s appeal for investors stems from the long-term maturity of college and university bonds, said Jim Costello, who heads higher-education finance at J.P. Morgan. JPM -0.44% Corporate bonds rarely last more than a decade, while higher-education bonds typically have maturity dates 30 years out.

“The AAA- and AA-rated schools are pretty unique assets to own,” Mr. Costello said. “It’s very hard for these bond investors to find very highly rated, very long-duration assets.” He said many schools already had planned before the pandemic to issue bonds this year, but that they had subsequently increased the size of their borrowing.


A further boost for the asset comes from investors’ search for yield.

After the Federal Reserve cut rates to near zero in March to help stabilize the economy, investors have reset the benchmark by which they judge the relative attractiveness of various asset classes and risks. That has contributed to soaring equity markets this year, as well as appetite for municipal bonds.

Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., opted for a $17.5 million private placement with Synovus Bank in September. The small liberal-arts college was refinancing existing tax-exempt debt, drawn in part by low rates.

Wofford finance chief Chris Gardner said the school wound up cutting its yield on 15-year bonds to 2.1% from 3.39%, saving about $100,000 a year.

“Everybody’s looking for some kind of yield. As low as 2% is, you can compare that to sovereign debt where you’re getting negative yields on half the countries in the world,” Mr. Gardner said.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Do you think college bonds offer an attractive investment opportunity? Why or why not? Join the conversation below.

For decades, colleges and universities largely sold bonds to finance new construction of academic buildings, dorms and sports complexes, and to tackle deferred maintenance. Like many other municipal bonds, these offerings are typically tax-exempt. Some schools issue taxable bonds because they come with fewer restrictions governing use of the funds.

Tulane University in New Orleans received $1.5 billion in orders for $187 million in debt this summer. Institutions that invested include BlackRock Inc., BLK 0.50% Lord Abbett and Vanguard Group, said Tulane operating chief Patrick Norton.


Tulane had the new bonds in the works even before the pandemic to finance new construction and refinance $25 million in existing debt. The school waited until it firmed up plans to bring students back to campus for the fall, ensuring continued cash flows, Mr. Norton said.

It locked in an all-in 3.12% yield on bonds with an average life of almost 20 years, compared with the 3.31% it got on 2017 bonds with an average life of about 12 years.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison hasn’t been as fortunate.

Unlike most public universities, the flagship can’t issue debt of its own because of state statutes. It instead participates in the state’s issuance and refinancing of tax-exempt general obligation bonds. Campus administrators have been citing the pandemic in discussions with lawmakers this fall to press for the ability to issue bonds, said Laurent Heller, the school’s vice chancellor for finance and administration.

Among other pressures, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been hit by lost revenue related to room and board and its athletics program, whose 80,000-seat football stadium has been sitting empty since March. It has furloughed staff and made other cost cuts but still expects to have a significant budget shortfall in the fiscal year ending in June, he said.

“It’s a part of the tool kit of every major university,” Mr. Heller said. Without the ability to issue debt on its own, “we face more pressure to do immediate expense reductions.”

—Heather Gillers contributed to this article.

Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:26 am Why is it that non profit maximizing entities love debt so much?

Same basic reason that the granddaddy non profit maximizing entity, the US gubmint, does: it puts off hard decisions until tomorrow.

In the case of colleges, they're in competition with other colleges for students (=$). If they cut, say, luxury lax facilities, they fear they will lose a competitive edge, and enter a downward spiral.

I’m a little tired of thinking game theory is some elegant concept and explanation for dumb behavior. It’s a race to the bottom

CU77 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:32 pm

Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:26 am Why is it that non profit maximizing entities love debt so much?

Same basic reason that the granddaddy non profit maximizing entity, the US gubmint, does: it puts off hard decisions until tomorrow.

In the case of colleges, they're in competition with other colleges for students (=$). If they cut, say, luxury lax facilities, they fear they will lose a competitive edge, and enter a downward spiral.

As far as Universities, they also have a virtually guaranteed income stream. Non-defaultable student debt? GI Bill cash? Wealthy parents? The biggest issue is government backed student loans. It's an idiotic positive feedback loop. Schools are getting more expensive? Allow bigger loans. Bigger loans are available, well let's increase tuition!

.Gov shouldn't be in the student loan business in the first place. At the most, it should be for a 2-year in-district community college. Loan size would be ~$7,000 total for tuition for two years on average. Ideally that should be free education with a few caveats. Economy would certainly be better, and we'd hopefully have a smarter and more competitive country internationally.

