Student Loans

By Michael Corcoran for Truthout - "The worse job they do, the more money they make," said Alan Collinge, executive director of Student Loan Justice (SLJ), in an interview with Truthout. "It is the epitome of bad-faith lending." Private lenders' continued abuses are only part of the reason that the student loan crisis has been described as America's "most pressing economic problem," accounting for more than $1.4 trillion in debt with 40 percent or more in default. Corporate shareholders and the Department of Education (DOE) are both profiting off the misery of student borrowers, which has led to depression, substance abuse, family estrangement and even suicide. The president has made use of bankruptcy protection either four or six times, depending on who you speak with, but this is not an option for student borrowers. Debt has long been an effective form of social control. The current debt crisis reflects systematic class warfare waged by the rich against the poor and working class. "In our time, the financial sector has enriched itself," writes labor expert Steve Fraser, "by saddling ordinary working people with every conceivable form of consumer debt."

By Kenneth J. Saltman for Truthout - At more than $1.3 trillion dollars as of 2016, US student loan debt has become widely discussed in the media, the business press and academia as a new debt bubble with the potential to burst and trigger a global economic crisis that puts everyone at risk. The student debt bubble is regularly compared to the subprime mortgage debt bubble that resulted in the failure of banks, the great recession and the public bailout of Wall Street and the auto industry in 2008.