There are 9.2 million people 50 years old or older still paying off student debt.
So many backflips through flaming hoops when allowing bankruptcy to discharge loans would solve it all in one fell swoop. Universities donating millions and millions to political candidates would never want this golden goose to be culled though. Creating debt slaves is good for business. All business. Good for the military too, in fact, and good for calling citizens lazy and entitled to justify bringing in more and more H1Bs working for less than their position is worth.
The more you dig the more it feels like a giant conspiracy. I am not pro "forgiveness" in the mainstream sense of the term. I am absolutely for no-fault, no question bankruptcy that eliminates the debt entirely. This would punish the lenders, punish the schools, and punish the government for their absolutely moronic decisions.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/supreme-court-strikes-dow...
It was struck down because not because the circumstances (emergency) was not met, but rather because the action itself was not allowed.
> The HEROES Act, Roberts emphasized, gives the secretary of education the power to “waive or modify”...“modify” means that the Biden administration can make “modest adjustments and additions to existing provisions...Roberts stressed, instead “created a novel and fundamentally different loan forgiveness program.”...Roberts suggested, “only in the same sense that the French Revolution ‘modified’ the status of the French nobility — it has abolished them and supplanted them with a new regime entirely.”
Rentier economics throughout the economy are crippling the working class and feeding the rentiers.
People finance their cars, their education, their music, healthcare, phones, laptops, just about any major appliance. You can even finance your food!
What exactly are you getting for your tax dollars?
It used to be the case that you could realistically save up money to buy a car or whatever. These days, so many people are living paycheck to paycheck that they can't afford assets at all, and forget about home ownership or other kinds of equity. Some may be lucky enough to have a 401k with an employer match, but without the latter I see why many people prioritize immediate survival over long-term financial planning.
We are no longer living fulfilling lives but going about lining the pockets of landlords and rent-seekers.
The problem is people going into debt for credential-granting schools that are becoming more expensive while simultaneously becoming less correlated with education.
It's also the case that back in the 80s, the elite ultra-expensive schools did not offer generous financial aid like they do now, so middle class kids had to pay themselves.
I was aggressively paying them off before COVID.
I was able to pay my loans off in about 7 years but mainly because I lived with my girlfriend (now wife) and we shared expenses. Point is, yes the balances are higher now but so are the salaries. The average student with my degree from my school makes about $80k to start now, so if they have $60k in loans, we are in similar situations.