That $200 Million Could Pay Off a Lot of Student Debt.

1. Three Cheers for GI Jane.

Thirty years ago, a producer told Demi Moore that she should think of herself as a “popcorn actress”, someone who could do well at the box office but not be taken too seriously as an artist. Mind you, there are worse things in life than being a popcorn actress like Moore, what with all that international fame and a reported net worth of $200 million. But what didn’t come with being a popcorn actress was the respect of peers and of the larger Hollywood academy. If you don’t count the People’s Choice awards (and apparently no one does), Moore had never won a major award in her four-decade long career, and in fact was never seriously considered for any of the honors that define Hollywood and the broader American entertainment culture.?

Until this week, when at age 62, Moore won the Golden Globe award for best actress for The Substance, a movie that gave her the opportunity to redefine her image for the public and for herself. As she said in her acceptance speech, “Put down the measuring stick. It’s never too late to redefine yourself.” And according to the betting odds, we now have a fighting chance to see a repeat of this moment at the Oscars on March 2nd.?We have always liked Moore for Ghost, St. Elmo’s Fire, and of course Beavis and Butthead Do America, but we really like her now for this story of reinvention and possibility.?

2. That $200 Million Could Pay Off a Lot of Student Debt.

A lot of things will change with the turnover in Washington on January 20, and surely one of those things will be the abandonment of the Biden Administration’s efforts to reduce student debt. We are nothing if not realists here at TNSB World Headquarters, so we don’t expect much in the way of interest from the new Administration on student debt challenges, but we still think it's worthwhile to shine a spotlight on one particularly notable group of student loan debtors: older Americans.

There are 2.8 million federal student loan borrowers aged 62 and older with a total of $121.5 billion in debt, more than 726,300 of them over the age of 71, according to the Department of Education. And older Americans are one of the fastest growing segments of student debtors; according to the New America Foundation, this group has grown by 500% over the last few decades and is likely to continue to grow at accelerated rates.

Older debtors include people who have taken out educational loans to finance their own education, often in later life, and people who have taken loans for their children’s benefit under the Parent PLUS program. Some older debtors are in default, but the majority continue to make payments but are unable to work down their debt given interest costs that have accumulated over decades. Many older debtors continue to have their paychecks – and now even their Social Security checks – garnished. Garnishment of Social Security checks virtually ensures that many of these people will live their last years in poverty, which is why many advocates are still hoping for changes in rules around Social Security garnishment and in targeted debt relief for elderly debtors.

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3. Stay Healthy, Read The Label.

If you are like us, and are having a hard time following the various debates about whether certain food and drinks are good for you, like alcohol (probably not), or coffee (maybe yes), or find it hard to identify which foods are ultra processed and which are not, there is good news on the regulatory front.???

After 30 years, the Food and Drug Administration has updated its rules about what foods should be called healthy to more closely track modern science. The new rules, scheduled to go into effect in February, define healthy food as foods that have?limited amounts of saturated fat, sodium, added sugar, and come from the major dietary groups such as fruits, vegetables, protein, and dairy. The new rules add foods such as salmon, eggs, olive oil, nuts, and whole grains to the list of "healthy" foods, and remove foods with high amounts of added sugars.

It’s a welcome development, but caveat emptor, the rules are voluntary, so the burden is still on the consumer to make the best judgments about the right nutritional mix.?