I would really love to see the US reform include something similar to the German education system (If I understand it correctly), where learning a trade or starting an apprenticeship is built into the high school system for all students, so there’s a track directly into a career for all students, and a Plan B for college bound students if that doesn’t work out.
The narrative of the ‘absolute necessity’ of a college degree was getting pushed real hard when I was in high school about ten years ago, along with the doom-and-gloom outlook on trades (though to be fair we got hit hard in SE Michigan back in 2008-2010 with the double whammy of the housing collapse and auto bankruptcies. It was hard to be optimistic about things back then). That said, I’ve wished for a few years I could travel back in time to suggest to my 18 year old self that going straight to university isn’t going to be that great of a financial decision.
I went to uni in 2001, and I knew people who’s parents angled to get them the largest loan possible, to then stick it into a savings account making more interest. Of course, all of these people were rich enough to put their kids through uni with no loan, instead they had an opportunity to get a bit richer.
My student loan is down to about £5k now, mainly because I wasn’t earning enough to hit the threshold for paying it off for quite a few years. Fortunately I wasn’t ten years younger or I’d have had to had pay three times higher fees and had a correspondingly bigger debt.
Oh, and in the UK your student loan is written off after thirty years, and they’ll never send the bailiffs round.
Going to university right out of high school was a mistake for me, but it was a mistake that led to everything good that I have now. Hard to know what I should tell my 18 year old self, other than to fucking treasure his little girlfriend. Also, that one spool is too heavy and he will pay for it the rest of his life if he tries to put it on the pallet.
Wasn’t Governor Northam just having trouble with the difference between a slave and an indentured servant? America is just trying to provide real life examples of the latter to explain it to him.
Ah Shit…sometimes late at night reading about this stuff just fluffs my piss-off button the wrong goddam way. That and I like having little mini shit-fits so…
You are absolutely right, there are neoliberals on both sides. Joe Biden authored the legislation that made it impossible to discharge a student loan in bankruptcy - think about that when he becomes the anointed Democratic candidate in 2020.
My loans went into default when I became disabled in college. Social Security is garnishing my SSDI down to the minimum of $750 per month to repay my student debt. Even though $100 goes to pay it monthly, the annual reduction in my principal is $150. I will be paying for the next 161 years for an education I cannot use.
The feds have many ways of getting money out of your paycheck, or tax return, or pension, with or without your employer’s cooperation.
Neocons are warhawks. Neoliberals are robber barons. Both exist in both parties, and the Venn diagram overlaps significantly, but one is an economic fantasy and the other a mirage of foreign policy.
Let’s not forget that Hillary Clinton voted to tighten bankruptcy law. Student loans cannot now be retired by bankruptcy…so people’s social security checks are being garnished to pay those loans right now…Lamar Alexander aside.
Sadly, that probably had very little to do with it.
Looking back at the Obama presidency recently, I had to admit he was basically a Republican, policy-wise. With few exceptions, he maintained the status quo of the Bush years, and even the things that upset the Republicans most (e.g. “Obamacare”) were originally Republican ideas. (The points where he differed from modern Republican orthodoxy - being pro-choice, modestly not-homophobic, not-racist were important, of course, but small relative to the total number of policy issues.)
I really, really hope we’re finally seeing the Democratic party move towards being something other than just a less bigoted version of the Republican party and towards real progressive positions. It seems like the voters are ready for that.
Just a reminder that debt is included in the Gross Domestic Product. So workers’ lack of living wages and resulting incurring debt to make up the shortfall contribute to the GDP by being impoverished. Only in a state throughly corrupted by capitalists is that possible.
