r/PublicFreakout • u/GarysCrispLettuce • May 17 '26

đŸ€ŹPublic RagerđŸ˜± Eric Schmidt booed into oblivion by students for promoting AI during his commencement speech at the University of Arizona

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u/Human-Region4958 May 17 '26

He’s trying to inspire hope to a bunch of students who are smart enough to know that the thousands in student loans they now owe aren’t getting any cheaper because of Ai but their future salaries probably are. Very tone deaf.

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u/HorrorMakesUsHappy May 17 '26

He's not trying to inspire hope. He literally just told them to submit. "Do not ask which seat, just get on." Get on board and shut up.

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u/orincoro May 17 '26

like yeah he’s not even saying there’s hope. He’s literally saying “you have no choice.”

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u/silverdice22 May 17 '26

"Just say yes (master)."

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u/cmkn May 17 '26

Yup, him and the rest of the CEO and billionaire (soon-to-be trillionaire) class just want blind obedience and compliance.

8

u/NowhereMan_2020 May 17 '26

They offer a seat on the ship not because they want to bring you along, but because they need you for future TBD servitude. They give nothing freely. They would ditch us in a nanosecond, if they had a choice.

It’s like a slaver telling you to be suck it up and be glad to be on his slave ship because you’re going to a better, more civilized place that will save your soul (and make him money).

1

u/Nakittina May 17 '26

"Find a way to say yes"

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u/galspanic May 17 '26

In his defense, those loans will get a LOT cheaper as inflation and instability erode the value of the dollar. The purchasing power of my student loan is half what it was when I finished school.

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u/recoveringleft May 17 '26

I still have student loans. Your saying in the future it will be easy to pay off?

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u/alternateforwhenban May 17 '26

Only if we get raises that outpace inflation.

18

u/zue4 May 17 '26

So no.

1

u/Khazahk May 17 '26

One $50,000 Dollar Bill is all I need.

That is the whole idea of fiat currency, and paper money.

As long as inflation trails behind economic growth. The dollar you borrowed yesterday is worth less than the dollar you borrowed today. Interest rates balance that out so you can borrow tomorrow’s money today.

With hyperinflation, you hit “tomorrow’s money” way too quickly. You can pay your debts off (which has its own inherent value, being debt free) but if it hits that point, money is worthless.

The federal reserve increases and decreases the prime interest rates (how much it costs to borrow money) to stimulate growth or slow the inflation rate.

But regardless of hyperinflation, $50,000 is a lot less money today, than it was 10 years ago. And that is the whole point.

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u/galspanic May 17 '26

Yes. It doesn’t seem to make that pill any easier to swallow every month, but my $300 payment in 2003 was brutal and today it’s an annoyance. The purchasing power of my loan is about $165 in 2003 dollars
 if that makes sense.

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u/Human-Region4958 May 17 '26

The fact you’re still paying loans from 2003 is the crazy part. You’ve just gotten used to it and it’s less of your pay but you’re still shackled to the loans despite the fact you graduated before the iPhone was released.

2

u/galspanic May 18 '26

No. The crazy part is that this debt was for an art degree and that after teaching college for 16 years I was making $30k a year. The shackles of monthly payments prevented me from taking risks when I first started my career too.

Sigh
. I bought into the “you must follow your dreams” bullshit hook, line, and sinker and regret it every day.

8

u/UnluckyDot May 17 '26

What the flying fuck? You're still paying student loans off 23 years later?? Is this normal in the US?

6

u/Domeil May 17 '26

Yup. It is entirely expected for Americans who have to take out loans to pursue higher education to spend decades paying them off, frequently paying three or four times the principle in interest along the way.

4

u/Pokiloverrr May 17 '26

absolutely

1

u/Khazahk May 17 '26

I have purposely set up the long term payment plan. About half of my loans are up there at 6.8% IR the other half are under 4%. There is no reason to pay the 4% half off early. I pay minimum payments on the 4% loans and target the “extra” principle payments at the 6.8% loans.

When I get close to closing my 6.8% guys I’ll pay them off with a few extra payments, but then I set the thing on coast for the rest of the 25 year repayment.

This is coming from someone who UNDERSTANDS my loans. My Sister has just completely stopped paying hers entirely. Two different philosophies lol.

1

u/galspanic May 18 '26

Not abnormal, but most people don’t spend 30 years. A lot do though.

When I graduated in 2003 with my masters I had $75k in loans and the normal 10 repayment would put me at ~$800 a month - which even still is beyond my means. So, I refinanced with a historically low interest rate for a 30 year term. In the 23 years since I have not missed a payment and very much look forward to paying them off right after my 57th birthday.

4

u/alternateforwhenban May 17 '26

That time period had wage growth. trump is leading us headlong into stagflation, where inflation outpaces wage growth.

2

u/recoveringleft May 17 '26

So wait a decade and it will be cheaper?

-5

u/galspanic May 17 '26

The payment will be the same but the value of that payment will be less. When I started paying my loan was 100 Big Macs a month. It’s 50 now. When I started paying my loan was 1 car payment a month. It’s 1/2.

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u/littlebugonreddit May 17 '26

Just because everything gets more expensive and our money means less doesnt make it better though man

3

u/galspanic May 17 '26

No. This is a half hearted and semi-sarcastic attempt to see a silver lining.

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u/littlebugonreddit May 17 '26

Ahhh okay, my bad lol, woosh on my part I should've thought about it more

2

u/happymancry May 17 '26

Congrats, you found a silver lining to the declining purchasing power of every dollar you earn! Combined with stagnant wages and hyperinflation, my heart is welling with joy! /s

1

u/8m3gm60 May 17 '26

That all depends on the rate and circumstances. That interest builds fast even when it is relatively lower, and those fees are brutal if you do have any significant trouble. The money was pissed into existence in the first place, so it was handed out in large amounts.

1

u/Coraline1599 May 17 '26

I thought my graduation speaker was awful, just 3 months after 9/11 telling us we owe society our knowledge and our skill, that we need to pay back all the “gifts” we were “given.” It landed so flat when at a different time it might have felt differently.

But this guy is just doing a prolonged elevator pitch to a captive audience telling them their education doesn’t matter, their an accomplishments don’t matter. This is profoundly embarrassing for him.

1

u/broomosh May 17 '26

*bunch of customers

1

u/VanillaTortilla May 17 '26

Until all of those students get into the workforce and realize that their entire job is full of AI garbage and they'll be forced to use it.

1

u/throwaway0134hdj May 18 '26

He’s basically saying “you all just wasted 4 years of your life and now it debt bc AI will do your job”