This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

"Cancel All Student Debt" - The Petitions Begin

Tyler Durden's picture




 

With global moral hazard having long ago become institutionalized, and codified as "monetary policy", catering almost exclusively to the TBTF entities in the financial sector, we were surprised it took as long as it did for Obama to announce (as he did last week), that the administration is now studying "new bankruptcy options" for student loan borrowers: code word for an across the board student debt moratorium, or forgiveness.

To wit from "Student Aid Bill of Rights: Taking Action to Ensure Strong Consumer Protections for Student Loan Borrowers":

The President is directing his Cabinet and White House advisers, working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to study whether consumer protections recently applied to mortgages and credit cards, such as notice and grace periods after loans are transferred among lenders and a requirement that lenders confirm balances to allow borrowers to pay off the loan, should also be afforded to student loan borrowers and improve the quality of servicing for all types of student loans.  The agencies will develop recommendations for regulatory and legislative changes for all student loan borrowers, including possible changes to the treatment of loans in bankruptcy proceedings and when they were borrowed under fraudulent circumstances.

Well, it didn't take long for virtually every leftist group: from the Daily Kos, to Democracy for America, to Campaign for America's Future and many more, to jump on this bandwagon, and demand - you guessed it - that the administration "cancel all student debt."

Sure, why not: leaving aside the very touchy topic of personal responsibility and accountability, in a world in which record debt is merely "replaced" by even more debt, and in which profits are privatized but losses are always socialized with taxpayers and future generations bearing the brunt in the form of a record $18.2 trillion in public debt (and some $7 trillion more if one adds the government-backed GSEs which one should), why not go ahead and "cancel" the debt. And don't bother trying to explain the simple math that debt is never cancelled, as every liability is someone's asset, and that asset holder will demand to be made whole in the form of more debt elsewhere or else, like Hank Paulson in 2008, it will scream mutual assured destruction and threaten to blow up the world unless bailed out.

In short, what all the concerned entities listed above are saying is not "cancel all student debt", which is impossible, but share the burden of the 43.2 million "student debtors" shown in the chart below, with everyone.

After all, "it's only fair."

Finally, since nobody, anywhere is harboring any doubt that any of the record debt the world is burdened with will ever be repaid, and instead will eventually be hyperinflated away even it means paradropping bags of cash, this proposal actually has a good chance of passing (sorry future generations not only in the US but around the globe).

Once it does, and once colleges know they can charge anything for tuition, room and board - because the debt funding it will be socialized and ultimately "forgiven" - prepare for the green line below, already exponential, to go... vertical.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Sun, 03/15/2015 - 14:27 | 5891639 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Yeah, but our discussion is just piddling in the wind, as several other posters have made clear.  This isn't about moral relativism, it's about something planned and carried out with absolute certainty as to its outcome by the ruling class.  The bankers knew it would come to this, they intended it to.  Same for the politicians who enabled it.  It's just more assrape for you and me.  They get richer, we are locked even tighter into our debt servitude.  And if you think you ain't, because you paid off your loans and your house and you drive a clunker, more fool you.  That's why society has assumed the debt burden.  So there is no escape for you or for me.

I find it interesting that Bill and Hillary Clinton become squillionaires through a life spent in government "service" and nobody questions it.  Off topic, but not really.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:58 | 5889440 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

My best friend in high school used to say,

  "a silver mallet up their asses."  Still find that funny.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:23 | 5889524 knukles
knukles's picture

So your bud was a big croquet player?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:36 | 5889709 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

I had a buddy that used to say "I'm as broke as a fart in a mitten".

It used to always make me laugh. Then again, everything was a fart in a mitten.

Fuckin car is useless as-

Guy's dumber than-

The guy went into advertising. Still to this day I expect to see a 'fart in a mitten' commercial.

"Trojan brand condoms...fit as snug as a fart in a mitten."

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:41 | 5889384 localsavage
localsavage's picture

Good luck with that

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:41 | 5889387 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

I can't believe you said that.  Vote for Publicus!!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:43 | 5889391 Publicus
Publicus's picture

Free money for everyone, not just for the super rich.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:48 | 5889412 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Justice for the Publicus!!  I'm gonna help you on the campaign trail but I want to be FinMIN..

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:51 | 5889420 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

We need pictures of you and your wife, eating dinner, her jumping on you, you playing your favorite instrument (I don't mean your dick, though that could be an interesting approach to the whole election)...

This is how you will be vetted, we will conduct focus groups on twatter.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:59 | 5889446 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

What If I can hold her up in the air with only my favorite instrument.  Do I win?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:27 | 5889505 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I edited a bad pun.

You win.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:38 | 5889571 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Go make me a sandwich.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 22:17 | 5890205 quasimodo
quasimodo's picture

Five years ago I would have still had the energy and stamina to perfrom the aforementioned feat.

