The income-based repayment calculations are now based on joint taxes, if you're married. Image from Flickr.

With the fall semester of 2010 coming up for many college students, recent changes to student loan programs are taking effect. Some of the biggest changes include an alteration of income based repayment standards. This help for graduates with student loan debt will reduce payments on this easy loan for some. New formulas and rules for student loans will, in the end, help make higher education more affordable for most.

Dropping rates for student loans

As of July 1, rates on a form of small loan subsidized by the government did drop. Rates for Stafford loans that have been subsidized dropped from 5.6 percent to 4.5 percent. Subsidized loans that originated before July 1, 2010, and unsubsidized loans will maintain the same rate as before.

Changes to income based repayment

The changes to student loan programs that will have the biggest effect are changes to income based repayment formulas. Many recent graduates are discovering that with a tough job market and banks with no money to lend, it’s nearly impossible to make student loan payments. This income based repayment recalculation adjusts the program introduced last year. The point of income-based repayment is to keep debt manageable for students who are saddled with huge loans and few job prospects.

Removing the marriage penalty

For married couples who have two sets of student loans, the new income based repayment formula will no longer penalize married couples. Combined loan payment amounts can be used to calculate eligibility as long as couples file their taxes jointly. Previously, only a single money loan balance could be measured against total household income.

Current balance vs repayment balance

Previously, income based repayment was calculated using the amount borrowers owed when they first entered repayment. Now, income-based repayment calculations will be calculated using the current amount owed. This will help reduce the load on former students who have had loans in deferment, building interest without making payments.

Money that isn't part of the consumer spending drive for which the U.S. government is calling. (Photo: Flickr)

United States financial numbers for May 2010 are in, and according to Bloomberg Business, individual incomes outpaced consumer spending. This reportedly made it possible for households to boost their savings and support the economic recovery, although how slower spending boosts the nation’s economic recovery is in question. It could be viewed as another instance of reporting sleight of hand, similar to the way U.S. unemployment numbers were being reported the past few months.

Consumer spending – Where the money needs to go

Reports indicate that the table is gradually being set for increases in consumer spending. Payroll numbers are up, Americans are working longer and salaries are trending upward. Then again, Bloomberg reports in another story that the large number of jobless in America actually lowers salaries as there are so many applicants (supply and demand), so perhaps one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing in Michael Bloomberg’s domain. Whatever the case, the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates steady, so fewer folks will have to dive into the nearest cheap personal loan bunker to make ends meet.

Consumer spending won’t propel recovery

However, as RBS Securities economist Omar Sharif (not the bridge-playing actor) told Bloomberg, the level of consumer spending should be enough for sustained growth, but not enough to drive recovery efforts. Yet despite underwhelming growth in consumer spending, numbers still beat the median estimate of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg (0.1 percent gain). Wages were up 0.5 percent (1.3 percent since March), which was the largest increase over three months since December 2007 when the current recession is believed to have begun, and people looked to the easy loan more often than before. As a result, savings increased significantly: 4 percent from April into May ($454.3 billion). That’s the highest such increase in a single month since September 2009, reports Bloomberg.

It’s good news, for the most part

According to Sal Guatieri of BMO Capital Markets, American consumers have effectively rolled with the punches. “As long as jobs are coming back, people will continue to spend,” he told Bloomberg. Paying down debt such as from a fast personal loan and rebuilding savings are admirable financial goals that will continue to see improvement as positive economic factors continue to emerge.

Sources:

Bloomberg Business

Bloomberg (lower salaries)

Consumer spending from the Fox Business point of view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmK9gC2nW0Y

Sunda Croonquist (Photo: Hamptons Comedy Festival)

Then Sunda Croonquist’s mother-in-law can have it. If we’ve reached the point where we can no longer poke fun at each other, then society has reached the point where its trappings are no longer of interest for me anymore. If nobody can prove to me that comedy still has a place in this life, then I’ll head for the trees and live the remainder of my life in “George of the Jungle” style. I’ll just have to track down two young wives, develop an affinity with jungle creatures and watch out for that tree. Or at least get my hands on easy loans for a collection of crash helmets.