Well I don’t want to seem too concerned, certainly in the short run, but I am in the camp that we’re going to see a lot of colleges disappear over the next 10-20yrs, even prior to Covid which is a bit of an accelerant but not the catalyst which is demographics in general and then acutely in am certain regions of the country like the NE and Midwest. In being a pretend amateur analyst on this topic a decline to failure isn’t a linear process but rather sort of curve linear in the sense that a couple of consecutive years of a yield miss of say 10-20% and operating losses amounting to no more than maybe 1% of the endowment annually and whether it’s poor decision making in the moment or other reasons you start seeing a shrinking and retrenchment with short sighted reductions and it sort of precipitates a negative feedback loop where in a decade a solid private school with a respectable rank, say 51-100, nationally university and liberal arts. More likely liberal arts. But some school that’s solid and 75+yr old, even well over 100yrs old, that have $150-$300mm type endowments take a $4-$8mm cum operating deficit over a couple of years, maybe the investment managers weren’t positioned well and take a hit one or more of those years as well (not major but flat to (-)5% type area. Now the board is cutting things and shrinking enrollment by 5% but you’re still struggling to break even at reduced load really and there’s a general quiet cloud overhang in general. Suddenly those endowments are down 20-30% covering operating losses and restructuring costs and are starting to have employee (and perhaps student as well) retention issues as well. These guys don’t ride it all the way to zero, especially if they have decent LT liabilities out there for capital expenditures, if it’s rolling downhill they’ll figure out the exit. Even Wesley college has net $11-$15mm when they folded into Delaware state. A school like Elmore College, or more indebted High Point, could see the decline and settle and and merge into/be absorbed by another college (often public but these days that may skew more private).

Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:27 pm Well I don’t want to seem too concerned, certainly in the short run, but I am in the camp that we’re going to see a lot of colleges disappear over the next 10-20yrs, even prior to Covid which is a bit of an accelerant but not the catalyst which is demographics in general and then acutely in am certain regions of the country like the NE and Midwest. In being a pretend amateur analyst on this topic a decline to failure isn’t a linear process but rather sort of curve linear in the sense that a couple of consecutive years of a yield miss of say 10-20% and operating losses amounting to no more than maybe 1% of the endowment annually and whether it’s poor decision making in the moment or other reasons you start seeing a shrinking and retrenchment with short sighted reductions and it sort of precipitates a negative feedback loop where in a decade a solid private school with a respectable rank, say 51-100, nationally university and liberal arts. More likely liberal arts. But some school that’s solid and 75+yr old, even well over 100yrs old, that have $150-$300mm type endowments take a $4-$8mm cum operating deficit over a couple of years, maybe the investment managers weren’t positioned well and take a hit one or more of those years as well (not major but flat to (-)5% type area. Now the board is cutting things and shrinking enrollment by 5% but you’re still struggling to break even at reduced load really and there’s a general quiet cloud overhang in general. Suddenly those endowments are down 20-30% covering operating losses and restructuring costs and are starting to have employee (and perhaps student as well) retention issues as well. These guys don’t ride it all the way to zero, especially if they have decent LT liabilities out there for capital expenditures, if it’s rolling downhill they’ll figure out the exit. Even Wesley college has net $11-$15mm when they folded into Delaware state. A school like Elmore College, or more indebted High Point, could see the decline and settle and and merge into/be absorbed by another college (often public but these days that may skew more private).

I'm no expert. I was in athletics departments for the past two decades, mostly as a specialized additional admissions counselor with the task of bringing in ~10 students every year who normally pay more and get better grades than the school average. Some schools wanted you to win a few games as well. I had limited exposure to the actual underpinnings of finances. The last P5 place I was at had a ton of their money coming in from the Med school they were mismanaging. An open secret where the residencies were paying the med / dds schools, which were then flowing down to the undergrads. I'm not really adding anything, just my observations with a lot of these big time schools. Some places like Harvard charge $80k a year and are low on the rankings, but how many patients are gonna question a last in the class MD with a Harvard residency. And some no-name free state school that makes a bball sweet sixteen once every two decades is the best in the country with just 4-6 admissions per year, simply because it's free and attracts the best applicants.

The big time presidents are now more fundraising experts than CEOs / administrative experts. A lot of small college are gonna disappear. Some will bounce like rocks skipping on the surface every few years when they ask alumni to donate before ultimately settling in the water. Sweet Briar comes to mind here in VA.

holmes435 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:52 pm

CU77 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:32 pm

Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:26 am Why is it that non profit maximizing entities love debt so much?

Same basic reason that the granddaddy non profit maximizing entity, the US gubmint, does: it puts off hard decisions until tomorrow.

In the case of colleges, they're in competition with other colleges for students (=$). If they cut, say, luxury lax facilities, they fear they will lose a competitive edge, and enter a downward spiral.

As far as Universities, they also have a virtually guaranteed income stream. Non-defaultable student debt? GI Bill cash? Wealthy parents? The biggest issue is government backed student loans. It's an idiotic positive feedback loop. Schools are getting more expensive? Allow bigger loans. Bigger loans are available, well let's increase tuition!