These days we would both be happier to just go to bed early and watch reruns of King of Queens.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:00 | 5889448 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

It would be one hell of an improvement on the last vetting.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:49 | 5889608 sun tzu
sun tzu's picture

Free money for everyone means nothing for everyone. How about no free money for anyone?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:31 | 5889700 Publicus
Publicus's picture

You mean like today? Free money always goes to someone, today it's the super rich.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:18 | 5889501 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Don't laugh too loud. A national dividend paid in debt-free money would have been a much better idea than QE, if anybody had been serious about fixing the problems caused by the financial crisis.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 23:41 | 5890375 Ward no. 6
Ward no. 6's picture

right

in agreement.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 12:43 | 5891275 F0ster
Sun, 03/15/2015 - 12:50 | 5891300 barroter
barroter's picture

Silly rabbit! The purpose of the tax payer is to PROP up the rich, at all costs!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:38 | 5889375 kowalli
kowalli's picture

free shit for all, MOARRRRRRR

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:40 | 5889378 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

knukles,

It's better than printing!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:44 | 5889400 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Sheeple deserve everything they got coming.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 22:21 | 5890210 quasimodo
quasimodo's picture

The sad reality of your comment is the fact that the sheeple, or the majority of them, are not doing that bad right now sucking off the hind teat of the likes of us. When it does finally hit the fan, to whatever degree that is, we will be fooked right alongside them, albiet hopefully to a lesser degree.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:47 | 5889407 yrbmegr
yrbmegr's picture

Why should the rest of us be held to a higher standard than the banks?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:23 | 5889508 chunga
chunga's picture

Because moral hazard is a one way street.

Remember hearing this all the time? "They're not making any more real estate. It always goes up." Yeah yeah sure. Then you hear how your life is over without a college education.

People think I'm kidding when I say "How do you steal money from people who don't have any. Give it to them." It's fucking true when you can print the shit out. Real estate prices went flying off the hook and so did education by giving out money left and right. Get the number so fucking big that it becomes a national disaster that only can be dumped on...you guessed it...taxpayers. This is deliberate!

The real estate was NEVER worth what the run-up told us and neither are these wacky priced educations that sit in mark/fantasy books. At least with BK you might be able CRAM DOWN the costs to something realistic but NOOO. BK got changed to exclude this for guess what? MORAL HAZARD.

Take this out of the bankers bogus QE money and the also the educator jerks that RAN UP the price. They'll yell your "you're anti education" pffft who cares they're lying. THEN shut down the "Consumer Finance Protection Bureau" and their 600 million dollar budget because they don't protect anyone but themselves and their cronies.

To suggest that any politician or banker scum, regardless of spot or stripe, would give a fig, lift a finger, bat a lash, or make anything more affordable or better in any way shape or form for anyone other than themselves is fucking bullshit.

They figure out how to steal your money before you even have it and then blame it on you!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:46 | 5889594 yrbmegr
yrbmegr's picture

That doesn't justify shovelling money to the banks following an orgy of fraud and waste with one hand and scrooging the little guys with the other hand.  There is no faster way to ruin than unequal government based on political connection.  Your point is that we do no good, having prostituted ourselves to the banks, by further prostituting ourselves to the students.  I'm not so sure you're right about that.  For one thing, moral hazard is different for students and billionaires.  Unlike banks, most students are unlikely to conclude that the government will save them next time, because students don't have personal representatives in the government.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:58 | 5889631 chunga
chunga's picture

Obviously I didn't come across right because I believe these students are nothing more than a vehicle for the banks to financially ass-rape whoever they can. And the education "system" did nothing to stem this but also got fat on this way past "inflation" which is supposedly non-existant. You gotta also know damn well that these smart wall street hedge fund ass-holes will profit every which way but loose by making bets against them.

This is and was never about education it's about theft and fraud.

edit - one more thing before I start drinking - Tyler has Hank the Shank Paulson as a tag on this. Suggesting "default insurance"  on this fraud/debt will also be bailed out on secret terms like AIG.

 

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:08 | 5889929 Dearlydeparted
Dearlydeparted's picture

+1000 Chunga

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:54 | 5889432 NOTW777
NOTW777's picture

how about canceling all federal funding of universities.  american public universities are madrasas of the left that corrupt our youth

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:56 | 5889454 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Hospitals too.  They kill, maim, and cripple more than universities..,

   well maybe not.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:12 | 5889667 boattrash
boattrash's picture

Fuck it man, I'll pay my debt, but how about stopping all these fucking taxes so that I can...

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 22:18 | 5890207 turnoffthewater
turnoffthewater's picture

Yeah and when these organizations ask for donations or more funding:

American Federation of Teachers
Campaign for America's Future
Courage Campaign
Daily Kos
Democracy for America
LeftAction
Project Springboard
RH Reality Check
RootsAction
Student Debt Crisis
The Nation
Working Families

act accordingly

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:17 | 5889499 rubiconsolutions
rubiconsolutions's picture

Too bad that California can't convert some of that debt into water.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:47 | 5889596 SPQR753
SPQR753's picture

This really pisses me off.  My family scrimped and saved my entire childhood so I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to afford college tuition. 

How bout some kind of compensation for those of use who paid in full for four years?  We didn't have any of the fancy dorms or gourmet dining halls that jack the price up so much like now.  No AC, normal cafeteria food, only pay phones down the hall... 

I want my money back!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 23:39 | 5890370 Ward no. 6
Ward no. 6's picture

tuition was affordable back then

it is out of hand now...

