Cancel All Student Debt

[RonPaulFanInGA]

http://cancelallstudentdebt.com/

Dear President Obama, Senators, and Members of Congress:

Americans now owe $1.3 trillion in student debt. Eighty-six percent of that money is owed to the United States government. This is a crushing burden for more than 40 million Americans and their families.

I urge you to take immediate action to forgive all student debt, public and private.

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

[cindy25]

a more sensible solution would be to have normal bankruptcy laws apply to student debt.

[otherone]

a more sensible solution would be to have normal bankruptcy laws apply to student debt.

Let's get the government out of the loan business all together. It's a subsidy of the "higher" education complex as it it stands now. A free market would bring the price DOWN.

[tod evans]

Let's get the government out of the loan business all together. It's a subsidy of the "higher" education complex as it it stands now. A free market would bring the price DOWN.

Government needs out of the mortgage and insurance business too......

[FunkBuddha]

At this point? $#@! it. Why not? We've spent more money on dumber $#@!. Throw in a car for everyone while we're at it. Nothing fancy. And a years supply of food too, people need food. What are we at now, about 4-5 trillion? A drop in the bucket. We can print more money to bomb the brown folks if need be.

[tod evans]

At this point? $#@! it. Why not? We've spent more money on dumber $#@!. Throw in a car for everyone while we're at it. Nothing fancy. And a years supply of food too, people need food. What are we at now, about 4-5 trillion? A drop in the bucket. We can print more money to bomb the brown folks if need be.

Don't forget turbocharging the presses to pay for bombing red-n-yellow folks if they don't fall in line........

[CaptUSA]

Yeah, great. My daughter had been working overtime and spent almost every dime to pay off her loans early. She's now pursuing her Master's and the other loans are gone. Does she get a refund for being so foolish as to think that if she incurred a debt she would pay it?

[aGameOfThrones]

When you give out 100k loans to study worthless degrees....

[tod evans]

Yeah, great. My daughter had been working overtime and spent almost every dime to pay off her loans early. She's now pursuing her Master's and the other loans are gone. Does she get a refund for being so foolish as to think that if she incurred a debt she would pay it?

Government isn't going to get out of the "loan" business any more than it's going to get out of the free money business...

After all people neeeeeed big brother to secure their future..

[Lois]

I agree.

Why should We the Taxpayers who worked our own way through college and did the sensible thing of going to a Community College first, then maybe a cheaper State College while working part-time, then paid back our loans diligently for many years, pay for those who had to go the expensive fancy route while partying and now want us to pay for their spendthrift ways. Not me. Just like no way should We the Taxpayers pay for those who had to go into debt and get a fancy big house they couldn't afford and then expect those of us who got a small ranch house we could afford - after saving for years for a down payment - have to bail them out and forgive their mortgages and let them walk away. No way.

This entitlement generation is spoiled rotten as it is - of course we (baby-boomers) spoiled them, but still.....

[Zippyjuan]

Did the government force people to take out those loans? Maybe all loans should be thrown out and paid for by taxpayers instead of those who agreed to borrow money. Taxpayers should support free college education for anybody who wants it. No loans needed.

[Ronin Truth]

Sure, just be sure to turn all of your diplomas back in.

[Tod]

At this point, I don't think it really matter what they do; the damage has already been done. It is just a matter of time before we all reap what they have sown.

[TaftFan]

This is bull$#@!. What about those who paid for it without loans? Do THEY get a refund?

[kpitcher]

Sure, just be sure to turn all of your diplomas back in.

I could almost get behind this one - then we'd have interesting studies showing which school has the most worthless diploma.

[Rothbardian Girl]

Ending the cultural emphasis on "college or bust" at the expense of vocational jobs would go a long way to encourage responsible borrowing practices.

[tod evans]

Ending the cultural emphasis on "college or bust" at the expense of vocational jobs would go a long way to encourage responsible borrowing practices.

Vocational jobs are for the immigrants don't ya' know?

The citizenry here is entitled to either a $50k starting job or welfare....


Spoken tongue in cheek by a carpenter

[Stratovarious]

Should we forgive Mortgages that are difficult to pay down ?

[euphemia]

Schools should stop accepting students who cannot pay. It is possible to work part time during school and full time in the summers to save enough money to go to college if a student can do without the partying, expensive clothes, latest smart phone, and fancy car. L

[aGameOfThrones]

Why is veterinarian school so expensive?