Considering that I’ve lost one wife, I’ll need to redouble my efforts…

The Associated Press reports at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gntGLagH0ecSgNx1EHvRFMYI8hUgD9AA1UJG0 that the half-black, half-Swedish comedian (and former Miss America runner-up) has pushed her Jewish mother-in-law Ruth Zaffrin, sister-in-law Shelley Edelman and Shelley’s husband Neil one matzo too far. See the video below and you’ll get a flavor for her act. She brings up her mother-in-law a lot because she is a character, because she is genuinely funny. It isn’t an off-color race joke or religion joke that she uses… Sunda Croonquist appears to be a clean, skilled comedian.

Read them the charges, Steve

The yenta has accused Croonquist of “spreading false, defamatory and racist lies.” It’s all in the regular rotation of her act, which she performs in nightclubs and on various Comedy Central programs. To Croonquist, it’s natural observational humor that is most often based on the culture clash between an older white Jewish woman and a young black Swede who was raised Roman Catholic. Here’s a sample from her act, where MIL is speaking to DIL:

OK, now that we know you’re having a little girl I want to know what you’re naming that little tchotchke. Now we don’t want a name that’s difficult to pronounce like Shaniqua. We’re thinking a name short but delicious. Like Hadassah or Goldie.

It’s harmless stuff

And if what Sunda Croonquist says is accurate, her mother-in-law used to think so, too. They used to watch tapes of her act. “They played my tape at Passover one year, and they loved it!” she said.

Perhaps it was that little slip on her Web site. While promoting upcoming shows in New Jersey, Croonquist gave a little bit too much information – information that apparently made it easy to discern the identities of her in-laws. Hence, the suing began in the grand American tradition of “it’s funny until the mask comes off. Now give me my money.” Damages are being sought in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, and they’re demanding that Croonquist remove “any offensive statements from her Web site, routines and recordings.”

Humorless, like the color of woolen phlegm

Are we really so humorless now? Goodness knows we need humor more than ever in an increasingly bleak world. Sunda Croonquist has agreed to remove the statements, but she refuses to pay damages. Now the courts get to latch on and suckle for all they’re worth. Interestingly, her lawyer husband’s firm is representing her in the lawsuit. Wonder how mom likes that?

Get over it, mom

(Photo: guidespot.com)

Her recent act is mostly clear of the whole in-laws thing, but not entirely. No first names anymore, but it’s still very solid material. For instance, when she meets her Jewish New Jersey sister-in-law, the sister says, “Oh my Gawd, look at her, she’s got light eyes and light hair. What kind of black person is she?”

Sunda responds in her best “street” voice, “A black person who can hear, that’s who.”

It’s tame material

“They’re nice jokes,” says Croonquist.”There’s nothing bad, nothing defamatory.” Plus Sunda turned Jewish before she met her husband and has kept a kosher home ever since. Do you seriously think she’s an anti-Semite, Ruth?

Prove it wasn’t just a joke

“Most people who sue under these kinds of circumstances are way too sensitive,” First Amendment law expert Gary Bostwick told the AP. “If they contact a lawyer like me I would tell them that, without seeing the script and the blog I have no idea who is right and who is wrong, but I do know there is a very strong defense: It’s very difficult to prove that it was not just a joke.”

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While Ruth Zaffrin’s action could have broken up Sunda Croonquist’s marriage, the comedian rolls with it like a healthy, optimistic person. She claims that if she’d known that was coming, she’d have “tried to make a worse first impression.” She would have tried to make a worse first impression, perhaps something more gangsta. Picture a little of Queen Latifah meeting Steve Martin in the clunker “Bringing Down the House” and you get the idea.

Speaking of that, if your house is coming down and needs some repair, apply here for an easy loan. It could help you out a great deal.

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