Good Things Friday (256) and Link Love
January 19, 2024
- My post-holidays recombobulation process continues apace. I pulled pictures for JB’s school project and that pushed me to pull pictures from the holidays to photoshop a group picture. That led to me downloading a couple pics for my cousin. THAT led me to finally downloading the majillion (42, actually) pictures from Smol Acrobat’s friend’s birthday party to share with his friend’s mom who says they can’t get their kid to smile for ANY pics. That kiddo beamed like the sun for me so these are precious.
Good thing: Michigan’s $55M experiment with guaranteed income begins with Flint moms
Good thing: Education Dept. fast-tracks forgiveness for borrowers with smaller student loans, especially this bit: “This group has low incomes. About three-quarters of them receive Pell Grants. About one-third of them first attended a community college,” Kvaal told reporters. Perhaps most importantly, “more than 3 in 5 borrowers with defaulted loans originally borrowed less than $12,000.”
Many of these low-debt borrowers also have something else in common, Kvaal said: They left school before completing a degree. In the past, non-completers have often fallen into default because they struggle to repay their debts without the wage premium that comes with a degree.”
There’s a Huge Covid Surge Right Now and Nobody Is Talking About It. Well, one of my friends who is a COVID researcher keeps me up to date on the state of things but yes it really seems like no one takes it seriously anymore. I made it a point to thank the vet techs for the continued masking and outdoor only appointments because I wanted them to feel supported in that. I also love that my eye doc and dentist are super careful too. I hate that just about everyone else is laissez faire about spreading their yuck.
How Covid-19’s symptoms have changed with each new variant (Jan 12, 2024)
Secret plan against Germany: “It was the meeting that nobody was ever meant to find out about. Back in November, high-ranking politicians from Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, neo-Nazis, and sympathetic businesspeople gathered in a hotel near Potsdam. Their agenda? Nothing less than the fine tuning of a plan for the forced deportations of millions of people currently living in Germany.”
CFPB Proposes Rule to Close Bank Overdraft Loophole that Costs Americans Billions Each Year in Junk Fees: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today proposed a rule to rein in excessive overdraft fees charged by the nation’s biggest financial institutions. The proposal would close an outdated loophole that exempts overdraft lending services from longstanding provisions of the Truth in Lending Act and other consumer financial protection laws. For decades, very large financial institutions have been able to issue highly profitable overdraft loans, which have garnered them billions of dollars in revenue annually.