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 10:19 | 5890874 SeekingNuNormal
SeekingNuNormal's picture

and therin lies the rub...

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 12:53 | 5891308 barroter
barroter's picture

Rich banksters never scirmped nor saved at all. There's always the tax payer to give them free money when the banks blow it.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:50 | 5889610 kahunabear
kahunabear's picture

I saved and paid for my kids' college. Do I get that money back? Obviously, I was a fool for trying to do it right and now I am getting screwed again because I can't earn any interest on my savings.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:44 | 5889731 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

I know.

At least I have the comfort of knowing my kids dorm rooms looked like something out of '50's Soviet architecture even though they charged me rates like the Hilton.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:57 | 5890019 kahunabear
kahunabear's picture

I hear ya. Starting to feel like I live in the Soviet Union, but not quite as free.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:57 | 5889762 Ward cleaver
Ward cleaver's picture

Knuckles, you must be over 40 since
you obviously don't understand the
new world. I worked in a supermarket to pay for
college but that is now considered stupid. More
votes for the Obama free shit army.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 19:39 | 5889847 drdolittle
drdolittle's picture

Fuck, why did I scrimp and save and pay off my student debt? I shoulda bought a bigger house! You gonna pay me back? Didn't think so.

And, to make myself even dumber, I saved for my own kids education. And didn't live large while in college. I thought I was supposed to be a poor college kid. I am a big dumbass.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:10 | 5889931 Canary Paint
Canary Paint's picture

As somebody caught between the sense of personal responsability of my forebears and having a student debt that I FOOLISHLY accrued, I will say that cancelling such debt has a certain allure if I thought that such a cancellation was not the machination of some foul and selfish purpose to appear later.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:16 | 5889941 overmedicatedun...
overmedicatedundersexed's picture

canary, the international banks got trillions, you do understand that? corzine walks free you do understand that? congress and their staff are exempt from insider trading laws you do understand that, selling cigarettes on the street gets you choked to death you do understand that. loans given to poor who have no abliity to pay is a crime. you do understand the housing bust was because of fraudulent loans and the wall street crime of CDO's SDO's sold as AAA. got it

if not then pay your debt, if you do understand then the debt is fraudulent

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:12 | 5889935 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

According to the new generation - yea - you

Mon, 03/16/2015 - 12:04 | 5889969 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

Hey, kids, you want your debts  gone? Help us get rid of bankers and politicians.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:56 | 5890016 j0nx
j0nx's picture

Cancel all debt... but all degrees will be null and void. That's the only solution to this.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 04:27 | 5890587 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture

 

 

many already are, sans jubilee

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 21:00 | 5890023 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

Followed quickly by cancel all future elections. What a joke this country has turned in to with the Marxist con man at the helm.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 21:13 | 5890068 man of Wool
man of Wool's picture

Student loans always a bad idea. Completely unfair and bad for the country.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 12:55 | 5891315 barroter
barroter's picture

Bailing out private failure is bad too. Let the private market entities drown if they fall overboard, no tax payer life preserver for them!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 22:04 | 5890177 DanDaley
DanDaley's picture

God...  Is nobody responsible anymore?

 

Sure! You are responsible for it.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 06:23 | 5890641 real
real's picture

knukles,   are you responsible for all the insane comments you made about ebola. wasnt it you who yelled every day about how its the end of the world.  Anything you say is just BS.     

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 11:33 | 5891088 cerberus57
cerberus57's picture

Hey, I am actually for this. I went to grad school, in hopes of a career in the federal gov't, wasted 4 fing years trying to break into various agencies to no avail. Dreams canceled and student load debt is killing me. Now I'm working a job that didn't even need a graduate degree. heh, and I actually wanted to do good for my country and fight the good fight. 

BTW, I can always expatriate abroad and leave it all and quit the bs rat race.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:37 | 5889370 Mark of Zerro
Mark of Zerro's picture

So...what about all of us suckers who put their kids through college/universities without any student loans?  

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:40 | 5889381 Kinskian
Kinskian's picture

We are the new niggers on the government plantation.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:43 | 5889392 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Meet the new nigger, same as the old nigger.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 08:31 | 5890729 Badself
Badself's picture

Dude please don't use that word. You sound ignorant and people that frequent zerohedge are smarter than the average idiot in America.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 11:47 | 5891128 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Nigger: Used as a disparaging term for a member of any socially, economically, or politically deprived group of people.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nigger

This definition has evolved quite a bit over the years. It is offensive to blacks and/or people of color, it has also been co-opted by the folks it has traditionally been intended to hurt. 

One camp says never use it. Another camp says use it so much it gets watered down and means nothing. Another camp says only African Americans can use it and take the sting out of it. 

Unless you are in the .001%, I think there is a way to look at it that we are all Niggers, always have been since 1913. The printing press niggerized us all, baby.

And yeah, some folks use it here to get in little jabs. But unless I am sure it is about race, I cannot assume what the word means in someone else's post. 

I am Sparticus. I am a nigger. I hope you can see hope in where that goes. Not the melting pot, but united.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 15:42 | 5891858 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Bullshit. The use of the word by non niggers is as offensive to niggers as Chelsea Clinton was when she claimed not to be interested in money. By claiming to be a nigger you try to put yourself at their level like any other whigger.