.Gov shouldn't be in the student loan business in the first place. At the most, it should be for a 2-year in-district community college. Loan size would be ~$7,000 total for tuition for two years on average. Ideally that should be free education with a few caveats. Economy would certainly be better, and we'd hopefully have a smarter and more competitive country internationally.

Another idea, and this relates to income gap disparity, IS to create laws that stop the economic bigotry. The requirement to have a 4 year degree in the first place. Especially within the public sector.

public school primary educators? 2 year program, with classroom integration, or "hands on" training the first week. I mean, seriously, how hard IS it to roll out the tablet cart with Bill Gates curriculum , revenge of the nerds style. no college degree btw, that mr. gates.

You can slice the bolongee from the other end, too. Meaning, if I can pass the California bar exam, with NO J.D......and no undergrad degree, who IS going to hire me over other candidates that have degrees? No, not a panacea, but, certainly part of the problem. The needless college degree requirement. On it's face and at it's core....it IS economic bigotry. just mho

The President caves on the bill and lies about it in a nifty statement:

https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1343367476038537218

seacoaster wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:38 am The President caves on the bill and lies about it in a nifty statement:

https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1343367476038537218

or, we could learn to water color, or get HIGH and listen to the Cocteau Twins while practicing MT.

shocking, tRump lies and IS a toolbag. Thank you. After, literally, over 100K comments iterating the same, THIS one finally, gets the message across. Can't speak for others, but this IS the last straw. After giving tRump a pass and benefit of doubt, I finally get it.

After years of 24*7 constant bashing, YOURS is the comment that has solidified, in my brain, that tRump IS a liar.

It IS like a weight has been lifted off of my soul............thank you and Merry New Year.

twitter IS not your friend. You think they are, but they are not.

Lisa Desjardins @LisaDNews

If you blinked, you might have missed it.

The US Senate gaveled in for its pro forma session and gaveled out in under 20 seconds, per the CSPAN transcript.

Not abnormal, but gave no chance for Chuck Schumer to attempt to pass $2000 checks.

They're back tomorrow noon.
10:05 AM · Dec 28, 2020

Geoff Bennett @GeoffRBennett

The House votes today (around 5PM ET) on a bill to send $2,000 stimulus checks to Americans in lieu of the $600 payments included in the latest COVID relief bill.

Republicans blocked House Democrats' attempt to make that switch last week.

9:11 AM · Dec 28, 2020

CU88 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 10:08 am Geoff Bennett @GeoffRBennett

The House votes today (around 5PM ET) on a bill to send $2,000 stimulus checks to Americans in lieu of the $600 payments included in the latest COVID relief bill.

Republicans blocked House Democrats' attempt to make that switch last week.

9:11 AM · Dec 28, 2020

If I'm not mistaken, this time each Rep needs to actually cast a vote, last week was a unanimous consent amendment so only took one no vote to block. But now the GOP Reps will need to actually record a vote...do they vote against Trump's request? do they vote against $2,000 checks? I suspect they'll vote yes, unless super hard core anti-spending...

Sounds like Mitch promised Trump he'd allow it to come to the floor, but I suspect the Senate version will have other GOP wish list items included making it much more of a mess and making it unpalatable for Dems to support. Dies in reconciliation.

Unless I have the mechanics wrong...

I have to think Atlanta’s MARTA system isn’t worse off than the MTA

D ON THE STREET
Municipal Bonds Aren’t Out of Peril
The initial Covid-19 shock has faded, but assuming that things are back to normal in the $4 trillion municipal bond market would be a mistake.

Municipal bonds backed by income streams like toll roads could be in trouble.
PHOTO: MATT SLOCUM/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Spencer Jakab
Dec. 25, 2020 5:30 am ET
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Investors in staid municipal bonds got a shock when the U.S. went into lockdown in March: Yields on some of the highest-quality issues ballooned to more than three times that of Treasurys of similar maturity. They usually are somewhat lower than those of Treasurys due to their tax advantages.

The dislocation didn’t last long, but assuming that things are back to normal in the $4 trillion market would be a mistake. There were two reasons for the big divergence: Investors rushed to own Uncle Sam’s liabilities—the safest, most-liquid securities in the world—to the exclusion of nearly everything else. But they also fretted that the collapse in commerce, travel and employment would crush state and local revenue.

“We have no money,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a March radio interview at the height of this spring’s emergency.


New York’s situation now looks less dire, but the damage to it and other issuers is substantial. State tax collections nationwide were 6.4% lower between March and August against expected growth of 2% to 3%, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Cities were even worse off with an average 21% revenue drop since the pandemic began, according to a survey released this month by the National League of Cities. Meanwhile, the pandemic brought unexpected expenses.

