Richard Kim's article on an underemployed puppeteer with student loan debt has been widely mocked. Alex Tabbarok uses the story as further evidence that the young are picking degrees unwisely:
What astounds me is not that someone could amass $35,000 in student loans pursuing a dream of puppetry, everyone has their dreams and I do not fault Joe for his. What astounds me is that Richard Kim, the executive editor of The Nation and the author of this article, thinks that the failure of a puppeteer to find a job he loves is a good way to illustrate the "national nightmare" of the job market. Even in a wealthy society it’s a privilege to have the kind of job that Kim thinks are the entitlement of the middle class.
Yglesias, who is more sympathetic, pivots to talk about teacher pay. Reihan thinks along the same lines.
The Dish 