Thousands of people across this country are currently enslaved by student loan debt. The Wall Street Journal and many other great newspapers have written articles detailing the effects of student loan slavery. Marriages are being put off. People cannot afford to buy houses. New businesses never get started. It is a huge drain on our economy. The solution is to make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy. Thankfully, there is currently a bill pending in Congress to do exactly that.
This is a bipartisan bill that is sponsored by Republican John Katko from New York and Democrat John Delaney from Maryland.
Congressman Delaney is absolutely correct when he states that the current federal student loans loophole that currently exists in bankruptcy law is “hurting real people.” I see these real people every day and it is heartbreaking.
Congressman Katko states that “it should not be the case that student loan debt is the only form of debt that cannot be discharged.”
The current student loan debt stands at 1.3 trillion dollars.
The current bill has little chance of succeeding unless we start a movement to get it passed. Even if the bill fails, we all need to contact our respective members of Congress and let them know that you want student loans to be dischargeable in bankruptcy. Eventually, I am confident that we will win this fight.
Since making student loans nondischargeable in bankruptcy, market forces have been distorted in college education. Our federal government has handed out over a trillion dollars in student loans and colleges have responded by raising tuition rates sky high. As a consequence, most college graduates finish school with degrees that don’t lead to jobs that will enable them to pay the student loans back.
Our society has drilled into teenagers, you must go to college at all costs if you want to succeed in life. As a result, many young student signed up for college and student loans expecting success but unknowingly have sold themselves into slavery. Then, graduation came with no job offers. Now, the student loan spirals out of control and compound interest works it magic against the people. Our current policy punishes those who cannot pay their student loans for their entire life.
What can you do?
- Call and write your congressman and express your support for this bill. To find the contact information for your representative in the United States House of Representatives, click here. To find out the contact information for your Senators, click here.
- Post a link to this blog on your facebook page so that all of your friends can read it.
- On my facebook page with this post on this, write “I support the new law to discharge student loans in bankruptcy.”
- Run for Congress and make this issue central to your platform.
Please tell your members of Congress, “Pharoah, let my people go!” All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.