2. Holy assumptions Batman. Just because I work for a "Big Evil Corporate Bank" doesn't mean I have anything to do with any moral judgment calls.

Well, you make the moral call that it's ok to work at a bank, knowing what banks do, how they operate. So there's that.

I just have a problem with people who opt into an agreement and then decide that since it's not convenient for them to honor that agreement, they are going to toss it out the window. This could be taken as a moral viewpoint, I suppose.

Yeah. People are still buying that, even after 2008. It's hilarious. Well, sure, I guess "We are not going to screw up the real world economy in our quest for insane proftits. We also won't be unable to satisfy our obligations, get bailed out by the taxes of the people we just screwed over and still pay ourselves a big bonus afterwards." never was part of a formal agreement. So I guess that's great.

Look, I completely agree when we're talking about two private individuals entering into an agreement. If you're going to back out of one of those, your reasons had better be 100% and you had better make sure the other guy isn't screwed over by your actions. But the way I see it, the only one who is supposed to play by these "private" rules and morals in business transactions is the little guy. There's a completely different set of standards if you're a corporation or just damn wealthy.

But just because I work for a bank does not change fundamentally who I am - which in fact is kind of my point with the earlier comment.

I don't know anyone who works 40 hours somewhere for years and isn't eventually fundamentally changed by that. Maybe you're the exception. As you have pointed out, I need to be more careful about making assumptions.

The author refused to take any job other than their heart's desire out of some belief that anything less was to be untrue to himself and "die." I find that viewpoint stupid. I think that what you do for money in white middle-class generally making-it-by-America (a group of which the author is definitely a member) is not, in any way, a statement on who you are.

May just be different (national) mentalities at work, here. I happen to believe that what you do (and consequently, what you enable through your time and work) does something about who you are. The obvious exception is just not being given any choice. It's rare to find oneself in such a situation, but it can happen. I'd also not really blame people who are simply too stupid, naive or just otherwise "mentally disabled". But you seem to be neither.

So while I work for a bank, that doesn't define me. It can't kill me. It actually often enables me to pursue my creative and soul-satisfying goals. All the while I manage to pay my student loans.

Yeah, I get it. You like money. I can't believe you like money, too. I like money, too!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If am defined by something I do 40 hours each week, you can call me a sleeper.

No, I can call you a human who likes to get an average amount of sleep. If you spend 40 hours a week working for a bank, I'll call you a banker. If it means anything to be called that is up to me, you or anyone reading this.

Credit score is quasi-religious because it's checked whenever you...uh...apply for credit, (Buying a house, buying a car, etc) enter a contractual agreement in which the other party has a vested interest in determining whether you will pay them on time (rent an apartment), or, less frequently, when you enter a different contractual agreement in which the other party has a vested interest in knowing if you are reliable (employment)? Do you think a credit score should not be used during those times?

It should be checked when someone applies for a credit. That would include, say, a contract where you're promising to pay off your new Smartphone along with your monthly network fees. It should never be used to jude a person's character or in cases where essential neccessities of life are concerned. Because if the credit score is used in such instances, those who issue it suddenly become high-priests of the financial church of "We decide over people's right to lead a decent life Inc".

Where does the moral high ground come from when credit is concerned? I really don't get it. This is how credit happens. Indeed, how money happens. Why make such a fuss about people not "paying it back"?

a. Pretty sure you meant that money < other considerations?

Nope. I was saying that once you have fully integrated the opinion that the money you make justifies what you do and how you live, you'll not have to mention it so often.

b. LOL get to know me

I'm sure you're a great guy to be around. We obviously disagree about a great many things, yet your replies are pleasant and informative.

c. Money > not being able to food, clothe, & house oneself; repay one's obligations; in short I do agree that money is greater than the inability to meet the basic levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If society did not agree with that as a whole, we would no longer use money.

Yeah. So given the importance of money, wouldn't it be nice if the way it's created and distributed was a little less... crooked?

Why are student loans a trap? Is it because they require students to find gainful employment after graduation? I sense you are driving at "student loans are often made in ridiculous high dollar amounts that graduates cannot possibly hope to repay and that is why they are a trap." While that's true in 2015[...]

Granted, I am actually talking more about the current concept than about this one NYT writer's situation. Then again, I don't see why anyone should be angry at him. He is rightly pointing out that the current system is a trap. He managed to get himself trapped when it sucked less. That doesn't mean his advise, about how nothing in the system will change as long as people bend over backwards to make their payments, is wrong.

If you cannot be an artist without being employed full time as such you are not a good artist.

See, this is where we'll never agree. In fact, judging art by its marketability is one of the brighter glowing red flags that something is inherently out of balance in our system.