Serious product placement -- one or more Starbucks coffees in every scene in the movie, I think?

@Lawdeedaw

If you're studying something like engineering, there is a high likelihood that you will retain employment that will pay off a student loan over the next 10-20 years. Even if it's not your first preference, you will be employed somewhere with a reasonable income with such technical skills.

The government can play a useful role in amortizing your income. There's really no reason to be frugal and Starbucks aside, policy that forces you to work long hours in a dead-end job while studying to make ends meet is counter-productive as it reduces your long-term income. Not being able to even enrol because you're too poor, despite how smart you may be is also hugely destructive. This is why study assistance subsidies are such good policy. Them aside, you still have to clothe, house and feed yourself anyway.

Even if you say that there will be dropouts, fails, people who complete degrees with no job demand, you simply adjust up the interest rate you charge everyone for student debt to account for that loss. Then you have a mandatory contribution from any income you make above X amount that the student has to repay after they conclude their study. This way students can't simply retain a large debt with a low interest rate forever and subsidise everyone else by paying theirs off.

Also to incentivise correct course choice, you subsidise courses with skills in short supply/in demand more than those with good job prospects and a generally high expected income.

This is pretty much what we have in Australia under the HECS system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education_fees_in_Australia#HECS

It would be great if the US had something similar (because designed well it pays for itself), but the cultural obsession much of the country seems to have with total laissez faire, 'pull yourself up by your own bootstraps', even when it's not good policy makes it impossible.

Considering right now US Treasury bond rates (government borrowing rates) are at 60 year lows, it's doubly stupid.

Not saying it is the overall cause of student debt, but many students in the 1st world have 1st world causes. That starbucks coffee on the run that costs 4.50, that beer run, that everything...yeah, everyone thinks college is a place to screw until your dick or vagina fall off, but it is not. It is a place to learn. And if you were not taught how to be frugal, pay please. But then I got the GI bill for abysmal working conditions and pay so who am I to say it...

As an American who has been living in not the USA for about 9 years now, here's a thought:

Compare the attitude of these guys with the attitude of your average American visiting anywhere else. This chipper dude's been up since 3:30 chatting up the locals and draping himself in the local flag. Average American abroad is probably busy asking where the nearest McDonalds or Starbucks is, and complaining about how they can't get any help from someone who speaks English (even if they are in, say, London)...

/I'd tag with sarcasm, but I'm only halfway there.

upvoted just for the starbucks logo

I got that much, saw the film King's Speech and all, which went into it. My "huh?" was more for the reaction of the crowd, and the reality-show-esque cameras and editing. Plus: starbucks. The whole thing just seems a little strange to me.

Actually, 165° is the ideal temp, not 190. And if you're super snobby, it's exactly 172°. I've even heard people ask for that at Starbucks . . . . Yeah, dumbass. Their coffee sucks to begin with so I don't care if you want it "ideal temperature". Plus, they had been warned numerous times and had been told my OSHA to turn it down or someone will burn. Not to mention, when you repeatedly have a problem with stupid people, it's cheaper to just comply. I mean, it's McDonalds, they already dumb everything down anyway. Ever tasted their food?

I'd much rather Starbucks because when you ask for a latte, they make you a latte. They don't put a cup under a machine and it dispenses powdered milk and a tiny drip of instant coffee.

I miss the coffee in Melbourne. The best I've had here is from a popular cafe down the road from work called Olimpico. They're latte's are small, but damn good. If you're in the Mile End area of Montreal, check it out.

Haven't watched the video yet, but... Have you ever watched contemporary Canadian films? You know, ones based in modern times?

We seem to produce two types of films. Excellent, factual, and interesting documentaries...

and semi-intellectual fap fuel that blurs the line between edgy art house celluloid and hardcore porn.

So... the whole "thinking about sex" thing?

@EvilDeathBee Gotz my X-Large Mocha sipping away... less than half the price of the new MacD's Cafe crap, don't want to say HOW much less than Starbucks...

Meh, there's two Starbucks cross-corner from eachother downtown here. And here you can walk across the street from one to the other without risking your life (well, no more than normal anyhow).

Hilarious gas bomb in a crowded Starbucks! Allahu Akbar!

Ah. Here is the best comment I have seen, taken from Stranger Blog:

Jim Norton destroys his own side when he mentions that comedy is about speaking truth to power. Rape victims have no power. Making jokes at their expense is not only offensive it is bad comedy. If you want to make good comedy about rape it should start with being at the expense of the rapist(s) and their enablers.

So, yes a joke involving a rape situation could potentially be 'okay' but it certainly is more of a minefield than say... how many Starbucks' are in Seattle.

No way, I want to fuck the corpses. Over and over again. That's way more rational to me. I can just go to McDonalds for food, and Starbucks only gives handjobs...

#16 Starbucks is terrible coffee.