Interview · moment 11 of 17
College Debt, Custom Jobs, and Thomas Sowell
from The Big Booth (with Devan Costa) · #141
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
6 minGuest
Tim rants about people who took on student debt for degrees with no value and now demand a custom-designed dream job, citing John Mulaney's House Hunters joke and quoting economist Thomas Sowell on trade-offs versus solutions.
- 43:21Tim on college debt: nobody told you to take out a loan and study gender for four years at Wesleyan.
- 44:02West Indian immigrants made money by becoming home health aides, wiping elderly people's asses and earning $70-80k a year.
- 44:46Tim argues wiping someone's ass does more good than any BuzzFeed quiz, tweet, or Sanders rally speech.
- 45:39Plumbers and electricians Tim knows made far more money than friends waiting for dream jobs in stimulating environments.
- 45:59College is a fucking scam; people $150k in debt for useless degrees take their rage out on everybody else.
- 46:24Tim lost a house on a sham mortgage and did cocaine, but doesn't walk around blaming everyone else for his stupid decision.
- 46:38Student loans with worthless degrees are equivalent to subprime mortgages.
- 46:55Everyone wants a custom job that checks all their boxes instead of accepting reality.
- 47:28Thomas Sowell quote: there are no solutions, only trade-offs in life and policy.
- 48:06Raising taxes to help people may stifle innovation, but it's a trade-off you might have to make anyway.
Thomas Sowellcollegestudent debtBuzzFeedWesleyan