Rants and Vents

We are hosting a transfer fair here at my beloved community college today. Bank of America sets up a solicitation table in our cafeteria every Tuesday. They were there today, smack-dab in the middle of the college tables taking advantage of the unusually high volume of student traffic.

As I ate my lunch, I grew increasingly frustrated watching them hawk their credit cards to students with promises of frequent flier miles and 0.1% cash bonuses. They downplayed fees and associated costs and encouraged students to "Just apply! You can always reject the card if you get it!"

B of A has already had their hand out for my hard-earned TARP tax bucks and I really don't appreciate that they still do business in a culture of risky lending practices. I was upset that they were pressuring students into these high rate credit cards when so many are already struggling financially.

I'm pissed that they get the bail-out when use regular folk could do such a better, wiser job of managing that money. Our students are at this community college most likely because they can't quite afford 4 years of university. Why not bail them out? Reimburse their tuition and books. Give them money to invest in themselves and then a bit more to reinvest in the economy. Not to these stupid banks who haven't learned a damn thing from the credit crisis.

In other disappointing news, I listened to an academic advisor dispell the lies the Army Reserve told one of her students. This student was born and raised in the US, but speaks English as a second language. The recruiter told her that she could join the reserves and only have to serve one weekend a month. They failed to mention that that one weekend a month was the minimum committment; and that, recently, reserve groups are being deployed for 14 to 20 month assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan. They told her that after 2 years in the reserves, they would pay for medical school, but failed to mention the part of the contract that required a re-payment of medical field work in an active zone after medical school completion. I listened as this student cried because she thought she had found the answers to her family's financial problems and a way to serve her country, get an education and stay close to home.

What is it the deception. Is this the new American way?