More on whiggers here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLdIKlXl3ZA

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 16:36 | 5891957 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

You really need the distinction between you and black people to feel good about yourself? There are all kinds of blacks just like there are all kinds of whites. All kinds of oppression. All kinds of masters/abusers/sociopaths.

You a nigger and don't even know it. You'll wake up soon enough, or not. Nig. 

Or do you think the elite like you bettern' black folk? Do you curry favor with your masters, asking them to love you more than they love blacks cause hey, you ain't black? Because other wise it gets you nothing to make the distinction and it makes no sense.

Black people may be offended that I am saying I am a nigger in the eyes of the Fed and the elite. That is their perogative. They can say to me, you don't get to join the club because I am more oppressed than you. And when they argue with me they may be making valid points. And while me and the hypothetical black person argue the points, the bad guys get away with the loot, laughing their asses off because we are distracted by details. 

You don't get to make the rules, you are a nigger. You don't get Corzine brand just-us. You are a nigger. We all niggers. Silly niggers at that. All the niggers need to get together and show master just how stupid the niggers are (or are not). 

Tue, 03/17/2015 - 04:54 | 5897214 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

You are full of shit. You are not a nigger. Stop rationalizing your misuse of the language. If you are not a nigger you are not a nigger. Period.

Find another word to call yourself. How about slave?

From what we have heard you might actually be part of the 1%, hypocrite.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:42 | 5889389 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

SUCKER!!!!

That's okay, I worked hard for many years to pay my own off, and now am working hard so my kid does not get into debt at all.

[MsCreant looks in the mirror] SUCKER!!!!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:14 | 5889491 Vullsain
Vullsain's picture

You Get It!!! Good for You!!! A Fellow SUCKER!!!!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:21 | 5889516 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Yes I got it, which is why I get it!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:41 | 5889580 Vullsain
Vullsain's picture

I am still working on it. I am usually a happy nihlist about it. I still have to deal with the pissed about it days here and there.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:56 | 5889635 Teamtc321
Teamtc321's picture

Stop it Nut Sacks! I have one out, on firm ground now. My last is preparing to enter this fall as a fucking engineer of all things, aaaaaa. I can't use my old favorite anymore, "Don't let your Son's grow up to be engineer's".

I'm going to go puke on my boots now., lol.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:41 | 5889581 rejected
rejected's picture

Sooo, how exactly does that teach responsibility?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 19:20 | 5889814 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

He has no loans. He is on 3 scholarships. It just about covers everything but I do take care of some overage. If his grades fall and he loses the scholarships, he also loses my financial support and then he will have to take out loans or drop out. We are really clear about this. There have been a couple of close semesters but he has made it two years so far. 

As background, his father has a fuck ton of student loan debt. My son sees what happened to his dad and wants no part of it. That is it's own long fucked up story. The guy refinanced his house and student loan into one loan, making the student loan part inelgible for all the breaks that they have been giving borrowers having trouble paying it back. His dad is a mess, my son knows the score.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:45 | 5889405 Georgia_Boy
Georgia_Boy's picture

@Mark   It's justified by saying anyone who can pay his own way, can do so because of his privilege.  If you've got a business, you didn't build that, so it's not yours anyway.  And no, I don't think uncle Obama is going to cancel any of my debt, even if I have to take it out.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 11:36 | 5891098 cerberus57
cerberus57's picture

That is of course if your business is in making subprime loans that present a existential threat to the stability of the financial system. Then you will get bailed out...

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:55 | 5889436 FreeShitter
FreeShitter's picture

The Free Shit Army salutes you.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:13 | 5889463 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

The gladiators used to say "we who are about to die, salute you.'

  Same difference.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:24 | 5889689 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

Ave Caesar (Imperator) Morituri Te Salutant

Please give unto Caesar his due recognition. The big O would probably eat that kind of homage up

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:14 | 5889492 Georgia_Boy
Georgia_Boy's picture

Spits on you, you privileged shitlord douchenozzle.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:11 | 5889476 Honey Badger
Honey Badger's picture

We stop paying taxes and start killing politicians.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:12 | 5889477 Honey Badger
Honey Badger's picture

Dupe

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:13 | 5889489 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Oh, both you and they will pay for the party girls' mistakes. That's what taxpayers are for.

Children are, in truth, the most important investment most people will ever make. Realistically, they and not any (almost certainly hopelessly underfunded) pension will be paying for your upkeep in old age. So I hope, sincerely, that you paid for the kids to get STEM degrees and that you're on good terms with them.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 22:06 | 5890182 turnoffthewater
turnoffthewater's picture

It should be only fair that the District of Columbia should pay the whole bill since they have the highest paid jobs and are one of the 57 states..er 51,,uh how many are there?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 22:45 | 5890257 Charming Anarchist
Charming Anarchist's picture

..

