If I know two things about America, it's these two things:
Really starting to wonder when young people are going to begin to organize around the many injustices of student debt.
With three years left in office, I really only want the Obama Administration to do two things: 1) Fill judicial vacancies and 2) solve the student loan crisis.
I know, I know. There are lots of other important things the country needs (immigration reform, arbitration reform, election reform, etc., etc.)
I know, I know. The Obama Administration can't do these things alone, but it can use its bully pulpit more effectively in these areas.
If this chart (more charts on student debt available at Mother Jones) doesn't make you soil your red, white, and blue undies, then you're not wearing red, white, and blue undies.
This is appalling.
If you need an attorney in Kentucky to help you resolve a financial crisis involving student debt, give me a call.
What are your priorities for the Obama Administration for the next three years?
I have written in the past about the generational war currently being waged by old people on America's young.
To me, the crushing student loan debt that our nation's young people labor underneath is the most striking, overt, and obvious front in this often quiet, subtle war.
Public Citizen has a quote from a WSJ article that explains the most egregious aspect of student loan debt in America: it's not just that our young people are taking on huge, never-before-seen levels of debt getting their educations, it's not just that many of them incur this debt at bologna for-profit institutions that essentially function as funnels to shove federal money into the coffers of Wall Street banks through student loans sold to young people, it's not just that the prospect of actually finding work in your chosen field has never been bleaker, it's that the federal government has withheld from our young people relief in bankruptcy from crushing student loan debt.
“Unlike most other types of consumer credit, student debt is extremely difficult to discharge in bankruptcy. After falling behind on payments, a borrower typically finds it harder to obtain other types of consumer loans, or can only do so at higher interest rates… Since the end of 2007, just before the financial crisis hit, total student debt has grown by more than 56%, adjusted for inflation… During that time, overall household debt—including mortgages, student loans, auto loans and credit cards—fell by 18%, to $11.31 trillion as of Sept. 30 [of this year].”
Student loan debt is crippling an entire generation of Americans. I'm not kidding. I see it with my law school classmates who can't leave jobs they hate and work that is unimportant because they need the paycheck. I see it with my clients—homeowners facing foreclosure, people who have been injured by the negligence or recklessness of others. I see it with family members who forgo advanced degrees because the specter of six-figure debt is too haunting. Certainly, the size of student loan debts is a problem. But, the fact that young people who need to file bankruptcy cannot (except in rare circumstances) get some relief from what is likely their single-largest debt is one of the true injustices of our time.