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The degree to which state and local coffers were hurt depended largely on how they raise money. Jurisdictions that rely largely on income taxes took a hit and those relying on tourist spending did even worse. Cities that fund themselves mostly on property taxes could be in fairly good shape as long as they aren’t dependent on struggling malls and office buildings.

Yet most municipal bonds don’t rely directly upon the general taxing authority of state or local governments. About two thirds are revenue bonds backed by some other stream of income. Investors should take little solace in the fact that downgrades have been muted so far. They also didn’t spike during the global financial crisis, instead peaking in 2012.

Smoked
One-year index performance through Dec 18
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P MunicipalBond TobaccoIndex
S&P U.S.Treasury BondIndex
S&P MunicipalBond AirportIndex
2020
Dec.
-12.5
-10.0
-7.5
-5.0
-2.5
0.0
2.5
5.0
7.5
10.0
12.5
15.0
17.5
This recession is different, hitting certain parts of the economy hard. Municipal bonds backed by airports, hospitals, toll roads, universities, nursing homes or stadiums could be in particular trouble. Normally these are desirable issuers because they are paid with the asset’s revenue or from special taxes. Even a city or state’s bankruptcy might not affect them.

Some bonds in this category were surprise winners. For example, those backed by payments from tobacco sales have had a great year, outperforming even Treasurys, as people smoked more than expected. An index of tobacco-backed bonds maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices had risen by 15.3% over the past year through Dec. 18 while two backed by higher education and transportation both were up by just 4.7%.


Investors need to look past the ledgers of individual issuers and ask what the broader impact of financial strain might be. For example, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, America’s largest public transit system, can’t legally declare bankruptcy, but it faces daunting shortfalls. Half of its revenue in 2019 came from fares and tolls, which could take years to recover. If train and subway service have to be cut back, as threatened, that would harm New York’s attractiveness to commuters and tourists, with all the tax revenue they bring. Although the MTA does stand to receive some stimulus aid to delay service cuts, the city and state, along with the MTA, have been downgraded recently.

New York City is still far from its predicament in 1975 when it was hours away from defaulting after a failed appeal to Washington that sparked the famous headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” The Federal Reserve has helped push bond yields, most munis included, to near record-lows, and has bought bonds outright through the Municipal Lending Facility. Even so, a lack of direct federal assistance to struggling cities and states in the latest stimulus package, as well as a pandemic and remote-work fueled exodus to suburbs and low-tax states, could lead to service cuts and fiscal strains for already shaky borrowers in a vicious cycle.

Retiring Types
Funded ratio of state retirement plans in 2018
Source:
New Jersey
Illinois
Kentucky
Connecticut
U.S. Average
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
One saving grace has been the boom in stock prices since March. That, along with low bond yields, helps to buoy the value of trillions of dollars in public pension funds and to fuel individual capital gains taxes. But even a continuing bull market won’t be enough to bail out the most at-risk retirement systems. Those in Illinois, Kentucky, Connecticut and New Jersey are less than half funded according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The pandemic’s initial effect on the muni market might be scattered defaults in categories obviously strained by its initial effect such as hospitals, but states’ cash flow problems today could hasten the market’s real doomsday scenario—a state being forced to choose between shortchanging bondholders or retirees.


Much like its human pathology, Covid-19’s symptoms faded quickly for most in the muni market but could continue to haunt those with weakened systems.

Are the politicians limited by the number of bills they can pass?

Why didn't the politicians pass a bill JUST for the people while they wrote a second bill for the Kennedy Center, big business, Middle Easy Countries etc? Woulda saved a lot of time, arguments...

But we all know the answer.

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:57 pm Are the politicians limited by the number of bills they can pass?

Why didn't the politicians pass a bill JUST for the people while they wrote a second bill for the Kennedy Center, big business, Middle Easy Countries etc? Woulda saved a lot of time, arguments...

But we all know the answer.

Indeed we do.

“But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education socks, and it’s the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. Thats against their interests. Thats right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting forked by a system that threw them overboard 30 forking years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly merde jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this forking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it.

You and I are not in the big club.”

— George Carlin

People love to bicker on this forum, but as PS points out, nothing will change as long as money determines who gets in office and makes policy. Odd that this topic is among the least discussed.

PizzaSnake wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 5:35 pm

kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:57 pm Are the politicians limited by the number of bills they can pass?

Why didn't the politicians pass a bill JUST for the people while they wrote a second bill for the Kennedy Center, big business, Middle Easy Countries etc? Woulda saved a lot of time, arguments...

But we all know the answer.

Indeed we do.

“But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education socks, and it’s the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. Thats against their interests. Thats right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting forked by a system that threw them overboard 30 forking years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly merde jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this forking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it.

You and I are not in the big club.”

— George Carlin

That’s right. Ruling class. They pick the politicians and the politicians actually pick their voters. Corporations and the ruling class aren’t pouring all this money into politics for nothing....