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:37 | 5889373 kowalli
kowalli's picture

someone will pay for this.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:39 | 5889376 Greenskeeper_Carl
Greenskeeper_Carl's picture

That which can't be repaid, won't be. Either obama or someone like him will end up writing off all these loans so as to appear magnanimous to the plebes, but as taxpayers, you all better get used to the idea that one way or another, this shit ain't getting paid back, ever. If you want to do the right thing and pay back the govt the money you 'borrowed', go right ahead, but you will be in a minority

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:41 | 5889385 kowalli
kowalli's picture

loans are banks credit to you, you can't stole from banksters or someone will pay instead of  you

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:48 | 5889413 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

If they do this, it will be an attempt to try and rearrange the big balance sheet. What will suffer is the system itself which trickles down to you and me.

There is no making this current model sustainable, something will give, if they do this, it will be an effort at controlled demolition, a big, heh, heh, heh, give.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:58 | 5889482 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture
You are right, of course, Ms. but against a background of $200 trillion in unfunded, off balance sheet debt,

  it's almost a rounding error.  Total student loan debt ~ 900 Billion.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:53 | 5889383 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

sure why not its only 1.3 trillion which is a bigger bailout than the 800 billion bank bailout after the housing bubble collapsed that started this shit storm. They did not cancel my house pmts.

Geeze they make you go to counseling before you take them out so you understand the loans. Pay up ye bums

If you are in default on loans you willingly took out, You need to be labled as a credit risk and not creditworthy for a few years until you get your shit together like everyone before you has. Suck it up.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:06 | 5889650 Jstanley011
Jstanley011's picture

It's not a matter of a few years. Student loans, unlike most other unsecured debts such as credit card debt, are nondischargable in bankruptcy. Which means there is no legal way to default.

Because, you see, the banksters can't repossess your knowledge of physics, or of engineering, or of gay angst, like they can your car or your house with a secured loan. Which is why the only reason the banksters agreed to make student loans in the first place, was on condition that the politicos would make them nondischargable.

The bottom line is, take out a student loan that you cannot pay back and the banksters will be hounding you to your grave.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 19:07 | 5889784 Earl Slaughter-...
Earl Slaughter-- Truck Driver.'s picture

As someone mentioned earlier, moral hazzard is a one-way street.

 

I do believe in fulfilling one's obligations; but imagine what would happen to a school's reputation if their name was a prominent fixture on a bankruptcy judge's docket?

 

Life has a way of happening: no blanket-forgivness, but bring back bankruptcy protections as deemed appropriate by the courts to individual circumstances. 

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 17:32 | 5892096 RichardParker
RichardParker's picture

"Technical" schools are notorius for ass raping the students that were stupid enough to enroll in them.  ITT avg grad loan; 30k.  ITT avg grad salary 32k.

Apparently our beloved leader's Consumer Protection Bureau will protect us from ITT's "unlawful acts or practices relating to the advertising, marketing, or origination of private student loans".

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/business/inspecting-a-student-loan-spi...

FFS you can get the same schooling at a community college for about 1/5 the price.

You know we're fucked when the government tells us they're going to help protect us from our own stupidity. LOL

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:07 | 5889891 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

It is a matter of a few years because students take out years worth of loans and don't address the issue for 5-6 years. The loans are explained explicitly and that they cannot be claimed in BK case but people take them out anyway. So. absolutely no sympathy from me. I did borrow my last year and paid the accrued interest with a part time job while still in school and paid the balance off it as soon as I got out. If your to stupid to understand compounding interest you don't belong in college. IMHO

The fact that the government is subsidizing college is the reason costs have skyrocketed in the first place and the loans should never have been allowed to begin with. IF only students who could afford to pay for college were the only ones going, you would see how fast these ridiculous prices for tuition and books go into free fall.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 10:09 | 5890854 Greenskeeper_Carl
Greenskeeper_Carl's picture

You're* too* stupid..... sorry, someone with two spelling errors in a sentence calling other people stupid... I just couldn't help myself.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:41 | 5889388 Bilderberg Member
Bilderberg Member's picture

But the only money left to pay it with is my social security benefits.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:42 | 5889390 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

That's only $1.1 trillion or so.  How much did the Fed dole out to the banksters?  Free money for all is the end result of massive fraud of the Fed.  Goldman will not approve helping out the little guy while Blankfein can always use more.

 

Hey, debt-ridden student slaves - if you wait a bit, the dollar may collapse on its own freeing you from your enslavement.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:43 | 5889394 atthelake
atthelake's picture

Why not give (not loan) every American $1,000,000?  All debt could be paid and The Fed would have the inflation it wants. 

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:11 | 5889479 The Wedge
The Wedge's picture

I like it but send my check a week before everyone else.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:02 | 5889645 Teamtc321
Teamtc321's picture

Sure, why not. The banksters only got a 8 year jump on us.....

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 09:05 | 5890764 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

This is an interesting discussion...what would happen if the fed printed $1M into everyone account?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:43 | 5889396 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

It'll never happen.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:44 | 5889402 Hungarian Pengos
Hungarian Pengos's picture

I will sign your petition as long as you agree to also cancel all debts related to these three things:  1) Maple leaf & eagle coins that may have sunk in boating accidents; 2) All Remington, Winchester, Glock, Ruger, Hornady, PMC purchases since 2008; and 3) Any and all outstanding tax liens due to the IRS.

