In “Cancel All Student Debt — The Petitions Begin [8],” we outlined The White House’s plan to explore “new bankruptcy options” for former students who, by virtue of an anemic US economic “recovery” or by virtue of their having majored in a subject that was exceedingly unlikely to land them a good job in any economy, find themselves in dire financial straits. On the heels of that, the calls began for the government to simply “cancel” the country’s $1.3 trillion student debt pile. Here, in what is a classic passage, is how we assessed the situation:
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.
Since then we’ve gone on to elaborate on the math behind underreported delinquency rates and taken an in-depth look at IBR, the “dirty little secret [9]” that could end up costing taxpayers billions over time.
Finally, we highlighted a plan by Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders which would tax stock trades [10] in order to make college free for everyone.
In the (perhaps misguided) spirit of free college for all we bring you the following from Senator Elizabeth Warren who wants you to “stand with her” to make “debt-free college” a reality.
Stand with Elizabeth Warren: Support debt-free college
Join Campaign For America's Future and support Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Raul Grijalva, Keith Ellison, and other progressive leaders in Congress to get the debt out of college. These progressive champions are launching a new resolution to build support for debt-free college:
"Resolved, that Congress supports efforts to ensure that, through a combination of efforts, all students have access to debt-free higher education, defined to mean having no debt upon graduation from all public institutions of higher education."
Our goal is simple: Get Congress on record in support of debt-free college and spark a movement to make it a reality. This resolution can be the start of something big -- but we need your support to blow it wide open. Are you with us?
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