disco_biscuit

Excuse me sir, but you did not answer the question.

YOU ARE THE /r/SPACEDICKS OF CARD GAMES, I LOVE YOU.

I've always wondered how this thing works. So if you moved to LA and are having regular meetings... is the studio paying you? Are you earning a salary to sit there and take these go-nowhere meetings? Or was it just that one-time option payment - and you do all this ongoing legwork just out of hope for your project?

Hi Jed, thanks for the AMA!

Preface to my question:

There seems to be a new trend of investors coming in, buying properties (often offering over the sellers asking price and driving away "real" buyers) and either holding the property, renovating and flipping it, or turning it into a rental property. I've read many stories about this happening, especially in Florida and Southern California.

And the question itself:

What effect do you see this investment trend having in the long term? Are we potentially seeing a new real estate model being established, one where investors are becoming landlords and/or speculators, driving up prices (and forcing home-ownership rates down, in favor of renting) and maybe even turning a property investment into a new type of annuity?

No, a college degree is the new high school diploma - a minimum standard any employer can require if they like, simply because they can find a suitable candidate with a degree.

The more common bubble referenced with regards to education is student debt... although I also disagree with this claim too. Student loans in default will not systematically cascade through the entire financial system as mortgage debt did/does. Mortgages are securitized (bundled and sold to investors, such as pension funds)... student loans are not. Furthermore, you can walk away from a house. It's not pretty, but you can. You can't walk away from student loans, most are government-backed and thus, the government can garnish your wages to get paid. You're pretty much fucked into paying it. A systematic collapse of the mortgage market would spiral throughout the financial world, whereas student debt is very simple - a few private loan companies go under, and the government fucks a generation into paying what they signed up for. There will be no bailout, there is no need.

If there is a bubble in the education system, it's simply that more youth may begin opting-out of an education... saying the ROI is not there, and choosing not to go. But how much could the post-secondary education system really contract? Population constantly goes up, and more and more foreigners are willing to come to the U.S. for their degree. If anything, I think maybe you see schools contract a little, shed a small percentage of their peak capacity, and fill in any remaining gap with more and more foreign students. Maybe a few of the shitty for-profit schools go under, and maybe a few public / state schools consolidate... but for the most part there's nothing to see here - no major changes likely.