Deal?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:44 | 5889404 New_Meat
New_Meat's picture

I'd say "cancel all student debt" only when there is a so-called "bail-in" from the higher education monopoly.

- Ned

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:49 | 5889415 sapioplex
sapioplex's picture

See the end-game play out.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:50 | 5889418 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

If they can have a debt jubilee for Wall Street, they can do it for Main Street.

Why just student debt?  Let's have a REAL debt jubilee, just as soon as I take out a mortgage and a car loan...

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:50 | 5889419 Hungarian Pengos
Hungarian Pengos's picture

The crazy thing is that all of these baristas that borrowed $200,000 to get a degree in Feminist Studies from Oberlin College could easily pay back their debt by offering their services for a month or two.   Open wide hippies.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:58 | 5889638 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

Wait - my new girlfriend went to college at Oberlin.... When she gets home from the Hillary for Pres meeting I'll ask. For some reason those meetings go late and they involve unusual amounts of lotions. Strange

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:51 | 5889422 bigrooster
bigrooster's picture

Fuck all of you free loaders with liberal arts degrees who can't find a job.  You borrowed the money, pay it back.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:54 | 5889435 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Just as long as you are that mad at GM, AIG, Citi, and all the other free loaders and slackers on Wall Street.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:34 | 5889561 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Molon labe.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:10 | 5889662 Jstanley011
Jstanley011's picture

Moron labia.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 13:03 | 5891340 barroter
barroter's picture

Biggest welfare scum of the Earth..bankers.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:53 | 5889431 Jonesy
Jonesy's picture

Yeah, and also cancel my credit card debt.  Some folks made mistakes.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:03 | 5889457 toys for tits
toys for tits's picture

Yea, like letting my mistress have my Black card.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:04 | 5889441 BrosephStiglitz
BrosephStiglitz's picture

I see people talking a lot about X and Y bubbles.. they often neglect the bubble right under their noses.. The student education bubbles.  Without a doubt, some college institutions, are certainly approaching a "Lehman like" moment.

WHEN interest rates hike (and to anyone hoping for interest rates to chase the magic NIRP fairy to -10%, sorry.. won't happen) student education is going to be turned upside down.  In fact, a lot of things are going to be turned upside down, and almost unequivocally, those things have government's sticky debt-bubble creating fingers all over them. 

Interest rate hikes will coincide with a shock to the sov. debt markets.  Either hikes will cause debt crises, or debt crises (at already historically low rates) will cause interest premiums to emerge. 

Note: I disagree with the article OP. I actually believe that writing off this debt would be absolutely the LAST and WORST thing anyone in education could hope for.  It basically tells creditors "hey, you know those stupid loans you are giving to all of our kids?  Yeah.. they're never going to be repaid."  It would force the artificial demand in the sector to evaporate overnight.  Huge supply of teaching staff and universities vs. shrinking demand for product = lower nominal prices.  The question is whether this outpaces the sort of deflation which would occur in a liquidity crises.  Probably not.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:05 | 5889460 toys for tits
toys for tits's picture

 

 

"The world needs ditch diggers too."

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:56 | 5889633 TweedleDeeDooDah
TweedleDeeDooDah's picture

Actually, could you imagine it?

Banks and institutions unwilling to just throw miney out for any student loan, perhaps asking people WHAT they might study, and how prepared they are, evaluating risk?

Heck, with all that tightening up, all those degrees already held become actual commodities, and increase in value overnight... if you were quick enough to get in before the bubble burst.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 05:48 | 5890621 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

whatever the reasoning on future delinquency... there is a moral side to US Student Debt

it's collateral is something key out of a human, in this case his right to default and start fresh

if the US continues to go down this path, then neo-feudalization goes further

the next collateral/repossessions in the line are debt prisons, forced labour, forced deportations, organ harvests, forced blood banks, medical experimentations

some of it already exists, other of it was done by the early British Empire, and some is on the cusp of happening

the moral high ground of the creditor is that a deal was made, and deals should be honoured. a world of peers, strangers to each other, engaging in peaceful market exchange

this high ground breaks down when the markets are monopolized, the power differential is too great and morally dubious consequences are enforced to the letter of the agreements

and this was, historically, the exact spot where ancient jubelees were set. lending was unbalanced, too many debtors were sold as slaves, and the whole economy was going down the drain because of excessive repossession in a crisis given by excess credit (in that case, a fresh increase of silver production in the state mines)

if unhindered, people are willing to pledge too much of themselves to a debt. It will look like Freedom, for a while. And then... it can become it's opposite

credit, independently if administered by a technocratic caste of Seers, Augurs and Haruspices from the cathedrals of finance that dominate the cities landscape or from an ancient oligarchic elite using honest metal or from powerful abbotts of nearly every religion, has moral responsibilities. and every age has it's capitalists insisting that it hasn't any except profit, claiming the protection of their freedom while creating slavery and serfdom with it

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:58 | 5889443 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Aye...Aye El Capitan, the wheelhouse is still above sea level, and the engine room is flooded.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 16:58 | 5889445 Roanman
Roanman's picture

I'm not outraged here and support discharging student debt with some caveats, most notably that only debt held by the government and only if the government were to concurrently get out of the student loan business entirely. This would poke a big hole in the tuition bubble as now debt would be payable to someone with a sincere interest in getting paid back and as such would be significantly more likely to qualify an applicant and then moniter that borrower's progress.

