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American Dream is American Nightmare for College Grads

March 21st, 2011 | D.I.Y., How-to, bubble, college, crisis, debt, debt-peonage, education, government, loan, MBA, slavery, student, testimonial

by hellaD | 2 Comments »

Recently I got a comment on my post about the Student Loan Swindle from a very creative and interesting thinker who is living through this very situation herself. She has been homeless as a result and yet she has realised this is a bigger issue that many people are facing. Instead of accepting the common rhetoric of our society that the victim is to blame, she understands that there are larger forces at work that are put in place to enable this debt peonage system of education that our wonderful, 'enlightened' and self righteous country places so much value in. Somehow she is still smiling in this humorous yet frightening video in which she talks about this issue. Please take a second to watch her video testimonial. Please also check out her website TheMadBagLady. More and more students are recognizing this problem, and finally we are starting to see some sensible discussion about it in the media. Ten years ago this wasn't something anyone dared talk about. Students who had defaulted on their loans, if they dared mention it would be berated for thinking they were entitled, would be accused of being lazy, would be assumed to be stupid and selfish. There are still these attitudes around today, but it is good that more and more students are coming together to let their situations be known and this new form of debt-peonage is now understood--in some circles at least. Few Americans are stopping to ask the question: When we degrade our human resources, what human potential have we lost? Great doctors and healers? Great politicians and leaders? Great scientists and innovators? Or maybe the best music we’ll never hear in our entire lives? -MadBagLady Student Debt Bubble About to Explode: This problem is now a global issue for students. Although in the US the fees for higher education are much higher than they are in other countries, as we see in the UK this is changing. When I was in New Zealand the students there were also complaining about the rising fees. I am currently paying back a student loan I took out in New Zealand to pay for a biodynamic agriculture course. I was unable to finish the course because of financial difficulties and living in a slum condition which so severely affected my health (I talk about that elsewhere on the site) that I was unable to physically work for around 3 years. That is when I started this website. During that time I wasn't making any money and unable to pay the debt so I simply did my best to ignore it when we moved back to the US. When our situation finally started getting better I desperately wanted to stop feeling guilty for not paying the debt that I contacted the student loan officials and told them of what had happened and the conditions surrounding my inability to pay. Everyone had told me that if I did this they would be understanding and remove the interest accrued. (P.S. I am still not making money, fortunately my man is helping me pay the upcoming payment I have to make for the NZ loan at the end of the month) Read this article: Government Profiting From Student Loan Defaults? They were very nice and promised to give me debt relief. They had me fill out a bunch of forms and declare my situation financially as well as other--physically etc. After all of this paperwork and assurances I finally got a letter back from them with the amount I owed. It was the full amount, none of the interest taken off, no consideration for my situation or the fact that I was still unable to work. I am fortunate that that debt was very small compared to the tens of thousands of dollars that most students in the US are facing. But I know exactly how this affects students, both emotionally--not only do students want to pay back their debts and believe that they should take responsibility for their debts--but physically and financially as well. The combination of feeling depressed and inadequate as well as being unable to afford to pay rent, get a job, buy good food and more work together to destroy the individual. Is Education the Best Investment? Janitors With PhDs: Keeping the youth and the future of a country in a constant state of desperation in order to meet their basic necessities is a very clever way of making sure that they don't have the time to come together to create solutions for our crumbling economy. It is a very clever way to try to keep people too busy with physical, exhausting menial jobs so that they cannot spend some time getting themselves educated--which is quite simple these days, get online, take a course here and there to supplement your own learning, go to a library, do an apprenticeship--we don't really need the old school institution of college anymore. In this way the corporations and the elite hope they can keep the youth of America from rising up and refusing to pay these illegal debts. Check out the videos posted above and just spend a couple hours on youtube and you will see many, many students who are putting themselves out there, telling their stories and trying to find a better way. Also read this article: Killer Loans--Student loan borrowers drown in debt as lenders make billions. A good place to start and get involved is with www.studentloanjustice.org. College is a Scam:

Recently I got a comment on my post about the Student Loan Swindle from a very creative and interesting thinker who is living through this very situation herself. She has been homeless as a result and yet she has realised this is a bigger issue that many people are facing. Instead of accepting the common rhetoric of our society that the victim is to blame, she understands that there are larger forces at work that are put in place to enable this debt peonage system of education that our wonderful, ‘enlightened’ and self righteous country places so much value in. Somehow she is still smiling in this humorous yet frightening video in which she talks about this issue. Please take a second to watch her video testimonial. Please also check out her website TheMadBagLady.

The Student Loan Swindle

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It was announced last summer that total student loan debt, at $830 billion, now exceeds total US credit card debt! What about organizing a collective action to withhold loan payment for one month to send a message to the banks? I recently read the book The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppresiv ...

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