#KevinDrum has a model of student debt dynamics that he cites without evidence (“almost by definition”) that I think is just wrong. Older cohorts still with student debt are not, I think, predominantly affluent professionals who took a lot of debt — affluent genxers have paid theirs off by now! It’s people who have struggled to pay and seen debt grow through capitalization of interest and penalties. https://jabberwocking.com/gen-x-student-debt-is-mostly-about-highly-paid-graduate-professionals/

The kids should stop complaining they have it no harder than we did is a #KevinDrum obsession. His pieces in this vein in general demand high scrutiny.

But the comparative student debt graph in this piece is a true masterpiece in misuse of data. People of older generations with unpaid student debt are the ultimate unrepresentative cohort. They are likely to have started rough and done poorly. In which case time itself is a confound as not-fully-pain interest capitalizes. https://jabberwocking.com/millennials-are-doing-fine-part-xvii/

"Elementary school students are about 2-3 months behind their pre-COVID selves, while middle-school kids are more like 4-6 months behind. What's even worse is that in the current school year they appear to be falling even further behind" #KevinDrum https://jabberwocking.com/covid-really-did-a-number-on-americas-kids/

// seems not so consistent with the thesis that school closure / remote schooling is the sole culprit here, although of course it may play a role. there has been a lot of trauma and disruption.

#ViaRSS

Well put by #KevinDrum: "companies in similar industries have entered into a toxic equilibrium where all of them offer lousy service in identical ways." https://jabberwocking.com/corporate-bureaucracy-is-the-worst-bureaucracy/

#ViaRSS

"The correct number is 0%." #KevinDrum https://jabberwocking.com/our-national-shame-q3-of-2022-edition/