If you want to attach some form of bankrupcy into the proceedings, that would be fine as well.

Anyone paying attention to this fiasco can see that the ultimate unintended consequence of this particular government sponsored fucked up mess is a generation within out economy that will go underground or flat out quit.

Neither of those outcomes is particularly good for anybody.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:29 | 5889546 just_askin
just_askin's picture

Let's not forget that students assumed this debt because they were fed a load of shit from birth about what a great "investment" a college education would be. (A Pew study that looked at net worth rather than income determined that high school graduate with no debt has a higher net worth at age 40 than a college graduate with student debt.) And I agree, contrary to Tyler's assertion, forgiving the debt will deflate tuition costs, not cause them to go even more expnonential. Wall Street and the 1% have been enjoying prosecution-free criminality and consequence-free personal irresponsibility since the dawn of the Greenspan put. Let's democratize the "irresponsibilty." You either reset all the debt or you hang on to your I-had-to-pay-mine-back-so-fuck-everybody-else-who-hasn't attitude until deflation sucks the entire supply chain into a black hole and there is blood in the streets.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:01 | 5889450 Saratoga
Saratoga's picture

Just students? Kill it all. Student, mortgage, credit card, car, businees debt and loan sharks

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:52 | 5889620 TweedleDeeDooDah
TweedleDeeDooDah's picture

The Pope DID announce an upcoming Jubilee Year!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 23:00 | 5890292 Charming Anarchist
Charming Anarchist's picture

Uh.... hold on.  First of all, the Pope means Jubilation as in forgiveness of our sins.  [Big deal.  We do not need him to let us know that God foregives us.] He does not mean foregivenss of financial debts.  Second, it sounds like a Trojan Horse to hide the NWO agenda.  I do not trust him and I am Catholic. 

 

<<See, then, the meaning of a new citizenship, which we feel strongly here,>>

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:01 | 5889452 Stumpy4516
Stumpy4516's picture

Is not this money  owed to the public as opposed to money owed to the private banks?

By forgiving this debt it increases the already huge debt of the govt (public) but most importantly for the bankers, it allows these people to now borrow new money from the bankers (profit for bankers) and allows these people to spend the money (demanded by the govt to repay the loans) making other purchases (makes them better consumers - profit sources).

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:03 | 5889455 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Well, Frick.  Should we right now start applying for student loans? 

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:03 | 5889456 lordbyroniv
lordbyroniv's picture

As Bartleby said,......."I prefer not to pay"

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:03 | 5889458 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

Cancelling student debt is a way of extending the life of the collapsing debt bubble since it leaves these formerly indebted people free to take on some new debt.

A good illustration of what the central planners hope to achieve: keep the scheme viable in hopes that somebody or something will eventually inflate or grow our way out of the mess.

"Help me, Obi Wan Man Boobies, you're my only hope."

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:32 | 5889554 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Makes sense. If the bubble blows when it reaches a high enough debt/income ratio, then clipping debts should stabilize the ratio and the bubble.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:12 | 5889665 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

They’ll buy houses.  As soon as this passes, go long houses in areas with ‘charter’ schools.    

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:05 | 5889459 iofera
iofera's picture

I have a lot of student debt.

My goal is to get you, the American taxpayer, to pay for it.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:29 | 5889539 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

There is no need for anyone to pay for it. The debts are cancelled, the creditors, usually financial institutions, lose a lot of money and everyone with financial investments loses money one way or the other. This "losing of money" is the payment.

That usually means old people relying on pensions. At the end of the day defaulting on student debt is a younger generations way of telling their parents they are now on their own.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:01 | 5889644 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Downvoted by old farts who tacitly counted on younger workers to pay their retirement.

I have news for you: Your assumptions were wrong, you future losses are some elses relief and as we all know, if you dont hold it, you dont own it. You were sold a bill of goods.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:18 | 5889680 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Prizes include everyone getting a titanium hip replacement.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:06 | 5889461 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Um, no. Sorry. Party girls and gold-diggers who had to go home to daddy after four years of bed-hopping with nothing to show for it but a useless degree and tens of thousands of dollars of debt? Fuck 'em. The men who wisely avoided them in favour of finishing their STEM degrees are under no obligation to clean up their messes (assuming the men haven't had their jobs outsourced to India).

The liberal arts majors want money? It's called Craigslist. If they're not women enough to put their only valuable assets to work to pay their debts, they'll have to wait for the next hyperinflation to wipe out their debt, just like the rest of us will.

Of course, that'll wipe out daddy's pension too, so they'll still have to get a job of some kind to keep themselves and mom and dad from starving. Good luck with that, girls. By then you won't earn nearly as much on the game, and pretty much everything else a woman can do will be computerized. Empty rich women's catboxes? They'll have robots to empty those.

