Why do people say Obama only became president due to affirmative action while Donald Trump is the real deal?
I have never heard the argument before. Obama is clearly a product of the establishment—and by that I mean the DC political establishment. From whoever funded his law school, to whoever paid for two ghost-written books, to whoever got him the US Senate seat (which takes many millions of dollars), etc. Apparently people like Brzezinski, Kerry, Biden, etc. OTOH, Trump is clearly not a product of that. He is part of the NYC - global business community, and he always dabbled in politics with his checkbook (both parties). But he wasn’t raised and groomed and trained the way Obama was. Obama is the DC establishment’s teflon candidate—he believes in what they do (CIA, war, minimal social welfare policies to keep the society from killing each other, etc.). White liberals and most black voters love him. Trump is a relative outsider who made deals for access—like bringing in Manafort (who has a sleazy resume’ with the RP going back to the early 80s). He is probably ignorant of how DC actually works to quite an extent. The concern that they have is that he is uneducable and not cooperative enough. Notice how they lined up to praise him when he bombed Syria (his bombing, remember, is different from Obama’s because he directly targeted Syrian forces and facilities).
Can a F-1 student visa holder get any loan in the U.S.?
Your premise is not correct.Whether you can get a loan or not depends on multiple factors, including your income and credit score.All F1 holders do not belong to the same category. For example, if you are a PhD student who receives a decent stipend and / or fellowship, you can use that income to get credit cards, and later, other types of loans as well. That applies to students with other types of income as well, such as internships and part-time jobs.However, do not expect to start with crazy high limits. You need to begin your credit journey with small steps. If you have a guaranteed source of income (stipend, part-time job, fellowship, etc.), use it to get a credit card from a credit union. Otherwise, get a secured credit card by paying a small deposit. The initial limit will be small, but it helps in getting your credit history started. It takes about 6 months of credit reporting for a score to get generated (typically, most lenders use FICO scores). After that, you can use the score and your income to apply for a host of cards and different types of loans. Also, you can ask your first lender to increase your limit; often, they’ll be happy to after seeing a good behavior from you.As an F1 student, I had been approved for a plethora of credit cards, that have limits many times what you state. I was approved for auto loans from multiple lenders, for buying a new car. Also, remember that credit history is not only used by banks but also by apartment offices, utility service providers, mobile phone companies etc. A good place to learn about building credit history: myFICO® Forums.It also depends on the loan type. Some loans may not be available to F1 visa holders. Typically, many student loan refinancing services want you to either be a citizen, permanent resident, or be co-signed by someone who is one of the first two. It mostly depends on the amount being borrowed, the terms of the loan, and the collateral. Credit cards are typically low limits, have high interests to cover banks against possible delayed / missed payments; auto loans have the car as a security. Education loans are trickier because they are large sums of money guaranteed by nothing physical. Banks (and credit unions) consider all these factors along with the risk that a non-citizen possess, and give out loans accordingly.
What's going to happen with mortgage interest rates over the next 3-5 years (as of June 2016)?
Thanks for the A2A. The truth is nobody knows. But that is what makes a market and keeps busy an army of economists, advisors, TV commentators, stock brokers, bond salesmen, traders, fund managers and other inhabitants of this planet.The people in charge of rates hope to move them higherIn the US mortgage rates are greatly influenced by the Fed Funds Rate which is a target set by the U.S. Federal Reserve ("Fed"). This target is one of the options the Fed has to execute its Monetary Policy. It can also do other things such as buy/sell financial assets (remember TARP?), alter bank reserve requirements, etc.The chart below shows the latest "dot plot" from the Fed, which indicates that they predict to be at 3.25% in 3 years.Hope is a beautiful thingThis is the same graph from the March 2013 meeting when they predicted that today we would be at 4%.When unprecedented measures were implemented after the 2008 Financial Crisis no one really knew how it would play out.Zero-rates turned Corporate America into Hedge FundsWith ultra low borrowing costs companies have gone out to borrow in order to repurchase their own shares. The buybacks made sense in the early days, but are getting harder to justify with the current multiples.US Non-financial Firms Use of Debt 1995–2015Note that it is also convenient that share buybacks boost earnings-per-share (EPS) which is closely tied to the size of a CEO bonus. If you want to read more about how this works there is this great article from Reuters: Corporate America's buyback binge feeds investors, starves innovationHow this plays outAgain nobody knows, but my guess is the Fed has painted itself in a corner since it held rates at zero for way too long. It hopes to gradually increase, but it doesn't know how the market will react. If it raises too fast it can disrupt the credit markets and bankrupt companies. Nobody knows.The good newsThere is something anyone can do so there is no need to worry about what the mortgage rate will be in 3–5 years. Get a 30-year fixed mortgage. You are protected from any increases and you will sleep better at night.
You've just been elected the 45th President of the United States! What's your 10-point agenda for the next four years?
Appoint a progressive Supreme Court justice who will help me overturn Citizens United. Pressure congress to pass a law making all campaign contributions limited and effecting to pass a law to rid money in politics Use executive orders to expand DACA and hopefully DAPA, and at the same time pressuring congress to finally Pass immigration reform Increase taxes on the 1 percent and middle class so congress can pass a law creating a single payer healthcare system.Give a full pardon to Edward Snowden and even give he brave bastard the presidential medal of freedom. At the same time limit the powers of the NSA so government surveillance is effectively ended on their own citizens.Reduce milltary spending to help fund public colleges so it's free for anyone. Break up the big banks. Jail those who are unethical on Wall Street.Stop Federal Funding to states passing homophobic laws Crackdown on Police brutality on everyone most importantly minority communities and end the militarization of the police. Gut the TPP and end any other horrible trade deals hurting American workers. Those are ten things I'd have on my agenda as president there's a lot more I'd pressure congress to act on as well such as education reform, legalization of marijuana, ending the drug war, avoiding foreign wars that have nothing to do with us.