[dannno]

Sure, just be sure to turn all of your diplomas back in.

Who needs a diploma? It's all about the job application. What are you going to do, arrest people who said they took classes and passed classes that they actually took, but simply did not pay for?

[economics102]

My proposal: change the bankruptcy laws to allow full discharge of student loans in bankruptcy. However, to make it quasi-fair for those who paid their tuitions (either directly or through an already-paid-off loan), those who already paid off their loans should be able to deduct that amount from their taxes over the next ten-year period.

[angelatc]

a more sensible solution would be to have normal bankruptcy laws apply to student debt.

Most students do not have jobs when they graduate and would automatically qualify to discharge the entire loan immediately upon graduation. That is not sensible.

Sensible would be getting the government out of the student loan business, and letting the banks and/or business decide which degrees should be financed at what rates.

[DamianTV]

The real solution here is to get Govt out of Education, period.

This is in terms of both Finance and Regulation. At least for Colleges. Let the Free Market dictate the price of education. Without all the Govt Money thrown around at colleges, they have to do something other than jacking up costs at a rate that is five times higher than the rate of inflation. And you know where all this extra money is getting spent? Administration, not the quality of education. But that should be pretty obvious to everyone by now.

[heavenlyboy34]

The real solution here is to get Govt out of Education, period.

This is in terms of both Finance and Regulation. At least for Colleges. Let the Free Market dictate the price of education. Without all the Govt Money thrown around at colleges, they have to do something other than jacking up costs at a rate that is five times higher than the rate of inflation. And you know where all this extra money is getting spent? Administration, not the quality of education. But that should be pretty obvious to everyone by now.

Yup. Even the authors of the letter in the OP got that.

Dear President Obama, Senators, and Members of Congress:
Americans now owe $1.3 trillion in student debt. Eighty-six percent of that money is owed to the United States government. This is a crushing burden for more than 40 million Americans and their families.

[AuH20]

If you bail them out, aren't you bailing out the universities as well? I'd let their entire credit pricing model crash and burn.

[Zippyjuan]

Demand for higher education has been pretty inelastic. That is, changes in prices have not led to changes in demand. So far, they have had no trouble filling up spaces even at higher tuition rates. Their pricing model seems to be working for them.

[Danke]

Just give everyone a lot of money (except HB, he'll just blow it on himself) Better that than the banks.

[jmdrake]

Sure, just be sure to turn all of your diplomas back in.

In some cases that wouldn't be a bad bargain.

[DamianTV]

Demand for higher education has been pretty inelastic. That is, changes in prices have not led to changes in demand. So far, they have had no trouble filling up spaces even at higher tuition rates. Their pricing model seems to be working for them.

Give it some time and see if the people that borrowed all this money can repay any of their debt. Most likely they will drown in it.

---

Problem again is what we have is a system of Indoctrination, not Education.

A: Get Govt out of Education.
B: Educate, dont Indoctrinate

Next problem is that people are not learning because learning is enjoyable. They learn for the sake of Workforce Training, and do as little as possible to get by with marginally passing grades, but there is no real inherit interest in the subjects that most people study. I think far too many go to College only for skillsets to land a good paying job, regardless if that job makes them happy. Ever hear a ten year old say that when they want to grow up, they want to be involved with Administration of Derivitative Financing? They pay for Education and receive extended Indoctrination. It is this Indoctrination that most people recognize to some degree that turns them away from the idea that Learning can be fun, even if it isnt particularly useful. At the same time, the Education / Indoctrination system makes every effort to replace the Family Model as the source of interest. Take classes in Art Appreciation where you can look at a splatter of paint on a stained bedsheet and call it a Masterpiece. That is not Art Appreciation, that is telling someone to like what they are told to like. That is Indoctrination. $#@! Sandwiches are tasty and yummy. That is just as much Indoctrination as Art Appreciation. So is the Indoctrination to place Acquisition of Money ahead of all other values and goals. The end result of all this Indoctrination is an entirely trained Work Force that is just smart enough to do the job but not smart enough to ask if this is the job that they should be doing in the first place. They are smart enough to think what they are told to think. Working for the Violence Dept of the US Govt is profitable to them, but are not smart enough to ask if they should be committing that violence to begin with, nor are they smart enough to recognize that their associated goal of Money is the very leash by which they themselves are controlled, which results in the creation of Cops.

"If education is beaten by workforce training, civilization dies." - CS Lewis