I have seen the petitions asking to forgive student loan debt, and I’m familiar that it is on the OWS list of demands, so imagine my surprise when I read a headline last night teasing that Obama has a plan to provide relief for the masses suffering under the crushing weight of massive student loan debt, which is a consequence of the rising costs of higher education, which is a consequence of the federal government’s 40+ years of meddling in higher education.
But I digress…
Is this “Change”?
In a nutshell, the proposal will:
- forgive any balance after 20 years of payments (currently the limit is 25 years).
- let you reduce your loan payments to 10% of discretionary income (instead of the present 15%).
Which sounds like a lot, until you realize that the principal outstanding is a truly extraordinary $1 TRILLION.
$60,000,000,000 < $1,000,000,000,000
Which sounds like a lot, until you realize that Washington bailed out the banks with THREE TIMES that extraordinary amount in 2009, alone.
$1,000,000,000,000 < $3,000,000,000,000
Probably it’s just another half-assed plan to appease us, so we can go back to our materialistic, consumption-driven culture of death.