Experience keeps a dear school, far dearer than any university. Pity a woman will learn in no other.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:17 | 5889498 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Banking and finance is a man's game. I am really sorry about the young lady that burned you so bad that you have to spill your contempt for her all over these pages as contempt for all women.

They want to divide us. They want the Crackers hating the Niggers, the Millennials hating the Boomers, men hating women, oh and let's not forget the Faggots, etc. 

The problem is the bankers, that is where I will focus my contempt. 

Care to join me?

.......

This will end up being a fucking banker bail out damn it, wait for it, you'll see...

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:29 | 5889545 Suisse
Suisse's picture

Banking and finance are not the only way to make good money, you generally will make more if you are good in EE/CS than finance.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:33 | 5889557 rejected
rejected's picture

Yes,,, Always remember who the enemy is...

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:17 | 5889677 ebear
ebear's picture

"They want to divide us."

You go girl!  TESTIFY!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 19:33 | 5889837 Vullsain
Vullsain's picture

You forgot women hating men....you know the War on Women.The equal pay disparity myth, the yes means No if I change my mind about the consensuall sex later type of legislation the go ahead and lie about being raped and get a wrist possibly gently slapped. The list goes on and on. and yes when most women selfishly support these memes either  actively or passively; it unfortunatley causes a contempt for women as a group,

You are absolutely right he needs to work thru his anger and judge each individual by the "content of their character" Redirecting his contempt to the banksters, politicians and the miserable excuse of our mainstream media is a good idea.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:20 | 5889875 Vullsain
Vullsain's picture

The liberal media tosses around the term misogyny, like the central bankers toss printed money to the banksters

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:00 | 5889910 overmedicatedun...
overmedicatedundersexed's picture

all of us should understand: criminal system of money control.

from the FED the corruption of FRN's creates a society of criminals, yes every one who uses FRN's is committing crime. paying for goods and services with fiat out of thin air,so called money. the debasement of equal value in fair trade corrupts the nation.

a small few benefit greatly- the rest must eat your peas.

it is foolish to argue about debt as a contract - not in this corrupt nation where the supreme court becomes insane in such rulings as kilo and ACA..

ask Hank Paulson who got the cash, oh you can't congress made him exempt from law..

go head and fight about who owes what and who should pay..you might as well be yelling in the drunk tank at bellvue hospital.

there is no moral ground to enforce contracts when the law itself is corrupt..

Student debt has no standing in our courts- the legal system by inaction and non enforcement of our laws TBTF  (corzine)makes the law criminal itself.

 

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 20:19 | 5889947 Global Douche
Global Douche's picture

If it's focusing contempt squarely on the Bank$ter$, please count me in! My Bio on ZH explains that well 'nuff. It's way cool to find a community where so many "get it" in that regard.

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 13:10 | 5891366 barroter
barroter's picture

Yes, once more, the tax payer will shore up the rich bankers who raped them begin with.  NEVER forget your place! You are a peon. When a bankster walks by, you are to lower your eyes and remove your hat!

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 18:54 | 5889754 Northern Lights
Northern Lights's picture

You're right.  The college women are ho-bags.

I was banging them silly.  Would have been nice to have a family of my own.  Problem was, I'd have to marry one of these ho-bags in order to do that, and who wants to do that????

So, I've accepted that this is what society is like and have had to adjust my expectation accordingly.  Just how it is I guess.

 

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 02:01 | 5890525 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

If you were banging THEM silly, then you were not being someone the woman you do want to meet, would marry. Goes both ways friend, both ways. 

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 12:31 | 5891250 Northern Lights
Northern Lights's picture

It didn't remove the fact that these women were ho-bags and some sucker ended up with a chick who'd been done by half the dorm.

If you think I should feel bad that none of these skanks wanted a long term relationship with me, you lose.  

 

Sun, 03/15/2015 - 12:52 | 5891294 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Wrong.

I think you need to understand that you screwing them means that you are just as much of a "ho-bag" as they are. 

You cannot meet women you would like to start a family with because you are not acting like a man that they would like to start a family with. THAT is the only point I was making to you.

You gave up. That is fine. In fact it might be great becasue when you stop screwing everybody and decide all that screwing is not right for you, that is when you stand a good chance of finding someone who you would like to start a family with. 

You are fine to screw around. So are the women who do so as well. I do not judge any of you. But if you want to meet women who don't screw around, and get one interested in you, then you need to be the kind of guy they are not afraid will screw around, cheat, pick up diseases. A careful woman looks for a careful guy. She wants someone she can trust. If you are screwing the same women half the dorm has had, the woman you want will see that and not give you the time of day.

Truly all I meant by it. The contempt you have for them, can be turned on you. You have a double standard and don't see how it is hurting you. I could be sad for those girls, but then I would be sad for you. All of you are doing what you need to do to figure out what you want. 

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:08 | 5889468 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

cancel my credit card debt while you are at it. Thanks

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:09 | 5889471 The Wedge
The Wedge's picture

Sure, erase student loans after it took me years and half a liver to pay mine off.

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:11 | 5889480 loregnum
loregnum's picture

Where are the cancel home mortgage petitions?

Sat, 03/14/2015 - 17:23 | 5889528 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

You can start one. Really.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!